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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has officially dropped its case against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The FTC filed an order to dismiss its complaint on Thursday, just days after it lost an appeal for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from finalizing its acquisition.

“The Commission has determined that the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation in this case,“ says the FTC in its filing. The filing brings an end to the FTC’s fight to try and block Microsoft’s $68.7 billion deal, nearly two years after it originally sought a temporary restraining order and injunction from a US federal district court.

Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, D.C. We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement. https://t.co/nnmUI76q0l pic.twitter.com/KgLxhZppx3

— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) May 22, 2025

Microsoft won its FTC fight to buy Activision Blizzard in July 2023, and the deal was completed several months later, in October, nearly two years after the acquisition was first announced. The FTC had appealed the ruling nearly two years ago, but an appeals court panel affirmed the denial of an injunction earlier this month.

“Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington, DC,” says Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith. “We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement.”

From The Verge via this RSS feed

Sciel is a true heavy-hitter in your Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 party, offering a fairly straightforward way to make number go up compared to her counterparts.

While, yes, Lune and Maelle can dish out serious damage, both require some preparatory work to achieve that output, whereas Sciel only requires you to be aware of her comparatively more streamlined Twilight mechanic.

If you’re interested in the best of the best for your scythe-wielding teacher, this Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 guide will break down the best Sciel build, including her best weapons, attributes, Pictos, and skills to quickly dispatch foes.

Best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Sciel works as a support unit and DPS, but we believe her talents are much better in a damage-dealing role. She’s at her best as the team’s primary source of damage.

With Sciel, you want to apply Foretell stacks on enemies and then trigger those stacks with the appropriate skills. The best skills for Sciel will allow her to mark enemies as well for her other teammates to trigger, so she works well with at least one other dedicated damage dealer — preferably Maelle.

The best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is:

Attributes: Defense and LuckWeapon: CharnonSkills: Twilight Dance, Sealed Fate, Final Path, Delaying Slash, Fortune’s Fury, and Plentiful HarvestPictos: Immaculate, Glass Cannon, and Inverted Affinity

Sciel’s best attributes by far are Agility and Luck. Her skills and playstyle are meant for someone who can attack often and deal critical hits, too. What’s more, in the game’s opening act, the best weapon for Sciel, the Scielson, scales well with the stats mentioned above. As you progress, you’ll be swapping weapons to the Rangeson and Charnon, respectively, but once you reach the endgame and the Charnon, you’ll have access to guaranteed critical hits. This allows you to Recoat her attributes away from Agility and put them into Defense instead.

Below, we’ll explain in more detail why this is the best Sciel build in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.

Best attributes for Sciel

Your attribute spread for Sciel will look different depending on how far in the game you are. Make sure to save a Recoat for the late game so you can prioritize the perfect attributes for the final stretch.

In Act 1, prioritize Agility and Luck for the extra turns and crit chance. (You can also put points into Vitality to give Sciel some survivability in the early game.)

In Act 2, the best weapon for Sciel becomes the Rangeson, so her attributes should reflect that. You should alter your strategy and prioritize Agility and Defense.

Once you get Charnon, you’ll want to Recoat your attributes again, only this time prioritizing Defense and Luck for that weapon’s scaling.

Best weapon for Sciel

The best weapon for Sciel is the Charnon.

This missable weapon can be found by defeating the Gestral Merchant, Grour, at Renoir’s Drafts. To find this merchant, you must have Esquie’s diving ability, which you get when he reaches relationship level 6. Defeating Grour will allow you to purchase the Charnon. Hopefully you’ve been saving your cash — it costs a whopping 89,884 chroma!

The weapon’s strength comes from its Level 4 passive, granting guaranteed critical hits when Sciel is in Twilight. Sciel’s abilities fit into one or two categories, Sun and Moon. Using a skill will generate a card of the assigned typing. Once you’ve generated both a Sun card and a Moon card, Sciel will enter Twilight, offering increased damage and double the amount of Foretell you can stack on an enemy.

The goal is to ensure Sciel spends as much time in Twilight as often as possible, so it only makes sense you’d want a weapon that empowers the stance to new heights.

Best Pictos and Luminas for Sciel

You will need some time to build up the best Pictos and Luminas for Sciel. The best Pictos in her case are Immaculate, Glass Canon, and Inverted Affinity. Below are the detailed descriptions of what these Pictos do and the stats they grant bonuses to.

Immaculate — Speed and Crit Rate. 30% increased damage until a hit is received.Glass Cannon — Speed. Deal 25% more damage, but take 25% more damage.Inverted Affinity — Health and Crit Rate. Apply Inverted on self for three turns on battle start.50% increased damage while Inverted.

These Pictos are pretty much the “One Shot Setup.” They provide Sciel and other DPS characters the scaling and damage necessary to dictate the battlefield. However, the trade-off of these Pictos is low survivability. If you’re not a God at Expedition 33’s defense mechanisms, maybe you should practice them as you make your way through the game and to Sciel’s perfect build. You can also offset this weakness a bit with the right Luminas.

We’d recommend using the following Luminas, depending on how many Lumina Points you have.

Augmented Counter IAuto RushCritical BurnDead Energy IIRouletteEmpowering ParryEnergising JumpEnergising ParryEnergising Start IIFirst StrikeTaintedFull StrengthPainted PowerRecoveryCheaterSolidifyingSweet KillWarming Up

Best skills for Sciel

The best skills for Sciel are the following:

Twilight Dance: Deals extreme single target Dark damage. 4 hits. During Twilight, extends Twilight duration by 1 turn. Consumes all Foretell to deal additional damage.Sealed Fate: Deals high single target damage. 5-7 hits. Uses Weapon’s element. Each hit can consume 1 Foretell to deal 200% more damage. Critical Hits don’t remove the Foretell but still gets the damage increase.Final Path: Deals extreme single target Dark damage and applies 10 Foretell. 1 hit. Can Break.Delaying Slash: Deals medium single target damage. 2 hits. Uses weapon’s element. Consumes Foretell to increase damage and delay target’s turn.Fortune’s Fury: Targeted ally deals double damage for one turn.Plentiful Harvest: Deals medium single target Physical damage. 2 hits. Consumes all Foretell on a target and gives 1 AP to a party member for each Foretell consumed.

These moves allow you to properly set Sciel or your chosen sub DPS unit for success. Fortune’s Fury will be your primary skill. Combined with a skill like Marking Card, it is perfect for unleashing considerable damage on the game’s more challenging encounters. Final Path and Twilight Dance are your primary sources of damage if you prefer another weapon. However, with the Charnon and its awesome critical hit passive, you can’t go wrong with Sealed Fate.

From Polygon via this RSS feed

Blue Prince’s PlayStation 5 save file bug is finally over thanks to a new patch Raw Fury released Thursday. Tonda Ros*,* directorand creator of Blue Prince, released patch notes for update 1.04.5, directly addressing a stubborn bug, which, according to the game’s Reddit community, appears around day 100 and prevents players from saving any progress.

The patch notes described the glitch as the “PlayStation 5 save rollback issue” and explained that it was “caused by a duplication of save data causing new save information to time out and not be saved.”

With the new fix, Ros alerted players they shouldn’t have any “issues progressing and saving the game past the point where the bug was initially encountered.” Unfortunately, any progress that wasn’t saved due to the bug won’t be recovered, and players will return to Mount Holly on the day the bug first appeared.

The patch also addresses bugs that cause the player to lose steps, preventing players from entering the highest rank, and more spoiler-heavy issues.

Nonetheless, the director asserted that a definitive version of the game will be achieved through the forthcoming 1.10 patch.

Patch 1.10 is set to include changes and additions such as “an overhyped arcade game, a curious house cat, accessibility features like color assist mode, controls remapping, cursor size/opacity settings, and widescreen support. Some UI/UX improvements, more variations for end-of-day manor descriptions and accompanying house illustrations, HUD display customization, final room/item balancing, and the addition of a handful of extra cinematics that I am still working on (the unlockable challenge modes actually have their own unique openings and endings!)”

Hopefully, there won’t be any more save file glitches as players head from patch 1.04.5 to 1.10. Happy drafting!

Blue Prince is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

From Polygon via this RSS feed

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun – Words of Vengeance is a new typing game based on Warhammer 40,000 and it’s available now for free on PC via Steam. The dark sci-fi spin on a typing teacher was shadow-dropped during a series of announcements made during the latest Warhammer Skulls Showcase. Also shown was a trailer for Boltgun 2, a sequel to Auroch Digital’s first-person shooter the new typing game is based on.

Words of Vengeance follows in the footsteps of games like Typing of the Dead where you type on-screen prompts as quickly and as accurately as you can to defeat enemies and progress in on-rails levels. It’s set in the world of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun and uses the same pixelated 3D aesthetic with plenty of blood and violence, except the blood is spilled by typing.

As a fan of mechanical keyboards, I personally love occasionally firing up typing tests to hear what the latest keyboard I’m obsessing over sounds and feels like. But as much as I love Monkeytype or Keybr, an actual typing game offers a different kind of fun. The thought of going full boomer-shooter with my proper grammar and punctuation exercises just has me more stoked than ever. Plus, it’s free.

Brother! It’s time to get those fingers moving. More blood for the blood god!

From The Verge via this RSS feed

The mystery is the point, but it’s also indicative of where AI hardware is.

The last 48 hours have been a wild rollercoaster ride for AI hardware. On Tuesday, Google ended its I/O keynote - a roughly two-hour event with copious references to AI - with its vision for Android XR glasses. That included flashy partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, as well as the first hands-on opportunity with its prototype glasses for the developers and the majority of tech media alike. On the ground, it was among the buzziest things to come out of Google I/O - a glimpse of what Big Tech thinks is the winning AI hardware formula.

A day later, Jony Ive and Sam Altman kicked down the door and told Google, "Hold my beer."

If you've somehow missed the headlines, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that the company was buying Ive's AI hardware startup for $6.5 billion. That alone was enough to set the tech media sphere ablaze. After all, Ive is the legendary figure behind the iPhone and Apple Watch's iconic design, revered for his relationship to Steve Jobs. Altman is not only the most recognizable figure in this new AI era, he's also frequently compared to Jobs himself. It's a narrative that writes itself. But for gadget nerds, the real nugget was the tidbit that Altma …

Read the full story at The Verge.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

A source tells Bloomberg that Apple’s glasses will be similar to Meta’s but “better made.”

Apple is planning to debut its first pair of smart glasses next year, according to a report from Bloomberg. The upcoming glasses will reportedly come with cameras, microphones, and speakers, “allowing them to analyze the external world and take requests via the Siri voice assistant,” Bloomberg says.

The glasses would also be capable of taking phone calls, controlling music playback, performing live translations, and offering directions. They’ll also reportedly feature an in-house chip, though plans for incorporating augmented reality still “remain years away.”

The rumor comes just one day after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the acquisition of io, the AI hardware design company owned by former Apple designer Jony Ive. Altman and Ive plan to launch their first AI devices next year, and rumors suggest that it will be a screenless device with built-in cameras and microphones.

A source tells Bloomberg that Apple’s device will be similar to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, “but better made.” Meta sold more than 1 million pairs of its Ray-Ban smart glasses last year, while Google just announced that it’s working with Xreal, Warby Parker, Samsung, and Gentle Monsters to create AI smart glasses on its Android XR platform.

In addition to ramping up work on smart glasses, Bloomberg reports that Apple has scrapped plans to create a smartwatch with cameras and AI features, like Visual Intelligence. Apple is still working on AirPods with cameras, Bloomberg says.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that House Republicans narrowly passed early Thursday would strip state legislatures of AI oversight and scale back consumer protection and climate initiatives while funding border surveillance, among many other provisions.

The budget reconciliation bill still needs to be approved by the Senate, where some Republicans have voiced concerns with aspects of the text. But with President Donald Trump pushing for its passage into law, they could face an uphill battle in fighting for changes.

Here are some of the key tech and science provisions in the House version of the text:

Moratorium on state AI laws

States would be stripped of their power to enforce laws regulating artificial intelligence models and “automated decision systems” for 10 years under the budget package. That would likely preempt hundreds of AI-related bills being considered in 2025, as well as dozens that have passed into law — and on top of that, the broad “automated decision” language could nix regulating all kinds of computer systems not frequently classed as AI.

Republican supporters say the rule is necessary to let US companies innovate and keep up with rivals in China, and the idea has been promoted by OpenAI. More than 60 AI-related state bills have been enacted so far, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), many of which could be impacted by the proposed pause. The bills do everything from addressing algorithmic discrimination to regulating how AI can be used by government agencies.

Critics worry the definition could also hamstring laws covering all kinds of systems that feature automation or use machine learning. That might include rules championed by state-level Republicans, who have passed numerous social media regulations in recent years.

“Until we pass something that is federally preemptive, we can’t call for a moratorium”

A couple Republican senators have expressed concern over the moratorium. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), eyeing a run for governor, spoke at a recent congressional hearing about her state’s AI law that seeks to protect a musician’s right to their voice’s likeness. “We certainly know that in Tennessee we need those protections,” Blackburn said, according to The Washington Post. “And until we pass something that is federally preemptive, we can’t call for a moratorium.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who publicly opposed Medicaid cuts in the House bill, also pushed back on the state law pause. “I would think that, just as a matter of federalism, we’d want states to be able to try out different regimes that they think will work for their state,” Hawley recently told Business Insider. “And I think in general, on AI, I do think we need some sensible oversight that will protect people’s liberties.”

The provision could also face a challenge in overcoming the “Byrd rule,” which bars “extraneous” additions in reconciliation bills.

Cuts to green energy tax credits

Biden-era tax credits for electric vehicles would be deprecated within two years if the House package is signed into law, and wind and solar energy credits would be phased out by 2032. The slashed credits include a $7,500 credit for purchasing eligible EVs, or $4,000 for an eligible used one, as well as credit for home refueling infrastructure.

Updates shortly before the vote also rolled back key climate programs from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act even further than the bill  initially did, though they also pared down an effort to roll back credits for nuclear reactors.

Scaling back funding for consumer financial protection

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which had already been decimated by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), would see its funding capped further under the bill. House Republicans seek to cap the amount it can receive from the Federal Reserve at 5 percent of the system’s total operating expenses, rather than the current 12 percent. That would reduce the resources the consumer protection agency would have to respond to consumer complaints over things like imminent foreclosures and credit card fraud, and regulate digital payments services.

Border tech funding

The bill includes billions of dollars to lock down US borders, including $12 billion to reimburse states for border security. In addition to the $46 billion it would invest to build and “modernize” the wall between the US and Mexico, the bill would also provide $1 billion in funding for technology to detect drugs and other contraband being brought across the border. Another $2.7 billion would go toward surveillance systems that House Homeland Security Republicans described as “ground detection sensors, integrated surveillance towers, tunnel detection capability, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), and enhanced communications equipment.”

Limiting gender-affirming care

Health care plans beginning in 2027 that are purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace would be barred from offering gender-affirming care, including hormone therapy and surgery. Similarly, the bill would prohibit Medicaid from covering “gender transition procedures” for minors and adults while requiring coverage for detransition.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

The US Senate voted today to strip California of its authority to enact state limits on tailpipe pollution that are tougher than national standards.

Opponents called it an illegal move by Republican lawmakers that flies in the face of Senate rules and norms.

Senate Republicans went forward with the vote today anyway, revoking waivers that allow California to pursue its climate goals and improve air quality by reducing emissions from cars and trucks.

Opponents say it’s an illegal move

“This is the easy way to do what the fossil fuel industry wants,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said on the Senate floor during deliberations that ended past 1:00AM ET. “They had this quick and dirty, sneaky maneuver that they could pull off so they didn’t have to negotiate, they didn’t have to legislate, and they didn’t have to use regulatory process.”

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted California waivers to set its own rules for car and truck emissions since the Clean Air Act was adopted in 1970. The standards the state sets for vehicle manufacturers can influence the entire industry because California is one of the biggest car markets in the world. Seventeen states and Washington, DC have also adopted all or part of California’s vehicle emission regulations.

The EPA had previously issued waivers to California approving its plans to require an increasing number of medium and heavy-duty vehicles sold in the state to be zero-emission, and all passenger vehicles sold to be zero-emission by 2035. Taken together, the resolutions passed today attempt to hobble one of the most ambitious plans to tackle climate change in the nation by rescinding those approvals. A third resolution also revokes a waiver the EPA had granted California to limit nitrogen oxide pollution from vehicles. House Republicans passed the measures a few weeks ago.

“California has used its waiver authority to push its extreme climate policies on the rest of the country,” Sen. Shelley Capito (R-WV) said in closing remarks on the Senate floor last night.

Environmental advocates, meanwhile, argue that GOP lawmakers attacked the state’s rights. “If other states don’t like California’s approach, they don’t need to follow it – but federal lawmakers shouldn’t be intervening to block states from providing cleaner air and a healthier environment,” Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a press statement today.

Both Senate and House Republicans used the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to revoke the waivers. The CRA allows Congress to overturn certain new rules with a simple majority vote and avoid a filibuster by the opposing party. But the Senate parliamentarian and Government Accountability Office — nonpartisan watchdogs — have previously found that the waivers aren’t considered recent rules within the parameters of the CRA.

The vote today sends the CRA resolutions to President Donald Trump to sign. Trump unsuccessfully tried to take away California’s authority to set its own tailpipe standards during his first term in office.

Auto trade groups haveopposed California’s plans to require more EV sales. “Disapproval of the rules is essential to ensuring a unified national vehicle marketplace that promotes continued progress on fuel economy while safeguarding economic growth and consumer interests,” Neil Bradley, executive vice president of the US Chamber of Commerce said in a letter to senators last week.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

Once Donald Trump won office for a second time, the writing was on the wall.

Trump ran on many messages, most of them confusing and contradictory, but one of his loudest and clearest messages was to end President Joe Biden’s “EV mandate.” It made no difference there never was a mandate, just a series of policies designed to encourage car companies to make more zero-emission vehicles and consumers to buy them — Trump was gunning for EVs.

As soon as he took office, he started signing a flurry of executive orders laying out exactly how he would start dismantling Biden’s legacy. And chief among them was an order to eliminate all of his predecessor’s electric vehicle policies, including weakening Biden’s tailpipe pollution rules.

But the orders were never going to be enough. It would take an act of Congress to unwind all the many tax credits and incentives designed to spur the sale of EVs by making them more affordable to a broader swath of the population.

So today, Congressional Republicans got to work. The House passed a bill to end the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for clean energy, including the $7,500 EV tax credit. And the Senate voted — some would say “illegally” — to revoke California’s ability to set its own tailpipe emission rules, which are also followed by 17 other states and the District of Columbia.

Under the House proposal, most automakers would lose the EV tax credit right away — although those manufacturers who have yet to sell 200,000 EVs would get to keep the credit until the end of 2026. The bill would also eliminate the $4,000 tax credit for used EV purchases. And it would kill incentives for companies building solar, wind, and battery storage projects.

But wait, there’s more! If you already own an EV, the House bill would levy an annual $250 tax on your vehicle to help pay for road and infrastructure improvements. (Hybrid owners would have to cough up $100.) Internal combustion vehicle owners typically pay for road repairs through the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon — which, it should be noted, has remained exactly the same since October 1, 1993.

The House passed a bill to end the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits for clean energy, including the $7,500 EV tax credit

I understand the need for EV owners to pay for road repairs, but a flat tax is widely viewed by many smart people as the most regressive way to do it. The gas tax works because its a usage fee: the more you drive, the more gas you use, the more you pay into the Highway Trust Fund for repairs and improvements. A flat tax, which charges everyone the same regardless of usage, is much less desirable from a public benefits perspective.

A lot can still change as the bill now heads to the Senate for reconciliation. But it’s not looking good for our intrepid EV industry. Some lobbyists and advocates were holding out hope that Republicans with major clean energy projects in their district would push back against the attempt to kneecap the IRA. But as Heatmaps’ Matthew Zeitlin notes, the clean energy supporters were always the weakest faction amid a fractious GOP.

Where it goes from here is probably pretty bleak. The US was already woefully behind China and other developed nations in terms of clean energy investments. And now its likely to fall even further behind, perhaps permanently so. Major projects that were expected to take advantage of the federal incentives are now likely to die on the vine. That means fewer clean energy jobs, most of which were to be located in Republican-leaning districts.

It’s really a baffling political decision. Republicans are determined to cut off their own nose to spite their face, all because Trump ran on a false message of ending an EV mandate that never existed. In fact, Biden’s tailpipe emission rules were written in a way that acknowledges how passenger electric cars, specifically Tesla, have distorted the market thanks to their runaway success. So they crafted the rules so that passenger cars wouldn’t have to increase their miles-per-gallon numbers as rapidly as light trucks, as noted by Jalopnik’s Matthew Debord.

Whatever happens, the EV industry will persist. Automakers have poured billions of dollars into the shift to electric power, and they don’t want to let those investments go to waste. The focus should now be on the development of truly affordable EVs that can help spur mass adoption, as well as local infrastructure improvements to encourage more cycling and walking. But without hugely influential incentives from the federal government, it will be an uphill battle — spewing pollution and worsening the environment along the way.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

Notepad’s new Write feature uses generative AI to create content for you based on a prompt. | Image: Microsoft

Microsoft is now testing a new feature in Notepad that can generate text for you using AI.  It’s part of a Windows 11 update being released to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels with Copilot Plus PCs. The update also includes new AI-powered features for Paint like a sticker generator, and improvements to the Snipping Tool that can automatically crop and resize screenshots based on what you’re selecting.

Notepad’s new Write feature can be used to “quickly draft text based on your prompt,” according to the Windows Insider Blog, “or build upon existing content with AI-powered assistance.” You can either right-click where you want new text to be inserted in a document or after selecting existing text you want to use as a reference.

After selecting the new Write feature in Windows’ Copilot menu, a prompt will appear where instructions can be entered. The AI-generated output will appear in the document but you’ll have the option to keep it, discard it if it’s not what you’re looking for, or refine the output by entering follow-up prompts. The feature was first discovered earlier this year in code included in test builds of Windows 11.

Write follows two other AI-powered tools Microsoft has been testing with Notepad. Summarize, first introduced last March, can generate a summary of the text in a document while Rewrite, which began testing last November, can adjust the tone of text, shorten or lengthen it, and rephrase sentences.

Joining AI features already being tested in Microsoft Paint like Generative Fill, Generative Erase, and the Cocreator tool that can create images based on text prompts and reference sketches, is a new Sticker generator. A new button in the Copilot menu opens a prompt where you can describe the sticker you want to create. Paint will then generate a small set of stickers based on your description that can be added to your canvas or copied over to other applications.

Paint is also getting a new Object select tool that relies on AI to create smart selections that takes most of the grunt work out of isolating and manipulating specific elements in a photo or painting.

To potentially make it easier to screenshot exactly what you need and immediately share it without edits, Windows 11’s Snipping Tool is gaining a new Perfect screenshot button on its toolbar. When framing a screenshot using the rectangle tool Perfect screenshot will use AI to “intelligently resize based on the content in your selection,” but you’ll still have the option to resize or reposition the selected region of your screen before capturing it.

It’s being joined by a new Color picker in the Snipping tool that lets you see the HEX, RGB or HSL color values below an eyedropper cursor, and it can be zoomed for more precision by either scrolling or using Ctrl +/- keyboard shortcuts.

You’ll need to be signed into your Microsoft account to use Notepad’s new Write feature which will use the same credits system as other AI-powered Windows 11 features do. Microsoft hasn’t yet announced what pricing for these credits will be if it eventually starts charging for them.

From The Verge via this RSS feed

House Republicans advanced a sweeping spending package that would roll back Biden-era tax credits for renewable energy projects. If the bill passes the Senate and makes it to President Donald Trump’s desk to sign, it could deal a serious blow to renewables, new nuclear technologies, and clean energy manufacturing across the US.

The rollbacks would undo much of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Democrats touted as the biggest investment in climate and clean energy initiatives. Losing these tax credits would slow efforts to build out enough new energy sources to meet rising electricity demand, as well as previous commitments the US has made on the international stage to help stop the climate crisis.

“This package is really economic malpractice,” says Brad Townsend, vice president for policy and outreach at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). The bill that the House ultimately passed was even harsher on clean energy than a draft released last week. “The original version was bad. This version is worse.”

“This package is really economic malpractice.”

Based on the previous draft, C2ES and research firm Greenline Insights estimated that restrictions on which projects would be eligible for tax credits would cost hundreds of billions of dollars in lost GDP. An updated bill released overnight and passed early this morning could lead to even larger losses if the Senate ultimately passes it as-is.

Notably, the bill stipulates that projects must start construction within 60 days of it being enacted and placed in service by the end of 2028 in order to qualify for clean energy tax credits.

That would effectively make it impossible for new projects to qualify, given the long lead times needed to secure permits and financing before starting construction. During remarks on the Senate floor this morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called the provision a “clean job kill switch.”

“It’s one of the most devastating things added at the last minute in this bill snuck in the dark of night. And we in the Senate — and I hope our Republican colleagues will join us in this — are going to fight this every step of the way,” he said.

Nearly 977,000 jobs and $177 billion in GDP would have been lost as a result of requirements in the previous draft that stipulated that projects be placed in service by 2029 to qualify for credits, according to C2ES and Greenline Insights. Again, that draft was less stringent than the text that ultimately passed.

The bill seemingly includes a carveout for nuclear energy industry, to which some GOP members, including Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, have ties. Wright dialed into a meeting with Republican lawmakers on Wednesday night to discuss the tax credits, Politico reported. The bill subsequently says that new nuclear reactors would only have to commence construction by 2028 in order to qualify. But even though the provisions aren’t as strict for new nuclear projects to qualify, the bill still sets unrealistic goals. Next-generation nuclear reactors aren’t expected to be ready to deploy commercially until the 2030s.

The bill also ends an IRA policy that allowed renewable projects to transfer credits to one another, dealing another economic blow to developers outside of nuclear energy. It disqualifies projects owned by or receiving “material assistance from prohibited foreign entities.” Those restrictions are essentially unworkable, according to clean energy advocates and industry experts — considering that clean energy supply chains are still concentrated in China and that it could bar developers with investors from other countries. Restrictions on the involvement of foreign entities alone could lead to $237 billion in lost GDP, Greenline Insights and C2ES previously estimated.

Ironically, Republican districts stood to benefit the most from IRA incentives for new solar and wind farms and factories. Investments were concentrated in rural areas, and 73 percent of manufacturing facilities for clean power components are in red states, according to a recent industry report from the American Clean Power Association.

“Texas in particular is going to be hammered by the package as written,” Townsend says. His organization’s analysis found that Texas would lose the most jobs — more than 170,000 — from tax credit restrictions initially proposed in the bill.

“Texas in particular is going to be hammered.”

Fortunately, solar and wind power are already cheaper sources of electricity than fossil fuels in many cases and have been making steady gains in the US for decades thanks to falling costs. To be sure, developers now have to contend with new challenges posed by Trump’s tariff regime. But the industry has managed to make progress — now providing more than 20 percent of the US electricity mix — despite years of on-again, off-again credits prior to the IRA codifying incentives in a way that offered more long-term certainty for the industry.

What the tax credits in the IRA were supposed to help accomplish, however, was a dramatic ramp-up of carbon-free energy needed to stop the climate crisis. The IRA was expected to slash US greenhouse gas emissions by roughly 40 percent from peak levels by the end of the decade, according to independent analyses. That nearly got the nation to the goal that former President Joe Biden committed to under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which was cutting pollution by at least 50 percent by 2030. And since the US is responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions historically than any other country, the decisions that Congress makes now have consequences for the planet.

Trump, of course, has called climate change a hoax despite mountains of evidence showing how emissions from fossil fuels exacerbate floods, storms, droughts, fires, and other climate disasters.

Aside from worsening weather events putting pressure on the US’ aging power grid, the country is also grappling with a sudden rise in electricity demand from new AI data centers, crypto mining, electric vehicles, and increased domestic manufacturing. Electricity demand could grow by 25 percent by 2030, according to one forecast published this week by consulting firm ICF. By slowing the deployment of clean energy, the repeal of IRA incentives would lead to more pollution and raise household energy costs by up to 7 percent by 2035, according to a recent analysis by research firm Rhodium Group.

The Senate now has to wrangle with the entirety of Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill.” It also includes proposals to extend and expand income tax cuts, increase military spending, fund mass deportations, impose new restrictions on Medicaid and food assistance programs, and more. Even though the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to fall in line with Trump’s agenda, there’s still time for proposals in the bill to evolve.

In its current version, “Americans’ electric bills will soar. Hundreds of factories will close. Hundreds of billions of dollars in local investments will vanish. Hundreds of thousands of people will lose their jobs,” Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said in a press statement. But, Hopper added, “it’s not too late for Congress to get this right. The solar and [energy] storage industry is ready to get to work with the US Senate on a more thoughtful and measured approach.”

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Mozilla is shutting down Pocket, the handy bookmarking tool used to save articles and webpages for later. The organization announced that Pocket will stop working on July 8th, 2025, as Mozilla begins concentrating its “resources into projects that better match their browsing habits and online needs.”

Following the shutdown, you’ll only be able to export saves until October 8th, 2025, which is when Mozilla will permanently delete user data. Mozilla says it will start automatically canceling subscriptions as well, and will issue prorated refunds to users subscribed to its annual plan on July 8th.

It has also taken down the Pocket web extension and app as of May 22nd, 2025, but users who have already installed the app will be able to re-download it until October 8th.

Pocket — originally called Read It Later — launched in 2007 and grew in popularity as people used it to keep track of the articles, recipes, videos, and more that they planned to revisit. In 2015, Mozilla added Pocket to Firefox as the browser’s default read-it-later app, and then acquired it two years later.

Mozilla says it’s shuttering Pocket because “the way people save and consume content on the web has evolved.” Pocket’s email newsletter, called Pocket Hits, will continue under a new name, “Ten Tabs,” but it will no longer have a weekend edition.

In addition to shutting down Pocket, Mozilla is also sunsetting its fake reviews detector, Fakespot. “We acquired Fakespot in 2023 to help people navigate unreliable product reviews using AI and privacy-first tech,” Mozilla says. “While the idea resonated, it didn’t fit a model we could sustain.” Review Checker, the Fakespot-powered tool built into Firefox, is shutting down on June 10th, 2025, too.

“This shift allows us to shape the next era of the internet — with tools like vertical tabs, smart search and more AI-powered features on the way,” Mozilla says. “We’ll continue to build a browser that works harder for you: more personal, more powerful and still proudly independent.”

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