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Samsung has now set a date for its next Unpacked showcase, which is Wednesday, July 9. As well as some new foldable phones, we're also expecting the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 – and in the run up to the big day, there have been some intriguing leaks around the design of the smartwatch.This will of course be the follow-up to last year's Samsung Galaxy Watch 7, and it also looks as though we may get a Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 as well, after the original launched alongside the Galaxy Watch 7 in July 2024 (or perhaps just a new color – the rumors aren't too clear, as yet).It also seems likely now that we'll get a Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, too, following on from the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic that debuted back in 2023. While the names may not match, it seems this watch and the standard Watch 8 will have some Ultra elements to its design – including an overall shape and aesthetic that may divide opinion among users.Here comes the squircle, againThe Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra broke with tradition as far as its design went, being the first from Samsung to not use a perfectly round casing.It actually tries to meld both a circle and a square – with "squircle" being the most commonly used technical term – so it's part Pixel Watch and part Apple Watch in appearance.Now, it seems likely that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic will follow suit and be squircle-ized. This comes from renders leaked by well-known tipster @evleaks (via SamMobile), showing the squircle on these two models and the 2025 refresh of the Galaxy Watch Ultra.Galaxy Watch 8 lineup 😳Watch8, Watch8 Classic, Ultra 2025 pic.twitter.com/FSCHNs1kErJune 12, 2025Of course, nothing is certain until Samsung makes it certain, but when it comes to industry rumors and predictions, there aren't many people with a better record than @evleaks aka Evan Blass. His leaks are usually accurate and timely, so much so that it would be a surprise if these weren't the official designs of the upcoming smartwatches.And if we needed more convincing that this redesign really is happening, an early edition of the Galaxy Watch 8 has also showed up on eBay. Even though the listed wearable wasn't actually functional, it had the distinctive squircle design.More evidence of a squircle takeover comes from images hidden away in the One UI 8 update for watches, as spotted by the Android Authority team. There's no doubt that these squircle images are there in the software, even if they can't be seen yet, making us even more sure about what's coming with the Galaxy Watch 8 design.Yikes! Someone is already selling a Samsung Galaxy Watch 8 Classic on eBay 😅https://t.co/2aHEewO8Rj pic.twitter.com/vkpRsN0SjeJune 9, 2025And we've also seen the new look for these watches in the latest update to the Samsung Health app, as spotted by 9to5Google. It's a simplified, cartoon-like rendering of the design, but you can definitely see the squircle.Put all of that together, and we've got a very good idea of what the Galaxy Watch 8, Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are going to look like ahead of the big reveal from Samsung.Besides the refreshed appearance, there's also been talk of a rotating bezel for the Classic model, a slight battery life bump, and (of course) improved AI smarts.Sign me upThe Pixel Watch 3 is very round (Image credit: Future)The squircle approach is likely to divide opinion, but it's very much a subjective call, and I'm fully on board with the new look. Some people are calling it a weak compromise that's neither here nor there, but there's another way to look at it: the best of both worlds.I don't particularly prefer square smartwatches or circular smartwatches: both can look good, and both can look rather ugly. What I do like in a smartwatch is a certain amount of heft, and that's what Samsung delivers with the squircle look – it's a wearable that you know is there, which helps with glancing at the display and operating the device.For me, many watches – including the Apple Watch Series 10 and the Pixel Watch 3 – can look a little flimsy and toy-like. There are plenty of happy customers for both of those wearables of course, but I prefer to wear something that's a bit more substantial.Perhaps that's why I've tended to lean towards the best Garmins when it comes to choosing smartwatches in the past. It remains to be seen whether any of Samsung's 2025 smartwatches will convince me to upgrade – the pricing points will be crucial, as usual – but as far as the appearance goes, sign me up.You might also likeThe Galaxy Watch 8 leak teases a massive design changeSamsung is looking into supercharged watch strapsHere's another sign the Galaxy Watch 8 is on the way

We know what you’re thinking: there just isn’t enough AI around right now. Luckily for you, Donald Trump emphatically agrees. According to a new report from Reuters, his administration is assembling a number of executive actions that would significantly increase the energy supply used for expanding artificial intelligence. The US and China are currently battling it out to lead the way in the rapidly growing sector, but American companies will need more infrastructure to make the advances Trump wants.

"With the right Government policies, we can solidify our position as the global leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans," he said back in January when signing an executive order in his first days in office that made clear his intention to reduce any regulatory hurdles to allow unchecked development in the area.

Reuters was told by sources that asked to remain anonymous that, if passed, the planned executive orders would "make it easier for power-generating projects to connect to the grid, and provide federal land on which to build the data centers needed to expand AI technology." The Trump administration is reportedly also planning to release an "AI action plan" and schedule a number of public events that promote its ongoing efforts.

Power-hungry data centers are often large and not quick to build, but in an attempt to speed up the process, Trump’s actions may offer land managed by the Defense Department or Interior Department to AI project developers. A nationwide Clean Water Act permit, meanwhile, would mean permission to build would no longer operate on a state-by-state basis, making it easier for developers to get projects off the ground.

Donald Trump’s AI crusade has been ongoing since he took office. After initially taking an eraser to Biden’s extensive AI protection framework, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a "big, beautiful bill" that places a 10-year ban on state AI regulations. It still has to pass through the Senate.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/donald-trump-is-reportedly-preparing-a-sweep-of-pro-ai-executive-orders-171856144.html?src=rss

Three Mile Island nuclear plant looks to be ahead of scheduling, opening in 2027 (not 2028)Microsoft has a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement on the siteOther AI companies are investing in nuclear, tooThe Three Mile Island nuclear power plant could restart as soon as 2027 – a year ahead of its original reopening date of 2028 – but with a key difference compared to its former life.Only Unit 1 will be restarted, because it was not involved in the 1979 meltdown, which affected Unit 2. Although Unit 1 remained open following the incident, it was shut down in 2019 due to economic reasons (not safety concerns).This time around, it's set to be operated by Microsoft, following the company's deal on a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA), signed in September 2024, in conjunction with Constellation Energy.Microsoft is reviving the Three Mile Island nuclear plantMicrosoft is specifically interested in this nuclear plant because of its rising energy consumption and surging demands, caused by its power-hungry AI data centers. As a result, Redmond and other hyperscalers including Meta, AWS and Oracle have all invested heavily in nuclear energy to meet demand.For example, Meta recently signed a similar 20-year deal for Illinois' Clinton nuclear plant, and AWS invested $650 million in nuclear-powered data centers near the Susquehanna plant in Pennsylvania.Water systems have now been restored to the site and infrastructure inspections completed, according to Reuters reporting. The site is now awaiting grid connection approval from the regional grid operator, with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission set to inspect the site as soon as next month.More broadly, Microsoft's decision to reopen a closed nuclear site is the first of its kind and a reflection of the industry-wide scramble to produce more energy. Record-high US electricity demand is also causing a surge in nuclear plants specifically, thanks to their relatively high output.Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez admitted: "We made a mistake in shutting down this plant, but we’re not here to dwell on the past." Looking ahead, as Microsoft and its Big Tech rivals gear up to integrate AI into more aspects of work and personal life, it's clear that more needs to be done not only to generate enough electricity, but also to address the growing environmental concerns.You might also likeThese are the best AI tools and best AI writersMeta basically just bought a nuclear power plantThe most powerful chips are available to rent from the best cloud computing providers

The New York Times ran a lengthy interview this morning between columnist Ross Douthat and venture capitalist and PayPal founder Peter Thiel. There's a reason it was published in the opinion section.

Thiel, a Trump booster whose allies — including Vice President JD Vance — now litter the White House, was given free reign to discuss a variety of topics across over an hour of softball questions. Is Greta Thunberg the literal antichrist? Are the three predominant ideological schools in Europe environmentalism, "Islamic Shariah law" and "Chinese Communist totalitarian takeover"? Is AI "woke" and capable of following Elon Musk to Mars? Peter seems to think so! Perhaps the "just asking questions" school of journalism could add "hey, what the fuck are you talking about" to its repertoire.

Admittedly, many of these assertions fall squarely into the realm of things that exist within Thiel's mind palace rather than verifiable facts, with at least one notable exception. Relatively early in their chat, Peter tells Ross the following [emphasis ours]:

If we look at biotech, something like dementia, Alzheimer’s — we’ve made zero progress in 40 to 50 years. People are completely stuck on beta amyloids. It’s obviously not working. It’s just some kind of a stupid racket where the people are just reinforcing themselves.

It's a pretty bold claim! It's also completely untrue.

"There was no treatment 40 or 50 years ago for Alzheimer's disease," Sterling Johnson, a professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told Engadget. "What we've been able to do in the last 20 years has been actually pretty extraordinary. We've developed markers that help us identify when this disease starts, using the using amyloid markers and tau biomarkers, we know that the disease actually begins 20 years before the symptoms do, and that is a critical thing to know if we are going to prevent this disease."

At the moment, Alzheimer's remains incurable. But the absence of a miracle cure does not negate the accomplishments thus far in detection and prevention. "The first treatments were these window dressing treatments. It's like treating the symptoms like you would treat a cold [...] The first generation of amyloid therapy was that kind of approach where it just addressed the symptoms by amping up the neurons and increasing the neurotransmitters available to the to the brain cells." Johnson, whose team runs one of the largest and longest studies on people at risk for developing Alzheimer's diseases, added, "Now we have opportunities to actually modify the disease biology through the amyloid pathway, but also we're focused on the other proteinopathy — which is tau — and there's clinical trials underway."

Thiel, a well-known advocate for advancements in radical life extension (including a reported interest in injecting himself with the blood of young people) sees the state of scientific research in this area as sluggish and risk averse. But the groundbreaking work is happening at this moment. Professor Johnson pointed to a monoclonal antibody called gantenerumab. In an early test of 73 participants with inherited mutations that would cause them to overproduce amyloid in the brain, it cut the number of participants who developed Alzheimer's symptoms practically in half. "The big phase three prevention trials [of gantenerumab] are happening right now,"

For someone who fashions himself as a heterodox thinker, Thiel certainly seems to have stumbled on a remarkably similar talking point to current Trump administration FDA head Robert F Kennedy Jr. "Alzheimer's is a very, very good example of how [National Institute of Health] has gone off the rails over the past 20 years ago with research on amyloid plaques" Kennedy said at a Department of Health budgetary hearing last month. He claimed the NIH was "cutting off any other hypothesis" due to "corruption."

Unsurprisingly, the Alzheimer's Association has called this "demonstrably false."

"In reality, over the most recent 10 years available (2014-2023), less than 14% of new National Institutes of Health (NIH) Alzheimer’s projects focused on amyloid beta as the therapeutic target," the organization wrote, "As of September 2024, the National Institute on Aging was investing in 495 pharmacological and non-pharmacological trials. To state that Alzheimer’s research is focused on amyloid to the exclusion of other targets is clearly wrong."

If I, personally, wanted more robust medical research and a chance an eternal life (I don't), greasing the wheels of an administration broadly gutting funding for science would be a strange way to make that happen. But this is the sort of incoherence we've come to expect from tech oligarchs: they say what benefits them, even if it's nonsense on its face, even if a moment's reflection reveals it to be patently false. What's embarrassing is the paper of record giving them free reign to do it.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/peter-thiel-is-utterly-wrong-about-alzheimers-173206349.html?src=rss

Huawei targets influencers to drive global 10GbE and FTTR growthChina leads FTTR adoption while global expansion still lags far behind Huawei wants industry cooperation to unlock HD video and 5G potentialHuawei has outlined a bold plan to drive telecom growth across China by targeting a new generation of data-hungry users, with livestreamers and gig-economy workers at the center.Speaking at MWC Shanghai 2025, Rotating Chairman Eric Xu called on carriers to rethink their strategies, pointing to the 130 million professional influencers expected by 2030.These users, he said, already generate much higher average revenue per user due to their heavy reliance on video and voice services, traffic patterns that will soon demand widespread deployment of 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) access and backhaul networks.FTTR everywhereDelivery drivers are another group Huawei is watching closely, as their voice usage and video consumption already exceed national averages - with Xu noting they represent “a new, fast-growing segment of high-value users.”Huawei’s vision includes four main initiatives: meeting emerging user demands, pushing HD video traffic, enabling 5G in connected vehicles, and deploying Fiber to the Room (FTTR) to micro and small businesses to make the most of opportunities in AI.FTTR brings high-speed fiber connections directly to each room in a home or business, providing faster, more stable Wi-Fi with low latency, ideal for livestreaming, cloud-based work, and other bandwidth-intensive applications.China already has around 75 million FTTR users, vastly outpacing the rest of the world, which has fewer than 500,000.HD video is one area that Huawei feels remains underutilized, despite strong consumer demand. Xu noted that only 22% of mobile video traffic in major Chinese cities is in full HD or higher, partly due to power constraints on devices and throttling by OTT services.The company is also calling for cooperation across the value chain, from network operators to content platforms and device manufacturers.On 5G for cars, Xu acknowledged that costs remain a barrier. “Carmakers are unwilling to connect cars with 5G,” he said, citing high licensing fees and hardware costs. He urged the GSMA to help reduce these burdens.Via The RegisterYou might also likeHuawei debuts AI system that's faster than the market leader, the GB200 NVL72Huawei's journey may be the blueprint for a post-Trump, non-US centric technology worldMysterious tech firm set to become one of the biggest PC vendors in China