As he vies for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is touting a series of measures he has pushed that have led to an upswing in banned or restricted books — not just in Florida schools but in an increasing number of other conservative states

Apple is working on a “Watch X”, bring a major redesign and new features to its wearable, according to a new report. The new version will be thinner, bring new health features such as a blood pressure sensor and change the technology powering the screen, according to a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. But the new version of the Watch might not arrive until next year, or even the year after that, he reported. As such, the new design would mark the 10th anniversary of the Watch, which went on sale in April 2015. Apple undertook a similar significant redesign for the 10th version of the iPhone, with the iPhone X. That also brought a new look, with a slimmer design and a display that wrapped all the way to the edge of the phone, and new technologies such as facial recognition. This year’s Apple Watch is expected to bring a new processor, which would be the first since 2020’s Series 6. Otherwise, it is expected to stay largely the same on the outside. That might give Apple more time to work on that rumoured “Apple Watch X”, for the years that would follow. As well as the new redesign and features, it might rely on a microLED screen that has not yet been seen in the Apple Watch. Apple has long been rumoured to be working on such screen technology for the Watch, to bring the brighter and more colourful screen technology to the small display. Rumours have suggested however that the company has struggled with the new technology, and hit problems with shrinking it down to the size of the Watch and allowing it to stay affordable. The other major feature update is said to be a blood pressure built into the Watch itself. Chief executive Tim Cook has repeatedly said that health is one of the big focuses of Apple’s work, and has been rumoured to be working on new sensors including blood glucose and blood pressure, presumably for its wearables. The redesign could have some drawbacks. The redesign will bring with it a new, magnetic way of attaching watchbands – which would presumably mean that existing Watch straps will not work with the Watch X. Until now, all versions of the Watch have been compatible with all of Apple’s straps, as long as they are the correct one of two sizes. Mr Gurman did suggest on Twitter that Apple or third-party manufacturers could create adapters to allow old straps to work on new Watches. Read More Apple Watch 7 pre-order: How to buy the new smartwatch in the UK Apple introduces new version of Watch with complete redesign iPhone 13 - live: UK contract deals and prices for Apple, EE and O2

(Reuters) -BT Group's CEO Philip Jansen is to freeze his salary of 1.1 million pounds ($1.4 million) until he retires

Binance said in a tweet on Monday it would swap 750 million tether-tron token pairs for tether-ether in

Montana on Wednesday became the first US state to ban TikTok, with the law set to take effect next year as debate escalates over the impact and...

Climate change, the energy transition and the financial plumbing needed to channel trillions of dollars toward green investment

When archaeologists explored an underwater cavern in southern Mexico in 2014, they were shocked by what they found. The cavern is known as Sac Uayum, and is located in Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula. It is technically a cenote – a natural pit that comes about after limestone bedrock collapses, exposing groundwater beneath. Local villagers were said to be terrified of the spot, because pits like this were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings. Archaeologist Bradley Russell, from College of St Rose, and a group of divers scaled down roughly 20 metres into the unknown. Inside the pit were two chambers with human bones and skulls scattered across the floors of each. The skulls were elongated, as part of an ancient practice that is thought to have involved flattening people’s heads during infancy. Archaeologists still don’t know why the ancient culture did this – but it ain't pretty. The cenote sits just outside the ruins of the ancient Maya city of Mayapán, and the researchers think this shows that, like the modern day locals, the ancient Mayans kept their distance too. Local legend says that Sac Uayum is guarded by a feathered, horse-headed serpent. Older residents of the nearby village of Telchaquillo tell stories of people seeing the serpent perching in a tree, leaping up, spinning around three times, and diving into the water. Russell explained to National Geographic that the sinkhole is said to be “evil”. “To this day, people do not get drinking water from that cenote, it is generally considered taboo. “It’s off-limits, people do not let their children plan near there and there’s a lot of beliefs around this cenote having evil forces or malevolent forces associated with it. “Cenotes are important because the main access to the water that you get is through these sinkholes. “They are also believed to be access to the Mayan underworld and the homes of Gods. “Mayapan is a large city, it’s incredibly dense, there’s nothing like it in the classic period, it’s incredibly dense for Maya history, there’s nothing quite like it.” He added that the location of Sac Uayum – south of Mayapan – is a clue as to what was going on. In Maya beliefs, south is the direction associated with the underworld. Alternatively, Russell also suggested they could have been plague victims. "You wouldn't want them near the rest of the population. And you wouldn't want to drink the water either.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Here are some of the most prominent records achieved by creators on the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch

The AI boom is here, and Nvidia is reaping all the benefits. Shares of Nvidia exploded 28% higher Thursday after reporting earnings and sales that surged well above Wall Street's already lofty expectations.

As the biggest YouTuber out there, MrBeast is known for his eye-catching thumbnails. However, he recently noted one change that is causing even more people to view his videos. The 25-year-old - whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson - has over 181m subscribers and so knows what causes viewers to click on his latest piece of elaborate content. Often, MrBeast - like many other YouTubers - can be seen pulling a shocked face to attract and intrigue viewers to watch in his thumbnail images. But after testing out different versions for his videos, he shared how the classic pose isn't as effective as he thought, explaining that thumbnails with his mouth shut do better. “I closed my mouth on all my thumbnails and the watch time went up on every video lol,” MrBeast said on Twitter/X. “My mouth is now closed in all my thumbnails but the war has just begun. We must not rest until mouths are closed in everyone’s thumbnails." In the tweet, he shared a screenshot of the different combinations where YouTube declared the thumbnails of him flashing a smile were a "winner," compared to the traditional shocked face. "Now all YouTubers will shut their mouths," one user jokingly tweeted, to which the MrBeast replied: "Thank god." When someone asked the YouTuber if the shocked face thumbnail era was over, he answered: "Seems like it, here’s more results. Now that I can actually A/B test thumbnails I don’t have to guess and I just test and see what people want." The YouTuber admitted: "My mouth would have closed years ago if I had this tool." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Oh, so you've decided to plunge yourself into the hellscape of yet another social media

Elon Musk has hired a 14-year-old “wonder kid” to work as a software engineer at SpaceX. Kairan Quazi will join the billionaire’s firm after graduating from Santa Clara University in California later this month, where he is set to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and Engineering. The teenager has already completed an internship at Intel and will work on SpaceX’s Starlink team, which is building the world’s largest satellite internet network. “I will be joining the coolest company on the planet as a software engineer on the Starlink engineering team,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post last week. “One of the rare companies that did not use my age as an arbitrary and outdated proxy for maturity and ability.” His LinkedIn profile has since been removed as the business networking site requires users to be at least 16 years old. In an Instagram post responding to the ban, Quazi said his removal from the platform was “illogical, primitive nonsense” that amounted to discrimination. “I can be qualified enough to land one of the most coveted engineering jobs in the world but not qualified enough to have access to a professional social media platform?” he wrote. “LinkedIn showing everyone how regressive some tech company policies are.” A LinkedIn spokesperson told The Independent: “We appreciate his enthusiasm to join LinkedIn and applaud his incredible success, however we have an age limit in place of 16 years of age and that extends to all members.” Quazi will become the youngest graduate in the US college’s 172-year history, having jumped from third grade to the community college Las Positas College when he was just nine years old. Local media has described him as a genius and a “wonder kid” for his academic achievements, with IQ tests suggesting he is in the 99.9th percentile of the general population. “I think my college years have been the happiest years of my life because I had a lot of autonomy, really, to share my journey,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “I think one of the things I really want to do with telling my story is hopefully have leaders in influential positions challenge their biases and misconceptions. Hopefully, I can open the door to more people like me.” Read More Man locked out of smart home for a week after delivery driver accuses him of being racist Twitter to be evicted from Colorado office Elon Musk to launch biggest ever rocket after dramatic failure Elon Musk eyes ‘highly habitable’ planet that’s ‘practically next door’