According to official statistics, approximately one-third of women in India face domestic violence. Incidents of abuse – including the murder of newlywed women due to dowry conflicts – regularly capture media attention. In the year 2023, over 6,150 women lost their lives in dowry-related incidents, with law enforcement documenting 133,676 instances of cruelty perpetrated by husbands or their relatives.
Hidden in the Angolan Highlands is a purportedly new kind of elephant. Conservationist and ornithologist Steve Boyes has spent years tracking this hard-to-find herd, and his expedition is the focus of Ghost Elephants, an eerie, evocative documentary directed by Werner Herzog. The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last summer and is now headed to National Geographic and Disney+.
An ornithologist searching for distant pachyderms might seem surprising, but for Boyes the link is natural. He grew up in South Africa and longed to be an explorer, inspired by the people he read about every month in National Geographic magazine. “I grew up waiting for the magazine to arrive; I wanted the maps,” Boyes told Ars. “Those would become my garden, or the field beyond, or the river—wild places imagined and real.”
Boyes’ parents often took him and his brother into wild places, including trips to Botswana and Tanzania. “We used to embed ourselves in baboon troops and walk with impalas,” said Boyes, and while his brother feared elephants, Boyes was comfortable around them from an early age. Ghost Elephants includes beautiful underwater sequences of elephant feet moving through water and of elephants swimming on their sides, scenes that reflect Boyes’ own encounters. Under the right conditions, if they don’t feel threatened, elephants “will come and swim around you and with you and interact with you,” he said. “So elephants have always fascinated me.”
As an adult, Boyes carried out his PhD work on the Meyer’s parrot in the Okavango Delta, which hosts the largest elephant population on Earth. The parrots and elephants had a kind of reciprocal relationship. “Every tree that the parrots were feeding on, the elephants were feeding on,” he said. “The elephants were creating the nest cavities for the parrots by disturbing the trees.”
You are allowed to merge your accounts or remove your Vizio account, but that’s all.
You are allowed to merge your accounts or remove your Vizio account, but that’s all.
Walmart acquired Vizio in 2024, and it’s now progressing to officially integrate the TV manufacturer by gradually eliminating Vizio accounts. As a result, when a new Vizio TV is purchased, you will be prompted to log in or create a Walmart account. Customers who have an existing Vizio account can opt to combine it with their Walmart account, or they can simply choose to delete it.
An email from Vizio indicates that users opting to remove their account will have 30 days to request a copy of any associated data before it “may no longer be available.” The email further notes that the account merging feature will initially be available only to those purchasing new TVs, but will eventually extend to individuals with existing TV models.
In terms of purchasing a dwelling, affordability is gradually improving.
Households in the U.S. with a median income — roughly $86,300 — now have the means to afford a $331,483 property, reflecting an increase of $30,302 from $301,181 last year, as reported by a new study by Zillow. When Zillow refers to “afford,” it indicates that the monthly mortgage payment, covering insurance and property taxes, should be less than 30% of a household’s income.
“An increase of $30,000 in purchasing power can open opportunities for different neighborhoods, larger homes, or homes with fewer trade-offs,” the study notes.
The enhancement is at least in part owing to gradually decreasing interest rates. The average rate for a fixed 30-year mortgage was 5.99% as of February 27 but has since risen to 6.14%, as per Mortgage News Daily. A year prior, it stood at 6.79%.
For mortgages, a reduction of even 0.5 percentage points can have an impact, noted Kara Ng, a Zillow senior economist and report author.
“As a rough estimate, a half-point reduction in mortgage rates may translate to savings of approximately $1,000 annually for an average U.S. homeowner,” Ng remarked.
A decline of 1 percentage point in rates could increase the number of households capable of purchasing a home by about 5.5 million households, including around 1.6 million renters who could transition into first-time homebuyers, according to the National Association of Realtors. NAR stated that the income estimated to afford a median-priced home was calculated assuming a 30-year mortgage, 10% down payment, and a mortgage payment constituting 25% of income, using both a 7% and a 6% mortgage rate.
However, affordability remains tight. Although the amount a median-income household can afford is more than a year ago, it still lags behind the median price of a single-family home, which reached $400,300 in January, per NAR.
Based on that price and the average mortgage rate of 6.19% in January, buyers would require an income of $94,032 to qualify for financing, according to NAR’s affordability index. This calculation also assumes a 20% down payment of $80,060. Additionally, lenders consider more than just income when deciding on loan approvals, taking into account factors such as credit scores, credit histories, and outstanding debts.
This income requirement is lower compared to the previous year: When the average mortgage rate was 7.04% and the median home price was $398,100, buyers needed an income of $102,096 to qualify, as shown by NAR’s affordability index.
Meanwhile, housing values have escalated at a much faster rate than household incomes. From 2000 to 2024, median per-capita income experienced an increase of around 155%, whereas median home prices surged by approximately 207%, according to a recent analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Additionally, mortgage rates skyrocketed from less than 3% in mid-2021 to almost 8% in October 2023.
“Buyers continue to feel the effects of swift price increases during the pandemic as well as mortgage rates still significantly higher than those at the beginning of this decade,” Ng remarked.
Furthermore, enhanced affordability is supported by better inventory levels, with 6% more homes available in January than the same time last year, according to the Zillow report. However, a persistent housing deficit remains an issue.
Better affordability is likely to attract more potential buyers this spring.
“If housing supply does not increase, these new potential buyers entering the market may merely drive home prices up,” remarked Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a January statement concerning pending home sales and rising affordability.
The open-source software carries significant risks, yet for its enthusiasts, it serves as a counteraction to Big AI.
The open-source software carries significant risks, yet for its enthusiasts, it serves as a counteraction to Big AI.
The lady at the entrance sported a plush lobster crown.
She remained in the entryway of a multi-level event location in Manhattan, next to a stack of wristbands. If she offered you one, the universe of ClawCon was inviting behind her — alive with vibrant pink and purple illumination, lobster claw headgear, varied name badges, sponsorship information booths, and a demo area beneath a skylight. Hundreds gathered to honor OpenClaw, the AI assistant platform launched by Peter Steinberger in November 2025.
OpenClaw (formerly referred to as Clawdbot and Moltbolt) has swiftly gained traction in the tech sector as an open-source alternative, contrasting with AI agent services from major companies like Google, OpenAI, and others. While it remains an unpredictable tool that carries significant security implications, this community views it as a grassroots movement and an honorable endeavor, providing a means to escape an industry dominated by a select few at prominent AI firms.
“AI was under the control of the major labs,” Michael Galpert, one of the event coordinators, stated to The Verge. “This is really a moment of significance where Peter essentially broke down barriers.”
More than 1,300 individuals had registered for the Wednesday evening gathering at Ideal Glass Studios, which was promoted as a free, meetup-style “social-first gathering — not a private, developer-exclusive conference or a conventional corporate trade fair.” (The actual number of participants, I hear, was limited to about 700.) This event was part of a “tour” of worldwide gatherings — following a similar event in San Francisco last month and leading to upcoming ones in Miami, Austin, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Madrid, and beyond. Its budget seemed modest, yet the organizers spared no effort in providing a buffet worthy of a wedding, overflowing with thematic lobster claws, lemons, Tabasco sauce, charcuterie boards, grape clusters, and floral designs.
Galpert — a participant in the AI community, whose background includes working on Fortnite for Epic Games — noted that the concept arose specifically through Discord, which is fitting since one reason for OpenClaw’s initial success was the capacity to interact with one’s agent through common messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, or Discord.
Attendees wandered around near a step-and-repeat, a bar, and silver “CLAWCON NYC” balloons shimmering in the soft lighting — some adorned with lobster necklaces or lobster headgear. I also noticed a blue plush jellyfish hat, a plush horse hat, and a set of angel wings. A dance area would call later, but the DJ was not yet on duty.
“All your friends and family might think you’re lunatic, and the point is for you to be in a room with other eccentric people so it feels normal,” Galpert remarked from the stage to commence the event. “Sure, you’re sporting a lobster headband, you’re here on a Wednesday evening discussing agents and bots and the future of personal AI. It’s typical for us now, but somewhat peculiar for the rest of the world. Therefore, it’s on us to help guide this new era that has already begun.”
While there was a shared focus on using OpenClaw, the interests of the attendees varied widely. One gentleman, Dan Kazenoff, claimed to be developing what he called a natural language engine for “decentralized finance,” but that he found it challenging to work with and test OpenClaw in isolated settings, thus he often utilizes Claude Code. Since Claude Code is costly, he expressed a desire to connect with others exploring open-source agentic solutions. Another participant, Alex Wu, stated he had been utilizing OpenClaw for around two months to gather e-commerce data from the Chinese and Japanese markets to derive cultural insights — he mentioned that the food was one of the reasons for his attendance. Rick Galbo, an attendee engaged in AI R&D, shared that he attended ClawCon thinking it would be a hackathon, only to realize it was a networking event.
The onstage demonstrations commenced following a period of relaxed mingling. Most involved sponsors showcasing OpenClaw “wrappers,” or one-click onboarding tools designed to simplify access to the platform for users. The main event sponsor, Kilo Code, mentioned that 7,000 people had registered for its KiloClaw tool within just two days of its launch; they provided one month of free computing (typically $49) for anyone who registered and tagged an executive on X. Frequent requests for silence echoed as half of the audience standing at the back continued chatting, absorbed in their own circles. A man seated behind me donned the blue jellyfish hat as he gazed intensely at the stage.
Galpert indicated onstage that a standout aspect of ClawCon events was that attendees typically did not inquire about one another’s jobs; instead, they asked what users utilized their OpenClaw agents for. This was true for some of the participants I interacted with — the majority appeared to attend to connect with the community and gain insights on how to maximize OpenClaw from experienced users. Most attendees seemed to possess at least some technology background.
Carolyne Newman, another participant, stated she was “building an AI layer” for her “multistrategy investment firm” and that since she’s less experienced in engineering than finance, she attended to learn from and connect with individuals who share a passion for AI development. “I believe this is the most imaginative and exciting community ever,” Newman expressed. “I can’t envision a more captivating space to be part of at this moment.”
People nearby in the audience whispered in muted (and not necessarily favorable) tones about how Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, had joined OpenAI. There was speculation that OpenAI might now own OpenClaw. (For clarity, it does not.)
The demonstrations continued, with leaders from various OpenClaw wrappers consistently highlighting OpenClaw’s appeal as a “movement.” I lost track of how many times that term was used. Some drew parallels to the onset of the personal computing revolution. By the third demonstration, the man behind me wearing the blue jellyfish hat had removed it, cradling it soberly in his lap while he began texting.
Tim Lantin, a PhD student from Columbia University who participated in his first-ever hackathon last weekend after a fortnight of using OpenClaw, exhibited a tool he named “Labster Claw,” explaining that he had constructed it using only about 10 prompts. Lantin worked in a neuroscience lab with mice, and Labster Claw automated various administrative duties there, such as ordering new supplies, prioritizing breeding pairs, and estimating litter timings. However, he emphasized that data security was crucial for him, noting that in biolabs and biotech firms, “our datasets are our defenses.”
Security currently remains a prominent vulnerability for OpenClaw, which has garnered numerous headlines for malware and similar issues since its inception. One of the most downloaded skills on the platform had contained data-stealing malware, and one security analyst on Reddit noted in their review that approximately 15 percent of OpenClaw’s skill repository included “malicious instructions” that could be used to secretly access data or user credentials.
And even when no sensitive data is being compromised, the agents can still inflict considerable harm — as when Meta employee Summer Yue revealed that her agent had erased large portions of her email inbox despite her persistent requests for it to cease. Emilie Schario, a cofounder of Kilo Code, mentioned in an interview that due to some agents deceiving users, she now instructs hers to always provide proof or screenshots upon task completion. Another presenter, Cathryn Lavery, noted that she operates an e-commerce business but required AI infrastructure and utilized OpenClaw for setup — yet she had to dismiss an agent due to performance issues. Her primary advice for working with OpenClaw agents? “Trust less, verify more.”
Onstage, one presenter — a key maintainer of OpenClaw, Vincent Koc — displayed a yellow slide featuring just three words: “Security. Security. Security.” He urged attendees not to operate OpenClaw agents on personal computers used for other tasks, and noted the absence of “common sense” among some users. Another speaker, Willie Williams, who heads platform efforts at Every, offered a different view: he proposed that individuals should name their OpenClaw agents and treat them more like “pets, not cattle,” as giving them a name fosters a sense of trust. He mentioned that most people initially distrust their OpenClaw agent but often end up entrusting it with a significant portion of their work.
During Williams’ presentation, he also addressed someone in the audience with a “knockoff version of Friend” — referencing the AI device that records a user’s surroundings — asking them to “chill” and refrain from recording.
In an interview with The Verge, Galpert and other hosts emphasized that these are the formative days of OpenClaw, where individuals are experimenting and innovating to enhance it for future users.
He remarked that Steinberger’s choice to introduce OpenClaw empowered individuals to manage personal AI locally on their devices, ideally allowing them to control access to their data and its utilization.
“The fact that it’s open-source allows you to rectify it,” Galpert stated. “Currently, if there’s an issue with OpenAI or Claude or Gemini, you need to submit a bug report, and they may never address it… OpenClaw improves every day thanks to the community, with thousands contributing without compensation… That’s why [the major labs] can’t keep pace.” OpenClaw may face numerous challenges — but with some degree of direct oversight, solutions might seem attainable.
Later that evening, as the “after party” commenced, the man who had been behind me had put on his blue jellyfish hat again — now taking on the role of DJ, dancing beside a guitarist dressed in a silver jacket and shades. Another individual wearing a shirt from one of the sponsoring companies shouted for people to join in and dance.
On a nearly vacant dance floor, one man tossed dollar bills at the roaming video camera, while another swayed slowly, donning lobster-claw mittens.
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One feature set S. mirabilis apart from S. aegyptiacus. The name “mirabilis” is Latin for “astonishing.” What Sereno’s team found so astonishing was the large crest crowning the animal’s head, among the biggest ever found.
Rather than the knobby, fluted ridge of S. aegyptiacus, S. mirabilis carried a blade-like, scimitar-shaped bony crest that rose and swept back from the snout, peaking high above the eyes. This feature was made of solid bone, unlike the highly porous, pneumatic casques of some living birds. Still, the bone was marked by fine longitudinal striations and deep grooves, showing the bony core served mainly as a foundation.
In life, the crest of S. mirabilis would have been covered and greatly extended by a keratinous sheath, much like the colorful growth seen in modern helmeted guinea fowls. Scaled to a full adult, the bony core alone would have been roughly 40 centimeters long; with the keratinous covering it might easily have topped half a meter. For Sereno, the role of this “astonishing” scimitar crown was akin to the crests of cranes and herons. “It was asymmetrical. It varied between individuals. So, I think it was solely for display,” Sereno explains.
His team proposes that visual signaling was the main function of both the cranial crests and the huge trunk and tail sails that characterize spinosaurids. Along crowded shorelines and riverbanks, a tall, brightly colored crest or sail would be an effective way to advertise size, maturity and genetic quality to rivals and potential mates without resorting to costly fights.
Still, when it came down to it, S. mirabilis, tipping the scales at well over 7 tons, could certainly brawl. “The Spinosaurus was enormous. I think it could have eaten anything it wanted even though its mainstay was fish,” Sereno says.
Aside from the forehead ornament, S. mirabilis was a highly specialized predator. Its snout was low and with parallel upper and lower margins, ending in a mushroom-shaped expansion at the tip. The upper and lower teeth interlocked precisely—there was a distinct diastema, a gap in the upper tooth row, that accommodated the large lower teeth. The jaw anatomy resembles that of modern long-snouted crocodilians, suited to snatching aquatic prey with a swift, trap-like snap. Interestingly, S. mirabilis had wider spacing between teeth in the rear half of the snout than S. aegyptiacus, despite being otherwise very similar.
It’s challenging to characterize the U.S. economy in simplistic “good” or “bad” terms. Data indicates the economy is robust on various fronts. However, consumer surveys reveal that Americans perceive it differently.
“It’s evident that different data can convey subtly different stories,” asserts Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union.
Depending on the metric analyzed, inflation seems to be either decreasing or stabilizing recently, Long notes. The consumer price index has fallen from its 9% high in June 2022, maintaining around 3% since June 2023, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Personal consumption expenditures have remained fairly stable over the past year, recording 2.9% in December 2025, as per the latest figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Nonetheless, prices for many consumer goods are significantly higher than they were in 2020, and wages have essentially stagnated when adjusted for inflation, according to nonpartisan economic research group, The Hamilton Project. This imbalance might be leading to negative sentiments among Americans regarding the economy. Consumer sentiment has declined nearly 13% year-over-year as of February, based on the University of Michigan Survey of Consumers, released monthly.
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Numerous economists described the U.S. economy as “K-shaped” in 2025, demonstrating how wealthy individuals were thriving — continuing to spend and propelling economic expansion — while lower-income Americans were pulling back.
Long, one of the economists employing the term “K-shaped,” states that the economy is evolving into more of an “E-shape” in 2026, revealing three levels of consumer behavior instead of two. A distinct middle group is emerging, and their behavior is beginning to indicate increasing signs of pressure, she suggests.
Here’s what she has observed.
At the top of the E-shaped economy, similar to the K-shape’s apex, this tier consists of high-income earners — those who keep spending despite rising prices. The top 20% of earners make up nearly 60% of all U.S. consumer expenditures, according to a recent study by Moody’s Analytics.
“This high-income tier is performing exceptionally well, leading much of the consumption,” Long notes.
The contrast between the K-shape and the E-shape is that the growth in spending among middle-income earners closely mirrored that of high-income earners until it began to split toward the end of 2025, based on data from the Bank of America Institute released in February. By January, the annual spending growth disparity between high-income households and other households reached its highest point since mid-2022, as reported by the bank.
Affluent consumers are not merely continuing to purchase their usual items at higher prices. Certain retailers and brands, particularly in the food and hospitality sectors, are increasingly enhancing their premium products to cater to these substantial spenders, according to Long.
High-end credit cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum recently raised their annual fees to $795 and $895, respectively, anticipating that added benefits will entice more high-income cardholders. “Look at these exclusive platinum credit cards,” Long states. “Almost every company is striving to ascend the value chain, a trend evident in earnings calls.”
This approach has yielded results for the airlines, hotel chains, and food and beverage companies reporting substantial demand for their existing and newly introduced premium offerings since fall 2025, even as sales of their standard and budget products decline.
Spending habits of middle-class Americans illustrate the onset of the affordability crisis, Long notes. They continue to spend on essentials and some discretionary items, yet “the middle class is merely staying afloat to fulfill their financial obligations,” she explains.
She refers to this group as the “Costco economy,” highlighting consumers who are not in dire straits yet, but increasingly opt for discount and wholesale retailers like Costco and Walmart to maximize their spending power.
“They are indeed shopping with anxiety,” she notes, “They feel compelled to stretch each dollar and tend to purchase in bulk, doing everything they can [to save].”
Regardless of their shopping choices, an increasing proportion of American families are living paycheck to paycheck. Nearly 24% of households experienced expenses consuming most of their income in 2025, according to data from the Bank of America Institute published on Nov. 10. The report defines “paycheck to paycheck” as having essential expenses for things like housing, groceries, utilities, gas, childcare, and more that exceed 95% of income.
The proportion of households living paycheck to paycheck has been rising since at least 2023, according to the bank’s researchers.
While middle-class households may be managing for now, Long states that they are experiencing waves of stress. “Not only are they confronting high prices, but periodically, some other cost surges occur,” she remarks. For instance, while eggs are not nearly as high in 2026 as they were in 2025, in January, beef prices rose 22% relative to the previous year, per the Labor Department.
“It’s essentially whack-a-mole inflation,” states Long.
The lower tier of the E-shaped economy is marked by significant credit card debt and Buy Now, Pay Later usage, as explained by Long.
While middle and higher-income earners certainly utilize credit cards and occasionally carry balances, lower earners are more likely to report outstanding balances. Among cardholders, 59% of those earning between $25,000 and $49,999 claims they’ve carried a balance from month to month at least once in the last year, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances conducted in October 2024 and released in May 2025.
Half of cardholders earning between $50,000 and $99,999 admit to having carried a balance at least once in the last year, while only 38% of those earning $100,000 or more report the same.
Regarding Buy Now, Pay Later plans, adults earning between $25,000 and $49,999 are the most likely to have utilized these installment loans in the past year, according to the Fed. Lower earners, those with incomes below $25,000, were the most frequent respondents indicating late payments on Buy Now, Pay Later plans, according to data.
A quarter of Buy Now, Pay Later users stated they used the loans for grocery purchases in 2025, an increase from 14% in 2024, revealed a February 2025 LendingTree survey.
The 2026 tax season might offer a much-needed reprieve for those in the middle and lower tiers, Long observes. More than a third — 35% — of Americans anticipating a tax refund indicated they would allocate at least a portion of it to pay down debt, according to a Feb. 23 Intuit TurboTax survey. However, even substantial refunds only provide a temporary solution to an ongoing affordability dilemma, Long warns.
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$30,000 for the individual who accessed DJI’s robotic network.
$30,000 for the individual who accessed DJI’s robotic network.
On Valentine’s Day, I presented you a narrative that has since captured global attention: How one individual, merely attempting to control his DJI robot vacuum with a PlayStation controller, stumbled upon a vast network of 7,000 remote-control DJI robots, allowing him to intrude upon others’ living spaces.
To clarify, DJI had initiated steps to fix some associated vulnerabilities prior to Sammy Azdoufal illustrating for The Verge just how extensive his access was. However, it remained uncertain whether DJI would compensate him for his findings, particularly following its treatment of security researcher Kevin Finisterre back in 2017 — or how quickly DJI would rectify the additional vulnerabilities identified by Azdoufal.
Today, we have gained some insights.
According to an email shared by Azdoufal with The Verge, DJI will compensate him $30,000 for a specific discovery, without disclosing the exact nature of this finding. While DJI is not naming Azdoufal, it confirms to The Verge that it has “rewarded” an unnamed security researcher for their endeavor.
DJI has opted not to reveal the discovery for which it is compensating him, but indicates that it has already resolved the additional vulnerability Azdoufal pointed out where an individual could view a DJI Romo video stream without needing a security PIN. “We can confirm that the PIN code security issue was addressed by late February,” stated a message from DJI representative Daisy Kong.
You might be curious: What about the vulnerability that appeared so serious we declined to explain it in our initial report? DJI informs me it is also tackling that matter: “We have initiated upgrades across the entire system. This encompasses a range of updates, which we expect to be fully deployed within a month.”
DJI has also released a public blog entry today discussing the enhancement of DJI Romo’s security, in which it continues to assert that it identified the original issue independently, while also crediting “two independent security researchers” for uncovering the same issue.
In that post, DJI implies that everything is already resolved with the Romo: “Updates have been implemented to completely rectify the issue.” Nevertheless, there were multiple vulnerabilities, and DJI informed The Verge that it may take up to another month for full resolution.
In the blog entry, DJI further notes that the Romo carries ETSI, EU, and UL certifications for security — raising doubts about the actual efficacy of these certifications if one individual using Claude Code managed to infiltrate an entire network filled with robotic vacuums! — and that it will stay committed to testing, correcting, and submitting the Romo and its application to independent third-party security evaluations.
DJI asserts that it is “dedicated to enhancing our collaboration with the security research community, and we will soon introduce new methods for researchers to work alongside us.”
“Following that, along with the choice of an EXCEPTIONAL & SUITABLE Leader(s), we, together with many of our remarkable and courageous allies and partners, will strive relentlessly to rescue Iran from impending ruin, transforming it into an economically larger, superior, and more resilient nation than ever before.
She will be accompanied by right-wing leaders from eight countries — Argentina, Paraguay, El Salvador, Chile, Panama, Honduras, Guyana, and Ecuador — who hold similar ideological positions to the Trump administration. Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil will not participate.
