Sponsor gives KDE Plasma 6.6 the LTS treatment
The RegisterKubuntu 26.04 is delivering long-term support (LTS) for KDE Plasma 6.6, providing three years of dedicated updates for the desktop environment, frameworks, and associated applications. This initiative bridges cutting-edge UI features with the stability guarantees required for enterprise deployments.
Best Buy 'repairs' customer's gaming laptop by simply removing half the RAM— claims unit in question only accepts 32GB RAM of RAM despite selling it as a 64GB configuration
Tom's HardwareA retail repair dispute revealed a major consumer hardware vendor resolving a blue-screen defect by physically stripping half the RAM from a 64GB laptop configuration. This operational failure highlights severe deficits in authorized service-level quality control.
Hidden Airtag reveals Amazon is trashing rare books to train AI
Ars TechnicaInvestigative reporting utilizing embedded AirTags revealed that Amazon has been systematically discarding rare and physical print materials to feed data ingestion pipelines for artificial intelligence training. This practice underscores the extreme lengths to which hyperscalers are going to acquire proprietary text corpora as web-scraping limits tighten.
Exclusive: You Can Finally Buy a Fairphone—a Sustainable, Repairable Smartphone—in the US
Wired METEREDModular smartphone manufacturer Fairphone has officially launched its modular, highly repairable devices in the United States market, starting with the Fairphone Gen 6+. This move introduces sustainable consumer hardware alternatives to a region heavily dominated by vertically integrated, non-repairable ecosystems.
Can AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton's Andy Yen Says It Will Have To
Wired METEREDProton CEO Andy Yen is confronting the architectural friction between zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption and the data-hungry ingestion pipelines required for modern artificial intelligence models. As Proton integrates AI features, the company faces strategic pressure to reconcile privacy-first architecture with large language model data processing.
Two camera features may be unique to the iPhone 18 Pro Max, suggests leaker
9to5Mac · MobileIndustry reports indicate potential hardware differentiation in the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max camera system compared to the standard Pro model. This shift revives Apple's previous segmentation strategy, potentially reserving advanced optical or sensor configurations exclusively for the larger chassis.
Google just bought a bunch of Spirit Airlines data for AI training
9to5GoogleGoogle has acquired a massive trove of historical operational data from the defunct Spirit Airlines to supplement its proprietary machine learning training sets. This move highlights the aggressive acquisition strategies tech giants are employing to secure proprietary datasets outside traditional web scraping.
OpenAI Introduces 'ChatGPT for Teens' as Safety Concerns Grow
NYT Technology PAYWALLOpenAI has deployed a specialized 'ChatGPT for Teens' interface featuring automated conversational restrictions designed to mitigate safety risks for minors. This release responds to escalating regulatory scrutiny and public anxiety regarding unconstrained generative AI interactions for younger demographics.
Judge allegedly outsourced entire ruling to AI and still can't be sued — federal court upholds blanket judicial immunity
Tom's HardwareA U.S. federal court reaffirmed absolute judicial immunity for a judge accused of outsourcing a legal ruling entirely to artificial intelligence. While preserving the immunity shield against civil lawsuits, the decision bypasses judgment on the legality or ethical validity of utilizing generative AI in judicial determinations.
Fairphone's latest repairable phone is going on sale in the US
The VergeFairphone is officially launching its modular, highly repairable smartphone lineup directly in the United States market with the Fairphone 6 Plus. Priced at $649.99, the device offers unlocked compatibility with major domestic carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T.
Elon Musk made flying even worse so Palantir could profit
The VergeCritical infrastructure vulnerabilities were exposed following a major Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center outage that disrupted over 1,100 flights. The incident highlights systemic reliability risks within legacy aviation communications, creating operational openings for defense tech contractors like Palantir.
ChatGPT is getting a dedicated mode for teens
The VergeOpenAI has formalized a dedicated operational mode for teenage users within ChatGPT, consolidating disparate safety mechanisms into a unified framework. This implementation reflects broader industry shifts toward stringent age-verification and protective guardrails for younger consumer bases.
300,000 WordPress Sites Potentially Exposed to Hacking Due to Form Plugin Flaw
SecurityWeekAn arbitrary file upload vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-15748 exposes approximately 300,000 WordPress sites utilizing a vulnerable form plugin. The flaw enables unauthenticated threat actors to upload executable payloads directly to target web servers, presenting critical remote code execution risks.
Expand your NAS with a third off this Seagate 8TB IronWolf HDD — 32% discount in Best Buy's 60th Anniversary sale
Tom's HardwareBest Buy has introduced a 32 percent discount on the Seagate 8TB IronWolf HDD as part of its 60th Anniversary sales event. This price reduction provides enterprise architects and home lab builders a cost-effective path to scale network-attached storage capacity.
China reportedly orders state agencies to uninstall its government-only edition of Windows 10 — Beijing accelerates planned retirement over data security concerns
Tom's HardwareChina's Ministry of State Security has directed state-linked organizations to purge a specialized, government-only edition of Windows 10 from their infrastructure. This accelerated retirement underscores escalating geopolitical imperatives to eliminate foreign operating system dependencies over national data security concerns.
We still don't know how people are really using AI
MIT Technology Review METEREDArtificial intelligence researchers note that ecosystem visibility remains severely limited because proprietary data regarding how users interact with models like ChatGPT and Claude is strictly controlled by vendors. Independent validation is constrained by the lack of transparent, third-party telemetry data from major AI providers.
Apple @ Work Podcast: Agentic networking actions
9to5MacApple ecosystem management platform Mosyle is expanding its unified endpoint capabilities to incorporate agentic networking workflows for enterprise environments. This integration automates device deployment, security posture enforcement, and network management across fleets of enterprise Apple hardware.
Incogni is our favorite service that stops data brokers from selling your info - and it's 58% off
ZDNetData privacy service Incogni is offering a 58 percent discount on its annual subscription plans, lowering the cost of automated data broker removal. The service targets the commercial ecosystem of data brokers that aggregate and monetize digital footprints.
Firm test-fires 3D-printed, fully cryogenic reusable rocket engine — Indian startup leverages SLM printing to create its first working prototype
Tom's HardwareIndian aerospace startup Othisis successfully test-fired its first fully 3D-printed, reusable cryogenic rocket engine. Utilizing Selective Laser Melting (SLM) manufacturing, the prototype demonstrates how additive manufacturing can radically compress production cycles and reduce component part counts for orbital launch systems.
Category Wire
Artificial Intelligence
UK puts Google AI on the flight path to fewer contrails
The RegisterTrial will test whether small route and altitude tweaks can reduce aviation's warming impact
AI to help planes avoid climate-warming 'sky graffiti'
BBC TechnologyA new UK trial hopes to reduce the condensation trails from planes, which can trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
AI models get convenient amnesia about source material as they grow, MIT boffins find
The RegisterMIT researchers have demonstrated that diffusion models suffer from scaling-induced source amnesia, making training data attribution progressively harder as dataset size increases. This opacity introduces compliance and intellectual property tracking challenges for enterprise AI deployments.
Cybersecurity
Nvidia crypto mining GPUs hacked to restore locked-away VRAM — software mod unlocks 64GB of VRAM on $250 CMP 170HX
Tom's HardwareCMP Unlocker enables previously disabled VRAM on Nvidia's five-year-old CMP 170HX cryptocurrency mining graphics card.
Heights Finance Data Breach Impacts at Least 1.2 Million Individuals
SecurityWeekHackers stole names, addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers, and financial information from a third-party platform. The post Heights Finance Data Breach Impacts at Least 1.2 Million Individuals appeared first on SecurityWeek.
The Powerful Chinese Model Experts Warned About—and Waited for—Is Here
Wired METEREDZ.ai has released a powerful new dual-use artificial intelligence model capable of both enterprise defensive orchestration and advanced offensive cyber exploitation. The capability shift intensifies geopolitical scrutiny over open-weight frontier model deployment.
Mobile
Google Is Reportedly Planning To Move All Pixel Production Out Of China - engadget.com
EngadgetGoogle is reportedly executing a strategic supply chain relocation to shift all Pixel smartphone manufacturing entirely out of China. This operational pivot reflects broader enterprise hardware strategies to de-risk manufacturing footprints amid geopolitical and trade pressures.
Stop paying for smartphone storage you don't need - here's a better approach
ZDNetA strategic reframing of consumer hardware acquisition demonstrates that purchasing higher base smartphone storage tiers is frequently financially sub-optimal compared to tiered cloud integrations. Evaluating capacity requirements through a total-cost-of-ownership lens shifts consumer behavior toward dynamic lifecycle storage management.
What's new in Android's August 2026 Google System Updates [U]
9to5GoogleGoogle has detailed its August 2026 System Updates, rolling out critical enhancements across Play services, the Play Store, and cross-platform runtimes spanning Android, Wear OS, Android TV, and ChromeOS. These updates deliver essential runtime patches and developer APIs designed to unify ecosystem capabilities.
Science & Research
How solar became the cheapest form of energy in the world
Scientific American METEREDEconomic analyses explain the structural drivers behind photovoltaic technology achieving status as the cheapest form of global energy generation. Key vectors include manufacturing scale economies, aggressive capital expenditure reductions, and continuous photovoltaic efficiency gains.
Poem: 'The Bachelor, Season 92 Million'
Scientific American METEREDScientific American presents a speculative literary exploration examining deep future timelines through verse. The piece bridges technical scientific extrapolation with creative cultural commentary.
How Golden Dome's space-based missile interceptors would work
Scientific American METEREDDefense contractors are positioning themselves to develop the Golden Dome, a proposed space-based missile interception architecture requiring a massive orbital constellation. Realizing this system demands unprecedented advancements in low-Earth orbit tracking, thermal sensing, and kinetic interceptor payloads.
Green Tech
Finally, smart blinds that actually match my home's decor - here's why they're worth it
ZDNetThe SelectBlinds window treatments come in dozens of styles and designs, so you don't have to sacrifice aesthetics for convenience.
Theban tomb reveals how Egyptian burial trends evolved in time
Ars TechnicaPractices shifted from individuals buried in coffins to reusing sites for later mummy interments.
As Wisconsin cities flee Flock, its shared camera network loses value
Ars Technica"Network effect" can run in reverse.
Computers
Microsoft MVP creates site to remind you of all the brands Redmond replaced
The RegisterEnterprise architects and IT administrators face continuous nomenclature shifts as Microsoft systematically rebrands legacy infrastructure components like DirSync and Active Directory under the Entra identity umbrella. This rapid re-architecting of product identities demands constant documentation updates and rigorous stakeholder communication across enterprise IT environments.
Democracy v the machine: the birth of the digital age and the warnings that were ignored
The Guardian TechMany hoped that the march of technology would usher in an egalitarian utopia – but some foresaw the threat it would pose to liberal society. Why did nobody listen? One of the stranger things about this dizzying, headlong moment in time is that it doesn't have much of a past.
Apple: DOJ's latest challenge in antitrust case 'fails at every level'
9to5MacApple has formally contested the United States Department of Justice's legal maneuvers to block document subpoenas directed at multiple federal agencies within an ongoing antitrust litigation framework. The tech giant's legal defense argues that access to cross-agency communications is vital for establishing regulatory precedent and market dynamics, setting a high-stakes legal precedent for big tech antitrust discovery rights. This procedural battle underscores the intensifying regulatory scrutiny over platform exclusivity and proprietary API access models.
Gaming
This compact Glorious mechanical keyboard is just $35
The VergeAre you curious about custom mechanical keyboards, but don't want to spend hundreds just to get started without being sure you'll enjoy the hobby? You can grab the 65-percent Glorious GMMK 3 mechanical keyboard at Woot for $34.99 (usually $139.99) by entering the coupon code WOOTGAMING at checkou...
Why Curved TVs Failed But Curved Gaming Monitors Thrived - engadget.com
EngadgetWhy Curved TVs Failed But Curved Gaming Monitors Thrived engadget.com
The Analogue Pocket gets a Supreme makeover in red or gold
The VergeAnalogue has partnered with Supreme to launch a limited-edition series of the Analogue Pocket handheld featuring a unibody aluminum chassis and premium surface finishes including 24K gold plating. This collaboration merges FPGA-based retro-gaming hardware architecture with luxury streetwear branding for the high-end collector market.
Hardware
Apple's camera-equipped AirPods appear in leaked video
The VergeLeaked assets discovered within a macOS release candidate reveal Apple is developing AirPods equipped with embedded optical cameras. These hardware additions appear designed to feed contextual environmental data into Apple's Visual Intelligence pipelines.
Xen Project gets serious about safety in push to possibly partition robot brains
The RegisterBoeing quietly joins FOSS hypervisor crew, as AMD and Renesas lead new effort to comply with formal standards
AirPods with cameras get their clearest leak yet
9to5MacIncluded in today's macOS Tahoe 26.7 Release Candidate is a short video that appears to show Visual Intelligence in action on Apple's rumored camera-equipped AirPods. Watch it below.
Space
The role of the astronaut is in flux
MIT Technology Review METEREDWhen the four astronauts on board NASA's Artemis II swung around the moon earlier this year, they set a new record for the farthest humans have ever ventured from Earth, surpassing the distance set by Apollo 13 in 1972 by some 4,000 miles. While no space mission can live up to the historic ...
Former SpaceX engineers are building a robotic factory for making steel parts
Ars TechnicaFormer SpaceX engineers are launching a new venture focused on building a specialized robotic manufacturing facility dedicated to steel component fabrication without pursuing dogmatic, end-to-end factory autonomy. By implementing pragmatic robotics where economically viable, the venture aims to optimize heavy industrial throughput and modernize legacy metal manufacturing supply chains.
The Moon's shadow raced across the heart of Spain, and I was there to see it
Ars TechnicaA total solar eclipse traversed central Spain, providing astronomers and optical researchers with a critical corridor for high-precision telemetry and solar corona observation. Scientific expeditions utilized advanced sensor arrays located north of Madrid to capture high-resolution photometric data during totality. These observational campaigns yield vital datasets for solar physics modeling, atmospheric interference analysis, and orbital mechanics.
General Tech
The Cop Who Took On Flock
Wired METEREDAn internal whistleblower faces systemic retaliation after challenging municipal deployment of automated license plate recognition and surveillance networks. The case highlights acute governance vulnerabilities and governance risks associated with municipal adoption of private surveillance technologies like Flock Safety.
US states call for big changes to Instagram and Facebook as Meta child privacy trial begins
BBC TechnologyMeta is facing a high-stakes US state-led privacy trial targeting child safety protocols across Instagram and Facebook. An adverse ruling could compel unprecedented architectural and algorithmic overhauls for minor user accounts, reshaping social media compliance frameworks nationwide.
Silicon Valley Executives Are Tech Fans. Just Not For Their Own Kids.
NYT Technology PAYWALLSilicon Valley executives are increasingly enforcing strict digital moderation and forced boredom for their own children at home. This trend highlights a growing paradox where creators of hyper-engaging consumer technology intentionally insulate their families from its addictive architectures.