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Today β€” 14 March 2025Tech News

HomeKit Weekly: Aqara LED Bulb T2 is a versatile smart bulb with Matter support and advanced Zigbee features

By: Bradley C
14 March 2025 at 11:00

Aqara LED Bulb T2 is the company’s latest smart lighting option, bringing a nice combination of Thread and Zigbee support. Matter support, Zigbee Adaptive Lighting, and ultra-wide color tuning make it a solid addition to any HomeKit environment.

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Fujifilm teases a medium-format version of its viral X100 VI compact camera

Fujifilm appears to be working on a camera that could combine the best of its medium-format shooters, like the GFX 100S II, with the massively popular X100 series, based on a new teaser video spotted by Digital Camera World.

The video, titled "X Summit in Prague is going to be special, Fujifilm famπŸ‡¨πŸ‡Ώ" shows a pair of hands producing a XV100 VI and GFX 100S II out of thin air and bringing the cameras together, before cutting to the silhouette of the new camera the company presumably plans to announce. The suggestion being that Fujifilm wants to create something that has traits of its more compact, fixed-lens X100 series while reaping the benefits of a medium-format sensor.

It's hard to really gauge what the new camera will look like based on the brief clip in the video, but it definitely looks larger (and more square) than the X100 VI, with a smaller lens than you'd normally see on a camera in Fujifilm's GFX 100S II. That certainly bodes well for anyone looking to up their photography game after getting hooked on one of the X100 cameras.

Fujifilm first struck gold with the X100 V, which became popular on social platforms because of its size, design and ability to digitally mimic multiple types of analog film. The X100 VI was released in 2024 to capitalize on the sudden popularity, gaining things like in-body stabilization and a lower native ISO. For all intents and purposes, it's a fantastic camera.

We'll have to wait until Fujifilm's X Summit on March 20 to see if this new camera has the potential to have the same crossover appeal, but history is definitely on the company's side.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/fujifilm-teases-a-medium-format-version-of-its-viral-x100-vi-compact-camera-174117388.html?src=rss

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Β© Steve Dent for Engadget

Two hands holding the Fujifilm X100 VI camera.

Relativity Space may soon move a majority of its operations to Texas

As he consolidates control over Relativity Space, new owner and chief executive Eric Schmidt is planning significant changes at the launch company, including a move to the Lone Star State.

Schmidt's recent acquisition of the California-based company, which has largely evolved away from its 3D-printing origins to becoming a more conventional rocket developer, has solved Relativity's primary need. The company has been in a cash crunch for months, and being acquired by one of the 50 wealthiest people on the planet provides financial stability.

One source said Schmidt has made a "mega" investment in Relativity, but the company has not publicly stated the size. It is likely to be at least $1 billion, if not more. Schmidt is also taking an active hand in operations.

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How β€˜The Electric State’ team created a world of unlikely robots

14 March 2025 at 10:44

The new Netflix movie β€œThe Electric State” depicts a world full of robots β€” but not robots as we know them. Directed by brothers Anthony and Joe Russo (who previously helmed two Avengers blockbusters, β€œInfinity War” and β€œEndgame”) for a reported budget of $320 million, β€œThe Electric State” takes place in an alternate version of […]

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Balancing Innovation, Authenticity, and Human Creativity With AI

14 March 2025 at 10:41
This post was created in partnership with Kantar AI is transforming marketing, pushing brands to rethink not just strategy but also how they engage consumers and balance automation with authenticity. As AI evolves from a behind-the-scenes tool to a driver of real-time decisions, marketers face a critical challenge: How do they harness its potential without...

Streaming Ratings, Week of Feb. 10: Sweet Magnolias Climbs to No. 1

14 March 2025 at 10:34
The power of friendship pushed the Netflix drama series Sweet Magnolias to the top of the chart of the most-watched streaming title for the week of Feb. 10, according to Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings. Season 4 of Sweet Magnolias, which debuted in second place the week of Feb. 3, enjoyed 1.162 million viewing minutes, dethroning...

How Interactive TV Is Reshaping Consumer Engagement

14 March 2025 at 10:29
This post was created in partnership with IRCODE Television has long been a passive experience, but what if you could engage with your screen in real time? At the ADWEEK House Austin Fireside Chat, interactive technology took center stage as Matty Beckerman, founder of IRCODE, explored how AI-powered engagement is reshaping television. In conversation with...

Flau’Jae Johnson Drops Bars and Buckets in Powerade’s March Madness Ad

14 March 2025 at 10:25
Powerade is the official drink of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), and ahead of March Madness, the brand wants to land a slam dunk as the fans' bottle of choice. The Coca-Cola-owned label has rolled out "It Takes More to Get This Far," a two-ad campaign expanding on "It Takes More," which first debuted...

Google is officially dumping Assistant for Gemini

14 March 2025 at 10:43

Google is finally moving on from Google Assistant.

The company will be upgrading β€œmore” users from Google Assistant to Gemini β€œover the coming months,” according to a blog post. The classic Google Assistant β€œwill no longer be accessible on most mobile devices or available for new downloads on mobile app stores” at some point β€œlater this year.”

β€œAdditionally, we’ll be upgrading tablets, cars and devices that connect to your phone, such as headphones and watches, to Gemini,” Google says. β€œWe’re also bringing a new experience, powered by Gemini, to home devices like speakers, displays and TVs.”

The company says it will share more details β€œin the next few months.” (I would guess that Google will announce information around that new experience at Google I/O in May.) In the meantime, β€œGoogle Assistant will continue to operate on these devices,” according to Google.

Google initially launched Google Assistant in 2016. Now, though, Gemini has become the catch-all branding for many of Google’s AI and assistant-like efforts, so it’s not too surprising that the company is officially retiring Google Assistant.

The Google graveyard: all the products Google has shut down

14 March 2025 at 10:43

Google releases a lot of products, but it shuts down a lot of them, too. Some didn’t deserve to be discontinued (we pine for the days of Reader and Inbox), and some probably weren’t long for this world from the start. (What was Google Wave supposed to be, anyway?) The company actually used to shut down products with quarterly β€œspring cleanings,” but now, it just does so whenever it’s time for another product to be put out to pasture.

Follow along here for all our coverage of everything Google sends to the graveyard.

Behind the Blog: Company Comments and a Party Recap

14 March 2025 at 10:01
Behind the Blog: Company Comments and a Party Recap

This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss companies' responses to being monitored by an ICE contractor, caring about the little things, weight loss drug ads, and how our SXSW shindig went.

JOSEPH: This week I reported on the more than 200 sites, services, and apps that ShadowDragon, a contractor for ICE and other U.S. government agencies, is monitoring. By monitoring I mean, built the capability for its tool to scrape data from them. This isn’t necessarily straightforward: if you’re selling a capability to a government, I imagine they expect near flawless uptime and for the tool to grab whatever data is available.Β 

The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring
404 Media has obtained the list of sites and services that ICE contractor ShadowDragon pulls data from. ShadowDragon sources data from all over the web and lets government analysts easily search it and draw connections between people.
Behind the Blog: Company Comments and a Party Recap404 MediaJoseph Cox
Behind the Blog: Company Comments and a Party Recap

I contacted a bunch of the companies mentioned. Not all of them, because I don’t think including statements from more than 200 is feasible, but a lot. Just for those who are interested in the story, below I’ve pasted some statements that didn’t get into the story, either because I didn’t name the company, I found their statement could be confusing for readers, or I paraphrased it in the piece and am including the fuller version here. These were all via email.

Control Center is getting even better in iOS 18.4, here’s what’s new

14 March 2025 at 10:22

iOS 18’s new Control Center has proven to be much more than a one-off design change. Apple has steadily added new capabilities to Control Center via software updates, and iOS 18.4 continues that trend in a big way thanks to several nice upgrades.

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Used Tesla prices tumble as embarrassed owners look to sell

Tesla has a real image problem. Once, it was the beloved brand for the environmentally aware car buyer; more than that, it was the hottest thing in town. Hundreds of thousands of fans paid thousand-dollar deposits and then waited for up to two years for a chance to buy a Model 3, with others paying hefty markups to people at the front of the queue. Back then, of course, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed to care about climate changeβ€”now he seems more likely to be found helping to undo work on climate change.

That has hurt Tesla's new car sales, which have cratered in Europe and declined to a lesser degree in China (where Musk's political activities have less bearing, and decline is more stiff competition from local brands and the lack of a real model range). It has dented the reality-distortion field that surrounds the company's share price, if perhaps only to where it was six months ago. And it has also affected the prices of used Teslas here in the US.

Being a Tesla driver is starting to carry some stigma, and owners are unused to the opprobrium they are now facing for their choice of electric vehicle. "Two weeks ago, I was called a Nazi in the parking lot at Kroger," one owner told The New York Times. The YouTuber Vegas Tesla Family just posted a video explaining that he was selling his Tesla "because of Elon Musk." And more than one Ars commenter has sold their Tesla in recent weeks as a direct result of Musk.

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US measles outlook is so bad health experts call for updating vaccine guidance

With measles declared eliminated from the US in 2000 and national herd immunity strong, health experts have recommended that American children get two doses of the Measles, Mumps, and Rubella (MMR) vaccineβ€”the first between the ages of 12 and 15 months and the second between the ages of 4 and 6 years, before they start school.

Before 12 months, vulnerable infants in the US have been protected in part by maternal antibodies early in infancy as well as the immunity of the people surrounding them. But if they travel to a place where population immunity is unreliable, experts recommend that infants ages 6 to 11 months get an early doseβ€”then follow it up with the standard two doses at the standard times, bringing the total to three doses.

The reason they would need threeβ€”and the reason experts typically recommend waiting until 12 monthsβ€”is because the maternal antibodies infants carry can interfere with the vaccine response, preventing the immune system from mounting long-lasting protection. Still, the early dose provides boosted protection in that 6-to-11-month interval.

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China is reportedly keeping DeepSeek under close watch

14 March 2025 at 10:06

China appears to think homegrown AI startup DeepSeek could become a notable tech success story for the country.Β  After DeepSeek’s sudden rise to fame in January with the release of its open β€œreasoning” model, R1, the company is now operating under new, tighter government-influenced restrictions, according to The Information. Some of the company’s employees have […]

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Startups Weekly: Founders may be raising less, but deals haven’t been lacking

By: Anna Heim
14 March 2025 at 10:05

Welcome to Startups Weekly β€” your weekly recap of everything you can’t miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here. This week showed more optimism among startups than in other corners of the world, with entrepreneurs feeling confident enough to acquire other companies, raise fresh funding, and […]

Β© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

EXCLUSIVE: β€˜You Threw Gasoline on the Fire’: Madwell CEO Lashes Out at Unpaid Employees

14 March 2025 at 10:14
The CEO of Brooklyn-based creative shop Madwell, Christopher Sojka, is lashing out against distressed employees--according to internal communications obtained by ADWEEK--for pushing back against the agency's in-office policies after not being paid in time, and for speaking to the press about the company's financial woes. The indie shop, which has serviced major brands including Verizon...

The New Rules of Crisis Response

14 March 2025 at 10:10
This post was created in partnership with Brandwatch A brand's response to a crisis can define public perception for years. In an era where misinformation spreads in seconds and consumers demand swift, transparent action, companies must navigate high-pressure moments with precision to maintain trust. During an ADWEEK House Austin Group Chat, co-hosted with Brandwatch, a...

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