Today’s Big Story

The Phones of the Future

A little bit nostalgic, a little bit weird … and maybe that’s a good thing

Let’s be honest … the regular yearly phone upgrades have lost their excitement, right? Our relationship with our phone is very important, but the spark has dulled a bit. It's been only months since Apple launched the 2023 iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models, but as is typical with rumors, people are already looking to the 2024 iPhone 16 lineup. But there’s not much to get excited about.

Besides, as phones get smarter and capable of more things, the reality is that many people don’t need or want all those capabilities. Unfortunately, even the most basic smartphone can still tempt people with social media pings and web browsing rabbit holes. Which is why the newer crop of minimalist smartphones promise fewer distractions and a healthy shot of nostalgia.

Before it quit the mobile market, Nokia was pretty much the king of cell phones. It is notorious for flooding that market with innumerable and often confusing designs, but, to its credit, it managed to appeal to almost every sector and niche with that same variety. Some of those designs have gone down in history as beloved icons of a time long gone, but HMD, licenses of the Nokia brand, has been reviving some of those, much to the delight of those looking for quality “dumb phones”.

According to CNET, we should expect big changes to come to new phones in 2024 that stretch beyond the processor and camera upgrades we typically see each year. Phone-makers are using AI and foldable designs to make mobile devices fresh and interesting again.

The Verge echoed this thought, declaring that “weird phones are back, baby!” as they showed off the newest offerings from Motorola—another name from the not-so-distant past. The brand is introducing three new Edge series phones, reviving a classic design feature it first introduced a decade ago: a wooden back panel.

Mike Johnson’s Race Against the Clock

The embattled speaker unveils an audacious and risky foreign aid plan for Ukraine, Israel and more

No one is feeling the political heartburn more than Speaker Mike Johnson as the House takes its time finalizing foreign aid bills. The sooner Johnson gets the bills to the floor, the more protection he can demand from Democrats. The longer Johnson negotiates the bills, the more they'll get loaded with potential poison pills that could blow up a deal.

So begins the trickiest moment of Johnson’s already messy speakership, reports Politico. He’s proposing the House take separate votes on Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan funding, plus other provisions such as turning some aid into loans, seizing Russian assets to help Ukraine and even forcing a TikTok sale. Whatever passes would then be knitted together and sent over to the Senate as a single package. Johnson said he chose the approach because “every member, Republican and Democrat, can vote their own district and their own conscience on this thing.” It would allow, for example, Republicans who support aid for Israel but abhor aid for Ukraine to register each position separately, instead of forcing them to support or reject a combined foreign aid bill.

But the new threat to Johnson’s speakership came on Tuesday morning, when Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a sharp critic of further aid to Ukraine, said that he will join Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on her motion to vacate the chair, which could lead to a vote to oust the speaker. Greene filed the motion last month, but hasn’t moved to force a vote.

Cloud Seeding Backfires in Dubai

Heavy rain and floods disrupts transport systems and closes UAE schools

Heavy rains battered parts of the Middle East on Tuesday, closing schools in the United Arab Emirates and flooding the tarmac at Dubai International Airport. In Oman, at least 18 people have died in recent days because of the severe weather. But this was no freak storm.

The torrential rain stemmed partly from cloud seeding—a weather modification technique used to increase precipitation. It often includes dispersing substances into the air such as silver iodide, potassium iodide, and sodium chloride (table salt). In the UAE, cloud seeding operations typically use natural salts like potassium chloride. These particles encourage the accumulation of moisture in clouds, which then precipitates as rain. According to Bloomberg, the UAE started cloud seeding operations in 2002 to address water security issues, even though the lack of drainage in many areas can trigger flooding.

More than 4.7 inches of rain fell in a day in the UAE, flooding streets across Dubai and sending water spilling into homes and businesses, the Associated Press reports. Flights into the Dubai airport were temporarily diverted as a result of the “continued exceptional weather event currently being experienced in the UAE,” airport officials said Tuesday in a statement. Perhaps the seeding wasn’t necessary, as other parts of the Middle East, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were also hit by unusually wet conditions this week.

What’s This Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Business?

Some experts believe it will spark a huge rally

If you’ve been watching the crypto space, you likely heard about Bitcoin “halving.” But what does it mean and is it as big a deal as people are making it out to be? Whenever a bitcoin miner mines block number 840,000 (they’re anticipating it happens this weekend), the amount of bitcoin (BTC) entering into circulation will halve from about 900 a day to 450. This event, colloquially known as the halving, looms large in the Bitcoin mindshare, one of those things that makes Bitcoin Bitcoin.

In broad terms, the halving effectively reduces the supply of new bitcoins. And that presumably should lead to higher prices. It's the scarcity principle. The fewer bitcoins that get mined, the more valuable bitcoin becomes, right? According to NPR, what’s also deliberately built into the system is the number of bitcoins that can ever exist — the supply is capped at 21 million. So far roughly 19 million tokens have been created.

The halving has happened roughly every four years, and always tends to increase bitcoin’s value. “This is a big business now,” Roundtable anchor Rob Nelson said, emphasizing that major players in the mining industry are well-prepared for these events, thus mitigating potential losses. His fundamental belief is that bitcoin’s inherently-diminishing supply will continue to drive its price upward, a sentiment echoed throughout the discussion.

The Long Read

Raising a dog does have things to teach future parents of humans

Give it your best shot.