Coffee prices in the U.S. surged 18.3% in January, prompting many Americans to change their caffeine habits, according to the latest Consumer Price Index released on Friday. This price increase has led consumers like Chandra Donelson, a 35-year-old from Washington, D.C., to abandon their daily coffee routines, opting for cheaper alternatives or eliminating coffee altogether.
Donelson, who previously enjoyed daily coffee trips, stated, "I did that daily for years. I loved it. That was just my routine. And now it's not." This shift reflects a broader trend of consumers adjusting to rising costs.
Meanwhile, the tech world saw several significant developments. The Vim project announced the release of Vim 9.2, bringing enhancements to the Vim9 scripting language, improved diff mode, and comprehensive completion features, including fuzzy matching and direct word completion from registers. The new version also includes full support for the Wayland UI and clipboard, along with adherence to the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux and Unix-like systems, according to Hacker News.
In the realm of artificial intelligence, Chinese AI startup MiniMax unveiled its new M2.5 language model in two variants, promising to make high-end AI more affordable. The model was made open source on Hugging Face under a modified MIT License, requiring commercial users to display "MiniMax M2.5" on their user interface. The company's API and those of its partners are making the model incredibly cheap to use, according to VentureBeat.
However, the rapid deployment of open-source AI agents like OpenClaw has raised security concerns. VentureBeat reported that security leaders are worried about employees deploying OpenClaw on corporate machines, granting autonomous agents access to sensitive data. A one-click remote code execution flaw, CVE-2026-25253, allows attackers to steal authentication tokens and achieve full gateway compromise.
Finally, for those seeking alternatives to Google's Android operating system, there are options available that remove Google and its services from the system. While the iPhone is a potential alternative, it may not align with those seeking to distance themselves from tech giants, according to Wired.
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