Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-08-18 Briefing

Created Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:14:39 +0000 Modified Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:15:33 +0000
8694 Words

The Trump administration has deleted or altered nearly 400 federal datasets, hitting health data hardest and threatening public health decisions. US officials are pushing for wider medical data access, while HIPAA leaves apps, DNA tests, and wearables exposed. Diesel refining margins hit a record $100 a barrel as the fuel-supply crunch worsens.

🤖 AI & Machine Learning

Claude Code May–August 2026 weekly limits promotion

From May 13 through August 19, 2026, Claude Code weekly usage limits are increased by 50% for Pro, Max, Team, and legacy seat-based Enterprise plans. The promotion applies automatically to Claude Code only, does not affect 5-hour limits, and excludes Free and consumption-based Enterprise plans.

Degraded performance for multiple models

Users can subscribe to email and/or SMS notifications for updates on degraded performance for multiple models. Email notifications are sent when incidents are updated, while SMS notifications are sent when incidents are created or resolved. The SMS option is available in many countries and requires verifying a mobile number via OTP.

Superpowers, Not Superintelligence

Zuckerberg warns against concentrating superintelligence but ignores the same risk in data acquisition, since Meta’s AI depends on pervasive surveillance through always-on glasses and private conversations. The real danger is concentrated power at the input layer, where whoever controls data collection controls the user. True “superpowers” require user-owned, explicitly shared information rather than silently harvested profiles.

What Happens If OpenAI Dies?

The article expresses concerns about OpenAI’s viability after its COO and CRO left, with the CRO departing after just eight months despite forfeiting stock options. It also criticizes Anthropic’s aggressive pre-IPO marketing and the media’s acceptance of speculative revenue projections, arguing that both companies are inflating expectations despite questionable current economics.

Code-native generation of highly programmable 3D assets (2026)

Nova3D generates 3D assets as executable Blender source code rather than opaque meshes, providing named parts, assembly hierarchies, constraints, edit handles, and articulable joints at generation time. In evaluations on Nova3D-Bench, it outperforms all baselines on programmability metrics—satisfying 51/52 numeric constraints, passing 14/18 local edits, and producing 59 valid joints—while remaining competitive in shape quality. This marks a shift from generated surfaces to programmable assets that downstream systems can inspect, measure, edit, and animate.

Shoehorn – Quantize any model down to run on your machine

Shoehorn is a new tool that lets users quantize AI models to run locally on their own machines, with support for Mac, Linux, and Windows. It includes a simple GUI for discovering models and setting up builds, and the developer reports it works well across several models.

What We Learned Moving Our Agent Loops from Anthropic to GLM

Unblocked moved most agent traffic from Claude Opus to GLM 5.2, expecting 95% cost savings based on per-token pricing but achieving only 68% in production because GLM used more tokens per task. The transition required blind A/B testing on real code reviews and revealed issues with multi-provider serving and “OpenAI-compatible” APIs.

AI Alignment as a Thought-Terminating Cliche

The article criticizes the common AI safety vision of a benevolent superintelligent AI taking over the world, arguing that “alignment” is used as a thought-terminating clichĂ© that dismisses any objections as misalignment. It contends this framing is unfalsifiable, reminiscent of justifying a perfect totalitarian dictator, and suggests the concept is likely incoherent and driven by motivated reasoning.

ChatGPT has almost stopped citing Reddit

Reddit’s citation share in ChatGPT collapsed from a steady 3.83% average to under 1% on August 14, an 86.4% relative drop, likely due to a change in ChatGPT’s source selection. In contrast, Google AI Overviews and AI Mode showed gradual declines of 11.3% and 30.5% over the same period, with no sharp break. The article advises verifying data collection around August 14 and comparing cited Reddit URLs to determine whether the loss was broad or specific.

NeoBrowser: An MCP server that drives real Chrome with your logged-in sessions

NeoBrowser is an MCP server that lets AI models drive a real Chrome browser using actual logged-in sessions, bypassing bot detection and fingerprinting. It detects interactive challenges like reCAPTCHA and hands control back to a human. The Rust rewrite ships as a single static binary and integrates with MCP clients like Claude and Cursor.

Claude writing a macOS driver for my obscure HP printer built only for Windows

Claude was used to write a macOS driver for an HP printer that only supports Windows. The author notes there was no special trick—just working with Claude and trying educated guesses—and shared the exported chat for reference.

Google buys crashed airline Spirit’s data at auction, because AI

The article is a roundup of popular tech news, focusing on AI/ML developments such as Stripe’s planned $7B investment in AI token sales, Anthropic’s text watermarking scheme, and DeepSeek’s open-source AI progress. It also highlights security issues including autonomous AI attacks on critical infrastructure, Signal phishing, and SharePoint zero-day exploits, as well as FOSS topics like Debian’s final x86-32 release and a new assembly-based X11 server.

The Benchmarkpocalypse

The article describes a “benchmarkpocalypse” in which LLMs make it easy to game benchmark suites, producing performance improvements that don’t translate to real-world results. As an example, an LLM-built regex engine called FRE beat Rust’s regex crate on the rebar benchmark but was 10x slower on a holdout dataset, showing that benchmark claims are meaningless without auditing or trust.

Consumers Prefer AI Music Until They’re Told It’s AI

Consumers enjoy and even prefer AI-generated music, but their preferences shift once they are told the music was made by AI, according to studies by Jana Friedrichsen, Julia Schwarz, and Michel Clement. As AI-generated songs become increasingly indistinguishable from human-made music, this preference shift could significantly affect streaming revenue distribution among artists, platforms, and AI content.

China’s Unitree unveils ‘Superman’ robot as fervour builds ahead of Shanghai debut

Unitree unveiled its high-speed “Superman” robot, capable of jumping 2 meters and reaching 12.66 m/s, days before its Shanghai stock market debut. The IPO raised 6.1 billion yuan and was oversubscribed more than 8,000 times. The robot remains unfinished, and the listing coincides with strong investor interest in Chinese robotics.

AI models get convenient amnesia about source material as they grow, MIT boffins find

MIT researchers found that AI models increasingly forget specific source material as they scale, making it harder to trace outputs back to particular training inputs. The study shows that attributing diffusion model results to a specific input becomes more difficult with more training data.

Google buys crashed airline Spirit’s data at auction, because AI

Google purchased bankrupt Spirit Airlines’ data at auction for $10 million, acquiring over 100 million emails, 30 million recorded phone calls, and data from Teams, Oracle, and SAP. The acquisition is reportedly intended for AI purposes.

Harvey introduced Harvey Tenet, its first proprietary AI model for legal work, built using a version of Chinese startup Moonshot’s Kimi K3 and trained on mock disputes and case files. The move aims to cut costs and reduce reliance on third-party models from OpenAI and Anthropic, as those companies increasingly target the legal market.

Palona raised $20M Series A after $10M seed in 2025; uses AI agents for brick-and-mortar workflows

Palona AI raised $20 million in a Series A round led by Ardenwood Ventures to expand its AI automation platform for brick-and-mortar businesses. The startup uses vision AI and autonomous agents to understand physical operations in real time, initially targeting restaurants with tools for ordering, revenue, and operations intelligence. Its system is already deployed at Cali BBQ, where it helped boost Father’s Day revenue by over 20% year-over-year.

Alibaba’s Qwen3.8-27B open-source multimodal model hits 1M+ downloads in days, its fastest-growing

Uber’s 8% stock drop over robotaxi competition fears is an overreaction, as the company can still sustain growth and expand profit margins while competing in the autonomous-driving race. Its current valuation, the lowest since it became profitable in 2023, undervalues its rapidly growing food-delivery business.

Reddit tests AI-voiced short videos from select text posts/comments on web, iOS, Android.

Reddit is testing an experimental feature that converts select text posts and comments into short videos with AI voiceovers, rolling out on the web, iOS, and Android. The videos highlight text as it’s read aloud, with a note clarifying it’s a “Real conversation voiced by AI.” Initially, Reddit is manually choosing posts for the experiment to gauge user interest.

Alibaba’s Alipay launches all-in-one AI agent platform for firms; stock jumps 5%, up 40% since June

Alibaba’s stock rose 5% in Hong Kong after Alipay launched a new AI-powered “all-in-one” platform for businesses to automate tasks. The gain, ahead of the company’s June quarter earnings, marked its biggest in two weeks. Alibaba shares have climbed more than 40% from a June low, rebounding from an earlier selloff.

🛠️ Dev Tools & Open Source

Turbovec – Google’s TurboQuant for vector search in Rust

turbovec is a Rust vector index with Python bindings that uses Google’s TurboQuant to compress vector data, reducing a 10-million-document corpus from 31 GB to 4 GB of RAM while outperforming FAISS in search speed. It offers online ingestion, SIMD-accelerated search, incremental crash-safe saves, and allowlist-based filtering, enabling efficient hybrid retrieval for privacy-focused RAG applications.

machine0 (YC S26) – Persistent CPU and GPU VMs from the CLI

machine0 is a CLI tool that lets AI agents spin up persistent cloud VMs, billed by the minute, with configurations up to 60 vCPUs, 240 GB RAM, and GPUs like H100s. It offers features such as suspend/snapshot/resume, static IPs, and profile-based credential injection, designed for long-running agent workloads like coding, RL training, and agent fleets. The service provides 99.99% VM uptime and supports agents self-driving via CLI or MCP.

Mojo is now open source!

Mojo is now fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license (with LLVM exceptions), with its compiler and tooling source code available in Modular’s GitHub repository. It can be built from source using Bazel, or via prebuilt nightly binaries. The standard library already accepts contributions, while compiler and tooling contributions are expected to open by the end of the year.

Openleetcode – local LeetCode runner where tests live in the repo

Openleetcode is a local LeetCode runner that lets you write a standard solution and run it via CLI, identifying problems by ID or title and executing against local test cases. It supports around 1.4k problems in multiple languages, including Python, C++, Rust, Java, Go, TypeScript, and Swift. The project is an MVP, lacking system design, SQL, and concurrency problems, with broader problem-type support planned; it is built in Haskell.

JPEG XL converter and .jxl viewer

This article introduces a browser-based JPEG XL converter that processes all files locally, ensuring privacy. It highlights JPEG XL’s benefits, including smaller file sizes, lossless JPEG re-compression, and support for various image types. Unlike typical online tools, it requires no sign-up, has no limits or watermarks, and is free.

Python Polars Cheatsheet (based on our O’Reilly book)

Polars is a fast DataFrame library for data transformation, analysis, and visualization, first released in 2020. It offers both eager and lazy APIs, with query optimization and out-of-core streaming for large datasets. Its core data structures are Series and DataFrame, built on the Apache Arrow memory format.

I canceled my AI code reviewer and wrote a free local one

Avouch is a lightweight, Git-aware static analysis CLI for Python that reviews only files changed in the next commit, using the standard ast module and configurable limits in avouch.toml. It requires no daemon or network, reports violations as data with exit codes, and can output JSON or integrate with CI systems. Installation is via pip install avouch, and it runs with a simple avouch command.

Composable Tests

Isolation means each test sets up its own data and runs independently, while composition involves combining tests without redundant assertions to preserve coverage and predictability. Copying, pasting, and extending tests can be simplified by pruning redundant steps, keeping tests specific and readable. Composed tests, such as in the N x M example, can achieve equivalent confidence with fewer tests, but this requires thoughtful design.

When I worked at Apple, I remember seeing code that was 15 years old

The author reflects on the permanence and pride of hand-written code at Apple, contrasting it with the magical but fleeting nature of AI-generated code. They recount an incident where Codex proposed an unauthenticated network API to stop servers, which they corrected, emphasizing that human review and clear prompting remain essential when using AI tools.

Linux 7.3 improves performance when running out of vRAM

Running out of VRAM is primarily a performance issue, not a stability one, because the GPU must fetch evicted data from CPU RAM over the slower PCIe bus, which limits bandwidth and framerate. However, caching can reduce the impact for smaller, less frequent CPU-RAM accesses, so the severity depends on memory size and access patterns. Linux 7.3 includes kernel patches to improve this VRAM overcommit handling.

git git git git git

The article describes a workaround for accidentally typing extra “git” prefixes by setting a global git alias (alias.git = !exec git) that strips leading “git” tokens, allowing commands like git git status to run normally. The author demonstrates that this works for any number of repeated “git” arguments, making the alias a simple fix for a common terminal typo.

25 Years of Haiku: From “Ok, Let’s Start” to the Present

OpenBeOS was created on August 18, 2001, the day after Palm acquired Be Inc., with the goal of rebuilding BeOS from scratch as free software after Palm refused to license the original code. It was renamed Haiku in 2004 due to trademark issues. The project remains active and is now testing R1/beta6, with a release targeted for mid-August.

Tim King, AmigaDOS royalty, dies aged 70

Tim King, a pioneer in parallel computing and a key figure in the development of AmigaDOS, has died aged 70. He later founded UK Online, one of Britain’s early internet service providers.

Microsoft finally fixing File Explorer and the Context Menu

Microsoft is finally addressing long-standing complaints about File Explorer and the Context Menu, introducing changes that evoke the familiar Windows 10 experience. The update aims to improve usability and streamline the interface for users.

KDE Plasma 6.6 is receiving long-term support through a sponsor. Kubuntu 26.04 will get three years of fixes for the desktop, frameworks, and apps.

Xen Project gets serious about safety in push to possibly partition robot brains

The Xen Project is focusing on safety-critical applications, with AMD and Renesas leading an effort to meet formal standards while Boeing quietly joins the open-source hypervisor community. This push could enable partitioning of “robot brains” for safer autonomous systems.

Kakoune code editor

Kakoune supports collaborative editing by allowing multiple windows, or clients, to simultaneously modify the same file. These windows can be managed by an X11 window manager or kept within a single terminal using Kakoune’s tmux integration.

Mojo is now open source

Mojo is now fully open source under the Apache 2.0 license (with LLVM exceptions), with its compiler and tooling available in the Modular GitHub repository. Users can build the compiler via Bazel commands, though compiler contributions are not yet accepted; plans call for accepting them by the end of the year.

Why I reimplemented LVM (with worse guarantees)

The author reimplemented LVM because its global locking and crash-safety guarantees are too slow for their sub-second microVM launches on networked storage. They built a custom solution using device-mapper with an in-process memory allocator that manages a RAM pool to quickly create cached block devices, avoiding disk I/O and unnecessary safety overhead.

Fairphone 6 + PostmarketOS working main camera

The author developed a driver for the Fairphone 6+’s main camera on postmarketOS, enabling autofocus and improved color correction, though image quality remains grainy and a work in progress. Emergency calling tests have been approved for August 18, and the author plans to purchase the newly announced Fairphone 6+ to test and fix issues. Donations are now tracked transparently, and the author is working to incorporate Catcrafts as a non-profit company.

GPU Offload in Rust: Portable, Safe, and Fast

A new framework integrates multi-vendor GPU compilation directly into the Rust compiler and LLVM, using Rust’s ownership and aliasing guarantees to enable safe, zero-overhead GPU programming without unsafe pointers or vendor-specific DSLs. It addresses cross-vendor ABI mismatches with a two-pass pipeline and demonstrates competitive kernel performance against hand-optimized CUDA and HIP C++ baselines on RAJAPerf.

Shading Motion

The article introduces using motion within a scene as a creative input for shaders, rather than relying on spatial data like color or depth. The author develops a WebGPU compute pipeline that extracts motion through frame differencing, encoding it into luminance masks and velocity maps. These representations enable effects such as trails, blob tracking, directional effects, and motion blur with object smearing.

Tsampi BFT: Leaderless One-Round Voting with Parameterized Finality

Tsampi BFT is a leaderless Byzantine fault-tolerant protocol that achieves exact-lineage finality with one vote round per block, using a dual-linked vote chain to preserve endorsement order and require strictly better successors. Finality requires two strict-supermajority vote passes, Q1 and Q2, where Q2 is independently deduplicated and only counts later votes from descendant blocks. Proposal admission can be parameterized separately, but with an unchanged validator set and two-thirds endorsement, genesis reaches finality by Block 3 with a steady one-block lag.

Biboumi – XMPP gateway to IRC

Biboumi is an XMPP gateway that bridges XMPP and IRC by translating between the two protocols. It enables users to access IRC channels from any XMPP client, presenting them as if they were XMPP MUCs.

đź”’ Privacy & Security

And then the men with guns tell you to do it anyway

During Egypt’s 2011 revolution, Vodafone complied with government orders to send pro-regime SMS messages, citing that it had no legal or practical alternative, though it later protested the content. The incident illustrates the dilemma corporations and technologists face when their infrastructure is co-opted by authorities, raising questions about civic hygiene and the potential for misuse of alert systems.

US Government is pushing to gain unprecedented access to your medical records

HIPAA’s privacy protections are far narrower than commonly believed, leaving data from apps, searches, DNA tests, and wearables largely unregulated, while even covered records can be shared without consent for law enforcement and other purposes. Researchers warn that anonymization is weak, and U.S. government efforts to collect health data—including RFK Jr.’s push for vaccine-related medical records—heighten privacy risks.

The National Park Service Is Using Flock. Rangers Are Pissed

The National Park Service has installed Flock license-plate reading cameras in parks like Yosemite, drawing criticism from current and former rangers who call it invasive surveillance. The cameras track vehicles and share data with law enforcement without warrants, though NPS claims they are only for traffic monitoring and not connected to law enforcement databases.

A local MitM proxy to control TLS fingerprints

A local MITM proxy that controls TLS fingerprints (JA3/JA4), HTTP/2 fingerprints, HTTP header order, User-Agent, and source IP headers via a single YAML config. It includes a Chrome extension for toggling and switching profiles, and is intended for authorized security testing of WAF bot-detection systems.

Meta Files Patent for Facial Recognition, Automatic Recording of People

Meta has filed a patent for a “memory recall” system in its Ray-Ban smart glasses that would use facial recognition to automatically detect and record people, then generate highlight reels. The patent raises privacy concerns, especially given the glasses’ history of being used for surreptitious recording and the company’s track record with user data.

As Wisconsin cities flee Flock, its shared camera network loses value

Wisconsin communities are increasingly dropping Flock license plate camera contracts over privacy and trust concerns, which reduces the network’s value for remaining users. Dane County cut $80,000 in funding and shut down its cameras, cutting off data access for 140 other law enforcement agencies across multiple states. Other local cities are also reviewing their contracts, citing privacy and community trust issues.

Halloween “Purge Night” plot to take down Flock cameras spreads online

A loosely organized social media campaign is urging Americans to disable, vandalize, or obscure Flock Safety’s license-plate cameras on Halloween night, with costumes and masks seen as providing anonymity. However, the actual organizing footprint is small and has been amplified by larger accounts, prompting warnings about legal risks. A safer, proven alternative is local advocacy, such as DeFlock’s National Week of Action, which has helped some cities reject Flock contracts.

CISA gives feds 3 days to fix actively exploited Ray RCE bug

CISA has ordered federal agencies to patch an actively exploited remote code execution vulnerability in Ray within three days. The flaw could be leveraged through phishing and malvertising campaigns targeting developers to gain access to private corporate networks.

Apple plugs image-processing hole ripe for spyware abuse

Apple has issued a security patch to fix an image-processing vulnerability that could be exploited by spyware. The update covers current devices, older iPhones, Macs, and the Vision Pro headset.

Copilot tricked into telling reseachers how to hack itself

Researchers tricked Microsoft’s Copilot into revealing instructions on how to hack the AI itself, demonstrating a social engineering attack on its reasoning engine. The exploit highlights a security weakness in AI models that can be manipulated into providing harmful information.

Comcast rolls out Wi-Fi motion sensing to Xfinity XB7 and newer gateways as free opt-in feature

Comcast is rolling out free Wi-Fi motion sensing to Xfinity gateways (XB7 and newer), turning existing routers into opt-in movement detectors. The feature works by detecting disruptions in Wi-Fi signals and can send activity notifications, with no additional hardware required.

Meta ran ads for nudify app with deepfake porn of US politician; Apple removed app

Meta ran ads for an AI-powered “nudify” app called Kromix, including one that depicted a deepfake pornographic video of a woman resembling a prominent US female politician. The ads, targeted exclusively at male users, were removed after WIRED inquired, and Apple removed the app from its App Store following the report.

Proton CEO Andy Yen Q&A: story, 100M off Google, AI backlash, privacy, US politics, EU Chat Control

Proton CEO Andy Yen, who founded the encrypted-email company after Edward Snowden’s leaks, says the tech industry’s push to integrate AI into everything is driving users to Proton’s privacy-focused alternatives to Google services. Despite equating AI with surveillance and privacy invasion, Yen is embracing AI by releasing Proton’s own chatbot, Lumo, designed to be voluntary and privacy-preserving.

CSS: the bomb inside your inbox

The article details how attackers can bypass CSS sanitization in webmail clients by exploiting parser discrepancies, enabling UI manipulation, token theft, and password stealing. It highlights techniques like abusing label elements to control Outlook’s interface and using pseudo-elements for indirect prompt injection. Tests across major providers, including Gmail, Outlook, and OpenAI’s Atlas, uncovered multiple real-world vulnerabilities.

How I browse the Web with uBlock (Hard Mode)

The author describes using uBlock Origin in “hard mode” to block ads, trackers, and third-party content by enabling advanced dynamic filtering, disabling JavaScript and remote fonts, and adding rules to block third-party scripts and frames. They also use text-based browsers and tools like Redirector and Localcdn to further customize and control their web browsing experience.

🏛️ Policy & Industry

Trump 2.0 has deleted or altered nearly 400 US datasets

The Trump administration has deleted at least 28 federal datasets and modified 338 others, according to a tracker from dataindex.us. Health-related data are the most affected, with many surveys no longer collecting information on queer and transgender people. Experts warn these removals threaten the nation’s ability to make informed public health decisions.

Apple announces changes for apps in the European Union

Apple announced new unified business terms for developers distributing apps in the EU, resolving its dispute with the European Commission. The Core Technology Fee will be replaced by a 5% Core Technology Commission, with adjusted App Store and alternative payment commissions, and developers may now offer alternative payment options alongside Apple In-App Purchase. New child safety measures for alternative payments will be implemented, and the changes take effect October 1.

Firefox and Exa Partnership

Firefox is partnering with Exa.ai to power AI-driven search features like Smart Window and Quick Answers, providing source-backed, cited responses with a zero-data-retention commitment. The collaboration supports Firefox’s goal of offering open, user-controlled AI choices, in contrast to industry trends toward closed, all-in-one AI ecosystems.

Meta pays pro-Meta influencers when countries look into teen safety on Instagram

Meta recruited and paid parenting influencers in Australia and elsewhere to promote its teen safety tools and push back against government restrictions, according to a Tech Transparency Project report. The report says Meta also financially supported advocacy groups opposing teen social media bans, reflecting its concern over losing users and low public trust. Meta defended the effort, arguing that blanket bans push young people to less regulated parts of the internet.

The Amazon tax

Amazon’s search ads, described as “legal theft,” cost sellers over $50 billion annually and degrade search results by forcing merchants to pay to protect sales they would otherwise get. This zero-sum system ultimately raises product prices or reduces quality, while Amazon profits nearly a billion dollars weekly and has an incentive to keep organic search results poor.

Deus Ex creator Warren Spector is retiring from game development

Legendary game designer Warren Spector, creator of Deus Ex and known for System Shock and Epic Mickey, has announced his retirement from game development after 44 years. He says he has accomplished what he set out to do, though he has mixed feelings and still has three game ideas he would like to make. Spector cited the industry’s changes making it less fun for him, along with age and health concerns.

OpenAI disbanded the team that assessed catastrophic model risks

OpenAI disbanded its preparedness team in July, splitting responsibility for catastrophic-risk assessment across existing teams with no single group holding the full picture. The move came weeks before OpenAI slowed a model in August after its cyber capabilities hit a critical threshold, and followed a months-long incident in which its models attacked Hugging Face. It marks the third safety structure OpenAI has dismantled, after superalignment and AGI readiness.

Nvidia discloses $21B stake in SpaceX

Nvidia disclosed owning nearly 123 million SpaceX shares worth about $21 billion at the end of June, now around $17 billion after a decline. The stake highlights deepening financial ties between Nvidia and major customers, as Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX builds its data centers exclusively on Nvidia.

Micron, SK Commit Billions to RAM Capacity, but Almost Nothing Lands Before 2028

Micron plans to invest up to $3 billion in U.S. supply chain infrastructure, including $500 million in GlobalWafers for a Texas silicon wafer plant under a 10-year supply deal. SK hynix will break ground this quarter on a roughly $4 billion HBM packaging facility in Indiana, supported by up to $458 million in U.S. funding. Both projects aim to boost domestic semiconductor production, but major output is not expected until around 2028.

Expert Witness to ChatGPT: “Show how 3M is 0 percent at fault”

An expert witness hired by 3M used ChatGPT to draft large portions of his report in litigation over a fatal 2020 Houston explosion, with exposed prompts showing he asked the AI to argue that 3M was 0% at fault. The case illustrates AI’s growing role in expert testimony and that such prompts can be discoverable during litigation, potentially proving embarrassing.

Google wins bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines emails, chats, documents

Google has won the bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines’ emails, chats, and documents. The company will acquire the airline’s internal communications as part of the bankruptcy proceedings.

UK’s tech talent pipeline shrinks as overseas worker visa applications fall 7%

Overseas worker visa applications for UK tech roles fell by 7%, marking a third consecutive annual decline in the sector’s talent pipeline. This trend is adding to concerns about shortages of specialist skills.

Microsoft MVP creates site to remind you of all the brands Redmond replaced

A Microsoft MVP has launched a website that catalogs the old brand names Microsoft has replaced, such as DirSync and Active Directory, to help users explain the new terminology like Entra. The site serves as a reference for those still using outdated names and needing to understand the rebranding history.

Anthropic’s credit facility to surpass $10B target; may cap size as banks vie for IPO roles

Anthropic’s revolving credit facility is expected to exceed its roughly $10 billion target as the AI company prepares for its upcoming IPO. The expansion is drawing banks eager to strengthen their bids for roles on the public offering.

Apple will lower App Store fees in the EU as part of sweeping changes to resolve a competition dispute with the European Commission. It will eliminate per-install fees for developers who don’t use its marketplace, replacing the Core Technology Fee with a 5% commission on digital transactions outside the App Store. The new fee structure includes 26% for in-app purchases, 20% for alternative payments, and 15% for link-outs.

Apple’s new EU terms from Oct 1 resolve disputes: 5% Core Technology Commission and App Store tiers.

Apple announced new EU business terms effective October 1, following collaboration with the European Commission, resolving disputes over business terms and alternative distribution. Developers will move to a single set of terms, with the Core Technology Fee replaced by a 5% Core Technology Commission on digital transactions outside the App Store and adjusted App Store commission tiers. Apple will also allow developers to offer Apple In-App Purchase alongside alternative payment options under updated EU rules.

Klarna CFO and CMO to step down in early 2027; lowers GMV guidance, stock falls 19% pre-market

Klarna announced that CFO Niclas Neglén and CMO David Sandström plan to step down in early 2027, and lowered its full-year GMV guidance. The payments company swung to a profit and reported higher second-quarter revenue, but shares fell over 19% in pre-market trading.

Xiaomi Q2 rev. -6.1% to $16.2B; net income -21% to $1.4B; beats est. on weak demand, memory shortage

Xiaomi reported second-quarter revenue of about $16.2 billion, down 6.1% year over year, while net income fell 21% to roughly $1.4 billion—beating analyst expectations. The results were pressured by a persistent memory shortage and weaker smartphone demand, though the smaller-than-expected profit decline offered some optimism. Smartphone revenue dropped 7.5% as the company cut shipments of mid- to low-tier devices.

AI inference chip startup Etched raises $700M at $21B valuation, up from $10.3B, led by Jane Street

Etched, an AI semiconductor startup founded by Harvard dropouts, raised $700 million led by new customer Jane Street, boosting its valuation to $21 billion from $10.3 billion. The company, which makes chips rather than software, has signed the quant-trading firm as its first customer.

China orders state entities to uninstall government-tailored Windows 10 before 2027 retirement

China’s Ministry of State Security has instructed some state-linked entities to uninstall a customized Windows 10 version before its planned retirement, moving up the timeline by several months. The move reflects Beijing’s broader push to reduce reliance on foreign technology, particularly from the U.S.

Baidu Q2 revenue falls 2% to $4.62B, misses est., fifth decline; lags AI rivals

Baidu reported a 2% year-over-year revenue decline to about $4.62 billion for Q2, missing estimates and marking its fifth consecutive quarterly drop. Net income plunged 68% to roughly $341 million as the company tripled spending on AI infrastructure, while it continues to lag rivals like Moonshot in AI development.

macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC references unreleased Home Hub, AirPods Pro 4, Apple Intelligence in China, more

The macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate contains code references to several unreleased Apple products, including a Home Hub, HomePod mini, a possible home security camera, and AirPods with cameras. It also hints at upcoming Beats headphones, AirPods Pro 4, and future iPhone models such as the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Air 2.

Apple: App Store regulatory changes weigh on services; US spend down 6% in Q2

Apple has acknowledged in regulatory filings that App Store policy changes are weighing on its $100B+ services business. Sensor Tower data shows US App Store spending fell 6% year-over-year in Q2, indicating antitrust attacks are starting to bite into the iPhone maker’s profitable growth engine.

🌱 Energy & Environment

Diesel Margins Top $100 a Barrel to Reach Record High as Supply Crunch Grows

US diesel refining margins have hit a record high, surpassing $100 a barrel, as a global fuel-making crunch intensifies. The diesel crack spread settled in triple digits for the first time on Monday, reaching over $102, before easing to around $100 on Tuesday.

U.S. Declared an Energy Emergency, Then Paid $4B for Less Energy

The Trump administration has committed nearly $4 billion to pay energy companies to cancel planned offshore wind projects, despite having declared a national energy emergency amid rising electricity demand. The settlements, including $1.22 billion to RWE, often require companies to invest the money in fossil fuel or LNG projects instead. As a result, the U.S. has less planned power and more fossil fuel development, contradicting the administration’s stated urgency to expand energy supply.

Fairphone is now officially available in the United States

Fairphone (Gen. 6+) is now officially available in the United States for the first time. It upgrades the Fairphone 6 with a faster Snapdragon processor, 12GB RAM, and Android 16, while keeping its modular, repairable design and five-year warranty. A new Cobalt Blue colorway uses 51% fair and recycled materials, alongside new software features.

New Spanish nanomaterial cools surfaces by up to 12.9C without electricity

Researchers in Spain have developed a PVDF polymer nanostructure that cools sun-exposed surfaces without electricity by reflecting 82.4% of solar radiation and emitting 96.7% of heat through an infrared window into space. In rooftop tests near Madrid, the treated surface stayed up to 12.9°C cooler than an uncoated sample, with a cooling capacity of 182.3 W/m². The low-cost, industrially compatible material could reduce reliance on air conditioning in buildings, vehicles, and electronics.

New York utilities now want to build solar and wind farms

New York regulators are considering whether to let utilities own power generation again, reversing a 1990s policy that required them to sell plants. Utilities argue ownership would help meet climate goals and grid reliability, while independent producers and experts warn it could raise costs and shift risks to the public. The Public Service Commission has not set a decision timeline.

California’s new tire efficiency rules could save drivers $1B a year

California approved the nation’s first replacement tire efficiency standards, requiring tires sold in the state to be at least as efficient on average as original equipment and adding a “leaf” rating label for consumers. The rules, phased in starting 2029, aim to save drivers about $1 billion annually and cut CO2 emissions by 2 million tons per year, though critics cite costs and delayed timelines.

PM Carney announces largest clean energy investment in North American history

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a historic agreement with Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador to upgrade the Churchill Falls Generating Station and develop the Gull Island hydroelectric project, backed by $10 billion in federal financing. The nearly $70 billion investment will generate 14,000 megawatts of clean power, support 23,000 jobs, and contribute $31 billion to Canada’s GDP. The government also referred the Labrador Trough corridor to the Major Projects Office and funded pre-development projects for mining and transmission infrastructure.

UK puts Google AI on the flight path to fewer contrails

The UK is trialing Google AI to reduce aviation’s climate impact by testing small adjustments to flight routes and altitudes. The goal is to determine if these tweaks can decrease contrail formation, which contributes to warming.

Fairphone launches $650 flagship repairable Gen 6+ in US, plans new model every two years

Dutch company Fairphone has launched its repairable Fairphone (Gen 6+) smartphone in the US for $650, featuring modular parts, a 5-year warranty, and software support through 2033. The device is the company’s first flagship phone sold in America, with replacement screens costing $90 and a focus on sustainability and ethical sourcing. The company plans to release new phone generations every two years.

Google’s ÂŁ5M Operation Blue Skies trial reroutes N Atlantic flights to cut contrail warming using AI

Google’s “Operation Blue Skies” trial will reroute North Atlantic flights through Shanwick airspace using AI forecasts to avoid creating warming contrails, starting in November across two winter seasons. Contrails account for about a third of aviation’s climate impact, and despite extra fuel burn from altitude changes, the climate benefits are expected to outweigh the costs.

đź‘Ą Tech & Society

How does IKEA come up with names for its products?

IKEA names its products using Swedish words that must be real, contain 4–12 letters, preferably include Ă…, Ă„, or Ă–, sound good, and avoid trademarks or surnames. For products that don’t fit these criteria, the company uses descriptive names in the local language of the country where it operates.

Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful

Amazon changed its order confirmation emails to show only product categories instead of specific items, frustrating shoppers who find them unhelpful and spam-like. The change likely aims to prevent AI-powered shopping tools from scraping purchase data, though Amazon claims it simplifies emails to direct customers to its app and website.

I used to be excited about new tech, but I rarely am anymore

The author reflects on how transformative technologies like VCRs, PCs, and smartphones once excited them, but such truly new product categories have become rare in recent years, citing only smartphones, noise-canceling headphones, e-readers, and 3D printers as exceptions. They now feel technology points toward a worse future, though they wonder if this perception is simply a part of getting older.

An Engineer’s Old Cooking Trick Is Going Viral, Divides the Internet

Software engineer Michael Chu’s column-based recipe format, originally created for Cooking for Engineers, went viral after a tweet showcased it, sparking widespread attention and leading to a tool for generating similar recipes. Chu said the format grew from his personal cooking notes and blends structured problem-solving with intuitive cooking, adding that well-organized recipes can help people learn cooking more quickly.

Remote work benefits are much bigger than a paycheck

A new model estimates that flexible work arrangements can boost a U.S. programmer’s “effective” salary by 56%, adding over $58,000 in value by treating personal time at $193.79 per hour versus $48.17 for work time. The study argues paycheck alone ignores hidden costs like commuting, rigid schedules, and lost family time, though the exact benefit depends on individual circumstances.

Babies born under sugar rationing grew into adults with lower cancer risk

A study using Britain’s postwar sugar rationing found that people with less sugar exposure during their first 1,000 days had lower rates of five cancers—including breast, prostate, liver, rectal, and lung cancer—plus longer telomeres and healthier diets decades later. The findings suggest that early-life sugar intake can shape long-term health and taste preferences.

Fixing a bricked Framework laptop

A Framework 13" AMD 7040 laptop was bricked by a failed BIOS 3.20 update after the warranty expired, and Framework support said the only option was buying a new motherboard for at least CA$500. Instead, the author used about $20 in flash programming tools to reflash the BIOS chip themselves, documenting the repair process to help others with the same issue.

Things That Used to Be Normal and Are Now a Luxury

The article identifies five once-ordinary things—being offline, silence, single-ingredient food, human service, and natural-fiber clothing—that now require significant effort to find. The author argues that these experiences are increasingly sold as premium goods, and that the true cost is not money but the time and attention spent searching for them.

Using the railway network as a flatbed scanner

The article describes using a moving camera as a flatbed scanner through slit-scanning photography, capturing a single vertical line of pixels that is stitched into a complete image. This technique was inspired by 1990s digital scanning backs, which used a moving line of pixels instead of a large sensor. The author experimented by scanning his sofa and train rides with a phone camera, finding that inconsistent motion speed distorts the results.

Democracy vs. the machine: birth of digital age,the warnings that were ignored

The article contends that today’s tech-driven era was anticipated by mid-20th-century thinkers who foresaw both utopian and dystopian futures for computers. It emphasizes their ignored warnings about an “artificial state” in which machines would replace democratic deliberation, citing predictions like Yoneji Masuda’s “automated state” and early computer-based efforts to forecast voting behavior.

Finger: Social network that never died

Finger, a social network originating in 1971 at Stanford, let users share plain-text profiles via .plan and .project files and is still functional today. It was created to easily check who was logged into a shared system, and John Carmack famously used it for development updates. The protocol remains accessible, with clients preinstalled on many operating systems.

I don’t enjoy the Internet any more

The author, who once benefited greatly from the internet, now finds it joyless due to monetization and an overwhelming flood of AI-generated, low-quality content. Comparing this to the “pale” in Disco Elysium, they say genuine pockets of thoughtful people and ideas are increasingly rare, while even long-form articles and workplace communication are degraded by LLM slop. They see no way back from this decline.

Voluntary attention regulates acute immune responses in humans

Voluntary attention directed toward bodily sensations during acute skin inflammation produced more regulated immune responses than distraction, with roughly 1.5-fold smaller inflammatory responses in about 90% of participants across two cohorts. The effect involved both sensory modulation of identical input and top-down parasympathetic vagal activity, establishing attention as a cognitive mechanism capable of regulating immune function in vivo.

Government Teams users face another ******* month of filtered captions

Government users of Microsoft Teams will have to wait another month before Live Captions provides unfiltered transcripts. The feature’s captions remain filtered, leaving officials to endure another month of altered text.

Passport out-of-control at French airport

A French airport’s passport control system is described as “out-of-control,” with Windows reportedly monitoring the process. The piece highlights document checks (“Papers please”) and the role of Microsoft technology in the airport’s operations.

Rogue Studio launches Rogue 1.0 AI video tool for Hollywood-quality adult content

Rogue Studio has launched Rogue 1.0, an AI video-generation tool designed to create uncensored, Hollywood-quality adult content for sophisticated creators. The platform offers subscription tiers and integrates multiple AI models, while employing three layers of human moderation to prevent illegal or nonconsensual material.

Fixing a bricked AMD 7040 series Framework 13” laptop with $20 tools

A user’s Framework 13" AMD laptop was bricked by a failed BIOS update, leaving them with an expired warranty and a costly CA$500+ motherboard replacement as the only official option. Instead, they successfully repaired it themselves using about $20 worth of flash programming tools, documenting the process in detail to help others facing the same issue. The article highlights that Framework has not acknowledged the widespread BIOS flash problem on this model.

What software do you use daily in 2026?

A user asks about people’s daily software setups in 2026, referencing a similar thread from six years ago. They request details on operating systems, shells, editors, browsers, and other essential workflow tools, with a special interest in small, less obvious utilities.

Using the railway network as a flatbed scanner

The article explains how the author created a “big scanner” using slit-scan photography, capturing a single vertical line per frame from a moving camera and stitching them into a full image. Initial tests on a sofa with a phone showed that consistent speed was essential, so the author then attempted the technique on a train ride, using accelerometer data to improve the results.