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  • Playing tech outside of megacaps; industrial stock that will get boost from Fed rate cuts

    Playing tech outside of megacaps; industrial stock that will get boost from Fed rate cuts

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  • Nitrogen Needs Could Be Limiting Nature’s Carbon Capacity

    Nitrogen Needs Could Be Limiting Nature’s Carbon Capacity

    Plants use nitrogen to produce proteins, enzymes, and chlorophyll: all necessary components to perform photosynthesis, in which plants remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their leaves, roots, and soil.

    However, though the atmosphere is made up of more than 78% nitrogen, the element is unusable for plants in its natural form. Tiny microorganisms called diazotrophs are responsible for “fixing” nitrogen into a form that plants can absorb and use. Diazotrophs live in the soil and in living and decaying plants, creating important partnerships with both naturally growing vegetation and agricultural crops.

    Because plants need the nitrogen to grow and remove carbon from the atmosphere, understanding the global distribution of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) is crucial for building accurate climate models.

    But a new study makes a surprising update to global BNF estimates: Forests, grasslands, and other natural areas may have access to between a quarter and two thirds less biologically fixed nitrogen than previously thought. In previous studies, most field measurements of BNF in natural settings were taken from locations such as tropical forests, where nitrogen-fixing organisms are 17 times more abundant than the global average, creating an overestimation of nitrogen availability. This new work, coauthored by a team of 24 international scientists, examines a broader range of ecosystem types and provides a more detailed picture of the global distribution of nitrogen fixation.

    Modernized Mapping

    A group of researchers, many of whom are involved in the new study, first published a paper on how to model BNF in 1999, explained lead author Carla Reis Ely, an ecosystem ecologist at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. “But they knew that there were some issues, particularly with data on the abundance of nitrogen fixers, that needed to be addressed.”

    The scientists involved with the updated project started by reviewing a compilation of field measurements and distribution data on BNF across natural ecosystems. They found that the sampling bias in past research had produced an overestimation of global nitrogen availability.

    Reis Ely said that “it makes sense” that scientists hoping to measure BNF would do their research in places where they know BNF is occurring. “It’s very hard to propose a project where scientists were going to go to a place to measure nitrogen fixation where they know nitrogen fixation is not happening.”

    They compiled more than 1,100 existing measurements of BNF rates from natural field sites, ranging from tropical forests to the Arctic. In doing so, they aimed to build a much larger and more representative dataset on how common nitrogen-fixing organisms and their hosts (such as shrubs and mosses) are across various regions and ecosystems. Once they had gathered and organized the measurements of BNF rates from specific sites, they upscaled those rates to estimate and map global nitrogen fixation rates for each of Earth’s biomes.

    From Forests to Farms—and Beyond

    According to the study’s findings, the amount of nitrogen fixation by microbes in natural environments is approximately 25 million tons lower than previously estimated.

    According to the study’s findings, the amount of nitrogen fixation by microbes in natural environments is approximately 25 million tons lower than previously estimated—the equivalent of 113 fully loaded cargo ships. Most of it occurs in tropical forests and drylands, but Reis Ely noted that soils, biocrusts, mosses, and lichens also conduct high amounts of nitrogen fixation.

    Though naturally occurring nitrogen fixation is lower than previous estimates, agriculturally based nitrogen fixation has actually been underestimated, the researchers discovered after sorting through thousands of measurements of agricultural BNF. When natural and agricultural datasets were combined, “we found both lower natural nitrogen fixation and higher agricultural nitrogen fixation than prior estimates, [indicating] an increasing human signal on this essential process worldwide,” said Steven Perakis, an ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center and one of the study’s authors.

    Crops like soybeans and alfalfa host bacteria that are fixing much more nitrogen than the natural systems that they replaced were fixing. Even though agricultural nitrogen-fixing crops cover only 6% of Earth’s land, they have boosted global nitrogen fixation by 64% since preindustrial levels.

    This increase comes with pros and cons: Nitrogen-fixing crops can help feed Earth’s growing population, and they tend to be more eco-friendly than crops requiring chemical fertilizers. But too much nitrogen can upset the nutrient balance in soils and threaten biodiversity by feeding the growth of invasive plants. Further, excess nitrogen can be converted into the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide, and runoff from these soils can leach into groundwater and cause algal blooms.

    “It’s a Goldilocks sort of thing. You want just enough, but not too much, for healthy functioning of ecosystems.”

    “Less nitrogen fixation in natural areas could mean reduced capacity [for plants] to uptake carbon from the atmosphere and help mitigate climate change,” Reis Ely said. “On the other hand, if we underestimate how much agricultural nitrogen fixation is happening, we are also underestimating how much excess nitrogen we are adding to natural environments.”

    Understanding this balance has implications for estimating nitrogen needs in agriculture as well as how forests grow and store carbon as carbon dioxide levels rise. “It’s a Goldilocks sort of thing. You want just enough, but not too much, for healthy functioning of ecosystems,” said Eric Davidson, a biogeochemist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who was not involved in the study.

    With this new dataset, researchers can now update their models, which may have been under- or overestimating the nitrogen fixation occurring in natural and agricultural settings. Correct estimates can factor into plans for mitigating climate change. “Could these numbers, these global estimates, change in the future?” Davidson said. “Yes, they could with better understanding. But for the time being, it would appear that this is a significant improvement.”

    —Rebecca Owen, Science Writer (@beccapox.bsky.social)

    Citation: Owen, R. (2025), Nitrogen needs could be limiting nature’s carbon capacity, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250312. Published on 25 August 2025.
    Text © 2025. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
    Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

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  • India warns foe Pakistan of potential flooding as both battle torrential rains – Reuters

    1. India warns foe Pakistan of potential flooding as both battle torrential rains  Reuters
    2. FO confirms India’s flood warnings, notes use of diplomatic channel over IWC  Dawn
    3. India’s Goodwill Gesture To Pakistan After Indus Treaty Abeyance  NDTV
    4. Riverine settlements drown as India warns of more floods  The Express Tribune
    5. First major contact since Operation Sindoor: India alerts Pakistan on possible flooding; IWT remains in a  The Times of India

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  • Get a two-year plan for up to 77 percent off

    Get a two-year plan for up to 77 percent off

    There are dozens of VPNs to choose from, but to think they’re all created equally would be a mistake. Some are better than others, and NordVPN sits squarely in the better category. Now, you can save up to 77 percent on most of NordVPN’s plans. Arguably the best plan for most people is the NordVPN Plus plan, which you can get two years of access for only $108 right now. That’s 73 percent off the usual rate, and NordVPN throws in an addition three months for free, so you’re actually getting a 27-month subscription for the sale price.

    As well as Nord’s VPN service, a Plus plan also includes the Threat Protection Pro anti-malware tool, password management and an ad- and tracker-blocker. A Prime plan additionally comes with encrypted cloud storage or NordProtect, which insures you against identity theft and monitors dark web activity. That’s also on sale — down to $189 on the same two-year commitment with those three additional months thrown in, which works out to a 77 percent savings on the regular price.

    Nord

    When Engadget’s Sam Chapman reviewed NordVPN earlier this year, he praised its excellent download speeds, exclusive features and extensive server network. Less impressive is its clunky interface and inconsistent design when jumping between different platforms running a NordVPN app. While it doesn’t quite make the cut in our guide to the best VPNs available right now, it generally performed well in speed tests and Threat Protection Pro is really worth having.

    Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.


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  • Brentford team news for Bournemouth Carabao Cup clash | Brentford FC

    Brentford team news for Bournemouth Carabao Cup clash | Brentford FC

    Brentford head coach Keith Andrews provided an update on his squad ahead of Tuesday night’s trip to Bournemouth, saying that the Bees are taking the Carabao Cup round two clash “very, very seriously.”

    The west Londoners have no fresh injury concerns going into the midweek trip to Vitality Stadium.

    Andrews also confirmed that Yoane Wissa will not be involved in Dorset.

    “The cup game will give an opportunity for other players but, equally, we want to take it very, very seriously,” said the Bees’ head coach.

    “For me, it’s good timing for some of those players that may have been a bit frustrated not to have played; some of those will get opportunities.

    “We’ll be strong. We’re taking a squad down there which will be as strong and competitive as possible to try and win the game, and Dango [Ouattara] will be involved.

    “We have to take care of a couple who came off [on Saturday] for more of a precautionary thing as they build fitness, a couple who had slightly disrupted pre-seasons.

    “But overall, the squad is in a good place and looking really healthy.

    “The focus is on the group so Yoane won’t be involved. Again, that’s a decision around what I feel is best for the group.”

    On taking on Andoni Iraola’s Cherries, who defeated Wolves 1-0 on Saturday to claim their first win of the top-flight campaign, Andrews added: “It’s a great game for us.

    “It’s a team I have a lot of admiration for and it’ll be a real test for us, with the way they play the game. They’re full of speed, energy, they’re high octane, you could see that from the game against Liverpool.

    “You could see the problems they caused for a team of the calibre of Liverpool so we’ve got to be prepared for that and the intensity with which they’ll play the game.

    “We’ll match that and hopefully cause them some problems.”

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  • Temu Owner PDD’s Profit Falls Less Than Expected Despite Slower Revenue Momentum — Update

    Temu Owner PDD’s Profit Falls Less Than Expected Despite Slower Revenue Momentum — Update

    By Tracy Qu

    The Chinese owner of bargain-shopping app Temu reported a smaller-than-expected profit decline in the second quarter despite revenue growth hitting a three-and-a-half-year low as tariffs and increased support for domestic merchants weighed on profitability.

    Net profit fell 3.9% from a year earlier to 30.75 billion yuan, equivalent to $4.29 billion, PDD Holdings said, better than the consensus estimate of a 40% decline in a FactSet poll. Revenue narrowly missed expectations, rising 7.1% to 103.98 billion yuan for its slowest pace of growth since the fourth quarter of 2021.

    PDD on Monday also warned of continued pressure on results in the near future. "As we remain focused on long-term value creation, the sustained investments may continue to weigh on short-term profitability," Jun Liu, vice president of finance, said in a filing.

    The mixed results reflect the challenging landscape PDD is navigating, with both competition and trade barriers rising. E-commerce sites Temu and Shein had for years significantly benefited from the de minimis provision that allowed low-value goods to enter the U.S. duty-free--a tariff exemption the Trump administration ended for China and Hong Kong in early May and is set to end for all U.S. trading partners on Friday.

    Temu has been actively seeking solutions, such as shifting its focus to markets outside the U.S. and encouraging merchants to stockpile goods in U.S. warehouses. The latter move has helped keep prices stable amid tariff pressure but has also eroded much of the bargain site's price advantage. Still, any slowdown in U.S. gross merchandise value will likely be offset by solid growth in Europe and an aggressive ramp-up in Brazil, analysts at Citi wrote in a recent research note.

    PDD doesn't break out revenue for Temu. The bulk of its sales comes from China, analysts say.

    At home, the company's Pinduoduo business faces fierce competition from e-commerce giants Alibaba Group and JD.com, as well as newer players such as ByteDance's Douyin, the sister app to TikTok in China.

    The Chinese bargain platform also recently launched a multibillion-dollar initiative to strengthen its e-commerce ecosystem and support merchants, a major drag on profitability.

    Investor interest in PDD's stock has waned amid the uncertainty over when its profit decline will stabilize, the Citi analysts said. However, implementing higher prices and logistics fees, as well as cuts to sales and marketing spending by Temu, will improve the profit profile of the company's overseas business, they said.

    Nasdaq-listed PDD has risen 31% so far this year but remains well below its 2024 highs. The company's American depositary receipts were recently about 2% higher in premarket trading after the earnings release.

    Write to Tracy Qu at tracy.qu@wsj.com

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires

    August 25, 2025 08:39 ET (12:39 GMT)

    Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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  • Film producer Boney Kapoor moves Madras High Court over dispute involving late wife-actor Sridevi’s Chennai property

    Film producer Boney Kapoor moves Madras High Court over dispute involving late wife-actor Sridevi’s Chennai property

    Sridevi and Boney Kapoor. File
    | Photo Credit: AFP

    Renowned film producer Boney Kapoor has approached the Madras High Court alleging that three individuals have been unlawfully claiming right over an immovable property purchased by his wife and veteran actor A. Sridevi (since dead) at East Coast Road (ECR) in Chennai in 1988.

    Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on Monday (August 25, 2025) directed the Tambaram Taluk Tahsildar to take a decision within four weeks on a representation made by the film producer to cancel a “fraudulent” legal heirship certificate that had been granted in favour of the three indviduals.

    The orders were passed while disposing of a writ petition filed by the producer seeking a direction to the Chengalpattu Collector and Tambaram Taluk Tahsildar to dispose of a representation made by him on April 22, 2025, for cancelling the legal heirship certificate.

    Explaining the background of the case, Mr. Kapoor told the court that his wife had purchased the property on April 19, 1988, and since then, she and her family members had been in absolute possession and enjoyment of the property now being used as a farm house.

    The petitioner also told the court that the land originally belonged to a person named M.C. Sambanda Mudaliar, who had three sons and two daughters. The family members had entered into a mutual arrangement on February 14, 1960, with respect to the division of the property between them.

    It was based on this agreement that Sridevi had purchased the property and duly registered the sale deed. However, suddenly, three individuals began contending that they too had an undivided shared over the property by claiming to be the second wife and two children of one of the three sons of Mr. Mudaliar.

    Stating that the claimants had also obtained a legal heirship certificate from the Tambaram Tahsildar in 2005, the petitioner questioned the jurisdiction of the revenue official to issue such a certificate when the family of the original land owner had, all along, resided in Mylapore and not in Tambaram.

    Further, pointing out that the second wife claims to have got married on February 5, 1975, the petitioner said, it could not be considered a legal marriage since the first wife had died only on June 24, 1999. Therefore, the three individuals could not be classified either as Class-I or Class-II legal heirs under the Hindu Succession Act, he said.

    Complaining that the trio had been causing a lot of trouble by instituting multiple civil proceedings and approaching the revenue authorities to stake claim over the property on the basis of the “fraudulent” legal heirship certificate, Mr. Kapoor had urged the officials to cancel the certificate at the earliest.

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  • Getting touchy-feely with a Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 • The Register

    Getting touchy-feely with a Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 • The Register

    HANDS ON A $40, 5-inch touchscreen has landed for the Raspberry Pi, offering a smaller sibling for the existing 7-inch model.

    The display is a multi-touch capacitive panel, which supports five-finger input. The active area is 2.4 x 4.3 inches (62 x 110 mm) with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, and the viewing angle is 80 degrees (slightly down from the 7-inch version, which has an 85-degree viewing angle). The unit itself measures 3.6 x 5.6 inches (91 x 143 mm).

    The 7-inch incarnation has an active area of 3.4 x 6.1 inches (87 x 156 mm), and measures 4.7 x 7.4 inches (120 x 189 mm) in total. Both units have a backlight brightness of 500 cd/m² and a typical touch response time of 35 ms.

    Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2

    We were given a sample to play with, and the initial impressions are good. Attaching a Pi to the back of the screen is simple, and everything from screws to ribbon cables is provided. Power comes from the Pi’s GPIO pins, and an illustration shows where to plug in the connectors. The standoffs on the back support the full-size Pi; users hoping to plug in a Pi Zero or Pi 3A will be disappointed.

    If you’re expecting something like an enclosure or stand, you’re out of luck. In its $40 guise, the Touch Display 2 is strictly a component, although there are plenty of cases out there if needed.

    The other slight annoyance is the touch support out of the box. The Raspberry Pi OS has touch support and will pop up a keyboard when needed, but gestures or swipes don’t work on first boot, which can be jarring for users expecting a smartphone or tablet-type experience.

    The Raspberry Pi team told us that gesture support isn’t handled in the operating system (“at least, not in a standard Linux operating system”). Rather, “it’s done in the UI toolkit (GTK, for example) or in the application itself (Chromium, for example).”

    The screen also doesn’t detect its orientation. A jump into the Screen Configuration tool in Raspberry Pi OS is required to change from landscape to portrait mode.

    However, expecting the OS to respond to a swipe by default or to auto-detect the orientation would miss the point of the screen. This unit is for projects that need a touch display. Perhaps an industrial control panel or an intelligent display in a museum, or whatever weird and wonderful project needs an inexpensive, high-resolution touchscreen.

    The other annoyances are to do with the hardware. While powering the device from the GPIO is useful, it could also present problems for users requiring a HAT (Hardware Attached on Top). It’s also a shame that the option to power the screen from a source like USB isn’t included. The power consumption of the screen depends on the screen brightness level, but the Raspberry Pi team told us it was “typically around 1.5 W.”

    The bezel around the screen might also be a little chunky for some. It was a deliberate choice, according to the Raspberry Pi team. “We wanted it to be as easy as possible for makers to build the display into personal projects.”

    “People can take a box of some kind, cut a hole that’s accurate to ±10 mm, and fix the Touch Display + Raspberry Pi into it, perhaps even just by gluing.”

    It’s easy to imagine the device being embedded in a wall or part of a display.

    There are any number of touchscreens available, but the Raspberry Pi units represent a rapid and easy way to get going without worrying about drivers, compatibility, and calibration. We were up and running with ours in minutes. Yes, there are a few annoyances, but nothing that we’d describe as a showstopper.

    If you’ve got a project that would benefit from fingers jabbing at a screen, then the Raspberry Pi Touch Display 2 is definitely worth a closer look. ®

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  • Scientists discover new ‘3D genome organizer’ linked to fertility and cancer

    A research team at Kyoto University has discovered STAG3-cohesin, a new mitotic cohesin complex that helps establish the unique DNA architecture of spermaotogonial stem cells (SSCs), the stem cells that give rise to sperm. This “DNA organizer” is crucial for sperm production in mice: without STAG3, SSCs cannot differentiate properly, leading to a fertility problem. In humans, the researchers found that STAG3 is highly expressed in immune B cells and in B-cell lymphomas (a type of blood cancer), and blocking it slowed the growth of these cells. This discovery might open the door to new strategies for treating infertility and certain cancers.

    This research is led by Prof. Mitinori Saitou, Director/Principal Investigator at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (WPI-ASHBi), Kyoto University (also Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine), Dr. Masahiro Nagano (then Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Medicine, currently Research Fellow at ASHBi and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), and Dr. Bo Hu (then Ph.D. student, currently Research Fellow at ASHBi). The results of this study will be published online in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology at 10:00 am GMT (6:00 pm Japan Standard Time) on August 25, 2025.

    Background

    Our bodies contain many different types of cells, yet they all contain the same DNA. What makes each cell type unique is how this DNA is modified, packaged, folded, and organized. Think of DNA as a very long piece of string. Inside every nucleus, about two meters of this DNA string must be folded and stored in a space smaller than the width of a human hair. This folding is highly organized, with special boundaries called insulation that separate different regions of DNA and control which genes are turned on or off. Ring-shaped protein complexes called cohesins serve as the key players that create these boundaries. Cohesin complexes were previously thought to exist in two main forms: mitotic cohesins (contain STAG1 or STAG2 together with RAD21) and meiotic cohesins (contain STAG3 together with REC8 or RAD21L).

    Germ cells are unique because they pass DNA to the next generation, and they undergo major changes in DNA folding during development. These cells undergo massive reorganization of their DNA packaging during development. Notably, SSCs have a unique way of organizing their DNA with unusually weak boundaries, but scientists do not yet understand how this happens.

    Key findings

    Because cohesin complexes contribute to DNA boundaries, and SSCs are mitotically dividing cells before entering meiosis, the research team decided to map where different cohesin proteins were located in SSCs cultured in vitro, and which proteins were present at each site. They found that RAD21, which normally partners with STAG1 or STAG2 in dividing cells, was instead partnering with STAG3. This protein was previously thought to function only during meiosis. Using immunoprecipitation–mass spectrometry (a technique that identifies which proteins stick together), they confirmed that RAD21 and STAG3 form a complex, revealing a new type of cohesin, which they referred to as STAG3-cohesin.

    To find out what this new complex does, the researchers created two types of genetically modified SSCs in vitro: one set completely lacked STAG3, while the other contained only STAG3 (without STAG1 or STAG2). They discovered that STAG3-cohesin is responsible for the unusually weak DNA boundaries in SSCs. Most importantly, in mice missing STAG3, the SSCs could not progress from their stem-cell state to the next stage of sperm development in an efficient manner. This led to a fertility problem, showing that STAG3-cohesin does more than organize DNA and is critical for proper germ cell development.

    As STAG3 functions in mitotically dividing cells, the team then investigated whether it might also function in other human cell types. By analyzing large datasets of all human cell types, they found that STAG3 is highly expressed in immune B cells and in B-cell lymphomas, a type of blood cancer. Interestingly, blocking STAG3 caused these lymphoma cells to grow much more slowly in laboratory studies, suggesting that STAG3 could be explored as a possible target for future cancer research.

    Outlook

    This study has revealed STAG3-cohesin as a new type of DNA-organizing protein complex that works very differently from previously known complexes. Because of its unique properties, further research on this complex is expected to advance our understanding of how gene activity is controlled through DNA organization. One of the most striking discoveries was that simply changing STAG3 levels could alter the proportion of stem cells in the testis. This suggests a novel mechanism that regulates the SSC state at the boundary between normal cell division and the start of meiosis.

    Beyond germ cells, the discovery that blocking STAG3 slows the growth of B-cell cancers points to a possible role for STAG3 in future cancer research. Although more research is needed to uncover the precise mechanisms, these findings offer new insights that could advance stem cell biology, reproductive medicine, and cancer treatment.

     

    KYOTO, Japan – August 22, 2025

    Glossary

    • Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs): The stem cells in the testis that self-renew and also differentiate to give rise to sperm.
    • Mitosis: The process by which a cell produces identical copies of itself, resulting in daughter cells with the same genetic information.
    • Meiosis: A specialized form of division unique to germ cells, through which sperm or eggs are generated.
    • Insulation: The “boundaries” within the 3D structure of DNA. They prevent enhancers (DNA elements that help turn genes on) from influencing genes across the boundary, effectively dividing the genome into separate functional regions.
    • B cells: Immune cells that play a central role in antibody production within the immune system.
    • Cohesin complex: A ring-shaped protein complex that holds chromatids together and helps organize DNA into loops essential for gene regulation and mitosis.

     

    ###

    About Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (ASHBi), Kyoto University

    What key biological traits make us ‘human’, and how can knowing these lead us to better cures for disease? ASHBi investigates the core concepts of human biology with a particular focus on genome regulation and disease modeling, creating a foundation of knowledge for developing innovative and unique human-centric therapies.

    About the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI)

    The WPI program was launched in 2007 by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to foster globally visible research centers boasting the highest standards and outstanding research environments. Numbering more than a dozen and operating at institutions throughout the country, these centers are given a high degree of autonomy, allowing them to engage in innovative modes of management and research. The program is administered by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).  


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  • Recharged rumor: iPhone 17 Pro may get reverse wireless charging – AppleInsider

    1. Recharged rumor: iPhone 17 Pro may get reverse wireless charging  AppleInsider
    2. iPhone 17 Pro May Be Able to Wirelessly Charge AirPods, Apple Watch  MacRumors
    3. iPhone 17 could mark the start of Apple’s portless future  Новини Live
    4. This iPhone 17 Pro’s New Charging Feature Could Be a Game-Changer  Android Headlines

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