Author name: DJ Henderson

the-oceans-just-keep-getting-hotter

The oceans just keep getting hotter

global warming, ocean ecology, Science, syndication / /

Since 2018, a group of researchers from around the world has crunched the numbers on how much heat the world’s oceans are absorbing each year. In 2025, their measurements broke records once again, making this the eighth year in a row that the world’s oceans have absorbed more heat than in the years before.

The study, which was published Friday in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science, found that the world’s oceans absorbed an additional 23 zettajoules’ worth of heat in 2025, the most in any year since modern measurements began in the 1960s. That’s significantly higher than the 16 additional zettajoules they absorbed in 2024. The research comes from a team of more than 50 scientists across the United States, Europe, and China.

A joule is a common way to measure energy. A single joule is a relatively small unit of measurement—it’s about enough to power a tiny lightbulb for a second, or slightly heat a gram of water. But a zettajoule is one sextillion joules; numerically, the 23 zettajoules the oceans absorbed this year can be written out as 23,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

John Abraham, a professor of thermal science at the University of St. Thomas and one of the authors on the paper, says that he sometimes has trouble putting this number into contexts that laypeople understand. Abraham offers up a couple options. His favorite is comparing the energy stored in the ocean to the energy of atomic bombs: The 2025 warming, he says, is the energetic equivalent to 12 Hiroshima bombs exploding in the ocean. (Some other calculations he’s done include equating this number to the energy it would take to boil 2 billion Olympic swimming pools, or more than 200 times the electrical use of everyone on the planet.)

“Last year was a bonkers, crazy warming year—that’s the technical term,” Abraham joked to me. “The peer-reviewed scientific term is ‘bonkers’.”

The world’s oceans are its largest heat sink, absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess warming that is trapped in the atmosphere. While some of the excess heat warms the ocean’s surface, it also slowly travels further down into deeper parts of the ocean, aided by circulation and currents.

The oceans just keep getting hotter Read More »

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Measles continues raging in South Carolina; 99 new cases since Tuesday

health, Infectious disease, measles, outbreak, South Carolina / /

The disease usually develops seven to 14 days after an exposure, but it can take up to 21 days (which is the length of quarantine). Once it develops, it’s marked by a high fever and a telltale rash that starts on the head and spreads downward. People are contagious for four days before the rash develops and four days after it appears. Complications can range from ear infections and diarrhea to encephalitis (swelling of the brain), pneumonia, death in up to 3 out of 1,000 children, and, in very rare cases, a fatal neurological condition that can develop seven to 10 years after the acute infection (subacute sclerosing panencephalitis).

Two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is considered 97 percent effective against the virus, and that protection is considered lifelong. Ninety-nine percent of the 310 cases in the South Carolina outbreak are in people who are unvaccinated, partially vaccinated, or have an unknown vaccination status (only 2 people were vaccinated).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which only has data as of January 6, has tallied three confirmed cases for this year (two in South Carolina and one in North Carolina, linked to the South Carolina outbreak). Since then, South Carolina reported 26 cases on Tuesday and 99 today, totaling 125. North Carolina also reported three additional cases Tuesday, again linked to the South Carolina outbreak. In all, that brings the US tally to at least 131 just nine days into the year.

In 2025, the country recorded 2,144 confirmed cases, the most cases seen since 1991. Three people died, including two otherwise-healthy children. In 2000, the US declared measles eliminated, meaning that it was no longer continuously circulating within the country. With ongoing outbreaks, including the one in South Carolina, the country’s elimination status is at risk.

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michigan-man-learns-the-hard-way-that-“catch-a-cheater”-spyware-apps-aren’t-legal

Michigan man learns the hard way that “catch a cheater” spyware apps aren’t legal

legal, pctattletale, Security, spyware, stalkwerware / /

Despite being repeatedly told that people were using his product to spy on others without their consent, Fleming helped them with tech support.

A government investigator even opened up an affiliate marketing account for pcTattletale, and Fleming reached out to offer ready-made banner ads with text like “pcTattletale Cheating Husband? #1 catch a cheater spy tracker” and “pcTattletale Husband Cheating? Best Catch a Cheater Spy App.”

Fleming noted in an email that pcTattletale was more successful when marketed at women, because “There are a lot more women wanting to catch their man then [sic] the other way around.” Financial records showed that Fleming was selling around 1,200 pcTattletale subscriptions a year at anywhere from $99 to $300.

Based on all this, the government obtained a search warrant in late 2022 and raided the Bruce Township home where Fleming lived.

In 2024, TechCrunch reported that pcTattletale was hacked and much of its data was leaked. Apparently, hackers had gained access to the company’s private keys for the Amazon Web Services account where most of the video data created by the app was stored. Fleming claimed at the time that his company was “out of business and completely done” after the breach.

The feds eventually charged Fleming with selling a product while “knowing or having reason to know” that the software was “primarily useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications.” This week in California, Fleming pled guilty to a single count and was released on his own recognizance while awaiting sentencing.

One piece of stalkerware is off the market; unfortunately, many others remain, and their owners and operators are often harder to find.

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High RAM prices mean record-setting profits for Samsung and other memory makers

RAM, samsung, SSD, Tech / /

Supply shortages and big price increases for RAM and storage have been a major drag for enthusiasts and PC builders in recent months. And while we haven’t yet seen large, widespread price increases for memory-dependent products like pre-built laptop PCs, smartphones, and graphics cards, most companies expect that to change this year if shortages continue.

In the meantime, memory manufacturers are riding high demand and high prices to record profits.

In revenue guidance released this week, Samsung Electronics predicts it will make between 19.9 and 20.1 trillion Korean won in operating profit (roughly $13.8 billion USD) in Q4 2025, compared to just 6.49 trillion won in Q4 of 2024.

Samsung is way more than just a memory business, of course, but its fortunes often rise and fall along with its memory division; Samsung’s profits were dropping dramatically in 2023 partly because of an oversupply of memory that made its memory division lose billions of dollars.

Less-diversified companies that primarily make memory are also raking in money lately. SK Hynix posted its “highest-ever quarterly performance” in Q3 of 2025 with 11.38 trillion Korean won (about $7.8 billion) in operating profit, up from 7.03 trillion in Q3 of 2024, and an operating margin that increased from 40 percent to 47 percent. SK Hynix credits “expanding investments in AI infrastructure” and “surging demand for AI servers” for its performance.

Micron—which recently decided to exit the consumer RAM and storage markets but is still selling its products to other businesses—also reported a big boost to net income year over year, from $1.87 billion in Q1 2025 to $5.24 billion in Q1 2026. This has generated the company’s “highest ever free cash flow.”

“Total company revenue, DRAM and NAND revenue, as well as HBM and data center revenue and revenue in each of our business units, also reached new records [in fiscal Q1],” wrote Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra.

Why is RAM so expensive right now?

Reading these upbeat earnings reports and forecasts will be cold comfort to people trying to build or upgrade a PC, who have seen the price of a 32GB kit of DDR5-6000 increase from $80 in August 2025 to $340 today. And if the current AI boom continues, it’s unlikely to improve in the near term.

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RFK Jr.’s dietary guidance: Food funnel features slab of red meat, butter

Dietary guidelines, health / /

Earning some praise from outside experts, including the American Medical Association, the new guidelines are the first iteration to directly address highly processed foods. While emphasizing “whole, nutrient-dense foods,” it aims for a “dramatic reduction in highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives.”

While the guidelines don’t provide a clear definition of what constitutes highly processed foods or how consumers can identify them, they do offer some broad examples at various points, including store-bought “chips, cookies, and candy,” and “white bread, ready-to-eat or packaged breakfast options, flour tortillas, and crackers.”

New triangle

In an effort to steer Americans to healthy choices, the new guidance unveils a new(ish) visual aid—a food pyramid that is upside-down, thus resembling a funnel.

The move at least explains a puzzling trend: Over the past year, Kennedy and other Trump administration officials have repeatedly made reference to the food pyramid—though only to mock and scorn it, often with inaccuracies.

“The dietary guidelines that we inherited from the Biden administration were 453 pages long,” Kennedy said in August, referring to the 2020–2025 guidelines, which are 164 pages long. “They were driven by the same commercial impulses that put Froot Loops at the top of the food pyramid.”

On Wednesday’s unveiling of the new guidelines, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary lamented that, “for decades, we’ve been fed a corrupt food pyramid.”

Not only were Froot Loops never listed on a food pyramid, no food pyramid has been included in federal dietary guidelines for over a decade, raising the question of why the administration was repeatedly attacking a defunct polyhedron. The original food pyramid was introduced in 1992, significantly revised in 2005, and ditched entirely in 2011. Since then, the guidelines have used MyPlate as a visual aid, intended to provide a simplistic depiction of the foods people should eat, in their recommended proportions, on a plate.

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Seasonal Switch 2 sales show significant slowing as annual cycle sunsets

business, gaming, holiday, industry, Nintendo, sales, Switch, switch 2 / /

Lingering sales of the original Switch might also be contributing to the relatively weak holiday performance for the Switch 2. In the UK, at least, the older console is still selling well enough to buoy Nintendo’s overall holiday hardware sales in the country to 7 percent higher than what the company achieved in 2017.

Super Mario Odyssey

Nintendo might need another Super Mario Odyssey-sized hit to keep up sales momentum for the Switch 2.

Credit: Nintendo

Nintendo might need another Super Mario Odyssey-sized hit to keep up sales momentum for the Switch 2. Credit: Nintendo

That said, the transition from record-setting launch sales to relatively underwhelming holiday sales is a worrying sign for the Switch 2’s market momentum. A lack of system-selling Switch 2 exclusive games could explain that movement. In 2017, the October launch of Super Mario Odyssey built holiday excitement for the Switch on top of earlier hits like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. For the Switch 2, holiday releases like Pokémon Legends Z-A and Metroid Prime 4 don’t seem to have had as much impact as early system sellers like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza.

Thus far, Nintendo’s planned 2026 schedule doesn’t seem primed to offer many big-name exclusive software to turn things around. The year’s first-party lineup is currently anchored by standard sequels for second-tier franchises like Yoshi, Mario Tennis, and Fire Emblem, alongside slightly upgraded “Switch 2 Edition” re-releases of popular Switch games. Aside from Nintendo’s own titles, the planned 2026 release of FromSoft’s Bloodborne-esque Duskbloods as a Switch 2 exclusive could make some fans of the company’s Souls-like games take a second look at the hardware.

Nintendo is likely to announce more Switch 2 exclusives and ports in the coming months, of course. Having a few system-selling blockbusters in that slate could be crucial to propping up the Switch 2’s sales now that pent-up launch-window demand seems largely satiated.

Seasonal Switch 2 sales show significant slowing as annual cycle sunsets Read More »

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Former Google CEO plans to singlehandedly fund a Hubble telescope replacement

eric schmitt, Space, telescopes / /

Prior to World War II the vast majority of telescopes built around the world were funded by wealthy people with an interest in the heavens above.

However, after the war, two significant developments in the mid-20th century caused the burden of funding large astronomical instruments to largely shift to the government and academic institutions. First, as mirrors became larger and larger to see deeper into the universe, their costs grew exponentially. And then, with the advent of spaceflight, the expense of space-based telescopes expanded even further.

But now the tide may be turning again.

On Wednesday evening, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife, Wendy, announced a major investment in not just one telescope project, but four. Each of these new telescopes brings a novel capability online; however, the most intriguing new instrument is a space-based telescope named Lazuli. This spacecraft, if successfully launched and deployed, would offer astronomers a more capable and modern version of the Hubble Space Telescope, which is now three decades old.

A billionaire with a keen interest in science and technology, Schmidt and his wife did not disclose the size of his investment in the four telescopes, which collectively will be known as the Schmidt Observatory System. However, it likely is worth half a billion dollars, at a minimum.

“For 20 years, Eric and I have pursued philanthropy to seek new frontiers, whether in the deep sea or in the profound connections that link people and our planet, committing our resources to novel research that reaches beyond what might be funded by governments or the private sector,” Wendy Schmidt said in a statement to Ars. “With the Schmidt Observatory System, we’re enabling multiple approaches to understanding the vast universe where we find ourselves stewards of a living planet.”

Essentially the Schmidts have taken innovative telescope concepts that scientists have proposed for government funding and will provide the money needed to build them. Their gift has enormous potential to advance the study of astronomy and astrophysics.

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Expired certificate completely breaks macOS Logitech apps, user customizations

Apple, Logitech, macOS, Tech / /

If you’re a Mac user with Logitech accessories and you’ve noticed that your settings and customizations seem to have gone away this week, you’re not alone.

The company’s Logi Options+ and G Hub apps for macOS abruptly stopped functioning on Monday, refusing to launch and reverting all accessories’ settings to their built-in defaults.

The culprit, according to both a Logitech support page and Reddit posts from Logitech Head of Global Marketing Joe Santucci, was a security certificate that was inadvertently allowed to expire, rendering both apps non-functional.

“The certificate that expired is used to secure inter-process communications and the expiration results in the software not being able to start successfully,” wrote Santucci in one post. “We dropped the ball here,” he said in another post. “This is an inexcusable mistake. We’re extremely sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

Logitech is already offering patches for both apps that include an updated certificate. But unfortunately for users, one of the features broken by the expired certificate is the app’s built-in updater, meaning that there’s no automated way for Logitech to fix this problem. Anyone who wants their apps to work and their customizations to return will need to manually grab the patch (or updated versions of the apps, which Logitech says it is also working on). If you use both apps, each will need to be patched separately.

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Appeals court agrees that Congress blocked cuts to research costs

Appeals court, Grant funding, indirect costs, NIH, Policy, Science / /

While indirect rates (the money paid for indirects as a percentage of the money that goes directly to the researcher to support their work) average about 30 percent, many universities have ended up with indirect cost rates above 50 percent. A sudden and unexpected drop to the 15 percent applied retroactively, as planned by the Trump administration, would create serious financial problems for major research universities.

The district court’s initial ruling held that this change was legally problematic in several ways. It violated the Administrative Procedures Act by being issued without any notice or comment, and the low flat rate was found to be arbitrary and capricious, especially compared to the system it was replacing. The ruling determined that the new policy also violated existing procedures within the Department of Health and Human Services.

But the Appeals Court panel of three judges unanimously determined that they didn’t even have to consider all of those issues because Congress had already prohibited exactly this action. In 2017, the first Trump administration also attempted to set all indirect costs to the same low, flat fee, and Congress responded by attaching a rider to a budget agreement that blocked alterations to the NIH overhead policy. Congress has been renewing that rider ever since.

A clear prohibition

In arguing for its new policy, the government tried to present it as consistent with Congress’s prohibition. The rider allowed some exceptions to the normal means of calculating overhead rates, but they were extremely limited; the NIH tried to argue that these exceptions could include every single grant issued to a university, something the court found was clearly inconsistent with the limits set by Congress.

The court also noted that, as announced, the NIH policy applied to every single grant, regardless of whether the recipient was at a university—something it later contended was a result of “inartful language.” But the judges wrote that it’s a bit late to revise the policy, saying, “We cannot, of course, disregard what the Supplemental Guidance actually says in favor of what NIH now wishes it said.”

Appeals court agrees that Congress blocked cuts to research costs Read More »

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Amazon Alexa+ released to the general public via an early access website

AI, Amazon, amazon alexa, generative ai, Tech / /

Anyone can now try Alexa+, Amazon’s generative AI assistant, through a free early access program at Alexa.com. The website frees the AI, which Amazon released via early access in February, from hardware and makes it as easily accessible as more established chatbots, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini.

Until today, you needed a supporting device to access Alexa+. Amazon hasn’t said when the early access period will end, but when it does, Alexa+ will be included with Amazon Prime memberships, which start at $15 per month, or cost $20 per month on its own.

The above pricing suggests that Amazon wants Alexa+ to drive people toward Prime subscriptions. By being interwoven with Amazon’s shopping ecosystem, including Amazon’s e-commerce platform, grocery delivery business, and Whole Foods, Alexa+ can make more money for Amazon.

Just like it has with Alexa+ on devices, Amazon is pushing Alexa.com as a tool for people to organize and manage their household. Amazon’s announcement of Alexa.com today emphasizes Alexa+’s features for planning trips and meals, to-do lists, calendars, and smart homes. Alexa.com “also provides persistent context and continuity, allowing you to access Alexa on whichever device or interface best serves the task at hand, with all previous chats, preferences, and personalization” carrying over, Amazon said.

Amazon already knew a browser-based version of Alexa would be helpful. Alexa was available via Alexa.Amazon.com until around the time Amazon started publicly discussing a generative AI version of Alexa in 2023. Alexa+ is now accessible through Alexa.Amazon.com (in addition to Alexa.com).

“This is a new interaction model and adds a powerful way to use and collaborate with Alexa+,” Amazon said today. “Combined with the redesigned Alexa mobile app, which will feature an agent-forward design, Alexa+ will be accessible across every surface—whether you’re at your desk, on the go, or at home.”

An example of someone using the Alexa+ website to manage smart home devices.

Amazon provided this example of someone using the Alexa+ website to manage smart home devices.

Credit: Amazon

Amazon provided this example of someone using the Alexa+ website to manage smart home devices. Credit: Amazon

Alexa has largely been reported to cost Amazon billions of dollars, despite Amazon’s claim that 600 million Alexa-powered devices have been sold. By incorporating more powerful and generative AI-based features and a subscription fee, Amazon hopes people will use Alexa+ more frequently and for more advanced and essential tasks, resulting in the financial success that has eluded the original Alexa. Amazon is also considering injecting ads into Alexa+ conversations.

Notably, ahead of its final release and while still in early access, Alexa+ has been reported to be slower than expected and struggle with inaccuracies at times. It also lacks some features that Amazon executives have previously touted, like the ability to order takeout.

Amazon Alexa+ released to the general public via an early access website Read More »

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Tesla sales fell by 9 percent in 2025, its second yearly decline

Cars, Tesla / /

Tesla published its final production and delivery numbers this morning, and they make for brutal reading. Sales were down almost 16 percent during the final three months of last year, meaning the company sold 77,343 fewer electric vehicles than it did during the same period in 2024.

For the entire year, the decline looks slightly better with a drop of 8.6 percent year over year. That means Tesla sold 1,636,129 cars in 2025, 153,097 fewer than it managed in 2024. Which in turn is more than it managed to shift in 2023.

Sales issues

Contributing factors to the poor sales are legion. The brand still relies on the Models 3 and Y to an overwhelming extent, and other than a mild cosmetic refresh, neither feels fresh or modern compared with competitors from Europe and Asia.

And Elon Musk’s much-hyped Cybertruck—which was supposed to cost less than $40,000 and go into production in 2021, lest anyone forget—has been a disaster, eclipsing the Edsel. Its failure has taken down another company initiative, Tesla’s “in-house battery cell.” It was initially designed specifically for the Cybertruck, although the CEO later claimed it would be used for static storage as well as EVs. But apparently, it has become the victim of a lack of demand. Last week, Electrek reported that Tesla’s South Korean battery material supplier L&F wrote down its $2.9 billion contract with Tesla to just $7,386. A drop of more than 99 percent.

Musk has not dialed back his embrace of the far right, cratering sales in markets like California and Europe, where EV buyers often use their consciences to guide their wallets.

Tesla sales fell by 9 percent in 2025, its second yearly decline Read More »

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Marvel rings in new year with Wonder Man trailer

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Marvel Studios decided to ring in the new year with a fresh trailer for Wonder Man, its eight-episode miniseries premiering later this month on Disney+. Part of the MCU’s Phase Six, the miniseries was created by Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of Five Rings) and Andrew Guest (Hawkeye), with Guest serving as showrunner.

As previously reported, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, an actor and stunt person with actual superpowers who decides to audition for the lead role in a superhero TV series—a reboot of an earlier Wonder Man incarnation. Demetrius Grosse plays Simon’s brother, Eric, aka Grim Reaper; Ed Harris plays Simon’s agent, Neal Saroyan; and Arian Moayed plays P. Clearly, an agent with the Department of Damage Control. Lauren Glazier, Josh Gad, Byron Bowers, Bechir Sylvain, and Manny McCord will also appear in as-yet-undisclosed roles

Rounding out the cast is Ben Kingsley, reprising his MCU role as failed actor Trevor Slattery. You may recall Slattery from 2013’s Iron Man 3, hired by the villain of that film to pretend to be the leader of an international terrorist organization called the Ten Rings.Slattery showed up again in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,rehabilitated after a stint in prison; he helped the titular Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) on his journey to the mythical village of Ta Lo.

A one-minute teaser that leaned into the meta-humor was released just before New York Comic Con last fall, followed by a full trailer during the event itself which mostly laid out the premise as Simon prepared to audition for his dream role. The new trailer repackages some of that footage, except Simon is asked to sign a form stating that he doesn’t have superpowers. The problem is that he does, and the stress of the audition and the acting process itself brings those superpowers to the fore in explosive fashion. So the “Department of Damage Control” naturally declares Simon an “extraordinary threat.”

Wonder Man premieres on Disney+ on January 27, 2026.

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