(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s nominee to oversee the U.S. Forest Service has a history of clashing with the very agency that he soon could be leading.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry began the confirmation hearing for Michael Boren, an investment consultant, Idaho ranch owner and founder of a billion-dollar tech company. A bipartisan committee will assess Boren’s qualifications and vote on his nomination.

Boren, 62, has had disagreements with the U.S. Forest Service in recent years. One recent conflict involves building a cabin and clearing land within the Sawtooth National Forest near Stanley, Idaho, E&E News reported, citing agency correspondence and individuals familiar with the situation.

He co-founded Boise-based tech company Clearwater Analytics and owns a 480-acre ranch, some of it within the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, according to the Idaho Mountain Express. The work on the property began before Boren was nominated, but the matter has not yet been resolved, according to the publication.

The dispute over the cabin is with Galena Mines, an LLC associated with Boren. He was a listed as manager until February of this year, before he was removed.

Other disputes include diverting a stream, disputes over how Boren manages land within and around the national forest and disagreements about the precise locations of mining claims made by Boren’s corporation, according to E&E News.

A small airstrip on Boren’s ranch also stirred uproar among neighbors who claim he was using it to land small planes before he was granted a conditional-use permit from the Forest Service, according to the report.

Attorney Thomas Balducci, who represented Boren for the 2023 lawsuit regarding the airstrip, declined to provide a comment to ABC News.

Boren’s brother, David Boren, has also clashed with the Forest Service over a trail the agency built near his ranch.

If confirmed as the undersecretary of Natural Resources and Environment, Boren would be responsible for day-to-day operations at the U.S. Forest Service, which manages more than 200 million acres of public land. Boren would report to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins.

The Senate Agriculture Committee reviews presidential appointments to the Department of Agriculture’s cabinet positions. After Tuesday’s hearing, a full Senate confirmation will be required to complete Boren’s appointment.

Current members of the committee include John Boozman (R-AR), Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).

Boren was a donor to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

On Jan. 16, Trump announced Boren’s nomination on his social media platform Truth Social, describing him as “a successful businessman, who has founded six companies.”

“Michael will work to reinvigorate Forest Management at a time when it is desperately needed,” Trump wrote.

The nomination comes at a time of turmoil within the agency. On April 3, Rollins issued an ordered to remove environmental protections from about 112 million acres of national forests, and thousands of Forest Service employees have been fired in recent months.

The Forest Service did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment. In a statement to the New York Times, the Forest Service wrote that Boren would “implement President Trump’s America First agenda and ensure our forest system is properly managed, productive, and resilient. We look forward to his swift confirmation by the Senate.”

ABC News could not immediately reach a representative for Boren for comment.

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By: Bryan Tropeano

Apple has officially scheduled WWDC 2025 for June 9–13. Whether you’re a developer, tech fan, or someone who loves upgrading their phone, this event promises to deliver exciting updates—especially when it comes to new iPhone features.

iOS 19 and the Biggest New iPhone Features Coming Your Way

The spotlight will be on iOS 19, Apple’s next major software update. Rumors suggest a focus on customization, smarter AI, and enhanced privacy controls. These new iPhone features might include interactive widgets, lock screen improvements, and better multitasking options, making your phone feel fresh and more intuitive.

How These Updates Could Change Messaging and AI

One hot topic is the possibility of Apple adopting RCS (Rich Communication Services) to enhance iMessage—an upgrade that would transform texting. Alongside that, AI-powered improvements to Siri and other system functions are expected to be some of the most talked-about new iPhone features this year.

Could WWDC 2025 Introduce Hardware to Showcase New iPhone Features?

While WWDC is mostly about software, Apple might drop hints or teasers about upcoming devices. New iPhone models or accessories could be revealed to showcase these new iPhone features in action, highlighting how the hardware and software work seamlessly together.

How These Updates Will Impact Your Everyday iPhone Use

Even if you’re not a tech geek, the updates revealed at WWDC 2025 will impact your daily phone use. From battery optimizations to smarter app suggestions, these new iPhone features aim to make your device faster, smarter, and more efficient.

Get Ready for the Future

Mark June 9 on your calendar—WWDC 2025 is where Apple will set the tone for the iPhone’s future. Whatever new iPhone features arrive, expect plenty of buzz and debate as users everywhere explore what’s next.

Before you go, don’t forget to check out these other tech stories to stay ahead of the curve and keep your gadgets game strong!

About the Author: Bryan Tropeano is a senior producer and a regular reporter for NewsWatch. He lives in Washington D.C. and loves all things Tech.

Business Today – Builder.ai, once touted as a revolutionary AI startup backed by Microsoft, has collapsed into insolvency after revelations that its flagship no-code development platform was powered not by artificial intelligence—but by 700 human engineers in India.

The company marketed its platform as being driven by an AI assistant named “Natasha,” which could supposedly assemble software applications like Lego bricks. But recent reports and commentary have revealed that behind the scenes, customer requests were manually fulfilled by developers, not machines.

Commenting on the unraveling, Ebern Finance founder Bernhard Engelbrecht described it in a widely circulated post on X: “Customer requests were sent to the Indian office, where 700 Indians wrote code instead of AI,” adding that the end products were often buggy, dysfunctional, and difficult to maintain. “Everything was like real artificial intelligence — except that none of it was.”

India has gotta get their shit together. They’ve been willingly letting themselves get beyond fleeced by the rest of the world (especially America) for decades. Probably centuries. I know there was a time where India had the most robust economy in the world, but somewhere along the line they just bent over and started taking it from the rest of us. I’m sure there’s a million examples of this, but my fiancee works for one of the major insurance companies. It’s an IT-adjacent job. She makes as much money as I do. Nothing crazy, but a solid salary for a 30+ year old American. But about half of the people she works with on a daily basis, people she relies on heavily to complete her job, are working from India. According to her, they’re pretty much as valuable as she is to the company (or maybe slightly less). They put as much time and effort into the job as she does. And I swear to God these guys are making something like $8,500 a year. Just preposterously low wages. I know the USD goes further in India. And I know there are WAY more people over there, so it’s a simple case of supply and demand. But God damn it India. Have some pride. Like, you can’t even get $20k a year for your people working full time jobs for hundred billion dollar corporations? These are people with valuable IT & programming skills who could legitimately make 10x that in the United States. When you look into what some people living in India who work for US companies are actually earning (not to mention the lengths they’ll go to commute-wise to even get to their office), it doesn’t even seem real. 

And the fact that there’s enough money in AI that it’s able to sustain a business comprised of 700 Indian dudes sitting in a call center for 8 years… It’s wild, it’s hilarious, it’s kinda sad, it’s so many things. BuilderAI managed to raise $445M from investors to back their company. Imagine being Sachin Dev Duggal, the found of BuilderAI who sat down to do that math and decided he could pull it off. He saw how valuable AI was. He saw how much money an AI program capable of accomplishing certain tasks was able to rake in. Then he thought to himself, “You know what? For that amount of money, I could afford 700 Indian programmers. I bet they could keep up with that workload.”

picture alliance. Getty Images.

What a legend. What a business model. Builder.AI in particular was marketed to businesses who wanted to build a software or an app without having to code it themselves. Builder.AI would do it for them. People sent their ideas to Builder.AI, and BuilderAI’s “innovative AI software” would spit them out an app. But as long as a warehouse full of Indian dudes were able to effectively get the job done, then who the hell cares how the sausage was made? 

Unfortunately the sausage tasted like shit. To the point that BuilderAI wasn’t able to keep up with costs, and had $37M seized by Viola Credit after defaulting on a $50M loan. 

Commenting on the unraveling, Ebern Finance founder Bernhard Engelbrecht described it in a widely circulated post on X: “Customer requests were sent to the Indian office, where 700 Indians wrote code instead of AI,” adding that the end products were often buggy, dysfunctional, and difficult to maintain. “Everything was like real artificial intelligence — except that none of it was.”

The downfall began when Viola Credit, a lender that extended $50 million to Builder.ai in 2023, seized $37 million after the company defaulted. That move paralyzed the startup’s ability to operate or pay employees. Additional funds held in India remain frozen due to regulatory restrictions, Bloomberg reported.

Once you can no longer pay your employees it’s game over. On top of that, they were misreporting sales. They were using pre-made templates to “create” their apps. Obviously this whole thing was probably never sustainable (unless they were able to raise enough money on the backs of 700 Indian dudes and use it to build a real AI program). Clearly whoever was investing in Builder.AI were in a large part investing in what it could be in the future, as opposed to what it actually was. But maybe there’s a world where if Builder.AI had played their cards right, they could have pulled off. Had they pulled it off, it would have been an incredible John Henry vs The Machine-esque story of mankind triumphing over technology (if John Henry was 700 dudes inside of a trench coach and working for slave wages). 

But in some ways, this is still kind of a win for mankind. There are still things AI isn’t capable of doing. And if someone is able to pull the wool over the eyes of a company like Microsoft because they’re so overeager to eliminate the human workforce entirely in favor of computers, then good for them.

But in other, more real ways, if companies are that overeager to shell out millions and millions of dollars for AI software as opposed to employing hundreds of people… that’s kinda scary. Apparently nobody even bothered to audit Builder.AI, or look into their software, or visit their offices. They just blindly jumped at the opportunity to throw money at the first company who claimed they were capable of building apps without the hassle of hiring human beings.

Maybe, if were lucky, this will be the first domino to fall in the biggest tech-scandal of our lifetimes. Where we all believed AI was taking over the world, but come to learn the likes of OpenAI, Google Gemini, Grok, etc., were just a bunch of Indians in a warehouse the whole time. Wouldn’t that be something. We all thought modern technological advancements were making it so certain tasks could be accomplished in an instant for pennies on the dollar, but in reality, it was the country of India wiling to work for $1.50/hour. We can only hope. 

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Blood Vision will be available in all 50 states starting next Tuesday, offering users insights across over 120 biomarkers and integrating with Ultrahuman’s wearable technology

Ultrahuman, known for its wearable health tracking devices, is launching a new platform called Blood Vision today. The product, which will be available across the U.S., is designed to offer a more detailed look into a person’s health by analyzing over 120 biomarkers.

Blood Vision pairs lab-based testing with data from Ultrahuman’s existing wearable, the Ring AIR, giving users the ability to track markers related to cardiovascular, hormonal, metabolic, immune, and aging-related health. The platform is intended to help users monitor their health over time, rather than just through occasional or isolated checkups.

“This approach helps people better understand how their body is functioning and how it’s changing,” said Ultrahuman CEO Mohit Kumar. “By combining blood analysis with continuous data from the Ring, we can give more context to what’s happening inside the body.”

Unlike traditional lab tests, which offer results at a single point in time, Blood Vision is designed to evolve with users. The company says this allows for more personalized insights and a clearer understanding of long-term health trends.

Ultrahuman’s broader goal is to provide tools that make health monitoring more accessible and proactive. With Blood Vision, the company adds a new layer to its platform, which already includes glucose monitoring and home health tracking tools.

Many Americans rely on their Apple Watches or similar devices each day to count their steps, track workouts, and measure how many calories they burn. But are those wearable devices accurate?

University of Mississippi professor Minsoo Kang and doctoral student Ju-Pil Choe are working to answer that question.

Kang, a professor of sports analytics, and Choe reviewed 56 studies that compared the Apple Watch to trusted reference tools in measuring energy burned, heart rate and step counts.

Data from the National Institutes of Health shows that wearable technology has become increasingly popular across all types of users, from elite athletes to the general population, whether active or sedentary. As early as 2015, about 1 in 8 Americans reported using a wearable activity monitor. By 2019, wearable tech had become the top fitness trend, and the market continues to expand.

“If people are using them to make decisions about their workouts or even medical conditions, the data should be accurate,” Choe said. “If the numbers are off, it could lead to confusion, overtraining or even missed health warnings.”

The Ole Miss researchers conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate how the device’s accuracy varied by age, health status, Apple Watch version and type of physical activity.

The findings showed that Apple Watches are generally accurate when measuring heart rate and step counts. The researchers reported mean absolute percent errors, a standard measure of accuracy, of 4.43% for heart rate and 8.17% for step counts, while the error for energy expenditure rose to 27.96%.

This inaccuracy was observed across all types of users and activities tested, including walking, running, cycling and mixed-intensity workouts.

The results indicated that Apple Watches can be a good support tool, such as for tracking basic activity after surgery, but they should not replace clinical tools or medical judgment, Kang said.

“These devices are great for keeping track of habits and staying motivated,” he said. “But do not take every number as 100% truth, especially the calories. Think of it as a helpful guide, not a diagnostic tool. It is useful but not perfect.”

The researchers noted that newer models seem to be more accurate.

“While we cannot say every update is a big leap forward, there is a noticeable trend of gradual improvements over time,” Choe said. “It shows that Apple is refining the technology over time.”

Kang said he hopes this study will help consumers make informed choices about buying and using wearable devices and help manufacturers improve the technology people rely on daily.

“By showing where the weaknesses are, we can help developers get real feedback,” he said. “If they know what needs to be fixed, they can design better sensors or algorithms. “Our findings can guide improvements and help make these devices more useful for both everyday users and health care providers.”

The study is published in the journal Physiological Measurement.