Tech
Tesla begins robotaxi test run in Austin
After years of ambitious promises and delays, Elon Musk’s long-touted vision of Tesla “robotaxis” is finally hitting the road — albeit modestly — with a small pilot program launched in Austin, Texas, on Sunday.
Tesla began testing 10 to 12 self-driving taxis in a limited, geofenced area of Austin, with each ride costing a flat fee of \$4.20. The vehicles are being remotely monitored and have a person in the passenger seat to intervene if needed, as reported by AP.
Musk took to X to share the news, writing, “The @Tesla\_AI robotaxi launch begins in Austin this afternoon with customers paying a \$4.20 flat fee!”
The test run marks a significant moment for Tesla, especially after repeated delays since Musk first promised autonomous taxis back in 2019. At the time, he said they would be operational “next year,” a promise he repeated annually without fulfillment. Most recently, in early 2023, Musk claimed Tesla would have “over a million robotaxis” on the road by 2024.
While only a dozen vehicles are active now, Musk has vowed rapid expansion of the service, predicting “hundreds of thousands if not a million vehicles next year.” However, industry analysts remain skeptical.
“How quickly can he expand the fleet?” asked Garrett Nelson, an analyst at CFRA. “We're talking maybe a dozen vehicles initially. It's very small."
Tesla faces growing pressure from several fronts. Political backlash and boycotts linked to Musk’s statements have contributed to plunging sales. Competitors, including Waymo — which just celebrated its 10 millionth paid ride — have pulled ahead with more mature self-driving technology. Waymo uses a sensor suite combining cameras, radar, and lidar, in contrast to Tesla’s camera-only system.
Despite recent turbulence, including a \$150 billion stock decline after Musk’s public clash with President Biden, Tesla’s stock has shown resilience, closing Friday at \$322, up from about \$18 a decade ago.
Critics have long challenged Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system, arguing it’s misleadingly named and not truly autonomous. Federal safety regulators and the Department of Justice have investigated FSD following accidents and lawsuits, though some legal challenges have been dismissed. In one such case, a judge ruled plaintiffs failed to prove Musk “knowingly” made false claims.
Space station leak concerns can delay astronaut visit from India, Poland, Hungary
Nonetheless, Musk insists that the improved FSD will power Tesla’s robotaxis safely and allow for swift nationwide rollout. His strategy includes transforming existing Teslas on the road into robotaxis via an over-the-air software update. Owners would be able to earn money by adding their vehicles to the fleet while they’re at work or away, a model Musk compared to Airbnb.
“Instead of having your car sit in the parking lot, your car could be earning money,” Musk said earlier this year. “You will be able to add or subtract your car to the fleet.”
Musk also maintains that Tesla’s reliance on cameras rather than expensive sensors gives the company an edge in scaling operations quickly. “Tesla will have, I don’t know, 99% market share or something ridiculous,” he said during a recent investor call.
Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities remains optimistic: “This time Musk may actually pull it off because of Tesla's ability to scale up quickly.” And while analysts like Goldstein remain cautious, they admit Musk has defied expectations before.
“Maybe his timelines aren’t realistic,” Goldstein said, “but he can develop futuristic technology products.”
12 hours ago
Best Free AI Content Writers in 2025
By 2025, AI content writing tools have become indispensable for bloggers, marketers, and creators aiming to save time and enhance productivity. With a wide array of options available, finding the perfect fit can be challenging. That is why we have curated a list of the top free AI content writers you can start using right now to streamline your content creation process. These tools offer impressive features without costing a dime, perfect for creating high-quality content with ease and efficiency.
Best 8 Free AI Content Writers
.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT stands out as one of the best free AI writing tools in 2025 due to its versatility, user-friendly interface, and powerful content generation abilities. Whether you are writing blog posts, marketing copy, emails, or even creative fiction, ChatGPT delivers fast, coherent, and engaging output.
It adapts well to different tones and writing styles, which makes it a reliable assistant for professionals and casual users alike. While the free version offers plenty of value, the $20/month premium unlocks even more precision and speed.
With frequent updates and strong community support, ChatGPT continues to set the standard in AI writing. Its only real drawback is the occasional need for detailed prompting to avoid robotic responses. Overall, it remains a top-tier choice for AI-assisted writing.
Read more: Ai and Future of Content Writing: Will Artificial Intelligence replace writers?
Copy.ai
Copy.ai earns its spot as another popular free AI writing tool for its impressive content quality, especially for long-form writing, ad copy, and blog generation. With over 90 AI templates, it is built for versatility, covering everything from social media posts to product descriptions.
What sets Copy.ai apart is its ability to produce content that passes most AI detection tools. This feature has made it ideal for marketers and bloggers seeking authentic-feeling text. While the free version has limitations, it still allows you to explore its intuitive interface and streamlined workflows.
The only downsides are occasional interface glitches and the lack of a content history feature. Even so, Copy.ai’s combination of high-quality output, user-friendly design, and efficient workflow automation firmly positions it as a leading AI writing tool in 2025. Its free plan offers limited features, while paid plans start at $36/month (billed annually) and $49/month.
Read more: Free Online Content Writing Courses
Writesonic
Writesonic is one of the best free AI writing tools, especially for bloggers and digital marketers. Its clean, user-friendly interface and access to 90+ AI templates make it ideal for creating SEO-optimised blog posts, ad copy, and email content.
Writesonic delivers high-quality, refined outputs across most use cases, and its long-form editor is particularly strong for content-heavy projects. Pricing starts at just $12.67/month, making it one of the most affordable premium AI tools. Even at its free level, Writesonic offers decent output volume and solid results.
While tone customisation and tech-specific writing could use improvements, its affordability and ease of use make up for it. The sharing feature is also a bonus, letting users collaborate easily. Despite some customer service complaints, Writesonic remains a top choice available without breaking the bank.
Read more: Speaking with AI: Best Free Apps for English Speaking Practice
Deepseek
DeepSeek AI is another advanced and cost-effective free AI writing tool. With its powerful Mixture-of-Experts architecture and massive 128k token context window, it handles long-form content and complex queries with remarkable ease.
DeepSeek excels in technical writing, mathematical reasoning, and content generation. These offer near-human fluency while passing AI detection tools effortlessly. Currently, Deepseek is totally free, making it one of the best choices for businesses and developers.
Its open-source nature promotes innovation and accessibility, attracting startups and researchers alike. While it occasionally needs prompt refinements to meet specific writing tones, the overall quality and depth of its output are top-tier.
Read more: OpenAI Codex: A Pair Programmer to Shape the Future Coding Paradigm
Rytr
Rytr is an excellent free AI writing tool for those looking for a straightforward, affordable solution to create short-form content quickly and efficiently. It offers over 40 use cases, supports 30+ languages, and includes 29 writing tones—ideal for everything from social media posts to product descriptions. Its clean interface is perfect for beginners, and the built-in plagiarism checker adds an extra layer of trust.
With pricing starting at just $9/month, it is one of the most affordable AI tools on the market. While it lacks a long-form editor and some advanced blogging tools, Rytr excels at delivering polished, ready-to-publish content fast. If you are a freelancer or marketer looking for efficiency without complexity, Rytr is a reliable and cost-effective choice worth considering in 2025.
Frase
Frase is a powerful AI writing tool built specifically for SEO and content marketing. It combines content generation with in-depth SERP analysis which allows users to create optimised content briefs, FAQs, introductions, and more—all within one streamlined platform. Its real strength lies in managing the full content workflow, from research to optimisation.
Read more: 10 Best Free AI Image Generators in 2025
Pricing starts at $14.99/month, but it is important to note that to generate over 4,000 words, you will need the Pro Add-On for an extra $35/month. While Frase lacks a robust free plan and can fall short in SEO keyword accuracy, its integration of AI writing and SEO insights makes it an excellent tool for digital marketers. For anyone managing content at scale, Frase delivers both speed and structure in one package.
Sudowrite
Sudowrite is another excellent free AI writing tool for fiction writers, especially those battling writer’s block or seeking creative inspiration. Unlike general-purpose tools like ChatGPT or Rytr, Sudowrite is laser-focused on storytelling. Its standout features—like Describe, Brainstorm, and Expand—help deepen scenes, enhance character development, and shape compelling narratives.
It is not built for business writing, but that is the beauty of it. For novelists and short story writers, it is like having a creative partner who never runs out of ideas. Even if you do not use every suggestion, it pushes you forward when you are stuck. Its pricing starts at $19/month, but there is a limited free trial to explore. If you are serious about fiction, Sudowrite is a must-try creative companion.
Read more: 12 Most In-Demand Tech Skills for 2025: Stay Ahead in the Job Market
In a Nutshell
In the current time, free AI writing tools offer powerful solutions for every type of content creator—from marketers and bloggers to novelists. SEO-driven articles, ad copy, or immersive storytelling—there is a tool tailored to your needs. With options like ChatGPT, DeepSeek, and Sudowrite, crafting high-quality content has never been more accessible or affordable. It is time to start exploring and elevate your writing today!
1 day ago
Samsung electronics eyes turnaround in HBM segment amid AI surge
Samsung Electronics Company is exploring strategies to reclaim its leadership in the high bandwidth memory (HBM) market, following a recent decline in its position, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The efforts were discussed during the company’s biannual executive-level strategy meetings, held over three days. Led by division heads, the sessions reviewed regional and business-specific challenges, sales strategies, and performance goals for the latter half of the year.
Samsung sees revenue boost from smartphone sales despite chip slump
A key focus during Wednesday’s meeting—hosted by the semiconductor division—was HBM sales strategies and production schedules, amid soaring global demand fueled by the recent boom in generative artificial intelligence (AI), Yonhap reported.
Samsung’s HBM chips have reportedly failed to pass quality tests by Nvidia Corp., a critical player in the AI hardware sector. This shortfall has prevented Samsung from entering the global HBM supply chain, which is currently led by Nvidia, SK hynix Inc., and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).
Consequently, Samsung was overtaken by rival SK hynix in global DRAM market share during the first quarter of 2024. According to data from global market research firm Omdia, SK hynix’s market share rose to 36.9 percent, while Samsung’s dropped to 34.4 percent.
In response, Samsung is reviewing its plans to begin mass production of its next-generation HBM4 chips in the second half of the year—a move the company hopes will be a game-changer in regaining its competitive edge.
1 day ago
Telegram founder Pavel Durov says all his 100+ children will receive share of his estate
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of instant messaging app Telegram, plans to leave his fortune to the more than 100 children he has fathered.
The Russian-born tech tycoon has revealed that his estate will be split between his six children from relationships and the scores of others whom he fathered through sperm donation.
In a wide-ranging interview published Thursday in French political magazine Le Point, 40-year-old Durov revealed that he does not differentiate between his legal children with three different women and those conceived with the sperm he donated.
“They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death,” he said, after revealing that he recently wrote his will.
Durov revealed the number of children he has fathered on his social media last year. He said a doctor told him that it was his “civic duty” to donate his “high quality donor material,” which he did over the course of 15 years.
According to Bloomberg, Durov is worth an estimated $13.9 billion, but he dismissed such estimates as “theoretical,” telling Le Point: “Since I’m not selling Telegram, it doesn’t matter. I don’t have this money in a bank account. My liquid assets are much lower – and they don’t come from Telegram: they come from my investment in bitcoin in 2013.”
Regardless, his children will have a long wait for their inheritance. He said: “I decided that my children would not have access to my fortune until a period of 30 years has elapsed, starting from today. I want them to live like normal people, to build themselves up alone, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create, not to be dependent on a bank account. I want to specify that I make no difference between my children: there are those who were conceived naturally and those who come from my sperm donations.”
Cybernews researchers report billions of login credentials leaked online
When asked why he has written his will now, Durov, who lives in Dubai, said: “My work involves risks – defending freedoms earns you many enemies, including within powerful states. I want to protect my children, but also the company I created, Telegram. I want Telegram to forever remain faithful to the values I defend.”
Telegram, which has more than a billion monthly users, is known for its high-level encryption and limited oversight on what its users post.
Last year, Durov was arrested in Paris on charges relating to a host of crimes, including allegations that his platform was complicit in aiding money launderers, drug traffickers and people spreading child pornography.
Google faces major setback in appeal against EU antitrust fine over Android
Durov, who is Telegram’s sole shareholder, has denied the charges, which he described as “absurd.”
“Just because criminals use our messaging service among many others doesn’t make those who run it criminals,” he told the French magazine.
Source: CNN
2 days ago
Cybernews researchers report billions of login credentials leaked online
Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day.
According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.
Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so “it's impossible to tell how many people or accounts were actually exposed.”
It's also important to note that the leaked login information doesn't span from a single source, such as one breach targeting a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers discovered it.
Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews noted. Infostealers are a form of malicious software that breaches a victim's device or systems to take sensitive information.
Many questions remain about these leaked credentials, including whose hands the login credentials are in now. But, as data breaches become more and more common in today's world, experts continue to stress the importance of maintaining key “cyber hygiene.”
If you're worried about your account data potentially being exposed in a recent breach, the first thing you can do is change your password — and avoid using the same or similar login credentials on multiple sites. If you find it too hard to memorize all your different passwords, consider a password manager or passkey. And also add multifactor authentication, which can serve as a second layer of verification through your phone, email or USB authenticator key.
2 days ago
Remote-sensing satellite model designed to calculate coal-fired power plant emissions
A Chinese research team has developed a new remote-sensing satellite model, which has for the first time achieved the high-precision, dynamic calculation of CO2 emissions from large coal-fired power plants, providing a new solution for global carbon emissions monitoring.
Coal-fired power plants account for nearly 50 per cent of the total carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion globally. They are a crucial component in the estimation of carbon emissions resulting from human activity. The precise, scientific calculation of carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants is of significant importance.
However, established calculation methods depend heavily on the product of fuel consumption reported by power plants and carbon emissions factors, which makes estimations difficult to compare and verify. Current remote-sensing satellite technology can also result in inversion errors as high as 50 per cent due to background interference and atmospheric instability.
SpaceX rocket explodes during test in Texas
The research team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Aerospace Information Research Institute optimized algorithms and constructed this new model to quantify the CO2 emissions of 14 large coal-fired power plants around the world based on satellite data, significantly improving inversion accuracy.
According to the team's recent paper in the Journal of Cleaner Production, the new model provides an objective, effective means for the verification of carbon emissions from key global sources, and offers a scientific basis for carbon-trading auditing and the calibration of emissions reduction policies.
3 days ago
Google faces major setback in appeal against EU antitrust fine over Android
Google suffered a significant blow on Thursday in its ongoing effort to overturn a multibillion-euro antitrust fine from the European Union, as a top legal adviser to the EU’s highest court sided with regulators.
Juliane Kokott, the advocate general of the European Court of Justice, issued a non-binding opinion recommending that Google’s appeal against the penalty—worth over 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion)—be dismissed.
The case originated in 2018 when the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, fined Google 4.134 billion euros. The Commission concluded that Google had misused the dominance of its Android mobile operating system to suppress competition and limit consumer choices.
Google challenged the ruling, and in 2022 a lower court slightly reduced the fine to 4.125 billion euros. However, Google proceeded to appeal that decision as well, taking it to the European Court of Justice.
In her advisory opinion, Kokott recommended that the court uphold both the fine and the lower court’s ruling. Her opinion was summarized in a press release issued by the court.
Responding to the development, Google expressed disappointment, arguing that if the court accepts the advocate general’s recommendation, it could have a chilling effect on investment in open platforms. The company said this would negatively impact Android users, developers, and business partners.
Google offers more employee buyouts amid AI expansion, antitrust challenges
“Android has created more choice for everyone and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world,” Google said in a statement.
Although advocate general opinions are not legally binding, they are often influential and commonly adopted by the judges in their final rulings.
The European Court of Justice confirmed that the judges have now begun their deliberations, with a final judgment to be issued at a later date.
This Android-related fine is one of three major antitrust penalties imposed on Google by the European Commission in the past decade, amounting to over 8 billion euros, as the EU intensifies its regulatory efforts against Big Tech firms.
Google also remains under investigation in Brussels in a separate antitrust case concerning its digital advertising operations, with a decision still pending.
3 days ago
SpaceX Rocket explodes during test in Texas; no injuries reported
A SpaceX rocket undergoing testing at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas exploded late Wednesday, creating a large fireball but causing no injuries, the company confirmed.
The explosion occurred around 11 p.m. during preparations for the Starship vehicle’s tenth test flight. SpaceX described the incident as a “major anomaly” while the rocket was still on the test stand.
In a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX assured that all personnel were safe and that a designated safety perimeter had been maintained throughout the operation.
The company emphasized there was no risk to nearby communities and urged the public not to approach the area. SpaceX also said it is coordinating with local authorities in response to the incident.
4 days ago
Google faces setback in EU android antitrust appeal
Google faced a big setback Thursday in its attempt to overturn a multibillion-dollar European Union antitrust penalty involving Android after a top court's legal adviser sided with regulators.
The European Court of Justice's advocate general, Juliane Kokott, recommended in a preliminary opinion that Google's appeal against the fine worth more than 4 billion euros ($4.7 billion) should be dismissed.
The case dates back to 2018, when the EU’s executive Commission slapped Google with a 4.134 billion euro fine after finding that the US tech company used the dominance of its mobile android operating system to throttle competition and reduce consumer choice.
vivo T4 Ultra Review: A Game-Changing Mid-range Flagship
After Google filed an initial appeal, a lower court trimmed the penalty to 4.125 billion euros in 2022, which the company also appealed to the Court of Justice.
Kokott advised that the Court of Justice confirm the fine and uphold the lower court's judgment, according to a press release summarising her opinion.
Opinions from the advocate general aren’t legally binding but are often followed by judges.
The judges “are now beginning their deliberations in this case. Judgment will be given at a later date,” the court said.
The fine was one of three antitrust penalties totaling more than 8 billion euros that the European Commission slapped on Google in the last decade, as the 27-nation bloc launched its crackdown on Big Tech companies.
Google still faces a decision from Brussels in an antitrust case targeting its digital ad business.
4 days ago
SpaceX rocket explodes during test in Texas
A SpaceX rocket undergoing testing at the company’s Starbase facility in southern Texas exploded late Wednesday, lighting up the night sky with a large fireball.
According to SpaceX, the Starship vehicle suffered a “major anomaly” around 11 p.m. while it was stationed on the test stand in preparation for its tenth flight trial.
Space station leak concerns can delay astronaut visit from India, Poland, Hungary
In a statement shared on X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX confirmed that a safety perimeter was in place during the test and that all staff members were safe and accounted for.
The company, led by CEO Elon Musk, assured that the explosion posed no risk to nearby communities and advised the public against approaching the area. SpaceX added that it is coordinating with local authorities in response to the incident.
4 days ago