• Uber, Verne, and Pony.ai launch autonomous rides in Zagreb, making the Croatian capital the first European city where users can book such rides via Uber's app (Anzar Mehraj/Reuters)
• London-based Callosum, whose software matches AI tasks with different models and chips, raised a $100M seed from Atomico, the UK Sovereign AI Fund, and others (Bloomberg)
• Virginia's Loudoun County hosts 250+ data centers, generating huge tax revenues, as it moves to slow construction in response to pushback from residents (Cecilia Kang/New York Times)
• A look at Backstory, an experimental AI image authentication tool from Google DeepMind, offered for testing to journalists, researchers, and other fact checkers (Andrew Deck/Nieman Lab)
• China's humanoid robot makers derive much of their revenue from government-backed training centers that sell training data back to them, raising demand concerns (William Langley/Financial Times)
• Sources: China is restricting or delaying exports to Taiwan of germanium- and quartz-based materials used in fiber optics, photonics, and chip manufacturing (Nikkei Asia)
• How Unitree's Go series, which helped the company dominate the quadruped robot market, drew on openly published US university research funded by the US military (Michael Martina/Reuters)
• Pornhub says the UK's new internet age checks have boosted non-compliant porn sites, which occupied seven of the top 10 search results for "free porn" in June (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)
• The EU appears to be shifting from outsized regulatory fines against Big Tech to technical DMA orders that force compliance, such as sharing search data (Jacob Parry/Politico)
• President Trump says CFTC Chair Michael Selig is working to bring crypto platform Hyperliquid onshore, lifting shares of HYPE-holder Hyperliquid Strategies ~30% (Bloomberg)
• The US Army is phasing out its drone assault battalion, as part of a "back-to-basics" approach; it was created in January to learn from the conflict in Ukraine (Wall Street Journal)
• Samsung announces a virtual Galaxy event for August 27 at 8am ET, where the Galaxy S26 FE is expected (Alan Friedman/PhoneArena)
• German insurance giant Munich Re agrees to acquire cyber insurance provider At-Bay for $575M; At-Bay raised $276M and had a $1.35B valuation in 2021 (Meir Orbach/CTech)
• Trump urges Congress to pass the Clarity Act at a White House event with execs including the CEOs of Coinbase and Robinhood; the bill has stalled in the Senate (Bloomberg)
• Sources: YouTube is offering top creators millions to post videos exclusively on YouTube for a period and will penalize those that post to Netflix concurrently (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)
| • Salmonella Is Everywhere
• Chewy Promo Codes: $20 Off August 2026
• Peacock Promo Codes: 40% Off August 2026
• TurboTax Full Service Coupons This August
• Dell Coupon Codes: 20% Off for August 2026
• Booking.com Promo Codes: 20% Off | August 2026
• Nike Promo Codes and Discounts: 30% for August 2026
• iRobot Promo Code: 15% Off
• H&R Block Coupon: 25% Off DIY + Tax Pro Assist
• T-Mobile Promo Codes: 25% Off | August 2026
• eBay Coupons: 20% Off in August 2026
• 20% Off Samsung Promo Code | August 2026
• Elon Musk Is Expected to Point His Money Machine at Texas Politics
• I Saw the Future of AI in a Robot That Can Learn on the Spot
• Coders Say They Already Found Workarounds to Claude’s Invisible Watermarks
• Google Pixel Watch 5 Review: More Health, More AI
• Google Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL Review: Smart Software, Small Upgrade
• Why Is It Absolute Hell to Buy a Movie Ticket Now?
• The Best Digital Wall Calendar (2026): Skylight, Everblog, Apolosign
• I Tried a Window-Cleaning Robot: Do Not Recommend
• ‘Your Excel Skills Suck’: The Power Users Turning Spreadsheets Into a Spectator Sport
• We Bought a $500 Counterfeit Rolex So Good, Even Rolex Didn’t Spot It
• Dell XPS 13 vs. MacBook Neo: A Surprising Upset
• There’s a Very Simple Reason Why You Love the Slate Truck
• Reverse-Lookup Service Exposed Millions of Photos of People’s Faces
• Hot or Not Built the Internet We’re Still Swiping Through
• Flock Has a Powerful New AI Tool for Police. We Got Its Code
• Uber Eats Promo Codes: $15 Off│August 2026
• Hotels.com Coupon Codes for August 2026
• 50% Off DoorDash Promo Code | August 2026
• LG Promo Codes and Coupons for August 2026
• Wayfair Coupons: Up to 80% Off August 2026
• Loop Earplugs Discount Codes: 40% Off
• Ulta Promo Codes: Up to 20% Off in August 2026
• Dyson Promo Codes: 25% Off in August 2026
• Newegg Promo Codes and Coupons for August 2026
• Whoop Promo Codes: 20% Off This August 2026
• AT&T Promo Codes: $50 Off This August 2026
• Squeeze More Juice Out of Your Dead Batteries—Using Physics
• Garmin Watches Are Up to $250 Off Right Now On Amazon (2026)
• OpenAI Overhauls Safety Protocols After Its AI Agents Went Rogue
• Viral Disneyland Content Creator Defends Her ‘Special Friendship’ With Peter Pan
• Meta Ran Ads for an App That Promised to Nudify Female Politicians
• Can the Upcoming ‘Expanse’ Game Avoid the Biggest Mistake of ‘Mass Effect’?
• I Put the Best Digital Notebooks to the Test. Here Are My Favorites (2026)
• Can AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton’s Andy Yen Says It Will Have To
• Exclusive: You Can Finally Buy a Fairphone—a Sustainable, Repairable Smartphone—in the US
• The Cop Who Took On Flock
• Best Merino Wool Clothing (2026): Base Layers, Hoodies, Jackets
• The Powerful Chinese AI Model Experts Warned About Is Here
| • Samsung is holding another Galaxy Event on August 27
• The Binding of Isaac: Repentance+ Online release goes head-to-head with GTA 6 on November 19
• Valve Steam Frame videos show how to wear the headset, perfect the fit and sign in
• Waymo Ojai vans are now available for all riders in three cities
• Pokémon and Polaroid are collaborating on three new adorable cameras
• A robot could eventually conduct your blood draw at the doctor's office
• Google is offering college students a year of its AI Pro plan for free
• Study finds a 15 percent increase in traffic deaths after major music streaming releases
• Mattel is releasing a full-scale building brick set of the original Xbox
• Deus Ex and Dishonored designer Harvey Smith has a new studio making immersive sims
• IKEA is teasing some Xbox... things
• Meta AI now has a dedicated desktop app for Mac
• Google is trying to solve contrails with AI
• Amazon is bringing drone deliveries to the Chicago and Atlanta metro areas as part of a major expansion
• Flock is testing a new AI tool that tracks and identifies people based on their driving habits
• Google Pixel 11 review: A lot of phone for a little more money
• Pixel 11 Pro review: Google AI as your enabler
• Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold review: Doing more but not quite enough
• What's the difference between Android's Qi2 And Qi2.2 wireless charging?
• Amazon's Alexa+ AI assistant is now free for anyone with a Fire TV device
|