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  • Citadel outshone by smaller hedge fund rivals in trade war turmoil

    Citadel outshone by smaller hedge fund rivals in trade war turmoil

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    Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel has been outshone by smaller rivals so far this year, as the firm was stung by the market volatility unleashed by Donald Trump’s trade war.

    Citadel’s flagship Wellington fund gained 2.5 per cent in the first half of 2025, according to a person familiar with the matter. Balyasny and ExodusPoint were up 7.3 per cent and 9.3 per cent respectively, according to people who have seen the figures.

    Citadel, which manages around $66bn, is one of the dominant players among so-called multi-manager funds, a sector that has sucked in billions of dollars from the world’s largest investors. Balyasny and ExodusPoint manage roughly $25bn and $11bn respectively.

    Multi-manager firms have legions of trading teams known as “pods”, which trade a variety of strategies in asset classes including equities, fixed income and commodities. They borrow large sums from banks to juice returns and adhere to strict risk management to control losses, making them attractive to big investors such as pension funds that desire stable returns.

    Citadel was wrongfooted by Trump’s tariff policies earlier this year, with Griffin saying in May that the firm had to “tear apart and re-examine the portfolio . . . and ask yourself in what ways we have positioned or mispositioned ourselves against the reality that the odds of a recession have gone higher”.

    Last year, Citadel eclipsed most rivals as it delivered 15.1 per cent to investors. It’s annualised net return since the firm was founded 35 years ago is roughly 19.2 per cent.

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  • Green Day Fan Invited to Play ‘Good Riddance’ Plays ‘Wonderwall’

    Green Day Fan Invited to Play ‘Good Riddance’ Plays ‘Wonderwall’

    If you’ve picked up a guitar for the first time in the last, say, three decades, odds are you’ve tried to learn Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” It’s a veritable alternative nation classic, as well as a guitar 101 standard. And so it’s no surprise that Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has started using the song as a chance to invite fans on stage to play it with him. 

    That’s what happened last night, June 30, when Green Day performed in Luxembourg. Well, at least that’s what was supposed to happen.

    The young man enlisted for this very special honor used this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do an extremely bold and — we have to admit — good bit. Instead of playing “Good Riddance,” he started performing the other alternative nation classic that’s also a guitar 101 standard: Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” 

    Based on one video, it appears the young guitarist got Armstrong to do about half of the first verse over a chord progression that sounds a bit like “Wonderwall,” but definitely isn’t “Good Riddance.” Thinking that maybe his guest had just started playing it in the wrong key, Armstrong gave the guy some quick instructions, and even remarked with a laugh, “You told me you could play this one!”

    At that moment, the guitarist launched into an unmistakable rendition of “Wonderwall,” getting through the lead progression once before Armstrong clocked what was going on. “Oh, fuck!” the frontman exclaimed, grabbing his guitar back, before the guest was promptly ushered off the stage. 

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    “Nice try, nice try,” Armstrong said before playing “Good Riddance” himself.

    Green Day’s summer European run has not been without a few minor hiccups. Just last week, during the band’s show at the Hurricane Festival in Germany, Armstrong had to pause the set to yell at a fan who appeared to be shooting Armstrong with a water gun. The band has a handful of gigs left in Europe, with additional shows in North and South America scheduled through September.

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  • From bottlenecks to breakthroughs: How integrating ocean and customs bookings helped three customers go all the way

    From bottlenecks to breakthroughs: How integrating ocean and customs bookings helped three customers go all the way

    Detainment at the border. Costly handover fees. Elongated lead times. These are just three common challenges associated with an inefficient customs process. But what if a simple process change could help you avoid these issues?

    When you book ocean shipments with Maersk, you can add customs to your booking at the same time and help your supply chain be ready for anything. Below, we focus on three companies who did just that and explore the competitive advantages this brought them.

    Rooting out the hidden costs associated with customs

    To many businesses, customs is just a transaction. Based on the type of product you’re shipping and where you’re shipping to customs duties, VAT or other import taxes can impact the total cost of the shipment.

    But in the context of a global supply chain, processing the goods through customs only make up a small part of the financial story. There are other costs that might be hiding within the process. For example, if you use one third-party provider for shipping and another for customs handling, handover fees might also be associated with the cargo’s journey from origin to end destination. The bigger your operations, the more these handover fees can escalate.

    These costs can be found in what McKinsey & Company calls “blind handovers” in the supply chain. Analysis from the consulting firm finds that between 13-19% of logistics costs could stem from these interactions. In the UK alone, such supply chain inefficiencies cost the economy over £12 billion in lost revenue per year.

    McKinsey analysis finds that between 13 and 19% of logistics costs could stem from inefficient supply chain interactions.

    In relation to customs handling , the implications from blind handovers could include demurrage and detention fees or additional transport costs if original pick-up slots were missed, which could then result in missed sales opportunities. However, when you add customs to your ocean shipments with Maersk, you reduce the risk of delays and hidden costs considerably.

    One company that benefits from this approach is world-leading automotive manufacturer, TATA Motors. With an integrated logistics solution that includes both ocean and customs, centred on “timely clearances and efficient coordination,” TATA can stick to the agreed timelines for deliveries to a range of overseas markets.


    This partnership now forms the backbone of our seamless operations, enabling us to meet the demands in all markets within stipulated lead times, while simultaneously maintaining quality and optimising costs.

    Jayant Shreedhar Athawade,

    Head SCM, TATA Motors International Business.




    Keeping your supply chain moving

    In addition to the financial implications of blind handovers, the inefficiencies can also significantly impact the speed and flow of a supply chain.

    The need to manage multiple third parties and oversee your cargo changing hands introduces the risk of delays into the process; whereas when you book ocean and customs together, you ensure smooth and efficient customs handling. In fact, Maersk’s customs specialists can prepare your customs documents  ahead of your cargo arriving at the border, to minimize the risk of hold ups to your supply chain.

    Take frozen fruit snack disruptor Pukpip, for instance. The brand needs to transport frozen bananas from Ecuador to the UK in perfect condition so that they can turn them into their range of delicious frozen fruit snacks.



    To make this possible, Pukpip books their Maersk Ocean shipments online, and because they can add customs to the service, Maersk is able to process the documentation at the right time and ensure the cargo is released quickly when it arrives in the UK.

    Pukpip Founder, Zara Godfrey, had this to say on the business results: “It’s easier, especially when you’re a small brand, to have one partner do both ocean freight and customs. We trust Maersk to collect the goods, which will arrive on time in great condition, and clear customs. Plus if there are ever any short delays at customs, Maersk ensure the goods are never left to melt.”

    Simplifying your supply chain responsibilities

    Perhaps the most obvious advantage of this integrated approach is that you get one point of contact for your customs clearance needs.

    With a one-stop shop for ocean and customs bookings, it becomes easier to manage your operations, increasing control by reducing your administrative workload and providing more time to focus on higher-value activities.

    For Norwegian retailer Europris, this control was critical to consolidating supply chain operations. The discounter wanted a logistics partner that could handle both their ocean and customs requirements, and with Maersk’s digital solutions they enhanced control over cargo flows and allowed for timely compliance.


    This integrated approach has helped us streamline our supply chain processes, stay on top of demand and reduce much of the hassle associated with having multiple logistics partners.

    Marius Svendsen,

    Import Manager, Europris AS. 



    Partner with Maersk for a seamless supply chain

    Timely customs processes are vital for the flow of a supply chain, and essential for goods being able to pass efficiently through ports. Yet often, this activity is managed separately from ocean shipments, and this can introduce unnecessary risks to operations.

    As the customer testimonials in this article have shown, adding customs to ocean bookings is a simple but effective way of minimising your administrative burden and the risk of additional costs and delays.

    By partnering with Maersk for both your customs and ocean transport needs, you can benefit from our deep multidisciplinary expertise, global reach and network of owned assets, enabling you to streamline your supply chain and increase speed over the border with total confidence.

    To find out how our experts can support you with your customs challenges, touch base with us.

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  • Andrew Flintoff: Former all-rounder not thinking about being England coach

    Andrew Flintoff: Former all-rounder not thinking about being England coach

    Flintoff led the Lions on trips to South Africa and Australia in the winter and, having been with England Under-19s for their win against India in Northampton on Monday, joined the full squad at their practice on Tuesday in Birmingham before the second Test against India.

    McCullum was made England Test coach in 2022 and has overhauled the side by implementing a positive approach since. At the start of the year he also took on the role of England white-ball coach, having replaced Australian Matthew Mott who was sacked last year.

    Flintoff worked under Mott on a temporary basis, first in September 2023 and then at the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean last year.

    He is also a long-time friend of England managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key, who has said Flintoff would make an excellent head coach in the future.

    “I’m enjoying working under Keysy,” said Flintoff, a crucial player in England’s famous 2005 Ashes win.

    “It’s no secret he’s one of my best mates and he’s helped me so much in other things. With Baz, we’ve got a great relationship and the utmost respect.

    “He’s unbelievable and the culture he’s created is incredible. It’s similar to what Gareth Southgate did with the football lads.”

    Flintoff had largely moved away from cricket prior to his crash in December 2022, which left him with serious facial injuries.

    After an initial private return – he attended matches in a balaclava at the invitation of Key – he was named head coach of the Superchargers’ men’s side in The Hundred last year and has become an increasingly public figure again.

    “I’m not looking at the franchise world or anything else, although I do the Northern Superchargers which came around last year and I enjoy working with [Superchargers captain] Harry Brook on that.

    “I think ‘I’ve got a job to do here’ and it’s not like ‘what’s next?’.”

    Former all-rounder Moeen Ali also joined England’s staff on Monday as they prepared for the second Test which begins on Wednesday.

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  • Dark horse Bublik upset by Munar in Wimbledon R1 – ATP Tour

    1. Dark horse Bublik upset by Munar in Wimbledon R1  ATP Tour
    2. Munar’s magic takes over a bewildered Bublik  Punto de Break
    3. Tennis-Bublik falls to Munar in Wimbledon opener  Taylorville Daily News
    4. Tennis, ATP – Wimbledon 2025: Munar knocks out Bublik  tennismajors.com
    5. Jaume Munar vs. Alexander Bublik Prediction, Odds, Picks for Wimbledon 2025  dimers.com

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  • Grab Amazon’s Fire HD 10 Tablet for a New Record Low of $70 While You Can

    Grab Amazon’s Fire HD 10 Tablet for a New Record Low of $70 While You Can

    Between Fourth of July bargains and Amazon Prime Day just around the corner, you might be tempted to wait to see what low prices will manifest. Though the summer Prime Day sale officially falls between July 8 and 11, you don’t need to wait to save. Specifically, on the Amazon Fire HD 10, one of the best budget tablets available right now. 

    At just $140, it’s very competitively priced, but that’s a massive $70 more than you will pay if you pick one up today. Amazon is currently offering this tablet for its lowest price of the year, slashing it to just $70 for a limited time. You can choose any of the three colors and pay that price, and you can pay an extra $15 to ditch the lockscreen ads, too. That’s the lowest price we’ve seen, a 50% discount.

    This deal doesn’t require you to enter any discount codes or clip any coupons, but you do need to order your discounted Fire HD 10 tablet soon and you do need to have Amazon Prime. This is listed as a limited-time deal, so it won’t hang around forever.

    Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

    It’s definitely a deal that you won’t want to miss. For just $70, you can pick up a tablet with a large 10-inch display that sports a 1080p resolution. Despite that large display, you can still expect up to 13 hours of battery life per charge, while the base model comes with 32GB of storage. You can opt for the 64GB model or add more storage via an optional microSD card.

    Notetakers and artists will be pleased to know that this tablet supports the Amazon Stylus Pen, while built-in Alexa support means that you can interact with your smart home and more using just your voice.

    TABLET DEALS OF THE WEEK

    Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

    Why this deal matters

    It’s easy to look at the price of Apple tablets and those from brands like Samsung and think that you have to spend hundreds of dollars to use something bigger than your phone. This Amazon Fire HD 10 deal proves that isn’t the case, and this deal offers the lowest price we’ve seen in 2025, making it the perfect time to pick up one.


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  • Win a Trip to Ubisoft Montreal in the Photomode Contest 2025

    Win a Trip to Ubisoft Montreal in the Photomode Contest 2025

    Video games are an art form, and Photomode lets you flex your own artistic muscles by capturing the beauty of Ubisoft’s worlds. Whether you’ve created the perfect shot of an assassination by Naoe or Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the expansive beauty of a galaxy in Star Wars Outlaws, or a wild trick on the slopes in Riders Republic, we invite you to submit your creations in Ubisoft’s third annual Photomode contest, running July 1-15.

    To be eligible for consideration, all Photomode entries must be composed entirely in-game. That means no editing once you’ve taken the shot, but Ubisoft games offer ample composition options with in-game Photomode, including contrast, color, filters, unique angles, and many more. Additionally, all entries must be at least 1920×1080 pixels.

    To enter, you can post up to four Photomode creations on Instagram or X (formerly Twitter), tagging @Ubisoft, and using the hashtag #UbisoftPhotomodeContest. This year’s jury panel consists of four experts within Ubisoft, including Jean Guesdon, Strategic Visualization Director at Ubisoft Montreal; Shauna Jones, Community Manager, Consumer Interaction / Virtual Photographer at Ubisoft Newcastle; Tom Isaksen, Character Director at Ubisoft Paris; and Pierre Espaignet, Lead Lighting Artist at Ubisoft Bordeaux.

    Ten winners will be announced on August 1. The first-place winner will be invited to Ubisoft Montreal for a studio tour, while from the second to the tenth place winners will receive a one-year subscription to Ubisoft+ Premium. Additionally, some winners will have their work displayed at the Mutek Festival in Montreal from August 15-30.

    Eligible games for the Photomode 2025 Contest are:

    • Assassin’s Creed Shadows
    • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
    • Assassin’s Creed Mirage
    • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
    • Assassin’s Creed Origins
    • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
    • Anno 1800
    • The Crew Motorfest
    • The Crew 2
    • The Division 2
    • Far Cry 6
    • Far Cry New Dawn
    • Far Cry 5
    • Ghost Recon Breakpoint
    • Ghost Recon Wildlands
    • Immortals Fenyx Rising
    • Riders Republic
    • Skull and Bones
    • Star Wars Outlaws
    • Steep
    • Trackmania
    • Watch Dogs: Legion

    The Ubisoft Photomode Contest 2025 submission period opens on July 1 at 18:00 CEST and closes on July 15 at 21:00 CEST. For the full list of rules and eligibility requirements, visit the Ubisoft Photomode Contest website.

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  • NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Watch Crew-11 Launch to Space Station

    NASA, SpaceX Invite Media to Watch Crew-11 Launch to Space Station

    WASHINGTON, July 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Media accreditation is open for the launch of NASA’s 11th rotational mission of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission is targeted to launch in the late July/early August timeframe from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

    The mission includes NASA astronauts Zena Cardman, serving as commander; Mike Fincke, pilot; JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, mission specialist. This is the first spaceflight for Cardman and Platonov, the fourth trip for Fincke, and the second for Yui, to the orbiting laboratory.

    Media accreditation deadlines for the Crew-11 launch as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program are as follows:

    • International media without U.S. citizenship must apply by 11:59 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 6.
    • U.S. media and U.S. citizens representing international media organizations must apply by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, July 14.

    All accreditation requests must be submitted online at:

    https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

    NASA’s media accreditation policy is online. For questions about accreditation or special logistical requests, email: [email protected]. Requests for space for satellite trucks, tents, or electrical connections are due by Monday, July 14.

    For other questions, please contact NASA Kennedy’s newsroom at: 321-867-2468.

    Para obtener información sobre cobertura en español en el Centro Espacial Kennedy o si desea solicitar entrevistas en español, comuníquese con Antonia Jaramillo: 321-501-8425, o Messod Bendayan: 256-930-1371.

    For launch coverage and more information about the mission, visit:

    https://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew 

    SOURCE NASA

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  • AI companies start winning the copyright fight | Technology

    AI companies start winning the copyright fight | Technology

    Hello, and welcome to TechScape. If you need me after this newsletter publishes, I will be busy poring over photos from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding, the gaudiest and most star-studded affair to disrupt technology news this year. I found it a tacky and spectacular affair. Everyone who was anyone was there, except for Charlize Theron, who, unprompted, said on Monday: “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK, because they suck and we’re cool.”

    Last week, tech companies notched several victories in the fight over their use of copyrighted text to create artificial intelligence products.

    Anthropic: A US judge has ruled that Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, use of books to train its artificial intelligence system – without permission of the authors – did not breach copyright law. Judge William Alsup compared the Anthropic model’s use of books to a “reader aspiring to be a writer.”

    And the next day, Meta: The US district judge Vince Chhabria, in San Francisco, said in his decision on the Meta case that the authors had not presented enough evidence that the technology company’s AI would cause “market dilution” by flooding the market with work similar to theirs.

    The same day that Meta received its favorable ruling, a group of writers sued Microsoft, alleging copyright infringement in the creation of that company’s Megatron text generator. Judging by the rulings in favor of Meta and Anthropic, the authors are facing an uphill battle.

    These three cases are skirmishes in the wider legal war over copyrighted media, which rages on. Three weeks ago, Disney and NBC Universal sued Midjourney, alleging that the company’s namesake AI image generator and forthcoming video generator made illegal use of the studios’ iconic characters like Darth Vader and the Simpson family. The world’s biggest record labels – Sony, Universal, and Warner – have sued two companies that make AI-powered music generators, Suno and Udio. On the textual front, the New York Times’ suit against OpenAI and Microsoft is ongoing.

    The lawsuits over AI-generated text were filed first, and, as their rulings emerge, the next question in the copyright fight is whether decisions about one type of media will apply to the next.

    “The specific media involved in the lawsuit – written works versus images versus videos versus audio – will certainly change the fair use analysis in each case,” said John Strand, a trademark and copyright attorney with the law firm Wolf Greenfield. “The impact on the market for the copyrighted works is becoming a key factor in the fair use analysis, and the market for books is different than that for movies.”

    To Strand, the cases over images seem more favorable to copyright holders, as the AI models are allegedly producing identical images to the copyrighted ones in the training data.

    A bizarre and damning fact was revealed in the Anthropic ruling, too: the company had pirated and stored some 7m books to create a training database for its AI. To remediate its wrongdoing, the company bought physical copies and scanned them, digitizing the text. Now the owner of 7 million physical books that no longer held any utility, Anthropic destroyed them. The company bought the books, diced them up, scanned the text, and threw them away, Ars Technica reports. There are less destructive ways to digitize books, but they are slower. The AI industry is here to move fast and break things.

    Anthropic laying waste to millions of books presents a crude literalization of the ravenous consumption of content necessary for AI companies to create their products.

    AI and the environment: bad news

    An update on last week’s stories: Trump’s phone

    Composite: The Guardian/Getty/Trump Mobile/Trump Watches/Ebay

    Two stories I wrote about last week saw significant updates in the ensuing days.

    The website for Trump’s gold phone, “T1”, has dropped its “Made in America” pledge in favor of “proudly American” and “brought to life in America”, per the Verge.

    Trump seems to have followed the example of Apple, which skirts the issue of origin but still emphasizes the American-ness of iPhones by engraving them with “Designed in California.” What is unsaid: Assembled in China or India, and sourced from many other countries. It seems Trump and his family have opted for a similar evasive tagline, though it’s been thrown into much starker relief by their original promise.

    The third descriptor that now appears on Trump’s phone site, “American-Proud Design”, seems most obviously cued by Apple.

    The tagline “Made in the USA” carries legal weight. Companies have faced lawsuits over just how many of their products’ parts were produced in the US, and the US’ main trade regulator has established standards by which to judge the actions behind the slogan. It would be extremely difficult for a smartphone’s manufacturing history to measure up to those benchmarks, by the vast majority of expert estimations.

    Though Trump intends to repatriate manufacturing in the US with his sweeping tariffs, he seems to be learning just what other phone companies already know. It is complicated and limiting to make a phone solely in the US, and doing so forces severe constraints on the final product.

    Read last week’s newsletter about the gold Trump phone.

    … and online age checks

    Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

    Last week, I wrote about Pornhub’s smutty return to France after a law requiring online age verification was suspended there. This week, the US supreme court ruled in favor of an age-check law passed in Texas. Pornhub has blocked access to anyone in Texas in protest for the better part of two years, as it did in France for three weeks. Clarence Thomas summed up the court’s reasoning:

    “HB 1181 simply requires adults to verify their age before they can access speech that is obscene to children,” Clarence Thomas wrote in the court’s 6-3 majority opinion. “The statute advances the state’s important interest in shielding children from sexually explicit content. And, it is appropriately tailored because it permits users to verify their ages through the established methods of providing government-issued identification and sharing transactional data.”

    Elena Kagan dissented alongside the court’s two other liberal justices.

    The ruling affirms not only Texas’s law but the statutes of nearly two dozen states that have implemented online age checks. The tide worldwide seems to be shifting away from allowing freer access to pornography as part of a person’s right to free expression and more towards curtailing

    Experts believe the malleable definition of obscenity – the Texas law requires an age check for any site whose content is more than a third sexual material – will be weaponized against online information on sexual health, abortion or LGBTQ identity, all in the name of child protection.

    “It’s an unfortunate day for the supporters of an open internet,” said GS Hans, professor at Cornell Law School. “The court has made a radical shift in free speech jurisprudence in this case, though it doesn’t characterize its decision that way. By upholding the limits on minors’ access to obscenity – a notoriously difficult category to define – that also creates limits on adult access, we can expect to see states take a heavier hand in regulating content.”

    I’ll be closely watching what happens in July when Pornhub willingly implements age checks in compliance with the Online Services Act.

    Read more: UK study shows 8% of children aged eight to 14 have viewed online pornography

    Read more AI news

    This week in AI: new WhatsApp summaries and Nobel winners’ genomic model

    The WhatsApp logo. Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

    New features are a dime a dozen, but even a small tweak to the most popular messaging app in the world may amount to a major shift. WhatsApp will begin showing you AI-generated summaries of your unread messages, per the Verge.

    Apple tried message summaries. They did not work. The company pulled them. For a firm famed for its calculated and controlled releases, the retraction of the summaries was a humiliation. The difference between Apple and Meta, though, is that Meta has consistently released AI products for multiple years now.

    In other AI news, I am rarely captivated by new technologies, but a recent release by Google’s DeepMind AI laboratory seems promising for healthcare. Google DeepMind has released AlphaGenome, an AI meant to “comprehensively and accurately predicts how single variants or mutations in human DNA sequences impact a wide range of biological processes regulating genes,” per a press release. The creators of AlphaGenome previously won the Nobel prize in chemistry for AlphaFold, a software that predicts the structures of proteins.

    A major question that hovers over Crispr, another Nobel-winning innovation, is what changes in a person when a genetic sequence is modified. AlphaGenome seems poised to assist in solving that mystery.

    The wider TechScape

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  • The Apple Pencil Pro is under $100 again – even before summer sales kick off

    The Apple Pencil Pro is under $100 again – even before summer sales kick off

    Maria Diaz/ZDNET

    The Apple Pencil Pro has dropped to a new low of $99 on Amazon. With its advanced features, the Pro is a newer, more attractive option than the USB-C Apple Pencil or the Apple Pencil 2nd Gen. And with Prime Day next week (and competing sales right around the corner), there’s no better time to shop these savings at a retailer of your choice — including Walmart, Amazon or Costco

    Also: I replaced my iPad with a de-Googled Android tablet for a week – here’s my buying advice

    This current discount makes the Apple Pencil Pro even cheaper than the less sophisticated Apple Pencil 2nd Gen. It’s a pretty solid bargain and a much smarter buy so long as your current iPad is compatible with the Pencil Pro. We haven’t seen the Pencil Pro drop below this $99 discount yet, so these savings are on par with those offered at different points this year, like Black Friday 2024. 

    Compatible with the M4 iPad Pro M2 and M3 iPad Air, and iPad Mini with an A17 Pro chip, the Apple Pencil Pro introduces advanced features and tools that enhance creative control, such as squeeze and “barrel roll” gestures to access brushes and change stroke types without interrupting workflow.

    Also: Apple Pencil Pro vs. Apple Pencil 2: Which model you should buy for your iPad

    I would argue that its built-in Find My Support makes it worth the extra cost. Losing an Apple Pencil can be as easy as losing a regular pencil, so having Find My Support sweetens the deal.

    With its new haptic feedback, users can feel their creations come to life as they sketch and draw. The device’s hover feature on the iPad Pro and iPad Air allows for a preview of marks before committing to the screen. 

    2025 iPad Air M3

    A close look at the Apple Pencil Pro. 

    Maria Diaz/ZDNET

    The Apple Pencil Pro’s advanced capabilities make marking up documents, taking notes, and creating art more intuitive than ever. Take advantage of this deal while it lasts.

    Looking for the next best product? Get expert reviews and editor favorites with ZDNET Recommends.

    How I rated this deal

    This 23% off deal earns it a 3/5 Editor’s deal rating. The Pencil Pro is barely a year old, so a sub-$100 offer is great during big savings opportunities, and it’s on par with previous discounts. 

    Deals are subject to sell out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We’re sorry if you’ve missed out on this deal, but don’t fret — we’re constantly finding new chances to save and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com. 

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    We aim to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter. ZDNET offers 33 years of experience, 30 hands-on product reviewers, and 10,000 square feet of lab space to ensure we bring you the best of tech. 

    In 2025, we refined our approach to deals, developing a measurable system for sharing savings with readers like you. Our editor’s deal rating badges are affixed to most of our deal content, making it easy to interpret our expertise to help you make the best purchase decision.

    At the core of this approach is a percentage-off-based system to classify savings offered on top-tech products, combined with a sliding-scale system based on our team members’ expertise and several factors like frequency, brand or product recognition, and more. The result? Hand-crafted deals chosen specifically for ZDNET readers like you, fully backed by our experts. 

    Also: How we rate deals at ZDNET in 2025

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