The Python Software Foundation ("made up of, governed, and led by the community") does more than just host Python and its documnation, the Python Package Repository, and the development workflows of core CPython developers. This week the PSF released its 28-page Annual Impact Report this week, noting that 2024 was their first year with three CPython developers-in-residence — and "Between Lukasz, Petr, and Serhiy, over 750 pull requests were authored, and another 1,500 pull requests by other authors were reviewed and merged." Lukasz Langa co-implemented the new colorful shell included in Python 3.13, along with Pablo Galindo Salgado, Emily Morehouse-Valcarcel, and Lysandros Nikolaou.... Code-wise, some of the most interesting contributions by Petr Viktorin were around the ctypes module that allows interaction between Python and C.... These are just a few of Serhiy Storchaka's many contributions in 2024: improving error messages for strings, bytes, and bytearrays; reworking support for var-arguments in the C argument handling generator called "Argument Clinic"; fixing memory leaks in regular expressions; raising the limits for Python integers on 64-bit platforms; adding support for arbitrary code page encodings on Windows; improving complex and fraction number support...

Thanks to the investment of [the OpenSSF's security project] Alpha-Omega in 2024, our Security Developer-in-Residence, Seth Larson, continued his work improving the security posture of CPython and the ecosystem of Python packages. Python continues to be an open source security leader, evident by the Linux kernel becoming a CVE Numbering Authority using our guide as well as our publication of a new implementers guide for Trusted Publishers used by Ruby, Crates.io, and Nuget. Python was also recommended as a memory-safe programming language in early 2024 by the White House and CISA following our response to the Office of the National Cyber Directory Request for Information on open source security in 2023... Due to the increasing demand for SBOMs, Seth has taken the initiative to generate SBOM documents for the CPython runtime and all its dependencies, which are now available on python.org/downloads. Seth has also started work on standardizing SBOM documents for Python packages with PEP 770, aiming to solve the "Phantom Dependency" problem and accurately represent non-Python software included in Python packages.

With the continued investment in 2024 by Amazon Web Services Open Source and Georgetown CSET for this critical role, our PyPI Safety & Security Engineer, Mike Fiedler, completed his first full calendar year at the PSF... In March 2024, Mike added a "Report project as malware" button on the website, creating more structure to inbound reports and decreasing remediation time. This new button has been used over 2,000 times! The large spike in June led to prohibiting Outlook email domains, and the spike in November was driven by a persistent attack. Mike developed the ability to place projects in quarantine pending further investigation. Thanks to a grant from Alpha-Omega, Mike will continue his work for a second year. We plan to do more work on minimizing time-on-PyPI for malware in 2025...

In 2024, PyPI saw an 84% growth in download counts and 48% growth in bandwidth, serving 526,072,569,160 downloads for the 610,131 projects hosted there, requiring 1.11 Exabytes of data transfer, or 281.6 Gbps of bandwidth 24x7x365. In 2024, 97k new projects, 1.2 million new releases, and 3.1 million new files were uploaded to the index.

Waymo plans to relaunch its robotaxi service in New York City, starting with safety driver testing while lobbying to change state law to eventually allow fully autonomous vehicles without human operators. The company has applied for a permit and will begin mapping in Manhattan, though legislative hurdles and skepticism from lawmakers remain. The Verge reports: A bill was introduced in the New York State Legislature earlier this year that would permit autonomous vehicles without safety drivers "provided that the automated driving system is engaged and the vehicle meets certain conditions." The bill is currently under consideration by the state Senate's transportation committee.

New York City also has some of the most dangerous, congested, and poorly managed streets in the world. They are also full of construction workers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and double- and sometimes even triple-parked cars. In theory, this would make it very difficult for an autonomous vehicle to navigate, given that AVs typically rely on good weather, clear signage, and less aggressive driving from other road users for safe operation. And it's not clear that the state will amend its laws to allow for fully driverless vehicles, with some lawmakers expressing reservations. "This kind of testing hasn't even been completed in other parts of the country," state Senator John Liu told Daily News last year after the city announced its new permitting process. "It would behoove New York City to wait to see some of those other results of driverless technology in less dense urban settings. This is an example of something where New York City does not have to be first."

Field Notes, the analog notebook company that began as designer Aaron Draplin's side project 20 years ago, has sold over 10 million notebooks and operates in 2,000 stores worldwide, co-founder Jim Coudal told Fast Company. The Chicago-based company, which Coudal says just completed its best year for sales and revenue with 2025 tracking to exceed those numbers, has grown from selling 13 notebooks on its launch day to producing quarterly edition runs of 30,000 to 60,000 packs. The brand's subscription model, launched in 2009 with 1,500-pack print runs, now encompasses 67 limited editions and provides both predictable cash flow and regular customer engagement opportunities for the company.

alternative_right shares a report from ScienceDaily: When the brain is under pressure, certain neural signals begin to move in sync -- much like a well-rehearsed orchestra. A new study from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) is the first to show how flexibly this neural synchrony adjusts to different situations and that this dynamic coordination is closely linked to cognitive abilities. "Specific signals in the midfrontal brain region are better synchronized in people with higher cognitive ability -- especially during demanding phases of reasoning," explained Professor Anna-Lena Schubert from JGU's Institute of Psychology, lead author of the study recently published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

The researchers focused on the midfrontal area of the brain and the measurable coordination of the so-called theta waves. These brainwaves oscillate between four and eight hertz and belong to the group of slower neural frequencies. "They tend to appear when the brain is particularly challenged such as during focused thinking or when we need to consciously control our behavior," said Schubert, who heads the Analysis and Modeling of Complex Data Lab at JGU. The 148 participants in the study, aged between 18 and 60, first completed tests assessing memory and intelligence before their brain activity was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). [...]

As a result, individuals with higher cognitive abilities showed especially strong synchronization of theta waves during crucial moments, particularly when making decisions. Their brains were better at sustaining purposeful thought when it mattered most. "People with stronger midfrontal theta connectivity are often better at maintaining focus and tuning out distractions, be it that your phone buzzes while you're working or that you intend to read a book in a busy train station," explained Schubert. The findings have been published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Space may be the perfect place to study cancer — and someday even treat it," writes Space.com: On Earth, gravity slows the development of cancer because cells normally need to be attached to a surface in order to function and grow. But in space, cancer cell clusters can expand in all directions as bubbles, like budding yeast or grapes, said Shay Soker, chief science program officer at Wake Forest's Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Since bubbles grow larger and more quickly in space, researchers can more easily test substances clinging to the edge of the larger bubbles, too. Scientists at the University of Notre Dame are taking advantage of this quirk to develop an in-space cancer test that needs just a single drop of blood. The work builds on a series of bubble-formation experiments that have already been conducted on the ISS. "If cancer screening using our bubble technology in space is democratized and made inexpensive, many more cancers can be screened, and everyone can benefit," said Tengfei Luo, a Notre Dame researcher who pioneered the technology, speaking to the ISS' magazine, Upward. "It's something we may be able to integrate into annual exams. It sounds far-fetched, but it's achievable...."

Chemotherapy patients could save precious time, too. In normal gravity, they typically have to spend a half-hour hooked up to a needle before the medicine begins to take effect, because most drugs don't dissolve easily in water. But scientists at Merck have discovered that, in space, their widely used cancer drug pembrolizumab, or Keytruda, can be administered through a simple injection, because large crystalline molecules that would normally clump together are suspended in microgravity... Someday, microgravity could even help patients recovering from surgery heal faster than they would on Earth, Soker added. "Wound healing in high pressure is faster. That's the hyperbaric treatment for wounds...."

For the Wake Forest experiment, which is scheduled to launch next spring, scientists will cut out two sections of a cancer tumor from around 20 patients. One sample will stay on Earth while the other heads to the ISS, with scientists observing the difference. The testing will be completed within a week, to avoid any interference from cosmic radiation. If successful, Soker said, it could set the stage for diagnostic cancer tests in space available to the general population — perhaps on a biomedical space station that could launch after the planned demise of the ISS. "Can we actually design a special cancer space station that will be dedicated to cancer and maybe other diseases?" Shoker asked, answering his question in the affirmative. "Pharmaceutical companies that have deep pockets would certainly support that program."

Google is rolling out a test that puts its AI-powered Audio Overviews on the first page of search results on mobile. From a report: The experiment, which you can enable in Labs, will let you generate an AI podcast-style discussion for certain queries. If you search for something like, "How do noise cancellation headphones work?", Google will display a button beneath the "People also ask" module that says, "Generate Audio Overview." Once you click the button, it will take up to 40 seconds to generate an Audio Overview, according to Google. The completed Audio Overview will appear in a small player embedded within your search results, where you can play, pause, mute, and adjust the playback speed of the clip.

Warner Bros Discovery will split into two separate publicly traded companies -- one focused on its studios and streaming assets like HBO, DC Studios, and HBO Max, and the other on its declining cable networks including CNN and TNT Sports. The move, which unwinds the 2022 WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, is expected by mid-2026 and is "the latest unraveling of decades of media consolidation that created global conglomerates spanning content creation, distribution and in some cases, telecommunications," reports Reuters. From the report: The new streaming-and-studios company will include Warner Bros, DC Studios and HBO Max - the crown jewels of WBD's entertainment library. The networks unit, which will hold up to a 20% stake in its counterpart, will house CNN, TNT Sports and Bleacher Report. CEO David Zaslav will lead the streaming and studios unit, while CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels will head the networks unit. The separation will be structured as a tax-free transaction and is expected to be completed by mid-2026.

"We've continued to analyze how our industry is evolving," Zaslav told investors. "The right path forward became increasingly clear ... to separate global networks and streaming and studios into two independent, publicly traded companies." Most of the company's debt would be held by the global networks company. WBD had gross debt of $38 billion as of March. The company said it secured a $17.5 billion bridge loan from J.P. Morgan that it would use to restructure its debt.

Bloomberg's editorial board warned Tuesday that AI has created an "untenable situation" in higher education where students routinely outsource homework to chatbots while professors struggle to distinguish computer-generated work from human writing. The editorial described a cycle where assignments that once required days of research can now be completed in minutes through AI prompts, leaving students who still do their own work looking inferior to peers who rely on technology.

The board said that professors have begun using AI tools themselves to evaluate student assignments, creating what it called a scenario of "computers grading papers written by computers, students and professors idly observing, and parents paying tens of thousands of dollars a year for the privilege."

The editorial argued that widespread AI use in coursework undermines the broader educational mission of developing critical thinking skills and character formation, particularly in humanities subjects. Bloomberg's board recommended that colleges establish clearer policies on acceptable AI use, increase in-class assessments including oral exams, and implement stronger honor codes with defined consequences for violations.

Amazon software engineers are reporting that AI tools are transforming their jobs into something resembling the company's warehouse work, with managers pushing faster output and tighter deadlines while teams shrink in size, according to the New York Times.

Three Amazon engineers told the New York Times that the company has raised productivity goals over the past year and expects developers to use AI assistants that suggest code snippets or generate entire program sections. One engineer said his team was cut roughly in half but still expected to produce the same amount of code by relying on AI tools.

The shift mirrors historical workplace changes during industrialization, the Times argues, where technology didn't eliminate jobs but made them more routine and fast-paced. Engineers describe feeling like "bystanders in their own jobs" as they spend more time reviewing AI-generated code rather than writing it themselves. Tasks that once took weeks now must be completed in days, with less time for meetings and collaborative problem-solving, according to the engineers.

Walmart is preparing for a future where AI agents shop on behalf of consumers by adapting its systems to serve both humans and autonomous bots. As major players like Visa and PayPal also invest in agentic commerce, Walmart is positioning itself as a leader by developing its own AI agents and supporting broader industry integration. PYMNTS reports: Instead of scrolling through ads or comparing product reviews, future consumers may rely on digital assistants, like OpenAI's Operator, to manage their shopping lists, from replenishing household essentials to selecting the best TV based on personal preferences, according to the report (paywalled). "It will be different," Walmart U.S. Chief Technology Officer Hari Vasudev said, per the report. "Advertising will have to evolve." The emergence of AI-generated summaries in search results has already altered the way consumers gather product information, the report said. However, autonomous shopping agents represent a bigger transformation. These bots could not only find products but also finalize purchases, including payments, without the user ever lifting a finger. [...]

Retail experts say agentic commerce will require companies to overhaul how they market and present their products online, the WSJ report said. They may need to redesign product pages and pricing strategies to cater to algorithmic buyers. The customer relationship could shift away from retailers if purchases are completed through third-party agents. [...] To prepare, Walmart is developing its own AI shopping agents, accessible through its website and app, according to the WSJ report. These bots can already handle basic tasks like reordering groceries, and they're being trained to respond to broader prompts, such as planning a themed birthday party. Walmart is working toward a future in which outside agents can seamlessly communicate with the retailer's own systems -- something Vasudev told the WSJ he expects to be governed by industry-wide protocols that are still under development. [...]

Third-party shopping bots may also act independently, crawling retailers' websites much like consumers browse stores without engaging sales associates, the WSJ report said. In those cases, the retailer has little control over how its products are evaluated. Whether consumers instruct their AI to shop specifically at Walmart or ask for the best deal available, the outcomes will increasingly be shaped by algorithms, per the report. Operator, for example, considers search ranking, sponsored content and user preferences when making recommendations. That's a far cry from how humans shop. Bots don't respond to eye-catching visuals or emotionally driven branding in the same way people do. This means retailers must optimize their content not just for people but for machine readers as well, the report said. Pricing strategies could also shift as companies may need to make rapid pricing decisions and determine whether it's worth offering AI agents exclusive discounts to keep them from choosing a competitor's lower-priced item, according to the report.

schwit1 shares a report from Behind The Black: Almost immediately after India's government issued this week new tightened regulations for allowing private satellite constellations to sell their services in India, it also apparently completed negotiations with SpaceX to allow it to sell Starlink in India based on these rules. Business Today reports: "According to sources, the DoT [Department of Transportation] granted the LoI [Letter of Intent] after Starlink accepted 29 strict security conditions, including requirements for real-time terminal tracking, mandatory local data processing, legal interception capabilities, and localisation of at least 20% of its ground segment infrastructure within the first few years of operation.

Starlink's nod came amid heightened national security sensitivities, coinciding with India's pre-dawn Operation Sindoor strikes on terror camps across the border in response to the Pahalgam massacre. However, DoT officials clarified that the decision to approve Starlink was independent of these military developments." At the moment SpaceX's chief competitors, OneWeb and Amazon's Kuiper constellation, have not yet obtained the same permissions. This allows SpaceX to grab a large portion of the market share in India before either of these other companies.

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares an article from Renewables Now: Chinese tech company Leapting has successfully completed its first commercial deployment of photovoltaic (PV) modules with an AI-driven solar module mounting robot in Australia. The Chinese company was tasked with supporting the installation of French Neoen's (EPA:NEOEN) 350-MW/440-MWp Culcairn Solar Farm in New South Wales' Riverina region. Shanghai-based Leapting said this week that its intelligent robot has installed almost 10,000 modules at an "efficient, safe, and stable" pace that has "significantly" reduced the original construction timeline.

Litian Intelligent was deployed at the Australian project site in early February. The machine has a 2.5-metre-high robotic arm sitting on a self-guided, self-propelled crawler. Equipped with a navigation system, and visual recognition technology, it can lift and mount PV panels weighing up to 30 kilograms. By replacing labour-intensive manual operations, the robot shortens the module installation cycle by 25%, while the installation efficiency increases three to five times as compared to manual labour and is easily adapted to complex environments, Leapting says.
Or, as Clean Technica puts it, "Meet the robot replacing four workers at a time on solar projects." This is part of a broader industrial trend. In the United States, Rosendin Electric demonstrated its own semi-autonomous system in Texas that allowed a two-person team to install 350 to 400 modules per day, a clear step-change from traditional methods. AES Corporation has been developing a robot called Maximo that combines placement and fastening with computer vision. Trina Solar's Trinabot in China operates in a similar space, with prototype systems demonstrating 50-plus modules per hour... In an industry where time-to-energy is critical, shaving weeks off the construction schedule directly reduces costs and increases net revenue...

[T]he direction is clear. The future of solar construction will be faster, safer, and more precise — not because of human brawn, but because of robotic repetition. There will still be humans on-site, but their role shifts from lifting panels to managing throughput. Just as cranes and excavators changed civil construction, so too will robots like Leapting's define the next era of solar deployment.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Driverless trucks are officially running their first regular long-haul routes, making roundtrips between Dallas and Houston. On Thursday, autonomous trucking firm Aurora announced it launched commercial service in Texas under its first customers, Uber Freight and Hirschbach Motor Lines, which delivers time- and temperature-sensitive freight. Both companies conducted test runs with Aurora, including safety drivers to monitor the self-driving technology dubbed "Aurora Driver." Aurora's new commercial service will no longer have safety drivers.

"We founded Aurora to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly, said Chris Urmson, CEO and co-founder of Aurora, in a release on Thursday. "Now, we are the first company to successfully and safely operate a commercial driverless trucking service on public roads." The trucks are equipped with computers and sensors that can see the length of over four football fields. In four years of practice hauls the trucks' technology has delivered over 10,000 customer loads. As of Thursday, the company's self-driving tech has completed over 1,200 miles without a human in the truck. Aurora is starting with a single self-driving truck and plans to add more by the end of 2025.

Firefly Aerospace's sixth Alpha rocket launch failed on April 29, 2025, after an upper-stage anomaly prevented a Lockheed Martin satellite demo from reaching orbit. Both the stage and payload fell into the Pacific Ocean near Antarctica. Space.com reports: The two-stage, 96.7-foot-tall (29.6 meters) Alpha lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base this morning (April 29), carrying a technology demonstration for aerospace giant Lockheed Martin toward low Earth orbit (LEO). But the payload never got there. Alpha suffered an anomaly shortly after its two stages separated, which led to the loss of the nozzle extension for the upper stage's single Lightning engine. This significantly reduced the engine's thrust, dooming the mission, Firefly said in an update several hours after launch.

Today's mission, which Firefly called "Message in a Booster," was the first of up to 25 that the company will conduct for Lockheed Martin over the next five years. The flight aimed to send a satellite technology demonstrator to LEO. This demo payload "was specifically built to showcase the company's pathfinding efforts for its LM 400 mid-sized, multi-mission satellite bus, and to demonstrate the space vehicle's operational capabilities on orbit for potential customers," Firefly wrote in a prelaunch mission description. "Initial indications showed Alpha's upper stage reached 320 km [199 miles] in altitude. However, upon further assessment, the team learned the upper stage did not reach orbital velocity, and the stage and payload have now safely impacted the Pacific Ocean in a cleared zone north of Antarctica," an update reads.

"Firefly recognizes the hard work that went into payload development and would like to thank our mission partners at Lockheed Martin for their continued support," it continues. "The team is working closely with our customers and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] to conduct an investigation and determine root cause of the anomaly. We will provide more information on our mission page after the investigation is completed."

The once-celebrated partnership between OpenAI's Sam Altman and Microsoft's Satya Nadella is deteriorating amid fundamental disagreements over computing resources, model access, and AI capabilities, according to WSJ. The relationship that Altman once called "the best partnership in tech" has grown strained as both companies prepare for independent futures.

Tensions center on several critical areas: Microsoft's provision of computing power, OpenAI's willingness to share model access, and conflicting views on achieving humanlike intelligence. Altman has expressed confidence OpenAI can build models with humanlike intelligence soon -- a milestone Nadella publicly dismissed as "nonsensical benchmark hacking" during a February podcast.

The companies retain significant leverage over each other. Microsoft can block OpenAI's conversion to a for-profit entity, potentially costing the startup billions if not completed this year. Meanwhile, OpenAI's board can trigger contract clauses preventing Microsoft from accessing its most advanced technology.

After Altman's brief ouster in 2023 -- dubbed "the blip" within OpenAI -- Nadella pursued an "insurance policy" by hiring DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman for $650 million to develop competing models. The personal relationship has also cooled, with the executives now communicating primarily through scheduled weekly calls rather than frequent text exchanges.

What can you build with a 3D printer? Starbucks just printed itself a new store — a drive-through location in the southern tip of Texas.

Fast Company says it's a store that "looks more like the future of construction than your average café." Built with layers of concrete piped out by a giant robotic printer, the 1,400-square-foot structure is part of the company's ongoing effort to modernize operations and trim costs... Peri-3D, a German company, used a giant 3D printer to pump out layers of concrete mixture to create the structure. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, the cost for building the small scale coffee shop was about $1.2 million...

Of course, the new method is a first for the brand. And builders say, the more they use the technology, the more efficient they are at it. In Georgetown, Texas, an entire community of 100 homes was recently built using 3D-printing. The company who built the community, Lennar, says they're seeing costs drop with each build. Stuart Miller, chairman and co-CEO of Lennar, told CNBC earlier this year that the construction company says their costs and cycle time go down "by half" by adopting 3D-printing. "This is significant improvement in evolving a housing market that has the ability to change over time and being more adaptable and more functional in providing affordable and attainable housing for a broader swath of the market," said Miller...

3D-printing is also much faster, meaning that projects can be completed in a fraction of the time, potentially drastically cutting labor costs. According to the World Economic Forum, 3D-printing can cost just 30% of what building structures the old-fashioned way costs.
The article offers more examples of 3D-printed buildings. ("in Japan, a 3D-printed train station was just erected. And Peri-3D, itself, has completed at least 15 construction projects, including residential buildings in Europe and Germany.")

3D-printing has even been incorporated into some restaurants for customizing food, the article notes, "but building restaurants with the technology is a brand-new development."

Although not everyone seems convinced. Instagram comments on a picture of Starbucks' new 3D-printed drive-through characterized its aesthetic as "dirty", "fugly", "violently hideous", and "like hot garbage".

Amazon's internet-from-space venture is struggling to ramp up production, jeopardizing its ability to meet a government deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. From a report: Project Kuiper has completed just a few dozen satellites so far, more than a year into its manufacturing program, according to three people familiar with the situation. The slow pace, combined with rocket launch delays, means the company will probably have to seek an extension from the Federal Communications Commission, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential matters.

The agency, which has oversight of transmissions from space, expects the company to have half its planned constellation of 3,236 satellites operating by the end of July 2026. To meet that requirement, Amazon would have to at least quadruple the current rate of production, which has yet to consistently reach one satellite a day, two of the people said.

NASA's oldest active astronaut, Don Pettit, celebrated his 70th birthday by returning to Earth after a seven-month mission aboard the ISS. The Guardian reports: A Soyuz capsule carrying the American and two Russian cosmonauts landed in Kazakhstan on Sunday, Pettit's birthday. "Today at 0420 Moscow time (0120 GMT), the Soyuz MS-26 landing craft with Alexei Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner and Donald (Don) Pettit aboard landed near the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan," Russia's space agency Roscosmos said.

Spending 220 days in space, Pettit, Ovchinin and Vagner orbited the Earth 3,520 times and completed a journey of 93.3m miles over the course of their mission. It was the fourth spaceflight for Pettit, who has logged more than 18 months in orbit during his 29-year career. Nasa said in a statement that Pettit was "doing well and in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth." A recording of the touchdown can be viewed here.

Earlier this year, Pettit managed to take one of the best photos ever captured from space. "When I first saw it, I was dazzled by its beauty," wrote Ars Technica's Eric Berger. "But when I looked further into the image, there were just so many amazing details to be found."

"In this image, one can see the core of the Milky Way galaxy, zodiacal light (sunlight diffused by interplanetary dust), streaks of SpaceX Starlink satellites, individual stars, an edge-on view of the atmosphere that appears in burnt umber due to hydroxide emissions, a near-sunrise just over the horizon, and nighttime cities appearing as streaks."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Twenty-one humanoid robots joined thousands of runners at the Yizhuang half-marathon in Beijing on Saturday, the first time these machines have raced alongside humans over a 21-km (13-mile) course. The robots from Chinese manufacturers such as DroidVP and Noetix Robotics came in all shapes and sizes, some shorter than 120 cm (3.9 ft), others as tall as 1.8 m (5.9 ft). One company boasted that its robot looked almost human, with feminine features and the ability to wink and smile.

Some firms tested their robots for weeks before the race. Beijing officials have described the event as more akin to a race car competition, given the need for engineering and navigation teams. "The robots are running very well, very stable ... I feel I'm witnessing the evolution of robots and AI," said spectator He Sishu, who works in artificial intelligence. The robots were accompanied by human trainers, some of whom had to physically support the machines during the race.

A few of the robots wore running shoes, with one donning boxing gloves and another wearing a red headband with the words "Bound to Win" in Chinese. The winning robot was Tiangong Ultra, from the Beijing Innovation Center of Human Robotics, with a time of 2 hours and 40 minutes. The men's winner of the race had a time of 1 hour and 2 minutes. [...] Some robots, like Tiangong Ultra, completed the race, while others struggled from the beginning. One robot fell at the starting line and lay flat for a few minutes before getting up and taking off. One crashed into a railing after running a few metres, causing its human operator to fall over. You can watch a recording of the race in its entirety on YouTube.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Electrek: In its most aggressive attack against offshore wind yet, the Trump administration halted the $5 billion Empire Wind 1, already under construction off New York's coast. Norwegian developer Equinor announced yesterday that it received notice from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) ordering Empire Wind 1 to halt all activities on the outer continental shelf until BOEM has completed its review. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum posted this tweet yesterday: ".@Interior, in consultation with @HowardLutnick, is directing @BOEM to immediately halt all construction activities on the Empire Wind Project until further review of information that suggests the Biden administration rushed through its approval without sufficient analysis."

Burgum gave no indication of what insufficiencies there were in the approval process for the fully permitted offshore wind project, despite Trump's recent declaration of a national energy emergency that speeds up permitting processes. The commercial lease for the 810-megawatt (MW) Empire Wind 1's federal offshore wind area was signed in March 2017 during the first Trump administration. It was approved by the Biden administration in November 2023 and began construction in 2024. The project is being developed under contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Empire Wind 1, which was due to come online in 2027, has the potential to power 500,000 New York homes. Equinor says it's considering appealing the order.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued a statement: "Every single day, I'm working to make energy more affordable, reliable and abundant in New York and the federal government should be supporting those efforts rather than undermining them. Empire Wind 1 is already employing hundreds of New Yorkers, including 1,000 good-paying union jobs as part of a growing sector that has already spurred significant economic development and private investment throughout the state and beyond. As Governor, I will not allow this federal overreach to stand. I will fight this every step of the way to protect union jobs, affordable energy and New York's economic future."