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In the wake of the success of the Steam Deck, a portable gaming PC aimed at a casual audience, it was inevitable that Valve Software would dip its hands back into the hardware market. It just wasn’t expected quite this soon, or that Valve would pick quite so many fights at once.
Valve, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., announced Wednesday that it plans to expand its line of Steam Hardware gaming products. In addition to the Steam Deck, next year will see the release of a new Steam Machine, which is designed for living room play; a new Steam Controller, a high-durability game pad with a similar design to the Deck; and the Steam Frame, an all-in-one VR headset.
We currently know very little about the three new pieces of Steam Hardware aside from their existence and, broadly, their specs. Valve has said the new Machine is “six times as powerful” as the Deck, for example. Other details such as pricing are currently planned for release early next year.
The pricing is the biggest X-factor here. It’s not discussed as often as other factors, but one of the major reasons behind the Steam Deck’s overall success is arguably its price tag.
You can walk away with a functional Steam Deck for as little as $399, although the higher-end models are worth the extra money. By comparison, competitors’ models such as Microsoft’s Xbox ROG Ally start at $599.99, and several break the $1,000 mark.
Valve can certainly afford to pursue a razor-and-blades strategy with its hardware. Depending on who you choose to believe, anywhere from half to 75% of PC gaming worldwide goes through Steam. While Valve has its share of controversies and detractors, it’s also found a real-life infinite money cheat.
While the PC sector of the games industry is currently smaller than the console and mobile markets, it’s still a multi-billion-dollar industry. It’s also growing, with larger numbers of both younger players and the Asian market shifting to PCs for their gaming. Appealing to those audiences with an all-in-one desktop device is a smart overall move, especially if Valve opts to keep the price tag as low as it did for the Deck.
If Valve takes that affordability approach, then the new Steam Hardware is potentially disruptive to several different areas within the gaming industry. It could pose particular issues for Microsoft, which has recently begun talking about plans for its next-generation Xbox, and to Meta’s current prominence within the VR space.
The rumored plans for the next Xbox, at time of writing, are that it’s coming in 2027 and will essentially be a small, ultra-specialized PC. The Xbox ROG Ally’s unique operating system is seen as a sneak preview of what’s next for the living-room model, which will abandon Xbox’s unique identity in favor of a Windows-based “Xbox Experience.”
Valve’s Steam Machine would theoretically ship with a similar overall feel. It would also have no capacity for physical media whatsoever, running entirely off of digital downloads from users’ Steam libraries.
Most crucially, it isn’t a Windows product. One of Valve’s stated goals for over a decade has been to promote PC gaming on Linux, in order to present players with an option besides Windows. With the next Xbox all but confirmed to be running Windows 11 (and thus Copilot), I’ve heard from a lot of players who are looking for alternatives.
For most of those players up until now, that alternative would’ve been buying a system from PlayStation or Nintendo. Now Steam is once again trying to take over consumers’ living rooms. If the Steam Machine is affordably priced, that could make it an attractive option for consumers who’re looking for a way out of Microsoft’s ecosystems.
Since the Steam Machine features the same plug-and-play options as the Steam Deck, it’s also an easy way to pick up a reasonably powerful computer that runs Linux out of the box. Plug a monitor, keyboard, and mouse into the Steam Machine and it automatically transitions into a Plasma desktop environment.
In a similar vein, the Steam Frame could not be more deliberately positioned as a competitive product for the Meta Quest line of virtual reality hardware. While the VR sector is still more active than people seem to realize, with steady growth in the market year-over-year, Meta currently controls an outsized amount of the conversation in the space. This is by virtue of selling the highest-end and most affordable headsets on the market.
Meta’s dominance in VR has actually been kind of a problem for me, because Meta is annoying. Meta Horizon is an obnoxious overall setup whenever I pull out my Quest; it keeps trying to shake me down for more personal details for some reason; and it’s got that inescapable Zuckerberg stink on it. If Valve can present a comparable option for a standalone headset, it could make some real headway in the space.
That having been said, I genuinely doubt that anyone at Valve itself is thinking in these terms. The general thrust behind the Steam Deck, according to its architects when I spoke to them a couple of years ago, was that it was done largely for the hell of it. While Steam higher-ups like Gabe Newell have always been forthright about their disdain for Windows, I’d be shocked if Valve’s new hardware venture is any kind of deliberate attempt at disruption. At most, it’s a new option.
It’s more likely that this round of Steam Hardware, and anything that comes in the future, is simply Valve finally kicking a project out the door. At this point in the company’s life, with no shareholders to appease, it’s still consistently content to pursue its own weird goals.
In a surprise Wednesday drop, Bellevue, Wash.-based Valve Software unveiled three new physical gaming devices intended to work with its digital storefront Steam.
Planned for release in early 2026, the devices are described as new parts of the “Steam Hardware family.” They include the Steam Machine, a small console intended for users’ living rooms; the Steam Frame, a lightweight VR headset; and a new Steam Controller, which features several new interfaces similar to those found on Valve’s Steam Deck.
“We’ve been super happy with the success of Steam Deck, and PC gamers have continued asking for even more ways to play all the great titles in their Steam libraries,” Gabe Newell, president of Valve, said in a press release.
“Our work over the years on other hardware and even more importantly on SteamOS has enabled Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame to do just that,” Newell said.
The Steam Machine is a 6-inch cube that’s designed to fit unobtrusively into a living room or entertainment center. It’s intended to quietly and efficiently run games from your Steam library, with a removable front panel for decorative purposes and an LED so users can readily tell when it’s on or off.
Like the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine runs on a Linux-based operating system that’s built around Steam. If plugged into a monitor and keyboard, it can be used as a standalone PC with a KDE Plasma desktop environment.
The Steam Frame is a standalone virtual reality headset that’s reportedly able to stream any game from users’ Steam library, with full controller input. It’s a PC in its own right, so it can be used by itself, rather than having to be hooked up to a desktop.
Finally, the Steam Controller “shares DNA” with the Steam Deck, and is described by Valve as “high-performance” and “ergonomic,” with magnetic thumbsticks, trackpads, a gyroscope, and buttons on the grips. In addition to being designed for the Steam Machine, the Steam Controller is compatible with PCs and laptops.
Announcing: New @steampowered.com Hardware, coming in 2026:Steam ControllerSteam MachineSteam Frame. Watch our jazzy announcement video and wishlist now: steampowered.com/hardware
— Valve (@valvesoftware.com) 2025-11-12T18:03:16.483Z
Valve’s announcement on Wednesday came roughly 10 minutes after a series of rumors and leaks that went viral in the PC gaming community, apparently spurred by an accidental release by one of Valve’s partner companies.
No announcements were made regarding exact release dates or prices for any of the devices, but Valve did state it hopes to share those details after the first of the year.
This is a full-circle move for Valve, which had previously attempted to break into both the controller and living room markets with similar devices. Previous editions of both the Steam Controller and Steam Machine were released in 2015 and discontinued in 2019. Valve still sells its high-end Valve Index VR system, which first came out in 2019, though it’s out of stock at time of writing.
This is a seemingly strange time for Valve to revisit its hardware divisions, but the Steam Deck’s success seems to have reignited its ambition to reshape the face of PC gaming. Newell has been vocal for years about how he believes Windows is a poor environment for computer games, and Valve has made a number of moves in recent memory that all come back to trying to expand Linux’s presence in the scene. Through that lens, the new 2026 Steam Machine in particular seems like another quiet shot across Microsoft’s bow.
Nice teachers don’t create the best impact on your life.
However, a tough teacher who tells it like it is definitely will.
Sometimes, you need teachers who are going to slap you in the face, bringing you back to reality.
That’s not bad at all, as we all need those wake-up calls every now and then.
I’m glad to have a teacher right now who does just that.
That’s what I want to discuss in this post.
_____________________________________________
In the trading community I’m in, we have a weekly call every single week where we analyze and look at where the market is at.
I find these calls beneficial, as I view them as guidance to how to go about my trades for that week.
One of the instructors of the program, will go on short rants here and there.
He’ll rant about why some students will deviate from the strategy we trade, especially when they’re not following the rules.
I’ve seen it happen time and time again where some students overthink things, think they can break the rules, or doubt what they’re being trained on.
I’ll admit: I did that once or twice early on, but boy did I learn my lessons the hard way.
I see why now I’m living my greatest lesson in patience and discipline.
Those two things are the only skills you need to be an effective trader.
Well, my instructor went on some rants and had it at times where he had to keep giving those reminders.
He would say something along the line of:
“Guys, quit overthinking it. You’re making it much harder on yourself than you need it to be. If you just follow the framework and go along with our guidance, you’ll do far much better than you think. This strategy works- Trying to deviate from it will make things that much harder.”
These are the types of things he’ll go over, and he’s had even worse rants as well.
In a way, they’re all good to help remind us of what to look out for.
It’s something that I admire about him as well.
Overtime, I’ve taken his words as solid advice.
But, I still do my homework and make the best calls I can make.
I think we all need that type of teacher or mentor in life, as it can make difference in how you go about the remainder of your life.
I give a lot of credit to him, as he’s helping me (and 1400+ students) become much more wealthier in the long-run.
___________________________________-
If I ever end up being a mentor or teacher to someone, I’ll want to give my own version of “The rath of Eric has arrived”.
From there, I’ll give my own reminders and key points to stop overthinking things, and tell my students to start doing the work.
If you do that, it’ll be that much easier. It’s why I’m glad I have those types of instructors in the trading program I’m part of.
If I wasn’t in this program, I don’t know where I’d be at.
Probably not making much money as I did back then.
But a good instructor or mentor pays off in the long run.
______________________
Through my journey in options trading, I’ve learned a lot of things and made many mistakes.
I’ve gotten better with trading, along with improving my level of patience.
I’m very patient, that it pays to be patient when the right time comes.
It’ll continue to work out in my favor when my trades don’t work in my favor.
In that case, I continue to be more patient.
If options trading is something you want to learn more about, I encourage you to check out my first eBook that goes over it.
In Nothing But 1%, I go over the current situation that’s taking place in the U.S. what options are, and how you can leverage them to your advantage.
If you want to grab your free copy, sign up for my email list. Plus, you’ll get some other neat bonuses as well.
Until tomorrow,
-Eric
What A Real Teacher Is Like In Trading was originally published in Coinmonks on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
It’s become a truism that facts alone don’t change people’s minds. Perhaps nowhere is this more clear than when it comes to conspiracy theories: Many people believe that you can’t talk conspiracists out of their beliefs.
But that’s not necessarily true. It turns out that many conspiracy believers do respond to evidence and arguments—information that is now easy to deliver in the form of a tailored conversation with an AI chatbot.
In research we published in the journal Science this year, we had over 2,000 conspiracy believers engage in a roughly eight-minute conversation with DebunkBot, a model we built on top of OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo (the most up-to-date GPT model at that time). Participants began by writing out, in their own words, a conspiracy theory that they believed and the evidence that made the theory compelling to them. Then we instructed the AI model to persuade the user to stop believing in that conspiracy and adopt a less conspiratorial view of the world. A three-round back-and-forth text chat with the AI model (lasting 8.4 minutes on average) led to a 20% decrease in participants’ confidence in the belief, and about one in four participants—all of whom believed the conspiracy theory beforehand—indicated that they did not believe it after the conversation. This effect held true for both classic conspiracies (think the JFK assassination or the moon landing hoax) and more contemporary politically charged ones (like those related to the 2020 election and covid-19).
This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s series “The New Conspiracy Age,” on how the present boom in conspiracy theories is reshaping science and technology.
This is good news, given the outsize role that unfounded conspiracy theories play in today’s political landscape. So while there are widespread and legitimate concerns that generative AI is a potent tool for spreading disinformation, our work shows that it can also be part of the solution.
Even people who began the conversation absolutely certain that their conspiracy was true, or who indicated that it was highly important to their personal worldview, showed marked decreases in belief. Remarkably, the effects were very durable; we followed up with participants two months later and saw just as big a reduction in conspiracy belief as we did immediately after the conversations.
Our experiments indicate that many believers are relatively rational but misinformed, and getting them timely, accurate facts can have a big impact. Conspiracy theories can make sense to reasonable people who have simply never heard clear, non-conspiratorial explanations for the events they’re fixated on. This may seem surprising. But many conspiratorial claims, while wrong, seem reasonable on the surface and require specialized, esoteric knowledge to evaluate and debunk.
For example, 9/11 deniers often point to the claim that jet fuel doesn’t burn hot enough to melt steel as evidence that airplanes were not responsible for bringing down the Twin Towers—but the chatbot responds by pointing out that although this is true, the American Institute of Steel Construction says jet fuel does burn hot enough to reduce the strength of steel by over 50%, which is more than enough to cause such towers to collapse.
Although we have greater access to factual information than ever before, it is extremely difficult to search that vast corpus of knowledge efficiently. Finding the truth that way requires knowing what to google—or who to listen to—and being sufficiently motivated to seek out conflicting information. There are large time and skill barriers to conducting such a search every time we hear a new claim, and so it’s easy to take conspiratorial content you stumble upon at face value. And most would-be debunkers at the Thanksgiving table make elementary mistakes that AI avoids: Do you know the melting point and tensile strength of steel offhand? And when your relative calls you an idiot while trying to correct you, are you able to maintain your composure?
With enough effort, humans would almost certainly be able to research and deliver facts like the AI in our experiments. And in a follow-up experiment, we found that the AI debunking was just as effective if we told participants they were talking to an expert rather than an AI. So it’s not that the debunking effect is AI-specific. Generally speaking, facts and evidence delivered by humans would also work. But it would require a lot of time and concentration for a human to come up with those facts. Generative AI can do the cognitive labor of fact-checking and rebutting conspiracy claims much more efficiently.
In another large follow-up experiment, we found that what drove the debunking effect was specifically the facts and evidence the model provided: Factors like letting people know the chatbot was going to try to talk them out of their beliefs didn’t reduce its efficacy, whereas telling the model to try to persuade its chat partner without using facts and evidence totally eliminated the effect.
Although the foibles and hallucinations of these models are well documented, our results suggest that debunking efforts are widespread enough on the internet to keep the conspiracy-focused conversations roughly accurate. When we hired a professional fact-checker to evaluate GPT-4’s claims, they found that over 99% of the claims were rated as true (and not politically biased). Also, in the few cases where participants named conspiracies that turned out to be true (like MK Ultra, the CIA’s human experimentation program from the 1950s), the AI chatbot confirmed their accurate belief rather than erroneously talking them out of it.
To date, largely by necessity, interventions to combat conspiracy theorizing have been mainly prophylactic—aiming to prevent people from going down the rabbit hole rather than trying to pull them back out. Now, thanks to advances in generative AI, we have a tool that can change conspiracists’ minds using evidence.
Bots prompted to debunk conspiracy theories could be deployed on social media platforms to engage with those who share conspiratorial content—including other AI chatbots that spread conspiracies. Google could also link debunking AI models to search engines to provide factual answers to conspiracy-related queries. And instead of arguing with your conspiratorial uncle over the dinner table, you could just pass him your phone and have him talk to AI.
Of course, there are much deeper implications here for how we as humans make sense of the world around us. It is widely argued that we now live in a “post-truth” world, where polarization and politics have eclipsed facts and evidence. By that account, our passions trump truth, logic-based reasoning is passé, and the only way to effectively change people’s minds is via psychological tactics like presenting compelling personal narratives or changing perceptions of the social norm. If so, the typical, discourse-based work of living together in a democracy is fruitless.
But facts aren’t dead. Our findings about conspiracy theories are the latest—and perhaps most extreme—in an emerging body of research demonstrating the persuasive power of facts and evidence. For example, while it was once believed that correcting falsehoods that aligns with one’s politics would just cause people to dig in and believe them even more, this idea of a “backfire” has itself been debunked: Many studies consistently find that corrections and warning labels reduce belief in, and sharing of, falsehoods—even among those who most distrust the fact-checkers making the corrections. Similarly, evidence-based arguments can change partisans’ minds on political issues, even when they are actively reminded that the argument goes against their party leader’s position. And simply reminding people to think about whether content is accurate before they share it can substantially reduce the spread of misinformation.
And if facts aren’t dead, then there’s hope for democracy—though this arguably requires a consensus set of facts from which rival factions can work. There is indeed widespread partisan disagreement on basic facts, and a disturbing level of belief in conspiracy theories. Yet this doesn’t necessarily mean our minds are inescapably warped by our politics and identities. When faced with evidence—even inconvenient or uncomfortable evidence—many people do shift their thinking in response. And so if it’s possible to disseminate accurate information widely enough, perhaps with the help of AI, we may be able to reestablish the factual common ground that is missing from society today.
You can try our debunking bot yourself at at debunkbot.com.
Thomas Costello is an assistant professor in social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. His research integrates psychology, political science, and human-computer interaction to examine where our viewpoints come from, how they differ from person to person, and why they change—as well as the sweeping impacts of artificial intelligence on these processes.
Gordon Pennycook is the Dorothy and Ariz Mehta Faculty Leadership Fellow and associate professor of psychology at Cornell University. He examines the causes and consequences of analytic reasoning, exploring how intuitive versus deliberative thinking shapes decision-making to understand errors underlying issues such as climate inaction, health behaviors, and political polarization.
David Rand is a professor of information science, marketing and management communication, and psychology at Cornell University. He uses approaches from computational social science and cognitive science to explore how human-AI dialogue can correct inaccurate beliefs, why people share falsehoods, and how to reduce political polarization and promote cooperation.
When I was a kid, my mom used to call my Nintendo the “anti-social idiot box.” The widespread assumption back then was that video games, in any format, were a new and particularly efficient way to waste time and money while also becoming an obsessed shut-in.
Over the course of the subsequent decades, video games have grown into both a multi-billion-dollar industry and a much more socially acceptable hobby. While gaming does attract its share of anti-social obsessives, just like any other form of media, I’ve found it’s much more common for people to meet and bond over their mutual enjoyment of the hobby.
Whether it’s friends you meet through MMORPGs or fighting games, finding stories and characters that deeply resonate with you, or discussing your latest game in a shared space like Bluesky or a message board, video games often have a positive impact on the people who play them. That impact simply doesn’t get a fraction of the press of gaming’s various downsides.
That ability is the focus of a new paper from the University of Washington, “’I Would Not Be This Version of Myself Today’: Elaborating on the Effects of Eudaimonic Gaming Experiences.” The paper, by Nisha Devasia, Georgia Kenderova, Julie A. Kientz, Jin Ha Lee, and Michele Newman, was the focus of a presentation this month at the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI-PLAY) in Pittsburgh.
For the paper, the authors surveyed 166 respondents about the “meaningful experiences” they’d had as a result of playing video games, such as rich storytelling, becoming interested in specific skill development, or the experience of watching a narrative shift based upon the player’s in-game actions.
According to the paper’s abstract, “While much of the research in digital games has emphasized hedonic experiences, such as flow, enjoyment, and positive affect, recent years have seen increased interest in eudaimonic gaming experiences, typically mixed-affect and associated with personal meaningfulness and growth.”
Of the 166 respondents, 78% reported that they’d had meaningful, life-changing experiences from their time playing video games, the researchers said in a UW News story about the paper.
“We highlighted three conclusions drawn from modeling the data,” Devasia told UW News. “The first is that playing games during stressful times was strongly correlated with positive outcomes for physical and mental health. For example, during COVID, people played games they felt strongly improved their mental health, such as Stardew Valley.”
Devasia also noted that other respondents had developed new interests, such as sports, due to video games they’d played, or gained insight into themselves or their identities from the journeys undertaken by video game protagonists.
“Playing as a character and seeing your choices change the course of events is pretty unique to games, compared with other narrative media like novels or movies,” Devasia said.
“As researchers, we develop games for learning, for instance, for teaching people about misinformation or AI, or promote digital civic engagement, because we want to foster meaningful experiences,” Lee added. “But a lot of the existing research just focuses on the short-term effects of games. This study really helps us understand what actually caused a game to make a difference in someone’s life.”
It sounds obvious at first glance if you’re someone who grew up around video games. It’s almost a given that there’s at least one game that made a serious mark on you somehow, especially if you live in a heavily nerd-coded space like the greater Seattle area.
Anecdotally, that strikes me as an underexplored part of the hobby. If anything, there’s a strange critical drive in the space to deliberately treat gaming as disposable pop culture, without any real meaning or lasting value. If you read any op-ed in the gaming press that discusses the cultural or political meaning of a video game, someone will inevitably show up in the comments to accuse the author of overthinking something that isn’t meant to matter. It’s “just a game.”
Even so, modern video games have just as much ability to resonate with their audience as any novel or film, and people who’ve grown up with them will take lessons away from that. It’s something we don’t discuss often enough in the field; we’ll talk at length about how video games are fun or socially acceptable now or a surprisingly big business, but their influence as culture is less discussed.
“People have a tendency to treat technology as a monolith, as if video games are either good or bad, but there’s so much more nuance,” Kientz told UW News. “The design matters. This study hopefully helps us untangle the positive elements. Certainly, there are bad elements — toxicity and addictiveness, for example. But we also see opportunities for growth and connection.”
For the last two years, Microsoft’s video game division has been working to meet financial targets that are well in excess of the typical industry standard, which has led to waves of layoffs, canceled projects, and a general perception that the company is scrambling.
These allegations come from a new report from Bloomberg journalists Jason Schreier and Dina Bass, who reported that Xbox has been told it’s expected to work toward a profit margin of 30% across the board.
As far as can be told from outside Microsoft, this is significantly above Xbox’s profit baseline. A typical quarterly report from Microsoft only discloses revenue, but as noted by TweakTown, Xbox head Phil Spencer testified in court in 2022 that “the Xbox business today runs at a single-digit profit margin.”
It’s worth noting that even the biggest game studios usually maintain a profit margin of roughly 20% under typical circumstances. As an example, Xbox subsidiary Activision Blizzard, which runs some of the most popular games-as-a-service in the world today, “only” had a profit margin of 22-to-25% two years ago before Microsoft’s acquisition completed.
Even Sony, Microsoft’s primary competitor in the console space and the makers of the PlayStation 5, reportedly only runs at a 9.5% profit margin. Through that lens, any video game company that’s honestly eyeing a consistent 30% is living in a dream world.
The new financial target reportedly came directly from Microsoft CFO Amy Hood in the fall of 2023, which marked the start of a series of big decisions and policy reversals at Xbox.
Since then, Microsoft has drawn fire for multiple waves of layoffs; reorganized several subsidiaries such as Halo Studios; raised the base MSRP of the Xbox Series X twice so far this year; made moves to phase out physical media; officially ported many of its hit first- and third-party games to PlayStation and Switch; and canceled multiple highly-anticipated game projects such as Rare’s Everwild, a reboot of Perfect Dark, and ZeniMax’s MMO code-named Project Blackbird.
Earlier this month, Microsoft hiked the price of its Xbox Game Pass subscription service, claiming it was part of a significant “upgrade package.” Less relevantly to consumers, it has also allegedly raised the price of Xbox development kits by $500, blaming unspecified “macroeconomic” factors.
Some of that, to be fair, is due to circumstances outside Xbox’s control such as the ongoing chaos over tariffs. This year has been a rough time to be a hardware manufacturer.
Xbox is also apparently locked into at least one more console generation, according to recent interviews with Microsoft’s Sarah Bond. The phrase that keeps coming up is “very premium, very high-end curated experience.” If the recently-released Xbox Ally is any indication, the next-gen Xbox will be something more like an expensive, user-friendly Windows PC than what we’d currently recognize as a game console.
For a while now, though, Xbox has come off like its left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing, which made little sense in the wake of reports that the division was both growing and pulling in increased revenue. If it’s being forced to contend with unrealistic expectations from higher up at Microsoft, however, that would explain the overall sense of disorganization.
This is one of the most infamous types of “creative accounting” in the video game industry: issue an inflated revenue forecast, then blame developers/titles when their games fail to reach those numbers. Square Enix notoriously came under fire for this in the 2010s with releases like the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. It was a solid success (3.4 million copies sold), but its publisher wanted a blockbuster, so it regarded the game as a failure. History repeats.
In theory, Xbox ought to be one of the leading voices in video games as a hobby and medium right now, but it’s being forced to burn much of its time and effort in an attempt to meet a profit goal that no company on Earth could expect to reach.
If you’re inclined to believe the rumor that’s been in circulation in Seattle this year, that Microsoft’s current leadership would like to shut down Xbox entirely so it can use those resources for more AI research, this is more data for your theory.
What’s pH? This is a question that usually makes new growers scratch their heads and reach for the pipe. The term pH refers to the level of alkalinity or acidity of a liquid substance. The pH scale starts at 0 and rises to 14. A value of 7.0 is considered neutral, with values over 7.0 being alkaline and values below 7.0 being acidic. The liquid is the nutrient solution being used to grow a healthy cannabis plant.
The nutrient solution is basically a cocktail of various chemicals. These chemicals can react to each other in a process called covalent bonding and form new chemicals that the plant can’t effectively use. This process of covalent bonding is largely dependent on the pH of the solution the chemicals are suspended in, in this case water. With the chemicals being used in the average hydroponic solution, a chemist would say that the optimum pH would be 7.0, which is neutral. In keeping the solution neutral, covalent bonding of the constituent parts of the solution will be kept to a minimum.
However, since cannabis plants like a different pH level for optimum growth, it’s okay to lower the pH and take the slight loss of nutrient value. Fast growing, leafy plants generally like a lower pH in the range of 5.2 to 5.9. Fortunately, a lower pH will bond fewer nutrients than a higher pH will. If the pH value goes beyond the optimum range of 5.2 to 5.9, undesirable levels of nutritional deficiency and toxicity will occur, both of which can seriously impede plant growth. Be vigilant.
In researching the various hydroponic methods in use, most of the growing media like rockwool, pea gravel and sand is relatively inert. That means the growing medium won’t react with the nutrients in the solution. For those methods that use inert media, a pH of 5.2 is recommended for optimal elemental uptake. It is at this pH level that the roots will assimilate the nutrients in the solution most efficiently. If the root has to work less to assimilate the required nutrients, the rest of the plant will benefit.
Measuring pH is relatively easy and there are quite a few choices in terms of methods. The most inexpensive and low-tech method for measuring just requires purchasing a pH kit and taking a sample from the nutrient solution. After following the directions, use the color chart to determine the pH of the solution.
This low-tech solution poses some obvious limitations, not the least of which is the difficulty in deciding which color is closest if you’ve been into the fruits of your previous harvest. The kits typically sell for $5 to $10.
If the pH isn’t the appropriate level for your plant, knowing what chemical to add to the nutrient solution and when is paramount to success as a grower. When the pH level is alkaline, meaning the pH level is above seven, it can be lowered with saltpeter, sulfuric acid or phosphorous. When the pH value is too low, it can be raised with calcium carbonate, lime or potash. Most fertilizers cause a pH change in the nutrient solution. Adding fertilizer to the nutrient solution almost always results in a more acidic pH, so adjust accordingly.
Handling all of these chemicals safely is important. As a general rule, never use metal. Instead opt for glass or plastic or the nutrients will react with the elements in the metal and mess up the nutrient ratios. Never add the acid to the vat of nutrient. Fill a small glass container with the nutrient to be balanced and add a few drops of the necessary chemical. Stir it in well and add small amounts at a time to the large vat of nutrient until the proper pH balance is achieved.
As time goes on, the amount of salts produced by the breakdown of fertilizers in the medium causes it to become increasingly acidic. Eventually, the concentration of these salts in the medium will stunt the plant and cause browning out of the foliage. As the plant gets older, its roots become less effective in bringing food to the leaves. To avoid the accumulation of these salts in the medium and to ensure that the plant is getting all of the food it needs, be sure to flush the system with clean, pH-balanced water every couple of weeks. Do this in lieu of that cycle’s feeding.
There’s always been a big debate over when to adjust your pH – before and after you add nutrients to the water, or just after. The truth is, growers can do both. The reasoning for doing both is that water is rarely dead on neutral. It’s either acidic or alkaline, depending on the region. Render the water neutral first by bringing it to a pH of 7.0. Then add the nutrients to that chemically-neutral solution and adjust to the desired range within 5.2 to 5.9 pH.
Because there are so many factors that go into the delicate art of cultivating cannabis, learning how to properly measure and adjust the pH balance on nutrient solutions will have a clear effect on the appearance, potency and health of cannabis plants. Practicing and perfecting this step will be what makes a grower’s crop stand out from the crowd.
TELL US, have you taken pH into consideration when growing cannabis plants?
The post What’s pH? Understanding and Measuring pH in Your Grow Room appeared first on Cannabis Now.
Whether you're trying to lose weight, maintain a healthy weight or improve your diet, creating a balanced meal plan can be an effective way to begin.
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Forget the hounds. Police in China are releasing the squirrels.
Law enforcement in the city of Chongqing reportedly announced that it is training a team of drug-sniffing squirrels to help locate illicit substances and contraband.
Insider reports that the police dog brigade in the city, located in southwestern China, “now has a team of six red squirrels to help them sniff out drugs in the nooks and crannies of warehouses and storage units.”
According to Insider, “Chongqing police told the state-linked media outlet The Paper that these squirrels are small and agile, and able to search through tiny spaces in warehouses and storage units that dogs cannot reach,” and that the “squirrels have been trained to use their claws to scratch boxes in order to alert their handlers if they detect drugs, the police said.”
“Squirrels have a very good sense of smell. However, it’s less mature for us to train rodents for drug search in the past in terms of the technology,” said Yin Jin, a handler with the police dog brigade of the Hechuan Public Security Bureau in Chongqing, as quoted by the Chinese state-affiliated English newspaper Global Times.
“Our self-developed training system can be applied to the training of various animals,” Yin added.
The newspaper noted that in contrast to drug dogs, “squirrels are small and agile, which makes them good at searching high places for drugs.”
According to Insider, “China’s drug-sniffing squirrels may well be the first of their kind,” although “animals and insects other than dogs have also been used to detect dangerous substances like explosives.”
“In 2002, the Pentagon backed a project to use bees to detect bombs. Meanwhile, Cambodia has deployed trained rats to help bomb-disposal squads trawl minefields for buried explosives,” Insider reported. “It is unclear if the Chongqing police intends to expand its force of drug-sniffing squirrels. It is also unclear how often the squirrel squad will be deployed.”
China is known for its strict and punitive anti-drug laws.
According to the publication Health and Human Rights Journal, “drug use [in China] is an administrative and not criminal offense; however, individuals detained by public security authorities are subject to coercive or compulsory ‘treatment.’”
The journal explains: “This approach has been subject to widespread condemnation, including repeated calls over the past decade by United Nations (UN) agencies, UN human rights experts, and human rights organizations for the country to close compulsory drug detention centers and increase voluntary, community-based alternatives. Nonetheless, between 2012 and 2018, the number of people in compulsory drug detention centers in China remained virtually unchanged, and the number enrolled in compulsory community-based treatment rose sharply.”
“In addition to these approaches, the government enters all people detained by public security authorities for drug use in China into a system called the Drug User Internet Dynamic Control and Early Warning System, or Dynamic Control System (DCS),” the journal continues. “This is a reporting and monitoring system launched by the Ministry of Public Security in 2006. Individuals are entered into the system regardless of whether they are dependent on drugs or subject to criminal or administrative detention; some individuals who may be stopped by public security but not formally detained may also be enrolled in the DCS”
The Dynamic Control System “acts as an extension of China’s drug control efforts by monitoring the movement of people in the system and alerting police when individuals, for example, use their identity documents when registering at a hotel, conducting business at a government office or bank, registering a mobile phone, applying for tertiary education, or traveling,” according to the journal.
The post Chinese Police Enlist Drug-Sniffing Squirrels appeared first on High Times.
Cannabis consumers in Washington state may soon be subject to a “dank tax.”
Lawmakers there have introduced a bill that would tax marijuana products based on the percentage of THC.
In other words: the stronger the weed, the higher the price.
“Research indicates that between 12 and 50% of psychotic disorders could be prevented if high potency cannabis products were not available,” said Washington state House Rep. Lauren Davis, one of the sponsors of the bill, as quoted by local news station KXLY.
Davis believes that the measure is necessary to combat what she describes as a “crisis.”
“If we fail to act now to counter the emerging public health crisis created by high potency cannabis products, we will soon have another epidemic on our hands,” Davis added.
The legislation, House Bill 1641, would restructure “the 37 percent cannabis excise tax to a tax of 37 percent, 50 percent, or 65 percent of the selling price, based on product type and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentration,” according to an official legislative summary of the measure.
“[Thirty-seven] percent of the selling price on each retail sale of cannabis-infused products, useable cannabis with a THC concentration less than 35 percent, and cannabis concentrates with a THC concentration less than 35 percent,” the summary read. “[Fifty] percent of the selling price on each retail sale of cannabis concentrates and useable cannabis with a THC concentration of 35 percent or greater but less than 60 percent; and 65 percent of the selling price on each retail sale of cannabis concentrates and useable cannabis with a THC concentration greater than 60 percent.”
HB 1641, which had its first public hearing last week, would also establish the following, per the legislative summary:
“Marketing and advertising prohibitions on advertising a product that contains greater than 35 percent total THC … Prohibits cannabis retail outlets from selling a cannabis product with greater than 35 percent total THC to a person who is under age 25 who is not a qualifying patient or designated provider … Requires cannabis retailers to provide point-of-sale information to consumers who purchase certain cannabis products and requires the Liquor and Cannabis Board to develop optional training for retail staff … Requires mandatory health warning labels for cannabis products that contain greater than 35 percent total THC … Requires cannabis products to be labeled with the number of serving units of THC included in the package, and with an expression of a standard THC unit in volume or amount of product … Directs $1 million annually from the Dedicated Cannabis Account for targeted public health messages and social marketing campaigns.”
Not everyone is on board with the proposal, which has a dozen sponsors.
Carol Ehrhart, who owns a dispensary in the state, told KXLY that the proposed tax increase could lead to some adverse consequences.
“There’s this, you know, idea that the THC is going to get me further along. The higher that we make those prices, the more apt someone is to buy the higher priced item because they think they’re getting more bang for their buck when they’re really not,” Ehrhart told the station.
“A product that we’re selling right now for $40 that’s over the 60% threshold would go to $47, almost $48. You know, that’s seven or $8 in taxes on one piece of product,” Ehrhart added.
Washington became one of the first two states to legalize recreational cannabis in 2012, when voters there approved a measure that legalized possession and paved the way for a regulated market. (Colorado also approved a legalization measure the same year.)
The post Washington Lawmakers Propose Raising Taxes on Higher Potency Weed appeared first on High Times.
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