Free Republic

SUPPORTING AMERICA’S SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a Proclamation invoking Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 (Act) to address national security concerns with respect to imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their derivative products.The President directed the U.S. Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to jointly negotiate agreements, or continue any current negotiations of agreements, to address the threatened impairment of the national security with respect to imports of semiconductors, semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and their derivative products from any country.The President also imposed a 25% tariff on certain advanced computing chips, such...

President Donald Trump did not exceed his authority when he issued a Sept. 19 proclamation requiring employers to pay an additional $100,000 before new H-1B visas can be processed, a federal district court judge held Dec. 23 in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. President Trump legitimately exercised his broad discretion authorized by the Immigration and Nationality Act to restrict the entry of noncitizens into the U.S., the judge found. Trump found the proclamation was necessary to counter abuse of the H-1B program, which the proclamation asserts is harming American workers...

'We need to control the platforms, all the social platforms,' Cato Networks co-founder Shlomo Kramer saidIsraeli billionaire tech entrepreneur and Cato Networks co-founder Shlomo Kramer argued on Monday’s episode of CNBC’s "Money Movers" that governments must restrict freedom of speech in the age of AI.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, weeks after a top Israeli defense official warned the world is soon to face its first cyber-based war. This meeting between Trump and Netanyahu comes amid growing debate within some conservative circles over the scope of American backing for Israel and...

Welcome to 2026.....CES, kicks off on Jan. 6 under the bright lights of Las Vegas.Companies big and small will take over the ...Strip and Las Vegas Convention Center, debuting their latest and greatest offerings, and a good helping of fly-by-night products that’ll never see the light of day. While the show officially begins on Jan. 6, the festivities start a few days earlier...events like CES Unveiled and press conferences featuring Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang and AMD (AMD) CEO Lisa Su. ...That means you can expect artificial intelligence to be front and center....That will include everything from AI-focused PCs to...

Downing Street insists the $40bn Tech Prosperity Deal between the US and UK that is on hold is not permanently stalled. The BBC reported on Tuesday evening that the prime minister’s office claimed that the UK remains in “active conversations with US counterparts at all levels of government” about the wide-ranging deal for the technology industries in both countries to cooperate. The agreement, previously billed as historic, was paused after the US accused the UK of failing to lower trade barriers, including a digital services tax on US tech companies and food safety rules that limit the export of some...

When Xpeng unveiled its Next Gen Iron humanoid recently, the robot glided across the stage with movement so fluid that the crowd froze. Many viewers thought they saw an actor in a suit. Clips spread online within hours, and people everywhere claimed the same thing: it looked too human to be a machine. The reaction spread fast, so Xpeng's CEO He Xiaopeng returned to the stage one day later with a plan to settle the argument. He cut into Iron's leg to show its internal machinery. It felt theatrical but also necessary to end the rumor that a human controlled...

A growing number of IT staffing firms are posting help wanted ads that say the quiet part out loud: Americans need not apply. Federal law prohibits this—duh—but in an industry reliant on an H-1B program that provides visas to more than 700,000 immigrants, the Free Beacon’s Aaron Sibarium “identified over two dozen job postings since 2024 that appear to bar applications from U.S. citizens” in favor of visa holders. Many of the companies behind them tout their commitment to DEI. Take LanceSoft, an IT staffing firm committed to “diversity, equality, and inclusivity.” In a post to an IT jobs aggregator...

Bending Spoons to acquire AOL following $2.8B debt financing Oct 30, 2025 Acquisition positions historic brand for its next phase of growth MILAN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Technology company Bending Spoons today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AOL, the web portal and email provider, from Yahoo. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. “AOL is an iconic, beloved business that’s in good health, has stood the test of time, and we believe has unexpressed potential,” said Bending Spoons CEO and co-founder, Luca Ferrari. “By our...

We’ve all been there. Your screen goes black, but you can still hear the audio. You’re trying to move the cursor on your phone, but your thumb’s too big to land in the right spot. Or your Android suddenly turns into a sluggish mess, and you’re ready to throw your $1,000 phone out the window. Pause. Breathe. There’s a secret power-user layer baked into your gadgets that most folks never see. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill tips. These are the hidden handshakes, the ones you can drop to sound like the family tech wizard. 📱 Thumb-believable phone secrets iPhone user? Stop...

This is a deep, physics-based look into the future of the transistor, beyond the current FinFET and the emerging Gate-All-Around (GAA) architectures. The Next Transistor: Inside TSMC's Push for CFETs | 19:52 Behind Asia | 423K subscribers | 20,647 views | November 5, 2025

Just finished a long AI5 design review with the Tesla California and Texas chip engineers. It’s going to be great. And AI6 and AI7 will follow in fast succession. AI8 will be out of this world.

Our society has only recently come to terms with the fact that maybe placating young children by getting them hooked on touchscreen devices with unfettered access to the internet was bad for their brains. Now, with the rise of human-like AI chatbots, a generation of “iPad babies” could seem almost quaint: some parents are now encouraging their kids to talk with AI models, sometimes for hours on end, The Guardian reports. Others are using the soothing voice of a chatbot to put their kids to bed — all evidence of how this experimental technology has become a part of many...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company will build seven supercomputers for the Department of Energy with up to 100,000 chips all made in America. Huang said, “The first thing that President Trump asked me is, ‘bring manufacturing back.'” The New York Post reports that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made several significant announcements during the keynote address at the company’s GTC event in Washington, DC, highlighting the company’s ongoing success and its commitment to advancing e AI technology. The event, held for the first time in the US capital, signifies Nvidia’s pursuit of work with the government and contractors...

The CEO of a tech company that is one of the biggest H-1B visa sponsors in the U.S. said they would no longer be hiring applicants on the visa amid a Trump administration visa crackdown. Tata Consultancy Services’ CEO K Krithivasan said that the Indian tech company would reduce the number of H-1B visa holders in its U.S. offices. Krithivasan told the Times of India that the company would “continue to hire more locally,” adding that this was part of a “reduction in dependency on visa-based talent.” -snip- Krithivasan told the Times of India that the company had around 11,000...

Researchers have uncovered serious security flaws with the Unitree G1 humanoid robot, a machine that is already being used in laboratories and some police departments. They discovered that G1 can be used for covert surveillance and could potentially launch a full-scale cyberattack on networks.It sounds like the stuff of science fiction nightmares, robots that are secretly spying on you and could be controlled by remote hackers. However, the concern is real, as these types of robots are becoming increasingly common in homes, businesses, critical infrastructure and public spaces.When robots go rogueIn a new study available on the arXiv preprint server,...

FeatureTilly Norwood and the Illusion of RealityHollywood fears job losses from AI actors. But the greater threat may be to truth itself.By The HermitNot long ago, a new name appeared in Hollywood chatter: Tilly Norwood. She looks the part of a rising young actress, the kind casting directors might call “a natural.” But Tilly is no actress at all. She is an AI-generated creation — a digital performer assembled from algorithms, capable of smiling, speaking, and captivating an audience without ever setting foot on a soundstage.Tilly is part of a new wave of “synthetic talent.” AI agencies now maintain rosters...

Elon Musk wants H-1B visas because he says America needs more tech workers. The real reason for these visas is our schools aren’t teaching math well enough. By law, H-1B visas go to foreigners who do specialized jobs, mostly in tech. Every year, 65,000 regular visas are handed out, plus 20,000 for advanced degrees. A 2023 federal report showed 65% of H-1B jobs are computer-related, but less than 1% go to social sciences. America’s math problem is getting worse. In 2024, a staggering 72% of eighth-graders failed to score at the proficient level in math, which is up from 66%...

In Abilene, Texas—in the heart of what locals call the Big Country, long defined by ranching, farming, shale oil exploration, and now dotted with wind turbines—OpenAI and Oracle staged a carefully crafted media showcase on Tuesday to talk about the latest boom underway... In Abilene alone, a crew of 6,400 workers have already moved massive amounts of soil to flatten the hills, and laid down enough fiber optic cable to wrap the Earth 16 times.... The five new Stargate projects—in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and in an undisclosed Midwest location—will bring Stargate’s current pipeline to nearly 7 gigawatts and more...

A peaceful Wisconsin city has been thrown into a frenzy as a mysterious company plans to build a $1.6billion data center on hundreds of acres of farmland. Menomonie is facing the largest development plans the historic city has ever seen - and its residents are fighting back. Known for its stunning landscapes and small-town feel, Menomonie may be home to a massive data center that citizens fear will drain the area of not only its charm, but its resources.

After his first arrest for sex crimes, Jeffrey Epstein tried to get into a new line of work: surveillance. In 2015, he partnered with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to invest in a security tech startup called Reporty Homeland Security, now known as Carbyne. Leaked emails show that Epstein was using Barak to seek out opportunities in the surveillance industry and build connections with powerful figures around the globe, including American businessman Peter Thiel, the former director of Israeli signals intelligence, and two people in Russian President Vladimir Putin's circle. After he was first caught sexually exploiting teenage girls,...