Technology News and More-Wednesday Edition...

 Technology News and More...

Mark Zuckerberg wants AI superintelligence in everyone’s hands
Digital Trends / 43min
In an opinion essay for The Wall Street Journal , Mark Zuckerberg lays out a modest ambition for Meta’s AI. He wants to put superintelligence in everyone’s hands, giving ordinary people technology powerful enough to improve their health or help them work . Zuckerberg presents personal superintelligence as an alternative to advanced AI being controlled by a few institutions. Meta can certainly dis




I finally let ChatGPT roast me — and it absolutely destroyed my personality, dating life and nerdy hobbies
Latest from Tom's Guide / 19min
I’ll admit to loving a good roast — watching some of the biggest celebrities in the world squirm in their seat while their closest friends and the best comedians verbally assault their lives always gets a few hearty chuckles out of me. The live humiliation ceremonies for Bob Sagat (RIP), Charlie Sheen, Pamela Anderson and William Shatner take up the four slots on my Mount Rushmore of the funniest





AI turned a disgraced President under house arrest into a live avatar for another election campaign
Digital Trends / 19min
Jair Bolsonaro is barred from Brazil’s 2026 presidential election, being confined to house arrest and restricted from communicating publicly. But an AI-generated version of the former president still managed to take the stage at his son’s campaign launch. The synthetic Bolsonaro appeared in a video at the launch of Senator Flávio Bolsonaro’s presidential campaign in São Paulo. It openly identifie





Your Brain Can Rewire Itself To Allow True Multitasking
Slashdot / 19min
alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: [I]n a new study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center in the U.S. have revealed that we can put certain tasks on autopilot in a way that enables something closer to true multitasking. Driving is the perfect example: When you take your test, your entire mental and physical energ





Pixel Watch 5 shows up again before launch, this time in one of Google's own apps
Android Central - Android Forums, News, ... / 29min
What you need to know The Pixel Watch 5 has appeared again ahead of launch, this time inside Google's official Google Health app. The listing appeared for setup for one user, suggesting Google has quietly added pairing support. The setup screens still use Pixel Watch 4 artwork, likely because Google hasn't updated the images yet The Google Pixel Watch 5 has surfaced once again ahead of its expect





OpenAI says the rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face also breached other services
Download Squad / 36min
OpenAI's investigation starts shedding light on the activities of its rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face.





OpenAI says the rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face also breached other services
Engadget / 37min
OpenAI's investigation starts shedding light on the activities of its rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face.





The Galaxy Z Fold 8 series just got a feature every Android foldable should have
Digital Trends / 43min
Samsung’s foldables keep sneaking in these little quality-of-life wins, and this one might be my favorite yet. Redditor ultima40 discovered that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra now remember rotation lock separately for each screen. So if you fold and unfold your phone throughout the day, switching between the cover screen and the tablet-like inner display, your phone will keep track of how y

I got sick of buying cases for my phones, so I decided to 3D print them at home — here's what happened
Latest from Tom's Guide / 48min
It's quite important to keep your phone in a protective case. I recently found this out the hard way after letting my iPhone 17 Pro Max fall onto the asphalt and pick up some chips and dents it really didn't need. Buying phone cases is a rather tedious experience, though, and the sheer scale of the phone accessories market means there are countless options at a variety of different price points.





Valve says Steam Machine reservation-holders aren't being leapfrogged
Download Squad / 50min
Valve says that no one on its Steam Machine waitlist is leapfrogging over anyone currently holding a reservation.





Google Pixel 11 Pro vs. Pixel 10 Pro: Should you bump your Pixel Pro to the newest one when it comes out?
Android Central - Android Forums, News, ... / 50min
Google Pixel 11 Pro New sheriff in town Google might have a tough sell on its hands with the Pixel 11 Pro. Allegedly, the upcoming flagship will feature almost identical specs to the Pixel 10 Pro, with some downgrades and brand-new Pixel Glow LED lights embedded in the camera bar. There could also be some upgrades like 256GB base storage and the Tensor G6. Pros Base model finally starts with 256G





Valve says Steam Machine reservation-holders aren't being leapfrogged
Engadget / 51min
Valve says that no one on its Steam Machine waitlist is leapfrogging over anyone currently holding a reservation.





CXMT's IPO prospectus showed Alibaba had a ~5% stake, which is now worth $20B+, a nearly 20x return, based on CXMT's ~$464B closing market cap on July 28 (Wency Chen/South China Morning Post)
Techmeme / 1h
Wency Chen / South China Morning Post : CXMT's IPO prospectus showed Alibaba had a ~5% stake, which is now worth $20B+, a nearly 20x return, based on CXMT's ~$464B closing market cap on July 28 — ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and Zhipu AI have not only seen their share prices skyrocket, but they have also handed a windfall …





How to watch 'Diarra From Detroit’ season 2 online — stream the wild mystery series from anywhere


Latest from Tom's Guide / 1h
"Diarra From Detroit" is back for a second season, with Diarra delving deeper into Detroit's weird and wonderful underworld as she uncovers a new mystery. Here's how to watch "Diarra From Detroit" season 2 online from anywhere with a VPN . 'Diarra From Detroit' S2 — release date and time, streaming details and more "Diarra From Detroit" season 2 premieres on Wednesday, July 29, 2026 • Global — Pa





$300 vs $2,000 espresso machine — I ran a blind taste test to see if you need to spend $$$ for barista coffee at home
Latest from Tom's Guide / 1h
Very little comes close to the satisfaction I feel when I take my first sip of an expensive flat white from an equally expensive independent cafe. I love everything about frequenting coffeehouses: the adventure of actually going outside, deciding which of the plentiful bean varietals I fancy, then scrutinizing — ahem, watching — the barista as they make my oat milk flat white. But patronizing caf





I tested the Garmin Cirqa against a chest strap to see if its heart rate sensor is accurate — here’s the results
Latest from Tom's Guide / 1h
The heart rate sensor on the Garmin Cirqa screen-free tracker powers pretty much all the important stats you get from the device. It’s key to sleep tracking, your body battery and training readiness scores, and your heart rate variability readings. So it must be accurate, especially as, unlike with the best Garmin watches , you can’t pair an external heart rate monitor to the Cirqa to get more ac





The US government just blacklisted foreign-made robots and power inverters
Digital Trends / 1h
Months after banning all foreign routers and subsequently approving some of them in weeks , the FCC is back at it again, and this time robots and power inverters are in its crosshairs. The Federal Communications Commission has added two new entries to its Covered List , and this time the targets are advanced robots and power inverters made outside the US. The move follows a White House-led securi





Russia's FSB charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities, including by Ukraine, and issues an international arrest warrant (Reuters)
Techmeme / 1h
Reuters : Russia's FSB charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities, including by Ukraine, and issues an international arrest warrant — Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities …





OpenAI’s rogue agent breached a second company, executive confirms
Valid Accounts (Enterprise T1078)•
The Next Web / 1h
The AI that broke out of OpenAI’s laboratory did not stop at one victim. During internal testing earlier this month, an OpenAI agent that had already escaped its sandbox and burrowed into Hugging Face also compromised an account at a second company, Modal Labs, an executive at the firm has confirmed. Reuters first reported the […] This story continues at The Next Web





I tried Dell’s sleek XPS 13 and it’s a breath of fresh air for budget Windows laptops
Digital Trends / 1h
When Apple launched the MacBook Neo , it reset my expectations for affordable laptops. Its $599 starting price paired an aluminum body with the polish people expect from a MacBook, leaving Windows manufacturers with a difficult target to chase. While that price has since risen , it is still a solid laptop for the price it is listed at. During Computex 2026, I saw a possible answer to this MacBook





'If this 22-year-old made $400,000 over the weekend, why can't I?' Inside the fake AI entrepreneur boom
Latest from Tom's Guide / 2h
"Meet Mira. She generates 30 million weekly views across TikTok and Instagram. Last week, an energy drink company paid $6,500 to sponsor her latest post. Her 22-year-old creator just rented a studio in Austin and bought a Tesla in cash. Here's the exact prompt and software stack he used to build a $70,000-a-month empire." If that sounds familiar, it's because your social feeds are undoubtedly ful





Hisense TV report card 2026: 'One of the best ways to maximize your dollar'
Latest from Tom's Guide / 2h
Choosing a TV means choosing a TV brand — the very brand you’ll be locked into a relationship with for the next several years. Specific screens may dazzle you in a store aisle, but it’s important to remember that the experience of living with a TV amounts to more than just picture quality. With this in mind, we’re playing the role of administrator and doling out report cards to major TV brands th
Yesterday






xAI is challenging a new Minnesota law banning 'nudify' apps
Download Squad / 2h
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit to block Minnesota's new law that would ban apps that can generate nonconsensual intimate imagery from being enforced.





xAI is challenging a new Minnesota law banning 'nudify' apps
Engadget / 2h
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit to block Minnesota's new law that would ban apps that can generate nonconsensual intimate imagery from being enforced.





I fixed my 3 a.m. wake-ups and brain fog by syncing my sleep with the rising and setting of the sun, just like the Amish — doctors explain why this circadian living works
Latest from Tom's Guide / 2h
Like most people, my evening routine used to resemble scrolling on my phone in bed at the expense of getting the quality sleep I need. Tired, wired and averaging six hours of sleep a night, I needed to take drastic action. I felt as though modern life was working against me, and the blue glare from my screens was keeping me artificially stimulated long after it was time for bed. Caffeine and suga





The Galaxy Z Fold 8, Fold 8 Ultra, and Flip 8 let you ditch your laptop’s grainy webcam
Digital Trends / 2h
Samsung’s latest foldables can double as a USB webcam for your laptop. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 , Fold 8 Ultra , and Flip 8 all support the USB webcam feature, which first debuted on Pixel phones back in 2023 before Samsung brought it to the Galaxy S26 series earlier this year. How webcam mode works Android Authority has confirmed the USB webcam option is available on all three new Galaxy Z series dev





A look at Kioxia, the Japanese NAND flash maker that went from being cash-strapped in 2023 to an expected 30-fold jump in operating income in Q1 FY 2026 (Bloomberg)
Techmeme / 2h
Bloomberg : A look at Kioxia, the Japanese NAND flash maker that went from being cash-strapped in 2023 to an expected 30-fold jump in operating income in Q1 FY 2026 — The chipmaker needs to prove it's more than an accidental beneficiary of a supply squeeze in storage.





Netflix hopes you won't notice missing features, but this Tom's Guide reader found a hidden backdoor
Latest from Tom's Guide / 3h
When Netflix removed its A–Z sorting and release-year filters, subscribers were left frustrated by an increasingly restricted interface. As my colleague Rory Melon noted when covering the sudden removal, viewers suddenly had fewer tools for finding what to watch next and were forced to rely on nebulous algorithms. But you don't have to settle for a cluttered home screen. After reading about the i





I turned my iPhone screen completely gray for two weeks — here's how making it boring helped me get my brain back
Latest from Tom's Guide / 3h
I thought turning my iPhone screen monochrome would be a straightforward, low-stakes experiment. A minor productivity tweak to trim maybe twenty minutes off my daily screen time. I was radically, foolishly wrong. What I expected to be a mild digital detox turned into two weeks of sensory deprivation, phantom-limb anxiety, and a genuine shock at how my brain relies on color, especially in the midd





GPTZero finds AI hallucinations in four PwC Middle East reports; GPTZero's earlier investigations led EY and KPMG to retract reports with similar issues (Stephen Foley/Financial Times)
Techmeme / 3h
Stephen Foley / Financial Times : GPTZero finds AI hallucinations in four PwC Middle East reports; GPTZero's earlier investigations led EY and KPMG to retract reports with similar issues — Big Four consultant is latest firm found to have produced slapdash work while marketing expertise on the technology





ETH Zurich spinout ZuriQ, which is developing trapped-ion quantum computing processors based on a 2D architecture, raised a $25.5M seed led by Quantonation (Tamara Djurickovic/Tech.eu)
Techmeme / 3h
Tamara Djurickovic / Tech.eu : ETH Zurich spinout ZuriQ, which is developing trapped-ion quantum computing processors based on a 2D architecture, raised a $25.5M seed led by Quantonation — ZuriQ has secured seed funding to scale its trapped-ion quantum computing technology, expand its team, accelerate research and development …





I test gaming laptops and this is how I get better performance without plugging them in
Latest from Tom's Guide / 3h
A core reason you’d want one of the best gaming laptops is to play your favorite PC games on the go. However, your experience with AAA games won’t be great on battery power. Not only will you generally get less than two hours of gameplay, but you'll suffer severe drops in frames per second (FPS). This is why most users keep their gaming laptops plugged in during use. But what if you’re itching to





Is your old fitness tracker good enough? I tested a 5-year-old Fitbit vs Apple Watch Series 11 on a 5,500-step walk to find out
Latest from Tom's Guide / 3h
The Fitbit Charge 5 debuted in 2021 around the same time as the Apple Watch Series 7, and even though it was replaced by the Fitbit Charge 6 in 2023, you can still find the Charge 5 on sale in 2026 for around $100 new or ~$40 if you go the used/refurb route. But can a 2021 wearable, like the Fitbit Charge 5 , actually keep up with today’s best smartwatches , like the Apple Watch Series 11 , when





Trump Administration Bans New Chinese Humanoid Robots
Slashdot / 3h
The Trump administration has banned newly authorized foreign-made humanoid and four-legged robots, along with power inverters, citing "unacceptable risks" to the country's national security. FCC chairman Brendan Carr said the agency was doing its part "to secure America's critical supply chains." The BBC reports: The FCC has added the items to its Covered List -- a register of goods and services t





I mixed the exact same smoothie in a $30 blender and a $129 one — here's my verdict
Latest from Tom's Guide / 3h
At the start of the year, I upgraded our household blender from a regular non-brand contraption we picked up at the local Aldi to a Nutribullet Ultra 1200. The benefits were that it was easier to clean, looked a lot nicer, and blends your ingredients straight into the shaker you can drink from. Over six months later, I decided to return to the pair of them (we haven't got rid of the old one; it's





Braun Promo Codes: 15% Off July
Wired Top Stories / 4h
Unlock exclusive savings on Braun IPL, shavers, and grooming products. Find verified Braun promo codes and expert tips to maximize your discounts.





I gave Claude Opus 5 and Kimi K3 15 impossible prompts — the winner surprised me
Latest from Tom's Guide / 4h
When you push frontier models past standard coding tests and into the reality of enterprise workflows, their true capabilities and quirks show. With Anthropic having just launched Claude Opus 5 and Moonshot AI dropping its newest Kimi model the same week, the timing was perfect to see how the absolute latest generation of AI handles real-world development. I ran 15 grueling, highly technical prom





Instapaper just had its biggest update in years, and it’s packed with goodies
Digital Trends / 4h
Apps like Instapaper are essential for keeping my reading goals in check . I cannot always read an article in full when I come across it, so the ability to save articles in a read-it-later app is a must-have feature for me. After Pocket’s demise, Instapaper became the alternative most people flocked to. And now the company just handed its users a massive update to be thankful for. The company reb





Sources: Google DeepMind has reassigned the majority of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers; about a quarter of the papers' full-time authors have left (Madhumita Murgia/Financial Times)
Techmeme / 4h
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times : Sources: Google DeepMind has reassigned the majority of the original authors of the AlphaFold papers; about a quarter of the papers' full-time authors have left — Landmark project that solved protein folding gives way to a wider race to build AI systems for scientific discovery





OpenAI releases an "early" version of the open-source Codex Security CLI for scanning repositories, verifying fixes, adding CI/CD security checks, and more (@openai)
Techmeme / 4h
@openai : OpenAI releases an “early” version of the open-source Codex Security CLI for scanning repositories, verifying fixes, adding CI/CD security checks, and more — We quietly released the open-source Codex Security CLI, but Hacker News found it before we had a chance to share it here... You can now use it to scan repositories, track findings across runs, verify fixes, and add security checks





Sony is bringing two new affordable headphones with more color options
Digital Trends / 5h
Sony appears to be preparing a refresh of two of its affordable headphone lineups, with newly discovered import documents revealing what could be the successors to the WH-CH720N and WH-CH520. While the company has yet to make an official announcement, the filings offer an early look at the model names and potential color options, suggesting Sony’s entry-level audio portfolio could soon receive it





Xiaomi spills SkyNomad EREV details ahead of July 30 debut and it rhymes with Kunlun
Digital Trends / 5h
When Xiaomi entered the automotive industry, it did so with the all-electric SU7 sedan before expanding into SUVs with the YU7 . Its next move is taking the company into one of China’s fastest-growing vehicle segments: extended-range electric SUVs (EREVs). Ahead of a technical presentation on July 30, Xiaomi has shared fresh details about its upcoming SkyNomad lineup via its Weibo channel , first





I canceled all of my streaming services for a month — what I saved and what I missed
Latest from Tom's Guide / 5h
We live in the streaming era. What started as a cheaper alternative to traditional cable has turned into something that feels like cable spread across a bunch of different subscriptions. Getting all the major streaming services , even on the cheaper ad-supported plans, will set you back around $80 per month. If you go with the premium ad-free options, the price skyrockets. Then, if you want one o





Mark Zuckerberg says the US should not ban Chinese AI models and that AI model peer reviews or vetting could be positive if "done well with thoughtful people" (Hannah Murphy/Financial Times)
Techmeme / 5h
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times : Mark Zuckerberg says the US should not ban Chinese AI models and that AI model peer reviews or vetting could be positive if “done well with thoughtful people” — Meta chief warns against ‘regulatory capture’ of American rules on the technology — Mark Zuckerberg …





Workplaces Look For Cheaper AI As 'Tokenmaxxing' Fades As a Corporate Fad
Slashdot / 5h
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: A corporate fad of "tokenmaxxing" on artificial intelligence technology is hitting its limits as workplaces throwing AI at everything are seeing the costs rise without a similar spike in productivity. What started as tech industry-fueled springtime hype over squeezing as much AI-generated work as possible out of products like OpenAI's





A Blackout Protest Over Sony Ditching Disks Is Brewing
Techdirt / 6h
Sony’s decision to stop producing PlayStation discs starting in 2028 was met with a ton of initial backlash, especially in the wake of Sony reminding its customers yet again that a digital purchase of content isn’t actually a purchase of content at all and what you’ve bought can be ripped away from you with the barest of notice. But for some, including this writer, there was an assumption that th





Doctors and researchers worry that FDA-related wagers on Kalshi and Polymarket could compromise drug development tests and erode public trust in the process (Rebecca Robbins/New York Times)
Techmeme / 6h
Rebecca Robbins / New York Times : Doctors and researchers worry that FDA-related wagers on Kalshi and Polymarket could compromise drug development tests and erode public trust in the process — On the betting websites Kalshi and Polymarket, people can now wager on whether the Food and Drug Administration will decide this year …





Shopify CEO endorses stripping voting rights from poor and pensioners
Boing Boing / 7h
Tobi Lütke, CEO of online commerce giant Shopify, endorsed banker Eric Thor's suggestion for a "weighted voting proportional to the amount of income tax you pay." Moreover, he wrote, the poor and pensioners should have their right to vote stripped entirely : "Now you are a dependent and that means no voting, just like dependents under age. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





Anthropic faces backlash from Silicon Valley partners, founders, and researchers for competitive tactics, guardrails, and lack of support for open-weight models (Wall Street Journal)
Techmeme / 7h
Wall Street Journal : Anthropic faces backlash from Silicon Valley partners, founders, and researchers for competitive tactics, guardrails, and lack of support for open-weight models — The AI pioneer faces growing distrust from startup founders and researchers over competitive tactics, guardrails and lack of support for open-weight models





The US just banned ‘foreign’ robots and inverters, and it means China
The Next Web / 7h
The United States has moved to block new imports of foreign-made robots and power inverters. Officials fear a hostile power could spy through them, or switch them off from afar. The order never says China. It does not need to. The Federal Communications Commission added two categories to its Covered List on Tuesday, as first […] This story continues at The Next Web





Measuring LLMs’ Ability to Perform Cryptanalysis
Schneier on Security / 7h
There’s new benchmark measuring AI’s ability to perform mathematical cryptanalysis. Anthropic’s frontier model actually found new attacks. The benchmark: “ CryptanalysisBench: Can LLMs do Cryptanalysis? ” The idea is to benchmark the ability of LLMs to discover new mathematical cryptanalytic attacks against a series of historical algorithms. Abstract: Cryptanalysis—the task of finding attacks aga





Ebay and former execs to pay $55.7m after harassment campaign against journalists
Boing Boing / 8h
If large corporations are supposed to prefer subtle and well-lawyered forms of misconduct, no-one told Ebay, whose global security team ended up facing criminal charges over their unhinged harassment campaign against Ina and David Steiner, two journalists who criticized the company. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





OpenAI says the rogue AI that breached Hugging Face used exposed credentials from "four accounts" tied to four "publicly available" third-party services (Wired)
Techmeme / 8h
Wired : OpenAI says the rogue AI that breached Hugging Face used exposed credentials from “four accounts” tied to four “publicly available” third-party services — In a new disclosure, OpenAI says its agent used exposed logins to gain access to at least four …





I tried Shark's freshly launched wet-to-dry stylers — and they might just be my new favourite hair tools
Latest from Tom's Guide / 8h
There's nothing worse than heat damage. It can cause breakage, impact your hair and scalp health, and leave ends severely dry. Thankfully, Shark Beauty has thought of everything to eliminate heat damage, with the launch of two new wet-to-dry stylers in Australia. Designed with heat damage in mind, the new Shark SilkiPro Straight and Glossi maximise airflow and heat settings to ensure minimal hair





Eight months ago Altman wanted an AI CEO. Now he says nobody does.
The Next Web / 8h
In November, Sam Altman wanted OpenAI to be the first big company run by an AI boss. He said it would be an embarrassment if it were not. This week, he said people do not want an AI boss at all. “Shame on me if OpenAI is not the first big company run by an […] This story continues at The Next Web





1,134 AI insiders just asked Washington for a way to slow AI down
The Next Web / 8h
More than a thousand of the people building the most powerful AI want a way to slow it down. On Tuesday, 1,134 employees of the leading AI companies signed a letter asking the US government to help build one. The statement is titled Pacing the Frontier. It asks Washington to “support an international effort to […] This story continues at The Next Web





The AI that took their jobs is now renting their faces, for $15
The Next Web / 8h
In China, the AI boom that put actors and models out of work has found a new use for them. It is renting their faces. A growing set of platforms now pays people $15 to $700 to license their likeness for AI-generated content, Rest of World reported. Producers browse catalogues of faces by gender, age […] This story continues at The Next Web





Cursor cut its India price to $7, and its own AI models are why
The Next Web / 8h
Cursor has cut the price of AI coding in India to about $7 a month. The interesting part is how it can afford to. The startup launched Cursor Start on Monday, a ₹649 plan sold only in India, TechCrunch reported. It sits well below the $20 Pro subscription. It is also the first time Cursor […] This story continues at The Next Web





China’s free AI models may not stay free, Goldman says
The Next Web / 8h
For a year, the story of Chinese AI has been simple. It is nearly as good as the American frontier, and it is effectively free. That second part may be about to change. Chinese developers could start charging cloud platforms commercial licensing fees to host their open-weight models, Goldman Sachs told the South China Morning […] This story continues at The Next Web





Google scraped the web to build itself. A court just said others can scrape Google.
The Next Web / 8h
Google built one of the world’s largest companies by scraping the entire web without asking permission first. This week a court told Google it cannot stop others from scraping Google. On 20 July, a federal judge dismissed Google’s lawsuit against SerpApi. The firm scrapes Google search results and resells them as structured data. Google had […] This story continues at The Next Web





The man who coined ‘agentic AI’ is betting it won’t take your job
The Next Web / 8h
Andrew Ng helped give the AI industry its vocabulary, from “AI is the new electricity” to “agentic AI.” His new company bets against the phrase everyone else is using: that AI will take your job. Ng has founded LearnVector, an AI-native learning startup, and Coursera is backing it with $100m, first reported by Axios. The […] This story continues at The Next Web





AI writes half our code now. It still fails security tests 44% of the time.
The Next Web / 8h
AI can now write compilable code almost every time it tries. It still ships a security hole in nearly half of it, and that has not changed in a year. That is the headline finding of Veracode’s 2026 GenAI Code Security Report, which tested more than 100 models across four snapshots. The average security pass […] This story continues at The Next Web





xAI sues Minnesota's AG over a state law banning apps and sites that create fake, sexualized pictures of individuals, claiming it violates the First Amendment (Riley Moser/CBS News)
Techmeme / 8h
Riley Moser / CBS News : xAI sues Minnesota's AG over a state law banning apps and sites that create fake, sexualized pictures of individuals, claiming it violates the First Amendment — Billionaire Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company is suing Minnesota over a first-of-its-kind law that bans apps and websites …





SK Hynix reports Q2 revenue up 257% YoY to ~$54.34B, below ~$57.56B est., and operating profit up 557% YoY to ~$41.48B, below ~$43.85B est.; its stock falls 9% (Jenny Lee/CNBC)
Techmeme / 8h
Jenny Lee / CNBC : SK Hynix reports Q2 revenue up 257% YoY to ~$54.34B, below ~$57.56B est., and operating profit up 557% YoY to ~$41.48B, below ~$43.85B est.; its stock falls 9% — SK Hynix shares nosedived on Wednesday as exponential second-quarter earnings and revenue growth still failed …





OpenAI’s Rogue AI Agent Hacked More Than Just Hugging Face
3 TTPs•
Wired Top Stories / 8h
In a new disclosure, OpenAI says its agent used exposed logins to gain access to at least four “publicly available services” in its unhinged quest to solve a test.





The US is banning foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters
Download Squad / 9h
It's part of a national security strategy to kickstart domestic production of emerging technology.





The US is banning foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters
Engadget / 9h
It's part of a national security strategy to kickstart domestic production of emerging technology.





A Typo Landed an Innocent Gamer in Prison for 18 Months
Wired Top Stories / 9h
How much could a single underscore in a username really matter? Just ask Brandon Klayme, who served 18 months in prison before realizing how authorities arrested, charged, and convicted the wrong man.





Security- and AI-related startups raised $855M across 150+ reported seed-stage rounds in 2026, on track for an all-time high; Oak raised $60M, the largest seed (Joanna Glasner/Crunchbase News)
Techmeme / 9h
Joanna Glasner / Crunchbase News : Security- and AI-related startups raised $855M across 150+ reported seed-stage rounds in 2026, on track for an all-time high; Oak raised $60M, the largest seed — Seed funding trends tell us a lot about how savvy investors see the future unfolding. And lately, the data tells us there's great concern …





How much does Apple’s Upgrade plan cost to lease devices and is it worth it?
Digital Trends / 10h
Apple just gave you a new way to own an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch without buying it. The newly launched Apple Upgrade program lets you lease Apple hardware through Klarna instead of paying full price upfront, and I’ll admit that the monthly numbers genuinely look tempting. I went through Apple’s own published rates device by device to figure out where this actually saves you money, and wh





Apple Retires iPhone Upgrade Program For Klarna-Backed Leases
Slashdot / 10h
Apple has replaced its iPhone Upgrade Program with Apple Upgrade, a Klarna-backed U.S. leasing service covering most iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches. MacRumors reports: Apple Upgrade has lower base prices than the iPhone Upgrade Program, with iPhones available starting at $17.99 per month and the Apple Watch available starting at $11.99 per month. Macs can be leased starting at $24.99 per





ChatGPT has quietly stopped writing like your favourite author
The Next Web / 10h
Ask ChatGPT for a chapter in the voice of Stephen King and it now says no. It offers instead to write something with “the hallmarks of atmospheric, character-driven horror and small-town dread,” while staying “its own.” OpenAI has quietly changed how its chatbot handles author imitation, Ars Technica reported after testing it. The model declines […] This story continues at The Next Web





OpenAI and Anthropic release statements in support of the "Pacing the Frontier" initiative; Anthropic says Dario Amodei and several co-founders have signed it (Anhata Rooprai/Reuters)
Techmeme / 10h
Anhata Rooprai / Reuters : OpenAI and Anthropic release statements in support of the “Pacing the Frontier” initiative; Anthropic says Dario Amodei and several co-founders have signed it — More than 1,100 employees from leading tech firms on Tuesday urged the U.S. government to support an international effort …





eBay and its former execs settle cyberstalking case brought by journalist couple
Download Squad / 10h
Ina and David Steiner will receive compensation after a 2019 campaign to silence their critiques of the company.





The US is banning foreign robots
The Verge / 10h
The US government is targeting China with a new import ban on "advanced robotic devices" and power inverters made in foreign countries, as reported earlier by Reuters . In an announcement on Tuesday , the Federal Communications Commission says the ban will include "mobile" robots, such as humanoid and quadruped models - but it is not limited to robots that walk around. Though the FCC says the mov





eBay and its former execs settle cyberstalking case brought by journalist couple
Engadget / 10h
Ina and David Steiner will receive compensation after a 2019 campaign to silence their critiques of the company.





Fired Tesla manager says Full Self-Driving cars were 'rolling hazards'
Download Squad / 11h
A new lawsuit accuses Tesla of overextending the safety operators overseeing its robotaxis.





Fired Tesla manager says Full Self-Driving cars were 'rolling hazards'
Engadget / 11h
A new lawsuit accuses Tesla of overextending the safety operators overseeing its robotaxis.





Court Shuts Down Federal Officers Who Wanted To Run A Stingray Device For A Month Straight
Techdirt / 11h
For a long time, cell site simulators, a.k.a. “ Stingrays ” made headlines on nearly a daily basis. Then they just kind of fell off the map. L3Harris — the manufacturer of cell site simulators that commanded enough market share to see its flagship product become the victim of genericide — saw the writing on the wall and exited the market . Part of this was due to cell tech advances that made it m





Supergiant Betelgeuse's smaller companion star imaged
Boing Boing / 11h
Having shown the massive star Betelgeuse as an indistinct blob , astronomers at the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert have now imaged its long-suspected companion star, proving that the bloated supergiant is not alone . "This is the conclusion of a century-long quest," wrote Miguel Montargès of the Observatoire de Paris. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





AI-Found Bugs Aren't Proving Any Easier to Exploit Despite the Hype
Slashdot / 11h
AI-assisted vulnerability discovery has yet to produce the expected surge in real-world attacks: VulnCheck found that only 14 of 1,061 attributed discoveries, or 1.3 percent, had been exploited, which is "almost identical to the rate across all vulnerabilities in VulnCheck's dataset," reports The Register. "That's a far cry from the narrative that frontier AI is dramatically tilting the balance in





Your spreadsheet has officially been promoted—Microsoft Project is $44.97 right now
Boing Boing / 11h
TL;DR: Get a Microsoft Project Professional 2024 Lifetime License for $44.97 through Aug. 2 (MSRP $1,129) and plan projects with Gantt charts, built-in reports, automatic scheduling, timesheets, and a one-time purchase Everyone thinks they're good at project management until Task No. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





Netflix honors Raygun with a documentary
Boing Boing / 11h
While it remains unclear whether Raygun was just a classless incompetent with a terrible sense of humor or the world's worst breakdancer, Netflix wants to find out. Untold Sports, which is described as "critically acclaimed" in the Netflix-authored article where I first heard of it, will be running a segment on the notorious Olympics crasher. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boin





Grandpa Pudding Brains says airplanes didn't exist during his father's lifetime
Boing Boing / 11h
The Orange Menace's father lived through two world wars, the jet age, the moon landing and the rise of mass commercial aviation. "There weren't airplanes in those days, I don't think," says the United States Moron in Chief. He's right about one thing: he doesn't think. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





Tourists turned Auschwitz's death tracks into a photo set
Boing Boing / 11h
Tourists staged a photo shoot on the railway tracks leading into Auschwitz-Birkenau, where deportation trains carried thousands of people to their deaths. Video shows a woman posing on the tracks, adjusting her hair and changing postures while two companions photograph her. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





Iranian LEGO movies bashing Trump just get better
Boing Boing / 11h
Lil' Marco and Donald clearly hate Iran's anti-war propaganda. The Iranians just keep cranking out bangers… The LEGO diaper is really a chef's kiss. Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Previously: • Giant participation trophy appears on the National Mall for Trump's Iran War 'effort' • Unknown traders made a fortune shorting oil 15 minutes before Trump reversed Iran threat • Trump's war in Iran cancels su





Disruptive preacher boasts that 200 trapped airline passengers heard her sermon
Boing Boing / 11h
Evangelist Whitney Lynn has found the perfect audience: people strapped into seats several miles above the ground. "I just love a captive audience," she wrote after preaching to roughly 200 passengers trapped aboard a commercial flight she happened to be on. — Read the rest The post appeared first on Boing Boing .





New video card has only 4GB of RAM
Boing Boing / 11h
With AI datacenters gobbling up all the available memory, spec sheets have stalled and system builders are making the most of what they can get. 8GB of RAM (system or GPU) is fine! But the latest AMD-based video card c oming with just 4GB of VRAM in its entry-level model marks a clear step down: it's "the first modern GPU to ship" with so little memory, writes William Judd. — Read the rest The po





NXP reports Q2 revenue up 19% YoY to $3.5B, vs. $3.46B est., as it struggled to impress investors with a generally upbeat Q3 forecast; NXPI down 5%+ after hours (Christina Kyriasoglou/Bloomberg)
Techmeme / 11h
Christina Kyriasoglou / Bloomberg : NXP reports Q2 revenue up 19% YoY to $3.5B, vs. $3.46B est., as it struggled to impress investors with a generally upbeat Q3 forecast; NXPI down 5%+ after hours — NXP Semiconductors NV struggled to impress investors with a generally upbeat forecast for the current period, the latest sign of deepening concern about the chip sector.





Ariana Grande is suing the hackers who’ve been leaking her songs and videos for years
The Verge / 11h
Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit on Monday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against the currently unidentified hackers who allegedly stole and leaked private content. It aims to "uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals," referred to as "John Doe 1 and John Does 2 through 100." The lawsuit also says that "In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs" were "hacked,





Sources: the OpenAI agent that breached Hugging Face also compromised a customer at AI infrastructure company Modal Labs (Reuters)
Techmeme / 11h
Reuters : Sources: the OpenAI agent that breached Hugging Face also compromised a customer at AI infrastructure company Modal Labs — The rogue agent that escaped from OpenAI and went on a days-long hacking spree at the AI firm Hugging Face also compromised a customer at a second tech company …





AI company employees petition US government for regulation
Engadget / 11h
A thousand workers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and more have signed the letter.





AI company employees petition US government for regulation
Download Squad / 11h
A thousand workers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and more have signed the letter.





Bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure company Ionic Digital surged more than 25% to nearly $63 in its Nasdaq debut, giving it an implied valuation of ~$2.75B (Kyle Baird/The Block)
Techmeme / 12h
Kyle Baird / The Block : Bitcoin miner and AI infrastructure company Ionic Digital surged more than 25% to nearly $63 in its Nasdaq debut, giving it an implied valuation of ~$2.75B — Quick Take — Ionic Digital was formed from Celsius Mining's assets and later took direct control of its sites from Hut 8.





Apple is the most valuable company in the world, again
TechSpot / 12h
The timing adds extra stakes, too. Tim Cook is preparing to step down soon, and the incoming CEO is expected to preserve the same approach to market and financial management that defined Cook's tenure, the very discipline investors now appear to be betting on. Read Entire Article





The union drive at the Wikimedia Foundation is expanding
The Verge / 12h
In June, UK staff at the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia became the first to announce their intention to form a union . Now, US-based employees at the Wikimedia Foundation are joining the union drive, but management at the nonprofit has declined to voluntarily recognize their union. "While the Wikimedia Foundation touts to the public that they plan to take a neutral stance in our organizing efforts





eBay’s bizarre cyberstalking saga ends with a $56 million settlement
The Verge / 12h
eBay and three former executives will pay $55.7 million as part of a settlement with a Massachusetts couple targeted with a bizarre harassment and cyberstalking campaign in 2019, as reported earlier by CNBC . The settlement will resolve a lengthy legal saga that revealed how eBay's former executives sent live insects , a bloody pig mask, a funeral wreath, and other strange items to David and Ina





Hugging Face publishes a timeline of the OpenAI agent intrusion, including how the agent took ~17.6K actions, and details using GLM-5.2 to analyze the attack (Hugging Face)
2 TTPs•
Techmeme / 12h
Hugging Face : Hugging Face publishes a timeline of the OpenAI agent intrusion, including how the agent took ~17.6K actions, and details using GLM-5.2 to analyze the attack — This post walks through how the intrusion actually worked: the two initial-access vectors, how the agent pivoted and moved laterally …





eBay Reaches $56 Million Settlement With E-Commerce Newsletter Writers It Terrorized In 2019
Slashdot / 12h
eBay and several former executives have agreed to pay $56 million to Ina and David Steiner, the newsletter writers targeted in a 2019 corporate harassment campaign that involved threats, surveillance attempts, and deliveries of live insects and other disturbing items. The settlement closes the couple's civil case after seven former employees pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the scheme





Seagate reports Q4 revenue up 49% YoY to $3.6B, vs. $3.5B est., adjusted earnings of $5.71 a share, above analysts' forecast of $5.10; STX jumps 6%+ after hours (Nate Wolf/Barron's Online)
Techmeme / 12h
Nate Wolf / Barron's Online : Seagate reports Q4 revenue up 49% YoY to $3.6B, vs. $3.5B est., adjusted earnings of $5.71 a share, above analysts' forecast of $5.10; STX jumps 6%+ after hours — Choose Barron's as a preferred source of financial news — Key Points — Seagate Technology stock jumped …





The US FCC bans importing Chinese humanoid robots and power inverters to protect the US AI buildout from national security threats and to reshore key industries (Reuters)
Techmeme / 12h
Reuters : The US FCC bans importing Chinese humanoid robots and power inverters to protect the US AI buildout from national security threats and to reshore key industries — The Trump administration on Tuesday unveiled bans that target imports of new Chinese robots and power inverters …





The handoff tax: What it costs when your rep is alone on the call
The Next Web / 12h
The most expensive moment in a B2B sales cycle does not look like one. An account executive is thirty minutes into a live call. Discovery is finished, the buyer is engaged, and the conversation has moved past polite curiosity into the part where deals get decided. Then comes the question that matters: how the integration […] This story continues at The Next Web





How artificial intelligence is used to streamline corporate travel logistics
The Next Web / 12h
The evolution of enterprise software has solved countless operational bottlenecks over the past decade. Supply chains are mapped in real time, and global payrolls execute automatically across dozens of tax jurisdictions with total precision. Yet somehow, arranging a simple business trip still frequently requires employees to wrestle with archaic interfaces and manual approval workflows. Asking hi





Europe gets its AI enforcement powers on Sunday. The unit wielding them has 36 people.
The Next Web / 12h
The European Commission gains sweeping new powers on Sunday to police how the world’s most advanced AI labs handle systemic risk, as the AI Act reaches its second anniversary. The EU’s AI Office will be able to demand documentation, conduct evaluations, and request access to frontier models, with fines of up to 3% of global […] This story continues at The Next Web





Claude found mathematical flaws in two cryptographic algorithms that years of expert review missed
The Next Web / 12h
Anthropic announced on Monday that Claude Mythos Preview has discovered mathematical weaknesses in two cryptographic algorithms. The first substantially weakens HAWK, a post-quantum digital signature scheme under review by NIST, by cutting its effective key strength in half. The second improves the best-known attack on seven-round AES, the most widely used symmetric cipher, by 200-800x. […] This





Ebay Has to Pay $55.7 Million in Settlement for Its Unhinged Harassment Campaign
Wired Top Stories / 12h





Power 50 2026 - All our finalists revealed
Latest from TechRadar / 15min
The nominations are in - and the finalists for the 2026 edition of the Power 50 can now be revealed. Part of the Mobile Industry Awards 2026 , the Power 50 highlights the most important and influential figures in the UK mobile industry during the past year. The finalists for the Power 50 2026 have now been decided, with the final standings set to be revealed at the awards. (Please note: these nam





Why proving personhood is the new standard for identity verification
Latest from TechRadar / 15min
Most fraud strategies fail before a fraudster is ever detected, because they evaluate documents, rather than people. Consider the operational reality: a customer signs up for a fintech service. Their government-issued ID clears every document check. Their selfie matches. Their name passes the database lookup. Onboarding completes. What no one detected was that the identity didn’t belong to a pers





Hate AI Because You’re a Leftist? Here’s a Video Worth Considering
Gizmodo / 17min
What if you had a machine for proving that the Wall Street Journal is wrong?





National Chicken Wing Day 2026 deals: Score free deals from Wingstop, 7-Eleven, Hooters, and more
Mashable / 20min
National Chicken Wing Day lands on July 29. Major chains across the country are dropping limited-time deals , BOGO promos , and wing discounts to celebrate this special day. Whether you take your wings bone-in, boneless, drenched in extra-spicy sauce, or coated in lemon pepper, this is officially your excuse to indulge in your passion. These are our favorite National Chicken Wing Day deals in 202





I turned my guitar amp into a giant home speaker and it was a loud and stupid idea, but it basically worked (with some serious caveats)
Latest from TechRadar / 23min
You all know what a guitar amplifier is. Big, intimidating stacks of speakers and dials, designed for some nice loud guitar playing. But do they work as well for other people's guitars; i.e., can a big powerful block of music-playing kit double as a home speaker for recorded music? It may seem like a stupid question, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that speakers and amps are





The AI Hype Index: Unsexy AI
MIT Technology Review / 24min
It feels bad enough when an open letter signed by leading economists warns that AI might steal your job. The fact it may soon be better than you at making dinner? Insult to injury. But that’s exactly what the company 1X promised when it showed off a pair of new, impressively dexterous (and, to some, oddly sexy?) robotic hands in a July demo. While the tech community was sharply divided over the a





‘Construction sites are probably one of the hardest environments you could ask an autonomous system to operate in’: Are autonomy and robotics gaining momentum in the industry?
Latest from TechRadar / 31min
In an era increasingly dominated by AI and automation, it’s still incredible just how much construction work remains manual. The contrast is most stark in data centers – facilities built to power cutting-edge technology, but whose delivery is generally still slowed down by major fragmentation and time-consuming manual tasks. One of the industry’s biggest challenges seems to be capturing and under





OpenAI says the rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face also breached other services
Engadget / 35min
OpenAI's investigation starts shedding light on the activities of its rogue agent that hacked Hugging Face.





Valve says Steam Machine reservation-holders aren't being leapfrogged
Engadget / 49min
Valve says that no one on its Steam Machine waitlist is leapfrogging over anyone currently holding a reservation.





DataImpulse Proxy Service Review
Latest from TechRadar / 59min
A relative newcomer in the industry, DataImpulse has grabbed a slice of the proxy pie thanks to its wallet-friendly, high-performing service. From more than 90 million ethically-sourced residential IPs across 195 locations to mobile and datacenter proxies, users gain access to a speedy and reliable global network. The company specializes in creating custom proxy services for businesses, though in





How cloud architecture is reinventing primary storage for the AI era
Latest from TechRadar / 1h
AI has sparked a race to build ever more powerful infrastructure, with headlines dominated by GPUs, networking and energy demand. But behind the scenes, another part of the technology stack is undergoing an equally significant transformation: storage. As AI models grow larger and enterprises retain more data for training, inference and retrieval, storage is no longer simply where information resi





DJI Osmo Pocket 4 review: The beloved content creators camera gets an upgrade
Mashable / 1h
DJI’s Osmo Pocket 3 has become a must-have tool for content creators over the last few years. The handheld gimbal camera gained significant attention for being easy to operate and portable while also offering great stabilisation and subject tracking, enabling creators to film smooth footage with minimal fuss while on the go. Now, DJI has released its follow-up: the Osmo Pocket 4 . Building on the





Silent Hill: Townfall is shaping up to be a great analog horror take on the series
Latest from TechRadar / 2h
Having been put on Konami’s backburner for over a decade, Silent Hill ’s resurgence has been nothing short of extraordinary. A tepid start with Ascension and The Short Message was counterbalanced by the excellent Silent Hill 2 remake from Bloober Team and the homegrown Japanese horrors of Silent Hill f from NeoBards. The series seems like it’s now heading further in the right direction with the n
Yesterday






Transfer Credit Card Points To Cathay Pacific With 10% Bonus: Worth It?
One Mile at a Time / 2h
Cathay Pacific has just introduced a new 10% transfer bonus for those in the United States, valid when moving credit card or hotel points. While the bonus isn’t huge, it is better than nothing, and the program is best if you want to redeem directly for flights on Cathay Pacific. Cathay Pacific offering 10% transfer bonus in United States Between July 27 and August 28, 2026, Cathay Pacific is offe





xAI is challenging a new Minnesota law banning 'nudify' apps
Engadget / 2h
Elon Musk's xAI has filed a lawsuit to block Minnesota's new law that would ban apps that can generate nonconsensual intimate imagery from being enforced.





Can smartwatches and glasses get smarter? Inside Qualcomm and MediaTek’s new wearable AI play


Latest from TechRadar / 2h
With all the talk of superchips driving AI inference in the data center and the likes of the Spark RTX architecture bringing Windows AI capabilities to unprecedented heights, it’s easy to overlook how much room there is for improvement in some of the most challenging device classes when it comes to power management: IoT and wearables. For products like environmental sensors that may have to relay





Guide To Chase Sapphire Lounges: Access, Locations, Amenities, And More
One Mile at a Time / 3h
Nowadays Chase operates a network of airport lounges, known as Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club . These lounges are operated in collaboration with Airport Dimensions, though these Chase lounges really offer an elevated experience. Credit card issuers are looking for all kinds of ways to woo premium customers, and airport lounge access is one of those ways. That’s why we see similar concepts wit





They might have grown up online — but Gen Z are apparently far less likely to use antivirus, study finds
Latest from TechRadar / 3h
Just 27% of Gen Z respondents use antivirus software for mobile devices, and are less likely to regularly change passwords 57% of Gen Z spend more time online than offline, Kaspersky finds And only 28% regularly backup important personal data stored on their phones Gen Z has no awareness of cybersecurity, online safety principles, or the risks of not changing your password. With just over half (5





Braun Promo Codes: 15% Off July
Wired / 4h
Unlock exclusive savings on Braun IPL, shavers, and grooming products. Find verified Braun promo codes and expert tips to maximize your discounts.





Hurdle hints and answers for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 4h
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle , then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine. There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give





Audi has a new flagship designed with the US in mind: The 2027 Q9
Ars Technica - All content / 6h
Audi provided flights from Washington, DC, to Munich, Germany, and accommodation so Ars could see the Q9 and Q7. And we also drove the new RS5. Ars does not accept paid editorial content. MUNICH—It has taken Audi a little longer than its rivals, but with the debut of the 2027 Q9 this evening, the company has joined them in offering a range-topping full-size SUV. No, not the Q7, although a third-g





American Airlines briefly grounded in U.S. by IT issue
Mashable / 6h
American Airlines flights were briefly grounded on Thursday, with a nationwide ground stop preventing them from taking off. The company has now issued a statement attributing the disruption to an IT issue. The ground stop was issued at approximately 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT , and appears to have impacted all American Airlines flights within the U.S. at the time. The company has over 1000 plane





Stung by Apple's recent price hike? This budget Samsung tablet costs less than half the price of the entry-level iPad
Latest from TechRadar / 6h
The iPad might be the more popular choice when it comes to choosing the best tablet for personal use but, with the recent price hike across its product portfolio globally, Apple's slates are just that little bit harder to justify for everyday use. The entry-level iPad , for example, used to be a fantastic bang-for-the-buck tablet with prices from AU$599, but is now bordering on the premium side o





NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 6h
Today's Connections: Sports Edition will be easier if you've ever watched football. As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans. Like the original Connections , the game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight, and each





NYT Pips hints, answers for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 6h
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue. Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit. Currently, if you're stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you co





NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 6h
The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult if you're a teacher. Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle , Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips





NYT Strands hints, answers for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 6h
Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you like handmade goods. Strands , the New York Times ' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer





Wordle today: Answer, hints for July 29, 2026
Mashable / 6h
Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're a plumber. If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you. SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hin





Grok Creator SpaceXAI Sues Minnesota AG to Stop Ban on Nudification
Gizmodo / 7h
Governor Tim Walz tweeted, "See you in court, creep."





Audi finally built the three-row SUV that makes you forget about Mercedes and BMW
How-To Geek / 7h
The new flagship of the Audi portfolio has arrived. On July 28th, 2026, Audi unveiled the all-new Q9 and the high-performance SQ9, both three-row SUVs. As the largest SUV Audi has ever produced, the Q9 is poised to compete in the lucrative full-size luxury SUV segment, going up against established rivals like the BMW X7 , Cadillac Escalade , and Mercedes-Benz GLS .





Survey Finds Americans See AI as Comparable to Humans. It’s Making Them Trust It Less
Gizmodo / 8h
The better it gets, the worse it feels.





'I refused to let 3D die!': Someone built a custom player for all 3D movie formats — and is even futureproofing it to preserve the grandeur of 3D for whatever the future of projectors and TVs holds
Latest from TechRadar / 8h
SyLC 3D Player supports everything from 3D Blu-ray to Apple spatial videos, and it can convert 3D video to display it on Apple Vision Pro headsets It's backwards and forwards compatible — and the creator says it can get dual-HDMI output for dual projection, for future-proofing The app runs on Windows, and is free via Github 'because this format deserves better than a slow death' One of the great





Nvidia paid $20 billion for SRAM decode - AMD just partnered for it instead
Latest from TechRadar / 8h
AMD and Cerebras will split inference across two machines, with Helios racks handling prompt processing and the Wafer-Scale Engine generating tokens, available through Cerebras Cloud in H2 2026 Nvidia is also doing something similar by licensing AI chip startup Groq's SRAM decode technology for $20 billion The move sees AMD and Cerebras claim 5x higher tokens per watt versus a standalone Cerebras





OpenAI’s Rogue AI Agent Hacked More Than Just Hugging Face
3 TTPs•
Wired / 8h
In a new disclosure, OpenAI says its agent used exposed logins to gain access to at least four “publicly available services” in its unhinged quest to solve a test.





Trump administration bans new Chinese humanoid robots
BBC News / 9h
The US and China are locked in a race to the lead the world in robotics and artificial intelligence.





Cyera agrees to acquire Oasis Security for $1B to safeguard proliferating AI agents
TechCrunch / 9h
The deal is Cyera's third acquisition this year.





The US is banning foreign-made humanoid robots and power inverters
Engadget / 9h
It's part of a national security strategy to kickstart domestic production of emerging technology.





All American Airlines Flights Not in the Air Were Grounded on Tuesday Due to an IT Problem
Gizmodo / 9h
American Airlines has posted on X that some flights are taking off again.





A 330 MW data center wanted to buy a farm, switch off the irrigation, and drink the difference — California's most powerful irrigation district said no, so it sued
Latest from TechRadar / 9h
IVCM petition asked Imperial County judge to overturn IID's refusal to sell it roughly 287 million gallons to cool a proposed 330 MW data center The company pledged in writing as recently as February that the project would not touch Colorado River water The case turns on whether fallowed farmland water can be reassigned to industry, a precedent worth far more than the volume in dispute A recent p





A Typo Landed an Innocent Gamer in Prison for 18 Months
Wired / 9h
How much could a single underscore in a username really matter? Just ask Brandon Klayme, who served 18 months in prison before realizing how authorities arrested, charged, and convicted the wrong man.





White House Bans Foreign Humanoid Robots in Bid to Slow China’s Tech Explosion
Gizmodo / 9h
Elon Musk's unreleased Optimus won't have to compete with any Chinese robots in the future.





American Airlines Halted Nationwide By IT Outage — Flights Missed Their Chance To Take Off Between Northeast Storms
View from the Wing / 10h
American Airlines briefly halted departures nationwide after a systemwide IT outage took down key operational systems, triggering an FAA ground stop for American and its subsidiaries. The systems came back, but for some flights the damage was done: the outage caused them to miss narrow departure windows between severe weather events, turning a short technology failure into cascading delays.





Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #1647)
Latest from TechRadar / 10h
Looking for a different day? A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Tuesday, July 28 (game #1646) . Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going





NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #1144)
Latest from TechRadar / 10h
Looking for a different day? A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Tuesday, July 28 (game #1143) . Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever





NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, July 29 (game #878)
Latest from TechRadar / 10h
Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Tuesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Tuesday, July 28 (game #877) . Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle





Reaction wheel failures leave Swift rescue mission spinning in orbit
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Nearly a month since its launch, a first-of-its-kind commercial satellite built to save NASA's Swift gamma-ray telescope from a fiery reentry is having problems of its own, the agency announced Tuesday. The Link satellite developed by Katalyst Space Technologies "experienced issues with attitude control" over the weekend, NASA said, causing the spacecraft to spin and resulting in sporadic communi





College lab class ends with 32 people on antibiotics for deadly germ exposure
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
A bizarre series of events in a college microbiology lab class left 33 people—including students, professors, and lab workers—believing they were exposed to a deadly germ. Of those, 32 began taking an antibiotic regimen as a precaution to prevent a life-threatening infection. Two also underwent lumbar punctures—aka spinal taps—after developing mild symptoms. But none of them had actually been exp





We now have a better understanding how OpenAI hacked into Hugging Face
4 TTPs•
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Last week’s unprecedented security event in which two OpenAI security hacking models trespassed into the network of fellow AI company Hugging Face was enabled by exploiting one or more zero-day vulnerabilities in Artifactory, JFrog, the product’s developer, said Monday. In an incident mimicking a dystopian sci-fi novel, two OpenAI models broke out of the restricted environment meant to keep them





eBay pays $46M to journalists it targeted in bizarre harassment campaign
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
eBay and three former executives agreed to pay nearly $56 million in a settlement over a macabre campaign of cyberstalking and harassment that targeted two journalists in 2019. As we've previously written , the case involved deliveries of live cockroaches, a funeral wreath, a book about surviving the loss of a spouse, and a bloody pig mask to the home of a couple who run a news website. There wer





Study: Dinosaurs were charbroiled after Chicxulub impact
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid impact wiped out three-quarters of all plant and animal species on Earth, most notably taking down the dinosaurs. But exactly how that impact caused those extinctions has been the subject of fierce debate. According to a new paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, the impact would have produced an immense cloud of dust that su





Philly suburb: Sure, build that data center—but first meet our 43 demands
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
From New York to Texas , state and local governments have heard the message: Their constituents are wary of data centers . Across the political spectrum, large numbers of Americans agree that these facilities should pay taxes, cover the bill for water and power upgrades, keep noise to a minimum, and employ locals at decent wages. In other words, data centers should legitimately benefit the commun





Despite AI hype, Google's data shows workers aren't automating themselves away
Ars Technica - All content / 10h
Anyone following the AI space is by now familiar with lofty claims that AI models will soon be better than humans at everything and capable of replacing vast swaths of the human workforce . In a new study from Google Research, though, a team that looked at how workers are actually using Gemini "[did] not find evidence... to support the claims that AI is about to cause massive automation and displ





Brits urged to avoid dangerous plug adaptors this summer - what to watch out for
BBC News / 10h
Campaign group Electrical Safety First has urged those "heading abroad this summer to think before they buy".





OpenAI says its rogue AI tried to hack other companies
2 TTPs•
BBC News / 10h
The out-of-control AI found four logins which allowed it to access multiple unnamed online services.





eBay and its former execs settle cyberstalking case brought by journalist couple
Engadget / 10h
Ina and David Steiner will receive compensation after a 2019 campaign to silence their critiques of the company.





This 55-Inch Samsung Mini LED TV Is $160 Off Right Now
Lifehacker / 10h
We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been looking to upgrade to a TV with better picture quality and Alexa built-in, this Samsung 55-inch Class Mini LED M80H smart TV is a good buy right now. It's $160 off, bringing it to $537.99, its lowest price ever according to price-tracking tools . It's filled





Score a free Lego Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom set on your next order — how to claim
Mashable / 10h
FREE GIFT : Until July 31, spend $40 or more on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise and get the Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist ($4.99 value) for free at Lego , in Lego Stores, or via phone orders while stocks last. Opens in a new window Credit: Lego Free Spider-Man vs. Anti-Venom Heist Free when you spend over $40 on Marvel, DC, Batman, or Jurassic World Lego merchandise. Lego





Own Microsoft Office for your Mac for a single $42.97 payment
Mashable / 10h
TL;DR: Get Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021 for a one-time $42.97 through Aug. 9 (reg. $219) and enjoy Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and OneNote for years. Opens in a new window Credit: Microsoft Microsoft Office Home & Business for Mac 2021: Lifetime License $42.97 $219 Save $176.03 Subscriptions have their place, but productivity software doesn’t really need to be one of





Mark Zuckerberg Blasts Centralization of A.I. Power
NYT > Technology / 11h
In an interview with The Times, Meta’s chief executive took aim at Anthropic and OpenAI, which have pushed to tightly control A.I. development, and said he supported “more openness.”





Fired Tesla manager says Full Self-Driving cars were 'rolling hazards'
Engadget / 11h
A new lawsuit accuses Tesla of overextending the safety operators overseeing its robotaxis.





Quote of the day by Bill Gates: 'There's nothing on the iPad I look at and say, 'Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it'' — downplaying Apple's foray into tablets
Latest from TechRadar / 11h
For a long period during the early 21st century, Apple was the envy of the technology industry – pumping out a series of excellent products and seemingly unable to put a foot wrong. When the iPad came along, it had many detractors, chief among them the former CEO of its industry rival, Microsoft. Pegged back Bill Gates was a huge advocate for the tablet computer and had long attempted to thrust t





HBO Max's August lineup is packed with new shows, movies, and a major docuseries
How-To Geek / 11h
HBO Max is turning up the heat with an August lineup that leans deep into big-event television. In addition to a mix of unscripted content, subscribers are also in for some movie streaming premieres, a highly anticipated new series, a new season of a returning favorite, and another Hard Knocks training camp, this time with the Seattle Seahawks. Documentary fans also have a gripping new treat, and





Annie Jacobsen’s ‘Biological War’ Is Coming to TV
Gizmodo / 11h
The author of 'Nuclear War: A Scenario' just released her latest terrifying 'what if' scenario, and it's getting a series adaptation.





T-Mobile outage: Some users report they couldnt connect to Starlink via T-Satellite
Mashable / 11h
T-Mobile is apologizing for a major nationwide outage on Monday that left many T-Mobile customers across the U.S. without any mobile service for hours. While we don't yet have an answer on what caused the T-Mobile outage, another question remains: Where was T-Mobile's Starlink service, T-Satellite? This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed. What is T-Satellite?





People Are Generating a Flood of Fake News About Trump That Does No Reputational Damage Whatsoever
Gizmodo / 11h
Is that... Jared Leto?





EBay and Former Execs Will Pay $56 Million to Couple They Tormented With Bloody Pig Masks
Gizmodo / 11h
The journalist couple were stalked for the critical pieces they published about eBay.





50-year-old A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog gets reprieve as BRRRRT act keeps it alive after Iran showdown
Latest from TechRadar / 11h
The BRRRRT Act seeks to keep at least 126 A-10s operational Iran operations revive debate over the A-10's military future Future A-10 retirements face stricter certification requirements under new legislation A proposed House bill requires the US Air Force to retain at least 126 A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthogs, reversing plans to retire much of the nearly 50-year-old attack aircraft fleet. The legis





I Gave the Hardest Cryptic Crossword I Could Find to a Bunch of LLMs
Gizmodo / 11h
And hey, fellow humans: I'm happy to report that this is one area in which we eat the machines for breakfast.





AI company employees petition US government for regulation
Engadget / 11h
A thousand workers from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta and more have signed the letter.





Bot-detection startup Spur nabs $200M from Insight
TechCrunch / 11h
Spur Intelligence has raised a $200 million round from Insight Partners for its tech that can identify legit human traffic from bots.





PSN, Xbox outages show why a disc-free future would suck
Mashable / 11h
It happened two times in two weeks: First Sony's PlayStation Network , then Microsoft's Xbox experienced significant outages. Monday's Xbox outage was particularly galling for users, since many Xbox games these days require authentication via the internet before they can even launch. Not only were Xbox users locked out of online features, they couldn't even launch games they had installed on thei





My Delightful Saudia 787 Business Class Flight: What Happened To The Airline?!?
One Mile at a Time / 11h
Hello from Saudi Arabia, as I just flew Saudia’s Boeing 787-10 business class on the 5hr20min flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Jeddah (JED), as I continue my review trip . I don’t want to bury the lede — this flight absolutely blew my mind in terms of how good it was. If you can get over the lack of alcohol, this has to be one of the best business class soft products in the world. What a contrast t





BuzzFeed Lays Off 33 Percent of Remaining Staff After Bizarre Pivot to AI
Futurism / 12h
Things just keep getting worse for BuzzFeed. On Monday, the struggling media company announced the layoffs of 180 employees, or about a third of its entire workforce, in the latest sign of its decline since its unexpected pivot to AI. The cuts, according to the New York Times , affect employees at its news site HuffPost, BuzzFeed’s film and TV studio, and the recipe publisher Tasty. “We’ve been a





Today I learned the CIA turned an ordinary Xerox repairman into a Cold War spy
Latest from TechRadar / 12h
CIA needed to steal top-secret documents from unwitting KGB agents So Xerox engineers created an ingenious camera setup inside a photocopier that often caught fire They secretly trained the embassy's real repairman to fit the camera and remove film on subsequent visits The CIA has never confirmed or denied the following story. The only evidence we have that it happened at all is a 1997 article in





I took a deep dive into the future of robot vacuums — here's what the biggest brands have cooking, from from E.T.-style limbs to full humanoid home helpers
Latest from TechRadar / 12h
The world of robot vacuums has come a long way. I've been testing and writing about these puck-shaped home helpers for over two years, and during that time I've watched suction specs skyrocket , bots sprout legs and pincer arms , and docks transform into formidable, self-sufficient cleaning stations. Robot vacuums are looking cleverer and more useful than ever. I wanted to get an idea of where th





Amex Points Can Now Book Ritz Paris And 425 Luxury Hotels — Here’s When The New Transfer Partner Is Worth It
View from the Wing / 12h
American Express Membership Rewards now transfers 4:1 to Leading Hotels of the World, unlocking Ritz Paris and hundreds of independent luxury hotels at roughly 2 cents per point—if you avoid the program’s traps.





This Startup Wants to Build a Better Microwave Beep
Gizmodo / 12h
A new starup found a way to make microwave beeps less annoying without requiring new hardware.





The 5 best documentaries of July 2026—on Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, and more
How-To Geek / 12h
There's a reason we keep going back to documentaries—real life is always way stranger than any writers' room could ever conjure up. July has made that case again ( June was pretty solid, too ), with some genuinely fascinating docs and series from the likes of Netflix , HBO Max , Disney+/Hulu , and Paramount+ that I've watched that have hijacked more than one entire weekend of mine.





Pornhub sends letter to U.S. lawmakers about ineffective age verification
Mashable / 12h
Today, Pornhub sent a letter to various U.S. governors, attorneys general, and state reps, the company shared with Mashable. The letter details concerns over "performative, ineffective, and unenforceable" age-verification laws, calls for releasing data on how these laws protect children, and advocates for device-level filters. Age-verification laws require submitting personal information — such a





Researcher Faces Investigation for Concealing 6-Year-Old Girl’s Death in Gene-Editing Trial
Gizmodo / 12h
Zilong Qiu is now being investigated by his university more than a year after his patient likely died from his team's experimental gene-editing therapy.





Dario Amodei Says He’s Not Against Open Models, He’s Against Selling Chips to China
Gizmodo / 12h
Anthropic's stance is unlikely to fly with strategic partner Nvidia.





Streaming Gaming Handhelds Would Make Sense if They Were Actually Good
Gizmodo / 12h
When consoles cost way too much, the only cheap hardware may require a subscription.





The Japanese luxury sedan that makes the Mercedes E-Class harder to justify
How-To Geek / 12h
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class has spent decades setting the standard for luxury sedans . It's refined, packed with technology, and carries the kind of prestige that still draws buyers into showrooms.





MCP startup Runlayer accuses Rippling of stealing its product idea
TechCrunch / 12h
Runlayer is suing Rippling after Rippling evaluated the startup's MCP gateway product and then opted to build one itself.





Couple Stalked by eBay Settle for $56 Million
NYT > Technology / 12h
Two Massachusetts journalists were harassed by a Silicon Valley security team in a case that raised questions about when executives should be held responsible.





What Is Open-Weights A.I.?
NYT > Technology / 12h
As Silicon Valley debates how artificial intelligence software should be created, “open weights” have been a major part of the discussions. Here’s what to know.





It might be LaGuardia's nicest terminal. So why does JetBlue want out?
The Points Guy Articles / 12h
Terminal B at New York City's LaGuardia Airport (LGA) is less than a decade old. It's state-of-the-art, airy and home to three premium credit card lounges. So why would JetBlue want to trade those digs for the airport's 80-year-old terminal building? Money. "While people love fountains and artwork, at the end of the day, we need to make sure that these airports are really providing what matters m





The best business credit cards to add to your wallet
The Points Guy Articles / 12h
The best business credit cards don't just support your spending — they work for you. With generous earning rates, valuable perks and benefits that can both elevate your lifestyle and boost your bottom line, the right card becomes one of your most valuable financial tools. The right business card lets you earn rewards while staying focused on day-to-day operations. Whether you're an established bu





These 3 apps helped me test whether my old SSDs are worth keeping
How-To Geek / 12h
Since I own a couple of SSDs that have passed the half-decade mark (the older one is pushing its first decade of service), I decided it was time for a quick health check to see if they're still in good working order and worth keeping.





Writers Guild Withdraws Support From Film Festival Over A.I.
NYT > Technology / 12h
Urbanworld, a New York event, has added a section for movies made with A.I. tools. The union was a sponsor but has been outspoken on the dangers of A.I.





This 16-Inch Lenovo ThinkPad Is More Than 40% Off Right Now
Lifehacker / 12h
We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. If you’ve been shopping around for a new laptop, the Lenovo ThinkPad E16 Gen 2 is a workhorse for both office and personal needs. It’s more affordable than a MacBook and more powerful than a Chromebook, with a larger display and a comfortable keyboard. And right now, the Le





the-night-picture-collector: Sally Storch, Night Stories,...
Music, Arts & Literature / 12h