• 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 has raised $276M and was last valued at $1.35B 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)
• Former Meta engineering director Arturo Béjar testifies that Mark Zuckerberg prioritized growth and engagement over child safety on Facebook and Instagram (Reuters)
• Google announces new study tools, including a student hub, notebooks, and interactive 3D visualizations in Gemini, plus student offers for Google AI plans (Amanda Caswell/Tom's Guide)
• Letter: Stripe told investors January 1 marked the "beginning of the singularity", a major inflection point in long-term trends, and H1 revenue rose 41% YoY (Axios)
• Sources: SpaceX approached Cognition about a potential acquisition, but Cognition didn't engage; Cognition CEO Scott Wu says the company is "not for sale" (Bloomberg)
• Sources: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told employees at an all-hands that OpenAI "will be a public company in 2027", or sooner if "our business continues to inflect" (CNBC)
• Sources: AI chip startup Fractile is in talks to raise ~$600M at a $6.5B pre-money valuation, up from ~$1B in May, and has an initial ~$250M deal with Anthropic (Bloomberg)
• Source: Nvidia has discussed an investment in Mercor as part of a round valuing the startup at $20B; Nvidia paid Mercor tens of millions of dollars last quarter (The Information)
• Stripe agrees to acquire New York-based OpenRouter; a source says Stripe is paying $7.5B, with $1.5B going to the startup's founders and $6B to its investors (Erin Griffith/New York Times)
• The US FTC says businesses must disclose when they use personalized pricing and it will "deploy enforcement resources" against companies that do not disclose it (Dave Michaels/Wall Street Journal)
• Stripe Agrees to Buy AI Firm OpenRouter; No Terms Disclosed (Bloomberg)
| • Elon Musk Is Expected to Point His Money Machine at Texas Politics
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• Google Pixel Watch 5 Review: More Health, More AI
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• Why Is It Absolute Hell to Buy a Movie Ticket Now?
• The Best Digital Wall Calendar (2026): Skylight, Everblog, Apolosign
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• ‘Your Excel Skills Suck’: The Power Users Turning Spreadsheets Into a Spectator Sport
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• 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
• Wayfair Coupons: Up to 80% Off August 2026
• 50% Off DoorDash Promo Code | August 2026
• LG Promo Codes and Coupons for August 2026
• Loop Earplugs Discount Codes: 40% Off
• Ulta Promo Codes: Up to 20% Off in August 2026
• Newegg Promo Codes and Coupons for August 2026
• AT&T Promo Codes: $50 Off This August 2026
• Whoop Promo Codes: 20% Off This August 2026
• Dyson Promo Codes: 25% Off in 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
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• I Put the Best Digital Notebooks to the Test. Here Are My Favorites (2026)
• Exclusive: You Can Finally Buy a Fairphone—a Sustainable, Repairable Smartphone—in the US
• Can AI Coexist With Privacy? Proton’s Andy Yen Says It Will Have To
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• Noom Promo Codes: 50% Off Best Deals & Free Trials for August 2026
• 1Password Coupon: Score a Free Trial in August 2026
• SteelSeries Coupon Codes: 15% Off in August 2026
• Hydrow Discount Code: Save Up to $150 | August 2026
• Vivid Seats Promo Codes and Deals: Get 10% Off
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• Ring Promo Code: 50% Off
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• What Is El Niño, and What Does It Mean for Weather, Water, and the Global Economy?
• This R-Rated Film Studio Wants to Be the HBO of AI
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| • 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
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• Amazon's Alexa+ AI assistant is now free for anyone with a Fire TV device
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