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OpenAI's CEO of AGI Deployment, Fidji Simo, Is Stepping Down

WIRED

The move comes after Simo took significant medical leave. She will stay on as a part-time adviser. OpenAI's chief executive of AGI deployment, Fidji Simo, is leaving her full-time role at the company and transitioning to become a part-time adviser. The move comes after Simo took a monthslong medical leave due to a worsening neuroimmune condition. "Three months ago, I had to go on medical leave after a severe exacerbation of a chronic illness I've lived with for seven years," Simo wrote in a post Thursday on X. "During that time, it became clear that the road to recovery would be much longer and more complex than I had anticipated--and that I needed to focus on it fully."


Anthropic Wants You to Pay Up for Claude Fable 5

WIRED

Claude subscribers must soon pay usage-based fees to access Anthropic's best consumer AI model--a sign that the golden era of AI subscriptions is ending. AI model developers have long offered consumers a simple deal: Use our technology for free through an online chatbot, or pay a monthly subscription to receive more usage, premium features, and advanced models. Anthropic is about to make that bargain a lot more complicated. Starting on July 12 at 11:59PM PT, subscribers to Anthropic's $20, $100, and $200-a-month plans will need to pay additional usage-based fees to access Claude Fable 5, the consumer version of the company's highly capable Mythos 5 AI model . This appears to be the first time a frontier AI lab has gated a consumer AI model behind usage-based billing.


Now 10 for 2: Anker's 100W USB-C cables charge phones in 30 minutes

PCWorld

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Now $10 for 2: Anker's 100W USB-C cables charge phones in 30 minutes Anker's 2-pack of 100W USB-C cables are on sale for $5 a piece and fast enough to charge a phone from empty in about half an hour. It's time to upgrade your old charging cables you have lying around. Right now, Amazon is selling this 2-pack of Anker 100W USB-C cables for just $10. That's $5 a piece for cables that are fast-charging and durable--an easy buy if you're tired of slow phone charges.


Google fixes 2 critical Chrome bugs with two quick patches in a row

PCWorld

Google's latest Chrome update fixes 27 vulnerabilities, including two critical use-after-free flaws, none currently exploited in the wild.


Atomic Mail lets you send fully encrypted emails

PCWorld

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. With Atomic Mail, you can send and receive emails securely thanks to end-to-end encryption on all devices. Atomic Mail promises secure communication with end-to-end encryption, which protects messages that only you and the sender can read. First, create a new account by clicking the Create Inbox button on the homepage. Once you've created your inbox and logged in, download the file that contains your security phrase.


A Majority of European Lawmakers Voted Against Letting Big Tech Read Our Messages. They're Going to Anyway.

WIRED

Companies will once again be allowed to scan citizens' personal texts, emails, and social media messages via the "chat control" bill to find child abuse material online. The European Parliament has voted to extend legislation allowing tech companies to voluntarily scan users' private messages for child sexual abuse material, despite a majority of lawmakers voting against the proposal. The ruling reinstates permissions for firms including Meta, Google, and Microsoft to scan private text, email, and social media messages through a bill nicknamed "Chat Control" by critics. End-to-end encrypted chats, such as those on WhatsApp and Signal, remain exempt. "It will mean that private companies may deny your right to have confidential digital conversations," Simeon de Brouwer, policy advisor at Brussels-based advocacy group European Digital Rights tells WIRED, "they could, if they want to, read every message you write, every email you send, every picture you share."


Charles Darwin's daughter had an unusual hobby: Hunting phallic mushrooms

Popular Science

Charles Darwin's daughter had an unusual hobby: Hunting phallic mushrooms More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. A well-known tale says Henrietta Darwin (left), or Aunt Etty, as family called her once burned phallic-shaped mushrooms to protect the "morals of the maids. But is the story really true? Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . On a warm autumn day in the early 1900s, Henrietta Darwin, Charles Darwin's eldest daughter, marched into the woods near her house on the outskirts of Gomshall, a rural English village about 30 miles southwest of London. Armed with a basket and a stick, her keen eyes scanned the damp, leafy undergrowth. At last, she smelled a rotten odor, and directed her gaze to the stench. There, a few feet away, she spotted her enemy: the stinkhorn mushroom. With its elongated shape protruding from the ground, the penis-shaped fungus oozed with a slime that smelled like carrion . She dug it up, took it home, and burned it before anyone could see it. The unsightly mushroom could have corrupted her maids' morals, or even their health. At least, that was the excuse she told her young niece Gwen Raverat, with a twinkle in her eye. A fascinating woman in her own right, Henrietta Darwin was one of Charles Darwin's 10 children. Although Raverat paints an interesting picture of Henrietta's mushroom-hunting passion in her memoir, Henrietta's father, the famous naturalist and author of deeply valued his daughter as a collaborator on some of his most important works. Born in 1843, Henrietta was Darwin's third daughter and the first to survive early childhood. As a young woman, she was raised in a household of curiosity and scientific engagement, and likely due to her father's work on evolutionary theory, she wrestled with questions of free will, God, and the possibility of eternal life. This book was the first of Darwin's works to apply his theory of evolution to the human species. For her efforts, Darwin wrote to her in 1870: "You have done me real service; but by Jove, how hard you must have worked, and how thoroughly you have mastered my MS [manuscript]," he wrote. "All this is as clear as daylight." Public Domain He also wrote to her again in 1871, after had been published: "Several reviewers speak of the lucid, vigorous style, & c.


Alienware AW3426DW review: Maximum monitor bang for your buck

PCWorld

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. The Alienware AW3426DW combines just-the-basics design with an excellent five-layer tandem QD-OLED panel to deliver great image quality at a lower price. The Alienware AW3426DW combines just-the-basics design with an excellent five-layer tandem QD-OLED panel to deliver great image quality at a lower price. Alienware has long been a leader in QD-OLED ultrawide monitors. It was first to hop on the trend in a big way with the Alienware AW3423DW, released in 2022, and it has consistently released updates as new QD-OLED ultrawide panels were released.


I turned my Plex library into 24/7 streaming channels with this free app

PCWorld

PCWorld reviews Bunny Ears TV, a new Apple TV app that transforms your Plex Media Server library into 24/7 streaming channels with cable-like navigation. The app creates up to 26 themed channels from personal video collections, offering ad-free channel surfing with DVR controls and customizable features. Despite some usability issues and bugs, it provides an effective alternative to ad-heavy free streaming services for $3/month or $30 lifetime. While lots of free streaming services offer lineups of live TV channels to flip through, they all have the same problem: You're not in control of the content, and you're constantly interrupted by ads. A new app called Bunny Ears TV aims to solve those problems with help from Plex Media Server. If you have an Apple TV box and your own collection of movie or TV files in Plex, Bunny Ears TV can spin them into dozens of round-the-clock streaming channels with practically no effort. It's a neat app that mimics the channel surfing of cable using your own content, but unlike with cable, there are no commercial breaks.


The best new laptop might be an old one

PCWorld

PCWorld suggests that older, discounted laptops often provide better value than new models, as processor improvements have become incremental rather than revolutionary. The AI boom has driven up memory and storage costs for new laptops, while previous-generation models with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage remain highly capable. This approach matters because newer laptops frequently don't justify their higher prices with significant real-world performance improvements over well-specced older alternatives. The smartest laptop to buy in 2026 may not be a 2026 laptop. That's why PCWorld's laptop deals roundup has become one of the most useful things we publish. Now, more than ever, I'm convinced that the latest laptops -- and, heck, even the latest tech products -- simply don't offer enough real-world improvement to justify their higher prices. Indeed, cheaper laptops from previous years often deliver better alignment between performance and pricing. Some of this, you already know. Do the vast majority of PC users need the latest and greatest keyboard?