• OpenAI says Astra was built on its largest-ever training run, using more than 100,000 GPUs at its Stargate site in Texas (Ina Fried/Axios)
• OpenAI calls GPT-6 Astra the "world's best computer use model"; in tests, it booked DMV appointments and searched job listings faster than the average person (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
• OpenAI prices GPT-6 Astra at $10/1M input tokens and $50/1M output tokens, matching Anthropic's pricing for Claude Fable 5.1 (The Deep View)
• OpenAI launches GPT-6 Astra, initially for customers in its Daybreak program; Greg Brockman says it is a "generational leap" and "we are now in the AGI era" (Hayden Field/The Verge)
• Sources: Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab is in talks to raise $1B+ at a $40B+ pre-money valuation, lower than the $50B+ valuation it sought last year (The Information)
• Humain launches humain-m3, an Arabic-language model developed with MiniMax, amid controversy among US allies over sovereign AI built with Chinese models (Bloomberg)
• Microsoft will open Xbox Cloud Gaming to non-Game Pass users via a pay-as-you-go model; Ultimate subs will be limited to 15 hours per month of cloud gaming (Tom Warren/The Verge)
• India-based smart ring maker Ultrahuman raised $70M, including $5M in debt, a source says at a $365M valuation, and is working with Qualcomm on a new ring (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)
• Sources: Cursor was a top-five OpenAI customer at the start of 2026; OpenAI estimated in spring that Cursor would bring in $1B+ in annualized revenue for OpenAI (Maxwell Zeff/Wired)
• Nvidia launches Personal AI Router (PAIR), a free tool that distributes local AI inference workloads across compatible computers on a network, in beta (Antonio G. Di Benedetto/The Verge)
• Nvidia says the RTX Spark N1X launches in October in two configurations: a 20-core CPU with a 6,144-core Blackwell GPU and an 18-core CPU with a 5,120-core GPU (Andrew E. Freedman/Tom's Hardware)
• Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok are now operational after widespread outages on Thursday (Ben Schoon/9to5Google)
• Upwind, which filters false security alerts in cloud apps so companies can focus on actual risks, raised ~$300M at a ~$3.8B valuation, up from ~$1.5B in January (Meir Orbach/CTech)
• PitchBook: 95+ investors put money into both Anthropic and OpenAI amid shifting norms; sources: Menlo, Lightspeed, and Iconiq each hold 1%-2% Anthropic stakes (Erin Griffith/New York Times)
• Sources: Riyadh-based AI startup Humain is planning to raise an initial $2.5B fund to help finance data center capacity of 250 MW in Saudi Arabia (Omar El Chmouri/Bloomberg)
| • GPT-6 Astra Is Here—and OpenAI Thinks It May Kick Off the AGI Era
• OpenAI Cut Off a Billion-Dollar Customer to Avoid Elon Musk
• Lenovo’s Project AeroBlade Fanless Laptop Takes Thin and Light to the Extreme
• I Got a Brief Look at ‘Guild Wars 3,’ and I’m Excited
• Nvidia RTX Spark ‘Superchip’: The First AI PCs Are Here
• Nvidia’s Hugging Face Acquisition Is a $12.9 Billion Bet on Open-Source AI
• Scientists Have Found the Most Convincing Evidence Yet of a Dark Matter Particle
• Ugly AI Food Photos Are Only the Beginning
• ‘The Blood of Dawnwalker’ Is a Bloody Balm for My Completionism
• The Best Air Quality Monitor for Outdoors and Indoors in 2026
• DOGE Affiliate Asked for College Credits for Participating in Takeover
• Is It Even Possible to Understand Quantum Mechanics?
• This Is Flock’s AI Search Tool for Cops
• Smart Toilets Are Already Using AI to Analyze Your Poop
• Face Recognition Is Becoming the Norm for Dating Apps
• The 2026 El Niño Is Being ‘Supersized’ as Impacts Worsen
• HBO Max Promo Code: 50% Off | September 2026
• Instacart Promo Code: $15 Off | September 2026
• Lovehoney Coupon Offers: Toys, Lingerie, and Gift Set Discounts
• Lowe’s Promo Codes and Deals: Up to $300 Off Appliances
• Vimeo Promo Codes and Discounts: Up to 40% Off This September 2026
• Expedia Coupons: 40% Off
• We-Vibe Discount Codes and Deals: Up to 60% Off
• Total Wireless Promo Codes & Deals: 50% Off Select Plans
• Home Chef Promo Codes for September 2026
• KitchenAid Promo Codes: Save Up to 20%
• ABT Promo Codes & Discounts for September 2026
• ExpressVPN Coupons: 73% Off
• Meta Pushes Its New AI Agent on Employees—but Eases Off on Tokenmaxxing
• Amazon’s 2026 Holiday Deals Are About to Look Better Than They Are
• Democrats Have a Plan to Force Trump’s Associates to Cooperate With Investigations
• Trump Administration Sides With OpenAI in New York Times Copyright Lawsuit
• ICE Plans to Pay $5 Million to Create National Voting Database
• These Russian Mathematicians Taught AI Models How to Talk to Each Other Without Using Words
• The Logical End Point of AI Job Interviews Is Two Bots Talking to Each Other
• The Cybercab Is Almost Here. Now Comes the Hard Part
• Best Sony Headphone Deals: WH-1000XM5 and More (2026)
• Pangram Has Emerged as the Gold Standard of AI Detection. Should You Trust It?
• The 42 Best Deals From the REI Labor Day Sale
• A Prop 65 Crash Course: What You Need to Know (2026)
• Booking.com Promo Codes: 20% Off | September 2026
• Priceline Promo Codes & Coupons: 10% Off September 2026
• NordVPN Coupons: 75% Off, Plus 3 Months Free in September 2026
• B&H Photo Promo Codes and Deals This September 2026
• Columbia Promo Codes: 15% Off | September 2026
• Hoka Coupon Codes: 30% Off in September 2026
• 30% Off Canon Promo Codes | September 2026
• Whoop Promo Codes: 20% Off This September 2026
• eBay Coupons: 20% Off in September 2026
• Verizon Promo Codes: $200 Verizon Gift Cards | September 2026
| • Beyerdynamic's new Aventho Y headphones last up to 90 hours per charge
• Xbox is introducing time limits to game streaming
• Apple has been sued for $2.7 billion over App Tracking Transparency rules
• Pre-orders for Sony's GTA 6-themed DualSense controllers will open on September 10
• TikTok introduces voice comments and simplified polls
• Anthropic automatically signs out Claude users to protect them from hackers
• Motorola just introduced another Razr that's covered in Swarovski crystals
• Until Dawn 2 launches January 28
• Google rolls out AI-powered voice capabilities for Gmail, Docs and Keep
• NVIDIA's PAIR lets you use idle PCs for AI computing tasks
• Circular brings mobile payments to its 3 Series smart ring
• Lenovo unveils two Yoga laptops with NVIDIA's RTX Spark
• Lenovo's latest expandable screen laptop concept feels like it's ready for the real world
• Lenovo's $700 IdeaPad Vibe is ready to take on the MacBook Neo
• Everything announced during the PlayStation State of Play double header
• Final Fantasy VII Revelation launches on April 8, 2027
• Dyson's new gigantic air purifier looks like a sandworm from Dune
• Lego's near 1:1 PlayStation set launches on October 1
• Final Fantasy Resonance hands-on: A love letter to classic 2D turn-based RPGs
• Hohem's Eyepic gimbal camera has a detachable camera
|