• Venus' mysterious haze is actually cosmic dust
• SpaceX describes surgical intervention before launch of latest crew mission
• Hacks of 2 federal agencies in a month have spilled a bonanza of sensitive data
• Judge dismisses Chegg and Penske antitrust lawsuits targeting Google AI search
• Can good design stop content creators from having sex in robotaxis?
• Marvel releases one last VisionQuest trailer
• Memory executives expect RAM shortage to continue through 2028
• Florida cops say they don't know who owns 11 unpermitted Flock cameras
• With most information hidden, the game Stratego had stumped AI—until now
• As US relations fray, Canada gets serious about its own launch industry
• PS5 emulation is suddenly making big strides on PC
• NASA squeezed Treasury, vibe coded, and broke the mold in bid to save Swift
• Dinosaur-killing impact crater might have been teeming with life
• Fifth unvaccinated person dies of measles; CDC still not counting all deaths
• Returning from vacation? The government can search your phone without a warrant.
• A local network of implants uses your body as the wiring
• Attackers have been exploiting critical Zimbra flaw to steal emails
• Google announces Gemini 4 Argon AI model, but you can't use it yet
• Reddit is putting more limits on Old.Reddit.com
• RFK Jr. thinks AI will free us from the "tyranny" of medical facts, expertise
| • OpenAI says that as of September 26, it has informed 100+ third-party organizations about unauthorized activity involving its AI agents (Arasu Kannagi Basil/Reuters)
• Sources: Jay Clayton will likely be the White House's pick for AI czar, and he may remain in his current role as director of national intelligence (Jennifer Jacobs/CBS News)
• Survey of 37 countries: the share of people who say social media is bad for democracy has risen significantly since 2022 or 2023; a median 55% say it's good (Pew Research Center)
• A look at two opposing perspectives on AI agent sandboxing: infosec says labs need better containment while AI alignment says sandboxes cannot contain agents (Matthew Green/A Few Thoughts ...)
• California AG Rob Bonta issues an investigative subpoena to OpenAI, as part of a broader inquiry into cybersecurity incidents and risks related to its AI models (Jaspreet Singh/Reuters)
• Microsoft launches MAI-Transcribe-2-Streaming, a model for low-latency, real-time transcripts, and two new voice models, MAI-Voice-2.1 and MAI-Voice-2.1-Flash (Microsoft AI)
• New Mexico asks a judge to order Meta to pay up to $40B after a jury found it willfully deceived customers, in what could be the biggest US court penalty ever (KRQE)
• The US sanctions Russia-backed payment network A7, freezing any of its US assets, and accuses it of helping Iran and its proxy groups to evade Western sanctions (Amy Mackinnon/Financial Times)
• Source: some of the information that the three now ex-OpenAI employees allegedly mishandled pertained to OpenAI's infrastructure architecture (Rachel Metz/Bloomberg)
• Lyft agrees to pay $272.5M to settle California's claims that Lyft mislabeled drivers as independent contractors rather than employees between 2016 and 2020 (Daniel Wiessner/Reuters)
• OpenAI launches two ChatGPT shopping features: a virtual try-on tool for clothing and accessories, and a Favorites feature to save products to a user's Library (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
• DoorDash pulls support for a GOP bill that would have limited DC's ability to write its own tax laws, after widespread calls for locals to boycott the service (Martin Austermuhle/The Washington Sun)
• Anthropic urges Australia to consider "conditional approval" for Big Tech to train its models on copyrighted works, giving copyright holders a choice to opt out (Josh Butler/The Guardian)
• SoftBank made the final $10B investment in its $30B pledge to OpenAI's most recent funding round; source: Nvidia made its final $10B investment in the round too (The Information)
• A US judge dismisses Chegg's and Penske's lawsuits alleging Google violated antitrust law by forcing them to allow content in AI Overviews, reducing web traffic (Mike Scarcella/Reuters)
| • Florida county finds 11 unpermitted Flock cameras with unidentified owners
• ChatGPT can now help you virtually try on clothes
• OpenAI fires three employees who allegedly shared info with an external AI safety group
• Samsung launches its first clip-on earbuds in South Korea
• Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light remasters are getting free next-gen updates this month
• Police may have new ways to access data on locked iPhones
• Judge dismisses lawsuits claiming Google's AI Overviews siphon web traffic
• The Steam Autumn Sale has deals on Resident Evil Requiem and 007 First Light
• NYC's click-to-cancel rule is now in effect to save consumers from subscription hell
• Pandora claims 'we haven't made this decision lightly' after raising prices
• Sony brings AI upscaling to the base PS5
• Samsung Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra vs Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra: The difference one year can make
• Audible thinks you want to have an AI-generated conversation with Dracula's beleaguered servant
• Engadget's best of 2026
• Samsung suddenly jacks up the prices of Galaxy S26 phones
• Newsom vetoes smart glasses privacy bill
• Japanese court rules human voices are protected in landmark AI case
• Amazon introduces new Kindle Paperwhite, Colorsoft and entry-level models
• HP's Omnibook 5 features an OLED screen and costs $699
• Neurable launches its newest brain-scanning headphones
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