Google Pixel 11 gets dbrand's full case lineup, including Tank for the first time [Gallery]
9to5Google AI BRIEFBest known for its skins, dbrand has been building some of the best cases in the game in recent years and, for the Pixel 11 series, you can get every option for your new phone. Here's what you should know.
Amazon aims for delivery drones to reach 500 US neighborhoods by end of 2026
Ars Technica AI BRIEFUS residents face trade-offs as delivery drone services such as Prime Air expand.
NASA calls off rescue mission for its falling Swift space telescope
Scientific American AI BRIEF METEREDThe space agency's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which studied cataclysmic cosmic explosions, is expected to burn up in Earth's atmosphere later this year
The floodgates are open after another Chinese company lands a reusable rocket
Ars Technica AI BRIEF"We will put the booster back into service for another flight as soon as possible."
Report: Smart wearables market set to generate more than $1 trillion through 2032
9to5Mac AI BRIEFA new Counterpoint Research report predicts that consumer wearables will generate more than $1 trillion in cumulative revenue through 2032, with smartwatches and wireless earbuds leading the pack. Here is the breakdown.
Application reliability startup Temporal reportedly in talks for $500M funding round
SiliconANGLE · Green Tech AI BRIEFTemporal Technologies Inc., a fast-growing developer tooling provider, is reportedly in talks to raise about $500 million from investors. Bloomberg on Tuesday cited sources as saying that the investment could value the company at more than $12 billion. That's more than double what it was worth af...
TrueFoundry's open source AI agent harness TrueForge boasts 30%-75% cheaper task completion than Claude Managed Agents
VentureBeat AI BRIEFAnother day, another new AI agent harness is released. Only this time, it's one that aims to solve a growing enterprise problem as AI agents proliferate: enabling greater developer control of agents and tools, while reducing cost. TrueFoundry, a San Francisco B2B machine learning startup co-...
Camera-equipped AirPods reportedly won't launch in 2026, despite demo video leak
9to5Mac AI BRIEFBloomberg reports that despite Apple's accidental inclusion of a demo video showcasing Visual Intelligence on AirPods, the product "remains on track for 2027." Here are the details.
Rivian spinout Also raises $150M to take its small EVs autonomous
SiliconANGLE AI BRIEFSmall electric vehicle maker Also Inc. said today it has raised $150 million in a Series D round to accelerate its work on autonomous driving. The money will fund several self-driving vehicle formats at once, all of them built on the electric architecture Also already uses in its consumer and com...
9to5Mac Daily: August 19, 2026 – Apple TV 4K rumors, Apple Maps ads
9to5Mac AI BRIEFListen to a recap of the top stories of the day from 9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is available on iTunes and Apple's Podcasts app, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Sponsored by Backblaze: Backup you can rely on.
Elon Musk Is Expected to Point His Money Machine at Texas Politics
Wired AI BRIEF METEREDSources tell WIRED that Elon Musk is expected to spend up to $200 million in the midterms. It could be a big boost for GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton, who's struggled to raise cash.
Stripe buys AI model router OpenRouter in reported $7.5B deal
SiliconANGLE AI BRIEFStripe Inc. today said it has agreed to acquire artificial intelligence model routing startup OpenRouter Inc. in a deal reported at $7.5 billion or more.
'Not a theoretical risk,' feds warn as attackers use AI-made code to hack critical infrastructure controllers
The Register AI BRIEF'It is an active threat'
Does giving a camera wings dodge the FCC's drone ban?
The Verge AI BRIEFHoverAir drones always have intriguing gimmicks. This one folds flat to fit in your pocket. This one can land on water.
Amazon to significantly expand the availability of its Prime Air drone delivery service
SiliconANGLE AI BRIEFAmazon.com Inc. today announced plans to expand the availability of its Prime Air drone delivery service significantly. The company currently offers aerial deliveries in cities across Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska and Texas.
Waymo Ojai Vans Are Now Available For All Riders In Three Cities - Engadget
Engadget AI BRIEFWaymo Ojai Vans Are Now Available For All Riders In Three Cities  Engadget
The AI inference race moves beyond GPUs to reshape data center infrastructure
SiliconANGLE AI BRIEFAI inference infrastructure is becoming a system-level challenge as organizations move generative and agentic applications into production. Graphics processing unit performance remains essential, but storage latency, network bandwidth, data movement and power consumption increasingly determine th...
macOS Golden Gate adds a new app to your Mac; here's what it can do
9to5Mac AI BRIEF9to5Mac is brought to you by Memoket: The Memoket Gem is an 11g AI wearable that slots beside your Apple Watch in a co-wear band. Press once to capture a conversation, and Gem connects it to what you discussed weeks ago — surfacing the earlier thread with a source link. From $179, shipping August...
mRNA cancer vaccine succeeded in Phase 3 melanoma trial, Moderna and Merck say
Ars Technica AI BRIEFThe vaccine reportedly thwarted the cancer's return and spread.
Category Wire
Artificial Intelligence
Stripe to buy OpenRouter as fintech expands deeper into AI
CNBC Technology AI BRIEFStripe said it's acquiring OpenRouter, as the payments company expands into the artificial intelligence model market.
OpenAI 'will be a public company in 2027' or sooner, CFO Friar tells employees
CNBC Technology AI BRIEFIn an all hands meeting, Friar told employees not worry about rival Anthropic's IPO timeline.
Marvell's stock pops 10% on AI chip deal that lets Google buy up to $12.2 billion in shares
CNBC Technology AI BRIEFGoogle and its competitors have been pursuing custom chips to improve efficiency and reduce reliance on Nvidia.
Cybersecurity
No-Filter 'Kriminal' AI Platform Raises Cybercrime Concerns
Dark Reading AI BRIEFThe AI company officially forbids illicit use, while offering guardrail-free social engineering, offensive cybercrime, and OSINT scanning to anyone with a bit of cryptocurrency.
Cloudflare Workers Spectre Attack Leaks JWT From Co-Located Worker at 12 Bits/Second
The Hacker News AI BRIEFCybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a remote Spectre attack against Cloudflare Workers that leaked a JSON Web Token (JWT) from a co-located Worker in the production environment at up to 12 bits per second, 360 times the rate of an earlier attack demonstrated in 2021. The...
OpenAI hit the brakes. Now what?
The Verge AI BRIEFWith a looming IPO, intense competition from Anthropic, and Chinese and open-weight rivals nipping at its heels, OpenAI has plenty of reasons to move fast. Instead, it hit the brakes. On Tuesday, the company said it had slowed the pace of some AI development while it tightened security and safegu...
Mobile
Google Messages RCS breaks with '3100' error for some, especially Galaxy switchers
9to5Google AI BRIEFAn issue with Google Messages appears to be breaking RCS for some users, with much of the problem tracing back to Samsung Galaxy devices.
iPhone 18 Pro: Three new design updates are coming
9to5Mac AI BRIEFiPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max will launch next month, and in addition to packing a variety of new features, there are three design changes reportedly coming. Here's what rumors say to expect.
Mid-week Android app deals and freebies: Last Day, Siralim, Ninja Hero Cats, Lovecraft's Untold Stories, more
9to5Google AI BRIEFBest Buy's 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL, and 11 Pro Fold pre-order deals before delivery starts tomorrow (more details here), we have first Amazon price drop on the new Olive Google Pixel Buds Pro 2, up to $1,350 off 2026 Copilot+ PC and gaming laptops, LG's most affordable 2026 OLED TV at $300 off, and Bes...
Science & Research
Gemini Live adds Deep Research as Notebooks come to AI Mode
9to5Google AI BRIEFWith the back-to-school season underway, Google is introducing new study tools across the Gemini app and Search.
Google Gemini is getting a dedicated student hub
The Verge AI BRIEFAs we're gearing up for back-to-school season, Google is rolling out a new dedicated student hub in Gemini. It's a one-stop repository for collecting research in a study notebook, creating flashcards, taking practice quizzes, and more. Google is also enhancing its study notebooks with support for...
Some microbes could survive on the moon—that's a big problem for NASA
Scientific American AI BRIEF METEREDFive common microorganisms found on Earth could survive at the lunar south pole, a new study finds, presenting a contamination risk for future human missions
Green Tech
Nielsen is leaning more on wearables to hear what people are watching
The Verge AI BRIEFIn order to beef up its ability to accurately measure viewership data in the streaming era, Nielsen is moving forward with a plan to use more information gathered from its partners' wearable devices. Today, Nielsen announced "a number of key enhancements" that are being added to its data capturin...
A County Got Rich From Data Centers. Some Question 'At What Cost?'
NYT Technology AI BRIEF PAYWALLLoudoun County, Va., hosts more than 250 data centers that bring in huge tax revenues. But some officials and residents worry the county has become too dependent on that cash.
I've tested dozens of rugged smartwatches - this one's battery is on a different level
ZDNet AI BRIEFThe Suunto Core 2 provides key outdoor metrics, storm alerts, and up to 15 months of battery life.
Computers
Watch Susan Kare revisit the icons and graphics for the original Mac
9to5Mac AI BRIEFLegendary graphic designer Susan Kare spoke recently at the Startup School 2026 event, and the video for her talk is now up on Y Combinator's YouTube channel. Watch it below.
SvelteKit 3 puts heat on Next.js with radical approach to RPCs
The Register AI BRIEFRemote functions bring type-safe remote procedure calls right into Web page components
Apple Watch Series 12 to bring back beloved design material, says leaker
9to5Mac AI BRIEFApple Watch Series 12 will be unveiled next month, and a reputable leaker just said it will come with a ceramic design option.
Gaming
Mattel Is Releasing A Full-Scale Building Brick Set Of The Original Xbox - Engadget
Engadget AI BRIEFMattel Is Releasing A Full-Scale Building Brick Set Of The Original Xbox  Engadget
IKEA Is Teasing Some Xbox... Things - Engadget
Engadget AI BRIEFIKEA Is Teasing Some Xbox... Things  Engadget
GTA VI keeps leaking ahead of its gameplay premiere
The Verge AI BRIEFClips of what appears to be Grand Theft Auto VI have hit the internet, possibly spoiling aspects of the game ahead of Rockstar Games' deep dive debuting on Netflix next week and its long-awaited launch in November. I've seen three clips seemingly showing off the game, though two have been pulled ...
Hardware
Layered data architecture turns enterprise data into a system of intelligence
SiliconANGLE AI BRIEFThe knowledge graph is fast becoming a foundational layer for enterprise AI, as organizations race to turn scattered data into answers that leaders can trust. As IT stacks that went cloud-native now go AI-native, a new class of layered data architecture is taking shape — one built to give models ...
Framework responds to complaints that BIOS update bricks Ryzen 7040 laptops
Ars Technica AI BRIEFFramework says it's replacing some out-of-warranty AMD mainboards.
GeForce Now adds Firefox support five years after Chrome, now live
9to5Google AI BRIEFNvidia says it set a "high bar" for any browser integrating GeForce Now without added programs, and Firefox has seemingly met its standards as in-browser support for the game streaming service goes live.
Space
ISS spacewalkers discover there's no such thing as a quick antenna job
The Register AI BRIEFAstronauts removed broken hardware but will have to return for more orbital DIY
The role of the astronaut is in flux
MIT Technology Review AI BRIEF 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 ...
Ukraine strikes major Russian rocket factory with cruise missiles
Ars Technica AI BRIEFUkrainian military forces executed a precision cruise missile strike utilizing Flamingo munitions against a primary Russian rocket manufacturing facility. The operation successfully disrupted critical defense supply chains and aerospace production infrastructure.
General Tech
Voters Aren't Waiting for November to Try Ousting Officials Over Data Centers
NYT Technology AI BRIEF PAYWALLAs a backlash grows over data centers, more local officials are facing recall elections for their support of the computing sites.
Flight attendants freaked out that Google is buying tons of Spirit employee data
Ars Technica AI BRIEFBankrupt Spirit accused of selling out workers in massive data sale to Google.
FCC abolishes gigabit speed goal, suggesting it is unfair to slower technologies
Ars Technica AI BRIEFFCC decides 1Gbps is too fast, standard must be "technologically neutral."