Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. I once witnessed a friend going through a severe midlife crisis. Basically overnight, this formerly serious and well-adjusted middle-aged man dumped his wife for a much younger girlfriend, got a face tattoo, and built a full-sized halfpipe in his house. Soon, we were barraged with music recommendations (all stuff he'd listened to in high school and college) and life updates laden with "hip" "slang" ("Despite the age gap, my situationship with Triniteigh is lowkey lit"). It was a transparent--and, from a certain perspective, even sympathetic--response to a universal anxiety: He'd seen that the good times were over, and that only decline lay ahead. But, like all nostalgists, he didn't realize that you can't ever truly go back; you can only go backward. The United States, under President Donald Trump, seems to be undergoing a similar midlife crisis, as this reactionary administration attempts to brute-force the country back to a golden age that many people are realizing either didn't exist in the first place or has been permanently lost to the mists of time and modernization.

Video games have been simulating football since the 1970s, but they have rarely ever thought about simulating fandom. You can play a whole international tournament in the Fifa titles, but what they never show is the way the competition seeps into the everyday lives of supporters, how whole towns are overtaken, how a World Cup can become a national obsession. The way most of us experience the really big matches is through stolen moments of vicarious glory on televisions and giant pub screens, surrounded by friends and family and the sounds and images of real life. This is the territory of Despelote, a beautiful, utterly transportive game about childhood and memory, set during Ecuador's historic 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign. Football-mad eight-year-old Julián – a semi-autobiographical version of the game's co-designer Julián Cordero – has just watched the team beat Peru, but now four more matches stand between Ecuador and the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and mobile carrier SoftBank will collaborate in the field of digital payment services, it was learned Wednesday. Under the partnership, the PayPay smartphone payment service operated by a SoftBank affiliate will be made available via the Olive general financial app, provided by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking, the core unit of the financial group. Sumitomo Mitsui, through its Sumitomo Mitsui Card unit, will form a comprehensive partnership with SoftBank and PayPay that will be announced soon. The two sides will allow points in their respective reward programs to be exchanged. They will also collaborate on the use of data and generative artificial intelligence.

Each year, the market research firm Forrester publishes a report highlighting 10 emerging technologies poised to transform the business landscape. Unsurprisingly, agentic AI stood out in this year's list. Also: Executives need better tech skills. The recent Top 10 Technologies for 2025 report from Forrester highlighted AI agents as a major tech trend that will sweep across the private sector. New agent architectures enable AI tools to autonomously perform tasks for individuals and organizations, marking a major business opportunity.

"A future where trusted information strengthens democracy, where every child has a fair start, where creativity fuels growth and social capital, and where no-one is left behind in the digital age." The speech in Salford will set out Mr Davie's vision for the corporation's future. The BBC's current royal charter, which sets out the terms and purposes of its existence, expires in 2027, and negotiations with the government about its renewal are ramping up. He will argue that the BBC can play a key part in making the UK a "global leader in trusted information", support democracy, boost education and economic growth, and improve digital access. "The future of our civilised, cohesive, democratic society is, for the first time in my life, at risk," Mr Davie will say.

These free online courses don't include certificates of completion or direct instructor messaging, but you still get unrestricted access to all the video content. You can learn at a pace that suits you, so there are no stressful deadlines. Find the best free AI courses on Udemy.

SoftBank reported a 124% jump in quarterly profit on resilient AI demand that's supporting startup valuations and chip unit sales, a boost to its aggressive data center investment plans. The Tokyo-based company reported net income of 517.18 billion ( 3.5 billion) in its fiscal fourth quarter. It was helped by the Vision Fund, which swung to a profit of 26.1 billion mainly on a surge in the value of TikTok owner ByteDance and its strong international sales. The earnings come at a critical juncture for SoftBank as it plans to invest 30 billion in OpenAI while leading a 100 billion foray into building AI hardware in the United States. Maintaining a healthy cash flow and balance sheet is key to securing the billions of dollars needed at minimum cost.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is clearing a path for two key Persian Gulf allies to pursue their artificial intelligence ambitions -- and some of the biggest U.S. tech companies are seizing on that opening with plans to spend billions of dollars in the region. Under agreements with the U.S. expected to be unveiled in coming days, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are poised to win wider access to advanced AI chips from Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices that are considered the gold standard for running AI models. The deals are taking shape while President Donald Trump visits the Middle East seeking to forge deeper business ties that put U.S. technology initiatives at center stage. Even before any formal announcement of accords between the U.S. and its partners, news began to emerge of American companies readying expanded projects in the region.

An AI tool has been used to review public responses to a government consultation for the first time and is now set to be rolled out more widely in an effort to save money and staff time. The tool, named "Consult", was first used by the Scottish government when it was seeking perspectives on the regulation of non-surgical cosmetic procedures such as lip filler. The UK government said the tool analysed responses and was able to produce results identical to human officials, and will now be used to review responses from other consultations, while also being developed further. While reviewing more than 2,000 responses, Consult identified key themes, which were then checked and refined by experts in the Scottish government. The government built Consult to be among its new package of AI tools, nicknamed "Humphrey", which they claim will "speed up work in Whitehall and cut back on consulting spending".

In this trial the AI tool examined 2,000 submissions. But public consultations, which gather the views of UK citizens on issues under consideration by ministers, can generate tens of thousands of responses. It was able to identify themes amongst the responses, and counted and catalogued answers accordingly - with human experts checking its work at both stages. Consult's findings were then examined to see how they compared to a team of human experts working in parallel. Technology secretary Peter Kyle said the initial success of the trial meant that Consult would be used across government "very soon". "After demonstrating such promising results, Humphrey will help us cut the costs of governing and make it easier to collect and comprehensively review what experts and the public are telling us on a range of crucial issues," he wrote.