World No. 11 Emma Navarro, World No. 12 Elise Mertens and World No. 26 Leylah Fernandez headline a star-studded 28-player singles field at the Guadalajara Open Akron, a hard-court WTA 500 tournament in Zapopan, Mexico.
The tournament starts on September 8, two days after the US Open women’s final, and concludes on September 14.
Rounding out the top 10 seeds are reigning champion Magdalena Frech, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, World No. 34 Anna Kalinskaya, former World No. 9 Veronika Kudermetova, Magda Linette, Tatjana Maria and Sonay Kartal.
Americans Peyton Stearns and Alycia Parks are also in the field, as is 2023 champion Maria Sakkari.
Frech, currently ranked 28th in the world, won her first and only title here last year, defeating Australian Olivia Gadecki, 7-6 (5), 6-4, in the final.
Champions Reel: How Magdalena Frech won Guadalajara 2024
Played at the Panamerican Tennis Center, the site of the 2021 WTA Finals, the Guadalajara Open Akron was founded in 2022 as a WTA 1000 event, but it shifted to the WTA 500 tier last year.
Tennis Returns to Sao Paulo
Twenty-five years later, tennis is back in Sao Paulo. The Brazilian city last hosted a WTA event in 2000, when it was a Tier IV clay-court event called the Brasil Open. (Fun fact: Hungarian Rita Kuti Kis defeated Argentinian Paola Suarez in the final. Second fun fact: The tournament moved to Mata de Sao Joao for the 2001 and 2002 events, won by Monica Seles and Anastasia Myskina, respectively.)
This tournament, now called the SP Open, is a WTA 250 and will be played on hard courts. World No. 21 Beatriz Haddad Maia leads the 32-player singles field, and she’ll be joined by American Hailey Baptiste and rising Filipina star Alexandra Eala, who shocked the tennis world when she advanced to the semifinals in Miami earlier this year.
Rounding out the top five seeds are Mexico’s Renata Zarazua and Argentina’s Solana Sierra.
Like the Guadalajara Open, the SP Open will kick off on September 8 and conclude on the 14th.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday visited the under-construction Technology Park in Islamabad, voicing dissatisfaction over the slow pace of work and directing officials to speed up construction so the project is completed within the originally agreed timeframe.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Shehbaz underscored the project’s strategic importance for Pakistan’s economic and technological advancement. He stressed that the facility must meet international standards in both infrastructure and services to achieve its role in driving the country’s digital economy.
“All stakeholders must accelerate their efforts to complete the Technology Park at the earliest,” he said during the visit. “This project is critical to expanding Pakistan’s IT sector, creating jobs for our youth, and strengthening the national economy.”
Officials briefed the prime minister on the project’s scope and features, which include two basement levels, a ground floor, and nine upper floors. The building will house office spaces, an incubation center, a business support center, research and development laboratories, a Level III data center, and an auditorium. Parking facilities will accommodate up to 1,200 vehicles.
During the briefing, it was noted that the Technology Park is expected to create employment opportunities for young professionals, enhance Pakistan’s global competitiveness in the IT sector, and contribute to sustainable economic growth. It also aims to bridge the digital divide and offer a platform for innovation, entrepreneurship, and research.
The prime minister reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting the tech sector, calling for strict adherence to deadlines, stronger coordination among relevant departments, and regular progress reports to his office.
“There is no room for delays in projects of national importance,” he said. “A state-of-the-art Technology Park will not only attract foreign investment but also harness the potential of our talented youth.”
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Anthropic is launching new “learning modes” for its Claude AI assistant that transform the chatbot from an answer-dispensing tool into a teaching companion, as major technology companies race to capture the rapidly growing artificial intelligence education market while addressing mounting concerns that AI undermines genuine learning.
The San Francisco-based AI startup will roll out the features starting today for both its general Claude.ai service and specialized Claude Code programming tool. The learning modes represent a fundamental shift in how AI companies are positioning their products for educational use — emphasizing guided discovery over immediate solutions as educators worry that students become overly dependent on AI-generated answers.
“We’re not building AI that replaces human capability—we’re building AI that enhances it thoughtfully for different users and use cases,” an Anthropic spokesperson told VentureBeat, highlighting the company’s philosophical approach as the industry grapples with balancing productivity gains against educational value.
The launch comes as competition in AI-powered education tools has reached fever pitch. OpenAI introduced its Study Mode for ChatGPT in late July, while Google unveiled Guided Learning for its Gemini assistant in early August and committed $1 billion over three years to AI education initiatives. The timing is no coincidence — the back-to-school season represents a critical window for capturing student and institutional adoption.
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The education technology market, valued at approximately $340 billion globally, has become a key battleground for AI companies seeking to establish dominant positions before the technology matures. Educational institutions represent not just immediate revenue opportunities but also the chance to shape how an entire generation interacts with AI tools, potentially creating lasting competitive advantages.
“This showcases how we think about building AI—combining our incredible shipping velocity with thoughtful intention that serves different types of users,” the Anthropic spokesperson noted, pointing to the company’s recent product launches including Claude Opus 4.1 and automated security reviews as evidence of its aggressive development pace.
How Claude’s new socratic method tackles the instant answer problem
For Claude.ai users, the new learning mode employs a Socratic approach, guiding users through challenging concepts with probing questions rather than immediate answers. Originally launched in April for Claude for Education users, the feature is now available to all users through a simple style dropdown menu.
The more innovative application may be in Claude Code, where Anthropic has developed two distinct learning modes for software developers. The “Explanatory” mode provides detailed narration of coding decisions and trade-offs, while the “Learning” mode pauses mid-task to ask developers to complete sections marked with “#TODO” comments, creating collaborative problem-solving moments.
This developer-focused approach addresses a growing concern in the technology industry: junior programmers who can generate code using AI tools but struggle to understand or debug their own work. “The reality is that junior developers using traditional AI coding tools can end up spending significant time reviewing and debugging code they didn’t write and sometimes don’t understand,” according to the Anthropic spokesperson.
The business case for enterprise adoption of learning modes may seem counterintuitive — why would companies want tools that intentionally slow down their developers? But Anthropic argues this represents a more sophisticated understanding of productivity that considers long-term skill development alongside immediate output.
“Our approach helps them learn as they work, building skills to grow in their careers while still benefitting from the productivity boosts of a coding agent,” the company explained. This positioning runs counter to the industry’s broader trend toward fully autonomous AI agents, reflecting Anthropic’s commitment to human-in-the-loop design philosophy.
The learning modes are powered by modified system prompts rather than fine-tuned models, allowing Anthropic to iterate quickly based on user feedback. The company has been testing internally across engineers with varying levels of technical expertise and plans to track the impact now that the tools are available to a broader audience.
Universities scramble to balance AI adoption with academic integrity concerns
The simultaneous launch of similar features by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google reflects growing pressure to address legitimate concerns about AI’s impact on education. Critics argue that easy access to AI-generated answers undermines the cognitive struggle that’s essential for deep learning and skill development.
A recent WIRED analysis noted that while these study modes represent progress, they don’t address the fundamental challenge: “the onus remains on users to engage with the software in a specific way, ensuring that they truly understand the material.” The temptation to simply toggle out of learning mode for quick answers remains just a click away.
Educational institutions are grappling with these trade-offs as they integrate AI tools into curricula. Northeastern University, the London School of Economics, and Champlain College have partnered with Anthropic for campus-wide Claude access, while Google has secured partnerships with over 100 universities for its AI education initiatives.
Behind the technology: how Anthropic built AI that teaches instead of tells
Anthropic’s learning modes work by modifying system prompts to exclude efficiency-focused instructions typically built into Claude Code, instead directing the AI to find strategic moments for educational insights and user interaction. The approach allows for rapid iteration but can result in some inconsistent behavior across conversations.
“We chose this approach because it lets us quickly learn from real student feedback and improve the experience Anthropic launches learning modes for Claude AI that guide users through step-by-step reasoning instead of providing direct answers, intensifying competition with OpenAI and Google in the booming AI education market. — even if it results in some inconsistent behavior and mistakes across conversations,” the company explained. Future plans include training these behaviors directly into core models once optimal approaches are identified through user feedback.
The company is also exploring enhanced visualizations for complex concepts, goal setting and progress tracking across conversations, and deeper personalization based on individual skill levels—features that could further differentiate Claude from competitors in the educational AI space.
As students return to classrooms equipped with increasingly sophisticated AI tools, the ultimate test of learning modes won’t be measured in user engagement metrics or revenue growth. Instead, success will depend on whether a generation raised alongside artificial intelligence can maintain the intellectual curiosity and critical thinking skills that no algorithm can replicate. The question isn’t whether AI will transform education—it’s whether companies like Anthropic can ensure that transformation enhances rather than diminishes human potential.
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Prior to IFA in early September, HP is looking to get ahead of its rivals with a substantial update to its PC gaming portfolio headlined by the new Omen Max 45L desktop alongside a full slate of peripherals.
While the Omen Max 45L (pricing still TBA) features a similar design to the existing , HP’s latest flagship desktop should bring even more beastly performance without sacrificing on cooling or noise levels. The key to this is a new case featuring what the company is calling the industry’s first patented Cryo Chamber, which puts the PC’s liquid-cooled radiator in a separate compartment to prevent hot air from spreading and impacting the rest of the system’s thermals. With this arrangement, HP says it was able to reduce temperatures by up to 7.5 degrees Celsius at full load. Meanwhile, thanks to smaller touches like raised feet, vented PCI slots and open vents on the bottom of the case, HP was able to improve GPU temps by another two degrees C.
But to me, the best thing about the Omen Max 45L is that HP says it’s using industry-standard components across the board instead of proprietary parts and fittings like we sometimes see in pre-built systems from major vendors. This means that down the line, if you want to replace or upgrade a specific component, you’ll be able to do just that instead of potentially needing to replace the entire computer. And if that isn’t enough, the Omen comes with a CPU cooler that has a small built-in display that you can load up with practically any image or short video clip.
The Cryo Chamber on top helps prevent hot air from seeping back into the bottom section of the case.
Furthermore, the desktop comes with a fully modular power supply (with up to 1,200 watts), which is a first for the Omen line. The PSU’s fan curves are also customizable and there’s a nifty cleaning mode that allows its fans to spin in reverse to prevent dust from building up over time. Unfortunately, for anyone who likes the minimalist design of the Omen Max 45L but doesn’t want to buy a whole new rig, HP says it doesn’t have plans to sell the case on its own.
Naturally, as the beefiest desktop in HP’s gaming desktop family, the Omen Max 45L can be configured with top-of-the-line components including up to an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D processor, an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, 128GB of DDR5 RAM and 2TB of PCIe Gen5 storage.
The HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 is HP’s latest top-tier wireless gaming headset.
(Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Aside from the Omen Max 45L, HP also has a bunch of refreshed PC gaming peripherals on the way, headlined by the $300 HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 wireless headset. Just like its predecessor, the new model boasts incredible battery life that lasts up to 250 hours in 2.4GHz mode, 53mm drivers and support for dual audio inputs via Bluetooth. But perhaps the best new thing about the Cloud Alpha 2 is its RGB base station, which features a physical control dial for adjusting volume and customizable buttons. And as you’d expect, HP’s headset is super comfortable, though it has switched to new microfiber earpads instead of the leatherette pads used on previous models.
Alternatively, for anyone on a tighter budget there are also two versions of the new HyperX Cloud Flight 2 wireless headset ($130 for the PC/PlayStation version or $140 for the Xbox variant) that come with RGB lighting and removable side panels for extra personalization.
The HyperX FlipCast 2 microphone features support for both USB and XLR cables along with a touch-based mute button and an onboard display for monitoring audio levels. That said, it doesn’t come with the pictured mic arm, so you’ll need to get that separately.
(Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Finally, for folks in the market for a new desktop mic, HP has two offerings there as well: the $230 HyperX FlipCast and the $60 SoloCast 2. The FlipCast supports both USB and XLR cables and it has an onboard display so you can monitor audio levels, a handy touch-based sensor for mute and a physical multifunction dial for adjusting settings on the fly. Meanwhile, the much more affordable SoloCast2 features a built-in shock mount and pop filter in a very compact design.
For just $60, the HyperX SoloCast 2 microphone offers a built-in shock mount and pop filter in a compact design.
(Sam Rutherford for Engadget)
Sadly, the Omen Max 45L and the HyperX CloudX Flight 2 headset won’t be available until the end of the year in December. But everything else will be available sooner with the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 and the FlipCast 2 and SoloCast 2 mics arriving sometime this month, followed by the Cloud Flight 2 wireless headset for PC and PlayStation in October.
Blackbird Interactive has acquired the full IP rights to Hardship: Shipbreaker from Focus Entertainment.
Released in 2022, sci-fi sim Hardspace: Shipbreaker was developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment, who had also acquired partial ownership of the IP.
Blackbird Interactive has now bought the full rights from the publisher, making it the sole owner of the IP.
The studio also revealed it has “multiple Hardspace projects” in active development, which will feature “the studio’s trademark mix of evocative worldbuilding, immersive, physics-driven gameplay, and boundary-pushing design.”
In preparation for these new projects, Blackbird Interactive has opened registration for its LYNX Pioneer Program, a community-focused initiative that allows fans to “help shape future Hardspace and [Blackbird Interactive] original IP projects through exclusive playtests, behind-the-scenes development access, and more.”
“It is rare to have an IP that resonates so deeply with millions of players,” said Rory McGuire, president and CCO at Blackbird Interactive.
“So we are honored to have this opportunity to deepen and expand that connection through new games that explore the Hardspace universe. Shipbreaker also wouldn’t be what it is today without our friends at Focus Entertainment. We are eternally grateful for their partnership and hope to work with them again soon.”
Earlier this month, Lyrical Games, the new publishing arm of Lyrical Media, announced its launch and revealed that it will publish the next game from Blackbird Interactive.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz following the announcement, Blake Rochkind, head of Lyrical Games, further revealed that the studio’s next title will be announced at this year’s Gamescom.
Blackbird Interactive has not officially confirmed that its new game will take place in the Hardspace: Shipbreaker universe.
Say hello to the Veloce12 Barchetta – Touring Superleggera‘s drop-top follow-up to last year’s coupé variant. Touted as Touring Superleggera’s tribute to Maranello machines of the 1940s and 1950s, it’s also described as a carbonfibre evolution of its donor car.
Unveiled at The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering one year after its roofed equivalent, the Veloce12 Barchetta is not based on a 550 Barchetta – instead, each of the 30 cars will be converted from 550 Maranellos, complete with additional bracing into the car’s structure. Just like the original Veloce12, for which we brought you the inside story last year, this is done by introducing carbonfibre into the chassis to increase torsional stiffness.
“The Veloce12 Barchetta is a bold evolution of our legacy – crafted for the pilot who values purity, power and distinction,” says Touring Superleggera CEO Markus Tellenbach.
Under the skin, the 5.5-litre V12 will be fully refreshed by Touring Superleggera before the car is finished, and further optimised with a PWR cooling system and a freer-flowing Supersprint exhaust, adding around 25bhp to the standard car’s 485bhp. The six-speed gated manual remains from the donor model.
The Veloce12 Barchetta also features a suspension system developed in tandem with TracTive, which offers adaptive damping and several settings for cruising or more energetic endeavours.
Beneath the bespoke alloy wheels lie six-pot calipers and 380mm discs up front, and four-pot calipers and 380mm discs at the rear, sourced from Brembo.
The Veloce12 Barchetta has a thoroughly revised interior – the original 550 may have been a great ergonomic leap forward from the Testarossa, but some of its surfaces were not of the best quality. It’s all very different here – on this particular example there’s rose gold and lashings of leather, but almost any surface is customisable when it comes to finishes, from leather to Alcantara and beyond.
The original Veloce12 proved to be controversial when it was launched last year, but Magneto understands that sales have been strong in the year since, with just a few slots out of its 30-strong production cycle left. The first customer deliveries are due towards the end of 2025, while the first Barchetta deliveries are due in late 2026.
The key styling change of the newcomer is a more sculptured rearward design – this is very different to that of the more minimalist Pininfarina-designed 550 Barchetta. The overall car was designed as an evolution of the 550, rather than a complete re-imagination, Touring says.
“At the heart of Touring Superleggera’s philosophy is the concept of ‘superleggera’, which translates to ‘super light.’ This principle is not merely about reducing weight for the sake of performance – it is about achieving a harmonious balance between form and function, where every element of the design serves a purpose while contributing to the overall aesthetic harmony, and where beauty and innovation are inextricably linked,” explains Touring’s head of design, Matteo Gentile.
“The Veloce12 Barchetta perfectly encapsulates that ideology, carrying forward a legacy of excellence while introducing refined advancements. The great white shark served as a profound source of inspiration. It embodies a perfect balance of strength, speed and streamlined efficiency, informing our approach to aerodynamics and aesthetics. The result is a car that exudes both heritage and innovation, blending the best elements of human engineering and natural design.”
More details on the Touring Superleggera Veloce12 Barchetta can be found here.
HP-owned HyperX is announcing a slew of new gaming headsets and streaming-friendly microphones. The HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 is the new flagship at $299.99. It uses 53mm drivers and 2.4GHz wireless lasting up to 250 hours — an impressive 10+ days of continuous use — though it drops to half that when simultaneously connected to Bluetooth. Its showiest feature is its included base station, with six customizable light-up buttons and a big old rotary volume knob.
There’s also a cheaper Cloud Flight 2 with RGB side panels that will cost $129.99 for PlayStation / PC or $139.99 for Xbox. For mics, there’s the $59.99 SoloCast 2 side-address desktop mic and $229.99 HyperX FlipCast “broadcast quality” podcast / streaming mic. The FlipCast looks a bit like Shure’s MV7 mic with RGB lighting. And like an MV7, it has both USB and XLR ports.
The new headsets and mics are due out this month, except the Cloud Flight 2 which is expected in October.
In 1954, the Writers Guild of America formed to bring screenwriters, TV and radio writers under one union umbrella. A few decades later, the labor group expanded its purview by adding animation primetime writers. In three, five or 10 years, could vertical (i.e., iPhone-sized content) writers, YouTubers and other content creators be next?
That’s the vision presented by multiple candidates for this year’s WGA West board and officers election, who are reacting to reduced TV and film hiring with calls for the union to expand. “We are sitting on a shrinking iceberg and must be willing to look beyond our current employers,” vp Michele Mulroney, who is running unopposed to become the union’s president, wrote in her candidate statement. Incumbent board member Adam Conover devoted nearly all of his statement to an organizing narrative, focusing especially on the creator economy. “Like it or not, this is the future of television,” he said of YouTube.
In all, about half of the candidates in this year’s election brought up the need for the union to look beyond film and TV, not just to verticals and YouTube but also podcasts and video games. In 2024, the number of WGA West members reporting earnings was down 24.3 percent compared with 2022, the last comparable year not interrupted by a strike. The union also has disclosed that television writing jobs during the 2023-24 season were down 42 percent from a year earlier.
“Not only does it make sense [for the union to organize], they have to,” says Miranda J. Banks, an associate professor at Loyola Marymount University and author of The Writers: A History of American Screenwriters and Their Guild. “At this point, film and television work has been so squeezed that writers are seeking employment in all sorts of other places and considering different options. And in that process, they are naturally exploring the boundaries of where entertainment writing is going.”
As logical as it is, this approach represents a pivot for the WGA West, which has been known more for attempts to remake and reform the traditional entertainment industry in recent years than expand outside of it. In contrast, the union’s sibling in New York, the WGA East, has been pushing hard beyond its core areas for more than a decade. Scribes who work at podcasting companies, nonfiction television firms and digital news outlets have all been incorporated into the group since 2011.
To be fair, during the rise of streaming platforms and the height of the so-called “streaming bubble,” the WGA West grew without having to unionize outside its comfort zone. While such streamers as Netflix, Hulu and Paramount+ bulked up their offerings to lure subscribers, the number of WGA West members rose from 21,195 in March 2013 to 26,350 in March 2022, according to documents the union filed with the Department of Labor.
But any organizing efforts aimed at work produced for social media platforms in particular won’t be easy. The creator workforce is diffuse and often isolated, not easy to wrangle under one common goal: For every star that produces scripted entertainment with the help of an entire staff — like Alan Chikin Chow and Dhar Mann (who both now have Burbank studio spaces)— scores of more minor internet personalities toil alone and/or for little profit. Ad dollars are limited, while the creator space is saturated.
And at least a couple of early movements that sought to organize creators have lost steam, notes Brooke Erin Duffy, a Cornell University associate professor who studies labor in social media. “This is such a hyper-individualized space, and so convincing individual creators to see the power they have as a class — not just with each other, but with other entertainers and artists — is going to be what makes an inflection point,” Duffy says.
The burgeoning field of verticals, too, so far has been dominated by platforms that make their products cheaply and quickly, with scripts that might make the Razzies blush. So far, platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox seem to be perfectly content not to exhibit the kind of work produced by A-list writers whom the WGA West represents. In an interview with THR in June, ReelShort CEO Joey Jia (whose platform has 55 million monthly viewers) compared work for verticals versus work for traditional entertainment studios as being akin to, “You work for McDonald’s or for a fancy French restaurant in Palo Alto.”
That could change, especially if more mainstream media players get in the game (TelevisaUnivision revealed a slate of verticals at its upfront in May) but right now the business model is the entertainment industry’s equivalent of fast fashion brands Shein and Temu — quickly produced, responsive to trends and highly disposable.
The WGA West has for some time explored the opportunities in video game writing but has never gone all-in. In fact, in 2021, the union shut down a caucus aimed at organizing those writers. “We’re always willing to be surprised, but we’re not holding our breaths as to whether the WGA will actually commit to organizing game writers,” say writers Nick and Max Folkman (Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart), who were members of that caucus, in an emailed statement. “This definitely is something they should have been doing years ago, but even when we were part of the caucus pre-COVID, we did not feel much interest from leadership beyond helping WGA members write games or having studios become signatory members.”
Incumbent board member Rob Forman, himself a video game writer who wrote on Marvel’sSpider-Man 2, said in his candidate statement that during his time in leadership he led a committee to explore new ways to break into the industry. But so far another labor group, The Communications Workers of America, has taken pole position on organizing wall-to-wall unions in the video game industry, including writers.
Still, the union will have to tackle these obstacles — if not just to survive then to thrive. “I cannot count how many folks are currently working on vertical shorts, video games, podcasts or writing influencer content,” wrote incumbent WGA West board member Molly Nussbaum in her candidate statement. Perhaps it’s time their union sought out new challenges, too.
“There are usually a few people in those [candidate] statements who are talking about jurisdiction and new areas,” says Banks. “But that so many people are, and that they are both excited and determined in the way that they’re speaking about the potential really highlights how much this is critical to the health of the Writers Guild membership right now.”
