Tech and Sports Meet Price Hikes and Innovations

In a week that saw significant developments in both the tech and sports worlds, several key stories caught our attention. From price hikes at European hosting provider Hetzner to innovations in AI and earbud technology, there's been no shortage of exciting updates.

First, Hetzner announced a substantial price increase of up to 38% for its Cloud VPS offerings. The move comes as the company struggles to keep pace with growing demand, driven by businesses and developers migrating to European tech alternatives. According to a statement, the price hike is also a result of increased hardware costs worldwide. This news may come as a blow to customers who have come to rely on Hetzner's services.

On a more positive note, Bose is offering its Ultra Open earbuds at their lowest price ever. The earbuds, which typically retail for $299, are now available for $179.99 from Woot. This 40% discount is a significant saving for those in the market for high-quality, open earbuds. The Bose Ultra Open earbuds have been praised for their rich, robust sound, making them a great option for music lovers.

In the world of sports, Atletico Madrid is set to take on Club Brugge in the Champions League. The match, which kicks off on February 24, promises to be an exciting one, with the score tied 3-3 going into the second leg. Fans can catch the action live on Virgin Media Player, with the option to access the stream from anywhere in the world using ExpressVPN.

In other tech news, PgDog, a proxy for scaling PostgreSQL, has been making waves with its ability to support connection pooling, load balancing queries, and sharding entire databases. Written in Rust, PgDog is fast, secure, and can manage thousands of connections on commodity hardware. This innovative tool is sure to be of interest to developers and businesses looking to optimize their database performance.

Finally, Anthropic Education has released a report on the AI Fluency Index, which tracks the development of skills in individuals using AI tools. The report highlights the importance of AI fluency in everyday life, as more people integrate these tools into their daily routines. By studying the presence or absence of a taxonomy of behaviors, the report aims to understand how people develop "fluency" with AI technology over time.

Overall, it's been an exciting week in the worlds of tech and sports, with significant developments in pricing, innovation, and performance. Whether you're a business looking to optimize your database or a sports fan eager to catch the latest Champions League action, there's something for everyone in this week's updates.