Something was wrong with Edemanwan Eyo Basseys chickens. Their movements seemed slower, more lethargic, like they were becoming paralyzed, she said.
But as a new farmer in a remote part of southern Nigeria, she didnt know where to turn. Her region has a shortage of extension agents (EAs), government workers who provide expert agricultural advice.
I couldnt get across to my EA, said Eyo Bassey. So I asked AI, ‘Why are my birds walking funny?’
The AI assistant told her it could be a kind of Newcastle disease, a highly contagious viral infection that can cause paralysis and death in infected poultry. Hotter temperatures and heavier rains linked to climate change can leave poultry more vulnerable to the virus.
The tool told her to try the LaSota vaccine to prevent further spread. “I was able to give treatment to the birds and save them,” she said.
Farmers across the globe, including tens of thousands of African farmers, are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to stay ahead of shifting weather patterns, respond to pests and diseases, and connect with buyers. For many, AI is an inexpensive lifeline as other lines of aidincluding from the United Statesdry up.
[Photo: courtesy Plant Village]
Since starting her farm two years ago, Eyo Bassey has asked Farmer.chat, an AI tool developed by the San Francisco nonprofit Digital Green, how to keep tiny flies called aphids off her pepper plants and which poultry breeds thrive in rainforest-rich Cross River State. The tools weather forecast helps her know when to heat her chicken coop. She poses questions in English, but the chatbot, which is used by more than 50,000 farmers across Africa, also responds to Hausa, an Indigenous language in Nigeria.
The last growing cycle was difficult for many poultry farmers, according to Eyo Bassey: About 100 birds died at a nearby farm, and many birds were underweight, including hers. But her Noiler chickens survived, which she attributes to their breed and her weather preparations.
With the AI, I’ve been able to reduce the mortality rate of my birds, she said.
AI has also expanded the reach of overstretched extension agents. For years, Veronica Igbana, director of extension services for Benue State, struggled to keep up with farmers requests for in-person visits in Nigerias Benue State, where the agent-to-farmer ratio is 1 to 23,000, she said. Since she started using Farmer.chat last year, shes taught 170 peoplefarmers and both government and private sector extension agentsto use the tool themselves.
“They’re able to help reduce my workload,” she said. “It gives me an opportunity to face other assignments.”
AI is far from a cure-all for agriculture in a changing climate. The hardware and software that drive the technology drain resources like water and electricity, rely on unsustainably mined minerals, and produce electronic waste. But AI is becoming critical for the officials making decisions that can determine farmers’ livelihoods, according to Catherine Nakalembe, a geospatial scientist at the University of Maryland and NASA.
By combining many different data setsrainfall, temperature, soil moisture, vegetation conditionsAI can reveal why certain agricultural areas are underperforming and guide large-scale interventions, like investment in new irrigation infrastructure, pesticide spraying, or food aid.
Nakalembe, who is from Uganda and researches agriculture and food security in Africa, said these tools are most effective when they incorporate local knowledge and expertise. “If you co-develop an app with extension agents, you can further improve it. They give a lot of really good feedback about all sorts of things,” she said. “It’s supposed to help them do their job rather than replace them.”
Evolving digital tools help farmers adapt
AI chatbots have gained momentum among remote smallholder farmers and extension workers in the last two years, according to Eric Firnhaber, director of global communications at Digital Green. That growth has been fueled by advances in cloud computing that have enabled offline use, improved language access, and lowered costs.
Many tools, like Darli AI, a chatbot from the Ghana-based company Farmerline, are being developed in Africa. Other U.S. and European nonprofits collaborate with African farmers, extension agents, and researchers. Digital Green has offices in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, and has been working on the ground with African farmers since 2008. Plant Village, which reaches about 15 million African farmers per season through various media channels, works closely with extension officers in Africa.
Creating tools in Africa is important, because a lot can go wrong when AI lacks local context, Nakalembe said. AI mapping platforms, for instance, often flub critical details, mistaking cacao crops for forest because the plant grows beneath trees, and rice fields for wetlands because they look similar from afar.
“If you zoom in, you start to see a whole bunch of issues, because the people who need to use it are not the ones developing it,” Nakalemebe said.
Those collaborations have been paying off. In 2020 and 2021, when locusts swarmed East Africa, eating everything in sight, the AI app eLocust3developed by Plant Villagecollected farmers’ photos and GPS coordinates, fueling a geospatial system that predicted where the insects would travel next. That enabled targeted pesticide spraying that protected tens of millions of farmers’ livelihoods and $1.7 billion worth of crops, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
[Photo: courtesy Plant Village]
It’s a landscape that’s changing on a daily basis, where we’re seeing cheaper, better models come out, said Annalyse McCloskey, operations director for Plant Village, an agricultural technology nonprofit at Penn State University.
Plant Village is testing several different large language models (LLMs) to improve its AI chatbot, Nuru. The bot can glean a lot from a photo of a farm, such as the crop stage of growth, and the farms soil type and tilling practices. It also pulls in satellite data on soil moisture and evapotranspirationconditions affected by climate change.
Farmers have traditionally relied on generational knowledge, but in the past 12,000 years of the agricultural era, weve never farmed under these conditions, McCloskey said. We need data to be coming in from the ground and then interpreted by scientists and AI to make predictions to better support farmers’ decisions.
[Photo: courtesy Plant Village]
Justine Ong’ala, a 50-year-old farmer in Busia, in western Kenya, recently used the Plant Village app to identify cassava mosaic disease in her seedlings and save her crop; higher temperatures and rainfall shifts can promote whiteflies that spread the virus. Like Igbana in Nigeria, Ongalas connection to Plant Village has had a ripple effect: Shes helped over 300 neighboring farmers who dont have smartphones, relaying feedback from the tool.
It’s helping identify most of the diseases that are affecting them, Ongala said.
But advocates say the recent suspension of nearly all U.S. foreign aid may hamper efforts to get these tools into farmers hands. Plant Village had been working with local universities across 10 African countries to provide extension agents and farmers with access to its AI chatbot. USAID had previously pledged $39 million to the project, but with the aid freeze, “some of the networks absolutely fell apart,” McCloskey said. She said Plant Village is now looking for new sources of funding.
[Photo: courtesy Plant Village]
Building a “path to wealth” with support from AI
Though AI can diagnose disease and ward off pests, advocates say that it can also be a powerful tool to train farmers in regenerative practices and connect them with markets.
These tools could be particularly potent on a continent with the worlds youngest population and 60% of its uncultivated arable land, said Farmerline CEO and founder Alloysius Attah. Farmerlines app, Darli, responds to questions in 27 different languages, and farmers without smartphones can call or text an AI helpline. Attah said these tools demystify farmingfor farmers and their investors alike.
People used to see agriculture as risky, because you just couldnt understand every single component of it, Attah said.
Now, AI and financing platforms help farmers anticipate adverse conditions, such as drought, and better preparefor instance, by allowing them to purchase irrigation systems in advance. That, in turn, will help them compete in the global economy, Attah shared.
The path to creating wealth is to unleash opportunities, assets, access to information, access to finance, Attah said. The problem has never been farmers finding markets. Its about the farmers being ready to meet the requirements of the market.
Nexus Media News is an editorially independent publication of MEDA.
Cracks in the relationship between President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, his self-proclaimed “first buddy,” are scaring Tesla shareholders as the two fired salvos at each other in increasingly heated rhetoric on Thursday.
Shares fell more than 8% on Thursday on a day otherwise devoid of news for the electric automaker, as traders dumped the stock in heavy trading after Musk stepped up his criticism of the president’s tax bill.
Trump fired back, alleging Musk was upset because the bill takes away tax benefits for electric vehicle purchases, while investors feared their souring relationship could hurt Musk’s sprawling business empire.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said. “He said the most beautiful things about me. And he hasn’t said bad about me personally. That’ll be next. But I’m very disappointed.”
Musk, the world’s richest man and a key figure in the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cost-cutting plan for several months, has blasted the bill, after he decided to spend less time in the White House and instead focus on his companies.
On his social media platform X, Musk has called on Congress members to kill the legislation, calling it a “disgusting abomination.”
“It more than defeats all the cost savings achieved by the DOGE team at great personal cost and risk,” Musk, the largest Republican donor in the 2024 election campaign, said on X on Tuesday.
Musk’s leadership of DOGE and his alignment with the Trump administration had put off some Tesla buyers. Sales of his EVs slumped in Europe, China, and key U.S. markets like California, even as overall electric vehicle purchases continue to grow.
Musk has slowly started to separate himself from the White House in recent weeks, stung in part by the wave of protests against Tesla.
“Elon’s politics continue to harm the stock. First he aligned himself with Trump, which upset many potential Democratic buyers. Now he has turned on the Trump administration,” said Tesla shareholder Dennis Dick, chief strategist at Stock Trader Network.
Musk’s other businesses, SpaceX and Starlink, dominate their respective markets, but have also come under scrutiny due to Musk’s relationship with Trump.
Those two businesses often serve as the default choice for commercial launches and satellite internet deployment, and foreign governments have increasingly looked to Starlink, with regulatory approvals smoothed by Musk’s ties.
Tesla shares are down 12% since May 27, roughly coinciding with his decision to pull back from Washington activities. Losses accelerated on Thursday as 100 million shares changed hands, roughly the daily volume over the last 100 days.
The stock has been on a roller coaster ever since Musk endorsed Trump in mid-July 2024 in his reelection bid, gaining 169% from that point through mid-December. That was followed by a 54% slide through early April as a “Tesla Takedown” protest intensified.
The House of Representatives version of the budget bill proposes largely ending the popular $7,500 EV subsidy by the end of 2025. Tesla and other automakers have relied on incentives for years to drum up demand, but Trump promised during the transition to end the subsidy.
Tesla could face a $1.2 billion hit to its annual profit, along with an additional $2 billion setback to regulatory credit sales due to separate Senate legislation targeting California’s EV sales mandates, according to J.P. Morgan analysts.
“The budget bill contains bad stuff for Tesla with the end of the EV credits, and just generally his falling out with Trump has risks for Tesla and Elon’s other companies,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management.
Musk’s public attacks have upset potential Republican Tesla buyers as well, Dick said. One White House official on Wednesday called the Tesla CEO’s moves “infuriating.”
The billionaire joined Senate Republican deficit hawks this week to argue that the House bill does not go far enough in reducing spending.
Overall, Tesla shares are down 22% this year, including Thursday’s losses. But the company is still the most valuable automaker worldwide by a long shotcarrying a market value of $1 trillion, way above Toyota Motor’s nearly $290 billion.
Tesla trades at 140.21 times profit estimates, a steep premium to other Big Tech stocks such as Nvidia.
By Akash Sriram and Kanchana Chakravarty, Reuters
Indirect carbon emissions from the operations of four of the leading AI-focused tech companiesAmazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Metarose on average by 150% from 2020 to 2023, as they had to use more power for energy-demanding data centers, a United Nations report said on Thursday.
The use of artificial intelligence is driving up global indirect emissions because of the vast amounts of energy required to power data centers, the report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the U.N. agency for digital technologies, said.
Indirect emissions include those generated by purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by a company.
Amazon’s operational carbon emissions grew the most, at 182% in 2023, compared with three years before, followed by Microsoft at 155%, Meta at 145%, and Alphabet at 138%, according to the report.
The ITU tracked the greenhouse gas emissions of 200 leading digital companies between 2020 and 2023.
Meta, which owns Facebook and WhatsApp, pointed Reuters to its sustainability report that said it is working to reduce the amount of emissions, energy, and water used to power its data centers.
The other companies did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
As investment in AI increases, carbon emissions from the top-emitting AI systems are predicted to reach up to 102.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year, the report stated.
The data centers that are needed for AI development could also put pressure on existing energy infrastructure.
“The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is driving a sharp rise in global electricity demand, with electricity use by data centers increasing four times faster than the overall rise in electricity consumption,” the report found.
It also highlighted that although a growing number of digital companies had set emissions targets, those ambitions had not yet fully translated into actual reductions of emissions.
By Olivia Le Poidevin, Reuters
A growing genre of social media posts now tracks the rising costs of goods in real terms as President Donald Trump’s tariffs hit some of the biggest retail stores in the U.S.
On Reddit pages for stores like Walmart, Target, and Michaels, users have posted images of price tags like receipts, showing what Trump’s tariffs have already cost consumers over the past several months. Price tags for a Jurassic Park-themed T. rex dinosaur toy at Walmart show the retail price jumping from a sale price of $20 up to $55. Elsewhere, a charging cable went from $9.99 to $17.99 and a sheet cake pan went from $24.99 to $39.99. The photos are in line with price increases Business Insider tracked using data from the third-party service AisleGopher.
The price of one toy from 4/19 to 5/21. byu/Nvalee inwalmart
As a meme format, side-by-side images of price tags are simple and effective, communicating the idea of tariffs stoking inflation in an easy-to-grasp, visual way. They have the opposite effect of Walmart’s old 1990s-era “Rollback” campaign in which the big box store’s smiley face mascot made products magically cheaper by bouncing from price tag to price tag. And unlike the fuzzy math of Trump’s Reciprocal Tariffs board, the prop he used at his press conference to first announce his tariff regime, these tariff price tag posts communicate a message simply without needing any complicated math: prices are going up.
Its happening byu/Kurzz_slivr inTarget
Walmart reported it grew sales 4% in the most recent quarter, but its net income fell to $4.49 billion, same-store sales fell, and the company admits it won’t be able to eat the cost of tariffs itself. CEO Doug McMillon argued Walmart was “positioned to manage the cost pressure from tariffs as well or better than anyone.” While more than two-thirds of the products the retailer sells are made, assembled, or grown in the U.S., he said tariffs will pass on some inflated costs to consumers.
Oh ok byu/TheOtherHannah inTarget
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible, but given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” McMillon said on Walmart’s earnings call last month. Other companies including Best Buy, Costco, Mattel, Macy’s, and Nike have said they already have or soon will raise some prices due to tariffs.
Tariffs byu/Majestickenny12 inwalmart
Like “I Did That” stickers of then-President Joe Biden at gas station pumps during Biden’s term or egg price trackers under Trump, tariff price tag photos draw attention to cold, hard numbers. But sometimes the specific numbers matter less than the overall feeling.
Tariffs anyone? This is gonna be ridiculous. byu/Esperacchiusdamascus inwalmart
One post on the Target subreddit shows an end-cap display selling Crayola 10-pack markers mistakenly listed for $99 instead of 99 cents. The photo is jokingly labeled with the caption, “Tariffs be like,” but the months-old meme needs to be updated. According to the third-party service PriceTracker, Target hasn’t sold those markers as cheap as 99 cents since 2024. They now cost $2.59.
Travelers from 12 countries in Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East woke up Thursday to news they were being barred from entering the U.S., while others, from 7 additional countries, including Venezuela, learned their visa programs were being cancelled.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that effectively bans travel from “foreign nationals” in more than a dozen countries from entering the U.S. citing “national security” concerns.
Slated to go into effect on Monday, June 9, the restrictions revisit and expand a previous ban from Trump’s first term. Like many of his executive orders, it is expected to be challenged in court, and comes as part of this administration’s relentless anti-immigration agenda.
Here’s what to know about this latest travel ban.
What countries are on the travel ban list?
The ban fully restricts the entry of individuals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It also partially restricts the entry of travelers from an additional 7 nations: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Why did Trump ban travel to the U.S. from those 12 countries?
The administration said the ban was needed to ensure these foreign governments would comply with Trump’s immigration policies, and the president made his decision based on a State Department report, according to The Washington Post.
The order said the restrictions were meant to “encourage foreign governments to improve their information-sharing and identity-management protocols and practices.” According to the administration, the banned countries had high rates of people who had overstayed their visas, had poor passport security vetting procedures, and had country-specific risk factors.
However, the ban does include exemptions: for law abiding permanent residents, existing visa holders and those from certain visa categories, and those who serve U.S interests, per the Post.
President Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday against Elon Musk, saying he was “disappointed” by the billionaire’s public opposition to the sweeping tax-cut and spending bill that is at the heart of Trump’s agenda.
“Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “He said the most beautiful things about me, and he hasn’t said bad about me personally, but I’m sure that’ll be next. But I’m, I’m very disappointed in Elon. I’ve helped Elon a lot.”
Trump also asserted that Musk’s days of blistering attacks on the bill were motivated by the proposed elimination of consumer tax credits for electric vehicles. Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, has said he opposes the bill because it will increase federal deficits.
Trump suggested that Musk, who received a praise-filled sendoff from Trump last week after overseeing his federal bureaucracy cost-cutting campaign, was upset because he missed working for Trump.
“He’s not the first,” Trump said. “People leave my administration . . . then at some point they miss it so badly, and some of them embrace it and some of them actually become hostile.”
As Trump was speaking, Musk wrote on X, “Slim Beautiful Bill for the win,” a reference to the bill’s official title, the “Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Musk followed that up with another post, saying he was fine with the cuts to electric vehicle credits as long as Republicans removed what he called a “mountain of disgusting pork” in wasteful spending from the bill.
Musk came into the government with brash plans to cut $2 trillion out of the federal budget. He left last week having achieved far less than that, having cut about half of 1% of total spending.
Musk has been a powerful Trump ally, spending nearly $300 billion to boost Republicans in the 2024 election and then overseeing Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.
His work eliminating thousands of federal jobs and cutting billions of dollars in foreign aid and other programs caused disruption across federal agencies while prompting widespread protests at Tesla outlets in the U.S. and Europe.
Shares of Tesla extended losses after Trump’s criticism of Musk. The stock was lately down nearly 6%; it was off by 3% before Trump spoke.
Nandita Bose and Jarrett Renshaw, writing by Joseph Ax, Reuters
Welcome to AI Decoded, Fast Companys weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week here.
AI Slop summer is here
AI image and video generation tools have gone mainstream, with millions creating content and using them on platforms like TikTok and YouTube. Social networks such as Facebook and Pinterest are also seeing a surge in AI-generated posts. Meta is actively promoting this trend, as AI content is easy to produce and often drives higher engagement, creating more opportunities to sell ads.
Much of the AI-generated content is what critics call AI sloplow-quality material often produced by low-wage workers in developing countries aiming to harvest clicks on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok. This content frequently spreads further via messaging apps like WhatsApp and is often political in nature. One growing genre features right-wing fantasy videos portraying acts of revenge or defiance by MAGA figures such as Donald Trump or Pam Bondi. These are typically just still images with overlaid textclearly fictional. (Left-leaning versions exist too, though they more often rely on real footage, such as Jamie Raskin or Jasmine Crockett dismantling Republican talking points in Congress.)
AI-generated content is also increasingly surfacing in search results, often pushing aside higher-quality human-created material. E-commerce platforms like Amazon are flooded with AI-generated product descriptions, user reviews, and even entire books. Some news organizations have started publishing AI-written articles, especially in sports and news roundupsmany riddled with inaccuracies. Recently, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer unintentionally ran book list inserts featuring AI-generated descriptions of books that dont actually exist.
Right now, much of the AI-generated content online can still be distinguished from genuinely human-made material. Take, for example, a viral AI video from April that depicted overweight U.S. factory workers (a satire of Trumps tariff policies). It looked fairly realistic but still gave off that unmistakable generated vibe. Still, the line is blurring fast. Consider the recent viral clip of an Australian woman trying to pass airport security with her service kangaroo. It racked up over a million likes before it was revealed to be AI-generated. Some viewers saw through itmany did not. The video proved that with a semi-plausible premise and decent AI tools, the boundary between real and fake can dissolve entirely.
Its not hard to see where this is going. Googles new Veo 3 video generation tool is a case in point: The sample videos are alarmingly realistic. Time recently showed how these tools can create convincing deepfakes of political riots and election fraud. AI-generated content has been advancing for years, but we may have arrived at a moment where even videoonce the hardest medium to fakecan no longer be trusted.
With more powerful tools and social platforms eager to boost engagement, were likely heading toward a web saturated with AI-generated content. And when anything can be fake, everything becomes suspect. Are we ready for the zero-trust internet?
Reddit sues Anthropic over AI training data
The social platform Reddit says the AI company Anthropic has used content created by Reddit users to train AI models in ways that violate its policies. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a San Francisco court, Reddit accused Anthropic of using users posts without permission, causing harm to the platform.
AI companies rely heavily on information stores like Reddit to train the large language models that power popular chatbots such as ChatGPT and Anthropics Claude. Reddit is seen as a particularly valuable resource because it holds millions of human-to-human conversations across thousands of topics, spanning the past two decades. The conversations are not only valuable for their content, but for how authentically they reflect the way people write and speak. No wonder Reddit cofounder and CEO Steve Huffman calls it the most human place on the internet.
And content licensing for AI training is a big and growing business for the platform. Reddits shares on the New York Stock Exchange finished the day up more than 7% after news of the lawsuit broke Wednesday. The company has already formed content licensing agreements with Google and OpenAI (Sam Altman is a major shareholder in Reddit). Its possible that the lawsuit was filed after Reddit and Anthropic failed to come to terms on a content licensing agreement.
Reddit certainly isn’t the first content company to sue a well-funded AI lab for alleged misuse of data. OpenAI, Perplexity, Google, and others have all been the target of legal actions related to training data. Many of these cases center on the question of whether or not data thats publicly available on the internet falls under the fair use safe harbor of the Copyright Act, rendering it fair game for AI training.
Trumps foreign student ban: a master class in the art of the self-own
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week that the U.S. will begin revoking visas for visiting Chinese students, including those in “critical fields, and will tighten visa requirements for future applicants. The Trump administration repeatedly claims it wants America to win the global AI race, while being openly hostile to the very brains that could help the U.S. achieve that goal.
Research from the National Foundation for American Policy shows that two-thirds (66%) of U.S.-based AI startups have immigrant cofounders, and 55% of billion-dollar startups were founded or cofounded by immigrants. Meanwhile, other countries are rolling out the red carpet. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology offered guaranteed admission to any Harvard international student. Germany and Ireland are courting current and prospective Harvard students. China, too.
As AI impacts talent needs, foreign students will be needed to fill demand. Because AI coding assistants are significantly increasing the productivity of individual engineers, big tech companies are investing less in entry-level programmers (and more in GPUs and data centers). CEO Satya Nadella says 20% to 30% of Microsoft code is now AI-generated, and that he expects that rate to grow to 95% by 2030. Tech companies will likely need people with PhDs or other graduate-level degrees to fill more specialized roles such as those responsible for training and steering AI models.
And that talent pool isnt big enough. International graduate students with advanced technical skills are more valuable than ever. The Administration is signaling a retreat from the global competition for AI talent.
More AI coverage from Fast Company:
With its Samsung deal, Perplexity could be headed to the big leagues
Jeffrey Katzenberg bets big on AI video ads with his investment in Creatify
How to use AI to find your next job
Music giants begin negotiating AI licensing rights for labels and artists
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Nintendo is not known for existing on the bleeding edge of technology. In fact, most of its 21st-century success has been built around the opposite of that idea; the Wii and DS were both much less powerful than their competition, yet each proved to be more popular with a mainstream audience. The hybrid Switch, meanwhile, was impressive for a handheld machine when it was released, but when hooked up to a TV it was soundly outgunned by the PlayStation 4let alone the 5.
On paper, the Switch 2 doesnt do much to change that. Its still a less capable console than the PS5, even though its coming out more than four years later. But now that its finally in my hands, Im struck by how up-to-date it feels. The gaming landscape has changed since the original Switch, with the handheld market growing in size and diversityand you could make a case that on some levels, Nintendo now has the most advanced hardware.
Functionality and pragmatism
The Switch 2 is a fascinating system for Nintendo, mostly because its so straightforward. This is the first time Nintendo has ever straight-up released a Console 2, let alone one so similar to its predecessor. Its an exercise in functionality and pragmatism, with nips and tucks across the board.
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The new Joy-Con controllers look similar to before but are an immediate improvement from the second you hold them. The curvier design is much more comfortable, and the way they snap onto the system magnetically is a lot less fussy; they also feel more securely attached. Time will tell if the analog sticks prove more durable, but for now the extra size and throw is appreciated.
[Photo: Nintendo]
Point of contention
The screen will be a point of contention. Its a 7.9-inch 120Hz 1080p LCD panel with support for VRR and HDR, which is an upgrade in most respects except for the LCD part. Nintendo did go out of its way to release an OLED version of the original Switch, so the return to a conventionally backlit LCD panel does feel like a step back in terms of contrast.
On the other hand, its actually a pretty great LCD for what it is. The HDR support was never going to compare with a high-end TV with local dimming, but games like Mario Kart World clearly show how Nintendo is making the most of the wider color gamut. I would compare the experience to watching HDR movies on a good LCD tablet like an iPad Air. Its streets ahead of the screens in the original Switch or the Steam Deck.
Yes, I would have preferred an OLED panel. But the boosts here to size, resolution, and refresh rate are real, and there isnt really another gaming device out there with a directly comparable display.
Advanced graphics
The Switch 2 has, of course, been in the works for a long time, and thats reflected in the silicon that powers it. We know that the Nvidia-designed system-on-chip is manufactured by Samsung on its somewhat outdated 8nm process, the same technology behind Nvidias RTX 3000-series GPUs.
In a video released this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the Switch 2s SoC is unlike anything weve built before and has the most advanced graphics ever in a mobile device. I have a feeling Apple might take issue with that claim, but it was likely true when Nintendo and Nvidia started collaborating on the console.
More to the point, the Switch 2 will obviously shred an iPhone in practice. Ive enjoyed playing the occasional ambitious ports to Apples platforms as a technical exercise, like Death Stranding and Resident Evil 4, but its hard to imagine the iPhone 16 Pro ever getting a better version of Cyberpunk 2077 than the Switch 2 version I just spent a couple of hours with. Its a hugely impressive port that runs at 40fps in its performance mode while looking dramatically sharper than the PC version on my Steam Deck.
The Switch 2 is less powerful than competing home consoles, of course, but its the overall package that impresses. Although the screen size has increased, this is still a relatively thin and light device that turns in excellent performance compared to much bulkier PC-based handhelds. Its the payoff for Nintendo going all-in on ARM-based hardware nearly a decade ago.The biggest trade-off is the battery life; you shouldnt expect more than two to three hours of endurance when playing demanding games. But thats comparable to a lot of PC handhelds, and Nintendo and Nvidia will likely be able to eke out more efficiency in future models by switching to a newer manufacturing process.
TV connection
Even when connected to a TV, the Switch 2 feels like a modern system, with its 4K UI and snappy loading times thanks to the faster flash storage. Its a huge quality upgrade on its predecessor, which was stuck with 720p menus and a torturously slow online store.
Of course, that original Switch also felt quite advanced for the time upon its launch. It was based around Nvidias Tegra X1 chip, which failed to get much traction in tablets but turned out to be a great fit for a handheld gaming device. It had the advantage of a brand new form factor and the ability to run games that no one had ever imagined could be taken on the go.
But as a portable machine it was clunky, and as a home console there was a much bigger gap between it and its competitors. Occasional miracle ports like The Witcher 3 or Doom Eternal aside, the Switch generally made do with a separate library of software. These days, though, developers are used to scaling games down to less capable machines, whether its the Steam Deck, the PS4, or the Xbox Series S.
The Switch 2 will have a better shot at running a lot of the software that comes to high-end hardware. It still isnt going to be the platform of choice for hardcore gaming enthusiastsno handheld ever will. But I do think its the first Nintendo system that feels like a refine device at the top of its class on day one.
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After nine long years, McDonalds has finally announced the revival of the Snack Wrap, one of its most belovedand most copieddiscontinued menu items. To herald the wraps return, the brand made an entire digital archive dedicated to documenting fans fervor for the Snack Wrap.
The wrap returns after a number of other fast food chains, including Burger King, Wendys, Chic-fil-A, and, most recently, Popeyes, have made their own dupes of the item in its absence. McDonalds’ attempt to reclaim its Snack Wrap dominance comes as the company continues to face difficult financial headwinds; reporting its second consecutive quarter of sales declines in its first-quarter financial report on May 1. Now, the company is betting on fans Snack Wrap nostalgia to score a boost this summer.
[Photo: McDonald’s]
On McDonalds’ official website, a cryptic official statement from Joe Erlinger, McDonalds USA president, simply reads, Its back. Accompanying the statement, though, is the link to a website called the Snack Wrap Files thats a wealth of Snack Wrap-based information. Per the site, the Snack Wrap will be made with McDonalds’ McCrispy Strips in two flavors: ranch or spicy. It will be available as a combo meal and, at last, it has secured a spot as a permanent menu item.
The Snack Wrap Files also serves another purpose: The site, which has a simple, early web vibe, is an archive dedicated to all of the times that McDonalds fans have yearned for the Snack Wrap since 2016.
[Screenshot: McDonald’s]
It’s back.
According to its FAQ section, the Snack Wrap Files was created to highlight the bond fans have with the Snack Wrap.
The Snack Wrap was phased out nationally in 2016, but it never left fans hearts, the website reads. From countless social media posts to full-fledged petitions, they never gave up on their favorite menu item. Theyre the ones who inspired us to make its return to the menu happen.
And McDonalds is dedicated to spinning that return into a dramatic, full-blown campaign. Currently, there are 10 folders on the Snack Wrap Files site, three of which are unlocked for public viewing. A countdown at the top of the page marks the time remaining before the other seven files are unlocked. In the Media Materials folder, users can find official photos of the new Snack Wrap and FAQs about its return. Under BTS, they can take a peek behind the curtain at McDonalds’ creative team poring over Snack Wrap ad materials. But The Fandom folder is where the site really shines.
[Screenshot: McDonald’s]
Within this section, the McDonalds team has compiled a highlight reel of fans most fervent pleas for the Snack Wraps return. Some are on the tamer side, like an email that reads, Is it true youre bringing back the Snack Wrap??!! I will be so excited!!!!!! and another sharing, In fact I am 13 weeks pregnant and my biggest craving is something I cant have. I am due July 14th, 2025. Will snack wraps be back before then? Please just give me a hint.
Others take a more desperate tone. Where is the snack wrap. You guys promised me 2025, it is 2025. I do not see the snack wrap. Please get back to me, this is an important matter, reads one inquiry. When the snack wraps are dropped Im going to do a challenge where I try and eat 1,000 in a calendar year, another says. If I record myself and post it on tik tok or something will you give me a reward?
[Screenshot: McDonald’s]
One emailer resorted to a direct threat: I hope youre not playing with our emotions because I swear to god the people of the US will riot if you pull the rug from underneath us! Whew.
In three days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes (at the time of this writing), the Snack Wrap File’ cryptic “Reaction Clips,” “Merch Concepts,” “Internal Emails,” “Promo Codes,” “Playlist,” “Voice Note,” and “Credits” folders will be unlocked.
Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel in December, suspect Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against “the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel” and said killing the executive “conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming,” prosecutors revealed Wednesday.The Manhattan district attorney’s office quoted extensively from Mangione’s handwritten diaryhighlighting his desire to kill an insurance honcho and praise for Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomberas they fight to uphold his state murder charges. They also cited a confession they say he penned “To the feds,” in which he wrote that “it had to be done.”Mangione’s lawyers want the state case thrown out, arguing in court papers that those charges and a parallel federal death penalty case amount to double jeopardy.They also want state terrorism charges dismissed, have asked for the federal case to go first and say prosecutors should be barred from using evidence collected during Mangione’s arrest, including a 9mm handgun, statements to police and the diary.Manhattan prosecutors contend that there are no double jeopardy issues because neither case has gone to trial and because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories.His lawyers say that has created a “legal quagmire” that makes it “legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.”The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population,” that is, insurance employees and investors. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked an individual, Thompson, and do not involve terror allegations.Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty in both cases. No trial dates have been set.Mangione’s “intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,” prosecutors said in Wednesday’s filing. The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, “convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry.”They quoted excerpts in which Mangione discussed options for the attack, such as bombing UnitedHealthcare’s headquarters, before deciding to target the company’s investor conference in Manhattan. He wrote about plans to “wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention” because it was “targeted, precise and doesn’t risk innocents.”UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, “literally extracts human life force for money,” Mangione wrote, envisioning the news headline, “Insurance CEO killed at annual investors conference.”The company has said he was never a client.Mangione is due back in state court June 26, when Judge Gregory Carro is expected to rule on his request for dismissal.His lawyers asked Tuesday for his handcuffs and bulletproof vest to be removed during the hearing. They called him a “a model prisoner, a model defendant” and said the security measures would suggest to potential jurors that he is dangerous. Carro has not ruled on that.Mangione’s next federal court date is Dec. 5, a day after the one-year anniversary of Thompson’s death.Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived for the conference Dec. 4 at the New York Hilton Midtown. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) to the west, and he is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn.Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has called the ambush “a killing that was intended to evoke terror.”U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for “an act of political violence” and a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”The killing and ensuing search for Mangione rattled the business community while galvanizing health insurance critics who rallied around him as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty bills. Supporters have flocked to his court appearances and flooded him with mail.Mangione “demonstrated in his manifesto that he was a revolutionary anarchist who would usher in a better healthcare system by killing the CEO” of one of the biggest U.S. companies, prosecutors wrote. “This brutal, cowardly murder was the mechanism that defendant chose to bring on that revolution.”
Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press
