Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi unit is ramping up vehicle production at a new facility in Hayward, California.
Zoox
Amazon‘s Zoox has cleared a key regulatory hurdle, paving the way for demonstrations of its self-driving robotaxis.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday that it granted Zoox an exemption from some requirements, a first for U.S.-built vehicles under a recently expanded program.
“Transportation innovators can be confident in getting speedy review of their vehicles and, as appropriate, exemption from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in a release.
The company must remove all existing statements that its purpose-built vehicles meet all federal motor vehicle safety standards.
As part of the announcement, NHTSA said it’s closing a probe opened in March 2023 into Zoox’s self-certification that its robotaxi met federal safety standards.
“Through this new exemption process, we are excited to embark on this new path, put these discussions behind us, and move forward,” Zoox said in a statement.
The Department of Transportation in April announced it would expand a program that aims to speed up the autonomous vehicle exemption process to include domestically produced vehicles. Previously, it was limited to imported AVs.
The easing of regulations will benefit Zoox and its competitors.
Tesla has announced that it plans to produce a two-seater CyberCab with no steering wheel or pedals down the line.
The expansion of the Automated Vehicle Exemption Program could make it easier for the company to conduct testing and operate on public, U.S. roadways if Elon Musk’s automaker can meet the agency’s requirements.
Zoox, founded 11 years ago and purchased by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, has been gearing up for further expansion this year.
The company in June opened a robotaxi manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area, where it aims to eventually produce 10,000 vehicles a year once it’s at full scale.
Zoox needs more of its toaster-shaped robotaxis to roll off the assembly line to fulfill its mission of deploying a commercial ride-hailing service in the U.S.
The company has eyed Las Vegas as its first commercial market, and said it plans to begin service there later this year.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed reporting to this article.
The fight was razor-close on the scorecards, but Du Plessis ultimately got the job done, earning a split decision victory to become the first South African champion in UFC history. The win also silenced critics of his cardio, as he went the full 25 minutes with Strickland, a relentless pressure fighter known for pushing the pace.
Despite capturing a UFC title, he was still highly doubted in his first title defense against Adesanya in Perth at UFC 305. Not only did he defeat “The Last Stylebender,” but Du Plessis became the first fighter ever to submit Adesanya.
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Du Plessis returned to Australia in February of this year to rematch Strickland. Since there were many who weren’t convinced of Du Plessis’ first win over him, “Stillknocks” made sure to do it more impressively the second time around, dominating Strickland and earning 50-45 scores from two of the three judges.
With two title defenses, du Plessis finds himself one win away from becoming the fourth fighter in UFC middleweight history to defend the title at least three times, joining Chris Weidman (3), Israel Adesanya (5) and Anderson Silva (10).
Numerous studies indicate that the shift to AI search features and the use of AI chatbots are killing traffic to publishers’ sites. But Google on Wednesday denied that’s the case, at least in aggregate. Instead, the search giant says that total organic click volume from its search engine to websites has been “relatively stable” year-over-year and that average click quality has slightly increased.
“This data is in contrast to third-party reports that inaccurately suggest dramatic declines in aggregate traffic — often based on flawed methodologies, isolated examples, or traffic changes that occurred prior to the roll out of AI features in Search,” writes Google VP and Head of Search, Liz Reid, in a new blog post.
Though Google hasn’t shared any specific data to back up its conclusions, even if we assume Google’s claims to be true, this doesn’t necessarily mean that AI isn’t having an impact.
Even Google has to admit this, as Reid acknowledges that “user trends are shifting traffic to different sites, resulting in decreased traffic to some sites and increased traffic to others.”
That word “some” is doing heavy lifting here, as Google doesn’t share data about how many sites are gaining or losing. And while chatbots like ChatGPT have certainly seen traffic increase in recent months, that doesn’t mean online publishers aren’t suffering.
Image Credits:Google
Google has been revamping its search engine for years to answer more questions directly on the search results page, and now does so with AI through its “AI Overviews” that appear at the top of search results. Google also allows users to interact with an AI chatbot for some queries. Yet Google denies that this is significantly reshaping the search landscape. Rather, it points to users shifting their attention to other sites to start their queries.
Reid explains, “People are increasingly seeking out and clicking on sites with forums, videos, podcasts, and posts where they can hear authentic voices and first-hand perspectives.”
Reading between the lines, it seems like Google.com isn’t necessarily people’s first stop on the web these days. But that’s something we’ve known for some time. Back in 2022, a Google exec even said that social sites like TikTok and Instagram were eating into Google’s core products, like Search and Maps.
“In our studies, something like almost 40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, they don’t go to Google Maps or Search,” said Google SVP Prabhakar Raghavan, who ran the company’s Knowledge and Information organization at the time (he is now its chief technologist). “They go to TikTok or Instagram,” he noted.
Google has also long been worried that Amazon.com had become people’s first stop for online shopping searches, and Reddit.com had become the first stop for researching topics of interest.
Over many years, the company has tried to come up with compelling features for both consumers and retailers that would attract more users to Google Shopping. These efforts have included universal shopping carts, local inventory checks, deal finders, shopping from product images on websites, and more. It even made its Shopping listings free for merchants in 2020.
Meanwhile, as users complained that Google Search quality was declining, the search giant was seeing so much demand for Reddit that it finally added a “Reddit” filter to allow users to narrow down results on relevant search queries. (Now that filter simply reads “forums.”)
So perhaps there’s some truth in Google’s denials — it’s not AI that’s entirely responsible for killing search. Search was already dying.
Google’s new blog post also attempts to move the goalposts a bit about what it means for websites receiving Google’s clicks. Now, instead of counting clicks, it wants publishers to think about click quality.
The company says average click quality has increased, and Google is sending “slightly more quality clicks” to websites than a year ago. (Google explains that a quality click is one where users don’t quickly click back — they stay and read.) How much of an increase, though, Google doesn’t say. The company only points out that when people click through on an AI response to the source, they’re more likely to dive deeper, so those clicks are more valuable.
What’s more, Google paints AI as an opportunity for web publishers to gain increased exposure, saying that “with AI Overviews, people are seeing more links on the page than before,” Reid writes. “More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked.”
But AI, while a growing referral source, isn’t yet making up the difference in terms of clicks, reports have shown. One recent study from Similarweb indicates that the number of news searches on the web resulting in zero clicks to news websites has grown from 56% (when Google launched AI Overviews in May 2024) to 69% as of May 2025.
Image Credits:Similarweb
Google appears to knows this is a trend, too, as it recently launched a product for publishers that helps them monetize their dwindling traffic in other ways that don’t rely only on advertising, like micropayments or newsletter sign-ups.
The fact that Google is pushing this “AI is not the end of search traffic!” PR now only makes the situation seem more dire. It’s as if Google wants publishers to believe not what their own eyes — and graphs and charts — tell them, but instead take comfort in the fact that Google still sends “billions of clicks to websites” every day, just as the post claims.
An evidence review published in the European Heart Journal indicates use of a CPAP machine by sleep apnea patients might increase risk of heart attack, stroke and heart-related death. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay
Thinking about using a CPAP machine to quell sleep apnea?
It’s not necessarily a good idea for everyone, a new evidence review argues.
This common treatment for sleep apnea might increase some folks’ risk of heart attack, stroke and heart-related death, according to results published today in the European Heart Journal.
CPAP machines can dramatically lower a person’s heart risk if severe sleep apnea causes dramatic drops in blood oxygen levels or large surges in heart rate, researchers found by analyzing data from more than 3,500 participants in three major clinical trials.
But CPAP might escalate heart health risk among people with milder sleep apnea, particularly if the condition doesn’t cause them to feel sleepy during the daytime, results show.
“Our findings suggest that CPAP may offer long-term cardiovascular benefit in people with high-risk obstructive sleep apnea, but may have unintended harmful effects in those without high-risk OSA,” lead researcher Ali Azarbarzin, a sleep medicine investigator at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release.
Sleep apnea occurs when the muscles in the back of the throat relax, causing a person’s airway to collapse.
These folks tend to snore, and if the airway collapses completely their breathing can start and stop throughout the night, causing them to repeatedly wake.
Continuous positive airway pressure machines blow air through a face mask as a person sleeps. The air pressure prevents the person’s airways from closing.
Sleep apnea has been previously linked to heart disease, researchers noted. It’s been reported to increase the risk of heart failure by 140%, stroke by 60% and heart disease by 30%.
But prior studies of CPAP treatment for sleep apnea have not shown a clear benefit to heart health from the devices, Azarbarzin said.
In an attempt to clarify CPAP’s heart benefits, Azarbarzin and colleagues pooled together data from three separate trials that tested CPAP for people with sleep apnea.
Results showed a clear benefit for people with high-risk sleep apnea that causes dramatic changes in blood oxygen and heart rate. Overall, these patients had a 17% lower risk of heart attack, stroke and heart-related death.
But in people without high-risk sleep apnea who don’t feel sleepy during the day, CPAP appeared to increase their risk of serious heart problems by 30%, researchers said.
“For people with high-risk OSA, CPAP likely helps by preventing low oxygen levels and calming the overactive sympathetic nervous system during sleep,” Azarbarzin said. Both are linked to heart disease.
“But in people without these high-risk markers, who are already at very low cardiovascular risk, CPAP seems to have downsides,” Azarbarzin added. “While we don’t really know why, one possibility is that the pressure used in CPAP may stretch the lungs in a way that puts stress on the cardiovascular system. Another is that CPAP could disturb sleep for some people, and sleep disruption itself is a risk factor for cardiovascular problems.”
The results indicate the need for personalized treatment of sleep apnea, Azarbarzin said.
“Instead of treating everyone the same, we should consider whether someone has high-risk features,” Azarbarzin said. “These are the people who seem most likely to benefit from CPAP.”
However, more research is needed to better understand the potential risks posed by CPAP, Azarbarzin said.
“CPAP-related harm was seen only in non-sleepy patients with existing heart disease, according to the design of trials analyzed in this study,” Azarbarzin said. “Whether this applies to other patients remains unknown and needs further research.”
Jelly Roll, Jonas Brothers, CeCe Winans and Dan+Shay are among a group of artists who are helping in the fight against cancer, when they take part in Stand Up To Cancer’s ninth biennial televised fundraising special, which will air Friday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. ET, marking the first time the special will broadcast from Nashville.
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The special will feature additional from Noah Cyrus, Gavin DeGraw, Marcus King, Brothers Osborne and Jon Pardi.
Aimed at raising essential funds for cancer research, the special will also include pre-taped segments from Kevin Bacon, Jamie Foxx, Tim McGraw, Zoe Saldaña, Keith Urban, and Reese Witherspoon. Sheryl Crow will serve as the evening’s host, while Stand Up To Cancer co-founder Katie Couric will also offer remarks. Dolly Parton also previously took part in a tune-in campaign to help raise awareness of the telecast. Meanwhile, the event will also highlight stories from cancer survivors as well as recent breakthroughs in early cancer detection and treatment.
The one-hour special will air on over 30 media platforms in the United States, including all four major U.S. broadcast networks, with broadcasters donating time slots to aid the special’s mission. The telecast will also be available to watch on several digital and streaming platforms.
The fundraising concert event will be held at Nashville venue The Pinnacle, and will be co-produced by Stand Up To Cancer and Done + Dusted. Executive producers for the event are Done + Dusted’s David Jammy and Liz Kelly, Stand Up To Cancer co-founders Pamela Oas Williams and Lisa Paulsen, Rod Essig of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Kevin Yorn of Yorn Levine / BroadLight Capital, and Rick Yorn of LBI Entertainment / BroadLight Capital. James Merryman will be the show’s director, with two-time Academy of Country Music guitar player of the year winner Derek Wells serving as the musical director.
Leading up to the special, Stand Up To Cancer has launched the #StandUpToCancer campaign which runs through Aug. 31 and unites creators on platforms including Twitch, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube to support cancer research initiatives by hosting fundraising streams.
The time children and teens spend video gaming, scrolling through social media or watching TV could be putting their future heart health at risk, a new study says.
Each additional hour of screen time is associated with an increase in heart risk factors like blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels, researchers reported today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
“It’s a small change per hour, but when screen time accumulates to three, five or even six hours a day, as we saw in many adolescents, that adds up,” lead investigator David Horner, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, said in a news release.
“Multiply that across a whole population of children, and you’re looking at a meaningful shift in early cardiometabolic risk that could carry into adulthood,” Horner added.
For the study, researchers pooled data from more than 1,000 participants in two Danish studies of childhood health.
Each child received a heart health risk score based on factors like waist size, blood pressure, “good” HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar, researchers said. Parents reported on the kids’ screen time.
Every hour a child or teen spent glued to a screen caused those risk factors to tilt toward the bad, results showed.
A child’s sleep patterns contributed to this risk, researchers added.
Both shorter sleep duration and hitting the sack later intensified the relationship between screen time and heart health risk, results show. Kids and teens who had less sleep showed significantly higher risk associated with the same amount of screen time.
“About 12% of the association between screen time and cardiometabolic risk was mediated through shorter sleep duration,” Horner said. “These findings suggest that insufficient sleep may not only magnify the impact of screen time but could be a key pathway linking screen habits to early metabolic changes.”
An artificial intelligence analysis found that kids’ blood carried a set of markers — what researchers called a “screen-time fingerprint” — that could predict how much time they’d been spending with screens, researchers added.
“We also assessed whether screen time was linked to predicted cardiovascular risk in adulthood, finding a positive trend in childhood and a significant association in adolescence,” Horner said. “This suggests that screen-related metabolic changes may carry early signals of long-term heart health risk.”
Since this was an observational study, the research cannot prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between screen time and heart health, researchers noted.
Nevertheless, pediatricians should consider a discussion of children’s screen habits during regular check-ups, Horner said.
The results also highlight the importance of good sleep to a child’s health, said Dr. Amanda Marma Perak, chair of the American Heart Association’s Young Hearts Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Committee. Perak, who was not involved in this research, reviewed the findings.
“If cutting back on screen time feels difficult, start by moving screen time earlier and focusing on getting into bed earlier and for longer,” said Perak, an assistant professor of pediatrics and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
Parents also should be prepared to set a good example, she added in a news release.
“All of us use screens, so it’s important to guide kids, teens and young adults to healthy screen use in a way that grows with them,” Perak said. “As a parent, you can model healthy screen use — when to put it away, how to use it, how to avoid multitasking. And as kids get a little older, be more explicit, narrating why you put away your devices during dinner or other times together.”
It’s also important to teach kids how to entertain themselves without a screen, and to handle the discomfort that comes with boredom, Perak said.
“Boredom breeds brilliance and creativity, so don’t be bothered when your kids complain they’re bored,” Perak said. “Loneliness and discomfort will happen throughout life, so those are opportunities to support and mentor your kids in healthy ways to respond that don’t involve scrolling.”
More information
Johns Hopkins Medicine has more on the effects of screen time on children.
As buzz builds around his new film and possible new romance with Pamela Anderson, award-winning actor Liam Neeson has offloaded his longtime Manhattan apartment for $10.3 million.
The Irish-born actor is currently starring alongside Anderson in The Naked Gun, and the two are generating round-the-clock headlines about their rumored relationship while promoting the hit comedy, a reboot of the 1980s franchise.
Krisztina Crane
The dining area of Liam Neeson’s former New York City apartment features two exposures.
Located on the 28th floor of a Lincoln Square skyscraper, Neeson’s now-former condo was created by combining three units to form one 4,500-square-foot residence containing five bedrooms. Perks include a chef’s kitchen, primary suite with two baths, and sweeping views of Central Park.
Neeson first bought the apartment in 1999, when married to actress Natasha Richardson, who died tragically in 2009. The couple shared two sons and raised them in the West 67th Street tower. (One son, Daniel, recently gave his dad’s potential coupling a stamp of approval, per the New York Post.)
Krisztina Crane
The living room.
The Taken star, who also owns a compound in Upstate New York and several properties in Ireland, listed the Manhattan apartment last summer for $12.75 million before taking it off the market and re-listing it with agent Matthew Coleman of Coleman Real Estate Group, who handled the current sale.
Krisztina Crane
The wood-paneled kitchen and breakfast bar.
Besides the unit’s spacious interiors and panoramic vistas, the building’s location and in-house amenities were surely a draw to the new buyers. Among them are a 24-hour doorman, storage units, and a concierge, while a 140,000-square-foot Equinox Sports Club packed with perks is located on the ground floor. Its convenient Upper West Side location also provides easy access to shopping, transportation, and cultural amenities such as Lincoln Center and the American Museum of Natural History.
Krisztina Crane
One of the bedrooms is spacious enough for its own sitting area.
Geoffrey Montes is an associate editor at ELLE Decor with a serious love for all things real estate and design. Before that, he worked at Architectural Digest, Galerie, and Preservation magazines, covering everything from jaw-dropping listings to world-famous architects and design events like Salone del Mobile and Homo Faber.
ISLAMABAD, Aug 06 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday strongly condemned an attack by terrorists of “Fitna-al-Hindustan” on security forces vehicle in District Mastung, Balochistan.
The prime minister paid tribute to Pakistan Army’s Major Muhammad Rizwan Tahir, Naik Ibn Ameen, and Lance Naik Muhammad Younas, who were martyred in the attack, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
The prime minister prayed for the elevation of the ranks of the martyrs and expressed condolences to their families.
He also commended the security forces for killing four terrorists of Fitna-al-Hindustan in a retaliatory operation.
“The personnel of the security forces are standing like an iron wall to defend the country,” he said, adding the entire nation saluted their martyrs.
The prime minister said the sacrifices of the security forces in the fight against terrorism were unparalleled.
He also reiterated the resolve to completely eliminate all forms of terrorism from the country.
