No one buys a dishwasher on Tuesday, then wakes up Wednesday thinking: “ You know what I could really use? Another dishwasher.” But that’s essentially how many e-commerce systems still operate. A shopper may spend weeks researching dishwashers—visiting a retailer’s website, using the mobile app, and eventually going to their local store to narrow down the options in-person—before making the big pu…
Andrew Deck / Nieman Lab : Google says it has 400+ publications in its News AI pilot, which tests features like overviews; participants include Financial Times, CNN, and The Texas Tribune — In December, Google launched its News AI pilot program, which licenses content from select publishers and uses it to test new AI features in Google News.
Personal AI agents are having a moment. Meta recently launched a personal agent it named Muse , and saw an estimated 2.8 million installs in its first 12 days , outpacing ChatGPT’s own mobile debut. Meanwhile, Instinct, a startup building a personal agent you can text or call, just raised $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation . SpaceXAI launched its Grok Bot agent in August, and most recently, on…
E Ink's new display tech offers improved color reproduction and refresh rates. E Ink's new display tech offers improved color reproduction and refresh rates.
One reason plastics are used so often is that they’re chemically inert, meaning bags, food containers, and cups don't react with what we put in them. Yet they can still break down into microplastics, which turn up in drinking water, human blood, arteries, and brains. The consequences of that are uncertain. “Whether microplastics can directly cause human disease is still being researched,” said Wei…
Ukrainian drones struck data centers belonging to Russian tech giant Yandex over the past week. Following the strikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that there was a sudden drop in Russian bot activity and political disinformation campaigns on platforms like X. Social media users took the story — Ukraine had taken out a massive Russian bot operation — and ran with it.…
The throwback League of Legends Classic mode may reappear as a limited-time event in the future. The throwback League of Legends Classic mode may reappear as a limited-time event in the future.
Where cosmetic Botox softens wrinkles, so-called “résumé Botox” does the same for job seekers’ applications, making them appear younger to prospective employers. That might mean removing or editing graduation years, early jobs, senior titles, and profile photos, all in the service of obscuring an applicant’s real age. The practice is more common than you might think. A new survey suggests that nea…
Halloween is fast approaching, and my home is — embarrassingly — still very much in Summer Mode. That's all about to change, though, because I've just discovered IKEA's 2026 Halloween range. It's packed with spooky-but-cute ornaments, tableware, and soft furnishings at the kind of affordable prices you'd expect from the Swedish homeware titan. I've combed through the whole range to pick out the 15…
This tablet is a great value, even if Android apps still aren't great on a big screen. This tablet is a great value, even if Android apps still aren't great on a big screen.
If you've noticed people dropping the fries emoji in TikTok comments lately, they're probably not hungry. The French fries emoji (🍟), sometimes accompanied by a peace sign (✌️), has become a way for Gen Alpha to tell someone they're being corny, embarrassing, or simply talking too much. Think of it as the emoji equivalent of telling someone to wrap it up . And like so much of Gen Alpha's internet…
I was diagnosed with anorexia at 10 years old. Over the next several years, my family and I navigated a healthcare system that was mostly focused on how many days I stayed in a hospital bed instead of whether I was getting better. I spent my entire freshman year of high school in and out of facilities, counting down 45-minute therapy slots while fighting a brain disorder that forces you to battle…
CCIA report says European Commission's cost estimates are way off the mark Pro-European restrictions could add to operating costs, migration complexity and more Importantly, these figures come from a group that represents Amazon, Google and other US Big Tech Europe's efforts to tackle foreign tech vendor reliance could cost €115 billion over the next decade, a new report by the European Center for…
On Thursday, Donald Trump called off the Pentagon’s highly controversial plans to livestream a firing squad execution that is still on schedule for December 3. Trump supports the execution of Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others in the 2009 mass shooting at Fort Hood. But sources close to Trump told CNN that the president was blindsided last week whe…
The new Muse Spark Open AI model can work on M5 Ultra Mac Studios. | Photo: Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Meta announced the Muse Spark Open AI model today , claiming that it's the "most capable US open-weight model to date." But the company also says that it's the "the first model in its class" that can "run on your desktop using two Apple M5 Ultra Mac Studios with the latest MLX framework."…
The Celebrity Traitors is back with episode 5 tonight, and it can't come quick enough. 6 days is far too long to be left wondering whats happening to what's left of this year's cohort of Celebs in The Traitors' castle. When we left them, Rob, Romesh, Ross and Leigh-Anne were running to the crypts for a deadly game of hide and seek. In a moment of chivalry, which Romesh disagreed with steadfastly,…
CTech : Two workers have been killed and another seriously injured at Intel's Kiryat Gat fab in Israel in an explosion resulting from a gas cylinder malfunctioning — A 49-year-old man died Thursday from injuries sustained in Wednesday's blast, which also killed a gas technician and left a third worker in serious condition.
Meta has published the weights for Muse Spark Open, a coding and agent model it says is less advanced than the Muse Wonder frontier model it launched on Monday. Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang said Meta will generally not open-source its most powerful models, which is the split the EU AI Act’s open-source exemption is […] This story continues at The Next Web
As more businesses adopt artificial intelligence , some employees, who are increasingly worried about losing their jobs, are starting to act out. That’s the finding of a new study from Washington State University (WSU) researchers, published in the journal Occupational Health Science , which looks at how AI adoption at work is affecting workers’ attitudes and behaviors in the office. Research has…
Savings of up to $200 end October 16 for TechCrunch Founder Summit. These savings for Founder and Investor Passes vanish after Friday. Join 1,000 founders and investors on November 4 at Boston’s SoWa Power Station. Bring your toughest questions and make the day count for your business.
SAVE $150: As of Oct. 15, the 2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on sale for $649 at Best Buy. That's 19% off its $799 MSRP and its lowest price ever. Opens in a new window Credit: Apple Apple Watch Ultra 3 (GPS + Cellular, 49mm) $649 at Best Buy $799 Save $150 Get Deal at Best Buy Don't look now, but the last-gen Apple Watch Ultra 3 is still in stock at Best Buy — and on sale for a record-low pric…
This render with a transparent background is the closest we’ll ever come to touching one of these things. | Image: Sony Sony has announced a trio of new Walkman portable media players that start at an already absurd $1,899.99 for the NW-ZX900 and climb all the way up to $5,899 for the gold-plated NW-WM1ZM3. Sandwiched in between is the $2,999.99 Walkman NW-WM1AM3, which is nearly identical to the…
Not that anyone's terribly surprised. Not that anyone's terribly surprised.
Ryan Lawler / Axios : Sunbound, which makes software for handling billing, insurance claims, and payments for senior living operators, raised a $24M Series A led by TTV Capital — Sunbound, which handles billing, insurance claims and payments for senior living operators, has raised $24 million in Series A funding …
Volvo is leveling up its automated driving system through an expansion of its nearly decade-long partnership with Nvidia that will extend beyond its battery electric vehicles.
Alienware’s 34-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor. The Alienware AW3426DW is discounted to $742.22 at Amazon , just over $50 off its usual price of $799.99. It’s not quite the lowest price we’ve seen on this well-equipped gaming monitor, but still a decent discount. The 34-inch screen just came out a couple months ago , and is equipped with Penta Tandem quantum dots for bolder colors than you’ll find on…
Volvo plans to launch hands-free, point-to-point driving by 2030, powered by Nvidia's latest AI technology. The Chinese-owned, Swedish-designed automaker said Thursday it would use Nvidia's autonomous driving stack to power a new partially automated driving system similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised). Volvo says the new point-to-point system will be Level 2++, meaning it can handle co…
Google is updating its AI search results to make inline links appear "higher up in responses more frequently," according to a blog post . The company's search results from AI Overviews and AI Mode give you answers in a customized view instead of the traditional list of links, but there are concerns that the format reduces traffic to publishers . Google says it's been making "continued and substant…
Sony has revived the Walkman with three digital music players priced from $1,899 to $5,899, the flagship built around a gold-plated oxygen-free copper chassis. No European price or release date has been given, and the EU’s rule on user-replaceable batteries applies from 18 February 2027. Sony has brought back the Walkman with a flagship costing […] This story continues at The Next Web
007 First Light will launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 18, 2027 The edition was originally scheduled to launch this year but was delayed IO Interactive says it will continue "refining the game's optimisation and performance" in the lead-up to the game's release IO Interactive has finally announced that 007 First Light will launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on March 18, 2027. The release date is much…
For almost 90 years, the mystery of what happened to Amelia Earhart has endured. She and her plane disappeared somewhere over the central Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937. Since then, it seems like every few years, an expedition sets out to find her plane. The boats and recovery teams have always been armed with the latest equipment, historical diaries, and maps. I’m old enough to remember the…
Despite widespread adoption of artificial intelligence , 89% of CEOs of major U.S. corporations expect to increase overall headcount over the next three years. This is according to a survey released today by accounting firm KPMG , which contacted the CEOs of 400 major U.S. companies with at least $500 million in annual revenue. The results indicate that CEOs increasingly view AI as something to in…
If you missed out on Prime Day’s headphones deals, you’re in luck. Sony’s latest flagship headphones are selling for even less than they did during Amazon’s big fall sale. As part of B&H Photo’s Deals of the Day , you can currently pick up Sony’s WH-1000XM6 noise-canceling headphones in silver for just $328 at checkout ($130 off) for the rest of the day. That’s one of the best prices we’ve seen, a…
Meta AI Research : Meta releases Muse Spark Open, saying it is the most capable US open-weight model, with 816B total and 42B active parameters and a 1M-token context window — Muse Spark Open is available today and brings leading agentic capabilities to your desktop for the first time on Apple M5 Ultra Mac Studios.
Trump's newly installed press secretary tells WIRED that in the early 2010s, she promoted a product for a company then called Beachbody, which she described as “sort of a pyramid scheme.”
Your next ticket on Southwest Airlines might come with an unexpected perk: a free ticket for a friend to join you. During a press event Thursday in Texas, the airline announced a revamp of its loyalty program, including a new Platinum loyalty tier that will give customers unlimited Companion Passes to have a friend or family member join them for their travels. Those free flights also won’t be rest…
The state of Florida won a key court decision Wednesday that allows it to enforce a ban on social media accounts for kids under 14 and other restrictions. The law was one of the most restrictive in the U.S. on social media use by children when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it in 2024. The law implicates the First Amendment , an appeals court said, but “likely does so in a content-neutral manner.” It wo…
Microsoft has officially retired Publisher and ended support .pub is a proprietary file format, but the app used to access it has gone LibreOffice reverse-engineered the format so that you can use the Draw app Microsoft has quietly ended more than three decades of Publisher after pulling support for Microsoft 365 subscribers earlier in October 2026 – even perpetual license under Publisher 2021 los…
Rocket Lab announced Wednesday that its Neutron launch vehicle won't fly until 2027, citing an issue discovered during manufacturing of the rocket's carbon composite structures. The announcement was public confirmation of what nearly everyone inside Rocket Lab and the wider space industry already knew. The most recent official update from Rocket Lab in August suggested the company still held hope…
Airbnb is adding AI-powered search New AI comparisons make it easier to weigh up vacation rentals and narrow down your options Services are expanding to include baby-gear rentals, laundry, and meal delivery. After a major redesign of its entire service, headed by an easier-to-use app for iOS and Android, Airbnb is further refining the experience to make finding your next vacation rental a little e…