Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

NEW YORK (AP) — It started with a friendship bracelet. It ended with an engagement ring. Taylor Swift, the pop superstar, and Travis Kelce, the football champion, are engaged.The fiances, both 35, announced the news in a joint post on Instagram on Tuesday. It is the latest chapter in the couple’s love story, one that has spanned two years, two Super Bowls, an album announcement and the highest-grossing tour of all time.Here is a look at some of the major events in their relationship.A friendship bracelet, undeliveredIt started, fittingly, with a friendship bracelet.It was way back in July 2023 that…

The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel. Is that a good idea?Lots of people are pretty dubious. Ben Thompson thinks it’s the right call.Or, to be more precise, the influential tech analyst thinks not doing it would be disastrous.Thompson’s argument, boiled down: Chips are crucial for AI and everything else; the US and everyone else are currently dependent on high-end chips manufactured by TSMC in Taiwan; TSMC and Taiwan are vulnerable to China, which means the US is vulnerable to China.”At the end of the day it seems reckless for the US to place both its national…

NEW YORK (AP) — Iga Swiatek is trying to do something no woman has done since Serena Williams in 2012: win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in the same season.Jannik Sinner is trying to do something no man has done since Roger Federer in 2008: repeat as U.S. Open champion.By the looks of things on Tuesday in Arthur Ashe Stadium as the now-three-day first round wrapped up, the two players who triumphed at the All England Club last month — and who both served short doping-related bans last year — look ready to contend again in New York. And how.…

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Moments before the news raced across social media that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift had become engaged, Chiefs coach Andy Reid had stepped to a podium to talk about the coming season, which begins for them next weekend in Brazil.Good-natured defensive end Mike Danna followed him. And by that point, everything in Kansas City had changed.Kelce and Swift had made their announcement on Instagram.“I just got told 30 seconds ago,” Danna said with a smile, when by sheer fortune — or perhaps misfortune — the timing of the news made him the only member of…

IBM and AMD are partnering to develop next-generation computing architectures that integrate IBM’s quantum systems with AMD’s AI-specialized chips. The move could position both the tech giant and chipmaker as key infrastructure players as they look to regain ground after falling behind on the generative AI boom. Together, IBM and AMD will attempt to launch a commercially viable quantum computing architecture — one that’s scalable and open sourced. In other words, it will be more widely accessible to researchers and developers solving complex real-world problems in fields like drug and materials discovery, optimization, and logistics, per IBM. “Quantum computing will…

Google is rolling out a new AI-powered experimental feature in Google Translate designed to help people practice and learn a new language, the company announced on Tuesday. Translate is also gaining new live capabilities to make it easier to communicate in real time with a person speaking a different language. The new language practice feature is designed for both beginners starting to learn conversational skills and advanced speakers looking to brush up on their vocabulary, the company says. To do so, it creates tailored listening and speaking practice sessions that adapt to a user’s skill level and unique learning goals.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump seemingly caught his loyal conservative base off-guard and sparked backlash by saying he would allow 600,000 Chinese students into American universities.That would be a departure for the Trump administration after it added new vetting for student visas, moved to block foreign enrollment at Harvard and expanded the grounds for terminating international students’ ability to study in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has singled out China, the second highest source of international students in the U.S., saying in May that the State Department would revoke visas for students tied to the Chinese…

Fixing climate change is no small task — just ask carbon removal developers like Mitti Labs. The New York-based startup has developed technology to measure how much methane is released by rice paddies and uses it to train hundreds of thousands of farmers in climate-friendly practices. It’s the sort of high-touch endeavor that venture capitalists typically avoid. So how has Mitti managed to raise funding from its investors? In short: partnerships. Mitti has started working with The Nature Conservancy on a partnership to promote regenerative, no-burn agriculture, the startup exclusively told TechCrunch, the latest in a string of deals that…

A rash of hoax calls about active shooters on college campuses — some featuring gunshots sounding in the background — has sent waves of fear among students around the nation as the school year begins.The calls have prompted universities to issue campus-wide texts to “run, hide, fight.” Students and teachers have rushed to find cover, often cowering in classrooms for safety. Officers have swarmed campuses seeking out the threat. Yet in every recent case, the threat didn’t exist.“It’s looking as if this was another swatting or hoax call,” University of Arkansas Police Department Assistant Chief Matt Mills said after false…

Andreessen Horowitz is putting its money where its mouth is.The firm, also known as A16z, launched a new political action committee on Monday alongside a slate of Silicon Valley heavyweights. The PAC, called Leading the Future, aims to shape US artificial intelligence policies. Technocrats have already pumped more than $100 million into the initiative, according to a press release.Palantir cofounder and defense tech investor Joe Lonsdale, OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman and his wife Anna, an AI search startup Perplexity, and longtime venture capitalist Ron Conway are backing the effort. Leading the Future plans to raise more money and gain more…