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Gov. Bob Ferguson targets H.R. 1 fallout for Apple Health Medicaid in executive order
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed an executive order Thursday aimed at reducing the effects of H.R. 1, a federal law he said cuts health care and food assistance.
New Swan Theatre houses first-ever New Swan Science Faire
The UCI New Swan Shakespeare Center collaborated with AirUCI and UCI Office of Research to host the inaugural New Swan Science Faire on Aug. 27. The event was free and open for everyone to attend. Students, families, scientists and performers gathered at the library gateway plaza outside of the New Swan Theatre to spread AirUCI’s […]
Lucky Money Entertainment Celebrates New Office
Lucky Money Entertainment has opened a new office within Lucid Private Offices, located at [...]
A Grand Theft Auto marketing deal with Miami-Dade has a real-life foe: the sheriff
The mayor thinks a GTA deal could be a way to generate some money for Miami-Dade. Sheriff Cordero-Stutz: Not worth it.
Amazon forecasts its delivery network nearing 90% of its US packages
Amazon projects its delivery network will handle nearly 90% of its US packages by 2029, reducing reliance on USPS and UPS.
Imaging artificial intelligence vendor Elucid raises $55M
The Boston AI firm touted the “oversubscribed” Series D funding round, which included participation from an unnamed, publicly traded medical technology firm.
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
Seized horses returned to Milford trail ride business as prosecutor declines charges
After weeks of uncertainty and business loss, High Vibe Trail Rides owner Lucie Ptasznik is focused on rebuilding her business as prosecutor declines to charge.
Cyclospora season winds down, even as Texas cases linked to outbreak
The diarrhea-inducing parasite’s summer season is coming to a close, even as health authorities link some Texas cases to outbreak stemming from lettuce.
A new way to read, watch, and listen to Business Insider
Business Insider is introducing a new homepage experience that brings our written, video, and audio coverage together in one place.
Rockstar Is Finally Ditching 'Tap X To Sprint' In GTA 6, But Not Everyone Is Happy: 'I’m Honestly A Little Disappointed'
For some players, this is good news; for others, it's the end of an era
Introducing: The H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton Ceramic Alpine Limited Edition
The two brands extend their partnership with a new take on the Streamliner.
Introducing: H. Moser & Cie. Streamliner Tourbillon Skeleton Ceramic Alpine Limited Edition
The new H. Moser & Cie. x Alpine Motorsports watch comes in anthracite grey ceramic, with a fully openworked movement in Alpine blue.
Health record analysis of one million cattle identifies early prevention as key to reducing feedlot respiratory deaths
New research involving more than 1 million Australian feedlot cattle has found that the strongest predictors of death from bovine respiratory disease (BRD) are established before animals even enter the ...
ATLAS publishes first paper on Public Engagement with Science
You can’t exactly take the ATLAS experiment on tour. At 7,000 tonnes and buried 100 metres underground at CERN, it’s not easy to move. So, for more than a decade, the ATLAS Collaboration has found another way to bring the experiment to people around the world: live, interactive virtual visits with the scientists who work on it. In a recent paper published in the European Physical Journal Plus, the ATLAS Collaboration documents the evolution and impact of its flagship Virtual Visits programme. The paper is the Collaboration’s first publication focused specifically on science education, communication and outreach. It traces the programme from its beginnings as an experimental outreach effort in 2010 through its growth into a global programme – connecting classrooms in the Amazon, schools in the Himalayas and even a research station in Antarctica. Drawing on data collected between 2019 and 2025, the paper examines the programme’s reach and impact. Global reach, local connection Figure 1: World map showing the number of virtual visits across participating countries from 2019 to 2025. Cooler colours (purple and blue) are used for countries with fewer visits, and warmer colours (red and orange) for countries with more visits. (Image: ATLAS Collaboration/CERN) The core mission of the ATLAS Virtual Visit programme is to connect audiences worldwide with particle physicists and engage them in accessible discussions about cutting-edge research. While visiting CERN in person is an unforgettable experience, financial and logistical barriers can make such a trip difficult for many students and public groups. Video conferencing has allowed the Collaboration to break down these barriers: between 2019 and 2025, the Collaboration hosted 698 virtual visits, engaging tens of thousands of participants across nearly 70 countries (see Figure 1). Interactivity is central to the programme. Far from simple one-way broadcasts, Virtual Visit audience members are encouraged to engage in conversation with the scientist(s) hosting the visit. Most hosts are volunteers from the ATLAS Collaboration, who bring their diverse scientific expertise, language skills and cultural backgrounds to each visit. Where possible, audiences are paired with volunteer scientists who share their native language and cultural background, making it easier to engage, ask questions and connect with the hosts. Between 2019 and 2025, Virtual Visits were held in 19 different languages. The core mission of the ATLAS Virtual Visit programme is to connect audiences worldwide with particle physicists and engage them in accessible discussions about cutting-edge research. Constant evolution Figure 2: The number of ATLAS Virtual Visits organised annually since 2019. (Image: ATLAS Collaboration/CERN) The ATLAS Virtual Visit programme has continuously evolved to enhance the visitor experience. Early sessions were hosted directly from the ATLAS Control Room before transitioning in 2014 to a dedicated space in the ATLAS Visitor Centre, equipped with modern videoconferencing technology. In 2019, the ATLAS Collaboration expanded the programme’s reach, introducing live Virtual Visits from the experimental cavern during year-end maintenance stops and long LHC shutdowns. These exclusive sessions take participants beyond the ATLAS visitor platform, offering real-time, up-close views of the towering detector. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person gatherings worldwide, demand for virtual engagement surged. The ATLAS Collaboration adapted rapidly by introducing Open Virtual Visits streamed via Zoom and YouTube, allowing individual science enthusiasts and families to join live guided tours. Figure 2 shows that the programme reached a peak of 155 visits in 2021 and has since maintained around 100 visits per year, demonstrating sustained engagement beyond the pandemic-driven increase. More than just a tour Beyond participation numbers, the paper highlights the positive impact on participants and educators. Teachers report successfully integrating Virtual Visits into their physics curricula, sparking sustained curiosity and in many cases inspiring students to pursue STEM studies and careers. Feedback received also highlighted how the direct dialogue with ATLAS scientists has given students an authentic and personal perspective on particle physics, helping them connect what they learn in the classroom with the people behind ATLAS research. Looking ahead, the programme will continue to evolve with new technologies and communication platforms. The goal is simple: to give even more audiences the opportunity to engage directly with particle physics and make fundamental science open to all. Learn more Breaking barriers: the impact of ATLAS Virtual Visits in science communication (Eur. Phys. J. Plus 141, 874 (2026), arXiv:2601.22457, see figures) ATLAS Virtual Visit Dashboard Register for an ATLAS Virtual Visit
August Monthly Review: ChatGPT In Epic
Death, taxes, another frontier lab healthcare launch inspiring truly insane LinkedIn takes. As much as I want to stay away, I repeatedly am the crewman unplugging his ears whenever we pass these sirens. So it’s not the first and probably not the last time we dial up the typewriter rather than tie ourselves to the mast. The full blow-by-blow timeline: Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe The End of the Standalone PHR (Jan 8): ChatGPT Health arrives for consumers, at the time powered by b.well. I was bullish on the approach in that the best way for the PHR to finally solve distribution was to meet consumers were they already are (i.e. When Horizontal Meets Healthcare (Jan 9): OpenAI for Healthcare puts out the shingle for enterprises, with SharePoint ingestion standing in for the EHR integration the product actually needed. Another One: Anthropic’s Healthcare Debut (Jan 16): Claude's version, on HealthEx rails instead of b.well, with Agent Skills for FHIR development as the one true vertical-specific investment. ChatGPT for Clinicians: The Trap Sprung (Apr 24): OpenAI filled in the missing GTM middle with a free product for verified clinicians, effectively peeling the enterprise wrapper off ChatGPT for Healthcare and taking the PLG fight directly to OpenEvidence. OpenAI’s Second Attempt at Health (Jul 31): a relaunch of their patient specific app, now branded Health in ChatGPT, where the privacy partition came out, the connectors thinned, and b.well disappeared in favor of first-party FHIR work against a smaller network Beyond a Shingle So what was announced now? Today, we’re introducing a new electronic health record integration that brings authorized patient context from Epic into ChatGPT for Healthcare, along with the Healthcare Public Data plugin for direct, structured access to official healthcare datasets like PubMed, DailyMed, and CMS Coverage. Together, these capabilities bring ChatGPT closer to the systems and sources healthcare teams trust, while supporting the controls and compliance healthcare work requires. The core portfolio is unchanged from prior announcements we delineated and discussed (aside from the relaunch of patient-facing). Since trade publications still seem to be confusing them by using the wrong names: Enterprise sales motion: ChatGPT for Healthcare Protecting their core product / PLG: ChatGPT for Clinicians Consumer/patient-facing product: Health in ChatGPT So really, this is a feature release (specifically for ChatGPT for Healthcare when it comes to EHR integration). What’s cool about it, though, is that we are moving beyond just putting out a shingle. Everything in the January enterprise launch was horizontalizable: Horizontal tech companies thus generally start verticalization with their “putting out a shingle phase”. Telling the world you’re open for business as a horizontal tech company reliably attracts early inbound interest from buyers who are already trying to force-fit horizontal tools into domain-specific workflows and are eager for any signal that the vendor intends to support their use case more directly. Nothing was really vertical specific, which is exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate hypergrowth horizontal company dipping their toes into specific industries. But eventually you have to stop changing the sign on the door and start changing the product. Can you guess where the horizontal product was going to run out of road? This is the core dilemma writ large: verticalization requires differentiation, while scale economics of consumer and horizontal push toward unification. I’ve buried the lede so deep here it will be painful to some readers, but what should be shocking to no one is that my perspective is that EHR integration is the only path that meaningfully resolves this tension for ChatGPT for Healthcare. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint is fine, but it is categorically insufficient for any product that hopes to influence clinical decision-making. SMART Money Well here we are, eight months later! Real vertical investment has begun, which surprised a few people. One friend in the industry messaged me: “Absolutely no way Epic gave ChatGPT API access.” Looking forensically at the announcements, the integration is notably read-only across appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. So while I’m not a betting man, I'd wager the house this is a SMART on FHIR launch: That sounds a lot like USCDI! The recommended path for the workflow they outline would be SMART on FHIR Their Health AI lead’s post is evocative of both standalone and EHR launch SMART, which another termed “ChartGPT” and “EHR Plugin” The implementation burden for SMART on FHIR is the lowest of the available integrative paths This is the team who literally did patient-facing SMART on FHIR with Epic last month Most importantly, if you’re a horizontal company, you generally still haven’t taken the full plunge and thus (overly) value reusability. SMART on FHIR is the logical compromise: healthcare-specific enough to matter, but standardized enough to reuse. Nobody Asked Judy Another friend asked “I thought they had to go to each health system, or did they go direct to Epic and now health systems opt in?” Given the trust paradigms in healthcare, this functionally cannot be Epic hoovering up all the data for OpenAI and shoving ChatGPT in their customers’ faces (or they would revolt). However, I do believe the aforementioned terrible coverage by TechCrunch and other outlets is probably responsible for that question, given the 325 million reference. When using FHIR as a business associate to an Epic customer, there is no EHR gatekeeping to speak of, as that isn’t how fhir.epic.com works: You register an app You pick your APIs You test against the sandbox APIs You list as “Ready for Production” Hospitals pick your app You test and go live with them Bluntly, nobody had to say yes or no in Verona (nor were they given the chance). Vendor Services (their next developer tier up that I doubt OpenAI is using quite yet in this initial release) certainly has contractual paperwork that some resent, but even there, the twin pressures of mounting antitrust and information blocking make outright gatekeeping increasingly fraught. My friend’s sentiment is, to me, representative of a broader industry neurosis, perhaps a sort of scar tissue of prior eras: people assume the gate is still there and never actually try the door. There are certainly other ways Epic (and any EHR) can put its thumb on the scale, but they are not so dumb as to stand in front of a federally mandated API and play bouncer at this exact moment in time. So I think they can and probably should go deeper, as this release is at best parity and at worst behind vertical-specific competition. OpenEvidence did a basic SMART launch with Sutter Health in February, allowing for more convenient evidence search by providers. They then add patient-context (the equivalent SMART on FHIR flow to what we see here) when Cedars-Sinai went enterprise-wide in May. UpToDate has four distinct applications across deeper workflows like patient engagement listed in Epic Showroom and announced a partnership with Epic to power Art at UGM Abridge and other ambient scribes have invested deeply into the deepest bidirectional clinical copilot workflow with integrations well beyond SMART on FHIR. In that light, the “Who is OpenAI primarily targeting here?” is clear. This release brings them into striking distance of OpenEvidence, but not the others quite yet. They are the only one of the three you can reach without building something truly Epic-specific. When will they go further? Competition is a great motivator to overcome the horizontal demons and start building things that can’t be reused: not across industries, not across EHRs, maybe not past the customer you built them for. That’s the price of actually verticalizing. The question is if and when OpenAI will be willing to pay it. Month in Review Here is the monthly review. As a reminder, this is a regular round-up of the month’s posts and other content to surface things you may have missed across regulation, litigation, interoperability, and beyond. AI assistance is used in these bullet summaries so I can focus on articles. Articles Published: None this month Video Content: The Information Exchange: Standards-based Thruple Edition (Aug 14): Back to school for us too, with Brad reporting in from the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem’s one year anniversary in DC. We get into the January CMS-0057 deadline, the fall rulemaking reading list, and why enrollment still keeps most apps off FHIR. The Information Exchange: Epic Dúnadan Edition (Aug 25): A UGM roundup with Ryan Brickner joining for the first time to check our takes against what the building actually thinks. Rangers, Ergo sitting on top of EHI, and a down-market lineup that needs some cuts. Regulatory: Stacked Deck, Bad Hand (Aug 05): ONC’s website refresh took the entire HIT Policy Committee record with it, so I rebuilt the archive and went looking for the regulatory capture story everyone assumes is buried in there. Stacking the deck and winning the hand turn out to be very different things. The Sixth Generation of Patient Access (Aug 19): A quick catalog of the five generations of patient access we’ve layered on since HIPAA, and the two candidates now competing to be the sixth. One is planned. The other is the market routing around the plan entirely. Court cases: Three Cases Walk Into a Docket (Aug 06): Two surprise settlements cleared the board in a single week, and then Judge Maddox dropped ninety-four pages on Vyne v. Henry Schein. The sleeper is a DMCA holding that makes direct-to-database a considerably riskier business model. Epic v. Health Gorilla: Into the MDL (Aug 10): Nine class actions are headed to Miami, and the Panel signaled it wants to bring the case that spawned them along too. That would leave Epic arguing the requests were obviously fraudulent in one courtroom and unknowable in the other. Amazon v. Perplexity: Agents Are Legalized! (Aug 11): The Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction against Comet, holding that the user is the one accessing the servers rather than the company that built the agent. A real win for agentic access, and a much narrower one than the headline suggests. Veeva v. Epic: Come At Me, Bro (Aug 26): Epic’s response brief wants the dismissal affirmed and, unusually, wants the opinion published as precedent. Buried in it is Epic’s own description of what its non-competes actually prohibit, which current and former employees should read closely. EHRs: The Contract Epic Would Never Sign Today (Aug 04): A 1999 SEC exhibit catches Epic licensing nearly its entire product line, Tapestry included, to the company that became TriZetto. The marketing services menu attached to it is the part that will make you blink. Forecast from Verona (Aug 07): The Epic Almanac makes one argument six different ways: the AI is only as good as the networks behind it. Emmie headlines, Art’s context stack is the most ambitious part, and Penny finally gets an autonomous coding date on the calendar. Works With Epic MyChart (Aug 17): Epic’s first new Showroom category since the death of Workshop certifies hardware instead of software, badge on the box and all. Made for iPhone, but for blood pressure cuffs, and rough news for anyone selling the RPM stack sitting in between. UGM Hot Takes 2026 (Aug 20): Everyone else covered the AI announcements, so I went after Savvy deleting the payment gateway, Rangers as Boost with the timer removed, and a down-market lineup with too many entries. Plus the Health Grid tidbits I cannot help myself on. MyChart Central Grows Up (Aug 24): Device data and Emmie turn Epic’s identity hub into a full consumer platform, which is both a logical answer to ChatGPT and a bit of a mistake. It also happens to be the best scraping target Epic has ever shipped. Industry Analysis: The Wrong Yardstick (Aug 12): Vertical software keeps getting judged against Superhuman and Notion, which is the wrong bar entirely. Your user is comparing your product to a whiteboard and forty phone calls before lunch. Primitives vs. Abstractions (Aug 27): Developers want building blocks, systems of record prefer to hand out business logic, and both sides have a real case. There’s no test from the outside that separates the engineering reason from the competitive one, which is why this keeps ending up in court. Cross-industry Comparisons: The Two Kinds of Platform Power (Aug 18): Attention power and record power are different problems that keep getting handed the same regulatory toolkit. Congress’s latest swing at Big Tech shows both what’s possible and where it falls apart. The Dogs of (Platform) War (Aug 21): A CourtListener alert turned up a property management fight with healthcare’s exact shape and none of the Cures Act. Shell prospects, ghost accounts, a notetaker bot that came back to haunt someone, and a lawyer arguing both sides of the same theory in two states. Fractals All the Way Down (Aug 31): Yardi dominates property management right up until you zoom into one segment, where AppFolio owns it outright and Yardi doesn’t appear at all. Where you draw the line around a B2B software market is about to decide an awful lot of cases. Other News: If Judy Had the Courage (Aug 13): A short eulogy for the era when software was allowed to look insane: WinAMP, bold colors, and everything the grey chatbot era has taken from us. External Media: Portland Monthly Health Tech Meetup: Erin O’Brien channeled my own feelings - maybe it’s just because it’s August and beautiful, but the monthly edition of the PDX Health community meetup was a ripper. Make sure to reach out if interested to join for the next one. STAT’s Coverage of Epic This Month: Brittany Trang of STAT did a fantastic job of breaking the FTC investigation that’s been lurking, as well as UGM related coverage, so I had to give her her wish of a meme. Fall Conferences: I’m pumped to be kicking off my fall conference season in NYC at Nabla Accelerate next month, which Chrissy provided the link to apply for. Here’s the rest of my schedule in case you want to meet up: Commonwell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 21-22 eHealthExchange (Austin, TX): Oct 27 Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 28-29 HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 RSNA (Chicago): Nov 29-Dec 3 Posts I Liked: HTI-6 Should Unbundle API Certification: Josh Mandel makes the case that HTI-6 should split (g)(10) into separate authorization and data certifications, so a PACS or a genomics platform can certify only the role it actually performs. Imaging is the urgent example, but the structure solves a much bigger problem. On implementing ePrior Auth with Epic: Scott Rossignol’s field notes from a live ePrior Auth build on Epic, including the two app registrations nobody warns you about and the CPT mapping problem waiting at the end. CMS-0057 implementations are going to be such a beast. Healthcare point solutions are starting to look a lot like streaming services: Spencer Dorn runs the cable-to-streaming arc against health IT and lands squarely on the bundling half of the cycle. Bundling can be good! It can also be bad! Life is nuanced. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Monster Hunter Wilds expansion ‘Ascendance’ trailers – ‘Boosted Action Overview’ and ‘Great Sword Boosted Action Breakdown’
Capcom has released a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds major expansion “Ascendance” introducing the Boost Bracer, which adds new “Boosted Actions” for each of the 14 wea…
What Box Office Bomb Crushed Obsession on Streaming?
(Welcome to my weekly streaming ratings report, the single best guide to what’s popular in streaming TV and what isn’t. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. If you were forwarded this email, please subscribe to get these insights each week.) Before we get into this week’s issue, let me ask you for some suggestions. At the risk of coining too many names for too many things (hence my dictionary of terms...), I need a name for straight-to-streaming films that are too expensive to justify a straight-to-streaming release, but not big enough to justify a theatrical release. Like some of the films I highlighted in last week’s tally of the biggest film flops of 2026 so far: Hulu’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, Pizza Movie or Never Change! They don’t feel like “made for TV movies” (think Hallmark and Lifetime movies, cheap Netflix romcoms, or Disney Channel Original movies, for example) but they don’t feel big enough for the big screen. They’re not “cinematic” enough, so to speak. As I wrote... “I still need a name for this middle zone of film that’s too expensive to go straight-to-streaming but too small to justify a theatrical release (with all the PR, distribution, marketing and whatnot costs that go along with it), the Goldilocks zone of streaming film death.” Friend of the newsletter Brandon Katz has suggested the “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”. I love that first one. I’d offer up the much wordier “The Streaming Budget Dead Zone” or “the Goldilocks Zone of streaming film death” but that last one isn’t accurate since, unlike Goldilocks’ porridge, these films are the opposite of “just right”. That’s the problem! Anyway, if you have any suggestions, let me know! On to today’s Streaming Ratings Report. As you can tell by today’s headline, things are going to be spicy! I’m looking at a box office bomb that did really, really well on streaming, somewhat challenging a few different narratives. And another Netflix series declined in its second season. All that, plus Wicked: For Good switching streamers, The Hawk continuing its strong run, _The Bear’_s finale season finally dropping off the charts, the WNBA posting a big viewership number, “shallow libraries”, a sitcom spinoff failing to launch, more big budget IP flopping on Paramount+, all the flops, bombs and misses, and a whole lot more. Let’s dive right in! (Reminder: The streaming ratings report focuses on the U.S. market and compiles data from Nielsen’s weekly top ten viewership ranks, Luminate’s Top Ten Data, JustWatch and Reelgood interest data, Samba TV household viewership, company datecdotes, Netflix hours viewed data, Google Trends, and IMDb to determine the most popular content. While most data points are current, Nielsen’s data covers the weeks of July 20th to July 26th, 2026. You can find a link to my terminology here.) Subscribe Film - The Latest Theatrical Success Story on Streaming In the latest edition of “Flops, Bombs and Misses of the First Half of 2026”, I made a crucial change: I started including theatrical films with the streaming misses. The streamers have collectively—including Netflix, but not to as big of an extent—stopped making a lot of straight-to-streaming films, and the ones they do make aren’t as expensive as in the heyday of the streaming bubble. After the following two films bombed in theaters, you’d guess that they’ll be included in my next collection of flops, bombs and misses six months from now: Masters of the Universe on Prime Video (only $64 million domestic box office) Mortal Kombat II on HBO Max ($79 million domestic) But you’d be wrong! Masters of the Universe, a reboot of the He-Man franchise, a toy from the 1980s, came to streaming on 22-July and did great! This long-gestating project—it’s been at every studio for years, and came close to getting a greenlight at Netflix—then finally came to theaters in June, and showed up on streaming less than two months later. (I don’t love this short theatrical window.) It surprisingly grabbed nearly 20 million hours on its debut: That means, wait for it, Masters of the Universe is currently the eighth biggest film on streaming through two weeks. My rough bar for “hit” is shows or films in the top 15%. Ergo…Masters of the Universe is a legit, streaming hit! (One quick caveat: if it falls out of the top ten next week, it will move to 13th overall, just on the edge of the top 15.) Of course, that’s the data for just 2026. Here’s how it stacks up to Prime Video’s theatrical films: That drop into its second week is typical for Amazon films, but also a worrying sign. I have a feeling interest in this film is front-loaded and we’ll see it drop off after this. As for Mortal Kombat II, in this case, the viewership numbers roughly match the theatrical outing, with only 4.1 million hours in its first week. Here’s how it stacks up to other HBO Max films: The best defense of this number is that, as a relatively violent rated-R film, Mortal Kombat II never had a good chance at breaking out. So now it’s time for a little big of “Entertainment Nuance Guy”: First, yeah, my headline is obviously facetious, since Masters of the Universe besting Obsession says more about horror as a genre than it does that film. Second, I read and listened to quite a few “nobody wanted this IP” takes about Masters of the Universe, and that’s not really true. At least enough people wanted it to power a 20 million+ hour debut! Third, both this film and Mortal Kombat II were considered “average” by viewers, but not great films, with a 6.4 and 6.3 respectively on IMDb. That’s just shy of the level needed to be a word-of-mouth hit. Fourth, in the olden days, strong word of mouth could transform a box office miss into a cable/DVD hit, like Austin Powers or The Shawshank Redemption. We haven’t seen a lot of examples of that on streaming, though. And there are far fewer ways to monetize the post-theatrical life of a film these days. Fifth, Prime Video has shown an ability to push their own titles well, likely because they control the Amazon Fire TV ecosystem. Add it all up, and here’s my nuanced take on Masters of the Universe: it was a box office bomb, but, shockingly, a streaming hit. Unfortunately, while being a theatrical hit saves your film financially, being a streaming hit does not. Both Masters of the Universe and Mortal Kombat II had big budgets and needed to make more money in theaters to justify them. So…Straight-to-Streaming or Theaters? We’ve hit a really fun point in the streaming calendar, since the films that came out in theaters in April, May, and June are now arriving on streaming. So the “Do theatrical releases help streaming performances?” question is gonna get a fresh round of updates nearly every week. No single week will answer the question, but we may get some insights. For example, so far in 2026, it looks like theatrical films are lasting longer on the weekly Nielsen film charts. Here’s a list of films that have made the charts in their fourth or fifth week of release, separated by “for kids” and “general entertainment”: It certainly seems like theatrical films are lasting just a pinch longer on the charts, with Project Hail Mary being the current five-week champion. One Battle After Another did well for HBO Max too, and even The Sheep Detectives made it four weeks. The only exception to this trend? Obsession, which only lasted two weeks on the charts. You might tempted to overreact to this news. Don’t. Obsession is a huge horror hit, but horror just doesn’t do as well on streaming. By the way, here’s the Google Trends for various theatrical and stremaing films: Plus, when it comes to Netflix in four months, Obsession may have another big boost. Quick Notes on Film Note that when I write, “the streamers have pulled back on straight-to-streaming films” that doesn’t mean “abandoned” because Netflix is gonna Netflix. On 24-July, they released 72 Hours, a Kevin Hart comedy. Along with Eddie Murphy, Mark Wahlberg, John Cena and Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart is a streaming film star now. Did this latest one work? Not really. It only garnered two weeks of 13.2 and 12.2 million hours on its debut, well below the 20-million-hour hit threshold. It also was poorly received critically—a 44 on Metacritic—and by customers—a 5.4 on IMDb on 21K IMDb reviews. We’re just getting started with this issue, but the rest is for paid subscribers of the Entertainment Strategy Guy, so if you’d like to find out… The latest Netflix true crime doc to pop on the charts… How The Bear finished its run… Netflix’s latest Western to return to streaming… What Paramount+ animated film flopped… And what sitcom also missed… All the flops, bombs and misses… And a whole lot more… ...please subscribe! We can only keep doing this great work with your support. Coming Soon! I’m behind by a week, so we’ve got two issues coming your way this week, including one in a couple of days or so, then we’ll be all caught up**.** Next issue, inspired by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie coming to Peacock, I’m going to take a look at the workhouse of streaming TV: kids films. Plus The Devil Wears Prada 2 continues theatrical films’ big run on streaming. All that, plus another surprise hit on Hulu, Lioness on CBS, and a whole lot more. Long term, LeBron James is filming his own “Last Dance”-style docu-series, surprising no one. But as I’ve been writing about a lot this summer, this genre is really overrated, so whoever ends up buying it (reportedly ESPN) really shouldn’t pay too much for it.
Google's Android update tackles motion sickness, accessibility, and more
The new features coming to Android are aimed at reducing motion sickness, helping blind users navigate their surroundings, and more.
Rep. Seth Moulton targets Sen. Ed Markey in Massachusetts Democratic primary amid broader calls for generational change
The primary is crucial in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, and the winner will be expected to prevail in November's general election.
Sony Rolls Out New Customer Harassment Policy After Physical Disc Controversy Sparks Backlash
Sony Japan has introduced a new customer harassment policy following widespread backlash toward its decision to stop producing physical game discs starting January 2028.
Introducing the Three Finalists of This Year's Health Hero Challenge
Vote now through September 30th to help determine the 2026 Be Well Philly Health Hero.
Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve ‘Online 101’ trailer
Publisher Bandai Namco and developer Bandai Namco Aces have released a new trailer for flight action game Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve introducing the game’s online modes.
Introducing the Athlon Sports Drive Dominance Ranking
Athlon Sports has created a new NFL statistic, the Drive Dominance Ranking, to measure offensive and defensive success.
Risky science: why connecting research to application matters
There is not much benefit in producing science that just sits on a shelf. Effective science must extend beyond publication and address real-world needs argues Lynn Johnston, a Forest Fire Research Specialist with Natural Resources Canada and the Canadian Forest Service, in an editorial for the International Journal of Wildland Fire. While reading journal articles […]
GTA 6 Gets Even More New Screenshots as Rockstar Locks in for November Launch
It seems the drought of Grand Theft Auto 6 news has finally come to an end, as Rockstar has published even more screenshots for fans to comb through.
Religion, power and politics: what’s behind the violent attacks on Ethiopia’s Orthodox Tewahedo Church
Managing religious affairs in Ethiopia is crucial for national cohesion and broader peacebuilding processes.
Booming Weight-Loss Drug Demand in Brazil Fuels Thriving Black Market and Health Fears
By Luciana Magalhaes SAO PAULO, Aug 31 (Reuters) - When Brazilian customs agents opened jars of dulce de leche aboard a tourist bus arriving from Paraguay in April, they discovered hundreds of vials of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in the popular weight-loss drug Mounjaro, mixed inside the ...
RFK Jr. packs health agencies with political appointees
Eighteen months into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure leading the Health Department, he’s stacked his agencies with more political appointees than any other recent administration, while reducing staffing to a 20-year low.
RFK Jr. packs health agencies with political appointees
Eighteen months into Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure leading the Health Department, he’s stacked his agencies with more political appointees than any other recent administration, while reducing staffing to a 20-year low.
Novak Djokovic Breaks Silence After Shocking US Open Exit
After his excruciating loss at the US Open, Novak Djokovic made some concerning comments about his future in tennis. The post Novak Djokovic Breaks Silence After Shocking US Open Exit appeared first on HEAVY.
Scientists Capture First Molecular-Level Images of Water Reorganization During a Reaction Crucial for Life
New X-ray approach reveals how charge and surrounding water reorganize during a fundamental chemical reaction
Scientists discover diamonds can generate electricity
Diamond was thought to be incapable of producing electricity through mechanical deformation, but ultrathin flexible diamond membranes have now shown a strong and repeatable piezoelectric effect. The unexpected discovery could open the door to diamond-powered sensors, tiny energy systems, and self-powered medical implants.
Why was Harry Maguire’s deflected shot not disallowed after handball?
The Man Utd defender handled the ball in the build-up to Man Utd’s crucial second goal against Ipswich in the Premier League but, after a VAR review, the goal stood
Red Sox get massive double boost just in time for playoff push
The Red Sox are getting healthy at the perfect time, with Roman Anthony and Trevor Story returning from lengthy injury absences as Boston prepares for a crucial September playoff push.
Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (CZR) Investigation: Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC Encourages Shareholders to Contact the Firm to Learn More About the Investigation
NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 30, 2026 / Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman, LLC is investigating claims on behalf of investors in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. ("Caesars" or "the Company") (NASDAQ:CZR) for potential breaches of fiduciary duty on the part of its directors and management.
Your Body Has a 'Second Heart', And It's Crucial You Keep It Pumping
A vital factor in circulation.
Wikipedia, Digital Literacy, and Science Communication among High School Students in Brazil: Introducing NEMkipédiA
Capacity Exchange, Wiki Movimento Brasil; CC BY-SA 4.0 On November 30, 2024, Wikimedia Brasil (WMB) participated in the VII Encontro Anual da Rede Nacional de Ciência para Educação (Rede CpE) (7th …
Giants cut eight, including WR Isaiah Hodgins
The Giants have begun reducing their roster to 53 players.
Former UCF Standout EDGE Posts Stellar NFL Preseason Outing
Nyjalik Kelly fueled his roster bid with a dominant defensive showcase for Green Bay, recording a momentum-shifting interception and crucial sack to solidify his professional future.
49ers beef up crucial position in new 2027 mock draft
The 49ers might need to take an offensive lineman in the first round for the first time since 2018.
Integrated pollution and carbon mitigation delivers major health and economic cobenefits in China
Synergistic mitigation of air pollutants and greenhouse gases is crucial for achieving clean air and carbon neutrality, but quantitative evidence of sectoral and regional health co-benefits in China remains limited. Authors develop an integrated Energy-Economy-Air Quality-Health framework coupling CEEPA, GAINS, and a province-level health module to simulate fourteen policy scenarios from 2020 to 2050. Coordinated strategies reduce CO2 and pollutants (SO2, NOX, PM2.5) by 75% relative to 2020, avoiding more than 500,000 premature deaths by 2050 and yielding monetized gains of 1.07 trillion CNY. Health benefits concentrate in industrially dense and populous provinces, with near-term PM2.5 reductions driven by pollution control and long-term improvements reliant on decarbonization. The integrated approach achieves a benefit-to-cost ratio of 1.42, lowering abatement costs by 11% relative to pollution-only measures. These findings highlight the value of coordinated, sector- and region-specific strategies for simultaneous climate mitigation, air quality improvement, and public health protection.
Gladys Knight 'easing into fewer' concerts after health concerns
Amid growing health concerns from family and fans after recent concerts, legendary singer Gladys Knight has announced she is reducing her tour schedule.
Gladys Knight 'easing into fewer' concerts after health concerns
Amid growing health concerns from family and fans after recent concerts, legendary singer Gladys Knight has announced she is reducing her tour schedule.
Introducing the 2026‑27 New Orleans PelSquad
Introducing the newest members of the 2026‑27 New Orleans PelSquad entertainment team.
Spencer Jones is making it happen, one way or another
The Yankees rookie is producing with the bat, and we haven’t even seen all he has to offer.
Scientists capture first molecular-level images of water reorganization during a reaction crucial for life
Some of nature's most important chemical reactions rely on the coupled movement of negatively and positively charged particles. These processes play central roles in photosynthesis, catalysis and biological ...
Louisiana fertilizer plants lay off 200 as war with Iran drives up cost of key raw material
The company said it is reducing staffing at the plants in Convent and St. James, because of the availability and cost of sulfur, one of the key components of phosphate fertilizer production. Ammonia production at the Faustina plant in St. James will not be affected.
Louisiana fertilizer plant lays off 200 as war with Iran drives up cost of key raw material
The company said it is reducing staffing at the plants in Convent and St. James, because of the availability and cost of sulfur, one of the key components of phosphate fertilizer production. Ammonia production at the Faustina plant in St. James will not be affected.
More than 200 employees laid off at St. James Parish fertilizer plant
The company said it is reducing staffing at the plants in Convent and St. James, because of the availability and cost of sulfur, one of the key components of phosphate fertilizer production. Ammonia production at the Faustina plant in St. James will not be affected.
Judge Excludes Key Confession in Sept. 11 Case
Prosecutors argued the statements by the defendant, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, were crucial evidence for the eventual death-penalty trial.
FDA approves tirzepatide for reducing cardiovascular risk in adults with type 2 diabetes
The popular drug, sold by Eli Lilly and Company under the brand name Mounjaro, has been at the center of many cardiology trials over the years. It is now the first dual GIP and GLP-1 hormone receptor agonist approved by the FDA for this indication.
New Engineering Undergrad Degree Blends Multiple Areas
By Kim Horner | Materials science and engineering doctoral student Ben Dunn uses an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy system for surface chemistry characterization. UT Dallas expanded its offerings in materials science and engineering with a new bachelor’s degree this fall. The University of Texas at Dallas is introducing a new bachelor’s degree in materials science and engineering, […]
Rockstar says GTA 6 runs at 30 FPS, while it's reportedly unsure about a 60 FPS performance mode
The GTA 6 extended look trailer was apparently captured on PS5. Maybe that's why people noticed some frame-rate choppiness. But what FPS will it run at?
New Irvine hospital is a dream fulfilled | UCI Health
Dr. Thomas Cesario was a practicing UC Irvine School of Medicine physician even before the University of California bought the old Orange County medical center in 1976. After decades of pushing to get a modern hospital built on Irvine campus, he has finally seen that dream fulfilled. "We fought to have this hospital built for over 50 years, and a lot of sweat and anxiety went into that effort,” says the 86-year-old former medical school dean. “I'm thrilled that it’s now finally here."
CIA Chief John Ratcliffe’s Trip to Moscow Has Everyone On Edge | WSJ Politics Newsletter for Aug. 28
Plus, companies that have cut checks for Trump are beginning to worry, and efforts to prosecute Anthony Fauci are falling apart.
How AI is quietly reshaping chemical sciences
From reducing administrative workload to navigating ‘alien intelligence,’ this month’s column takes a practical look at integrating LLMs and LWMs in the lab
GTA 6's Main Story Took a Rockstar Dev 80 Hours To Beat
Rockstar North's Rob Nelson says he mostly stuck to the main quests in GTA 6, which is reportedly three times bigger than RDR2
Rockstar Games pulls back the curtain on Grand Theft Auto VI after leak
The company teamed up with Netflix to offer fans an extended look at Jason and Lucia’s life of crime in Vice City, days after a hack leaked material from the long-awaited game.
GTA 6's driving and car-jacking will be "more challenging", Rockstar says, amid a seemingly big push for realism
Rockstar has apparently revamped the series' pick-up-and-play systems for something much more involved - but will it get in the way of the fun?
GTA 6 is revamping the Wanted system and giving you a Criminal Profile
The veil has been lifted off GTA 6. Here's what we learned about how the game's world is going to react to your actions, including crimes.
Windows 11 Gets Major Taskbar and Start Menu Customization in New Feature Update
Microsoft has begun rolling out a new feature update KB5120998 for Windows 11, introducing significant visual changes to the user experience. Among the notable additions is the long-awaited expanded taskbar customization, allowing users to position the taskbar at the top, left, or right side of...
Say Hello To GTA 6's Awesome New Dialogue System
Netflix's extended look revealed how Jason and Lucia will speak during GTA 6's story, and how NPCs have been reworked for a more realistic experience
Rockstar Doesn’t Mind if You Dislike GTA 6’s Romantic Side: ‘Don’t Bother With It. Up to You’
GTA 6 has a whole relationship system to increase Jason and Lucia’s bond, but it’s completely optional if you’d rather keep things platonic.
New data infrastructure award to help scientific communities build domain-specific platforms for collaborative data science and AI
UC Irvine’s Chen Li to help lead NSF-funded national effort
Honduras Joins the Alliance for Primary Health Care in the Americas
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, August 27, 2026 (PAHO) —Honduras has joined the Alliance for Primary Health Care (PHC) in the Americas, a regional initiative led by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank to support countries in strengthening primary health care through coordinated investments, innovation, and technical cooperation.
Exclusive | Republican Efforts to Prosecute Fauci for Contempt Are Hitting a Wall
Some administration officials are skeptical whether the current approach is procedurally sound enough to indict the retired public health official.
GTA 6 Netflix extended look live report - all the gameplay and revelations from Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 6 premiere
Watching the GTA 6 Netflix reveal and want to talk about it? Can't watch the Netflix reveal and want to know what happened? We've got you covered.
Introducing Ideastream's full-time science reporter: Me
Jeff St.Clair steps away from the host chair to become Ideastream's full-time science reporter
Chinese scientists discover that trees are producing ozone smog in Beijing
The city’s poplars and willows have been identified as the source of an unexpected spike in ozone levels during the heat of the summer.
Cross-border collaboration crucial for Shaw Prize laureates’ cancer breakthrough
Three winners in life science and medicine honoured for joint efforts to understand and develop treatment for acute promyelocytic leukaemia.
'GTA VI' Cyberleek update: Everything leaked Wednesday, this week
The leaker made good on a threat to release footage of the Lucia character.
How public safety can influence public health
UC Irvine study links community-led program to more physical activity at South L.A. parks, especially among Black visitors
Netflix’s ‘GTA 6’ Extended Look Isn’t The Only ‘GTA’ Preview Tomorrow
A long 'GTA 6' story section has just leaked with Lucia spoilers, but there will be more official coverage after the Netflix event.
Rockstar Posts Statement On ‘GTA 6’ Leaks As Lucia Story Spoilers Hit
After more than a week of non-stop Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks from a source known as Cyberleeks, Rockstar has finally issued its first public comment on the situation.
Clean Air Policies Help Kids Breathe and Think Better
New research finds that reducing air pollution can reverse harms to children’s health.
New Device at UToledo Health Helping Critically Ill Patients Get Off Ventilators Faster
The FDA-approved LungPacer AeroPace® System uses targeted neurostimulation to strengthen the diaphragm of ventilated ICU patients, helping them breathe on their own faster and reducing the risk of serious complications.
The key points from Joan Laporta’s crucial meeting with Barcelona’s sports committee
Barcelona are heading into the final week of the transfer window with a clear message emerging from the club’s sporting leadership: Julian Alvarez remains the target, and there is little interest in...
Trump nabs crucial primary win in South Carolina: 4 takeaways
President Trump notched a critical win in the Palmetto State on Tuesday, with Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) defeating Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) to clinch the GOP nod in the South Carolina Senate ra…
Perez Hilton 'lucid' after mental health crisis, brother-in-law says
Perez Hilton's brother-in-law shared that the gossip blogger was in a “lucid” state and after receiving treatment for his physical injuries.
Perez Hilton is 'lucid' after mental health crisis, brother-in-law shares
Perez Hilton's brother-in-law shared that the gossip blogger was in a "lucid" state and after receiving treatment for his physical injuries.
Seoul National University of Science and Technology researchers develop AI framework for optimizing solid oxide electrolysis cells
As countries invest in green hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industry, transportation, and energy systems, researchers are seeking faster ways to accelerate the development of hydrogen technologies. Solid oxide electrolysis cells are among the most efficient systems for producing green hydrogen from steam, but identifying their optimal operating conditions requires thousands of computationally intensive simulations, slowing innovation and increasing development costs.
Menopausal Hormone Therapy Could Cut Costs While Adding Healthy Years
An analysis finds that menopausal hormone therapy could save thousands of dollars per patient while improving quality of life and reducing cardiovascular disease and deaths.
Mega Man: Dual Override first trailer, screenshots
Capcom has released a new trailer and screenshots for Mega Man: Dual Override introducing Proto Man as a playable character and new Robot Master, Twinkle Girl.
Introducing the Designed for XBOX 25th Anniversary Collection
To help celebrate 25 years of XBOX, the Designed for XBOX 25th Anniversary Collection is now available for preorder.
CinéShow Exhibitor Marketing of the Year Award: Cinergy Entertainment
The last few years have been an exciting time for in-theater marketing. Gen Z’s enthusiasm for FOMO-inducing events and social media–friendly menu items, together with the unfortunate culling of marketing personnel and resources on the studio side, have set the stage for a surge of creativity among cinema marketing professionals, At the top of the […]
Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look Global Release Times Confirmed
Here's when you'll be able to watch Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look as soon as it debuts on Netflix, and when it will arrive on YouTube.
Neuroradiology notches $100M in NIH funding, most among imaging subspecialties
Knowing which subspecialties secure federal research funding is crucial to guiding mentorship strategies and specialty-level investments, experts write in JACR.
Introducing: A New Generation Of The Omega Speedmaster 38 MM
Seven new models bid farewell to oval subdials on the path to more classic Moonwatch styling.
Kate Hudson is working on a ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ sequel more than 20 years after release of rom-com classic
Kate Hudson is producing a new ‘How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ film, and she and Matthew McConaughey reportedly could reunite onscreen.
iPhone 18 series prices confirmed to go up due to rising memory chip cost
The rising memory chip prices got the best of us. After introducing a notable price hike to its Mac and iPad lineup back in June due to an unbearable...
Introducing the Northeast Arkansas Women in Business Class of 2026
We are pleased to introduce to you the 2026 class of Northeast Arkansas Women in Business award winners. This is our eighth year producing this award for the region, and...
Summer Sports Camp Sets Stage for School Year for 300 Youth
By Yanet Luna, Vitals contributor Who knew all that summer play could get kids ready for the upcoming school year? Regular physical activity can improve children’s academic performance, attention, memory and mental health, while reducing symptoms of depression, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Programs that encourage physical activity, social connection and confidence-building can play an […]
The GTA VI “CyberLeek” leaks keep coming.
Despite Rockstar and Microsoft’s push to find the source, the GTA VI leaks continue to flow. These short clips show a player going on a mission to steal a conspiracy theorist’s truck with a bathtub full of gas, visiting a strip club and nudist town, and flying over Vice City at night. Other than boosting a crypto scheme, messages from the leaker(s) are calling for gamers to go to Rockstar offices and threatening to leak video of the other main character, Lucia. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/cyberleek-files-824.png?quality=90&strip=all]
A New ‘GTA 6’ Nudist Town Leak Is Stunning, And Lucia Spoilers Are Next
The latest GTA 6 leak features a nudist town that is exactly what it sounds like. But Lucia may show up soon alongside some story spoilers.
Common medications may change your gut for years
Common medications may reshape the gut microbiome long after the last dose is taken. In a study of more than 2,500 people, researchers found lasting microbial changes linked not only to antibiotics, but also to antidepressants, beta-blockers, acid-reducing drugs, and benzodiazepines. Some effects were still detectable years later, suggesting past medication use may strongly influence the gut bacteria people carry today.
Mozambique strengthens regulation of medicines and imported vaccines, boosting health protection
Mozambique has reached a major milestone in strengthening the regulation of medicines and imported vaccines, with its national regulatory authority recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as having a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system.The Autoridade Nacional Reguladora de Medicamentos de Moçambique (ANARME) has achieved Maturity Level 3 (ML3) for the regulation of medicines and imported vaccines under WHO’s global classification of national regulatory authorities.Mozambique becomes the 10th country in Africa to reach ML3, joining Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe and marking further momentum in strengthening regulatory systems across the region.For people in Mozambique, stronger regulation means greater assurance that medicines and vaccines are appropriately evaluated for quality, safety and efficacy and monitored throughout their lifecycle. It also strengthens the country’s ability to identify and respond to safety concerns and substandard or falsified products, while supporting timely access to quality-assured health products.“Mozambique’s achievement is the result of sustained investment in regulatory capacity that will deliver crucial benefits for public health,” said Dr Sylvie Briand, WHO Chief Scientist and Assistant Director-General a.i. for Health Systems, Access and Data. “Strong regulatory systems protect people, build confidence in health products and help countries respond more effectively to evolving public health needs and challenges. Mozambique’s progress also contributes to advancing regulatory capacity across Africa and promoting more equitable access to safe and quality-assured medicines and vaccines.”Building a stronger regulatory systemMozambique’s achievement follows years of sustained efforts to build the institutions and capabilities needed for effective regulation.WHO worked closely with ANARME throughout this process, assessing the national regulatory system and supporting the authority in addressing identified gaps and strengthening priority areas.WHO evaluates national regulatory systems using its Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT), which assesses the regulatory functions required to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of medical products. These include registration and marketing authorization, licensing, market surveillance and control, pharmacovigilance, regulatory inspection, laboratory testing and oversight of clinical trials, as applicable. WHO’s maturity levels range from 1 to 4. Reaching ML3 confirms a stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system, while ML4 represents an advanced system focused on continuous improvement.Benefits for Mozambique and the African continentAn ML3 regulatory system can support more timely and predictable regulatory decisions, reinforce safety monitoring and help ensure that health products entering and remaining on the market meet appropriate standards.It also creates greater opportunities for regulatory cooperation and reliance – approaches that help authorities make use of the work and decisions of trusted regulators, reduce unnecessary duplication and allocate limited resources more efficiently, while maintaining rigorous standards for quality, safety and efficacy.As the first Portuguese-speaking country in Africa to reach ML3, Mozambique’s experience can also contribute to strengthening regulatory systems and fostering greater cooperation, knowledge sharing and reliance among Portuguese-speaking countries and across the African continent. Its achievement further reinforces a more connected African regulatory ecosystem, providing a solid foundation on which the newly established African Medicines Agency can build to advance regulatory convergence and cooperation across the region.Strengthening confidence in regulatory recognitionMozambique’s achievement comes as WHO strengthens the process through which the performance of national regulatory systems is recognized.The newly established Technical Advisory Group on Regulatory Systems Strengthening (TAG-RSS) brings together independent international experts to advise WHO on whether recommendations concerning regulatory authorities reaching ML3 and ML4 and WHO-Listed Authorities, are supported by the findings of WHO evaluation processes. Its recommendations provide an additional level of independent assurance, strengthening the impartiality, transparency and credibility of WHO’s recognition process.Mozambique is among the first countries to achieve ML3 following consideration and recommendation by the TAG-RSS. As part of the same TAG-RSS process, South Africa was recommended to retain its ML3 status for the regulation of vaccines manufactured, imported or distributed in the country, following an additional WHO assessment. This extends the recognition first granted in 2022 and underscores the sustained performance of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).The two recognitions highlight continued progress in strengthening regulatory systems across Africa, as well as the importance of continued performance, improvement and assessment in sustaining regulatory maturity.WHO will continue working with ANARME and SAHPRA to sustain these gains and support continuous improvement as science, technologies and public health needs evolve.
‘Radical’ has become the political word of the summer
As campaigns prepare for the crucial fall stretch ahead of the midterm elections, the word “radical” is being slung against candidates on both sides of the aisle. It’s happening as both parti…
9th GTA 6 leak teases Lucia gameplay after prior Cyberleek videos focus on Jason
The ninth Cyberleek video shows Jason stealing a truck from an NPC at a gas station. An explosion follows, along with a cutscene teasing gameplay with his partner. If Rockstar is unable to stop the clips, the next GTA 6 leak could include Jason and Lucia completing a mission.
Building the beat: How New Orleans can grow the business behind the music
People dance to the music of the TBC Brass Band Photo by Michael DeMocker / The Times-Picayune This week New Orleans hosts the annual Cutting Edge CE Conference, which brings together members of the music industry, musicians, lawyers and others to learn about and discuss the latest changes in the business of making, producing and selling music. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1492300'); }); The conference comes as AI and streaming are causing upheavals in the industry. Meanwhile, we’ve seen at least a partial collapse of the global festival industrial complex which has long been a key financial lifeline for many artists.All of that can feel a bit removed from life in New Orleans. After all, we are a city filled with music. On any given day or night, there are dozens of shows across the city, ranging from jazz and blues to hip-hop, bounce and house. Whereas in other cities kids dream of being the star of their local sports team, in New Orleans more often than not they dream of leading their own band.And music is a huge part of our economy. Before New Orleans was known as a foodie destination, it was already drawing millions of visitors from around the globe to experience our jazz, soul and funk scenes firsthand.But the reality is, if you want to make it big, you’re probably going to end up leaving the city. We’ve seen major performers like Lil Wayne, Master P and Jon Batiste (though he’s back on the Northshore) decamp to Los Angeles, Miami and New York. Likewise, up-and-coming musicians like Greer Grimsely, $leazy EZ and Lucky Daye have also left town in search of more profitable pastures.Meanwhile, our local universities train some of the best producers and engineers in the business — only to see them head to one of the big music industry cities after graduation.It’s not a new phenomenon, though the reasons have changed over the years. Like a lot of early jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong famously left New Orleans, first for Chicago before ultimately settling in New York City. But while those early migrations had more to do with racism, in today’s day and age, musicians end up leaving because New Orleans doesn’t have the industry infrastructure necessary to sustain the kind of growth and, well, success, a lot of folks dream of.It’s a hard, but very real, truth. Artists have to go to Nashville for publishing, Los Angeles for production, Atlanta to join a label or New York for representation. That, in turn, is a drain not only on the city’s talent pool but on money that could be staying here at home.Not being an industry town inevitably makes it that much harder for musicians who don’t leave to get the recognition and success they deserve. It also undoubtedly plays a part in keeping the wages working musicians in New Orleans make at their gigs here lower than in places like Austin or Nashville.That’s not to say we don’t have any of the infrastructure needed to make New Orleans a music industry town. We’ve got live music venues, studios, record labels, management companies, copyright attorneys ... all the various building blocks are there. We just haven’t ever built upon that solid foundation. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1492297'); }); The question is how do we do that in a way that supports our existing industry and artists, respects our cultural traditions and ensures the wealth generated is equitably distributed so it isn’t just C-suite executives who end up reaping the benefits. And the time to start figuring out the answers is now: next year the legislature will focus on taxes and spending, making it vital that New Orleans leaders have a plan to try and secure funding to help grow our industry.So we asked a group of New Orleanians to give us their thoughts, ranging from industry attorneys and venue operators to working musicians and cultural advocates. Their answers point toward turning New Orleans into a music industry city without leaving musicians behind or abandoning what makes us the greatest music city on earth.If a dusty city like Austin can transform itself into a major hub not just for music but the industry behind it, surely the birthplace of jazz — and pretty much all modern music by extension — can figure it out as well. +3 Mailbox Money: The Recording Academy’s Reid Wick on supporting, and growing, New Orleans’ music industry Reid Wick has been a part of the New Orleans music landscape from virtually every angle. He'… California Dreaming: Pell discusses his time in L.A. and how New Orleans can help young musicians In 2015, New Orleans-born rapper Pell decided to make the move to Los Angeles. He was fresh … +2 Up from the street: To build a stronger music industry, support community first. At MaCCNO, most of our team aren’t just advocates, we’re also working musicians. Here are a … +2 Live and direct: Public investment in independent venues is key to a robust music economy. I’ve spent most of my adult life looking at the New Orleans music business from every side o… +2 Helping Hand: New Orleans doesn’t need more talent. It needs more infrastructure. People love to call New Orleans a music town. And they’re right. +2 \We out here: New Orleans doesn't need to be Austin. It's already a music industry city. +2 Futureshock: New Olreans has the music talent. Now it needs the innovation. New Orleans has long been known as a place for music creation and innovation. 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