Have you heard' The hybrids are coming. As sales growth falters for electric vehicles, particularly in the United States, automakers have started to turn their gaze toward the EV's less-charged-up cousins. Some may see hybrids as less sexy, or less worthy, than full-electric cars. But global government emissions rules, along with hybrids' reputation as an EV 'gateway drug,' have made these cars an attractive stop on the electrified vehicle roadmap. Expect to see way more of them for sale in the coming years. Alas, the world of hybrids is confusing. Some plug in for power; some don't. Some can avoid gas fuel altogether; some won't operate without it. As a result, some come with big emissions (and gas money) savings. Frustratingly, some commentators call all hybrids, well, 'hybrids,' without specifying which technology they're using. The electric-curious car buyer will want to know a few key terms'and acronyms. Your standard gas-powered car has an internal combustion engine, so it's sometimes called an ICE vehicle. These vehicles tend to produce the most emissions. On the other side of the spectrum are battery-electric cars, or EVs or BEVs, which are powered by a battery connected to an electric motor. (Confusingly, some data sources group plug-in hybrids under the larger EV umbrella.) BEVs must be plugged in to charge up. The climate friendliness of these depends, to a degree, on what's inside their batteries and how your local electricity grid is powered, but plenty of research has confirmed that EVs always produce fewer lifetime emissions than ICE vehicles....

As Elon Musk steps away, yet again, from the idea of a $25,000 Tesla, let's take this opportunity to zoom out and appreciate what a truly affordable EV can be. For this we need to ignore the Nissan Leaf'currently the cheapest EV in the US at $29,280'and skip over Europe, home to the adorable but flawed $10,000 Citroen Ami, and head to China. But what if even that is too expensive' Then allow us to present the Zhidou Rainbow. This is a compact city EV priced from 31,900 yuan before subsidies'that's just $4,400. For a new electric car. WIRED literally recommends ebikes that cost more that this. The Rainbow has three doors and four seats, and an interior with a 5-inch digital driver display and a 9-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system. There's even a connected smartphone app, charge scheduling, and the promise of over-the-air (OTA) software updates. Splash out on the flagship Color Cloud Edition (which costs $5,800, or about half the price of Porsche's fanciest bicycle) and you can have each panel of your Rainbow painted a different color. A bit like Volkswagen did with the somewhat mad Polo Harlequin in the mid '90s....

The Xiaomi Watch S3 is an affordable smartwatch with a highly customizable look that includes swappable bezels. It can track your health, fitness, and sleep, bring phone notifications to your wrist, and last several days between charges. The downside' It runs Xiaomi's software, which feels a bit basic, and you can forget about third-party apps. Closing in on a month with the Xiaomi Watch S3, I'm impressed by its tracking capabilities, considering the relatively low price, and the changeable bezels are a neat idea. But I'm also fine with saying goodbye to it. The Watch S3 has too many limitations for me, but it's important to remember that this device is less than half the price of the most affordable option in our best smartwatches guide. Before we dig in, it's worth noting that there is a global version of the Xiaomi Watch S3, but it's not sold in the US, there's no official US support, and certain features (like NFC for payments) vary by region. For folks who like to match their watch with their outfit, the Xiaomi Watch S3 has a unique trick up its sleeve in the shape of interchangeable bezels. Changing the strap on a watch can be impactful, but being able to change both the strap and bezel almost makes it look like a completely different device....

To give AI-focused women academics and others their well-deserved ' and overdue ' time in the spotlight, TechCrunch has been publishing a series of interviews focused on remarkable women who've contributed to the AI revolution. We're publishing these pieces throughout the year as the AI boom continues, highlighting key work that often goes unrecognized. Read more profiles here. Catherine Breslin is the founder and director of Kingfisher Labs, where she helps companies develop AI strategies. She has spent more than two decades as an AI scientist and has worked for Cambridge University, Toshiba Research, and even Amazon Alexa. She was previously an adviser to the VC fund Deeptech Labs and was the Solutions Architect Director at Cobalt Speech & Language. I always loved maths and physics at school and I chose to study engineering at university. That's where I first learned about AI, though it wasn't called AI at the time. I got intrigued by the idea of using computers to do the speech and language processing that we humans find easy. From there, I ended up studying for a PhD in voice technology and working as a researcher. We're at a point in time where there've been huge steps forward for AI recently, and I feel like there's a huge opportunity to build technology that improves people's lives....