Author: knjohn

End-to-End Encrypted Texts Between Android and iPhone Are Coming | WIRED

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Knifings, firebombings, shootings, and murder-for-hire plots—all linked to a splinter group of the 764 crime network called “No Lives Matter.” According to its own manifesto, the group seeks to “purify mankind through endless attacks” and has released at least two “kill guides” tied to violent plots in the US and Europe. Intelligence documents reviewed by WIRED reveal growing concern among analysts, but experts remain unsure how to stop the group’s spread.

On Monday, X experienced intermittent outages after a botnet flooded the social network with junk traffic in an attempt to take down its system. Elon Musk stated that the distributed denial-of-service attack originated from Ukrainian IP addresses, implying that the country—already under siege by a Russian invasion and frequently mocked by the centibillionaire—may have been responsible. Security experts tell WIRED that this is not how DDoS attacks work.

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Best Portable Chargers (2025): iPhones, iPads, Laptops and; More | WIRED

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PORTABLE DEVICES HAVE a Murphy’s law-like ability to run out of power at the least convenient moment: as you step on the bus, right in the middle of an important meeting, or just as you get comfortable on the couch and press Play. This is why you need the best portable chargers handy, to make all those situations a thing of the past.

There are hundreds of portable battery packs, and picking one can be confusing. To help, we’ve spent years working our way through all of them. This obsession started when WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson lived off-grid in a vintage RV, powered primarily by solar panels. But even if you’re not living in an off-grid solar setup, good power banks will come in handy. These are our favorites. Be sure to check out our Best MagSafe Power Banks guide for Apple-specific portable chargers, and our Best Portable Power Stations guide if you need more power.

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Fed Keeps Interest Rates Unchanged, Experts Not Surprised | Entrepreneur

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Federal Reserve officials kept interest rates at a target range of 4.25% to 4.5% following the conclusion of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday.

The range has stayed the same since December when the Fed cut rates by 25 basis points or 0.25%, but the Fed indicated that reductions to the rate could occur later in the year.

“We’ll be adapting as we go,” Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said in a Wednesday press conference following the decision. He noted that the Fed does not need to rush to make policy adjustments and “is well positioned to wait for clarity” on President Donald Trump’s economic plans, including tariffs

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Morgan Stanley Plans to Cut 2,000 Workers, Partly Due to AI | Entrepreneur

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Morgan Stanley is preparing to reduce its 80,000-person workforce by 2,000 employees later this month, marking the bank’s first significant round of layoffs since CEO Ted Pick took over in January 2024.

The workforce reduction will affect divisions across Morgan Stanley, except for its 15,000 financial advisers, per Bloomberg. The cuts are meant to keep costs down as executives face low attrition, or a low rate of employees leaving an organization through resignations, terminations, or retirements.

Some employees impacted by the layoffs will be let go due to performance issues, while others will be cut because AI and automation have replaced their roles within the bank. A source told Bloomberg that the bank expects to make more job reductions due to AI in the coming years.

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Apple’s iPhone 17 might come with a big selfie camera upgrade | Mashable

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Apple might be preparing for a big selfie camera upgrade on the iPhone.

According to analyst Jeff Pu (via MacRumors), all the devices in the iPhone 17 lineup (that includes the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro, the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and the rumored iPhone 17 Air) will have a 24-megapixel front camera.

That’s a pretty big upgrade given that the currently available iPhones all come with a 12-megapixel camera. Other details are absent, though Apple sleuth Ming-Chi Kuo previously said that the camera will “significantly improve the image quality”.

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A brand new volcanic vent opened up in Yellowstone National Park | Mashable

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A new column of steam rises from Yellowstone.

While the expansive volcano shows no hints of an eruption, magma brews beneath the surface, fueling hundreds of geysers and other heated phenomena. In a new blog on its website, the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory reports a new steaming feature in the national park, illustrative of this dynamic world’s constantly evolving, and thrilling, landscape.

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Poppi just sold for $1.6 billion | CNN Business

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PepsiCo is buying Poppi, the popular prebiotic soda brand, in a $1.65 billion deal.

The move marks PepsiCo’s further shift into the “better for you” category as consumers shy away from sugar-filled drinks and unhealthy snacks. In January, the company bought Siete Foods, which makes gluten-free chips for $1.2 billion, and PepsiCo bought the remaining half of the Sabra hummus brand it didn’t own late last year. “We’ve been evolving our food and beverage portfolio over many years, including by innovating with our brands in new spaces and through disciplined, strategic acquisitions that enable us to offer more positive choices to our consumers,” said Ramon Laguarta, CEO of PepsiCo, in a statement Monday.

Source: Poppi just sold for $1.6 billion | CNN Business

‘Stranded’ NASA astronauts will be carried away on stretchers after return from space. Here’s why. | Live Science

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On Tuesday (March 18) NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are expected to splash harmlessly into Earth’s oceans inside a SpaceX crew capsule, ending a more than nine-month stay in space that was originally slated to last just a few weeks. When their capsule is finally opened, the astronauts will likely be carried out and loaded onto stretchers.

The reason for this has nothing to do with Williams and Wilmore’s specific mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), but is simply a matter of protocol that all astronauts must follow, experts told Live Science.

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How Ann Arbor’s sustainable energy utility could impact future power grids | Fast Company

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An experiment is underway in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that could change how communities generate and distribute power in the future.

The city, with voters’ strong support, is launching its own sustainable energy utility. This new utility won’t replace DTE Energy, the local investor-owned power company, or even use DTE’s wires.

Instead, Ann Arbor will slowly build out a whole new modern power system, starting with installing rooftop solar and battery storage and reducing energy usage in individual homes and businesses whose owners opt in. The city then plans to expand by connecting homes and neighborhoods into microgrids and by using community solar and networked geothermal to allow broader access to clean energy.

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Florida’s citrus faces mounting threat from real estate developers | Fast Company

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As Trevor Murphy pulls up to his dad’s 20-acre (8-hectare) grove in one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, he points to the cookie-cutter, one-story homes encroaching on the orange trees from all sides.

“At some point, this isn’t going to be an orange grove anymore,” Murphy, a third-generation grower, says as he gazes at the rows of trees in Lake Wales, Florida. “You look around here, and it’s all houses, and that’s going to happen here.”

Polk County, which includes Lake Wales, contains more acres of citrus than any other county in Florida. And in 2023, more people moved to Polk County than any other county in the country.

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