Samsung unveils first multi-folding phone as competition set to heat up

Updated Tue, December 2, 2025 at 12:02 PM GMT+11

Samsung Electronics launches tri-folding smartphone

SEOUL, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics unveiled its first multi-folding smartphone on Tuesday, in a bid to strengthen its position in a sector of the phone market where competition is expected to intensify.​

The launch of the Galaxy Z TriFold marks Samsung's bid to reinforce its footing in a segment where Chinese rivals have been ‌gaining ground, even as analysts say the high price and production challenges mean foldable devices are likely to remain a niche category for now.

The model, priced at approximately 3.59 million won ($2,440.17), unfolds into a 253.1 millimeter (10-inch) display, utilizing three panels, and is nearly 25% larger than Samsung's latest foldable Galaxy Z Fold 7 model.

"I believe the foldable market will continue to grow, and the TriFold in particular could act as a catalyst that drives more explosive growth in key parts of the segment," said Alex Lim, Samsung Electronics Executive ⁠Vice President and head of the Korea Sales Marketing Office.

Lim said the new foldable device is intended for customers who specifically want it, rather than as a volume driver.

The TriFold, produced in South Korea, will go on sale domestically on December 12 and be ‍rolled out in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates within this year. The U.S. launch is expected as early as the first quarter of next year.

The device features Samsung's largest battery in its flagship models and supports super-fast charging that powers the phone to 50% in 30 ​minutes.

Lim said memory chips and other component costs have been rising sharply, making pricing a "difficult decision".

COMPETITION FROM HUAWEI, ‌APPLE

Analysts said the TriFold is more likely to be a showcase of the new technology rather than a volume-driving flagship.

"The trifold is a first-generation product, and it's the first time a trifold design is being commercialised, so it’s hard to see Samsung pushing large volumes at this stage," said Ryu Young-ho, a senior analyst at NH Investment Securities.

He noted that while Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold line has matured over seven generations with lower cost structures, "the trifold could still face issues around completeness or durability," ⁠making it important to assess how the market responds first.

Competition in the foldable smartphone market ​is set to heat up, with China's Huawei launching the industry's first ​three-way folding phone last September and Apple expected to release its first foldable next year. Still, analysts say high prices and limits to mass production are likely to hold back the sector.

Foldable phones are expected to account for ‍less than 2% of the total ⁠smartphone market this year and will make up under 3% by 2027, according to Counterpoint Research.

Samsung's shipment share of the foldable market jumped to 64% in the third quarter, up from 9% in the previous quarter, Counterpoint said, ⁠illustrating how market share can whipsaw depending on the timing of product launches.

The firm forecasts the foldable smartphone market will grow 14% this year, followed ‌by annual growth in the 30% range in 2026 and 2027 as Apple looks set to enter the segment.

($1 ‌= 1,467.0900 won)

(Reporting by Heekyong Yang | Editing by Ed Davies)

It’s not just you: The internet is breaking

Quartz | Shannon Carroll

Sat, November 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM GMT+11

Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

In the span of a few months this year, the internet has managed to knock itself sideways four different ways. And the official explanations have landed with all the romance of a maintenance log. A Cloudflare file exceeded its expected size. A DNS entry inside AWS pointed nowhere. An Azure configuration change went sideways. A Google service-control rule looped into failure and sent itself into repeated crash cycles.

Each failure began as a routine maintenance task — the digital equivalents of leaving a door ajar. Each one expanded into a global interruption.

These events slid into place quietly and revealed the same uncomfortable truth: The internet is a tightly bound structure, not a sprawling, distributed network, as many people may imagine. A small change in one corner sets off a chain reaction in another because so many digital services rely on the same gateways, the same load balancers, the same identity checkpoints, and the same routing layers. The fragility sits inside those shared pathways, not inside the individual apps that blinked out of view.

So, no, you’re not wrong: The internet feels like it’s breaking — because we’ve made it too big to fail and too small at the top to stay upright.

Tiny fixes become global problems

When a file grew beyond its expected size inside Cloudflare earlier this week, the fallout traveled far beyond the sites that actually run on Cloudflare. Banks saw degraded performance. Retail checkouts lagged. Messaging platforms stalled. Even the supposedly “smart” gear people trust to run the morning — the coffee maker that depends on a cloud handshake, the thermostat that insists on verifying itself, the app that decides whether the commute is survivable — stuttered as the edge layer fell out of step.

Cloudflare’s leadership didn’t bother with spin. The company’s chief technology officer tweeted an apology that acknowledged “failing the broader internet” and pinned the blame on a latent bug triggered by a routine configuration change. No breach, no sinister actor — just an everyday tweak that managed to trip a network the size of a continent.

The company fronts roughly a fifth of global web traffic, which means a permissions shift inside one database brushed against millions of sessions with a single deployment. Businesses treat that edge network as plumbing. Insurers treat it as systemic exposure. The Global 2000 now loses an estimated $400 billion a year to cloud and edge downtime, and the largest enterprises regularly peg interruption costs in the $1-million to $5-million-per-hour range. A file buried deep inside a system most people have never heard of still managed to bend the digital world to its will.

A missing DNS field inside AWS’s busiest region produced another kind of tilt late last month. Traffic slid into fallback modes. Some services froze altogether. Insurers modeled up to $581 million in potential claims, a figure that doesn’t even capture abandoned carts, payroll delays, or stalled shipments that never reach the paperwork stage.

More than 17 million user-reported failures stacked up in the first hours. That number was large enough to show how dependent companies remain on AWS’ core regions — even when architects insist they have spread their risk. Region redundancy offered little insulation because identity checks, data calls, and background tasks still funnel through the most popular region by habit. The failure didn’t last long, but it still reached sectors that thought they stood outside the impact zone. Welcome to the modern cloud.

Azure’s turn arrived the following week when a traffic-management update in a Microsoft edge layer slowed down workplace logins, airline check-ins, retail portals, and gaming platforms. The surface symptoms looked disconnected. The underlying problem sat in a routing system tied to Microsoft’s identity stack. Many organizations that don’t run their applications on Azure still rely on Microsoft to verify credentials, authorize sessions, or route user data. A shift in that layer appears small on paper. But in practice, it affects travel, commerce, communication, and office workflows — all at the same time.

A service-control rule slipped into the wrong layer inside Google Cloud over the summer and knocked the platform off balance. The code that signs off on routine API calls kept crashing and restarting, and requests that usually clear in a blink began to stall or fall away. The stutter showed up across regions as authentication failures, halted builds, and applications blinking in and out of view — hitting streaming platforms, collaboration tools, and Google’s own systems before the platform managed to steady itself. It didn’t last long, but it made plain that Google’s control plane behaves like a single surface, and a small shift in that layer follows every path that depends on it.

One web, one spine

These failures didn’t come from the same flaw. But they pointed to the same structure.

The internet grew around a handful of infrastructure providers that now operate as load-bearing beams for the global economy. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google control roughly 62% of the world’s cloud-infrastructure spending. Cloudflare sits in front of 20% of the web, and more than 80% of sites that use reverse proxies depend on that as their single provider. Identity platforms from Microsoft, Amazon, and Okta sit behind hundreds of millions of logins a day.

The internet used to look like a mycelium network: messy, redundant, and distributed. Increasingly, it looks like a handful of glass-and-steel server farms and security gateways, where a mid-sized file in San Francisco or an empty DNS record in Virginia can briefly tilt the entire digital economy off its axis.

Companies still talk about diversity of infrastructure. They reference multicloud setups and region failover strategies. These outages showed how thin those strategies become once shared dependency chains come into view. A retailer that spreads its compute across clouds still stumbles when its checkout flow depends on a CDN that has gone dark. A hospital that keeps its patient records in on-premise systems still deals with delays if its messaging or imaging integrations run through a cloud service tied to the wrong routing layer. An airline that invests heavily in its own data centers still sees a slowdown when its identity checks pass through an authentication provider experiencing trouble.

None of these organizations planned particularly poorly. The issue sits in the modern stack itself. Too many critical functions rely on layers that live outside a company’s control.

Analysts who study outages pay less attention to duration and more attention to blast radius. The AWS incident spread to more than 3,500 companies across 60-plus countries. Cloudflare’s failure generated more than 11,000 user-incident reports and tripped up workflows inside banks, retailers, logistics systems, media platforms, and government agencies — all of which assumed their “edge” layer lived far enough from the edge of anything. Azure’s slowdown drew more than 30,000 outage reports in the first hour and produced disruptions across travel, entertainment, and half the digital ways people procrastinate. Google’s stumble sent more than 10,000 cloud-level reports and sent glitches through streaming platforms, collaboration tools, and the services that lean on its cloud. Each incident revealed how concentrated the foundations of the internet have become. A setback inside one provider moves across sectors because the same networks, the same content-delivery systems, and the same identity services show up beneath most digital products.

The internet’s fabric is fragile

The scale of the outages had less to do with time and everything to do with what set them off. Small, almost forgettable changes — a configuration file growing past its limit, a DNS pointer vanishing, a routing rule drifting, a service-control check spinning into failure — ended up pulling whole systems sideways. Small cause, large effect. None of those moves reads like a trigger for multimillion-dollar losses or frozen global workflows, but in a system this consolidated, that’s where the impact landed. The real risk no longer lives inside individual services or data centers. It lives inside the connective tissue that everyone leans on without thinking.

Cloud providers and traffic networks still promote redundancy, and the engineering behind those claims is real. The issue sits in the gaps, those strategies can’t reach. Redundancy inside one provider protects the workloads that stay inside that provider’s walls. It offers no shield against shared DNS layers, shared edge networks, or shared identity stacks. As long as those layers remain concentrated around a small number of companies, a routine adjustment can push companies across different industries into a parallel slowdown.

This fall’s disruptions didn’t suggest a failing internet; they offered a better picture of the one that exists.

The web behaves more like a single, interconnected engine than most people realize. Businesses and public-sector institutions now operate inside that engine, whether they intend to or not. The next failure may come from a setting change, a shift in a routing table, or a file that crosses a threshold. The internet hasn’t fallen apart (yet). But it has just shown how easily it could.

AI-trained Features in Gmail Current Rollout - November 2025

IMPORTANT: Gmail users have been automatically opted in—by default—to allow Gmail to access the contents of your private emails and attachments to improve and train AI-based features, such as Smart Compose and automated suggestions.

Google’s current rollout enables these settings unless users take action to disable them manually.

How to Opt Out

To ensure your emails and attachments aren’t used to train AI models, you must turn off two separate Smart Features settings in Gmail:

Turn Off Gmail, Chat, and Meet Smart Features:

Open Gmail (desktop or mobile app).

Go to Settings (gear icon) → See All Settings (desktop) or Menu → Settings (mobile).

Find “Smart Features” for Gmail, Chat, and Meet.

Uncheck this option, then Save Changes if on desktop.

Turn Off Google Workspace Smart Features

In the same Settings menu, locate “Google Workspace Smart Features.”

Click on “Manage Workspace Smart Feature Settings.

”Turn off both toggles: “Smart features in Google Workspace, and “Smart features in other Google products.

Save again.

Confirm Both Are Off

Double-check that both toggles remain off after refreshing Gmail or signing out and back in.

** Footnote: ** If you are an average user without security concerns regarding your private emails and attachments, no action is required.

It’s Official—Traffic Lights With Four Colors and a New White Light are Coming, and they will Change the Way we Drive Forever

by Sandra V | October 13, 2025 | UNIONRAYO

What are the colors of a traffic light? Red, yellow, and green, right? We all know that red means stop, with yellow we slow down, and when it’s green we can go. However, this could change very soon since scientists from North Carolina State University (NC State) have proposed adding a fourth color: white.

This new color won’t replace any of the existing; it will be an addition to improve how vehicles move on the road (mainly now when there are more autonomous cars). The goal is to make the roads safer, faster, and efficient for both human drivers and smart vehicles. So, let’s learn more about these future traffic lights.

The white light

This will be used as a special sign to indicate to drivers that autonomous vehicles are controlling the road at that moment. Today, traffic lights tell us when to stop or go, but autonomous cars can communicate among themselves and with these traffic lights to organize the traffic flow in a faster and more precise way than humans.

When there are enough autonomous cars near an intersection, the white light will turn on. This would mean that cars are coordinating the traffic automatically. So, human drivers wouldn’t have to do anything differently, just simply follow the car in front of them (if that car is an autonomous one, it will know exactly when to continue or stop).

Of course, traditional lights (red, yellow, and green) will continue working as usual. The white light will only show up when there are many autonomous cars coordinating among themselves.

How this white light would work

The new traffic light system is based on something called distributed computing, a technology that allows cars and traffic lights to exchange information in real time. So, this is how it would work:

• Several autonomous cars get closer to an intersection.

• These cars send data to the traffic light about its speed, position, and direction.

• The traffic light detects that there are enough smart vehicles to manage the traffic.

• The white light turns on, warning that cars are controlling the intersection.

• Human drivers only have to follow the traffic flow led by autonomous cars.

Once there are fewer autonomous cars in the area, the white light will turn off, and the traffic light will go back to its usual mode with the three traditional colors. This way, cars could move without waiting for colors to change, and traffic would be faster and more efficient.

Why adding a fourth color to traffic lights

According to NC State researchers, the addition of the white light could reduce traffic jams and delays. Studies showed that, even if only 10% of the cars are autonomous, the delays would lower about 3%. In case most cars were autonomous, delays would be reduced up to 94%.

This means less time stopped, less fuel consumption, and less pollution. What’s more, it would increase safety since drivers would know when autonomous cars are coordinating the traffic. The white light would be a clear sign that everything is under control and that we only have to follow the traffic flow.

Where will this be tested first?

The NC State team is already preparing the first testing of the new system. The experiments will be done in controlled areas, places where autonomous cars already function regularly.

One of the first places to test them could be ports because they have a lot of traffic, but few pedestrians. Also, movements at ports are repetitive and predictable, which allows us to precisely analyze how the new system works.

Even though the suggested color is white, scientists clarified that it could be used as a different color. The most important thing is that it’s a light and easy-to-recognize color. So, this would mark the beginning of a new era where humans and smart cars drive together, using communication instead of just color signals to manage intersections. In the near future, that little extra light — white or another color — could make driving faster, safer, and more efficient for everyone.

World First: Over 500 Humanoid Robots Participated in the Three-day World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Friday

China's focus on robotics and AI.

Over 500 humanoid robots were participating in the three-day World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing. Image: Zhang Chenlin/Xinhua/IMAGO

The first-ever World Humanoid Robot Games began in Beijing, China. A total of 280 teams from 16 countries are competing in 26 events, which include soccer, boxing, sorting medicine, and clean-up tasks. The three-day competition began in Beijing, China, on Thursday evening, as the country focuses on robotics and AI.

Teams from the United States, Germany, and Brazil are among the 16 participating countries, alongside numerous Chinese teams.

Organizers emphasize that the games were designed to generate data and insights for real-world robot applications in factories, homes, and other settings. Furthermore, China's vast manufacturing ecosystem enables not only large-scale production but also rapid deployment and iteration through real-world data collection.

China has set a national plan to develop a world-class humanoid robotics industry and AI sector to become a global leader.

There were some glitches, from soccer fumbles to racing mishaps.

At one of the first events on Friday, it was reported that one of the fastest domestic champion Unitree's humanoid robots completed a 1,500-meter race in a time of 6:29:37, which is considerably slower than the current human record of 3:26:00.

One robot was the clear winner against its competitors but was significantly slower than the human record

Some robots experienced falls and limitations in movement and balance, demonstrating that the technology is still under development.

A human operator tries to keep up with a robot in the 1500m event

In soccer, during five-a-side football, 10 robots the size of seven-year-olds shuffled around the pitch, often getting stuck in scrums or falling over en masse.

Better to have a robot fail at the kickboxing event than after investing millions for real-world applications, one participant said.

“LIVE: World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing”

— Source: Courtesy: REUTERS

Tickets to the humanoid games at Beijing's National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics, range from 180 yuan (about €22, $25) to 580 yuan (about €69, $80).

Theo Edwards for YAME Digital

Renting a Vehicle: Be Prepared For Unexpected Charges. The New AI-powered System Scans Vehicles For Damages, Especially During Returns

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Walking around the vehicle with the rental agent for a visual inspection will soon be a thing of the past once this technology is implemented nationwide.

Major rental car companies are implementing an AI-powered system to scan vehicles for damage, especially during returns, using a "tunnel" of cameras and sensors—no more scratches or dings.

The technology system developed by UVeye, an Israeli company, aims to improve damage assessment accuracy, according to their website.

Hertz and UVeye Partner to Modernize Vehicle Maintenance with AI Technology

Hertz is the first major rental car company to partner with UVeye to Modernize Vehicle Maintenance with AI Technology.

Starting at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the first airport equipped with UVeye systems, Hertz and UVeye are now expanding their installations to major airport locations across the United States, with some locations already using it, according to reports from Car and Driver. The deployment is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

UVeye’s AI-powered camera systems and machine learning algorithms enable real-time, automated inspections of a vehicle’s body, glass, tires, and undercarriage.

With more than half a million vehicles around the globe, Hertz claims this system improves accuracy, transparency, and speed in damage assessment, potentially reducing disputes and speeding up the return process.

However, some customers have experienced unexpected charges for minor damages identified by the AI, leading to frustration and concerns about the fairness of the system. There are also concerns about the lack of human oversight in some cases, potentially leading to overcharging for minor or previously existing damage.

It is always advisable to take photos and videos of vehicles before renting them.

When it comes to major car rental chains at major airports, disputes over minor dings typically aren't an issue. This situation may be changing soon.

Expect this trend to spread to other rental companies. Enterprise, well-known for its thorough vehicle walk-around inspections to identify damages, is testing similar technology, and Avis has announced plans for trials.

Theo Edwards for YAME Digital | Share

The Biggest Rumors and Leaks Around Samsung’s Newest Foldable Phones

As the countdown continues to Samsung’s Unpacked event, which will take place July 9 at 10 a.m. ET in New York City, we take a look at some of the major rumors and leaks surrounding the new products that Samsung will unveil.

[Offer: Get the best deals on our Samsung devices, including up to $1,000 off the Galaxy S25 Edge]

The South Korean tech giant will almost certainly introduce the latest iterations of its foldable smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 (which folds vertically like a book) and the smaller Galaxy Z Flip7, which folds horizontally like a flip phone.

Here are some of the biggest rumors about the new devices:

The new Galaxy Z Fold7 and Z Flip7 are expected to be thinner and lighter than last year's Galaxy Z Fold6 (left) and Z Flip6 (right). (Samsung)

Galaxy Z Fold7: Thinner, lighter, and more features

Samsung has said that the upcoming Z Fold7 will be its thinnest and lightest foldable yet — while also having bigger internal and external displays.

Additionally, the Z Fold7 is expected to get a 200MP main camera — up from the Z Fold6’s 50MP main camera — as well as new AI features and the top-notch Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

On the negative side, the Z Fold7 is rumored to have the same 4,400 mAh battery life as its predecessor.

Expected colors for the Z Fold7 include Jet Black, Silver Shadow, and Blue Shadow.

Galaxy Z Flip7 to also get bigger displays

The upcoming Z Flip7 is expected to have bigger screens, both for the main screen (when the phone is unfolded) and its cover screen when folded. While the main screen is only going from 6.7 inches to a rumored 6.85 inches, the cover display is getting a much bigger boost, going from 3.4 inches to 4 inches.

There are no main changes to the cameras, while the battery life could get a bump to 4,300 mAh (from 4,000 mAh for the Z Flip6).

Rumors are divided between whether the Z Flip7 will get the Snapdragon 8 Elite (which is expensive) or Samsung’s own Exynos 2500 processor.

The Z Flip7 will likely come in Coral Red, Jet Black, and Blue Shadow.

The Galaxy Z Flip7 is expected to have a 4-inch cover screen, compared with the Z Flip6's 3.4-inch cover display, shown here. (Samsung)

Samsung’s first-ever budget foldable

But the biggest change to the lineup is the likely introduction of Samsung’s first-ever budget foldable, expected to be called the Galaxy Z Flip FE (“FE” stands for “fan edition”). Some rumors have it looking like last year’s Z Flip6, while others say it’ll have similar screen sizes to the Z Flip7, but with a smaller battery, lower storage options, and an older Exynos 2400 chipset.

The Z Flip FE is expected to only be offered in black and white.

The wild card: A tri-fold phone?

Samsung is reportedly working on an extra-large tri-fold smartphone that could go by the moniker “Galaxy G Fold,” or even include the word “Ultra” (which is what Samsung uses in its Galaxy S series to denote its highest-end flagship phone).

Even if Samsung does introduce a tri-fold phone at Unpacked, it’s unlikely to be available until much later in the year (similar to how Samsung hinted at its super-thin Galaxy S25 Edge at its January Unpacked event, but then didn’t make the phone available for purchase until May).

Don’t forget the Galaxy Watches...

Samsung is expected to introduce the newest addition to its Galaxy Watch lineup. In addition to the base Galaxy Watch8, there'll also likely showcase the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 (which some leaks call the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2025). All three models are expected to use a 3nm Exynos W1000 chip (the same chipset used in last year’s smartwatches) as well as have 2GB of RAM.

All three Galaxy Watches have the same sensors for fitness and health tracking. One rumored new feature is blood glucose monitoring.

The information included within this article is AT&T-sponsored content written by a Currently Media editorial contributor. The statements in this article do not necessarily reflect the positions, strategies or opinions of AT&T.

---

“Watch Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked Live Foldable Phone Event”

— Source: July 9. 2025: CNET | Samsung's annual Galaxy Unpacked Fold event

“Here is a look at the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 colors & upgrades, as well as the Galaxy Z Flip 7 colors and design changes. You’ll also get a look at the new Galaxy wearables and even the Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE.”

— Source: WhatGear | July 9, 2025

Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses review: The future is here — but it needs a better battery

Cameras, microphones, headphones and an AI assistant... Your face is about to get a major upgrade.

Is it the future yet? It's starting to look that way, at least if you judge by Ray-Ban's Meta AI glasses. These fairly ordinary-looking spectacles pack a wealth of technology: cameras, microphones, headphones and an AI assistant that sounds like actress Kristen Bell. (Seriously. Intentionally. It can also be made to sound like Awkwafina, John Cena, Dame Judi Dench or Keegan-Michael Key. I am not making any of this up.) The result is something fairly remarkable: glasses that can not only capture and identify what you see, but also replace earbuds for music, phone calls and more.

This isn't a new idea, but the Ray-Ban Meta is by far the best execution of it I've ever seen — and one of the most affordable at $299. However, while I'm sold on the idea of smart glasses, there's still work to be done — mostly in the areas of design and battery life. So, should you consider putting a pair on your face? Here's my Ray-Ban Meta review.

Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses | Rick Broida/Yahoo

VERDICT:

I'm convinced: Smart glasses are the future. Meta's latest effort gets nearly everything right, especially the camera and speakers — but it's severely hampered by its battery.

Explore More Buying Options

Ray-Ban Meta glasses: How to get them

First things first: The Ray-Ban Meta glasses start at $299, but that's for clear, non-prescription lenses. I tested the Wayfarer style (a classic for anyone familiar with Ray-Ban sunglasses); there's also a Skyler option for those seeking a different look. You can opt for Transition lenses (the kind that automatically darken when you're outdoors) for an additional $80, but keep in mind there's still the matter of your prescription — if you have one.

If you do, you can order the glasses directly from Amazon, then take them to a LensCrafters or Sunglass Hut store to get prescription lenses added. You also have the option of ordering directly from Ray-Ban, supplying your prescription details, and choosing any lens options you might want.

As you might expect, the more options you add, the higher the total price. I wear progressives; those plus Transitions and a few other add-ons would have put my total bill at around $1,000. Thankfully, Ray-Ban does accept most insurance. And you might be able to find more affordable lens options at one of the partner stores.

I'll just note that the last time I bought new regular frames and progressive lenses (with all the bells and whistles) from an optical center, the price tag before insurance was approaching $800. Frames alone can easily cost $200-$300 (ripoff though that may be), so $299 for the Ray-Ban Metas strikes me as a pretty decent deal — especially considering what they're capable of.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses: How they look (try to ignore the model)

Ready for my close-up. (Wait, that's too close!) The Ray-Ban Metas aren't that different from the chunky black frames I normally wear, but they're definitely a little heavier. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)

To look at the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer is to see a familiar-looking frame, one with a barely noticeable camera embedded in one corner and thicker-than-average arms (aka temples). The latter are arguably the only giveaway you're wearing smart glasses; unless someone looks closely, they might never know.

That said, I find the design a little chunky overall, the thick black plastic a little bolder than I prefer. But that's just me; others have told me the frames look stylish, or at least similar to what a lot of people are wearing these days (myself included). And these were a review sample; I'd definitely have chosen a different color given the option.

I did struggle a bit with the weight: at 2 ounces, they're definitely heavier than my everyday glasses, which weigh just 1.2 ounces. (Note that Meta's specs indicate 1.7 ounces; my scale says otherwise, but that could be the result of my fairly thick progressive lenses.) Although I wouldn't describe them as uncomfortable, I definitely noticed them more.

Speaking of noticing things, privacy is often a concern with camera-equipped smart glasses — specifically, the privacy of others unaware you might be snapping photos or recording video. To remedy this, the glasses have a small white front-facing LED in the right corner, opposite the left-corner camera. When you take a picture or start a video, the LED lights up.

Ray-Ban Meta glasses: We need to talk about the battery

This isn't just a carrying case for the Ray-Ban Metas -- it's a power supply as well, able to fully recharge the glasses up to eight times. But it's also the only way to recharge them.

Obviously, this is a battery-powered product, and Meta took an interesting approach to charging: There's no dock or power cord, but rather a traditional-looking leather case. Just drop the glasses in, and an embedded LED ring lights up orange to indicate charging. (It shows green when done.)

I have mixed feelings about this. The case is stylish, but also bulky and inconvenient; it's literally the only charging option, so you have to keep it close at hand. At minimum, Meta should offer a simple USB-C charging cord (one that connects directly to the glasses) you can use for travel, and I'd also like to see some kind of dock for desk or nightstand use.

This might be less of an issue if the glasses had better battery life. Unfortunately, depending on your usage, they're going to require recharging in just four hours — possibly less. For example, during the course of 90 minutes, I recorded a one-minute video, listened to about 30 minutes of audio, answered some text messages, and had a few chats with Meta AI. Then I checked the battery level in the Meta AI app: 60%.

The battery level continued to drop even after I took off the glasses, folded them up, and set them on my desk. Despite being in "standby" mode, the battery level dropped overnight to 14% from 51%. Thus, unless they're actually recharging inside their case, they're consuming power — even if you're not wearing them.

Needless to say, these can't be your all-day glasses, or at least your all-day smart glasses. Of course, they'll continue to help you see, even with a dead battery, but imagine heading off to work in the morning and losing access to your headphones, cameras, and AI assistant, all before lunch.

If there's any upside here, it's that the Ray-Bans can recharge to nearly 50% after just 20 minutes in the charging case (which itself promises eight full charges), but what do you do in the meantime? (One option: Carry your regular glasses in the case and wear them while these are charging.)

This is the major problem with the product, and it's a big one — which is unfortunate because it's pretty great in most other respects. Worth noting: I'm also in the process of testing the Solos AirGo V glasses, which use ChatGPT in place of Meta AI but are fairly similar otherwise. They can last up to 10 hours while playing music — so I'm confused as to why the Ray-Bans have such poor battery life.

(Note: Right before I published this review, Meta announced a new pair of smart glasses from a new partner: Oakley. Rated battery life: 8 hours. That adds to what I consider inexcusable power performance from the Ray-Bans.)

Ray-Ban Meta glasses: What they can do and how well they do it

As noted earlier, I consider these glasses to be half wearable camera and half headphone, with an AI assistant baked in for good measure. Let's talk about some of the specs associated with those features, then dive into the specifics.

Key specs:

• 12-megapixel camera

• 32GB of onboard storage

• Open-ear headphones

• 5 microphones

• Bluetooth 5.2

• Wi-Fi 6

• IPX4 water resistance

• Touch controls

(In case it's not already clear, these have no display to speak of; they're not AR or VR glasses like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest 3.)

The camera

The glasses come with a 12-megapixel camera built into the frame. On the opposite side: a small white LED that illuminates when you snap a photo or record video. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)

Imagine snapping photos or videos while on vacation or at a special event, without having to pull out your phone — without even having to lift a finger. You can activate the glasses' camera via a simple voice command: "Hey, Meta, take a photo." There's also a button on top of the right temple; a single click grabs a snapshot, a longer press starts video recording.

That's a pretty powerful benefit, though there are a few limitations. First: no selfies. Second: While the camera captures whatever is in your field of view, there's no actual preview to know exactly what you're getting. No zoom, either. And videos are limited to three minutes, max, something to note if you're trying to capture, say, a kid's performance in the school play.

In my testing, I found that the glasses worked really well for the kind of "reveal" videos popular on Instagram and TikTok, like when you start out looking at the ground and then slowly pan up to show a waterfall or some other natural wonder. But for anything longer, where you want to stay focused on a fixed subject, it's not great having your whole head as the "viewfinder," because your natural inclination is to look around from time to time — resulting in jarring footage.

That's something to keep in mind if you plan to use the livestream feature, which works via the Facebook or Instagram app. I tested the glasses with the latter, despite having never livestreamed anything before, and got up and running with just a few easy taps. But once again, the resulting footage was shaky and, to my thinking, hard to watch, because I move my head a lot more than I do my phone. It's much easier to get stable video with the latter.

Take note, too, that while the camera's image quality is pretty good overall — suitable for viewing on your phone and sharing on social media — it lacks the sharpness you'd expect from a 12-megapixel sensor.

You can preview photos and videos in the Meta app, but to actually offload them from the glasses for sharing or full-resolution viewing, you need to connect the latter to your Wi-Fi network — a fairly quick process, but still an extra step. There's also the option to automatically import media when the glasses are charging, which is useful.

There's another big benefit to the glasses' camera, and that's being able to instantly identify what you're seeing. I'll come back to that in the AI section, below.

The headphones

See that little slit in the bottom of the glasses' temple? That's the speaker. It has no business sounding decent, let alone really good, but it does. (Rick Broida/Yahoo)

The Ray-Ban Meta's headphones are kind of miraculous — two tiny down-firing speakers built into the temple arms right where they start to curve over your ear. That's pretty far from your listening holes, yet these things sound amazingly good. Maybe not quite on par with the best open-ear headphones, but close — I was perfectly happy with the quality of music I heard while walking the dog, gardening and so on.

(As noted above, the Solos AirGo V — despite having vastly superior battery life — sounds like tinny AM radio in comparison.)

There's a bit of resulting "bleed" here, meaning others might be able to hear what you're hearing, but they have to be standing fairly close. Ultimately, I was amazed to discover that eyeglasses could sound nearly as good as headphones — and all the disappointed about the battery life. I'd love to be able to wear these all day, without needing earbuds or the like for podcasts, Zoom calls, and so on.

The glasses have arguably the best touch controls I've ever used: You can drag your finger along the outside of the right temple to raise or lower volume, tap to pause/play, double-tap to skip to the next track, and so on. Each interaction is met with a little "tick" sound, so you know it's registering. And because the touch area is very wide, spanning a good stretch of the arm, you're not likely to miss hitting it — which I've found to be the case with most open-hear headphones (and their comparatively tiny touch areas).

I did encounter one small issue when watching videos: the audio was a bit out of sync. This was fairly noticeable in TikTok, less prominent in Netflix, but definitely there. It's not uncommon — I've seen this with some earbuds and headphones as well — but there's usually a software toggle (such as "game mode") to help compensate. At this writing, there's no such option in the Meta AI app.

The AI

Meta AI performs many of the same voice-activated tricks as Alexa or Siri. It can raise or lower audio volume, place calls, send and read messages, tell you the date and time, deliver a weather report, identify the song you're hearing over the loudspeaker (a la Shazam), and so on.

By default, it gives you fairly terse responses to any general-information inquiries, which I think is smart; if you say, "Hey, Meta, tell me about the Battle of Trafalgar," you don't necessarily want a 10-minute rundown. And after the initial response, you can say, "Tell me more" (no "Hey, Meta" required), to get additional information.

I did experience a few AI glitches. For example, when I said, "Hey, Meta, help me with my glasses" (per the AI's own suggestion), the response was, "To get help with your glasses, say 'Hey, Meta, help me with my glasses.'" I got stuck in this comedic loop indefinitely.

That kind of thing tends to get worked out over time, with software updates, but my more immediate request is for better integration with existing ecosystems (namely, my phone). I tested my glasses with an iPhone 16e; although you can ask Meta to set a reminder, it doesn't integrate with the iOS Reminders app; it relies on its own internal software. Similarly, it's limited in what notifications it can share: Anything I already have scheduled in Reminders won't get announced through the glasses.

You can't add calendar entries, either; no "Hey, Meta, schedule a meeting with Bob at 10 a.m. tomorrow." And this isn't just an iOS limitation; it's true on Android as well. Overall, there's fairly little integration with apps.

So if this is just a sort of Alexa/Google/Siri wanna-be AI, what's the point? The camera. You can ask Meta to describe what you're seeing, give you a summary of the book you're holding, recommend recipes when you peer inside your fridge, translate text from a different language, and much more.

For blind and partially sighted users, there's incredible value in being told what's in front of you, be it an object you're holding in your hand or the overall scene in general. (Again, this is where battery life rears its ugly head; anyone who starts to rely on this for real-world assistance could run into trouble if the glasses run out of juice.)

On the whole, Meta AI works fairly well, limitations notwithstanding. While the five available celebrity voices are a rather odd mix (and all AI-simulated, which itself is kind of crazy), I really dug having Keegan-Michael Key as my assistant. There are also three "company players" if you'd rather stick with a non-famous voice.

Language translation

Because this is a fairly high-profile feature, I wanted to give it some extra attention. To start, I used photo-recognition language translation ("Hey, Meta, translate what I'm seeing") on a page written in French; it did an impressive job reading it to me in English. However, it's an all-or-nothing performance; you can't force the glasses to focus on, say, a particular area of a menu; it would attempt to translate the entire thing, which would likely be confusing (and time-consuming) to hear. So this is more useful for a street sign or poster, something with relatively few words.

Speaking of translation, there's also a new live-translation feature that arrived just as I was finishing my testing. When someone speaks to you in a different language, it's translated in real-time. Well, almost: While listening to a few YouTube videos in French, the translation lagged behind what was being said, often to the point where it seemed like the glasses couldn't keep up. Or there would be a pause of several seconds while the person continued speaking, and then I'd get a quick dump of translation, which made it difficult to concentrate on what I was hearing versus what I was seeing.

Thus, I'm not sure I'd use this to try for actual conversation (though you could do that if the other person was also wearing Meta glasses); it seems better for short bursts, like someone giving you directions or answering a simple question.

At this writing, there are four languages available — English, French, Italian, and Spanish — and to use any of them, you must first download a language pack within the Meta AI app. In return for that bit of advanced planning, you get to use live translation offline (meaning you don't need to be connected to the internet).

Ray-Ban Meta glasses: Should you buy them?

The Meta Ray-Ban AI glasses showed me the future. With their classic Wayfarer design, impressive camera, surprisingly good open-ear audio, and affordable price tag, they made the case for smart spectacles you'd want to wear full-time.

Now we just need a battery that makes that possible. I don't want to have to keep that bulky case with me at all times, and don't want to have to dock the glasses in there every 3-4 hours. The point of all this is that if you're already wearing glasses anyway, wouldn't it be great if they could play music and record video, and answer questions? Yes! But when they can't do those things all day, you add a hassle factor that I suspect will frustrate most users.

Thus, I think Meta needs to at least double the battery life before these Ray-Bans can be considered for full-time use. I'm also hopeful the next version of this product will be a bit lighter (a challenge given the ask for a bigger battery). But mark me down as someone who's very eager to see these things happen.

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Apple Mulls Buying AI Search Company Perplexity, and It Could Be Apple's Biggest Acquisition Ever

(Credit: Perplexity)

Apple executives have been discussing the probable acquisition of Perplexity, a fast-growing AI startup valued at $14 billion, as reported by Bloomberg. These talks are said to be in the early stages, and there has not yet been any direct contact between Apple and Perplexity’s management regarding an offer. Perplexity has responded to the media by saying it has no knowledge about any of it. Apple has not commented on the matter.

Apple is interested in adding new AI-powered search tools to its products, and could include features in its Safari browser. This could also mean a change from its long-standing partnership with Google, which pays Apple billions each year to remain the default search engine on Apple devices.

Google has also introduced an AI mode similar to Perplexity's, so it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. As reported by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Justice has proposed banning Google from paying companies to make it their default search engine, which could affect Apple’s current arrangement.

Perplexity has seen rising adoption, especially among younger users, and it recently completed a funding round that put its valuation at $14 billion. If Apple were to acquire Perplexity at this price, it would be the company’s largest acquisition to date. So far, Apple's $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014 is the largest.

Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, also tried to buy Perplexity earlier this year but did not reach an agreement.

Devesh Beri | Mon, June 23, 2025 at 10:03 AM EDT

Move Over, Cybertruck, This Is How You Make an Exposed Metal Wedge Car

• Check out the Peralta S: It's a new one-off supercar designed by GFG Style, the Italian design firm founded by designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son, Fabrizio.

• The Peralta is a mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive sports car, but more important, it's a hand-built wedge car made entirely out of mirror-polished aluminum.

• According to GFG, the design for the Peralta S was largely inspired by the 1972 Maserati Boomerang concept that Giorgetto Giugiaro himself designed.

Step aside, Tesla Cybertruck. This is how you build an exposed-metal wedge car. It's called the Peralta S, and it's built by GFG Style, the Italian design firm launched in 2015 by the famous designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and his son, Fabrizio.

GFG Style Peralta S© GFG Style

The body is made with hand-bent, mirror-polished aluminum that stretches across the length of a car in an unbroken arc. The only parts of the car that aren't made from aluminum are the side sills, front spoiler, and rear diffuser, which are all made from exposed carbon fiber.

Rather than using traditional doors (boring), the Peralta S has a huge front-hinged canopy that extends upward, giving way to the car's cabin (cool). The out-there design doesn't stop there. Rather than use traditional windows, which would have broken the car's shape, the Peralta S has a huge gullwing-style window on each side.

According to GFG Style, the Peralta draws inspiration for its styling from the 1972 Maserati Boomerang concept, which is fitting, given that Giorgetto Giugiaro designed that car too. The one-off was commissioned by the Mexican car collector Carlos Peralta and two sons, who gave the car its name.

Under the crazy design, the Peralta S is based on the Maserati MC20. That means a mid-engine, rear-drive layout pushing out 621 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque from a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6.

Story by Jack Fitzgerald

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RELATED

Cybertruck Concept: Inspiration and Styling

According to Musk, the design of the Cybertruck was inspired by Blade Runner and "Wet Nellie", the Lotus Esprit driven by James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me, which doubled as a submarine.

However, many people have different opinions on the styling.

Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI Will Replace Many Doctors And Teachers—Humans Won’t Be Needed 'for most things’

Bill Gates speaks during an event promoting the Netflix docuseries “What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates” in New York City on Sept. 26, 2024 | Source: Netflix

Next Gen Investing | Published Wed, Mar 26 20259:05 AM EDT | Tom Huddleston Jr.

Over the next decade, advances in artificial intelligence will mean that humans will no longer be needed “for most things” in the world, says Bill Gates.

That’s what the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist told comedian Jimmy Fallon during an interview on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” in February. At the moment, expertise remains “rare,” Gates explained, pointing to human specialists we still rely on in many fields, including “a great doctor” or “a great teacher.”

But “with AI, over the next decade, that will become free, commonplace — great medical advice, great tutoring,” Gates said.

In other words, the world is entering a new era of what Gates called “free intelligence” in an interview last month with Harvard University professor and happiness expert Arthur Brooks. The result will be rapid advances in AI-powered technologies that are accessible and touch nearly every aspect of our lives, Gates has said, from improved medicines and diagnoses to widely available AI tutors and virtual assistants.

“It’s very profound and even a little bit scary — because it’s happening very quickly, and there is no upper bound,” Gates told Brooks.

The debate over how most humans will fit into this AI-powered future is ongoing. Some experts say AI will help humans work more efficiently—rather than replacing them altogether—and spur economic growth that leads to more jobs being created.

Others, like Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman, counter that continued technological advancements over the next several years will change the nature of most jobs across nearly every industry and have a “hugely destabilizing” impact on the workforce.

“These tools will only temporarily augment human intelligence,” Suleyman wrote in his book “The Coming Wave,” which was published in 2023. “They will make us smarter and more efficient for a time, and will unlock enormous amounts of economic growth, but they are fundamentally labor replacing.”

AI is both concerning and a ‘fantastic opportunity’

Gates is optimistic about the overall benefits AI can provide to humanity, like “breakthrough treatments for deadly diseases, innovative solutions for climate change, and high-quality education for everyone,” he wrote last year.

Talking to Fallon, Gates reaffirmed his belief that certain types of jobs will likely never be replaced by AI, noting that people probably don’t want to see machines playing baseball, for example.

“There will be some things we reserve for ourselves. But in terms of making things and moving things and growing food, over time those will be basically solved problems,” Gates said.

AI’s development does come with “understandable and valid” concerns, Gates wrote in a 2023 blog post. Today’s top-of-the-line AI programs are rife with errors and prone to enabling the spread of falsehoods online, for example.

But if he had to start a new business from scratch, he’d launch an “AI-centric” startup, Gates told CNBC Make It in September 2024.

“Today, somebody could raise billions of dollars for a new AI company [that’s just] a few sketch ideas,” he said, adding: “I’m encouraging young people at Microsoft, OpenAI, wherever I find them: ‘Hey, here’s the frontier.’ Because you’re taking a fresher look at this than I am, and that’s your fantastic opportunity.”

Gates predicted AI’s potential years ago

Gates saw the AI revolution coming nearly a decade ago: When asked which industry he’d focus on if he had to start over from scratch, he quickly chose AI.

“The work in artificial intelligence today is at a really profound level,” Gates said at a 2017 event at Columbia University alongside Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett. He pointed to the “profound milestone” of Google’s DeepMind AI lab creating a computer program that could defeat humans at the board game Go.

At the time, the technology was years away from ChatGPT-style generative text, powered by large language models. Yet by 2023, even Gates was surprised by the speed of AI’s development. He’d challenged OpenAI to create a model that could get a top score on a high school AP Biology exam, expecting the task to take two or three years, he wrote in his blog post.

“They finished it in just a few months,” wrote Gates. He called the achievement “the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface [in 1980].”

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC, which broadcasts “The Tonight Show.”

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FAA Grounds Air Traffic After SpaceX Explosion Off US Coast

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered the halt of air traffic at four Florida airports on Thursday after a SpaceX rocket broke apart during a launch.

The agency halted flights into Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, and Orlando as a precaution due to possible debris from the explosion, according to Politico.

The ground stops lasted for roughly 50 minutes, the outlet said.

Video of the explosion filmed by people in the Bahamas circulated on social media.

The video showed parts of the aircraft glowing and streaking across the night sky.

#Starship #Spacex #Explosion Incredible sight here in Bahamas. pic.twitter.com/8VdrEkTQ0d

— GeneDoctor (@GeneDoctorB) March 7, 2025

SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk, revealed that the eighth test of the Starship rocket, launched from Boca Chica, Texas, was disrupted during the ascent.

“The vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost,” SpaceX said.

“Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses,” the company added.

“We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand the root cause. As always, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will offer additional lessons to improve Starship’s reliability.”

During Starship's ascent burn, the vehicle experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly and contact was lost. Our team immediately began coordination with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.

We will review the data from today's flight test to better…

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 7, 2025

The “rapid unscheduled disassembly” is the second such incident from a Starship, the massive rocket that SpaceX intends to use for lunar missions and trips to Mars.

The last Starship was lost on Jan. 16, prompting the FAA to ask the firm to conduct a mishap inquiry.

The FAA lifted a launch prohibition last week, allowing the company to conduct more tests while the investigation continues.

Another mishap report will be required of the Thursday launch.

“We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests,” SpaceX said in a statement, per NBC News.

Contact with Starship was lost just short of 10 minutes after liftoff.

Several engines appeared to fail around 8 minutes into the flight, the same time frame in which the previous crash started to occur.

Dan Huot, the communications manager for SpaceX, said during the webcast of the launch, “It’s pretty obvious we’re not going to continue the rest of the mission today.”

SpaceX revealed that debris from the destroyed ship would fall in a designated “Debris Response Area.”

The material from the rocket is not toxic, and no significant costs to marine life or water safety are expected.

Ben Zeisloft  March 7, 2025 at 6:00am: Ben Zeisloft is the editor of The Republic Sentinel, a conservative news outlet owned and operated by Christians. He is a former staff reporter for The Daily Wire and has written for The Spectator, Campus Reform, and other conservative news outlets. Ben graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with concentrations in business economics and marketing.

OPPO Launches Find N5: The World's Thinnest Book-Style Foldable with Unprecedented Design, Battery Life, and AI-Powered Performance

Press Release: February 20, 2025, SINGAPORE OPPO

Billy Zhang, President of Overseas Marketing, Sales and Services of OPPO at the launch event

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

February 20, 2025, SINGAPORE OPPO, the world's leading smart device brand, today announced the global availability of its Find N5 flagship foldable smartphone. Delivering unrivaled experiences with its thin and light design, the largest inner screen of any book-style foldable, class-leading battery life, and next-generation AI-powered performance, Find N5 redefines foldable excellence.

OPPO Find N5 in Cosmic Black and Misty White

“Find N5 unlocks the potential of folding phones, putting tablet and laptop experiences in our hands. It’s impossibly thin and light, and ColorOS 15 is precision-tuned to do more across two immersive displays, with AI-powered tools, and advanced integration with Macs. Find N5 doesn’t close doors, it opens them, unfolding the potential of all your tech while keeping you connected all day and beyond.”

— Pete Lau, SVP and Chief Product Officer, OPPO

Thin, Light, and Durable

OPPO Find N5 measures just 8.93mm thin and is a featherweight 229g

Find N5 is the world's thinnest book-style foldable when closed. Measuring just 8.93mm, it's no thicker than a traditional phone, and at a featherweight 229g, it's uncompromisingly light. Premium design and a rich feel combine with flat sides to create a secure grip, with contoured metal and balanced weighting for a tailored hold like no other.

Turn Find N5 around, and OPPO's striking flagship design flourish–the Cosmos Ring–teases the Hasselblad Master Camera System within, and showcases an evolved aesthetic that elegantly rises from the aircraft-grade fibre back.

Choose between two Find N5 color options: Cosmic Black combines a classic, demure, frosted black finish with a mature, matte black metal frame, and Misty White shimmers as its rich, layered back catches the light and its silver frame glints enticingly.

Beautiful and durable, Find N5 is the world's first IPX9-rated foldable. In addition to its IPX8 water resistance, it has been tested to withstand water jets at extreme temperatures.

OPPO's Armour Shield architecture fortifies Find N5's structural integrity. The frame is crafted from a composite of 7000 series aluminium alloy, resulting in a 30% increase in strength. With ultra-durable nanocrystal glass, the cover display benefits from up to a 20% improvement in drop resistance.

Smooth and Secure: OPPO's Titanium Flexion Hinge

Find N5's Titanium Flexion Hinge is 36% more rigid despite being 26% smaller

Find N5's world-class durability extends to its Titanium Flexion Hinge, which is 26% smaller yet 36% more rigid than the previous generation, thanks to an overhauled structure and upgraded materials.

Both Find N5's hinge cover, which protects the internal folding components, and the wing plate that connects the hinge to the folding display are made of Grade 5 titanium alloy, 3D printed to achieve the perfect shape. The hinge's load-bearing components are made using Ultra-High Strength Steel (UHSS) exclusively customised by OPPO, with an industry-leading yield strength of 2000 MPa, so you can be confident Find N5 will last, even after years of folding and unfolding.

You can feel the difference; Find N5's Titanium Flexion Hinge glides smoothly as you open and close it, while the contoured, flat sides create a perfect grip. With TÜV Rheinland Reliable Folding Certification, Find N5 is tested in extreme environments for ultimate peace of mind.

Two Large Displays

Find N5 has two large, flagship-quality displays for compromise-free use whether open or closed

Despite its slender, pocketable design, Find N5's 8.12" unfolded screen is larger than some popular tablets on the market. It creates two-in-one functionality and gives you space for next-level productivity, creativity and entertainment. And with a class-leading shallow, narrow crease, it invites flow as you navigate across it, free from interruption. Find N5 is also the first smartphone to earn TÜV Rheinland's Minimized Crease Certification, further cementing its industry-leading status.

Find N5's Dual Shielded Flexible Screen includes nine layers, including an industry-leading 0.1mm thin stainless steel support plate, ultra-thin glass, and a top film made of customized anti-shock elastomer material. This combination delivers a 70% increase in impact resistance.

Unfolded, Find N5 has the largest display of any book-style foldable

Find N5's two displays look brilliant while delivering advanced eye care. Showcasing content with over 400PPI clarity, gliding with a smooth 1-120Hz refresh rate, and beaming with a peak brightness of over 2000 nits when displaying HDR content, so apps, games, and movies look sensational, whether open or closed. Find N5 also combines low-flicker, 2160Hz PWM dimming that reduces fatigue caused by OLED flickering. And with OPPO Pen support across both displays, it fuels creativity too.

The Best Battery Life of Any Foldable

Find N5 features an ultra-high capacity 5600mAh OPPO Silicon-Carbon Battery

Find N5 lasts longer, delivering the best battery life of any folding phone. Made possible by its ultra-high capacity 5600mAh dual-cell battery, it sets a new bar, lasting beyond a full day and beating both folding and non-folding competition.

This breakthrough battery life is only possible with the next-gen OPPO Silicon-Carbon Battery, which features an industry-leading 10% silicon, resulting in an incredibly slim 2.1mm cell despite its class-leading capacity.

Find N5 powers up with 80W SUPERVOOCTM wired & 50W AIRVOOCTM wireless charging

With 80W SUPERVOOCTM and 50W AIRVOOCTM charging, unlike the foldable competition, Find N5 doesn't compromise on charging speed, offering hours of usage with minutes of charging. When paired with an OPPO magnetic case, Find N5 can enjoy high-speed 50W AIRVOOCTM wireless charging with the convenience of magnetic charging and mounting.

Power, Privacy and Photography

The first foldable to launch with the Snapdragon® 8 Elite Mobile Platform1, Find N5 boasts exceptional performance, AI-computing and efficiency. The Qualcomm® Hexagon™ NPU delivers a 45% improvement in AI performance2, while the 3nm architecture ensures Find N5's high-capacity battery lasts even longer.

Find N5 is the first foldable to feature the Snapdragon® 8 Elite Mobile Platform

Users can enjoy maximum peace of mind thanks to a dedicated security chip that delivers hardware-level security to protect on-device confidential data.

Find N5 opens up new possibilities with its Hasselblad Master Camera System. Combining an ultra-wide camera for expansive views, a wide primary camera for all-purpose shots and lossless 2x zooming, and a powerful periscope camera for far-reaching photos and videos, Find N5 is a versatile creative tool.

Find N5 combines a powerful Hasselblad Master Camera System with foldable hardware

Despite its ultra-thin profile, Find N5's periscope camera combines a high-resolution 50MP sensor with a 70mm focal length, a fast f/2.7 aperture, and OIS. Unlocking telephoto macro capture, it focuses on a subject as near as 10cm from the lens, offering tele-macro shooting for the first time on an OPPO device, so whether you're photographing food, flowers, insects, or products, Find N5 delivers a crisp picture.

One of Find Series's most loved features is Hasselblad Portrait Mode. Find N5 combines it with a photographer-favourite 70mm optical focal length for stunning, natural-looking shots of people and pets loaded with depth and detail. Pros can push the camera system even further with Hasselblad Master Mode, delivering full manual control and RAW capture, while Dolby Vision 10-bit video records rich, detailed HDR footage at up to 4K resolution, 60fps.

Ultra-Smart Big-Screen Experiences

Launching with Android 15, Find N5 will receive five years of security updates for long-lasting peace of mind and will be powered by ColorOS 15, bringing the latest generation of OPPO experiences and AI capabilities to foldables.

Find N5 brings back Boundless View, introduced on Find N3, enabling three-app, full-screen multi-tasking. It also introduces smart split screen, making two-app multi-tasking more intuitive than ever. Recognising when two apps are used in succession frequently, Find N5 suggests a two-app split view to save time and take full advantage of Find N5's 8.12" unfolded display.

With Find N5's new AI Search3, swipe down on your home screen, type in a search query or command, and Find N5 uses the power of AI to analyze countless files and settings to display the best solution.

With AI Call Summary, Find N5 can intelligently transcribe, generate summaries, and create action points based on a transcript of your calls. Whether it's groceries or a board meeting, AI Call Summary gives your memory a helping hand.

Find N5 supports seamless file transfer and remote control of your Mac with O+ Connect

And with Find N5's new dual-screen translation and interpreting feature and handy eSIM support, it's a world traveler's ultimate companion. Simply launch the Translate app, activate the Dual-Screen Interpreter, part fold your phone, and start speaking for a live translation displayed for each speaker. Find N5 breaks down language barriers in seconds.

Recorder generates a transcript and a summary of recordings, while the AI Assistant for Notes restructures and streamlines content corrects spelling, grammar, and tone, and it can intelligently expand or shorten notes. Documents, meanwhile, takes existing documents (text, spreadsheets, and presentations), can summarize them in seven languages, and translate or rewrite them in a range of styles.

OPPO AI ToolBox's advanced language tools include AI Summary, AI Speak, and AI Writer, streamlining reading and writing for the Find N5, whether browsing the web or writing a message.

Whether you're editing photos captured on Find N5 or an image you've been sent, OPPO AI makes photo editing easier than ever. AI Eraser recognizes and removes objects and people in moments, AI Clarity Enhance upgrades low-resolution pictures, transforming them into ultra-high-definition, 4K resolution images, AI Unblur refocuses blurry action shots, and AI Reflection Remover removes glare in moments.

ColorOS 15 also introduces Circle to Search with Google4. Just circle to search anything on your phone, without switching apps. And with the Google Gemini5 app, your AI assistant from Google, you can get help learning in new ways, writing emails, planning events, and more.

Next-Level Cross-OS Support

With O+ Connect for Mac, Find N5 supports seamless file transfer and remote control of your Mac

OPPO bridges the gap between MacOS computers and Find N5.

With the O+ Connect app for Mac installed, seamlessly share photos, videos and files with super fast speed across devices. O+ Connect even supports remote access, so you can easily pull files from your computer to your Find N5 remotely, or take control of your Mac interface when on the go and your Mac is miles away.

Touch to Share, introduced on Find X8 Series, also delivers one-touch sharing and receiving from iOS and iPadOS devices with your ColorOS smartphone.

OPPO's Global Commitment

Find N5 marks a new phase in OPPO's global expansion. With over 700 million users across 70 markets, OPPO ranks fourth in global smartphone shipments for 2024, while 60% of its shipments come from markets outside of Mainland China. OPPO is well-positioned to meet the growing demand for premium devices, spanning both traditional bar phones and foldable models. With the launch of Find X8 and Find N5, OPPO demonstrates a renewed commitment to its dual-flagship strategy for global markets.

OPPO will also continue its collaboration with Discovery Channel, introducing Make Your Moment, a campaign that celebrates its customers at a global and local level.

1 Snapdragon and Qualcomm branded products are products of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Qualcomm, Snapdragon, and Qualcomm Hexagon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. 
2 Compared to the previous generation chipset.
3 AI Search is not available at launch and will be updated via OTA. Its functionality may vary by region due to local laws and cloud capabilities, and it will only support English.
4 Internet connection and compatible operating system required. Availability may vary by device, country, and language.
5 Google, Android and Gemini are trademarks of Google LLC.

About OPPO

OPPO is a leading global smart device brand. Since the launch of its first mobile phone - "Smiley Face" - in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO also provides its users with ColorOS operating system and internet services. OPPO has footprints in more than 70 countries and regions, with more than 40,000 employees dedicated to creating a better life for customers around the world.

Theo Edwards for YAME Digital

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OPPO Find N5 Review - The Best Foldable There Is!

OPPO Find N5 Unboxing & Review. The world's thinnest book-style foldable and the first foldable to have the SD 8 Elite 7 core version. Full review with all the Pros and Cons including battery life and charge times.

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Africa’s Self-Powered Car Shocks Engineers Worldwide

Chikumbutso (c), President Mnangagwa (r)

Maxwell Chikumbutso technological breakthrough

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Initially, many declared it impossible. Scientists scoffed, corporations ignored it, and even those with malicious intent attempted to silence him. Yet, Maxwell Chikumbutso, a self-taught inventor from Zimbabwe, remained resolute. He has now unveiled a technology that could revolutionize the globe and disrupt various industries in the process! Introducing the Kaiyi Saith, an electric car that requires no charging, offers an unlimited range, emits zero emissions, and can even power your home. But that’s just the beginning.

“On the afternoon of January 28, 2025, President Mnangagwa met with Zimbabwean inventor Maxwell Sangulani Chikumbutso, who visited the State House in Harare.”

— Zimbabwe's Herald Online

An inventor, entrepreneur, and the founder of Saith Technologies and Saith Motors. He has developed the world's first cars that do not require fuel, recharging or any external input. The Saith FEV is a self-powering electric vehicle that operates entirely on radio waves.

Chikumbutso explained that radio frequencies are measured in nanovolts, which are less than a volt. However, he has found a way to harness this energy by creating 70 percent of the components needed for microsonic energy. His innovative components allow radio frequencies to be converted into pure, usable energy, making this invention the first of its kind in the world.

Born in Zimbabwe, Chikumbutso dropped out of school at 14 and started inventing gadgets in the 1990s. He is best known for developing a green energy technology that converts radio frequencies into electricity. His most notable claimed inventions include a free energy vehicle that allegedly requires no fuel or recharging, a green power generator using radio frequencies, a helicopter that can run on multiple fuel types, and a self-powered television.

Showcasing how his latest invention operates

The President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Mnangagwa, has expressed his personal support for the Zimbabwean inventor and innovator, Mr. Maxwell Chikumbutso, in his endeavors. His company, Saith Technologies, is reportedly aiming to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Theo Edwards for YAME Digital

China Beats Starlink to Hi-res Space-ground Laser Communication

Commercial satellite company sets 100Gbps speed record – 10 times faster than its previous feat less than a year earlier. — SCMP

China has achieved a breakthrough in satellite-to-ground laser communications that could pave the way for 6G and other applications including remote sensing with ultra-high resolution and next-generation satellite positioning technology.

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While China focuses on advancing its technology and renewing its infrastructure at home, the rest of the world is asleep or busy sponsoring wars with taxpayers' money.

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China beats Starlink to hi-res space-ground laser transmission at 6G standard

China has achieved a breakthrough in satellite-to-ground laser communications that could pave the way for 6G and other applications including remote sensing with ultra-high resolution and next-generation satellite positioning technology.

Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co, which owns Jilin-1, the world’s largest sub-metre commercial remote sensing satellite constellation, said it achieved a 100 gigabit per second ultra-high-speed image data transmission rate in testing last weekend.

The feat – 10 times the speed of its previous record – was accomplished between a truck-mounted ground station and one of the 117 satellites that currently make up the Jilin-1 constellation, the company said.

According to Wang Hanghang, the company’s head of laser communication ground station technology, the development puts Chang Guang Satellite ahead of Elon Musk’s Starlink.

“Musk’s Starlink has revealed its laser inter-satellite communication system but hasn’t deployed laser satellite-to-ground communication yet. We think they might have the technology, but we’ve already started large-scale deployment,” he said.

“We plan to deploy these laser communication units across all satellites in the Jilin-1 constellation to improve their efficiency, with a goal of networking 300 satellites by 2027.”

Wang added that the breakthrough “lays the foundation for the deployment and efficient operation of China’s satellite infrastructure, including navigation, 6G internet, and remote sensing applications”.

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BRICS News

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While the cost of upgrading ground stations is high, satellite communication offers low cost and wide coverage, making it an “important direction” for the development of 6G, he said. “Laser communication will also be a necessary technology by then.”

Xi Jinping | President of the People's Republic of China

As satellites have achieved higher spatial and temporal resolutions, the volume of data they generate is growing exponentially, creating a bottleneck for the traditional microwave data transmission bandwidth.

Recognizing the looming problem, Chang Guang shifted its focus in early 2020 to laser communications technology, a field that has seen several noteworthy strides in recent years.

In 2022, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) achieved a landmark 100Gbps laser transmission, followed by NASA’s TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system – also built by MIT – that set a record of 200Gbps in 2023.

The TBIRD payload is tiny – just three 10cm (4in) cubes that together are about the size of a tissue box – while its receiving station is part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The payload weight of China’s larger, heavier system is about 20kg (44lb) and instead of an observatory, the ground receiving unit is truck-based, making it mobile – an option that could lead to faster applications.

The Chang Guang-developed laser communication terminal, which is about the size of a backpack and supports both inter-satellite and space-to-Earth data transmission, was included in the payload of a satellite that left Earth in June 2023.

The Jilin-1 02A02 satellite selected for the trial was part of the record-breaking mission that saw a single rocket carry 41 satellites into orbit to join the Chinese constellation.

On the ground, the mobile set-up of the vehicle-mounted laser communication station means it can avoid atmospheric disruptions, such as extreme weather and turbulence, enhancing the reliability and stability of space-to-earth data transmission.

“We plan to establish multiple receiving stations across China to improve the efficiency of remote sensing image data acquisition,” Wang said.

The previous record achieved by the system was a 10Gbps space-to-earth data transfer in October 2023. By January last year, the company had conducted China’s first 100Gbps inter-satellite transmission, between the 02A01 and 02A02 platforms.

The team overcame numerous technical challenges to achieve the latest breakthrough, including atmospheric turbulence, high-speed relative motion errors, and precision beam tracking.

The achievement of a 100Gbps transmission rate from a satellite to Earth “is equivalent to transmitting 10 full-length movies in just one second. It’s like upgrading a single-lane highway to thousands of lanes”, Wang said.

According to the company’s official report, the application possibilities are extensive, spanning disaster monitoring, national defense, smart cities, environmental protection, and emergency response, in addition to 6G satellite internet.

The latest achievement marks a significant step forward for China’s satellite communication capabilities, solidifying its position in the global space technology race, it said. – South China Morning Post

By Zhang Tong for TheStar

Huawei’s Tri-Foldable Mate XT Sparks National Pride in China Despite Expensive Price

Huawei Technology Mate XT

However, the cost of the device has been criticized for being too expensive at $2,800, which even real Huawei enthusiasts are complaining about.

Huawei Mate XT: The New Revolution in The Mobile World. Chinese citizens have taken to social media to express pride in how Huawei has developed the Mate XT tri-foldable smartphone.

By Jose Enrico | Published Sep 11, 2024 11:02AM EDT

Chinese citizens have taken to social media to express pride in how Huawei has been able to come up with the Mate XT tri-foldable smartphone and, second, in claiming it can challenge Apple even with the current US sanctions. 

However, the cost of the device has been criticized for being too expensive and it costs $2,800 which even real Huawei enthusiasts are complaining about. 

Before this happened, the Mate XT reached 3 million pre-orders in China alone.

Huawei Mate XT: The New Revolution in The Mobile World

(Photo : Huawei/YouTube) | Huawei Mate XT, the newest tri-foldable phone has an absurd pricing at $2,800. Despite that, Chinese buyers believe it can "out-innovate" Apple's iPhone 16

Just imagine buying more than three iPhone 16 phones. You now get the gist of the Mate XT's pricing, according to BGR. 

Huawei launched the Mate XT on Tuesday as the tri-foldable phone in the industry while Apple introduced the AI iPhone 16 models on the same day. 

The timing of this has also attracted attention, Huawei's new device has become a symbol of technology strength against US sanctions for many Chinese users.

Interestingly, the Mate XT is believed to be launched on September 20 the same as the iPhone 16. Nonetheless, there are actions that suggest that the Mate XT will be launched only in China, which will only serve to deepen the people's pride in domestic electronics.

Nationalism Drives Huawei Support on Social Media

Purchases of Huawei's new telephone model skyrocketed and when this was posted to Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging site, people could only shower the company with praises. 

Posts like "Apple didn't drop, but Huawei has indeed come back" and "Change is coming nothing can stop it, and the US sanctions are useless" depict some satisfaction from the Chinese users. 

At one time, virality hit Apple's employee's apparent visit to a Huawei store to see the Mate XT launch becoming the no. 2 trending topic on Weibo for over 13 and half hours. This video was watched 91 million times and more than 6,600 comments were placed.

Yahoo reports that this has created a buzz around the release of the Huawei Mate XT and it is seen as a return of Huawei to the 5G smartphone market after the successful release of its Mate 60 series phones and the Pura series of phones also have home-made chips. 

These milestones are described as the triumphs over US sanctions which have withheld Huawei's access to the kind of US chips and technology since 2019.

Huawei vs. Apple: A Battle for Technological Supremacy

However, many people are not happy with the price of the Mate XT, which is about $2,800 without taking into consideration some individuals quite like Elon Musk.

The basic version is 19,999 yuan, while others with greater storage are within the bracket of 23,999 yuan ($3,300).

Out of 9,200 participants of the Weibo poll regarding the Mate XT, only 966 are willing to buy the phone, Moreover, more than 4,700 mentioned the high price as an issue.

"No matter how much I like the product, the price tag just sounds crazy to me. Maybe Huawei isn't really targeting people like me," a Huawei loyalist surnamed Xu commented.

US Sanctions on Huawei

As we know, Washington has a beef with Beijing when it comes to technology. The US admin aims to curb China's development. Most importantly, it wants to restrict the latter's dominance in the military.

Huawei has been struggling to keep up with the restrictions since a few years ago, making it harder for the company to acquire US-made chips. Despite this, the smartphone maker did not cave in, trusting its local semiconductors.

The Most Exciting Rumors About Samsung's New Foldable Phones

Here are some of the biggest rumors out there about the phones’ expected new features:

The tech giant is expected to introduce the newest iterations of its foldable lineup, the Z Flip6 and the Z Fold6

By Pauline Vu, Senior Reporter | Mon, July 8, 2024 at 2:25 AM EDT· 4 min read

Samsung will unveil its newest products at its summer Unpacked event on July 10, streaming live from Paris. The tech giant is expected to introduce the newest iterations of its foldable lineup, the Z Flip6 and the Z Fold6.

Here are some of the biggest rumors out there about the phones’ expected new features:

Artificial Intelligence

Back in January, Samsung made a big splash by introducing the Galaxy S24 lineup as its first AI phone, and the company promises that will continue with the new foldables.

"The introduction of Galaxy AI on the Galaxy S24 series was only the start," Won-joon Choi, Samsung's executive vice president of mobile business, wrote in a recent blog post. "To deliver a completely new and unique AI experience, we will further optimize the Galaxy AI experience for the upcoming foldable devices."

Both the Z Fold and Z Flip will utilize Samsung’s Galaxy AI model, which supports features such as a “Live Translate” tool for real-time translations for the S24 phones. A potential AI feature specific to the foldables could be real-time translation — using both halves of the phone.

Galaxy Z Flip6

While the Z Flip6 isn’t expected to have as many design changes as the Z Fold6, it’s still rumored to have a larger cover screen (the screen that’s visible when the device is folded and closed) of 3.9 inches, compared with 3.4 inches for the Z Fold5; a heftier design to accommodate a larger battery; and a less visible screen crease.

Expected new colors are Light Blue, Mint, Silver Shadow, and Yellow, while additional exclusive colors may include White, Peach, Crafted Black, and Lavender.

One of the biggest rumored changes is an upgraded 50MP main camera, up from 12MP. The Z Flip6 will also have an improved Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset to provide better performance and longer battery life.

Both the Z Flip6 and the Z Fold6 will likely use "Ironflex" technology that will improve the durability of its internal foldable screens.

Rumors have the Galaxy Z Flip 6 starting at $1,100 for the 256GB model, which would be a $100 bump up from the Z Flip 5's $1,000 starting price.

Galaxy Z Fold6

The Galaxy Z Fold6, which folds vertically like a book, will see a significant design change to bring it more in line with the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s more angular appearance. The Z Fold6 should be thinner and lighter, thanks to a possible titanium frame, and will have a larger cover screen of 60.2mm, up from 57.4mm. It should also have an Ironflex screen.

Additionally, both the main and cover screens could reach up to 2600 nits of brightness (up from 1,750 in the previous iteration).

The Z Fold6 will likely have an improved Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, an increase in RAM up to 16GB, and a slightly larger 4,600mAh battery (up from 4,400mAh).

The rumored new color offerings are Navy, Pink, and Silver Shadow.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 stands on a table. What changes will the company unveil for the Galaxy Z Fold6? (Photo by Christoph Dernbach/picture alliance via Getty Images) (dpa/picture alliance via Getty I)

One thing that's not expected to change from the Z Fold5: the camera specs, which will stay at 50MP for the main camera, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP telephoto.

One of the more intriguing rumors about the Z Fold6 is that Samsung may offer different versions of it, such as a cheaper version or even a premium model that would potentially be called the Galaxy Z Fold6 Ultra.

The base 256GB model is rumored to start at $1,899, a $100 increase from the Z Fold 5's starting price.

Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Buds

Samsung is also expected to unveil an update to its smartwatch lineup with the Galaxy Watch 7, which will have new health features, a sleeker design, and a new processor. There might also be a high-end Galaxy Watch Ultra so Samsung can compete with the Apple Watch Ultra.

The company may also introduce the new Galaxy Buds 3 with improved sound quality and battery life, as the current Buds 2 Pro is already two years old.

Rumors have it that Samsung may also launch its first smart ring, the Galaxy Ring, at Unpacked. The company teased the ring at its event back in January. The Galaxy Ring is expected to have health-monitoring features, and sleep tracking tools and would integrate with the Samsung ecosystem. It may be priced between $300 and $350.

Will these rumors pan out? Tune in to Samsung’s presentation to find out.

This article was written by a Currently Media editorial contributor and was produced in part with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The statements in this article don’t reflect the positions, strategies or opinions of AT&T.

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“Samsung Official Launch”

— UPDATED: July 10, 2024

Samsung Galaxy Unpacked July 2024: Official Livestream | Replay

Biodiesel From Date-seeds Powers Bus Transport Initiative

Oman Observer | Business Economy: Date-seeds powers bus transport initiative

Oman's significant consumption of dates led to a surplus of waste generated from the seeds. Traditionally used for coffee, an innovative idea sparked a determined seven-year research and development process, resulting in successful biodiesel production from date kernels.

Dates Kernel Biodiesel Research

The biofuel revolution in Oman stands as a shining example of innovation, collaboration, and perseverance in the face of daunting challenges. Dr. Al Haj's pioneering work exemplifies the transformative power of research and development in addressing pressing environmental issues and shaping a more sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come.

A Mwasalat bus in Oman is powered entirely by biodiesel derived from waste date Kernels.

Jomar Mendoza for Oman Observer | Business Economy | MUSCAT, MAY 13

A groundbreaking initiative is revolutionizing the way people think about energy production and waste management. Dr. Lamya al-Haj, an Associate Professor at the College of Science at Sultan Qaboos University, has spearheaded a remarkable project to transform waste date seeds into biodiesel, paving the way for a more sustainable future for the Middle East region.

Gaining traction, the World Economic Forum (WEF) recently featured a video of Dr. Al Haj’s work. In the featured video, the journey toward biofuel production from date kernels began in 2015 when Dr. Al Haj and her team recognized the vast potential of utilizing the oil content in date seeds to create biodiesel.

With Oman being a significant consumer of dates, there was an abundance of waste generated from the seeds, which were traditionally used for coffee. This innovative idea sparked a seven-year-long research and development process, culminating in successful biodiesel production from date kernels.

"The date seeds were used for coffee as coffee beans. We thought, can we utilize the oil content in the seeds to convert that into biodiesel because it has about 9 to 15% of oil in the seeds? And that's what sparked the idea in the very beginning," Dr. Al Haj explained.

The first tangible outcome of this groundbreaking research was the launch of a Mwasalat bus in Oman powered entirely by biodiesel derived from waste date kernels. This achievement marked a significant milestone, showcasing the potential for renewable energy solutions to replace traditional fossil fuels in the transportation sector.

"For me, it was a personal achievement because I wanted to drive home the point that research can go from the lab to the road, and it's a very strong message to send to our youth, to our students, to our society, that research should be focused on real problems in our countries and the world," Dr. Al Haj expressed.

Beyond the environmental benefits of reducing waste and carbon emissions, the biofuel production project in Oman carries wide-ranging social and economic implications. By creating a demand for date kernels as a raw material for biodiesel production, the project has the potential to generate new sources of income for farmers and create job opportunities in the agricultural sector.

"So this is going to create jobs for the farmers because instead of them throwing the seeds on in the farming industry, now they're going to be part of the solution for the collection," Dr Al Haj highlighted.

The biofuel revolution in Oman stands as a shining example of innovation, collaboration, and perseverance in the face of daunting challenges. Dr Al Haj's pioneering work exemplifies the transformative power of research and development in addressing pressing environmental issues and shaping a more sustainable and prosperous future for generations to come.

Solar Eclipse 2024

35 photos that show the rare astronomical event in all of its glory

Yahoo News Photo Staff and Neia Balao | Updated Mon, April 8, 2024 at 6:36 PM EDT

On Monday, droves of people donned protective eyewear and headed outdoors to catch a glimpse of the total solar eclipse.

Yurem Rodriquez watches as the moon partially covers the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday. (Eric Gay/AP)

In the United States, the sun was fully covered across 15 states along the “path of totality.” For 49 states, a partial eclipse was visible. The partial eclipse began near Mazatlan, Mexico, at 12:51 p.m. ET and crossed the U.S. at 1:27 p.m. CT. The partial eclipse ends in Caribou, Maine at 4:40 p.m. ET.

This event marked the last opportunity to catch a total solar eclipse in the continental U.S. for approximately 20 years.

These are some photos of the total solar eclipse in all of its glory.

People use their cellphones as the sky darkens during a total solar eclipse in Mazatlan, Mexico, on Monday. (Fernando Llano/AP)

The diamond ring effect is seen as the moon eclipses the sun in Fort Worth, Texas, on Monday. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

Tawhid Rana, of Midland, Mich., holds his daughter Thia as she views the sun through a telescope at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis on Monday. (Michael Conroy/AP)

People observe the solar eclipse, in Torreon, Mexico. (Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

The solar eclipse is seen above the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Children attend the eclipse viewing at Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Scott Gable for Yahoo News)

People look out toward Lake Erie and the horizon during a total solar eclipse under cloudy conditions at Dunkirk Lighthouse and Veterans Park Museum in Dunkirk, N.Y. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

Senate pages wear eclipse glasses as they view the moon partially covering the sun during a total solar eclipse, in front of the U.S. Senate on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Brandon/AP)

People watch the partial solar eclipse as they gather on the observation deck of Edge at Hudson Yards in New York City. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

The moon partially covers the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Eagle Pass, Texas. (Eric Gay/AP)

Couples to be wed exchange rings just before totality during a solar eclipse at a mass wedding ceremony at Trenton Community Park, in Trenton, Ohio. (Jon Cherry/AP)

Amerika Garcia uses a pair of protective lenses to look at the sun during a total solar eclipse in Piedras Negras, Mexico. (Sergio Flores for Yahoo News)

The moon partially covers the sun during a total solar eclipse, as seen from Mazatlan, Mexico. (Fernando Llano/AP)

Joe and Ric Solis use special glasses as they prepare to watch a total solar eclipse in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Eric Gay/AP)

Clouds part as a partial eclipse crosses over a church steeple in Manor, Texas. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)

Wendy and Richard Erhard watch the solar eclipse from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Overlook in Cleburne County, Ark. (Brad Vest for Yahoo News)

A kid watches the eclipse from the beach in Mazatlan, Mexico. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

A total solar eclipse is seen from Mazatlan, Mexico. (Henry Romero/Reuters)

People use special protective glasses to observe a total solar eclipse in Mazatlan, Mexico. (Henry Romero/Reuters)

A person uses two sets of glasses to see the eclipse in Mazatlan, Mexico. (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

People gather under overcast skies ahead of a total solar eclipse in Niagara Falls, Canada. (Matt Rourke/AP)

Some of the 309 people who gathered to break the Guinness world record for the largest group of people dressed as the sun pose while boarding a sightseeing boat before the total solar eclipse in Niagara Falls, Canada. (Kyaw Soe Oo/Reuters)

Adrian Plaza, 9, tests his eclipse glasses ahead of a partial solar eclipse in Queens, N.Y. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Glasses that are being used to see the eclipse in Torreon, Mexico. (Getty Images)

People stand next to bubbles as they assemble to view a total solar eclipse in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Christian Monterrosa/Reuters)

People dance next to representations of the Earth, sun and moon at Saluki Stadium, ahead of a total solar eclipse, in Carbondale, Ill. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

Tourists sleep next to the Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

Junior Espejo looks through eclipse glasses being handed out by NASA in Houlton, Maine. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

People are set up at Niagara Falls State Park ahead of a total solar eclipse across North America, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

Members of the media set up at Niagara Falls State Park in Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

A family poses for a photo with a large eclipse glasses display in front of the pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. (Michael Conroy/AP)

Judah Terlep, 4, wears a mask with solar eclipse glasses, in Carbondale, Ill. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

People at Niagara Falls State Park watch Niagara Falls and the rainbow ahead of a solar eclipse to take place later in the day, in Niagara Falls, N.Y. (Soren Larson/Reuters)

A man holding a solar eclipse T-shirt poses for a photo at Niagara Falls State Park in Niagara Falls, Canada. (Mert Alper Dervis/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Related — The next total solar eclipse in the U.S

There are several other total solar eclipses scattered between April 8, 2024, and August 12, 2045. However, the 2045 solar eclipse will be the next one visible across most of the contiguous United States, according to NationalEclipse.com. Only three states are in the path of totality for a solar eclipse in 2044.

Viewers in what is called 'the path of totality' will see the moon completely block the sun—one of the most spectacular things anyone can see in their lifetime.

A woman in Florida claims she went on a shooting spree after being told to do so by God because of the total solar eclipse

Taylon Nichelle Celestine

Woman Says God Told Her to Shoot Interstate Drivers Because of the Eclipse, Fla. Police Say

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I never thought I’d be 46 and having a baby on my own — but here I am

Surprise, I’m pregnant! Here’s how it all happened

By Isha Sesay

Oct. 28, 2022, 12:52 AM AEDT

Embarking on this pregnancy journey by myself hasn't been easy, but I have no regrets. Courtesy Isha Sesay

TODAY.com will be following along on Isha Sesay’s pregnancy journey. For more of her story, be sure to check back here for periodic updates from Isha.

If you’d told the 16-year-old me that at 46, I’d be divorced, single, and having a baby on my own — by choice! — I’d have shuddered and firmly said “no!” Back then, I had very definite ideas about the future course my personal life would take, and it didn’t look like this. I imagined something way more straightforward and dare I say it, conventional.

I’ve been blessed to build the career of my dreams over decades as a journalist — 13 years on air for CNN International, traveling the world to cover global events and interviewing presidents, movie stars, and world leaders. I published a book, became a UN Goodwill Ambassador, and started a nonprofit to help empower African girls, but in my quiet moments the one thing I wanted the most, to become a mother, remained out of reach.

A brief marriage to a kind man didn’t result in children, and then the year I turned 40, my mum had a catastrophic stroke, leaving me no emotional space to contemplate anything other than caring for her. Six years went by and a few months ago I found myself in a subpar relationship with a man who took about 12 hours to reply to all my texts, among other red flags. It was then, in the aftermath of our inevitable breakup, that it hit me: Not having a child would be the greatest regret of my life. And with my biological clock ticking down, if I was waiting for the right man to come along before I did it, well, I might just find myself out of time.

In the aftermath of our breakup, it hit me: Not having a child would be the greatest regret of my life. ... If I was waiting for the right man to come along before I did it, well, I might just find myself out of time.

So, I decided to take control of my life and settle on the bravest and scariest decision I have ever made: to have a baby on my own. I had many long conversations with myself and tried to get to grips with questions about what it would mean to not have the support of a partner, both emotionally and financially. How would I handle society’s questions?  What would be a single parent means for my child? I still don’t have all the answers, but I decided to take the leap because I refuse to let fear, social conventions, or judgment hold me back from seeking this joy.

The process hasn’t been easy. The endless array of meetings with various doctors has also required a battery of blood tests, pelvic exams, bruising injections, nausea-inducing medication, and an unexpected fibroid surgery. But perhaps most challenging of all has been the emotional dimension of this journey, especially surrounding my choice of a sperm donor. The decision asked of me to confront questions surrounding the importance of the race, ethnicity, religion, and educational background of my child’s father. Essentially, it forced me to re-examine my own upbringing, values, and worldview. But harder still was the task of trying to tease clues from the questionnaires that would tell me whether a donor was a good man. Did he have a moral compass? Was he truly kind, empathetic, and open-minded? Ultimately, I made a decision — entirely on my own — and I have no regrets.

Getting pregnant forced me to ask tough questions about myself, my values, and my own upbringing. Courtesy Isha Sesay

My first IVF attempt was unsuccessful, and I cried for days afterward, before I could find the strength to start the process all over again a few months later. But with each passing day, I grew more fearful and anxious about my chances of being able to successfully carry a child. Those feelings only intensified when my doctor decided to halt my second attempt mid-cycle because my body was responding negatively to the medication. With two failed attempts to my name, I approached my third embryo transfer with relatively low expectations. In the two weeks that followed the procedure, my mind raced uncontrollably and I battled the urge to take an early pregnancy test. The day before I was scheduled to return to the clinic, I finally caved in and bought a home test because I couldn’t bear a repeat of the hours-long wait before the clinic called with the results. The next morning I got up long before the sun was up, anxiously headed to my bathroom, and opened the box. The minutes ticked by and I cycled through a myriad of emotions. When the word “pregnant” flashed up on the tiny screen, I screamed and fell to my knees before bursting into tears.

Even though many weeks have gone by since then and my belly is growing larger by the day, whenever I say the words, “I am pregnant,” it is with no small measure of amazement. I am elated, emotional, terrified, but above all thankful. My pregnancy journey is just beginning, but so far I can tell you that in addition to great joy, it has also brought unenviable amounts of nausea, fatigue, food aversions, sound sensitivity, and an ongoing battle with my hormones. In the weeks ahead, I plan to share more of my life-changing experience in the hope that if there is anyone out there being held back from chasing their heart’s desire — no matter what it is — maybe my story will spark something in them and provide the little nudge they need to go for it.

Source: This article was originally published on TODAY.com