There are countless Android-powered gaming handhelds, but they go beyond the usual slate of Android games by offering console emulation support. The problem is the game ROMs on these devices, which are not entirely legal. Italian YouTuber Once Were Nerd is learning how seriously some rightsholders are taking game piracy after agents from the country’s Guardia di Finanza showed up to confiscate his consoles. He now says the investigation could lead to criminal charges and the end of his channel.
Once Were Nerd has produced YouTube content covering a plethora of gaming topics, including Android-based handheld game machines from the likes of Powkiddy and TrimUI. These devices usually run an older version of Android that has been heavily modified for gaming, featuring built-in emulation support for retro consoles like SNES, Nintendo 64, PlayStation Portable, GameCube, and more. These devices have become popular as the cost of mobile hardware has come down, making it possible to buy what is essentially an updated PSP or Game Boy Advance for $100 or less.
Recently, Once Were Nerd attracted the attention of Italy’s Ministry of Economy and Finance, which is tasked with policing copyright in the country. In the video first spotted by Android Authority (which has an AI-generated English language track), the YouTuber explains that Guardia di Finanza appeared at his door in April with a search warrant.
Once Were Nerd explains his legal woes.
Agents accused the creator of promoting pirated copyrighted materials stemming from his coverage of Anbernic handheld game consoles. While emulation software is not illegal, a surprising number of these devices ship chock-full of pre-loaded ROMs—the channel showed multiple Sony and Nintendo games running on the device. Once Were Nerd is far from the only channel posting about these devices, though.
A new report from Totally Human Media reveals that nearly 20 percent of video games released on Steam in 2025 use generative AI.
The report from Totally Human, which uses machine learning and generative AI to recommend games, books, shows, and movies, reported that approximately 7,818 games on Steam disclosed using Generative AI. That represents about 7 percent of the entire available Steam library. For games released on the platform in 2025, just under 20 percent — or about 1 in 5 games — utilized AI, or disclosed doing so, at least.
In total, that’s a nearly 700 percent increase in games that use generative AI on Steam, according to Totally Human Media’s 2024 report on the same subject.
Game Rant reported that the most popular game to make that Generative AI disclosure is My Summer Car, a vehicle simulation game that lets users build, fix, tune, and perform maintenance to their car. It has sold 2.5 million units, Game Rant reported. The disclosure reads, “The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this: There are some AI generated paintings found inside the main house.”
It looks like Totally Human gathered this data from Steam itself, which has required game developers to disclose the use of Generative AI since January 2024. Valve Corporation, the company that owns Steam, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Mashable.
Mashable Light Speed
In a Reddit thread about the Totally Human article, many commenters said if a game uses AI, that game will automatically go in their “ignore” list.
“We need to tag them so they can be an ignored category,” one user wrote.
“More and more Steam games are going on my Ignore list,” another user wrote.
In general, even commenters who weren’t completely against AI in games wrote that they were turned off by the move.
“So many cool games in the steam next fest immediately put me off when I realized they were using GenAI. Pay artists ffs,” another person commented.
Although, there is nuance for many Steam users.
“Not surprised in this day and age. Everyone at every company is pushing for AI usage, not surprise the gaming industry as a whole is also pushing for it,” one user commented on Reddit. “So far AI assets are pretty easy to spot as you no doubt already know but I get the sentiment of ‘what am I paying for if its all AI’ and agree with it. I guess I don’t mind AI usage for simple things like UI elements or unit cards, simple stuff.”
“The truth is, shortly after my birth, I became blind,” Wonder told an audience in Cardiff, Wales.
Multi-Grammy award-winning artist Stevie Wonder responded to the long-standing, baseless rumor about his eyesight.
The “Isn’t She Lovely” singer addressed the ongoing gossip about his ability to see during a July 9 appearance at Blackweir, a music concert series in Cardiff, Wales.
“You know the truth. The truth is, shortly after my birth, I became blind,” Wonder told the audience. “Now, that was a blessing because it allowed me to see the world in the vision of truth, of sight.”
He continued, “See people in the spirit of them, not how they look, not what color they are, but what color is their spirit.”
According to a Welsh news outlet, the music legend performed his hits “Living For the City” and “I Just Called to Say I Love You.”
Music: SeaWorld’s viral hip-hop and R&B summer concert series makes splash with fans
Watch Stevie Wonder’s response below
Watch Stevie Wonder address rumors about his blindness
25-time Grammy award winner Stevie Wonder addressed long-standing rumors of him being blind during a show in Wales.
‘I love me,’ Wonder says
Speculation about Stevie Wonder’s eyesight has been the center of jokes and conspiracy theories in pop culture for decades.
For instance, the popular podcast “Drink Champs,” hosted by rapper N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, shared a compilation of celebrities sharing their “Steve Wonder Can See Stories.”
“On everything I love, Stevie Wonder does FaceTime me,” Snopp Dogg joked, explaining how the singer once called him while he was getting his hair done. The “Gin and Juice” rapper claimed when he answered, Wonder said, “I’ve been looking for you.”
Wonder has previously joined in on the jokes too, but has made it clear throughout his career that being blind has not been a setback in his life.
“I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being Black as a disadvantage,” Wonder said in a 2012 profile in The Guardian. “I am what I am. I love me! And I don’t mean that egotistically – I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.”
Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@gannett.com.
KARACHI: Pakistanis are increasingly ditching the national grid in favor of solar power, prompting a boom in rooftop panels and spooking a government weighed down by billions of dollars of power sector debt.
The quiet energy revolution has spread from wealthy neighborhoods to middle- and lower-income households as customers look to escape soaring electricity bills and prolonged power cuts.
Down a cramped alley in Pakistan’s megacity of Karachi, residents fighting the sweltering summer heat gather in Fareeda Saleem’s modest home for something they never experienced before — uninterrupted power.
“Solar makes life easier, but it’s a hard choice for people like us,” she says of the installation cost.
In this photograph taken on June 24, 2025, solar panels are seen installed across the rooftops of a residential neighbourhood in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AFP)
Saleem was cut from the grid last year for refusing to pay her bills in protest over enduring 18-hour power cuts.
A widow and mother of two disabled children, she sold her jewelry — a prized possession for women in Pakistan — and borrowed money from relatives to buy two solar panels, a solar inverter and battery to store energy, for 180,000 rupees ($630).
As temperatures pass 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), children duck under Saleem’s door and gather around the breeze of her fan.
Mounted on poles above homes, solar panels have become a common sight across the country of 240 million people, with the installation cost typically recovered within two to five years.
In this photograph taken on June 23, 2025, a labourer carries a solar panel along a road in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AFP)
Making up less than two percent of the energy mix in 2020, solar power reached 10.3% in 2024, according to the global energy think tank Ember.
But in a remarkable acceleration, it more than doubled to 24% in the first five months of 2025, becoming the largest source of energy production for the first time.
It has edged past gas, coal and nuclear electricity sources, as well as hydropower which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars of investment over the past decades.
As a result, Pakistan has unexpectedly surged toward its target of renewable energy, making up 60% of its energy mix by 2030.
In this photograph taken on June 24, 2025, Arsalan Arif, a local businessman, cleans solar panels installed on his house’s rooftop in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AFP)
Dave Jones, chief analyst at Ember, told AFP that Pakistan was “a leader in rooftop solar.”
Soaring fuel costs globally, coupled with demands from the International Monetary Fund to slash government subsidies, led successive administrations to repeatedly hike electricity costs.
Prices have fluctuated since 2022 but peaked at a 155-% increase and power bills sometimes outweigh the cost of rent.
“The great solar rush is not the result of any government’s policy push,” Muhammad Basit Ghauri, an energy transition expert at Renewables First, told AFP.
“Residents have taken the decision out of clear frustration over our classical power system, which is essentially based on a lot of inefficiencies.”
In this photograph taken on June 24, 2025, a local resident cleans solar panels installed on his house’s rooftop in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AFP)
Pakistan sources most of its solar equipment from neighboring China, where prices have dropped sharply, largely driven by overproduction and tech advancements.
But the fall in national grid consumers has crept up on an unprepared government burdened by $8 billion of power sector debt, analysts say.
Pakistan depends heavily on costly gas imports, which it sells at a loss to national energy providers.
It is also tied into lengthy contracts with independent power producers, including some owned by China, for which it pays a fixed amount regardless of actual demand.
A government report in March said the solar power increase has created a “disproportionate financial burden onto grid consumers, contributing to higher electricity tariffs and undermining the sustainability of the energy sector.”
Electricity sales dropped 2.8% year-on-year in June, marking a second consecutive year of decline.
Last month, the government imposed a new 10-% tax on all imported solar, while the energy ministry has proposed slashing the rate at which it buys excess solar energy from consumers.
“The household solar boom was a response to a crisis, not the cause of it,” said analyst Jones, warning of “substantial problems for the grid” including a surge during evenings when solar users who cannot store energy return to traditional power.
The national grid is losing paying customers like businessman Arsalan Arif.
A third of his income was spent on electricity bills at his Karachi home until he bought a 10-kilowatt solar panel for around 1.4 million rupees (around $4,900).
“Before, I didn’t follow a timetable. I was always disrupted by the power outages,” he told AFP.
Now he has “freedom and certainty” to continue his catering business.
In this photograph taken on June 23, 2025, labourers load a solar panel over an auto rickshaw in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi. (AFP)
In the eastern city of Sialkot, safety wear manufacturer Hammad Noor switched to solar power in 2023, calling it his “best business decision,” breaking even in 18 months and now saving 1 million rupees every month.
The cost of converting Noor’s second factory has now risen by nearly 1.5 million rupees under the new government tax.
“The tax imposed is unfair and gives an advantage to big businesses over smaller ones,” he said.
“Policymakers seem completely disconnected from the public and business community.”
UK foreign secretary suggests Israeli minister could be sanctioned over Gaza camp plans
LONDON: The UK foreign secretary has suggested that Israel’s defense minister could be sanctioned over plans to relocate Gaza’s population into a camp in the south of the territory.
Israel Katz told Israeli media last week that he wanted to establish what he described as a “humanitarian city” amid the ruins of Rafah to initially house 600,000 people.
Those entering the camp would be screened to ensure they were not Hamas members, and would not be allowed to leave. The aim would be to move the entire population of Gaza — more than 2 million people — inside the zone.
The plans have been widely condemned, with the UN agency for Palestinian refugees describing the proposed site as a “concentration camp” that would deprive Palestinians of their homeland.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the International Development Committee on Wednesday that he condemned the “unconscionable” plans in the strongest terms.
Asked whether he would consider sanctions against Katz similar to those imposed by the UK against Israel’s far-right government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich last month, Lammy said he could not comment on sanctions that are under consideration.
“But you have heard my statement about what has been said by minister Katz and you will have heard my statements previously about ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir and then the subsequent decision that I took.
“No defense minister should be talking about effectively holding people, unable to leave, presumably, in the manner in which he described,” Lammy added.
The UK government is coming under increased pressure, including from within its own ranks, to take further action against Israel amid daily reports of atrocities in Gaza.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he was “appalled” by further reports of civilians being killed in the enclave, “particularly when they are trying to access aid.”
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed by gunfire in recent weeks as they attempted to access aid distributed by the widely criticized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is run by the US and Israel.
“Each of those incidents does need to be fully and transparently investigated,” Starmer said.
But the prime minister has been accused by his own MPs of not taking a sufficiently tough stance against Israel for its actions in Gaza, where more than 58,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 2023.
Labour MP Imran Hussain angrily asked Starmer in parliament on Wednesday “how many more horrors must we witness” before the prime minister imposes against Israel the same scale of sanctions that the UK has placed on Russia for its Ukraine invasion.
Last week, almost 60 Labour MPs sent a letter to Lammy responding to Katz’s Gaza plans in which they demanded the UK immediately recognize Palestine as a state, The Guardian reported.
“By not recognizing (Palestine) as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory,” the MPs warned.
Asked again on Wednesday whether the UK would recognize Palestinian statehood, Lammy insisted the “symbolic” action needed to be “part of a process,” including the agreement of a ceasefire.
During a state visit to the UK last week, French President Emmanuel Macron urged Starmer to recognize Palestine in tandem with France. He said the move would initiate a political momentum which is “the only path to peace.”
France has suggested it will go ahead with recognition during an international UN conference on a two-state solution later this month. It is co-hosting the event with Saudi Arabia at the UN headquarters in New York with the aim of adopting concrete measures toward implementation of a two-state solution.
The Galaxy Z Flip 6, Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, and Galaxy Z Flip 7, like the Galaxy Z Flip 5, come with a large cover screen that’s good for more than just checking the time or notifications. It supports various widgets, select apps, and even games. However, Samsung still limits official support to only a handful of apps.
Thankfully, if you want to run any app on the cover screen, you can do that using Samsung’s Good Lock app.
How to run any app on Galaxy Z Flip 6, Flip 7 FE, or Flip 7 cover screen
To run any app on the cover screen, you’ll need to download two apps: Good Lock and MultiStar. Follow the steps below to get started.
(Note: The same guide is applicable to the Galaxy Z Flip 5 that has been updated to Android 16 or One UI 7, but we also have a dedicated guide for that model if you want to check it out.)
Download Good Lock from the Play Store or the Galaxy Store.
Once installed, open the Good Lock app, switch to the Plugins tab, and tap the download button next to MultiStar to install it.
Then, tap MultiStar to open it.
Tap I ♡ Galaxy Foldable, followed by Launcher Widget.
Here, select all the apps you want to use on the cover screen.
Now that you’ve selected the apps you want to use on the cover screen, you have to add the Launcher widget to the cover screen. Follow the steps below to do that.
Open the Settings app on the phone and enter the Cover screen menu.
Tap Widgets to see all available widgets.
Scroll down to find MultiStar, tap on it, and tap the Good Lock Launcher widget box below it to add it to the cover screen.
The widget is now available on the cover screen and you can use it to run your selected apps. To access it, fold the phone, turn on the cover screen, and swipe left until you come to the Launcher widget. You can return to the MultiStar app inside Good Lock any time to add or remove apps from the Launcher widget.
The Flip 7 offers the best experience with cover screen apps
The Galaxy Z Flip 7 offers a noticeably better experience when using apps on the cover screen thanks to its larger and wider display, which provides more space and significantly improved usability compared to earlier models.
Examples of some apps running on Flip 7 cover screen
Buttons and UI elements in most apps are now easier to interact with, and if the cameras interfere with some app elements, you can tap a button at the bottom of the screen to stop an app’s UI from extending below the cameras. You can also switch apps to portrait view if you want.
Typing is also much more convenient. While the Flip 5, Flip 6, and Flip 7 FE are better suited for one-handed typing or swipe input, the Flip 7’s expanded cover screen is big enough for fairly comfortable two-handed typing.
In fact, you may find yourself using the cover screen more than the main display, especially when you’re on the go and don’t want to keep unfolding the phone. The need to flip open the device is reduced dramatically, and for many users, that may end up being one of the most useful features of the Flip 7.
That said, the one thing the larger cover screen still isn’t ideal for is playing games. You can enjoy the few games officially supported and available through the Good Lock app, but games not optimized for the cover screen often don’t scale properly or are difficult to control in such a compact space.
Natural outcrop of green chalcedony in the Mgwayiza Valley, Eswatini
LOBAMBA, ESWATINI—Thousands of years ago, it was so essential that craftspeople in southern Africa had just the right colored stone to make their tools that they regularly traveled long distances to obtain them, according to a statement released by the University of Tübingen. A study recently examined objects from the National Museum in Lobamba, Eswatini, that were made from material such as red jasper, green chalcedony, and black chert. “Colorful and shiny materials seemed attractive to early humans,” said University of Tübingen archaeologist Gregor Bader. “They often used them for their tools.” These bright artifacts, some of which date to as early as 40,000 years ago, were originally discovered at the archaeological sites of Hlalakahle, Siphiso, Sibebe, and Nkambeni. The researchers used neuron activation analysis to determine the stones’ origins, and were surprised to learn that they were sourced in the Mgwayiza Valley, as far as 60 miles away from some of the sites where they were found. Not only did early humans go out of their way to collect perfectly colored lithic materials, the researchers discovered, their preferences changed over time. During the Mesolithic period, between 40,000 and 28,000 years ago, black and white chert and green chalcedony were preferred, while red jasper was more popular from around 30,000 to 2,000 years ago. Since these colored stones all appear close together in the same river deposits in the valley, different preferences over time must have been driven by deliberate choices. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science. To read about ocher mining 48,000 years ago in the Ngwenya Massif, go to “Around the World: Eswatini.”
Natural outcrop of red jasper in the Mgwayiza Valley, Eswatini
For decades, scientists have puzzled over Uranus. Unlike its fellow giant planets, it seemed unusually quiet in terms of heat.
When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past the icy world in 1986, its instruments detected almost no internal warmth. That didn’t make sense. Planets the size of Uranus should still be radiating heat from their formation – so where was it?
Now, new research suggests the heat is there – just harder to detect. This new evidence helps resolve an old mystery and opens the door to better understanding not just Uranus, but how planets form, evolve, and interact with their environments.
Uranus is still losing ancient heat
The study comes from researchers at the University of Houston, working with planetary scientists across the globe.
It draws on decades of spacecraft data and advanced computer modeling. Together, the evidence paints a clearer picture: Uranus does release more energy than it gets from the Sun.
“This means it’s still slowly losing leftover heat from its early history, a key piece of the puzzle that helps us understand its origins and how it has changed over time,” said first author Xinyue Wang.
The findings also line up with those from a separate team led by Professor Patrick Irwin at the University of Oxford.
Not as hot as its neighbors
While Uranus does emit heat, it gives off far less than the other giant planets in our solar system. Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune all emit more than twice the energy they absorb from sunlight. Uranus emits only about 12.5 percent more.
The reason isn’t clear, but researchers believe Uranus may have a different internal structure or evolutionary history than its neighbors.
In other words, Uranus might be built differently on the inside – or it may have followed a unique evolutionary path over billions of years that shaped how it stores and releases heat.
The study also found that Uranus’s heat output varies with its seasons – and those seasons are extreme. Each one lasts around 20 years, due to the planet’s tilted spin and off-center orbit.
As Uranus makes its long journey around the Sun, its energy levels rise and fall.
Planning future Uranus missions
Scientists aren’t just curious about Uranus for curiosity’s sake. Understanding how the planet works could directly affect the planning of future space missions.
Liming Li, also a co-author of the study, believes the findings come at the right time. NASA is gearing up for a major mission to Uranus – one that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine ranked as a top priority for space exploration through 2032.
“This study could improve planning for NASA’s flagship mission to orbit and probe Uranus,” Li said.
“From a scientific perspective, this study helps us better understand Uranus and other giant planets. For future space exploration, I think it strengthens the case for a mission to Uranus,” Wang added.
Lessons for Earth
The research also holds lessons for Earth. The methods used – combining space data with physical models – don’t apply only to Uranus. They could be used to study heat flow on other planets, even ones outside our solar system.
“By uncovering how Uranus stores and loses heat, we gain valuable insights into the fundamental processes that shape planetary atmospheres, weather systems, and climate systems,” Li said.
“These findings help broaden our perspective on Earth’s atmospheric system and the challenges of climate change.”
The future of research in space
This study isn’t just about Uranus – it’s a preview of where space science is headed. As tools for modeling, data collection, and observation improve, scientists are gaining new ways to study planets across the solar system and beyond.
The methods used to analyze Uranus’s heat could help decode the atmospheres of other ice giants, exoplanets, and even newly discovered worlds in distant systems.
NASA’s upcoming Uranus mission is just one example of how this research will shape future exploration. By combining long-term data with modern computational models, scientists are building a deeper understanding of how planets form, change, and interact with their environments.
These advances don’t just push planetary science forward – they also strengthen our ability to study climate systems, design new technologies, and prepare for the challenges of Earth’s future.
The full study was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
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