• Fridge hack costing millions and sparking fires stemmed from poor security
• Epic says its new vibe-coded Epic Games Launcher is faster than Steam
• NATO may redeploy anti-drone defenses as attacks sink more Black Sea shipping
• Things are finally looking up for NASA's first missions to Venus in a generation
• Schools across US protest FCC plan that could disconnect kids from Internet
• Georgia man sues Flock, sheriff's office over alleged ALPR-fueled retaliation
• Software development and rules stability: Prototype racing in 2030
• Greta Gerwig channels Bowie in psychedelic The Magician's Nephew trailer
• Researchers use AI to design proteins that cut up other proteins
• Recording device hidden in toilet paper found in top-secret OpenAI meeting room
• Legendary FPS level designer Richard "Levelord" Gray dies at 68
• Ukraine blindsided by Starlink throttling restrictions and intelligence gaps
• Anthropic warns small AI models could self-replicate through IoT devices
• The Internet’s undersea backbone is slipping into the danger zone
• OpenAI, Google pushing new AI models easily tricked into making nudes, researchers say
• Martin Shkreli livestreamed himself violating lifetime pharma ban, FTC says
• ESA targets Anbernic emulation handhelds as "superfake" piracy enablers
• Topgolf saved over $11.3 million after leaving VMware
• Trump commercial railing against his enemies kept airing after court blocked it
• Disney offers $20M for Character.AI’s scandal-plagued chatbot tech
| • Flock CEO Garrett Langley defends his company's cameras, arguing that reducing crime means sacrificing privacy in return and that "we shouldn't pause progress" (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
• Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum signs a decree banning digital platforms from exposing minors to sexual and violent content, giving them one month to comply (Reuters)
• OpenAI agrees not to use trade secrets that Apple claims were stolen while their lawsuit plays out, and to collect forensic images of 14 employees' devices (Bloomberg)
• A US appeals court lets Florida enforce a law banning social media accounts for under-14s, rejecting tech groups' claims that it violates free speech rights (Diana Novak Jones/Reuters)
• Sources: YouTube has held talks with publishers in recent months about an audiobook feature that could be ready next year and may be bundled in YouTube Premium (Wall Street Journal)
• Jio Platforms seeks to raise up to $3.2B in India's largest IPO, which would value it at as much as $108.3B; the offering opens October 21 and closes October 23 (Reuters)
• Eight US states sue OpenAI separately in a bipartisan effort, alleging it didn't implement sufficient safeguards to protect kids and other vulnerable users (Cassandre Coyer/Bloomberg Law)
• Shareholders for both Fox Corp. and Roku approve Fox's $22B acquisition of Roku; Fox expects the deal to be finished in H1 2027, subject to regulatory clearance (Todd Spangler/Variety)
• Sources: Anthropic told investors that its revenue jumped to $16.8B in Q3, up from $11.5B in Q2, and that the company was profitable on an adjusted basis in Q3 (Financial Times)
• Apple closes above a $5T market cap for the first time, the second company after Nvidia to do so; Apple had crossed $5T six times intraday previously (Rolfe Winkler/Wall Street Journal)
• Zenzap, a private messenger with AI agents that aims to replace apps like WhatsApp in the workplace, raised $44M from Bessemer, Lightspeed, and others (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
• YouTube Music rolls out labels for songs created with the help of AI; Spotify has AI labels, and Apple Music plans to add "Made With AI" labels later this year (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
• Elon Musk says the US government owns and controls Starshield systems and "any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS" (Elon Musk/@elonmusk)
• Sources: Apple plans to launch Apple Intelligence in China in December via iOS 27.3, with features first rolled out in 2024; the launch won't include Siri AI (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)
• SpaceXSI debuts Grok Voice 3.0, saying it tops Artificial Analysis' speech-to-speech index, responds in under a second, and costs less than rivals, at $0.08/min (SpaceXSI)
| • Iowa, Nebraska and six other states are suing OpenAI for endangering children
• Fitbit Edge vs Fitbit Air: The differences beyond a screen
• NASA explains how it's making batteries for the Moon's extreme temperatures
• Ubisoft plans to close another studio and lay off up to 122 workers
• Sony is taking on DJI with its new ECM-W5 wireless microphone kit
• Deezer will let listeners completely filter out AI music
• Xbox has a teeny new gamepad
• YouTube Music adds new labels for AI-generated content
• Epic thinks you'll love its new vibe coded game launcher
• Netflix to lay off roughly 1,000 employees in biggest round of job cuts since 2022
• 2026 standout Titanium Court is springing onto consoles and mobile on October 29
• Android will use Gemini to warn you about scammy messages
• Alibaba AI models cleared for use in Apple Intelligence in China just in time for the iPhone Duo launch
• LG adds DTS:X and Google Cast to its Sound Suite home theater system
• WhatsApp adds a guest option for joining calls without an account
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake plays even better than it looks
• Samsung Health's sleep coaching now requires just three days of data
• CMF's first portable speakers are shaped like milk cartons and pair together
• 8BitDo Ultimate 2C review: A fabulous Switch 2 controller at a fraction of the price
• Beat the iPhone Duo pre-order rush with Apple's Get Ready tool
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