Sick! The Federal Aviation Administration is targeting gamers in its most recent job advertisement for air traffic controllers. The administration's annual hiring window opens at 12AM ET on April 17, and considering the ongoing shortage of air traffic controllers, it's calling this a period of "supercharged hiring." Rad! The FAA's YouTube video draws parallels between gaming and directing air traffic, and notes that the average salary for the role after three years is $155,000. Hella! The FAA is clearly seeking players who are at least old enough to remember the Xbox One and Bjergsen in the LCS, which puts would-be candidates around their early 20s at least. It's either that, or the ad editors really just picked videos at random from the pile of stock footage marked gamerz . But I won't lie, it made me smile to see that Xbox One logo appear out of nowhere. Nostalgia is a hell of a thing. "To reach the next generation of air traffic controllers, we need to adapt," US Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy said . "This campaign’s innovative communication style and focus on gaming taps into a growing demographic of young adults who have many of the hard skills it takes to be a successful controller." The FAA has been losing more air traffic controllers than it can hire and retain since the 2010s, and this trend only worsened during the pandemic in the 2020s, according to a report released in December by the US Government Accountability Office. The administration increased hiring every year since 2021, but at the end of 2025 it employed 13,164 air traffic controllers, 6 percent fewer than in 2015, the report said. At the same time, the number of flights in the air traffic control system increased by about 10 percent, to 30.8 million. Or, as the FAA put it on the ATC hiring page : "Join the BEST AND BRIGHTEST, the elite squad of 14,000 controllers protecting 2.9 million daily passengers." Applicants must be a US citizen, under 31 (maybe those video editors do know what they're doing), and be able to speak fluent English. An aptitude test, medical screening and academy training follows, among other steps. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-faa-is-encouraging-gamers-to-get-jobs-in-air-traffic-control-230308014.html?src=rss
XChat is now on the App Store , where its listing says that it’s expected to be available for download on April 17. This isn’t the same IRC app from the early aughts, which you may remember if you’re of a certain age. This is a messaging app specifically for X users. X chief Elon Musk first talked about rolling out a new version of his social network’s direct messaging feature in mid-2025. In a series of posts back then, he said the new version would be encrypted and would feature a “whole new architecture.” He also said all X users were getting XChat in June last year, but Musk is pretty infamous for being overly optimistic about timelines. Now, instead of an upgraded DM feature on X, users are getting a standalone app. It allows them to chat with anybody on X and call each other across devices. The app is end-to-end encrypted and will let users edit and delete their messages for all participants in the conversation. It will also allow users to block screenshots and enable disappearing messages if they want the sensitive details they send in-chat to vanish within five minutes. The app allows users to create massive group chats with up to 481 members, as well. X promises in the App Store listing that XChat will not have ads and will not be tracking users. Users can now pre-order XChat for iPhones and iPads so that it automatically downloads on their device when it comes out. Your encrypted chats deserve their own app. Pre-order now: https://t.co/TM8Lk7AMGV pic.twitter.com/ZJ3yROXK1t — XChat (@chat) April 10, 2026 This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/xs-messaging-app-xchat-may-be-available-soon-114722904.html?src=rss
Earlier this year, a relatively unknown startup from Finland made a startling announcement: It had finally solved solid-state batteries. Not only that, but Donut Lab, a spinoff of Verge Motorcycles, said that its solid-state battery - long considered the "Holy Grail of batteries" for their high-density, durable, fast-charging abilities - would go into production later […]
