
How Microsoft built 'The Frankenstein' device during the pandemic
CNN
When Microsoft closed its Redmond, Washington offices in March 2020 due to the pandemic, the Surface team grabbed what they could for their home offices. For a handful of engineers and product designers, that included The Frankenstein, a prototype for a versatile, transformable laptop built in concert with Windows 11.
The mystery device had already spent three years in Microsoft's development lab and was set to ship on October 5, 2021, the same day Microsoft planned to launch its first major software update in six years. But the Frankenstein was far from ready: The pieces were taped together with a Surface Pro, a laptop-to-tablet device, and featured new sensors, an updated keyboard and trackpad on the bottom. It needed changes to the lock screen, the woven hinge and its face tracking system, among other updates.
A year and a half later, that device -- now known as the Surface Laptop Studio -- is the star product of Microsoft's fall lineup, which was unveiled during a virtual press event on Wednesday.

The US military’s strikes in Iran over the weekend prompted a swift response from across the federal government to react to any fallout, but current and former officials say the administration’s DOGE-driven cuts to a host of agencies have made it harder to grapple with the conflict and prepare for potential retaliation.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Wednesday said in a statement that the agency had obtained “a body of credible evidence [that] indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program has been severely damaged” by recent strikes, underscoring a broad intelligence community effort is ongoing to determine the impact of the US strikes on three of the country’s nuclear sites on Saturday.

White House’s DOGE spending cuts request runs into criticism, questions from some Senate Republicans
The head of the White House budget office on Wednesday defended the Trump administration’s push to enact sweeping cuts to federal funding, even as some Republican senators voiced concerns and raised questions about the breadth of them.