Savant Smart Budget lets you add more capacity than your breaker box can technically support. | Image: Savant
At CES this week, Savant Systems announced Savant Smart Budget, a feature of its Smart Power system of modular relays and equipment that integrates with your existing circuit breaker box.
If you’re already at the limits of your breaker box’s capacity, Smart Budget lets you get around that with automated control of individual circuits. That way, you can add more high-draw connections, like appliances or EV chargers, than your electrical box can supply at once. For instance, you could set it so that power only goes to your EV overnight after you’re done using your oven. That sort of control can also be useful if you’re using a house battery or running on solar power.
Image: Savant
Savant’s Smart Budget software.
Savant says its system, which starts at $1,500 and requires installation by a licensed electrician, is more affordable than the alternative of working with your electric utility provider to upgrade to higher amperage service, which “could cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.”
Those parts fit into “most major electrical panels” that “standardize on 1” breaker spacing,” company CMO JC Murphy tells The Verge, including panels from Schneider, Eaton, GE, ABB, Siemens, and others.
The Smart Budget kit will include two 30-amp single-pole circuit breakers, which Savant calls “Power Modules,” along with a double-pole 60-amp one and a current tracker for circuits you only want to monitor, according to Murphy. It also includes a Savant “Director” hub and sensors. The company sells additional Power Modules that cost $120 for dual 20-amp or single-pole 30-amp versions and $240 for a 60-amp double-pole module.
SteamOS was always supposed to be bigger than Valve’s own Steam Deck, and 2025 is the year it finally expands. Not only will Lenovo ship the first third-party SteamOS handheld this May, Valve has now revealed it will let you install a working copy of SteamOS on other handhelds even sooner than that.
Pierre-Loup Griffais, one of the lead designers on the Steam Deck and SteamOS, tells me a beta for other handhelds “is slated to ship after March sometime,” and that you might discover the OS just starts working properly after that happens!
Griffais and his co-designer Lawrence Yang would not confirm which handhelds might just start working, though there are some obvious candidates: the company confirmed to us in August that it had been adding support for the Asus ROG Ally’s controls.
Also, quite a few PC gamers have also discovered that Bazzite, a fork of Valve’s Steam Deck experience that I loved testing on an Ally X and vastly preferred to Windows, also works wonderfully on the Lenovo Legion Go. There still aren’t that many handhelds out there at the end of the day, and I would think Valve would take advantage of work the Linux gaming community has already done on both.
Speaking of Bazzite, Valve seems to be flattered! “We have nothing against it,” says Yang. “It’s a great community project that delivers a lot of value to people that want a similar experience on devices right now,” says Griffais, adding later “In a lot of ways Bazzite is a good way to kind of get the latest and greatest of what we’ve been working on, and test it.”
But he says Bazzite isn’t yet in a state where a hardware manufacturer could preload it on a handheld, nor would Valve allow that. While users can freely download and install the SteamOS image onto their own devices, companies aren’t allowed to sell it or modify it, and must partner with Valve first.
There are some non-selfish reasons for that. Among other things, Griffais explains that the Lenovo Legion Go S will run the same SteamOS image as the Steam Deck itself, taking advantage of the same software updates and the same precached shaders that let games load and run more smoothly, just with added hardware compatibility tweaks. Valve wants to make sure SteamOS is a single platform, not a fragmented one.
“In general, we just want to make sure we have a good pathway to work together on things like firmware updates and you can get to things like the boot manager and the BIOS and things like that in a semi-standardized fashion, right?” says Griffais, regarding what Valve needs to see in a partnership that would officially ship SteamOS on other devices.
Valve isn’t currently partnered with any other companies beyond Lenovo to do that collaboration — Yang tells me the company is not working with GPD on official SteamOS support, despite that manufacturer’s claim.
Valve’s also not promising that whichever Windows handheld you have will necessarily run SteamOS perfectly — in a new blog post, Valve only confirms that a beta will ship before Lenovo’s Legion Go S, that it “should improve the experience on other devices,” and that users “can download and test this themselves.”
As far as other form factors, like possible SteamOS living room boxes, Valve says you might have a good experience trying that. And partnerships are a possibility there too: “if someone wants to bring that to the market and preload SteamOS on it, we’d be happy to talk to them.”
Valve wouldn’t tell me anything about the rumors that it’s developing its own Steam Controller 2, VR headset with wands, and possibly its own living room box, but did tell me that we “might expect more Steam Input compatible controllers in the future.”
The author (not pictured) became a freelance tech worker.
VioletaStoimenova/Getty Images
I left a stable job to pursue freelance tech work because I wanted more flexibility and freedom.
My family, especially my mother, was concerned about my choice and didn't understand.
After some trial and error, I finally found a stable career in the freelance tech world.
I was lucky to land a job immediately after college as an IT support intern, which later transitioned into full-time employment. For three years, I followed the path most expected of me. Eventually, I felt trapped and chose to resign.
That one decision set many things in motion, including a complete shift in how I viewed work.
My mother was the first to voice her concern. She had always pictured a traditional life for me: a stable job, a marriage, and a family. But I wanted something different.
"Samedi, where are you going?" she asked when she heard the news. I shared an outline of my plans but kept the finer details to myself.
In Africa, where I live, stable employment is seen as the cornerstone of success. My decision to freelance was culturally dissonant.
The pressure mounted as relatives mobilized to "help." A cousin offered a position at a leading telco. Family members called with job suggestions, each well-meaning but missing the point; I wasn't looking for another traditional role.
No one in my family had taken this path before, so I had no role model. I had to do this mostly on my own.
Freelancing wasn't easy. When I left my job, I had no savings and struggled for months. It was a humbling experience.
A year later, I decided to move countries and needed a soft landing to acclimate to a new culture. That's when I decided to go back to a full-time job. I landed a junior web developer position at a media company. It felt like a fresh start, but the role wasn't what I thought it would be. The demands were relentless — late nights, weekend shifts, and tight deadlines. The long hours drained me, and I became burned out and increasingly frustrated.
Eventually, the job that once seemed like an opportunity had become a burden, and it was time to move on.
It's a simple question in traditional work culture, where careers follow linear paths. But in the gig economy, the answer isn't always neat. I gave a vague response about joining another company, though truthfully, I was stepping back into the unknown to take another shot at freelancing. I'd tasted the freedom of freelancing and wanted to do it again. Thankfully, this time, I had more clients to work with.
I eventually found stability in flexibility
My second shot at freelancing has been much more successful. I've worn many hats: web designer, content marketer, copyeditor, and technical writer. Currently, I work as a content marketer and digital career coach.
This variety is simply the nature of modern tech work. Each role has added to my skill set, allowing me to serve clients across time zones.
While it hasn't been easy, the career I built outside a traditional role has been rewarding and freeing. All the opportunities have helped me grow my skill sets. I've built a stable career in my own way.
Bridging the generational divide will take time
Still, my mom's skepticism comes from a place of care and experience. Her preference for traditional employment is understandable in Africa, where economic stability is precarious. Even though I have made a successful career out of freelance, she and my family are still confused about what I do for a living.
But the nature of work is evolving. When companies downsize or restructure, freelancers with diverse clients can adjust more quickly than those tied to one employer. I feel more stable in my career now more than ever, and I hope my family realizes that one day.
I've now realized that the future is borderless. Younger generations like me are becoming global citizens, working across time zones and cultures in ways our parents never imagined.
The question is no longer, "Where are you going?" but "How far can you reach?"
Mark Zuckerberg announced in a video that Meta will be changing its approach toward moderation and loosening some of its policies.
Chesnot/Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg said Meta is loosening some of its policies in an effort to avoid limiting free speech.
Meta will remove restrictions on topics like gender, which means users may see more controversial opinions in their feeds.
The policy shift is expected to change how your Facebook, Instagram, and Threads feeds appear.
Don't be surprised if your Instagram or Facebook feed looks different as Mark Zuckerberg's overhaul of Meta's moderation policies rolls out in the coming weeks.
In addition to replacing its third-party fact-checking system with community notes similar to Elon Musk's X, Meta is also looking to change things up with a return to promoting political content. Other changes include eliminating restrictions on topics like immigration or gender and shifting its enforcement policies on lower-severity violations.
"We're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies, and restoring free expression on our platforms," Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the changes.
So what will Facebook, Instagram, and Threads look like with the changes? Based on Zuckerberg's comments, this is how your feed could appear different.
You'll likely see a wider range of views — including controversial ones
In the next few weeks, you might start to notice more controversial content on your social media feeds.
In an announcement about the new changes, Meta said it "removed millions of pieces of content" daily in December 2024 — and that "one to two out of every 10" of those pieces of content may not have violated Meta's policies.
In an effort to reduce instances of accidentally removing content through its automated moderation tools did not violate a policy, Meta said in a blog post that it will remove restrictions on topics frequently discussed in political conversations and debates, like "immigration, gender identity, and gender."
"It's not right that things can be said on TV or the floor of Congress, but not on our platforms," the company said in the announcement.
What does that mean in practice? An update Tuesday to Meta's "Hateful Conduct" policy offers more detail.
"We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words like 'weird.'"
Posts that are 'lower-severity violations' won't be reviewed unless people report them
Meta will also be loosening its guidelines around enforcement of policy violations and raising the bar for content removal.
The company said its automated systems have resulted in "too many mistakes and too much content being censored," as well as demoted content that is predicted to violate its guidelines.
Moving forward, Meta platforms will focus on addressing "illegal and high-severity violations," including terrorism, child sexual exploitation, or drugs.
For "less severe policy violations," the company will rely on users reporting the content before it considers taking action. Meta will also eliminate most demotions and require a "much higher degree of confidence" before content is removed. The company will also raise its standards around removing content by requiring multiple reviewers to remove content.
You'll see more politics and news content
Following what it described as feedback from people not wanting to see political content on their feeds, Facebook announced changes in 2021 to reduce the amount of political content seen, including content about elections or social issues.
In Tuesday's announcement, the company referred to that approach as "pretty blunt" and said it would start recommending political content again on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. The political content will take a more "personalized approach," by ranking and showing content based on users' interactions with content, like liking or viewing different posts.
"We are also going to recommend more political content based on these personalized signals and are expanding the options people have to control how much of this content they see," the announcement said.
In 2022, Meta said that political content only made up about 3% of posts on Facebook. So the change doesn't necessarily mean your feed will be flooded with political news and content — but it may be an increase from what you've seen in recent years.
You won't see fact-check notes anymore — instead, you'll sometimes see community notes
Part of the shift will be focused on reversing changes that Meta executive Joel Kaplan said the company made to moderate content that resulted in "harmless content" being removed and people "wrongly locked up in 'Facebook jail.'"
Meta is now ending its third-party fact-checking program, which was implemented in 2016. Instead, it said it will launch a community notes program over the next couple of months, which will follow rival social network X's approach of allowing contributors to add context to content.
By eliminating its fact-checkers, Meta will no longer demote fact-checked content or include full-screen warnings that users have to click through before viewing a post. Instead, users will see a "much less obtrusive label indicating" and have the option to view additional content, Kaplan said.
A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment by Business Insider.
Eagles coach Nick Sirianni says he has a "lot of faith" in quarterback Jalen Hurts, who is still in concussion protocol, to get himself prepared in time for Sunday's wildcard matchup with the Packers if he's cleared to play.
Mercury star Brittney Griner said the new Unrivaled 3-on-3 league allows her to knock "all the dust off" while staying stateside to compete during the WNBA's offseason.
OpenAI rival Anthropic is in talks to raise $2 billion in new capital in a funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to The Wall Street Journal. The round, which The Journal reports would value Anthropic at $60 billion, would bring Anthropic’s total raised to $15.7 billion, going by Crunchbase’s data. It would also […]
Xpeng Aero HT, the aerospace company under Chinese EV startup Xpeng, unveiled at CES 2025 its “modular flying car,” the so-called Land Aircraft Carrie. It’s ssentially an electric minivan with a small folding eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing vehicle) tucked in the back, which can be rolled out and launched into flight. The company says […]
Apple is preparing to kick off its annual Swift Student Challenge again this year, with entries opening in just under a month and lasting three weeks only. Here are the details.
The New York Yankees need to fill a Gleyber Torres-sized hole on their infield. Can they acquire Ha-Seong Kim or will he re-sign with the San Diego Padres?
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25821319/Smart_Budget_App.png)
Image: Savant
