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Intermittent fasting, aka time-restricted eating, can help people lose weight—but the reason why may not be complicated hypotheses about changes from fasting metabolism or diurnal circadian rhythms. It may just be because restricting eating time means people eat fewer calories overall.

In a randomized-controlled trial, people who followed a time-restricted diet lost about the same amount of weight as people who ate the same diet without the time restriction, according to a study published Friday in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The finding offers a possible answer to a long-standing question for time-restricted eating (TRE) research, which has been consumed by small feeding studies of 15 people or fewer, with mixed results and imperfect designs.

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Depending on who you ask about AI (and how you define it), the technology may or may not be useful, but one thing is for certain: AI hype is dominating corporate marketing these days—even in fast food. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, corporate fast food giant Yum Brands is embracing an "AI-first mentality" across its restaurant chains, including Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, and Habit Burger Grill. The company's chief digital and technology officer, Joe Park, told the WSJ that AI will shape nearly every aspect of how these restaurants operate.

"Our vision of [quick-service restaurants] is that an AI-first mentality works every step of the way," Park said in an interview with the outlet. "If you think about the major journeys within a restaurant that can be AI-powered, we believe it’s endless."

As we've discussed in the past, artificial intelligence is a nebulous term. It can mean many different things depending on the context, including computer-controlled ghosts in Pac-Man, algorithms that play checkers, or large language models that give terrible advice on major city websites. But most of all in this tech climate, it means money, because even talking about AI tends to make corporate share prices go up.

Enlarge / A Google sign stands in front of the building on the sidelines of the opening of the new Google Cloud data center in Hesse, Hanau, opened in October 2023. (credit: Getty Images)

On Wednesday, authorities arrested former Google software engineer Linwei Ding in Newark, California, on charges of stealing AI trade secrets from the company. The US Department of Justice alleges that Ding, a Chinese national, committed the theft while secretly working with two China-based companies.

According to the indictment, Ding, who was hired by Google in 2019 and had access to confidential information about the company's data centers, began uploading hundreds of files into a personal Google Cloud account two years ago.

The trade secrets Ding allegedly copied contained "detailed information about the architecture and functionality of GPU and TPU chips and systems, the software that allows the chips to communicate and execute tasks, and the software that orchestrates thousands of chips into a supercomputer capable of executing at the cutting edge of machine learning and AI technology," according to the indictment.

Enlarge / Dispensers for Charged Lemondade, a caffeinated lemonade drink, at Panera Bread, Walnut Creek, California, March 27, 2023. (credit: Getty | Smith Collection/Gado)

A second person has died after drinking Panera's caffeinated "Charged Lemonade" drinks, which contain caffeine levels comparable to strong coffee and are sold in cups as large as 30 fluid ounces that are free to refill.

According to a lawsuit filed by family members Monday, 46-year-old Dennis Brown fell dead on a sidewalk from cardiac arrest while walking home from a Panera in Florida on October 9. Before he left the restaurant, he had ordered a Charged Lemonade and had two refills.

In September, college student Sarah Katz, 21, went into cardiac arrest after drinking a Charged Lemonade from a Panera in Philadelphia. Katz had a heart condition called long QT syndrome type 1 and had avoided energy drinks because of it, according to a lawsuit filed in October by her family.

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AI face detection now counts among the tools that could be used to help adult sites effectively estimate UK user ages and block minors from accessing pornography, the UK's Office of Communications (Ofcom) said in a press release on Tuesday.

The only foreseeable problem, Ofcom noted: There's little evidence that the AI method of age estimation will be fair, reliable, or effective.

The UK's legal age to watch porn is 18. To enforce that restriction, under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom will soon require all apps and sites displaying adult content to introduce so-called "age assurance" systems that verify and/or estimate user ages. Sites and apps risk potential fines if they fail to "ensure that children are not normally able to encounter pornography on their service."

Enlarge / The classic Mini Cooper made barely 60 hp by the time it bowed out in the mid-'90s. Gildred Racing will make you one with far more power, with either a mid-mounted V6 or, like this blue car, a Tesla drive unit. (credit: Gildred Racing)

Monterey Car Week always brings out the automotive industry’s heavy hitters, from world-class vintage cars to brand-new seven-figure track toys, classic Vespa scooters, and everything in between. And yet, a surprising duo wound up as my favorite experience of the week: driving a pair of two tiny “Super Coopers” brought to Monterey by Gildred Racing to promote the debut of a new Tesla-powered electric project.

The company's Super Cooper electric powertrain conversion might have deserved the lion’s share of headlines as the latest and greatest offering, but the company’s previous Super Cooper “S” also delivers an absurd 502 hp (375 kW) to the rear wheels from a mid-mounted supercharged V6.

Taking an expansive view, the pair truly serves as a microcosm that perfectly encapsulates the current enthusiast industry, right down to the differences between rear- and front-wheel drive—and even to this day, I can’t decide which I liked more.

Enlarge / OVC's Shelby Mustang recreations are accurate enough to be granted official papers to compete in historic racing. (credit: Michael Teo Van Runkle)

To Shelby Mustang fans, the Original Venice Crew (OVC) is the stuff of legends. This was the actual team that designed and built the original GT350s, Cobras, Daytona Coupes, and GT40s that introduced Carroll Shelby's name to the masses. Today, OVC builds modern Mustang re-creations so accurately that one was approved for last year's Le Mans Classic, which celebrated 100 years of the world's most famous endurance race.

But OVC also offers updated versions of those classics, bringing to life ideas that bounced around the shop back in the day but that Shelby never built in series production. Want a 1965 GT350 with independent rear suspension? OVC can do that, after dialing in a design that Ford originally believed would be too expensive as a replacement for the first-gen Mustang's solid rear axle.

These projects don't quite fit under the "restomod" umbrella, instead falling more along the lines of the ideas that OVC founder and boss Jim Marietta remembers from his days back at 1042 Princeton Drive. Think fender flares cut by hand rather than being machined or updated fiberglass front fascias to provide additional airflow.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images / Ubisoft / Aurich Lawson)

Five former Ubisoft executives have reportedly been detained for questioning by French authorities, years after they departed from the company amid widespread sexual assault allegations.

According to a report from France's Libération newspaper (as translated by GamesIndustry.biz), this week's arrests by the Bobigny public prosecutor's office include Ubisoft's former chief creative officer Serge Hascoët and ex-VP of editorial and creative services, Tommy François. Hascoët resigned from the company in July 2020, while Francois left less than a month later. A year after those departures, French labor union Solidaires Informatique worked with two of the alleged victims to file a formal complaint about the alleged assaults, which seems to have led to this week's move by French police.

It's not immediately clear who else has been caught up in this week's police actions or whether the former executives will be released from detention after questioning. Other high-profile Ubisoft employees who resigned or were fired amid the 2020 allegations include Assassin's Creed Valhalla director Ashraf Ismail, former Ubisoft Canada managing director Yannis Mallat; former Ubisoft PR director Stone Chin; former Ubisoft global head of HR Cécile Cornet, and former Ubisoft vice president of editorial Maxime Beland.

Enlarge / Mass-produced in the 1960s with a not-very special engine, the MGB is a rather good candidate for an electric conversion. (credit: Frontline Developments)

Electrifying classic sports cars is swiftly becoming big business. Battery-powered 911s, E-Types, Triumphs, and more have been around for a while, but the humble MGB has thus far been overlooked… until now. UK-based MG specialists Frontline Developments has a rich history of restoring, modifying, and generally sprucing up MGBs, and has decided that now is the time to inject a cleaner, greener heart into what was once a British sportscar staple.

The MG BEE EV is a neat little thing. Currently in prototype form, it's packing a 40 kWh battery attached to a 114 hp (85 kW) 162 lb ft (220 Nm) Hyper9 motor that sends power to the rear wheels via a five-speed Mazda Miata gearbox. Range is about 140 miles (225 km) if you drive sensibly, and charging takes about five hours. Frontline will build you one as a BEE GT (coupe), or Roadster should you wish to feel the wind in your beard as you roll along.

Frontline Developments is well known in the MG world. Founded in 1991 by Tim Fenna, it started with gearbox swaps, then widened its business with suspension, brake, and even engine upgrades for customers wanting a little more go. The company offers full restorations, as well as its own special editions from time to time. Its LE50 and Abingdon editions came with beautiful aesthetics, twinned with more modern (and powerful) internal combustion engines. It's launching a V8-powered LE60 alongside the BEE for those who fancy old-school thrills.