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18 Jun 2025

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Riverlane appoints key leaders to drive global quantum software
Riverlane boosts its quantum software efforts by appointing Abe Asfaw and Guen Prawiroatmodjo to lead quantum error correction and open-source SDK development.

HP’s AI-ready 2-in-1 laptop with long battery life is 35% off right now
If you need an inexpensive productivity laptop and don’t care much about gaming, then here’s a solid deal for you: HP’s OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 model can be yours for $650 at Best Buy (was $1,000) right now, which is a stellar price for such a versatile device. Equipped with a gorgeous 16-inch 1920×1200 IPS touchscreen, you’ll get vivid colors and deep contrast on a large display with plenty of screen real estate for your apps. And this is a 2-in-1 laptop, so you can use its 360-degree hinge to flip the screen back and use the device like a tablet, or turn it into a tent propped up for convenient video watching. The performance here is decent for the price, not to mention it’s one of those cutting-edge Copilot+ laptops that Microsoft wants you to start using. The Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor is AI-ready, allowing you to access all the new AI features in (and coming to) Windows 11. And with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, it’ll handle Windows 11 with aplomb. The 512GB SSD is pretty standard—not huge, but large enough for most uses. Battery life is the standout feature on this laptop, with HP claiming that it reaches 23 hours of active use. Even if that figure ends up being wildly overstated, you’re still getting tons of life on a single charge. And this laptop also comes with Intel Arc 130V integrated graphics, powerful enough to handle creative tasks and some light gaming. Copilot+ laptops don’t come cheap, and we’re only just starting to see deals on them. If you’ve been eyeing one, then now’s a great time to snatch one. Get this HP OmniBook X Flip 2-in-1 for $650 before the deal expires or stock runs dry! That’s quite a discount. But if this one doesn’t suit your needs, check out these excellent top-pick laptops. Save 35% on this 2-in-1 productivity laptop with long battery lifeBuy now at Best Buy

This ultra-fast $40 AA/AAA battery charger is my favorite gift to give techies
Over the past decade, I’ve grown used to charging every electronic gadget with USB power. Whether it’s the Micro USB of my keyboard, the USB-A of my charger block, or the USB-C of my vaporizer, it’s USB all the time. So color me surprised when I became a dad and discovered that just about everything kid-related still uses AA and AAA batteries. And it made me realize how many modern devices still rely on old-fashioned rechargeable batteries. Remote controls, flashlights, digital scales, clocks, and even some wireless keyboards and mice. I don’t want to buy brand-new disposables every week and I don’t want to contribute to unnecessary e-waste. But my dependence on rechargeable AAs and AAAs would be a headache if it weren’t for the super-fast $40 charger I ended up getting—and it’s so useful that it’s now one of my favorite techy gifts to give. Why fast charging matters The XTAR VX4 is a fast 20W charger that can handle up to four AA and/or AAA batteries at a time (as well as the more niche A and AAAA types). It can take both 3.6V Li-ion and 1.2V Ni-MH batteries, and it has a built-in battery tester that doubles as a great kid’s toy. My own two kids love checking the status of batteries for me! Jon Martindale / Foundry But it’s the speed of this charger that’s so important for busy family life. When my son’s white noise machine is dead, I can have its batteries fully charged in under an hour. When the baby monitor’s light is blinking, I don’t have to wait long before it’s up and running again. When there’s a new toy at Christmas that needs batteries, it’s ready to go in a snap. Buy the XTAR VX4 on Amazon As simple or complex as you like I love how straightforward this charger is. With its wide support for different size batteries, types, and capacities, you don’t need to worry about where you’re plugging them in or whether this charger supports a specific battery form factor. Just grab them, shove them into the spring-loaded charge points, and they’ll get juiced up in a jiffy. Jon Martindale / Foundry The charger selects the best charging mode for the type of battery you’ve plugged in with no input from you. And since it’s USB-powered—rather than having its own specific barrel plug or similar—you can take it with you and use any old phone charger to power up your batteries. If you want to dig into the specifics, this charger displays all the information you could need. The LCD display showcases which slots are occupied, by what type of battery, what current and voltage its charging at, and what the charge volume is. It’s all clearly shown and easy to read at a quick glance. It’ll even give you a heads-up if there’s a problem with a battery that needs to be disposed. A little pricey but worth every penny For something that “only” charges up your batteries, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking $40 is a lot to spend. And you also have to consider the rechargeable batteries themselves if you don’t have any on hand. I felt the same way before I bit the bullet—but I’m glad I did in the end. I’ve gone through two other battery chargers before this one, and now I’m never looking back. The first one was a $12 cheapie that burned out in six months and could’ve been a real fire hazard. The second one was $20 and still works, but it can only charge batteries in pairs and it takes up to four hours for a single pair of AAA. That’s way too slow for me. Between the fast charging speed, wide compatibility with multiple battery types, and flexibility to charge any number and combination of batteries at any given time, the XTAR VX4 is very much worth it—and I love it so much that it’s become my go-to gift for techies. The XTAR VX4 is something most people aren’t willing to buy for themselves, something they don’t even realize they need. And yeah, it’s not exactly cool. But it’s extremely useful. And you don’t realize just how useful it is until you’ve been using it a while. Buy the XTAR VX4 on Amazon

Mercury launches Qual at Scale for richer, faster surveys
Mercury Analytics unveils Qual at Scale, merging broad surveys with deep interviews using AI for richer insights at costs like traditional quantitative research.

Varonis boosts ChatGPT Enterprise security with compliance tools
Varonis integrates its Data Security Platform with ChatGPT Enterprise to enhance data protection, compliance and monitoring for over 3 million business users.

Windows 11’s emergency June update causes even more bugs and chaos
Last week, a day after releasing update KB5060842 on Patch Tuesday, Microsoft also released the out-of-band update KB5063060 that was meant to replace and fix issues raised by the previous patch, most notably an incompatibility issue with games using Easy Anti-Cheat. However, Windows Latest reports that the new KB5063060 update is also causing errors of its own, including error codes 0x800f0922, 0x80070002, 0x80070306, and 0x800f0991 during installation, with installation appearing to freeze on affected computers and the boot process no longer working afterwards. In other words, both the original update KB5060842 and its replacement KB5063060 are causing affected Windows 11 users to sweat. Fortunately, rolling back the update is still possible. If you have trouble installing the update, Windows Latest advises that you download and install update KB5063060 directly via the Microsoft Update Catalog. This should make the installation go through, but keep in mind that additional issues may occur after installing the June 2025 Update. Potential issues after installing KB5063060 Users who successfully installed KB5063060 are also reporting issues of their own, including poor performance, graphical issues, and crashing games. One user complains that the June update corrupted their taskbar. Windows Explorer can also crash. Furthermore, installing KB5063060 doesn’t seem to have resolved all Easy Anti-Cheat problems. Meanwhile, other users are reporting that their Windows 11 computers no longer recognize Bluetooth devices after installing KB5063060. Microsoft hasn’t yet commented on issues raised by KB5063060. For some users, the best solution seems to be to simply uninstall KB5063060 (via Windows Settings, Windows Update, Update History, Uninstall Updates) and give the older KB5060842 another chance.