Wonkblog: Wonkbook: The Latest Obamacare Surprises

A U. S. appeals court is weighing whether prediction market Kalshi can take bets on elections. Are we really ready to gamble on democracy? As if elections in the United States weren’t already poisoned by money, there may soon be yet another way for people to pour theirs into the process.

It’s important for society to create a space that acknowledges and embraces men’s vulnerabilities and full humanity in all social roles. A few weeks before Justin Bieber and his wife, Hailey, announced in May 2024 that they were expecting, the pop icon posted a selfie where he appears tearful and distraught.

LAS VEGAS — In places like San Francisco, Phoenix and Las Vegas, robot taxis are navigating city streets without a driver behind the steering wheel. Some don’t even have steering wheels. But some of the cars are sometimes guided by someone sitting at a command center in Foster City, California, operated by Zoox, a self-driving car company owned by Amazon.

Companies that provide satellites for surveillance and communications as well as ones in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing received approval Thursday from state economic development officials for incentives totaling approximately $12.3 million. The Colorado Economic Development Commission approved tax credits for five companies. The companies, given code names for confidentiality, are considering whether to move to Colorado or expand their operations in the state. One of the companies, with the code name of Project Lithium, is a global Fortune 200 business that has been in Colorado for 40 years and develops and tests a variety of semiconductor chips at sites across the U.

Let’s be real. The rectangular design of the quintessential smartphone is getting stale for lots of people, including this graying gadget reviewer. That’s why the next phone I buy won’t be another “same, same” iteration of the iPhone. It will be a foldable, a phone with a bendable display that flips open like a book to increase its screen size and closes up to fit in my pocket. These folding phones, from companies like Samsung, Motorola and Huawei, have been getting buzz since their debut in 2019 thanks to their novel design.

LOS ANGELES — Over the course of an acting career that spanned more than six decades, James Earl Jones’ voice became an indelible piece of his work as a performer. On screen, Jones, who died Monday at 93, brought to life a reclusive writer coaxed back into the spotlight in “Field of Dreams” and a haughty king of a fictional land in “Coming To America.” On stage, he won two Tony Awards for “The Great White Hope” and “Fences.” His work as a voice actor — the regal dignity of his portrayal of Mufasa in “The Lion King” and the menacing and deep timbre he lent to Darth Vader in “Star Wars” — helped cement his place as a legendary actor among generations of fans. But in the wake of his death, an aspect of Jones’ career has come to the fore: consenting to the use of artificial intelligence to replicate his performance as Darth Vader after he stepped away from the role.