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The company is following through on its promise to not let Musk "double dip" if he won his appeal to restore Tesla's 2018 compensation package, worth $56 billion.

WhatsApp is rolling out prepaid phone recharges to its 500 million users in India via PayU.

Wins $300M deal over Salesforce, IBM because of 'integration with existing USDA systems,' among other things

Palantir has won a $300 million contract from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to support the National Farm Security Action Plan (NFSAP) and modernize how USDA delivers services to America's farmers.…

Astronomers are turning to GPUs to find needles in the galactic haystack.

The rise and fall of streaming service prices is a rather vexatious journey we tend to follow closely. In October 2025, Xbox announced price hikes affecting all Game Pass plans, including a frustrating 50 percent increase for the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tier. Six months laters, the company offers welcome relief to its valued customers. Starting Tuesday, April 21, the cost of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate will drop from $29.99 to $22.99 a month—a nearly 25 percent price decrease. The PC Game Pass will also drop from $16.49 to $13.99 a month. Microsoft

Xbox announces the price drop just six months after hiking them by more than 50 percent. Just as the price hike was explained with upgrades to tier plans and new in-game features, there must be a reason for the 25 percent decrease. Beginning in 2026, future Call of Duty titles won’t join Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass at launch. Rather, they will join about a year later during the following holiday season. Existing Call of Duty games will remain in the library as is.

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The decision was met with mixed reactions from fans. Some are grateful for Xbox listening to their feedback about prices, while others are a tad disappointed about having to wait longer for new titles to be available. In the grand scheme of things, I guess it just depends what you value more: cheaper prices or quicker game drops.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is now available for $22.99 a month, saving subscribers $84 a year. The PC Game Pass is down to $13.99 a month.

Activision Price Breakdown Of All Xbox Game Pass Tiers, As of April 2026

• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – $22.99 a month (down from $29.99 a month)
• Xbox Game Pass Premium – $14.99 a month (same as the old Standard subscription)
• Xbox Game Pass Essential – $9.99 a month (same as the old Core subscription)
• PC Game Pass – $13.99 a month (down from $16.49 a month)

The post XBOX Sets Nearly 25% Price Drop For Game Pass Ultimate appeared first on Nerdist.

Bad news for multiple general server components as vendors switch to more lucrative gear

The chip shortage is spreading to power and management controller silicon, threatening server shipments as vendors prioritize capacity for higher-margin AI server products.…

World's largest biomedical dataset lifted and shifted on Chinese mega marketplace

Breaking  Details of volunteers of UK-based Biobank, which describes itself as the custodian of the world's most comprehensive biomedical dataset, are for sale on Chinese ecommerce site Alibaba.…

Windows Admin Center flaws mean on-prem can attack cloud, and vice-versa

Black Hat Asia  Israeli researchers found a series of flaws in Microsoft's Windows Admin Center (WAC) and suggest this shows hybrid cloud management tools are a two-way attack surface that users don't spend enough time worrying about.…

The Citizen Lab found two separate surveillance vendors abusing the backbone of cellular networks to spy on several victims across the world.

Beehiiv is clearly done being just a newsletter platform based on today's launch of a new webinar feature, customizable paywalls, and more.

Two new vendors are joining Abbott Square Market, with longstanding farmers market stall India Gourmet opening a permanent kiosk and Luna’s Borikén Bites preparing to debut Puerto Rican dishes in the Octagon. The additions expand the downtown Santa Cruz food hall’s lineup with globally inspired menus.

The post Abbott Square adds Indian food, Puerto Rican flavors with two new kiosks appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Ami Chen Mills has been busy. Many Santa Cruz County residents might know her because of her community activism, which has recently been focused on keeping automated license plate readers (ALPRs) out of the community through her work with Get The Flock Out, which opposes the cameras and their vendor, Flock Safety. But she’s also a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, where she teaches a class on resiliency; a writer; and host of the podcast “Moment of Truth with Ami Chen Mills,” although that program is currently on hiatus.

Chen Mills, having run for District 3 county supervisor in 2022, ultimately losing to current Santa Cruz City Councilmember Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and current District 3 County Supervisor Justin Cummings, said she returned to electoral politics to run for Santa Cruz mayor because she felt that opponent Ryan Coonerty had been essentially appointed by the local political establishment. She said she isn’t pleased with his approval of ALPRs, nor with his adviser role for San Jose mayor and gubernatorial candidate Matt Mahan, who has received hefty donations from tech moguls.

ELECTION 2026: Read more local, state and national coverage here from Lookout and our content partners

“I understand the connection between the feds [and ALPRs] and what they’re trying to do,” Chen Mills said. “We don’t need to be helping the feds right now, and in general, there are constitutional issues under any administration with this kind of technology.”

While Chen Mills has worked as an activist within the community, she said she doesn’t see herself solely as that. She’s also an elected member of the Democratic Central Committee and a nonprofit director, having co-founded the Center for Sustainable Change. For her, roles are temporary, and can be changed.

“If we had people elected who were already connecting the dots, and were more progressive than what most of these councilmembers appear to be, I think we wouldn’t have to have so much activism. We do have some councilmembers who are just phoning it in,” she said. “I’m not attached to roles and I’m not attached to ideologies. I think that ideologies can get in our way.”

That point is perhaps the overarching theme of Chen Mills’ bid for mayor – trying to get more people engaged in local politics. She envisions more town halls, and opportunities for the public to meet face-to-face with her and ask questions about the city council’s agenda on the Monday prior to meetings. She said that’s where her experience in journalism can come in handy, as she feels confident that she can explain complicated concepts to the public. She wants to make the meetings fun, too, perhaps including music. Chen Mills plays the ukulele, after all. 

“I want to have a jam, and the reason is I want us to be able to come together as a community, regardless of where we sit on the political spectrum, and have some rapport,” she said, adding she’d also want to introduce town halls in each city council district as often as every month. 

Chen Mills acknowledged the area’s housing crisis and said the city does need to build more, but thinks the conversation about housing could use more nuance. 

Ami Chen Mills serenades the crowd with “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes at a January anti-ICE protest at the Hilton in Scotts Valley. Credit: Cecilia Schutz / Lookout Santa Cruz

She believes YIMBY (yes in my backyard) is too much of a single-issue movement, while the NIMBY (not in my backyard) perspective comes off as “unkind” when opposing development in general, even though she does believe people should have a say in construction proposed in their neighborhoods. She said Santa Cruz has to balance growth with available resources, such as water, and suggests an effort to study how many more people the city and university can bring in while maintaining that balance. She said if she had to cut housing out of the plans, the cuts would come from market-rate units.

“We cannot ignore the environment, the water issue and what the community wants just to build market-rate housing for people who don’t actually live here,” she said.

Chen Mills also wants to explore paths to homeownership. That could involve converting old buildings to condominiums, something City Councilmember Renee Golder floated during a Democratic Central Committee candidate forum in March. Chen Mills says she would also look for ways to incentivize subdividing parcels, allowing more building on those subdivided lots.

A vocal opponent of Flock Safety and the use of automated license plate readers, Chen Mills envisions going further than the city already has with the cancellation of its contract with Flock. She said she would support something like a data-broker ban or other restrictions to keep residents’ private information safe. She also expressed interest in an ordinance requiring local businesses to accept cash as well as cards, both to serve people without card payment options and to allow for more private purchases, particularly in places like parking lots, where personal and vehicle information can be exposed.

Chen Mills said that to address the issue of homelessness, she would want to have more conversations and collaboration with members of the unhoused community. The dearth of services for unhoused people following the closures of the Mental Health Client Action Network, the Downtown Streets Team and Housing Matters’ day services concerns her, she said. She believes the programs need to return in some capacity. She said she’d like to see the services somewhere near downtown, but acknowledges that finding the right site would be a big hurdle.

“What downtown business owners need to understand is you can’t just lock people up for no reason. If they’re going to commit crimes, then we can put them into the justice system, but they need rehab in there, too,” she said. “We need to come up with a solution together and take some risks. If we don’t want people to hang out on the streets downtown, we need a place for them to hang out.”

Chen Mills wants to be a devoted official, with a focus on community-building and transparency with her constituents. That won’t make her any less busy, but should she win the Santa Cruz mayoral seat, she still wants to keep writing and teaching her UCSC class, which is one quarter each year. 

“One of the big things that people say is that before authoritarianism came to their country, they wished they had built community,” she said.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post Ami Chen Mills envisions a mayorship with more community conversations, leading to more people engaged in politics appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

EV maker leaning on still-in-development 14A process for Terafab, says it needs to build own silicon

Elon Musk used Tesla's latest earnings call to reveal plans to build AI chips on Intel's not-yet-finished 14A process – a bet on silicon that doesn't exist.…

The Santa Cruz Office of the Public Defender is joining a statewide protest Thursday calling for dedicated state funding. Citing workload studies and funding disparities with other agencies, Chief Public Defender Heather Rogers said systemic changes are needed to prevent burnout.

The post Santa Cruz County public defenders join statewide protest demanding more funding, lighter workloads appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Sony project claims a significant breakthrough with applications in task requiring speed and accuracy

Rise of the Machines  The ancient games of chess and Go are now mere staging posts in the journey toward robots demonstrating their superior performance to humans - the machines can now beat us fleshbags at ping-pong.…

Topics can range from "School," "Entertainment," and "Lifestyle" to "Travel," "Writing," and "Health and Wellbeing," among others, Meta says.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to cut Medi-Cal dental benefits risks repeating California’s costly 2009 mistake, when preventable issues turned into medical emergencies, writes Laura Marcus, CEO of Dientes Community Dental Care. Marcus argues that the proposed budget savings would actually shift higher costs onto hospitals and vulnerable communities. Expanded dental coverage has improved health outcomes and access to care for thousands, she writes, but that progress is now at risk. She says lawmakers face a clear choice: protect preventive care or pay more later for crisis-driven treatment. The vote will happen by June 15.

The post We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of 2009: California must protect Medi-Cal dental benefits appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Orgs can now buy UK cyber agency engineered commercial gadget, but details are slim

GCHQ's cyber arm has entered the hardware game with its first device designed to prevent cyberattacks on display devices.…

A televised debate among six leading candidates for California governor Wednesday underscored sharp partisan divides on issues from homelessness to taxes, while the Democrats sought to distinguish themselves from each other in a chaotic race with no clear leader.

It’s the first time in a generation that California has a wide-open contest for the heavily Democratic state’s highest office, with more than 50 names on the ballot. Mail ballots are scheduled to go to voters early next month in advance of the June 2 primary election.

ELECTION 2026: Read more local, state and national coverage here from Lookout and our content partners

It was mostly a mannerly exchange. There were few instances of candidates talking over or interrupting each other, indicating they were eager to make a positive impression with voters who might be seeing them for the first time.

The debate brought together the two leading Republicans, conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, and four Democrats – former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Biden administration Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Over 90 minutes, candidates fielded questions on housing and wildfire insurance, social media and gas taxes, while bickering over professional experience, individual wealth and the direction of the nation’s most populous state. Democrats made clear they would fight President Donald Trump in a state known as the home of the so-called Trump resistance, while Republicans said ruling Democrats are to blame for the state’s woes.

“Donald Trump is trying to punish California every way he can,” Steyer said.

Homeless policy displays sharp partisan divide

California has more people living on the street than any other state and Democrats generally credited outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom for his efforts to deal with the long-running crisis. But Republicans said the state has spent billions of taxpayer dollars with little evidence of progress.

California gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco speaks after Wednesday’s debate in San Francisco. Credit: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press

“Everything has taken us in the wrong direction,” Hilton said.

Bianco called the state’s record on homelessness a “dismal failure.”

Social media use for kids at issue

Candidates were asked if the state should ban social media use for children under 16 years old, and their answers didn’t fall neatly on party lines.

Steyer and Becerra said they support such a ban. Hilton said there should be a social norm to keep smartphones away from children under 16. Porter said she doesn’t support a ban at that age but might support a different age ban, noting that two of her teenage children use social media in different ways. Bianco and Mahan said it should be left to parents, with Mahan saying he supports parental consent for kids under 16 and that cellphones should be banned in schools.

There also were some sharp exchanges and candidates sought to distinguish themselves from rivals.

A billionaire faces questions

References to Steyer’s wealth and previous business dealings came up repeatedly.

“The only housing Tom Steyer’s built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers,” Mahan said, echoing criticism that Steyer, a hedge fund founder turned liberal activist, invested in private prisons that today house people picked up in federal immigration raids.

Tom Steyer (center left) and Katie Porter, candidates in California’s gubernatorial race, shake hands during Wednesday’s debate in San Francisco. Credit: Jason Henry / pool photo via Associated Press

Steyer responded that he and his wife have financed thousands of low-income housing units.

Steyer has been vastly outspending his rivals in advertising and was asked about being the only billionaire in the race. He noted major corporations including utility companies are spending millions against him.

“I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires,” Steyer added. “I’m the billionaire who’s taking on the electric monopoly and trying to break up their power. I’m the billionaire who wants to tax the oil companies and make polluters pay.”

California’s unique primary rules fuel uncertainty

The candidates were all on stage together because California puts all candidates on the same ballot regardless of party, and the two with the most votes go to the November general election. Democrats have been fretting their crowded field could result in two Republicans advancing, a result that would be a historic calamity for Democrats.

The campaign has just come through an unstable period, with U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell — one of the leading Democrats — leaving the race and Congress following sexual assault allegations that he denies.

Xavier Becerra, a candidate in California’s gubernatorial race, speaks during Wednesday’s debate in San Francisco. Credit: Jason Henry / pool photo via Associated Press

Becerra and Mahan were late additions to the debate lineup after Swalwell exited the race. Both candidates in the reordered contest have been getting fresh attention, and endorsements. Becerra was the only candidate who declined to speak to reporters after the debate.

Porter, who became a social media celebrity by brandishing a whiteboard at congressional hearings while grilling CEOs, could become the state’s first woman governor. Steyer, who in 2020 ran an unsuccessful presidential campaign, is known for his involvement in climate issues. Becerra served in the Biden administration and as a state attorney general, a congressman and a state legislator, and would be the state’s first Hispanic governor in modern history. Mahan says he has made gains against homelessness and crime while leading Northern California’s largest city.

California takes center stage

Democrats have dominated government in the nation’s most populous state for years. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in two decades, and Hilton and Bianco faulted Sacramento’s one-sided politics for the state’s troubles.

Bianco said Democratic policies were driving up the cost of living.

Hilton, while discussing the state’s notoriously high tax rates, said, “All the Democrats here are part of this system that obviously isn’t working.”

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.

The post California’s woes at the center of debate among leading candidates for governor appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.

Video conferencing has tripped us all up. Now cloud chief Thomas Kurian gets his turn

Bork!Bork!Bork!  The curse of Bork is no respecter of status or class. It does not differentiate between a high-flying executive and a lowly worker. And so it was that Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian came unstuck due to some all-too-familiar video-conferencing struggles.…