All posts tagged: skyrocketing

Is ADHD really on the rise? A paediatric neurologist reveals the truth behind the ‘skyrocketing’ cases

Is ADHD really on the rise? A paediatric neurologist reveals the truth behind the ‘skyrocketing’ cases

Published by Daniella Wilson

Only a few years ago, the acronym ADHD was barely part of our vocabulary – it sounded like a foreign language to most. Today, however, it’s rare not to know a child (or several) who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This raises a vital question: are cases actually on the rise? If we are seeing a genuine increase in children and teenagers with the condition, we then have to ask why.  Paediatric neurologist Dr Cristina Cordero points out that the actual prevalence of ADHD has remained stable over time, despite a growing public perception that cases are “skyrocketing”.  The expert stresses that the current consensus is clear: “There are not necessarily more cases of ADHD, but we are getting much better at detecting them.” Why are more children, teenagers and adults being diagnosed with ADHD? While the actual prevalence has remained stable for decades, it is far more common nowadays to know several children or teenagers with an ADHD diagnosis. As Dr Cordero points out, this is primarily due to a significant …

Anthropic’s Claude popularity with paying consumers is skyrocketing

Anthropic’s Claude popularity with paying consumers is skyrocketing

Published by skeptic

Whatever the final outcome for Anthropic from its feud with the Department of Defense, the attention it has generated — coupled with the company’s funny Super Bowl ads taking aim at OpenAI and the surging popularity of Claude Code — has made Anthropic more popular with consumers than ever. An examination of billions of anonymized credit card transactions from about 28 million U.S. consumers, conducted for TechCrunch by Indagari, a consumer transaction analysis company, shows Claude gaining paid subscribers in record numbers. Now, as with all big-data analysis, caveats exist. While this data is substantive, it doesn’t include every consumer. That means that Indagari can’t calculate Anthropic’s total current or new user numbers. It also doesn’t include Claude’s enterprise business (which is its bread and butter) or its free-tier users (those not paying Anthropic at all). Estimates for total Claude consumer users are all over the map (we’ve seen figures ranging from 18 million to 30 million) but Anthropic has not disclosed this data. A spokesperson did tell TechCrunch, however, that Claude paid subscriptions have …

Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart

Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart

Published by skeptic

Waymo is now providing 500,000 paid robotaxi rides every week across 10 U.S. cities, the company shared in a post on X this week. The eye-popping figure is reflective of the Alphabet-owned company’s accelerated commercial expansion. But it’s Waymo’s rate of growth in ridership and markets that offers a more compelling story.  In less than two years, the company’s average weekly paid robotaxi trips have grown tenfold, from 50,000 per week in May 2024 to 500,000 per week today. Over that same two-year timespan, Waymo has expanded within its initial markets of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles — and beyond them to Austin, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando. Those seven cities in the Sun Belt were all added in just the past year. Waymo’s robotaxi fleet has also grown, although the company has guarded those numbers and rarely provides updates. Data provided in December 2025 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows the company had 3,067 robotaxis equipped with its 5th generation self-driving system. The company still uses that …

Car insurance rates are skyrocketing in California. Here’s why

Car insurance rates are skyrocketing in California. Here’s why

Published by Sam Flores

Jeff Phillips, a retired computer consultant who lives in Oceanside, did a double take when he saw his auto insurance bill from Garrison Property & Casualty. It was nearly $300 more than last year. Phillips, 60, who primarily drives a 2010 Mercedes sport utility vehicle and owns other vehicles, is now paying $3,244 a year for coverage from the USAA subsidiary, despite a multicar and good-driver discount. “I didn’t have any incidents that would have caused it to go up,” he said. “So I was kind of shocked that it was going up as high as it was.” If, like Phillips, you’ve recently received your renewal for auto insurance in the mail and can’t quite believe how much it has gone up, you aren’t imagining things. The top 10 insurers in California got the nod last year to raise premiums an average of 6% — on top of a 15.4% hike in 2024 and a 13% jump in 2023, according to S&P Capital IQ. Add it all up and rates by insurers who write about …

Sports Betting Is Skyrocketing. Will It Take Over the Olympics?

Sports Betting Is Skyrocketing. Will It Take Over the Olympics?

Published by skeptic

That’s a lot of impressive acronyms, but what do groups like these actually do? And are they effective? Watching the Detectives For as long as legal sports gambling platforms have existed, people have tried to exploit them. That necessitates the presence of integrity agencies, which have existed in some form for decades. These agencies, Bjorn says, grew into their modern form in the early-to-mid 2000s in large part as a response to widespread match-fixing scandals in professional tennis. These incidents led to the 2008 formation of the Tennis Integrity Unit, which Bjorn says was one of the first such groups to lean heavily on data-driven analysis to proactively spot malfeasance. By tracking live betting patterns across various sportsbooks and networks, the integrity agency could ostensibly spot suspicious bets that might signal collusion, match-fixing, or some similar attempt to scam the system. Does some random second-round match at a small tournament suddenly draw 10 times the betting volume of similar matches, for instance? That might smell fishy to these agents, who could then coordinate with governing …

Apple Responds to Skyrocketing RAM and Storage Chip Prices

Apple Responds to Skyrocketing RAM and Storage Chip Prices

Published by skeptic

On an earnings call with equity analysts today, Apple CEO Tim Cook responded to fast-rising RAM and SSD storage chip prices in the supply chain. Cook said that rising memory chip prices had a “minimal impact” on Apple’s gross margin in the fourth quarter of the 2025 calendar year, but he does expect a “bit more of an impact” on the company’s gross margin in the current quarter. Cook added that Apple is aware of the rising prices and “will look at a range of options to deal with that” over the long term, if necessary. Apple reported record-breaking revenue of $143.8 billion last quarter, up 16% year-over-year, and it is predicting similar 13% to 16% year-over-year growth and gross margin of 48% to 49% in the current quarter, so the company is still reporting impressive earnings results despite concerns surrounding memory chip prices. Popular Stories Apple Unveils First New Products of 2026 Apple today introduced its first two physical products of 2026: a second-generation AirTag and the Black Unity Connection Braided Solo Loop for …

Health care costs are skyrocketing. Americans are starting to panic

Health care costs are skyrocketing. Americans are starting to panic

Published by Sam Flores

Andy Lilienthal, a 47-year-old freelance journalist and marketer, is one of millions who will be affected by the end of Affordable Care Acts subsidies. He and his wife, as small business owners, currently pay about $660 a month for health insurance through the ACA marketplace for two people with the help of ACA subsidies. But without the subsidies, they are looking at paying about $1,700 a month in 2026, which will cost more than their monthly mortgage in Portland, Oregon. “It’s caused a great amount of uncertainty,” Lilienthal told Salon in a phone interview. “It has definitely upped the anxiety levels around here, the stress levels … It’s been a real burden on pretty much everything right now.” During the 43-day long government shutdown, Democrats kept pushing to include an extension of the Obamacare subsidies in a spending package to reopen the government. However, eight Democrats sided with Republicans to end the record-breaking shutdown. President Donald Trump signed the spending bill into law without the health care measures, leaving potentially millions to go without health …