Author name: Paul Patrick

scientists-built-a-badminton-playing-robot-with-ai-powered-skills

Scientists built a badminton-playing robot with AI-powered skills

AI, ai in sports, badminton, robot, Science / /

It also learned fall avoidance and determined how much risk was reasonable to take given its limited speed. The robot did not attempt impossible plays that would create the potential for serious damage—it was committed, but not suicidal.

But when it finally played humans, it turned out ANYmal, as a badminton player, was amateur at best.

The major leagues

The first problem was its reaction time. An average human reacts to visual stimuli in around 0.2–0.25 seconds. Elite badminton players with trained reflexes, anticipation, and muscle memory can cut this time down to 0.12–0.15 seconds. ANYmal needed roughly 0.35 seconds after the opponent hit the shuttlecock to register trajectories and figure out what to do.

Part of the problem was poor eyesight. “I think perception is still a big issue,” Ma said. “The robot localized the shuttlecock with the stereo camera and there could be a positioning error introduced at each timeframe.” The camera also had a limited field of view, which meant the robot could see the shuttlecock for only a limited time before it had to act. “Overall, it was suited for more friendly matches—when the human player starts to smash, the success rate goes way down for the robot,” Ma acknowledged.

But his team already has some ideas on how to make ANYmal better. Reaction time can be improved by predicting the shuttlecock trajectory based on the opponent’s body position rather than waiting to see the shuttlecock itself—a technique commonly used by elite badminton or tennis players. To improve ANYmal’s perception, the team wants to fit it with more advanced hardware, like event cameras—vision sensors that register movement with ultra-low latencies in the microseconds range. Other improvements might include faster, more capable actuators.

“I think the training framework we propose would be useful in any application where you need to balance perception and control—picking objects up, even catching and throwing stuff,” Ma suggested. Sadly, one thing that’s almost certainly off the table is taking ANYmal to major leagues in badminton or tennis. “Would I set up a company selling badminton-playing robots? Well, maybe not,” Ma said.

Science Robotics, 2025. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adu3922

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Mario Kart World review: Getting there is half the game

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While that kind of item-based back-and-forth isn’t new to Mario Kart, it feels like it has been taken to a new extreme by World‘s more crowded race track. If you’re in the middle of the pack, every tranche of item boxes you pass can lead, in short order, to a flurry of near-unavoidable projectiles and item-enhanced opponents cluttering your immediate space. That’s especially true in online races, where human opponents tend to be much more ruthless with their item use than even the hardest computer-controlled opponents.

That blue “Kaboom!” can send you from first to 17th in a hurry.

That blue “Kaboom!” can send you from first to 17th in a hurry.

The change ultimately rewards defensive driving, where you do your best to avoid other racers and utilize protective items until you have a chance to rocket into the relative safety of the top few positions. Sometimes, though, there’s simply no avoiding a maddening series of bad breaks that can literally send you from first place to 19th in an instant.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey

Once you’ve adjusted to the more crowded field of racers, you’ll then have to get used to the odd structure of Mario Kart World‘s main racing modes. Rather than racing multiple laps around the game’s well-designed tracks, you’ll spend the bulk of your race time in most racing modes trekking between those tracks across the great expanses of Mario Kart World‘s, uh, world.

Get used to seeing very straight sections like this in most of the game’s racing modes.

Credit: Nintendo

Get used to seeing very straight sections like this in most of the game’s racing modes. Credit: Nintendo

These inter-course interludes offer a decent variety to the structure, which will see you traveling through desert wastelands, down traffic-clogged highways, along the surface of tiered waterfalls, across frozen tundra, and more. What’s unavoidably similar about most of them, though, is their unbearable straightness. Players used to the undulating, crisscrossing curves of a standard Mario Kart course will marvel at just how rarely they have to powerslide around turns while shuttling between those courses in World.

These long straightaways aren’t boring, per se. The designers have done their best to dress them up with plenty of obstacles (of the stationary, vehicular, and livestock varieties), as well as jumps, dash pads, and frequent item boxes to make sure you’re still paying attention. But it can still be a jarring transition to go from two or three minutes across one of these mostly straight interregnums into the usual twisty wildness of the game’s more familiar pre-designed courses.

Mario Kart World review: Getting there is half the game Read More »

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Second New Glenn launch slips toward fall as program leadership departs

blue origin, Jeff Bezos, new glenn, Space / /

A few weeks ago, the chief executive of Blue Origin, Dave Limp, convened an all-hands meeting for the more than 12,000 employees at the company. Among the most critical items he discussed was the launch rate for the New Glenn rocket and how the company would fall significantly short of its goal for this year.

Before 2025 began, Limp had set expectations alongside Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos: New Glenn would launch eight times this year.

However, since the rocket’s mostly successful debut in January, five months have passed. At one point the company targeted “late spring” for the second launch of the rocket. However, on Monday, Limp acknowledged on social media that the rocket’s next flight will now no longer take place until at least August 15. Although he did not say so, this may well be the only other New Glenn launch this year.

The mission, with an undesignated payload, will be named “Never Tell Me the Odds,” due to the attempt to land the booster.

“One of our key mission objectives will be to land and recover the booster,” Limp wrote. “This will take a little bit of luck and a lot of excellent execution. We’re on track to produce eight GS2s this year, and the one we’ll fly on this second mission was hot-fired in April.”

A key departure

In this comment, GS2 stands for “Glenn stage 2,” or the second stage of the large rocket. It is telling that Limp commented on the company tracking toward producing eight second stages, which would match the original launch cadence planned for this year. This likely is a fig leaf offered to Bezos, who, two sources said, was rather upset that Blue Origin would not meet (or even approach) its original target of eight launches this year.

One person familiar with the progress on the vehicle told Ars that even a launch date in August is unrealistic—this too may have been set aggressively to appease Bezos—and that September is probably the earliest the rocket is likely to be ready for launch. Blue Origin has not publicly stated what the payload will be, but this second flight is expected to carry the ESCAPADE mission for NASA.

Second New Glenn launch slips toward fall as program leadership departs Read More »

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Startup puts a logical qubit in a single piece of hardware

Computer science, nord quantique, Physics, quantum computing, quantum mechanics, Science / /

This time around, the company is showing that it can get an actual logical qubit into a variant of the same hardware. In the earlier version of its equipment, the resonator cavity had a single post and supported a single frequency. In the newer iteration, there were two posts and two frequencies. Each of those frequencies creates its own quantum resonator in the same cavity, with its own set of modes. “It’s this ensemble of photons inside this cavity that creates the logical qubit,” Lemyre told Ars.

The additional quantum information that can now be stored in the system enables it to identify more complex errors than the loss of a photon.

Catching, but not fixing errors

The company did two experiments with this new hardware. First, it ran multiple rounds of error detection on data stored in the logical qubit, essentially testing its ability to act like a quantum memory and retain the information stored there. The system corrected for photon loss, but left other errors uncorrected. These occurred at a rate of a bit over two percent each round, so by the time the system reached the 25th measurement, many instances had already encountered an error.

The second time through, the company repeated the process, discarding any instances in which an error occurred. In almost every instance, that meant the results were discarded long before they got through two dozen rounds of measurement. But at these later stages, none of the remaining instances were in an erroneous state. That indicates that a successful correction of all of the errors—something the team didn’t try—would be able to fix all the detected problems.

“When we do this, we don’t have any errors left,” Lemyre said. “And this builds confidence into this approach, meaning that if we build the next generation of codes that is now able to correct these errors that were detected in this two-mode approach, we should have that flat line of no errors occurring over a long period of time.”

Startup puts a logical qubit in a single piece of hardware Read More »

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GOP intensifies war against EVs and efficient cars

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk is on record as supporting the repeal of the EV tax credit, as it would hurt his rivals more than Tesla. But yesterday, Musk decried the fact that the spending bill does not cut subsidies for oil and gas, just EVs and solar.

No fines for you

Yesterday in the Senate, Republicans proposed another new measure that can only be seen as pro-pollution. Should it pass, the EPA would no longer be able to levy fines against carmakers that exceed fleet averages set out in the CAFE regulations. OEMs have paid the government hundreds of millions of dollars in these fines over the past decade. (Note that these fines are different from those imposed on Volkswagen and other automakers for circumventing efficiency standards.)

This would allow OEMs to save money by removing emissions equipment from their products, and it could potentially bring back older powertrains that would otherwise be prohibited on the roads. Tesla may well be the biggest loser here, as the bill removes incentives for other automakers to purchase carbon credits. The GOP is also attacking California’s ability to set its own emissions standards. That would remove another major source of emissions credits for Tesla, which are, again, increasingly important in keeping the company’s books out of the red.

Over at the Department of Transportation, similar efforts are underway. Secretary Sean Duffy’s first action as the head of DOT was to begin reviewing Biden-era fuel efficiency regulations, and today, the department decided that it makes no sense to include EVs as part of its CAFE rules.

At this rate, it’s a wonder they’re not trying to mandate coal-fired steam engines as an alternative.

GOP intensifies war against EVs and efficient cars Read More »

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Anti-vaccine quack hired by RFK Jr. has started work at the health department

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Outside researchers can request access to VSD data by submitting study proposals to the CDC. The Geiers have, in the past, gained access. But, they lost that access at least twice, the Journal reported. In 2004, the CDC kicked the Geiers out after officials determined that they had misrepresented their plans for the data when they initially submitted their proposal to the CDC. They were barred again in 2006.

Now an HHS employee, Geier is seeking access to the data once again. The Journal reports that Kennedy has assigned researchers at the National Institutes of Health to assist Geier and that those NIH employees have sent a request to the CDC to hand over all of VSD’s data. This request reportedly caused alarm at the CDC and the project’s health care sites around the country, which are concerned about protecting the security of private patient data.

It’s unclear whether Geier has regained access to the data. But people familiar with the matter told the Journal that Geier aims to reanalyze the CDC’s data on thimerosal to try to prove a link to autism. The sources also said that Geier is interested in proving that the CDC is corrupt.

In the May hearing, Kennedy, who also supports the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, defended Geier. Kennedy said that “there has been a lot of monkey business with the VSD” and that Geier is “the only living independent scientist” who has seen the data and can determine if it has been altered. (Hassan interjected that Geier is not a scientist.) Kennedy also falsely claimed that a court overturned the medical board’s finding that he had practiced medicine without a license and awarded Geier $5 million.

That did not happen. But Kennedy may have been referring to the fact that Mark Geier filed a lawsuit against the medical board over a 2012 cease-and-desist order that alleged he improperly prescribed medication for himself, his wife, and his son while his medical license was suspended. Mark Geier sued the board, saying the order was malicious because it contained personal information, including the medications Geier had prescribed. A Circuit Court sided with the Geiers, awarding them nearly $5 million in total. But the win and the award were overturned on appeal in 2019.

Anti-vaccine quack hired by RFK Jr. has started work at the health department Read More »

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DOGE used flawed AI tool to “munch” Veterans Affairs contracts

AI, Policy / /

Staffer had no medical experience, and the results were predictably, spectacularly bad.

As the Trump administration prepared to cancel contracts at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year, officials turned to a software engineer with no health care or government experience to guide them.

The engineer, working for the Department of Government Efficiency, quickly built an artificial intelligence tool to identify which services from private companies were not essential. He labeled those contracts “MUNCHABLE.”

The code, using outdated and inexpensive AI models, produced results with glaring mistakes. For instance, it hallucinated the size of contracts, frequently misreading them and inflating their value. It concluded more than a thousand were each worth $34 million, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000.

The DOGE AI tool flagged more than 2,000 contracts for “munching.” It’s unclear how many have been or are on track to be canceled—the Trump administration’s decisions on VA contracts have largely been a black box. The VA uses contractors for many reasons, including to support hospitals, research, and other services aimed at caring for ailing veterans.

VA officials have said they’ve killed nearly 600 contracts overall. Congressional Democrats have been pressing VA leaders for specific details of what’s been canceled without success.

We identified at least two dozen on the DOGE list that have been canceled so far. Among the canceled contracts was one to maintain a gene sequencing device used to develop better cancer treatments. Another was for blood sample analysis in support of a VA research project. Another was to provide additional tools to measure and improve the care nurses provide.

ProPublica obtained the code and the contracts it flagged from a source and shared them with a half-dozen AI and procurement experts. All said the script was flawed. Many criticized the concept of using AI to guide budgetary cuts at the VA, with one calling it “deeply problematic.”

Cary Coglianese, professor of law and of political science at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the governmental use and regulation of artificial intelligence, said he was troubled by the use of these general-purpose large language models, or LLMs. “I don’t think off-the-shelf LLMs have a great deal of reliability for something as complex and involved as this,” he said.

Sahil Lavingia, the programmer enlisted by DOGE, which was then run by Elon Musk, acknowledged flaws in the code.

“I think that mistakes were made,” said Lavingia, who worked at DOGE for nearly two months. “I’m sure mistakes were made. Mistakes are always made. I would never recommend someone run my code and do what it says. It’s like that ‘Office’ episode where Steve Carell drives into the lake because Google Maps says drive into the lake. Do not drive into the lake.”

Though Lavingia has talked about his time at DOGE previously, this is the first time his work has been examined in detail and the first time he’s publicly explained his process, down to specific lines of code.

Lavingia has nearly 15 years of experience as a software engineer and entrepreneur but no formal training in AI. He briefly worked at Pinterest before starting Gumroad, a small e-commerce company that nearly collapsed in 2015. “I laid off 75 percent of my company—including many of my best friends. It really sucked,” he said. Lavingia kept the company afloat by “replacing every manual process with an automated one,” according to a post on his personal blog.

Lavingia did not have much time to immerse himself in how the VA handles veterans’ care between starting on March 17 and writing the tool on the following day. Yet his experience with his own company aligned with the direction of the Trump administration, which has embraced the use of AI across government to streamline operations and save money.

Lavingia said the quick timeline of Trump’s February executive order, which gave agencies 30 days to complete a review of contracts and grants, was too short to do the job manually. “That’s not possible—you have 90,000 contracts,” he said. “Unless you write some code. But even then it’s not really possible.”

Under a time crunch, Lavingia said he finished the first version of his contract-munching tool on his second day on the job—using AI to help write the code for him. He told ProPublica he then spent his first week downloading VA contracts to his laptop and analyzing them.

VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz lauded DOGE’s work on vetting contracts in a statement to ProPublica. “As far as we know, this sort of review has never been done before, but we are happy to set this commonsense precedent,” he said.

The VA is reviewing all of its 76,000 contracts to ensure each of them benefits veterans and is a good use of taxpayer money, he said. Decisions to cancel or reduce the size of contracts are made after multiple reviews by VA employees, including agency contracting experts and senior staff, he wrote.

Kasperowicz said that the VA will not cancel contracts for work that provides services to veterans or that the agency cannot do itself without a contingency plan in place. He added that contracts that are “wasteful, duplicative, or involve services VA has the ability to perform itself” will typically be terminated.

Trump officials have said they are working toward a “goal” of cutting around 80,000 people from the VA’s workforce of nearly 500,000. Most employees work in one of the VA’s 170 hospitals and nearly 1,200 clinics.

The VA has said it would avoid cutting contracts that directly impact care out of fear that it would cause harm to veterans. ProPublica recently reported that relatively small cuts at the agency have already been jeopardizing veterans’ care.

The VA has not explained how it plans to simultaneously move services in-house, as Lavingia’s code suggested was the plan, while also slashing staff.

Many inside the VA told ProPublica the process for reviewing contracts was so opaque they couldn’t even see who made the ultimate decisions to kill specific contracts. Once the “munching” script had selected a list of contracts, Lavingia said he would pass it off to others who would decide what to cancel and what to keep. No contracts, he said, were terminated “without human review.”

“I just delivered the [list of contracts] to the VA employees,” he said. “I basically put munchable at the top and then the others below.”

VA staffers told ProPublica that when DOGE identified contracts to be canceled early this year—before Lavingia was brought on—employees sometimes were given little time to justify retaining the service. One recalled being given just a few hours. The staffers asked not to be named because they feared losing their jobs for talking to reporters.

According to one internal email that predated Lavingia’s AI analysis, staff members had to respond in 255 characters or fewer—just shy of the 280 character limit on Musk’s X social media platform.

Once he started on DOGE’s contract analysis, Lavingia said he was confronted with technological limitations. At least some of the errors produced by his code can be traced to using older versions of OpenAI models available through the VA—models not capable of solving complex tasks, according to the experts consulted by ProPublica.

Moreover, the tool’s underlying instructions were deeply flawed. Records show Lavingia programmed the AI system to make intricate judgments based on the first few pages of each contract—about the first 2,500 words—which contain only sparse summary information.

“AI is absolutely the wrong tool for this,” said Waldo Jaquith, a former Obama appointee who oversaw IT contracting at the Treasury Department. “AI gives convincing looking answers that are frequently wrong. There needs to be humans whose job it is to do this work.”

Lavingia’s prompts did not include context about how the VA operates, what contracts are essential, or which ones are required by federal law. This led AI to determine a core piece of the agency’s own contract procurement system was “munchable.”

At the core of Lavingia’s prompt is the direction to spare contracts involved in “direct patient care.”

Such an approach, experts said, doesn’t grapple with the reality that the work done by doctors and nurses to care for veterans in hospitals is only possible with significant support around them.

Lavingia’s system also used AI to extract details like the contract number and “total contract value.” This led to avoidable errors, where AI returned the wrong dollar value when multiple were found in a contract. Experts said the correct information was readily available from public databases.

Lavingia acknowledged that errors resulted from this approach but said those errors were later corrected by VA staff.

In late March, Lavingia published a version of the “munchable” script on his GitHub account to invite others to use and improve it, he told ProPublica. “It would have been cool if the entire federal government used this script and anyone in the public could see that this is how the VA is thinking about cutting contracts.”

According to a post on his blog, this was done with the approval of Musk before he left DOGE. “When he asked the room about improving DOGE’s public perception, I asked if I could open-source the code I’d been writing,” Lavingia said. “He said yes—it aligned with DOGE’s goal of maximum transparency.”

That openness may have eventually led to Lavingia’s dismissal. Lavingia confirmed he was terminated from DOGE after giving an interview to Fast Company magazine about his work with the department. A VA spokesperson declined to comment on Lavingia’s dismissal.

VA officials have declined to say whether they will continue to use the “munchable” tool moving forward. But the administration may deploy AI to help the agency replace employees. Documents previously obtained by ProPublica show DOGE officials proposed in March consolidating the benefits claims department by relying more on AI.

And the government’s contractors are paying attention. After Lavingia posted his code, he said he heard from people trying to understand how to keep the money flowing.

“I got a couple DMs from VA contractors who had questions when they saw this code,” he said. “They were trying to make sure that their contracts don’t get cut. Or learn why they got cut.

“At the end of the day, humans are the ones terminating the contracts, but it is helpful for them to see how DOGE or Trump or the agency heads are thinking about what contracts they are going to munch. Transparency is a good thing.”

If you have any information about the misuse or abuse of AI within government agencies, Brandon Roberts is an investigative journalist on the news applications team and has a wealth of experience using and dissecting artificial intelligence. He can be reached on Signal @brandonrobertz.01 or by email [email protected].

If you have information about the VA that we should know about, contact reporter Vernal Coleman on Signal, vcoleman91.99, or via email, [email protected], and Eric Umansky on Signal, Ericumansky.04, or via email, [email protected].

This story originally appeared on ProPublica.org.

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.

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Discord CTO says he’s “constantly bringing up enshittification” during meetings

ads, discord, Social Media, Tech / /

Discord members are biting their nails. As reports swirl that the social media company is planning an initial public offering this year and increasingly leans on advertising revenue, there’s fear that Discord will become engulfed in the enshittification that has already scarred so many online communities. Co-founder and CTO Stanislav Vishnevskiy claims he’s worried about that, too.

In an interview with Engadget published today, Vishnevskiy claimed that Discord employees regularly discuss concerns about Discord going astray and angering users.

“I understand the anxiety and concern,” Vishnevskiy said. “I think the things that people are afraid of are what separate a great, long-term focused company from just any other company.”

But there are reasons for long-time Discord users to worry about the platform changing for the worse in the coming years. The most obvious one is Discord’s foray into ads, something the company has avoided since launching in 2015. Discord started showing ads in March 2024 via its desktop and console apps. Since then, it has introduced video ads to its mobile app and launched Orbs, which Discord users can earn by clicking on ads in Discord and trade for in-game rewards. Discord also recently said that it plans to start selling ads to more companies.

Fanning expectations of Discord going public soon and looking different in the future, Discord co-founder and CEO Jason Citron left in April. His replacement, Humam Sakhnini, has experience leading public companies, like Activision Blizzard. When Citron announced his departure in April, GamesBeat asked him if Discord was going public. Citron claimed there were “no specific plans” but added that “hiring someone like Humam is a step in that direction.” Vishnevskiy declined to comment on a potential Discord IPO while speaking to Engadget.

Amid current and imminent changes, though, Vishnevskiy claims to be eyeing Discord’s enshittification risk, telling Engadget:

I’m definitely the one who’s constantly bringing up enshittification [at internal meetings]. It’s not a bad thing to build a strong business and to monetize a product. That’s how we can reinvest and continue to make things better. But we have to be extremely thoughtful about how we do that.

Discord has axed bad ideas before

For some, the inclusion of ads is automatic enshittification. However, Discord’s ad load, at least for now, is minimally intrusive. The ads appear in sidebars within the platform that expand only if clicked upon and can lead to user rewards.

Discord CTO says he’s “constantly bringing up enshittification” during meetings Read More »

fcc-republican-resigns,-leaving-agency-with-just-two-commissioners

FCC Republican resigns, leaving agency with just two commissioners

brendan carr, FCC, geoffrey starks, nathan simington, Policy / /

Two commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission are resigning at the end of this week. For at least a little while, the FCC will have just two members: Chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican chosen by Trump to lead the agency, and Anna Gomez, a Democratic commissioner.

Democrat Geoffrey Starks announced in March that he would leave in the near future, and today he said that Friday will be his final day. Starks’ departure could have given Carr a 2-1 Republican majority, but it turns out Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington will leave at the same time as Starks.

“I will be concluding my tenure at the Federal Communications Commission at the end of this week,” Simington announced today. “It has been the greatest honor of my professional life to serve the American people as a Commissioner. I am deeply honored to have been entrusted with this responsibility by President Donald J. Trump during his first term.”

Bloomberg reported in March that Simington “has also wanted to depart to take on different work,” but he didn’t announce his resignation until today. While the Carr FCC is going from a 2-2 partisan split to a 1-1 split, Carr isn’t likely to have to wait as long for a majority as his predecessor did.

FCC Republican resigns, leaving agency with just two commissioners Read More »

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American Science & Surplus is fighting for its life. Here’s why you should care.

DIY, gofundme, maker, Tech / /

A long history

Old catalogs from the American Lens & Photo days.

Credit: American Science & Surplus

Old catalogs from the American Lens & Photo days. Credit: American Science & Surplus

American Science & Surplus got its start in 1937 and has expanded its inventory and reach ever since. And Meyer has been a part of the story for the last four decades. “I’ve done everything in the company that there is to do,” he said. “I started off literally scraping floors and Windexing, driven our trucks. I’ve done warehouse sales, I’ve done tent sales. I’ve been store manager, assistant manager, I’ve done—there isn’t anything in this company that I haven’t—and it’s been my life for 41 years.”

Over time, the store has moved far beyond lenses and lab equipment. There’s a science toy section and an aisle devoted to Etsy-style craft supplies. But other, once-thriving areas of the business have suffered. When I first discovered American Science & Surplus in the early 2000s, I would always linger at the massive telescope section. The store staff was always more than happy to answer my questions and explain the differences between the scopes. Now, telescopes are just a small corner of the store, and sales are infrequent. “People come in to ask questions and then buy the telescopes online,” Meyer explained.

In many ways, American Science & Surplus is a physical manifestation of the maker ethos. There is an endless array of motors, switches, cables, tools, and connectors. “Sometimes our customers will send us photos of their creations,” said Meyer. “It’s always cool to see how people are inspired by shopping here.”

The store should feel familiar to those who were alive in the peak days of Radio Shack. In fact, there used to be a Radio Shack in the same strip mall as American Science & Surplus’ old store in the Jefferson Park neighborhood on Chicago’s northwest side. Meyer said that Radio Shack would frequently send customers a few doors down to his store to find things Radio Shack didn’t stock. And one time, the surplus store sent a customer back. “Radio Shack sent one guy over to us after telling him they didn’t have the item in stock,” Meyer said. “We didn’t have it, but one of our associates knew Radio Shack did, so he walked the customer back, pulled the part out of the bin, and handed it to him.”

American Science & Surplus is fighting for its life. Here’s why you should care. Read More »

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It’s here: Unboxing and setting up our Switch 2 review unit

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Once I brought the original Switch close by to start the transfer process, I was warned that save files for games including Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu would be removed from the original system during transfer, presumably as an anti-cheating measure. This made the whole process a bit nerve-wracking, though in the end my save files made it through with flying colors.

Switch 2 cartridges look remarkably similar to original Switch cartridges (and seem to fit just fine in the original Switch, but throws up an error if you try to play). Kyle Orland

Surprisingly, the wireless system transfer process also wouldn’t move screenshots and gameplay videos stored on the original Switch. To move those over, I had to remove the physical microSD card from the Switch and temporarily insert it into the Switch 2. This was particularly perplexing since the Switch 2 seems to only officially support MicroSD Express cards for everything but this one setup feature.

Bigger than a breadbox

We’ve talked before about the relative size of the Switch 2 compared to other portable game consoles like the original Switch and the Steam Deck. Still, there’s something about seeing the hardware next to an original Game Boy or even a PlayStation Portable that really highlights how far handheld gaming hardware design has come in the last few decades.

Holding a retail Switch 2 unit in our hands also reconfirms what we said during our April preview of the hardware; namely, the unit feels a bit more substantial in the hand than the original Switch, but still a good deal less bulky than portable PCs like the Steam Deck, both in terms of weight and overall thickness. While it’s still early, we’d expect long-term portable play to be plenty comfortable here.

From top: Switch 2, Steam Deck OLED, Lenovo Legion Go S. It’s hard to tell from here, but the Switch 2 is a lot lighter and thinner. Kyle Orland

On the control side, while the buttons and sticks on the Switch 2 are a little better suited to adult hands than those on the original Switch, they still feel a little on the small side when held right next to standard console controllers from Sony and Microsoft. That’s not true of the Pro Controller 2, though, which will feel immediately familiar in size and shape to anyone who’s played on a PlayStation or Xbox console in recent years.

We’ll have much more to say about our experience with the Switch 2 in the coming days and weeks. For now, leave us a comment if you have any specific questions that we might be able to answer as we put the console through its paces.

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trump-is-forcing-states-to-funnel-grant-money-to-starlink,-senate-democrats-say

Trump is forcing states to funnel grant money to Starlink, Senate Democrats say

BEAD program, Policy, trump administration / /

Lutnick’s announcement of the BEAD overhaul also criticized what he called the program’s “woke mandates” and “burdensome regulations.” Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have criticized a requirement for ISPs that accept subsidies to offer low-cost Internet plans to people with low incomes, though the low-cost rule was originally imposed by Congress in the law that created the BEAD program.

Letter: Projects could be delayed two years

Although Musk last week announced his departure from the government and criticized a Trump spending bill for allegedly “undermining” DOGE’s cost-cutting work, Trump still seems favorably inclined toward Starlink. Trump said in a press conference on Friday that with Starlink, Musk “saved a lot of lives, probably hundreds of lives in North Carolina,” referring to Starlink offering emergency connectivity after Hurricane Helene.

Democrats’ letter to Trump and Lutnick said that fiber and other terrestrial broadband technologies will be better than satellite both for residential connectivity and business networks that support US-based manufacturing.

“Data centers, smart warehouses, robotic assembly lines, and chip fabrication plants all depend on fast, stable, and scalable bandwidth. If we want these job-creating facilities built throughout the United States, including rural areas… we must act now—and we must build the high-speed, high-capacity networks those technologies demand,” the letter said.

Democrats also said the Trump administration’s rewrite of program rules could delay projects by two years.

“For six months, states have been waiting to break ground on scores of projects, held back only by the Commerce Department’s bureaucratic delays,” the letter said. “If states are forced to redo or rework their plans, they will not only miss this year’s construction season but next year’s as well, delaying broadband deployment by years. That’s why we urge the Administration to move swiftly to approve state plans, and release the $42 billion allocated to the states by the BEAD Program.”

Separately from BEAD, Trump said last month that he is killing a $2.75 billion broadband grant program authorized by Congress. The Digital Equity Act of 2021 allows for several types of grants benefitting low-income households, people who are at least 60 years old, people incarcerated in state or local prisons and jails, veterans, people with disabilities, people with language barriers, people who live in rural areas, and people who are members of a racial or ethnic minority group. Trump called the program “racist and illegal,” saying his administration would stop distributing Digital Equity Act grants.

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