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 Apple previously announced that a public beta of iOS 26 would be available in July, and now a more specific timeframe has surfaced.
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 Apple today announced a $500 million multi-year commitment to buying American-made rare earth magnets developed by MP Materials, at a state-of-the-art factory in Fort Worth, Texas. Apple said the commitment is part of its overall pledge to spend more than $500 billion in the U.S. within the next four years, which it announced in February.
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That's around 350,000 times faster than the average US fixed broadband internet connection, which was around 289 Mbps according to Speedtest as of May 2025. At this new record-breaking speed, you could download the entire Netflix library in under a second.
Fiber optics with 19 cores
The key to the record is a new optical fiber with 19 cores, which are installed in a cable with a diameter of just 0.125 millimeters (the standard size for existing networks). Compared to conventional cables with one core, this fiber transmits 19 times more data with minimal data loss due to uniform light conduction. For transmission over the 1,120-mile distance—comparable to New York to Chicago—the signal was amplified 21 times.
The new record more than doubles the previous year's figure of 50,250 GB/s. In 2023, the NICT team achieved similar speeds but only over a third of the distance. Advances in signal amplification and reduction of data loss are what made this new range possible.
Compatible with existing fiber optic cables
The technology could meet the growing demand for data worldwide, as data volumes have been increasing by about 50 percent annually according
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Washington has been concerned China could use Nvidia's chips to get a jump on the U.S. in high-tech fields, particularly when it comes to artificial intelligence.
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The MX Keys Mini is essentially the PC equivalent of Apple's Magic Keyboard, but it's better because almost anything is better than the Magic Keyboard. It's a 60% super-slim keyboard with both 2.4GHz and Bluetooth wireless, multi-device pairing, and some options for layout customization via Logitech's desktop software. You can read my full review of the MX Keys Mini for more details.
This isn't the absolute most recent model of the MX Keys design, but the only real difference is that the newer MX Keys S is a little quieter. That said, the MX Keys isn't exactly a noisy mechanical design in the first place, so if you want to save a lot of money on a stylish keyboard, this is a perfect way to do so. Oh, and apparently there isn't an S variant of the mini version of the keyboard… so there ya go.
This is one of Woot's old-fashioned daily deals, and it's a new (not refurbished) model. It'll only be on sale today only, July 15th, until midnight US Central time. And it might go out of stock well before then, s
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In a deeper dive via this Windows IT Pro blog post, we're told that Administrator Protection kicks in whenever you want to do anything that requires administrator privileges, such as install software, change system settings, or access sensitive data. To do any of that, you'll need to authenticate via Windows Hello on demand (which means setting up and using your fingerprint, face scan, or PIN code).
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Li-Fi technology harnesses the power of light. Can it change the way you connect to the internet?
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The service was based in Estonia and had been in operation since 2015. Up until last month, it had been offering lifetime VPN subscriptions to users for only $39. However, in a message on its homepage titled, "BulletVPN End of Life," the company announced that the VPN service would no longer be available.
This adds to a growing number of controversies surrounding lifetime subscriptions in the ever-changing VPN market. Just in May of this year, VPNSecure suddenly cut all lifetime subscriptions after being sold to new owners.
To stand out in a crowded market, many smaller VPN providers, such as BulletVPN, offer lifetime subscriptions with cheap prices in order to attract new customers. Unfortunately, these deals can often turn sour if the VPN service goes out of business—which is often the case for smaller VPN providers in the cut-throat industry.
In a statement on its website the company wrote, "This decision was made after careful consideration of various factors, including shifts in market demand, evolving technology requirements, and sustainability of operations."
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If you're brimming with nostalgia for those C64 days, or if you've never used one but always wished you could've, then here's some good news for you: the Commodore 64 is being remade and re-released later this year, reports Techspot. The new model is based on the AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA processor and supports modern tech like HDMI, USB, and Wi-Fi.
According to Techspot, the remade Commodore 64 promises 99 percent software compatibility with its hardware emulation, which means you'll be able to play more than 10,000 C64 games if desired.
If you want one, you can pre-order now via Commodore with a "no quibble money-back guarantee" for a full refund if you ever change your mind. The standard price is $349, but there's an early bird special that lets you snag one for $299 if you're quick—and if you buy two, you can g
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 The European Commission appears to have reversed its plans to impose a significant digital tax on large technology companies, including Apple.
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Tesla faces trial in Miami over a fatal 2019 crash involving a distracted driver using the car's Autopilot technology. A woman died, and her boyfriend was gravely injured.
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 In 2020, Apple added a digital car key feature to its Wallet app, allowing users to lock, unlock, and start compatible vehicles with select iPhone and Apple Watch models. The feature is based on the Car Connectivity Consortium (CCC)'s Digital Key specification, which will be receiving an upgrade soon, according to an announcement today.
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Happy Memorial Day, Short Wavers! This holiday, we bring you a meditation on time ... and clocks. There are hundreds of atomic clocks in orbit right now, perched on satellites all over Earth. We depend on them for GPS location, Internet timing, stock trading and even space navigation. In today's encore episode, hosts Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber learn how to build a better clock. In order to do that, they ask: How do atomic clocks really work, anyway? What makes a clock precise? And how could that process be improved for even greater accuracy?
- For more about Holly's Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock, check out the OASIC project on NASA's website.
- For more about the Longitude Problem, check out Dava Sobel's book, Longitude.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Have questions or story ideas? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org!
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