Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-10-30 Briefing

Created Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:49:51 +0000 Modified Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:51:19 +0000
6112 Words

Go 1.28’s HTTP/2 “parking” cut idle-server RSS by 39–41% at 5,000 connections; NixOS 26.05 tuning slashed idle RAM from 288 MB to 96 MB and rebuilds under 512 MB. curl 8.12–8.16 was accidentally Turing-complete via uncapped config includes, while npm rejected “estee” as too close to “testem.” VictoriaMetrics benchmarked structured log ingestion; Anthropic-hack claims lacked accessible details.

🤖 AI & Compute

Spotify plans Q1 2027 AI remix/covers tool for subscribers at ~$5/month, pending licensing

Spotify reportedly aims to launch an AI feature in Q1 2027 that would let subscribers create their own remixes and covers for about $5 per month. The launch depends on securing licensing deals, according to sources.

Startups bet AI can make formal software verification practical; &Truth launches with $70M seed

A wave of startups is betting that generative AI can make formal software verification—math-based proof that code works as intended—practical and widespread. &Truth launched Thursday with a $70 million seed round and aims to eventually verify any programming language, building on research that used AI to verify part of Signal’s encryption code. Rivals including Harmonic and a Theorem-Anthropic collaboration are also advancing AI verification tools, though the technology remains in prototyping and questions about pricing and adoption persist.

Meta launches Style Sketch AI app for outfits from own clothes in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand

Meta has quietly launched Style Sketch, an AI fashion app available in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand, that helps users create outfit ideas from clothes they already own. The app can build a virtual closet via Instagram or uploaded photos, suggest combinations, and let users try outfits on a model matched to their body shape and skin tone; Meta has not said whether it will launch more widely.

Jassy: Outside AI shopping agents not great or more convenient than retailers

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy downplayed the threat of outside AI shopping agents on the company’s earnings call, saying they are “still not great” or more convenient than shopping directly with a retailer. The comments came after Amazon blocked Meta’s Muse assistant from its store. Jassy also said more than 400 million customers used Amazon’s own Alexa for shopping in the past year, with interactions up 570% year over year.

Cisco gives engineer unlimited AI tokens to rewrite 98% of the company’s code

Cisco president Jeetu Patel has tasked 27-year-old engineer Padmanabhan Krishnamurthy, a former startup founder acquired via EzDubs, with rewriting 98% of Cisco’s legacy code in 24 months using unlimited AI tokens, starting with a four-week proof of concept. Patel wants more young, AI-native hires who challenge the status quo and believes mixing them with experienced operators and external entrepreneurs will drive results, despite expected friction.

Arsaze – Cursor for video editing (Tab-complete and agent edits)

Arsaze is an AI-native video editor that edits a real multi-track timeline while users watch, via plain-language requests, transcript edits, or manual controls. It offers Tab-based suggestions for the next edit and lets AI agents such as Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Codex, and Cursor make reversible timeline edits. It has a free plan with no card and runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and web, with accounts in 64 countries and early adoption concentrated in India.

Deterministic Factoring in Time N^O(1)

The article presents a deterministic integer-factoring result and documents its provenance, formalization, and tooling. The formalization uses Lean 4.35.0 and Claude Opus 5.5, with references covering deterministic factorization, FFTs, lattices, SAT, and related mathematics. It is released as Version 1 under CC BY 4.0.

AGI Economics: Coordination vs. Competence

The article argues that smarter AI will raise productivity, but real economic transformation depends on AI agents learning to coordinate rather than merely outperforming individuals. It contends that current benchmarks miss organizational and team dynamics that shape economic outcomes. It defines capability thresholds for AGI and tracks how the transition across those thresholds changes market structure, employment, and wages.

AI projects not paying off? Keep at it, says Uni Productivity Institute

A university productivity institute advises firms not to abandon AI projects prematurely, saying upfront investment needs time to pay off. It also cautions that speeding up individual tasks will not necessarily boost productivity across the entire company.

AWS installs an AI accelerator every 14 seconds and eyes $1 trillion annual revenue

AWS is installing an AI accelerator every 14 seconds and is targeting $1 trillion in annual revenue. The report suggests the cloud giant could increasingly be seen as a cloud company with a retail side business.

🔐 Security & Privacy

Anthropic hacked to deliver remote access trojan to Claude developer laptops worldwide

The article’s title claims Anthropic was hacked to deliver a remote access trojan to Claude developer laptops worldwide. The available content only asks readers to enable JavaScript and cookies, so no further details are provided.

arm64e pointer authentication: PAC keys, PACIASP, A12

The article explains arm64e pointer authentication, in which a cryptographic PAC is stored in unused pointer bits and verified by hardware at branch time against a key not held in memory. It covers the PAC field layout, including a measured 16-bit instruction-pointer field on a stock Mac and a cited 24-bit kernel-pointer mask on A12. Because direct reads and writes cannot recover the key, the analysis focuses on the modifier, signing operation, or crash behavior, with no exploit chain presented.

North Korean hackers blamed for Binance hack

Binance suffered a roughly $6.3 billion crypto theft across multiple blockchains, which analysts at TRM Labs and Chainalysis linked with high confidence to North Korean hackers, possibly the TraderTraitor group; Binance and law enforcement have not named suspects. The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals, said user funds were safe, reported about $3 billion frozen or located, and pledged to cover all losses. It expects withdrawals to resume within 48 hours, while the breach—potentially the largest crypto heist on record, surpassing Bybit’s $1.5 billion hack—hit investor confidence and crypto prices.

CrowdStrike: China-linked hackers used ARTEX, DeepSeek to hit 200+ orgs in 11 days; breached 9+

According to CrowdStrike, China-linked hackers used an AI tool called ARTEX, along with a DeepSeek LLM and another model, to target more than 200 organizations worldwide in 11 days, compromising at least nine. The campaign targeted governments and businesses and illustrates how AI can enable cyberattacks at greater scale with less human effort.

Binance suspends deposits, withdrawals amid security probe, law enforcement; Binance.US unaffected

Binance temporarily suspended all deposits and withdrawals while it investigates security issues and works with law enforcement. Tether and Circle froze billions of dollars’ worth of their coins amid the investigation. Binance.US said it was unaffected.

Northflank Breached

Northflank is reporting major outages across networking, certificates, services, addons, jobs, builds, and logs and metrics. The Northflank App, API, marketing site, and documentation remain operational, with uptime listed at 99.82% for the app and 100% for the others.

Backdoors in official Claude Code extensions

The article’s title refers to backdoors in official Claude Code extensions. However, the provided content contains only a Mastodon notice asking users to enable JavaScript or use a native app, with no further details about the alleged backdoors.

Azure’s Weakest Link – Five Full Cross-Tenant Compromises

A security researcher disclosed five vulnerabilities in Azure API Connections, part of Azure Logic Apps, each enabling full cross-tenant compromise. The flaws allow attackers to operate on other tenants’ connections and access connected backends including Key Vaults, Azure SQL databases, Jira, and Salesforce, netting $200,000 in bounties. Exploitation hinges on bypassing input-validation edge cases, including through ARM DynamicInvoke/proxy endpoints.

Trojanized Claude Code Extension Plants an SSH Backdoor

The Claude Code extension version 2.1.313 in the Cursor Marketplace was compromised with a malicious 66-line loader inserted before the legitimate extension code. When activated, it adds an attacker-controlled SSH key, attempts to enable local SSH, establishes a reverse tunnel to 134.209.82.225, installs platform-specific persistence, and sends host reconnaissance over unencrypted HTTP. The @anthropic-ai/claude-code NPM package, OpenVSX extension, and Microsoft VS Code extension were reported not malicious.

Go programs enable MPTCP by default, exposing them to Linux CVE-2026-98432

CVE-2026-98432 is a Linux kernel IPv4 TCP use-after-free that can enable RCE, with a demonstrated exploit requiring an MPTCP listener, though the underlying bug is not MPTCP-specific; upgrading to a patched kernel is the recommended fix. Go 1.24 enables MPTCP by default for Linux listen sockets, and programs can disable it via GODEBUG=multipathtcp=0, godebug multipathtcp=0 in go.mod, or per-socket SetMultipathTCP methods. The Go Security Team warns that per-program MPTCP disabling is a fragile mitigation and says it is premature to change Go’s defaults, with further discussion at go.dev/issue/82717.

NHS quango warns of risk to GP patient data after website vendor collapse

An NHS quango has warned of risks to GP patient data after a small health tech firm that supplied websites to hundreds of practices went into administration. The vendor’s collapse affected hundreds of GP practices.

UK intelligence agency lost thousands of storage devices, still can’t say how many

A British intelligence agency has misplaced thousands of storage devices and years later still cannot say how many. Its other errors included an unchecked software bug that led to detentions under the Terrorism Act.

UK Shelly reseller warns payment data stolen after malware found on website

A UK-based reseller of Shelly devices warned that payment data was stolen after malware was found on its website. One customer reported fraudulent card charges hours before the company notified them.

IPVanish early Black Friday deal 2026 is live: Sale with up to 85% OFF

IPVanish’s early Black Friday 2026 sale is live with up to 85% off two-year plans. Essential costs $2.19/month, Complete $2.79/month, and Advanced $3.29/month, with the Essential plan offering the lowest price and largest discount. The sale applies to two-year subscriptions, and Essential is presented as the best value for price-focused shoppers.

Invisible “SMS of Death” crashes Android phone, traps victim in reboot loop until factory reset

A malformed invisible “SMS of Death” can crash Android’s phone service, drop active and emergency calls, and trap devices in a reboot loop that may require a factory reset. The flaw affects Android 12 through 16, and exploit code is now public. Google has committed a patch, but it has not yet reached all supported devices.

A French content creator builds a map that can track police movements worldwide

French content creator Neru has built Cortège, a free open-source web app that lets protesters anonymously share real-time reports on police movements, tear gas, medics, and legal aid. Since mid-October it has received more than 4,000 reports, creating nearly 2,800 map points, with reports expiring within minutes and users able to confirm or dispute them to limit false information. Because the code is free software, groups worldwide can run their own versions.

Hacker attack hits Sony’s internet provider, exposing millions of records

So-net, a Sony-owned Japanese ISP, said a hacker attack may have exposed 2.1 million customer records including names, phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, and IDs. More than 54,000 legacy email accounts had email addresses and passwords exposed, while subsidiary Plala had over 443,000 member records exposed without passwords. So-net reset affected passwords and warned customers to avoid suspicious messages, links, and attachments.

France’s CNIL fined FNAC €7 million for tracking mobile app users without prior consent, collecting data including advertising IDs, device details, IP addresses, and browsing history for personalized ads and recommendation systems. FNAC must add a consent tool within one month or face €10,000 daily penalties.

Columbia University to pay $16.1M to settle cyberattack lawsuit

Columbia University has agreed to pay $16.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a May 2025 cyberattack that exposed sensitive data of more than 868,000 current and former students, faculty, and applicants. The breached information included Social Security numbers, academic records, financial and insurance details, and health data. Eligible victims can claim up to $8,500 if they can prove losses from the breach.

💻 Software & Linux

Go 1.28’s HTTP/2 Parking: Measuring Memory Savings

The article examines a Go 1.28 HTTP/2 server change called parking, in which the connection-serving goroutine can exit when idle and a new goroutine takes over when work arrives. Benchmarking idle HTTP/2 connections showed that enabling parking reduced server RSS by about 85–93 MiB at 5,000 idle connections (roughly 39–41%) versus the same Go 1.28 binary with parking disabled, with a smaller reduction of about 16 MiB at 1,000 idle connections.

Shrinking NixOS Ram footprint and resource requirements to the bare minimum

The article explains how to drastically reduce NixOS 26.05 RAM usage, cutting idle memory from 288 MB to 96 MB and loaded kernel modules from 89 to 54 while making full rebuilds fit within 512 MB instead of requiring about 896 MB–1 GB. It lists kernel command-line and sysctl tweaks, unnecessary module blacklists, and initrd trimming—including disabling THP, KSM, TPM, audit, and unused virtio features—used to achieve those savings.

No, npm, “estee” is not a typo of “testem”

The article recounts how npm rejected the package name “estee” as too similar to “testem” under its Levenshtein-distance-based typo-squatting rules, even though the author argues it is not a plausible typo. The author criticizes the policy as a false positive and explains why a fixed Levenshtein threshold scales poorly for package-name filtering.

VictoriaLogs vs Loki, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, SigNoz and ClickStack on structured log ingestion

VictoriaMetrics published a reproducible benchmark comparing VictoriaLogs with Loki, Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, SigNoz and ClickStack for structured log ingestion. It tests recent releases in single-node Kubernetes setups on identical hardware, ramping ingestion from 10k to 180k lines/s, and examines internals such as Loki’s high ingest rate but slow dashboard queries and Elasticsearch/OpenSearch disk usage. The post focuses only on structured-log ingestion, with query performance, cluster mode and object storage planned for later.

Curl accidentally Turing-complete for nine months

From curl 8.12 through 8.16, config files could slice variable values and include other config files without an explicit depth cap, allowing simulation of any two-counter Minsky program and, under unbounded-resource idealization, accidental Turing completeness. Curl 8.17.0 added a five-level include cap that breaks this reduction, while real binaries remained bounded by memory, stack, and expansion limits.

Another Week, Another Vibe Coded OS; Closed-Source In The Name Of Security

A new AI-coded operating system, NULLos, has been built from scratch with its own UEFI bootloader, kernel, and self-hosting C compiler. Unlike most such projects, NULLos is closed-source; its developer told Phoronix this is a security decision, arguing a single developer cannot be infiltrated and code cannot leak.

AMD PerfOpt Makes it Into Linux 7.4 As A Nice Performance Boost For AMD iGPUs

AMD PerfOpt has been merged into the Linux 7.4 kernel, allowing AMD Radeon iGPUs to bypass the IOMMU for direct system-memory access and enabling it by default in the AMDGPU driver. Benchmarks show notable performance gains, especially for AI workloads, including 18–23% boosts for Radeon iGPUs and improvements for prior-gen Ryzen APUs; users can verify activation via dmesg.

Vulkan 1.4.367 Released With VK_KHR_maintenance12

Vulkan 1.4.367 has been released as the latest spec revision, adding a new driver ID for Borealis, the Apple Silicon Mesa Vulkan driver fork tied to the “Aurora Silicon” project. It also introduces the VK_KHR_maintenance12 extension, developed with contributors from Valve, NVIDIA, Nintendo, LunarG, and AMD, bundling minor spec changes.

I3C Hub & HDR-DDR Support Merged For Linux 7.4

Linux 7.4 has merged I3C changes adding core master hub support, a generic I3C hub framework, and a driver for NXP P3H2x4x multi-port hub devices. The release also enables HDR-DDR support in the MIPI I3C HCI driver, allowing dual-edge sampling and throughput up to 25 Mbps.

RISC-V Has A Nice Portable Performance Optimization With Linux 7.4

RISC-V changes for Linux 7.4 include a portable performance optimization that moves skipping of software alignment for fast misaligned memory copies to runtime detection, allowing generic and distribution kernels to benefit. It builds on a Linux 7.3 optimization that delivered up to 11% bandwidth improvement in Tenstorrent tests but was not portable. Linux 7.4 also adds RISC-V crash hot-plug support, page-table and context-switch optimizations, and reporting for the B and Zic64b ISA extensions.

elect.horse

elect.horse is a daily gerrymandering puzzle in which the horse loses the popular vote to the cow, donkey, and goat. Players draw equal districts on a hex map to help the horse win the most seats anyway; JavaScript is required to play.

Google Custom Search API is shutting down: migration guide and alternatives

Google’s Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers, while existing users can continue until it is discontinued on January 1, 2027, with current pricing unchanged until then. The article offers a migration guide by use case, noting Vertex AI Search for up to 50 domains and Apify’s Web Search or other SERP APIs for whole-web JSON results. Google offers no self-serve replacement for whole-web search.

Lasm – Write formally verified webapps in Lean for Node/serverless/edge

Lasm is a project that brings Lean to browser, Node, serverless, and edge environments, enabling web apps to be written frontend-to-backend in Lean and formally verified. The author says Lasm was built mostly by Claude Opus 5.5 with his high-level direction. The project aims to support formally verified specifications for servers such as Express or Hono running on Cloudflare Workers.

Pico CSS is no longer maintained

Pico CSS is no longer maintained, and its repository was archived on October 4, 2026, making it read-only. Version 2.1.1 is the final release. The maintainer said the minimal CSS framework’s relevance has declined as AI can generate lightweight, standalone, accessible HTML with only the CSS it needs, and keeping it current would require a full rewrite.

Herdr has released native app

Herdr has released a native desktop app for managing terminals and coding agents, with features for organizing work into spaces, tabs, and panes and tracking agent status. It is available for Linux, macOS Apple Silicon, and Windows x64, with installers that also add herdr-core if missing. The app supports SSH machines and keeps terminals running when the window is closed.

System-call wrappers for glibc

At the Linux Plumbers Conference, glibc maintainers Carlos O’Donell and Florian Weimer gave an update on efforts to provide C library wrappers for Linux system calls that currently lack them and are only accessible via syscall(). They reviewed the policy history, discussed challenges with complex calls such as futex(), noted glibc’s recent SCHED_DEADLINE support, and solicited attendee input on future needs.

Farm PC ‘maintained’ by a 14-year-old dumped support chap in a steaming pile of tech mess

A support technician was dispatched to a farm where a 14-year-old had been maintaining a PC, only to find an unsupported Windows XP setup in a chaotic state. The machine, tied to a few hundred head of cattle, was described as a foul-smelling tech mess.

⚙️ Hardware & Devices

Smart audio for the smart home (2021)

The article describes Sonos as a consumer-friendly IP-based distributed audio system that sends audio to amplifiers colocated with speakers and solves reliable synchronization over ordinary WiFi. It argues that today’s Sonos, AirPlay, and Chromecast landscape is a vendor-locked shadow of DLNA, then begins examining why DLNA and late-1990s–2000s home network AV efforts failed by tracing the history of CD audio and ripping.

AMD Ryzen Zen 6 Looks Like It Will Be In Good Shape With Linux 7.4, Laptop Improvements

The x86 platform driver changes for Linux 7.4 have been merged, adding AMD HSMP, PMC, and PMF support for upcoming Ryzen Zen 6 client platforms. The release also includes broad laptop improvements covering Acer, Alienware, MSI, HP, ASUS, Uniwill, handheld devices, and Qualcomm Snapdragon X laptops.

I Returned My iPhone Duo

The author returned their iPhone Duo after six days and swapped it for an iPhone 18 Pro Max. They praised the large inner display, compact folded design, and developer features, but said the lack of Face ID and cramped outer screen made the £2,000 device feel like a compromise.

Bloatware in Aftermarket Auto Parts

A Civic owner used Claude to inspect a cheap aftermarket Amazon head unit and found pre-installed bloatware, including a WebView-equipped voice assistant that reportedly consumed about a third of processing power while idle, plus Baidu location services, a call recorder, a U.S.-useless DAB radio client, and Adobe Acrobat. The case exposes security and privacy issues in IoT car software and highlights how AI can help ordinary users reverse-engineer such devices.

📈 Business & Policy

NAND maker Kioxia Q2 op profit up 22x YoY to $12.7B, in line; Q3 guide $12.7B vs $14.9B est.

Kioxia Holdings forecast current-quarter operating profit of ¥2 trillion, below estimates of ¥2.35 trillion, warning that the AI-fueled surge in flash memory prices is easing. NAND flash average selling prices rose by a mid-20% range in the three months to September, down from 70% in the prior quarter.

Ravical raises $17M seed led by MMC, totaling $25M for AI accounting/tax ops platform

Ravical, an AI startup building a platform for accounting and tax firms, raised a $17 million seed round led by MMC Ventures, bringing its total funding to $25 million. The funds will support product development, team expansion, and growth in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany, with plans to enter more European markets and the US. More than 100 accounting firms across Europe currently use Ravical’s platform, which standardizes workflows by turning experienced professionals’ knowledge into shared processes.

Nscale’s 8GW W.Va. compute campus hit by construction issues, opposition, financing risks

Nscale, an Nvidia-backed neocloud, is betting on an 8GW, 2,250-acre Monarch Compute Campus in West Virginia. The data center project has been hit by construction issues, local opposition, and financing risks, according to the Financial Times.

DeepSeek doubled round size amid black-market Nvidia Blackwell prices; state-owned investors 27%

DeepSeek doubled its latest funding round to nearly $16 billion, driven by surging black-market prices for Nvidia Blackwell chips. Chinese state-owned investors represented 27% of the round, which also involved Chinese tech titans and state players.

Anthropic depends on TSMC’s Taiwan chips, warns of disruption risks amid China tensions

Anthropic’s IPO prospectus discloses its reliance on TSMC’s Taiwan-based AI chip production and warns of disruption risks amid China tensions, making the supply chain a top U.S. foreign policy interest. The AI company is expected to list next month and could raise up to $100 billion at a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

AM Intelligence seeks up to $3B to fund Nvidia Vera Rubin systems buy

AM Intelligence, an Indian AI infrastructure firm, is seeking to raise as much as $3 billion to fund its previously announced purchase of Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin systems, according to people familiar with the matter. The financing package could include bonds and bank loans, reflecting growing debt financing tied to the AI boom.

NYSE owner ICE plans US-regulated Hyperliquid perpetual markets with Trade.xyz, takes stake

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the NYSE, is partnering with Trade.xyz, a market operator on crypto platform Hyperliquid, to plan a US-regulated perpetual futures market. The venture would use Hyperliquid’s infrastructure and Trade.xyz products tied to equities, equity indexes, commodities, and currencies, with its own clearing, KYC and AML systems, pending regulatory approval. ICE is also taking a stake in Trade.xyz.

Twilio Q3 revenue up 20% to $1.56B, net income up 333%; slower Q4 growth outlook; TWLO -15%+

Twilio reported Q3 revenue of $1.56B, up 20% YoY and above the $1.52B estimate, while net income rose 333% to $161M. The company raised its full-year revenue growth outlook but expects slower Q4 revenue growth, sending TWLO shares down more than 15% after hours.

Andy Jassy: Prime Video now profitable, tens of billions in revenue

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Prime Video has reached a revenue run rate in the tens of billions of dollars and is now profitable in its own right. Amazon MGM Studios has generated more than $1.2 billion in global box office this year, helped by hits including Project Hail Mary, which grossed an estimated $684 million worldwide. Jassy also cited TV successes and sports, with Thursday Night Football averaging 17.7 million viewers over its first six games, up 16% year over year.

Medicare Will Pay $50k for Your Heart Attack. It Should Pay $100 to Prevent It

The article argues that the U.S. healthcare system pays heavily for heart attacks—Medicare may cover about $50,000 for one—while underusing a roughly $100 coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan that can detect atherosclerosis years earlier. In March 2026, ACC/AHA guidelines finally gave CAC a central role for adults at borderline or intermediate risk, using scores to refine risk and guide preventive treatment such as statins. It notes that despite strong evidence, CAC had been only peripheral in national guidelines for decades.

Massie, Khanna, and Others Introduce the “Epstein Files Transparency Act II”

Lawmakers including Reps. Massie, Khanna, and Leger Fernández and Sens. Merkley and Luján introduced the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, saying the Justice Department has failed to comply with the original Epstein Files Transparency Act signed in November 2025. They said the DOJ continues to withhold more than 3 million files and maintain heavy redactions. The bill would allow state attorneys general and Epstein survivors to sue the U.S. attorney general to compel compliance and transparency.

AI Bubble Burst

The article argues that the AI infrastructure bubble has burst because Alphabet and Microsoft missed Q3 AI capex expectations, while Caterpillar’s 22% inventory increase signals overproduction and slowing AI capital spending. It also claims ServiceNow’s strong AI ACV but weak revenue guidance shows AI monetization lagging adoption, and notes the mentioned stocks fell 10–27% after reporting.

US Reps Lead Democratic Resolution Opposing A.I. Bubble Bailout for Big Tech

Democratic Reps. Greg Casar and Maxine Waters co-led a resolution warning of economic risks from an AI-related asset bubble and opposing taxpayer bailouts for corporations or executives if it collapses. The resolution affirms support for federal action to protect workers, retirees, and low-income communities from a resulting downturn.

Apple Is Entering Its Slop Era

The article argues that Apple, under new CEO John Ternus, is entering a “slop era,” struggling with AI and relying on derivative hardware gimmicks such as a cracking foldable iPhone Duo and a touch-screen laptop Steve Jobs had rejected. It portrays the once-dominant innovator as downwardly mobile and increasingly indistinguishable from competitors.

Google’s search revenue Ferrari hits an AI-powered speed bump

The article reports that Google’s search revenue, likened to a Ferrari, has hit an AI-related speed bump. It suggests that further AI integration is expected to make the business accelerate again.

PC chip plunge wipes out a quarter of Intel’s value

Intel’s value fell by about a quarter amid a plunge in PC chip sales. Its CEO predicts a massive datacenter CPU boom soon, but production problems may prevent Intel from capitalizing on it.

🔬 Science & Society

What are you doing this weekend?

The article invites readers to share their weekend plans and to ask for help or feedback. It also reminds them that it is perfectly acceptable to do nothing at all.

Pompeii wardrobe found untouched since 79CE holds keepsakes, coins, and two mice

Archaeologists in Pompeii have reconstructed a wardrobe and its contents from the House of Cornelius Maximus, including a woman’s grooming tools, trade weights, kitchen vessels, a cloth bag holding a 24-charm crepundia necklace, and 38 bronze coins in a basket. The abandoned valuables suggest the owners fled or died in the 79 CE eruption and never returned. The excavation also revealed fourth-style wall paintings, ongoing renovation work, and the remains of two juvenile wood mice in an amphora.

Just Noting That Your Candy Corn Is Made of Bug Secretions

The provided page does not contain the article; it only displays a Cloudflare security verification message asking users to wait while the site connection is confirmed. Therefore, no substantive details about the candy corn article can be summarized from the supplied content.

5-MeO-DMT sometimes cancels the Ebbinghaus illusion

The article explores whether psychedelics can sometimes make visual perception more accurate, citing the author’s report that 5-MeO-DMT nearly eliminated the Ebbinghaus size illusion. It describes the Qualia Research Institute’s retreat studying exotic consciousness states and argues that visual illusions and psychedelics may reveal computational principles of perception. It also notes that 5-MeO-DMT is short-acting, highly abstract, and less visually distorting than classical psychedelics.

American views of higher ed decline, once again

A new Gallup poll finds U.S. attitudes toward higher education have soured sharply: the share saying a college education is “very important” fell from 70% in 2013 to under one-third, while “not too important” rose from 6% to nearly 30%, with declines across all major demographic groups. The article argues this likely reflects declining faith in the economic, social, and political value of a college degree—driven by the Great Recession, student debt, inequality, and political attacks—rather than Americans’ views of education itself.

How Do You Take a Picture of a Black Hole?

Harvard astrophysicist Shep Doeleman and a team of 250 researchers used the Event Horizon Telescope, a global network of radio telescopes, to capture the first image of a supermassive black hole in galaxy M87 and the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy. The feat required extraordinary science and collaboration, and has advanced understanding of black holes. Researchers hope to produce movies of black holes by the early 2030s.

Tracks along the longest drive on another world

NASA’s Perseverance rover set a new record for the farthest drive on another celestial body, reaching 45.22 kilometers (28.10 miles) on Sol 2006 (Oct. 11, 2026), with its Earth-based engineering twin receiving a Guinness World Records plaque. The milestone came after the rover studied ancient rock outcrops and used upgraded terrain limits, braking software, and onboard Global Localization to enable longer autonomous drives.

Cormac McCarthy’s Library

The article is a bot-verification page rather than a news story about Cormac McCarthy’s library. It explains that the website uses Anubis, a proof-of-work challenge, to deter aggressive AI scraping and prevent related downtime, while noting the approach is a temporary placeholder for better headless-browser detection.

Voyager 1 gives controllers the silent treatment

Voyager 1 briefly gave controllers the silent treatment, prompting concern about the spacecraft’s status. It has since resumed communication, reassuring controllers that it is still responding.

NASA ponders a Hubble servicing mission or a controlled deorbit

NASA is weighing options for the Hubble Space Telescope, including a servicing mission or a controlled deorbit. The agency says it is only seeking information, but the veteran telescope’s reentry countdown is ticking.

UFO disclosure rocked as Kelly Chase alleges drugging and deception

Kelly Chase alleges she and another woman were drugged at a Palo Alto hotel during a 2023 UFO conference and says influential UFO figures discouraged her from contacting police; she has not proven responsibility but suspects former business partner Jay Christopher King. Her video also questions the UFO community’s investment in David Grusch’s credibility, dividing followers and renewing scrutiny of the disclosure movement.