Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks during an Amazon Devices launch event in New York City, Feb. 26, 2025. TECH TAKEOVER: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says artificial intelligence will "change the way" work is done and expects the company's total corporate workforce to be reduced as a result. 'GIANT OFFERS': Meta has allegedly tried to recruit employees from competitor OpenAI by offering bonuses as high as 100 million, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman claimed on a podcast that aired Tuesday. ENERGY OUTLOOK: The rise of artificial intelligence and the increasing popularity of cryptocurrency will continue to push electricity consumption to record highs in 2025 and 2026. POWER DRAIN CRISIS: Every time you ask ChatGPT a question, to generate an image or let artificial intelligence summarize your email, something big is happening behind the scenes.

It's hard to believe, but this year is already halfway over. Since January, a lot has happened in the tech world. It's a fickle, fast-paced industry, and some major products and services haven't survived past the mid-year mark. Some of the entries on our list lived long, fruitful lives and contributed lasting legacies to the ever-evolving space. Others were flash-in-the-pan features or straight-up flops (we're looking at you, Humane AI Pin), destined to meet their inevitable demise.

White House crypto and artificial intelligence czar David Sacks warned that China has grown adept at evading U.S. export controls and is, at most, two years behind American semiconductor design capabilities. In a Bloomberg Television interview on Wednesday, Sacks said the U.S. should be concerned that Huawei Technologies is moving fast to catch up to its rivals outside China. He said that DeepSeek's breakthrough AI model earlier this year demonstrated how China could still advance even with export controls in place. "Before DeepSeek, people thought that Chinese AI models were years behind, and we realized that they are only months behind," Sacks said.

On Wednesday, June 18, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced it had seized 225 million in cryptocurrency connected to pig butchering scams. The seizure involves funds stolen from 400 victims worldwide, and as CNBC reports, it's the largest-ever seizure of its kind. A pig butchering scam is a common type of online scam in which cybercriminals gain a victim's trust and then convince them to invest in a fake crypto investment opportunity. It's a cruel, crude, crypto con, but one that can be extraordinarily effective. Such swindles can involve elements of other scams we've written about at Mashable before, such as tech support scams or romance scams.

Who says the contact center space is moving slowly? In early April, I attended 8X8's Analyst Summit 2025, where company leaders outlined their vision for transforming customer experience (CX) through an integrated, AI-enabled ecosystem. There was so much content about recent and upcoming trends that I needed to take some time to analyze the discussions before sharing this now long-overdue recap of the event. Typically known for its unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and contact center as a service (CCaS) solutions, 8x8 is increasingly focusing on its role as a multi-product communications intelligence platform -- one designed to deliver meaningful business outcomes, not just digital transactions. That evolution reflects a broader market trend: the traditional boundaries between UCaaS and CCaaS are fading.

TL;DR: Sterling Stock Picker has an AI that helps you invest in the stock market, and it's only A 84 for life. The stock market has been especially volatile lately, but that doesn't mean you have to wait to invest. A new specialized AI from the creators of ChatGPT has been trained on the stock market to help you invest your money safely, even in a chaotic market. Sterling Stock Picker can help you determine which investments are worth the money, and a lifetime subscription is even on sale for A 84 (reg. Sterling Stock Picker uses AI-driven tools to help simplify the investing process for beginners and experienced investors alike.

The city's most famous sons may have sung that money can't buy you love, but that was before bitcoin existed. Liverpool has emerged as the crypto capital of the UK, according to a study looking at the online habits of people across the country. The survey, conducted by telecommunications company Openreach, found that 13% of respondents from Liverpool regularly invest in cryptocurrency and check stocks, more than anywhere else in Britain. Different cities across the UK proved to be hotspots for various activities. London seems to be the online dating capital of Britain, with 24% of respondents saying they engage with dating apps on at least three days a week.

Artificial intelligence seems to have touched every part of our lives. But can it help us manage our money? We put some common personal finance questions to the free version of ChatGPT, one of the most well-known AI chatbots, and asked for its help. Then we gave the answers to some – human – experts and asked them what they thought. We asked: I am 35 years old and want to ensure I have a comfortable retirement. I earn about 35,000 a year and have a workplace pension, in which I have saved 20,000.

Workers in the UK should turn their trepidation over AI into "exhilaration" by giving it a try or they risk being left behind by those who have, the technology secretary has said. Peter Kyle called on employees and businesses to "act now" on getting to grips with the tech, with the generational gap in usage needing only two and a half hours of training to bridge. Breakthroughs such as the emergence of ChatGPT have sparked an investment boom in the technology, but also led to forecasts that a host of jobs in sectors ranging from law to financial services will be affected. However, Kyle said: "I think most people are approaching this with trepidation. Once they start [using AI], it turns to exhilaration, because it is a lot more straightforward than people realise, and it is far more rewarding than people expect."

The outbreak of covid-19 laid bare the vulnerabilities of global, interconnected supply chains. National lockdowns triggered months-long manufacturing shutdowns. Mass disruption across international trade routes sparked widespread supply shortages. And wild fluctuations in demand rendered tried-and-tested inventory planning and forecasting tools useless. "It was the black swan event that nobody had accounted for, and it threw traditional measures for risk and resilience out the window," says Matthias Winkenbach, director of research at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics.