AI & RoboticsNews

Microsoft’s $15.2B UAE investment turns Gulf State into test case for US AI diplomacy

November 4, 2025
Microsoft will invest $15.2 billion in the United Arab Emirates over the next four years, the company announced Monday at the first annual Abu Dhabi Global AI Summit. The investment will include the first-ever shipments of the most advanced Nvidia GPUs to the UAE. As part of the deal, the U.S. has granted Microsoft a license to export Nvidia chips to the UAE, a move that positions the country as…
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NewsPhotography

Are 360-degree cameras useful for astrophotography? I took one on a hunt for the Northern Lights to find out

November 4, 2025
Can 360-degree cameras be used in the dark to image the night sky? Astrophotographers have been using circular fisheye lenses to capture the Milky Way for decades, while astronomers regularly employ 180-degree (whole-sky) lenses to image fleeting “shooting stars” and, in the case of the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), produce an all-night timelapse of auroras (see this example).
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Cleantech & EV'sNews

Lion Electric school bus warranties voided, leaving districts stuck [update]

November 4, 2025
Nobody ever says “this is business” before doing something nice, and the recently reborn Lion Electric company is keeping that streak alive by doing the unthinkable to cut costs: they’re going to void the warranties on hundreds of electric school buses. UPDATE 01NOV2025: two Lion Electric buses caught fire, now they’re in more trouble. This past summer, the fallout from Lion Electric’s…
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DefenseNews

Supreme Court weighs if contractor can be sued for wartime negligence

November 4, 2025
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday heard arguments in a case against a military contractor whose employee killed five people and injured 17 at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, in 2016. The majority of justices seemed skeptical that the case, brought against Fluor Corp., was an exception to previous lawsuits filed against defense contractors, which typically have immunity in litigation generated by…
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