It’s been a weird and confusing few weeks for the auto industry—especially for those who hoped to see more batteries on the road in the coming decade.

Just this month: Ford announced a retrenchment in its EV business, canceling some battery-powered vehicle plans and delaying others; the European Commission proposed to backtrack its goal to transition fully to zero-emission cars by 2035; the US government said it would loosen rules that would have required automakers to ratchet up the fuel economy of their fleets. BloombergNEF projects 14 million fewer EVs will be sold in the US by 2030 than it did last year—a 20 percent drop.

What has not changed, it seems, is California’s interest in shifting to cleaner transportation. “The state is doubling down on our zero-emission vehicle deployment, providing market certainty, and continuing to lead on clean transportation regardless of policy reversals elsewhere or shifts by automakers,” Anthony Martinez, a spokesperson for Governor Gavin Newsom, wrote in a statement to WIRED. He said the governor’s “commitment to accelerating California’s clean transportation transition hasn’t changed.”

In 2020, Newsom became one of the first lawmakers in the world to commit to full electrification when he signed an executive order directing state agencies to create rules that would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. Those rules eventually aimed to ratchet up the share of battery-electric vehicles, with an ultimate goal of a mix of pure EVs and plug-in hybrids. (The PHEVs could only account for about 20 percent of sales.) Several other states, including Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Washington State, pledged to do the same.

Earlier this year, the GOP-led Congress revoked, through legislation, California’s power to set its own clean air regulations. The state responded with a lawsuit, which is still being argued. Meanwhile, Newsom signed another executive order directing state agencies to further the state’s electrification goals in other ways.

Now auto industry experts and players say the state’s determination to push through policy and market changes to meet its now half-decade-old goal may be overly ambitious.

“Getting to 100 percent might be challenging,” says Stephanie Valdez Streaty, the director of industry insights at Cox Automotive. “There are a lot of headwinds.”

A coalition of California business groups have argued that the state’s goals even for next year—a requirement that 35 percent of model year 2026 vehicles sold are zero-emission—aren’t realistic, and that California should push back its goals for zero-emission new car sales. (Enforcement of the rules is paused while the larger battle with US Congress plays out.) Zero-emission cars accounted for 21 percent of the overall annual state new car sales as of the fall, according to the California New Car Dealers Association, well below the 35 percent goal. “The timeline needed to be adjusted,” says the group’s president, Brian Maas.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been the biggest talking point for IT leaders in 2025 – both the emerging capabilities and opportunities from the technology, and the challenges of implementing it at scale and in a way that delivers measurable benefits.

For the digital, data and technology leaders that Computer Weekly is privileged to talk to every week, building AI into their wider strategies and managing often over-hyped expectations just adds to the difficulties of one of the most important roles in any modern organisation.

All of that is taking place while they need to keep a tight rein on costs in a still difficult economy, and juggle skills shortages, talent development and ensuring cyber security. So, how well are they doing?

Computer Weekly gets access to some of the top technology leaders in the world – and the details they share make fascinating reading for anyone looking to develop and implement an IT strategy to improve their business, support employees and enhance their careers.

Here are Computer Weekly’s top 10 interviews with IT leaders in 2025:

Just about any monitor can work with a Mac Mini. It doesn’t need to be made by Apple or have any official certification. There’s a case to be made for using a cheap 1080p monitor with the Mac Mini, but most Mac users will want something a bit more premium. As you can see by options like the Dell 27 Plus 4K, that doesn’t have to mean overly expensive. Either way, here are the four elements to consider when shopping for a good monitor to go with your Mac Mini.

Size and resolution: 27-inch and 32-inch monitors are the most common sizes these days, and there are larger options. I would also consider a 34-inch ultrawide monitor if you like the wider, 21:9 aspect ratio with the curved shape. With Apple, resolution is king. There’s a reason it invests so much in high pixel density for every screen it sells, even down to the entry-level options like the MacBook Air. Pixel density is what gives a screen its sharpness, and you need a lot more pixels when they’re stretched out across a large, external monitor. If you want to keep the fidelity up, I wouldn’t buy anything under 4K, and bumping up to 5K or 6K on a 32-inch monitor can be helpful. You also want to consider the refresh rate here. A 120-Hz refresh rate is what the MacBook Pro has, offering smoother animation, especially in games.

Adjustability: Apple monitors and iMacs aren’t exactly known for adjustability. They often have none at all, and cost more when they do. That isn’t the best for your posture and ergonomics. Famously, the Pro Display XDR charges an extra $1,000 to add a Pro Stand with proper adjustability. For ergonomic purposes, the top of the screen you’re working on should be as close to eye level as possible, and that ranges depending on someone’s height. If a monitor doesn’t have height adjustability, you’ll have to depend on a separate monitor stand or arm. Other than height adjustment, many monitors also have a stand that can swivel, tilt, and rotate, all of which are important when using multiple monitors together. This is also needed if you want to use a second monitor vertically, which has become increasingly popular.

Ports: Even the cheapest monitors will always have HDMI as a connection, which is all you need to connect directly to the back of the Mac Mini. Some monitors have USB-C that support display, which will let you connect to one of the Mac Mini’s Thunderbolt ports. The M4 Mac Mini comes with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, and an Ethernet jack. The M4 Pro model has the same ports, except the ports are Thunderbolt 5 instead of 4. You’ll need to use at least one of these Thunderbolt ports if you want to connect more than one external monitor. These monitors also tend to have other ports, such as USB-A. These can be useful, as the Mac Mini doesn’t have any on its own.

Image quality: Apple prides itself on the image quality of its Macs, so in the case of the Mac Mini, you’ll likely want to get something worthy of your Mac. This is especially important for content creators, photographers, and designers. So, you’ll want to consider a monitor’s brightness, color accuracy, color coverage, and contrast. While some IPS displays offer decent color and contrast, mini-LED or OLED displays will guarantee better image quality. These also have significantly higher peak brightness in HDR content, which really brings games and movies to life.