Expect record-breaking temperatures to change the workplace, the World Health Organization (WHO) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned today in a new report. When workers don’t have adequate protections from heat stress, their health and productivity suffer. It’s a risk employers and lawmakers have to take more seriously if they want to keep workers safe and businesses prosperous, the agencies say. That means finding ways to adapt in a warming world, and paying close attention to groups that might be more vulnerable than others. “Without bold coordinated action, heat stress will become one of the most devastating occupational hazards of our time,” Joaquim Pintado Nunes, chief of the branch responsible for occupational safety and health at the International Labour Organization (ILO), said during a press briefing. “One of the most devastating occupational hazards of our time”More than 2.4 billion people around the world — 71 percent of the working population — experience workplace heat stress, according to estimates from the ILO. Each year, 22.85 million occupational injuries and 18,970 fatalities are linked to excessive heat at work. The report also says that worker productivity falls 2–3 percent with every degree increase above 20 degrees Celsius in wet-bulb globe temperature, a measure that takes humidity and other environmental factors into account.Record-shattering temperatures are already setting new norms for people in the workplace. Last year was the hottest year on record yet, but perhaps not for long, as planet-heating pollution continues to rise. The past decade, from 2015 to 2024, also marked the warmest on the books. A healthy person at rest can regulate core body temperature to between 36.5C and 37.5C (97.7–99.5 Fahrenheit). That gets harder to do the hotter their environment is, or if they’re engaged in physical work or wearing gear that limits the body’s ability to cool itself down when sweat evaporates from skin. A person’s core body temperature shouldn’t rise above 38C (100.4F) for prolonged periods during work shifts, the WHO/WMO report says. The effects of heat stress can start off mild, leading to heat rash, cramps, or fatigue that a person can recover from if they have enough time to cool off, rest, and rehydrate. But prolonged or extreme exposure might escalate things, and can result in heat stroke and even neurological dysfunction that could impair a person’s ability to seek help. Heat happens to be the leading weather-related killer across the globe. People with certain chronic conditions, children, and older adults who can’t regulate their core body temperature as efficiently as others are more vulnerable. First responders and folks who work outdoors or indoors with equipment that releases heat (stoves or furnaces, for example) also face heightened risks. There needs to be more education and awareness around heat stress in the workplace, the WMO and WHO urge. Preventative measures include boosting warning systems for heat waves, similar to warnings people might receive ahead of other environmental disasters. Employers should plan for longer or more frequent breaks, and can redesign uniforms and workplaces to keep workers cooler. They should also have plans for what to do in case of heat-related emergencies. Lawmakers can get the ball rolling on this work by introducing policies that standardize these kinds of solutions. In the US, the Biden administration proposed new protections for workers last year in an effort to prevent heat-related illnesses and deaths on the job. A heat index of 90F or higher would trigger 15-minute breaks every couple of hours for certain jobs, for instance. But we’ll have to see whether those proposed measures will survive the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda.The biggest step that businesses and policymakers can take, of course, is to slash fossil fuel emissions causing global warming. Otherwise, all we can do is keep playing catch-up as the mercury rises. “Climate change is reshaping the world of work,” Pintado Nunes said.

It's no secret that we're big fans of OPNsense here at XDA. I've got two virtual machines with it running for testing purposes, plus I recently got a DEC750 OPNsense hardware firewall to save my brain from having to remember layers of virtual networking. With the number of features OPNsense comes with, plus the community plugins and packages created by other developers, it's a powerful way to secure your home network or home lab and create local domain redirects for self-hosted tools.

My latest AI obsession has been pairing my absolute favorite AI tool, NotebookLM, with other productivity tools to see if it can help boost my workflow. I’ve paired NotebookLM with the platform I use to talk to all my colleagues, Slack, as well as other tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Excel, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and countless others. Out of all the tools I’ve paired it with, I feel like NotebookLM shines most when you combine it with other AI tools that excel at generating, refining, or analyzing information.

The Abxylute 3D One. In January, one of the wildest Intel prototypes I witnessed at CES was a giant handheld gaming PC with an 11-inch autostereoscopic (read: glasses-free) 3D screen, detachable controllers, an Intel Lunar Lake chip, and a dedicated toggle to switch between 2D and 3D modes.Co-developed by Intel and Tencent Games, it was called the Sunday Dragon 3D One and dubbed an experimental product. But now, Abxylute, the company best known for kickstarting a $199 cloud gaming handheld, tells The Verge that it will actually sell this massive Windows handheld as the Abxylute 3D One. It should go on sale in late September or early October for a price under …Read the full story at The Verge.

So, you've just bought a new monitor after watching countless reviews, and are enjoying its superior image quality, thanks to a high resolution, refresh rate, and high-quality panel. If you haven't properly configured the settings in the OSD, however, you might not be viewing your games and media in the best possible way. These settings might not be as apparent as the refresh rate, resolution, and FreeSync, and can go overlooked for months. Here's your sign to head into your monitor's OSD, and change these settings to enjoy your display to the fullest.

Microsoft is testing a new Windows 11 feature that will let you resume using your Android apps right on your PC. The capability is gradually rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Dev and Beta Channels, and only supports the Spotify app for now.If you’re in the test, you can try out the feature by linking your Android phone to your PC, and then opening up a song on Spotify’s mobile app. From there, Windows 11 will display a “Resume from your phone” notification alongside the Spotify icon and a prompt to “Continue on this PC.”Once you select the notification, your PC will open Spotify’s desktop app — or prompt you to install it if you haven’t yet — and continue to play the same song from your computer. Microsoft first showcased this feature during a (now-deleted) Build 2025 demo. It sounds pretty similar to Handoff on macOS, which lets you resume your activity on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch on another device.Microsoft doesn’t say how it plans to expand this Handoff-like feature in the future, but I could see it becoming helpful if you want to continue an activity that you started on your phone, like reading an article or writing an email, on your computer.

Most gamers love a title that has a lot of action in it, but that doesn't always mean brawlers and shooters. Sometimes, the best kind of action in a game involves the suspense of staying hidden before eliminating an enemy with ease. These are the types of games that make stealth tactics a central focus, rewarding players who keep things quiet and efficient. Why burst through the door to fight groups of bad guys when you can take them out before any of them know what's happening? After all, theatricality and deception are powerful agents, or rather, powerful tools in the right hands.

Mini PCs have become the perfect way to get a project off the ground, offering versatility thanks to their size, power, and price. If you've been looking to build a media PC or want to put together a NAS, then this Beelink Me Mini is going to be right up your alley. Not only do you get impressive internals, but it also comes in at a price that can't be ignored. For a limited time, you can score this mini PC for its best price as it drops to just $199.

Most of us use cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive. However, I recently switched from OneDrive to Nextcloud since it prioritizes privacy, and also lets me store my files without paying a monthly subscription fee. Thanks to this, I can store sensitive files and access them from anywhere — since they're all on my local home server. Additionally, Nextcloud also facilitates easy collaboration when working on productivity apps. The built-in editing suite can be used as a replacement for Microsoft Office, which is a nice touch. While Nextcloud has been great in terms of functionality, the only slight issue I've had has been in terms of performance.

Digg is making a comeback. With the backing of people like Digg cofounder Kevin Rose and Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian, Digg has ambitions to once again be the homepage of the internet. The revival is still in its very early days - the platform is still invite-only - but Digg launched its new mobile apps this week, and I installed the iOS app on my phone to see what it's like. New Digg operates similarly to Reddit: people submit links that others can comment and vote on, and links with a lot of "diggs" (upvotes) will bubble up the feed. You can also tap a downvote-like "bury" button, but on posts (not comments), the bury button functions …Read the full story at The Verge.

Google’s mystery new speaker appeared briefly in its keynote alongside F1 driver Lando Norris. Google announced plenty of new hardware at this week’s Made by Google event, but halfway through we were distracted by the brief appearance of what appeared to be a new, previously unknown Gemini-powered smart speaker. Now Android Headlines claims that this speaker is real, and will launch with new colors and the ability to pair with a Google TV Streamer.Android Headlines reports that it’s seen additional images of the mystery speaker, which will apparently come in four colors: bright red, light green, black, and white. As seen briefly in the keynote video, it features a light around the base — rather than across the top, as on previous Google speakers — and a fabric finish.As for features, the big new one is that the speaker will apparently be able to pair with a Google TV Streamer to deliver spatial TV audio, a trick borrowed from Apple’s HomePods, which can connect to Apple TV hardware. Hopefully it can also connect to TVs that run the Google TV OS. It will apparently also include new natural voice options, the ability to detect unusual sounds like glass breaking or a smoke alarm, and full support for Matter.Gemini will deliver the smarts, rather than Google Assistant, which is no surprise. The company announced Gemini for Home this week, which will arrive on existing Nest smart speakers and displays from October this year. It will include a paid tier and support for Gemini Live, though it’s not clear which features will be gated behind the premium subscription.Android Headlines calls the new hardware the “Home Speaker,” though it’s not clear if that’s its full or final name. We also don’t know when it will be released, though a launch alongside Gemini for Home in the fall seems likely. We’d expect to see an updated smart display before long too, since Google hasn’t updated its Nest Hub line since 2021, and we’ve already found that Amazon’s new Alexa Plus works best on devices with screens.

If you are tired of the expensive subscription fees and bloated interface of Adobe Acrobat Pro, you are not alone. While Adobe has long been the default for PDF editing, many users are finding that its power comes with a price tag and complexity they just don’t need. I have tried several web-based PDF editors, but they all fall short in one way or another.