Author: Merrel Briona

Donald Trump and his Republican lackeys were decimated in this week’s midterm elections, in large part thanks to an ongoing cost of living crisis. While there are many factors making life hard on Americans financially, one of the key stressors is the cost of energy, which has skyrocketed in the wake of the tech industry’s data center buildout.

Much of that pain could have been avoided — or at least pre-empted — had the Trump administration allowed a billion-dollar solar panel development project go ahead as planned, Boston-area public radio station WBUR reported.

According to the broadcaster’s reporting, the Environmental Protection Agency under Trump appointee Lee Zeldin has refused to dish out billions of congressionally-approved funds meant to expand access to solar energy in low-income communities.

The Biden-era program, dubbed “Solar For All,” earmarked $7 billion for distribution to solar energy developments led by states and Tribal governments. States like Massachusetts and Michigan were previously approved for $156 million, while others like Arkansas were set to receive over $93 million.

But when it came time for the federal government to pay the piper, Zeldin and the EPA refused, calling it a “boondoggle.” That decision set off an immediate legal battle, which was recently resolved in favor of the Solar For All recipients. Despite a federal court order that the government dish out the funds, the EPA has yet to loosen its purse strings, leaving questions as to whether the agency will appeal the decision — or even ignore it entirely.

“This is a program that has the potential to lower people’s energy bills, get inexpensive clean electricity on the grid, and help the communities that the Solar For All program was designed to help,” senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation James Crowley, who is representing plaintiffs in one of the court cases, told WBUR.

Though it might be one of the more ironic examples of Zeldin’s EPA shooting itself in the foot, it’s hardly the first. Zeldin, a former center-right Republican turned MAGA-die hard, has moved aggressively to dismantle dozens of environmental regulations since winning the job, many of which were explicitly designed to protect poor American communities.

So while Trump’s side may have lost handily in the midterms, it’s clear his administration’s war on poor and working class Americans is far from over — as the ongoing refusal to release cheap, green energy makes abundantly clear.

More on solar energy: Solar Panels Are Now Producing So Much Power That They’re Leaving Nuclear Plants in the Dust

The lowest tertile was compared against the reference products administered across the 3 studies, EpiPen, Auvi-Q, and manual IM epinephrine, using Kruskal-Wallis or Mann-Whitney U tests.¹ In this group, geometric mean Cmax was 117.51 pg/mL (95% CI, 107.2–128.1), below all reference products. Median time to maximum concentration (Tmax) was 20 minutes (range, 5–120), comparable to both autoinjectors and faster than IM epinephrine.

Despite the lower exposure, median Emax for SBP, DBP, and MAP was significantly greater with AQST-109 versus all 3 reference products.¹ Median TEmax for all 3 blood pressure measures was also faster versus each comparator.

Why Cmax May Not Predict Epinephrine Response

Golden said the results challenge the assumption of a weaker clinical effect in patients with lower absorption, at least for the sublingual film. He cautioned the same conclusion cannot be drawn for IM injection.

“How high does it have to go to work, though? It doesn’t have to go to the Cmax,” Golden said. “The higher the Cmax doesn’t mean it’s going to work any better.”

The mechanism behind the stronger response at low exposure is not fully understood, according to Golden. He noted sublingual and intranasal routes produce response patterns distinct from IM delivery, in which localized responses within the muscle influence both absorption and the systemic effect of epinephrine.

Peak heart rate in the lowest tertile was significantly greater with AQST-109 compared with IM epinephrine and overlapped with both autoinjectors. ¹ Heart rate TEmax was faster than IM epinephrine, equal to EpiPen, and close to Auvi-Q.

“We’re treating people who need to have cardiovascular support in their anaphylactic reaction,” Golden said. “Athletes, for example, get high levels of epinephrine and high levels of heart rate and blood pressure during normal exercise for them. So these are all within physiologic range. They’re not dangerous.”

Editor’s note: Reported disclosures for Golden include AQUESTIVE THERAPEUTICS, ARS Pharmaceuticals Operations, and more.

References

1. Golden D, Anagnostou A, Sokol K, Mack D, Rance K, Greenhawt M. Pharmacodynamic effects of sublingual epinephrine film AQST-109 at low systemic epinephrine exposures. Presented at: American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology 2026 Annual Scientific Meeting; November 12-16, 2026; Phoenix, AZ.

2. Aquestive Therapeutics announces FDA acceptance of Anaphylm NDA resubmission and PDUFA goal date of March 16, 2027. Aquestive Therapeutics. Published October 15, 2026. Accessed November 13, 2026.

Tech billionaires continue to find new ways to alienate themselves from the public. After broad disillusionment with Big Tech played a major role in last week’s midterm elections, AI chipmaker Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was forced to publicly admit that he had cheated on his wife with a suspected Chinese spy.

“I was unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote in a memo. “My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.”

While infidelity among the obscenely rich isn’t in itself surprising, his affair could have major ripple effects on the entire economy — which has become massively dependent on the fate of the AI industry.

Shares of the chipmaker fell a stunning eight percent when trading resumed Monday morning — but then greed kicked in, with the stock rebounding to a loss of around four percent. Nvidia’s investigation into the affair clearly has investors rattled, though, and likely worried that Huang could lose control of one of the most valuable companies in the world, so expect a wild ride as the market grapples with exactly how bad the scandal actually is.

The woman Huang was involved with is Chinese businesswoman Alice Huang — no relation; it’s common last name — who has been accused of passing sensitive information to Beijing, Reuters reports. (The Chinese government has since described the narrative as “purely a groundless accusation, slander, and a smear.”)

Huang holds a roughly 3.6 percent stake in Nvidia, making him the fifth-largest shareholder. Nonetheless, he has ruled the chipmaker with an iron first, with dozens of executives reporting directly to him, per Reuters.

The timing of the revelation couldn’t have been worse. As last week’s midterm elections proved, the AI industry has an enormous PR problem and is struggling to convince voters of the tech’s benefits.

“The market’s probably telling you now this does no favors to the stock whatsoever in a time when there’s a lot of conjecture as to the buildout of data centres,” Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston told Reuters.

Fellow billionaires have since come to Huang’s defense, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk agreeing with a post on his social media platform that his actions were “dumb” but that he was “irreplaceable for America’s AI leadership.”

President Donald Trump, who himself has a lengthy history of facing infidelity and sexual assault accusations, tried to downplay the severity of Huang’s actions, a revelation that would’ve once buried any executive’s chances of saving face.

“I hope everything’s fine,” Trump told reporters on Sunday. “He’s done such an incredible job.”

More on Nvidia: Nvidia CEO Promises Not to Kill Everybody Before 2030

There are different levels of gaming immersion when it comes to haptics. On one side, you have controller haptics, which provide a bit of stimulation in games. There’s usually a nice little rumble from explosions or gunshots, and maybe a bit of vibration to give you some feedback while driving off-road.

On the other side, you have Razer’s two new gaming chairs, the $1,000 Soma Pro and the $570 Soma Sense HD Haptics, which feature some serious motors to really shake your spine. Both incorporate Razer Sensa HD Haptics, which the company first debuted as part of Project Esther back in 2024. There’s also THX Spatial Audio support and Razer Chroma RGB lighting built-in.

This isn’t an entirely new line for Razer. The Soma series is one the company has been working on for some years now. The Soma Chroma was the first wireless RGB gaming chair announced this summer for $499. Now Razer is rounding out its gaming chair lineup.

How immersive are these chairs?

Razer

Both chairs come with six haptic motor actuators built into each seat, unlike the $300 Razer Freyja, which was essentially a wired cushion you placed on top of your existing chair and plugged in. I actually owned the Freyja, and while it worked OK for some games, for a lot of others I tried it with, it just used a generic rumble without really customizing things. It was also very uncomfortable to sit on long-term, didn’t like the feeling of being tethered to a cable and ended up getting rid of it. A built-in wireless option, like these new chairs, seems like a much better solution to me.

Both new chairs deliver “multizone feedback” via Razer Sensa HD Haptics, and Razer says they should match the intensity, direction, and distance of in-game events. For example, an explosion off to the side will feel different from one that’s up close to you. So this isn’t just a generic rumble that applies to every situation; it’s customized based on the gameplay.

Razer lists more than 100 PC games that support integrated Sensa HD Haptics, including Battlefield 6, Borderlands 4, Marvel Rivals and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl. For everything else, the chairs use Audio-to-Haptics via Razer Synapse, converting audio into vibration, so the effect also works with games without native support, as well as with movies and music.

In theory, this should allow the feature to work on anything that supports controller vibration, but a Razer representative did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. On the Soma Pro, you can dial the overall intensity up or down in Synapse, or adjust each of the six motor zones individually.

Razer

It’s worth noting that, unlike the Freyja, both chairs are wireless, though that doesn’t mean they’re completely untethered since Razer hasn’t managed to break the laws of energy yet. Each chair draws power over a single USB-C connection, from either a wall outlet or a compatible power bank, to preserve what Razer calls a wireless-aesthetic setup. Neither a power bank nor a power adapter is included in the box, so budget for one if you want the cable-free look. That’s a downside because my LiberNovo Omni chair, which comes with adjustable lumbar support, a motorized spine, and even a massager setting, shipped with a rechargeable 2,200-mAh power bank.

Both chairs carry a three-year warranty on mechanisms and moving parts and a two-year warranty on electronic parts.

Soma Sensa HD vs. Soma Pro

Razer

Both Soma chairs share the same hardware, at least where you rest your backside. There’s a built-in lumbar arch intended to encourage a neutral sitting position, a dual-density cold-cured foam seat cushion with a softer top layer over a firmer core, and a backrest that reclines up to 132 degrees. Both have a steel frame and are rated for people up to 331 pounds. Razer lists the Soma Pro for people 5 feet, 5 inches to 6 feet, 6 inches tall, and the Sensa model for 5 feet, 3 inches to 6 feet, 6 inches.

For $1,000, the Soma Pro offers sound and light in addition to haptics. Built-in speakers deliver THX Spatial Audio directly from the chair. Yes, that’s right: you don’t need computer speakers; they’re right behind your head now. You can use them on their own, or pair them with front speakers to widen the soundstage, with the chair effectively handling the rear of the setup. It is the same idea Razer has used with Razer Clio headrest speakers before, now integrated rather than clipped on.

The Pro is also the only model in the line with Razer Chroma RGB. The reactive lighting uses 16.8 million colors, responds to on-screen action in more than 300 integrated games, and syncs with the rest of a Razer setup via Synapse. While I love a good light show, this isn’t really meant for the person seated in the chair. It seems designed for streamers and people watching you, since it doesn’t look like you can really see the light show unless you take your eyes off the stream.

The Pro also gets the line’s most adjustable fit: 4D armrests, a magnetic head cushion and a frog tilt mechanism, on a powder-coated aluminum alloy wheelbase.

The controls are on a built-in panel that switches between Razer HyperSpeed Wireless (2.4 GHz) for PC and Bluetooth LE for mobile, with a companion Razer Furniture app on the Pro for adjusting haptics, audio and lighting from a phone. The controls are a nice alternative to using Razer’s annoyingly overlapping and often invasive Synapse and Chroma software.

Price and availability

The $570 Soma Sensa HD Haptics chair keeps the same six-actuator haptic system and drops the speakers and the RGB. That makes it $70 more than the lighting-only Soma Chroma ($499), and $430 less than the Soma Pro ($1,000). If you already have a headset or speakers, which I’d assume you do as a gamer who’s considering a product like this, the Soma Sensa HD Haptics gets you most of the key features without the unnecessary extras.

Ajay Kumar

Smart Home & Robotics Editor

CNET’s Smart Home & Robotics Editor covering robot vacs, home appliances, smart home, and yard & outdoors. Built CNET’s lab-exclusive testing methodology and lab awards.

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