Techmeme

How a bipartisan coalition of US states fought to present a united case against Meta; Judge Rogers established a hybrid structure for the multi-week trial (Diana Novak Jones/Reuters)
Dutch company Fairphone launches its $650 flagship repairable Fairphone (Gen 6+) in the US and plans to keep launching new phone generations every two years (Julian Chokkattu/Wired)
Xiaomi reports Q2 revenue down 6.1% YoY to ~$16.2B and net income down 21% to ~$1.4B, above est., amid a persistent memory shortage and weaker smartphone demand (Bloomberg)
OpenAI launches ChatGPT for Teens, a new mode that limits high-risk chats around self-harm, eating disorders, and other topics, adds studying tools, and more (Cecilia Kang/New York Times)
Alibaba says its new open-source multimodal model, Qwen3.8-27B, passed 1M+ downloads within a few days of release, making it one of its fastest-growing models (Juro Osawa/The Information)
Reddit launches an early experiment to convert select text posts and comments into short videos with AI voiceovers, rolling out on the web, iOS, and Android (Jay Peters/The Verge)
Alibaba's Alipay launches a new "all-in-one" platform for businesses to use AI agents to automate tasks; Alibaba's stock jumps 5%+ and is up 40%+ since June (Jeanny Yu/Bloomberg)
AI inference chip startup Etched raised $700M led by its new server rack customer Jane Street at a $21B valuation, up from $10.3B after raising $300M in July (Robbie Whelan/Wall Street Journal)
Sources: China orders some state-linked entities to uninstall a government-tailored version of Windows 10, ahead of its February 2027 retirement timeline (Bloomberg)
Google unveils Operation Blue Skies, a £5M trial to re-route North Atlantic aircraft to reduce contrail-induced warming using Google's AI atmospheric forecasts (Madeleine Cuff/New Scientist)
Baidu reports Q2 revenue down 2% YoY to ~$4.62B, below ~$4.69B est. and its fifth straight quarterly decline, and net income of ~$341M, as it lags AI rivals (Bloomberg)
Apple's macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC has references to unreleased products: a Home Hub, home accessories, new Beats, AirPods Pro 4, Apple Intelligence in China, and more (Juli Clover/MacRumors)
In filings, Apple acknowledges App Store regulatory changes are weighing on its $100B+ services business; US App Store spend fell 6% YoY in Q2, per Sensor Tower (Michael Acton/Financial Times)
Rogue Studio, which calls itself a "playground for creative ethical mischief", launches Rogue 1.0, an AI video tool to make adult content of Hollywood quality (Jason Parham/Wired)
Sources: AI-drafted bills are swamping the US House's Legislative Counsel, which now spends more time fixing them than it would spend to draft them from scratch (Owen Dahlkamp/Politico)

Wired

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
SteelSeries Coupon Codes: 15% Off in August 2026
Noom Promo Codes: 50% Off Best Deals & Free Trials for August 2026
Hydrow Discount Code: Save Up to $150 | August 2026
1Password Coupon: Score a Free Trial in August 2026
Womanizer Coupons: Save 15% in August
Vivid Seats Promo Codes and Deals: Get 10% Off
Western Digital Promo Code: 15% Off
Logitech Promo Codes and Deals: Up to $100 Off
Ring Promo Code: 50% Off
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
7 Best Cheap Laptops to Buy in 2026 (and Some to Avoid)
CookUnity Prepared Meal Delivery Review (2026): Chef-Centric Meals
Skylight Buddy Review (2026): Kid Routines Just Got Easy
El Niño and Saharan Dust Silence Atlantic Hurricane Season
Election Officials Are Preparing for Prediction Markets to Sow Chaos in the Midterms
There’s a New Link Between Gut Health and Alzheimer’s Disease
Astronomers Discover the Existence of a Black Hole Star
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 and Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra Review: The Right Shape
It’s Never Too Early to Start Planning for the Next Two Solar Eclipses
Someone Finally Fixed Installing Apps on a Mac
TerraMow V1000 Review: Show Your Lawn Some Love
Inside the Experimental Traps Scientists Set for Ghostly Neutrinos
The Best Cat Water Fountains of 2026: Petlibro, Petkit, Oneisall
Retrospec Joe Rev 2 Review (2026): Putting the ‘Joy’ in Joyride
This Beautifully Weird Necklace Is Secretly a USB Drive
Instapaper, the Original Read-It-Later App, Just Got a Huge Upgrade
6 Best Apple Watch Accessories to Upgrade Your Watch (2026)
Auk Mini 2 Indoor Smart Garden Review: Better Where It Counts
Zyzz Was the Original Looksmaxxer. His Rise and Untimely Death Feel More Relevant Than Ever
5 Best Apple Watch Bands: Nike, Nomad, and Hermés (2026)
Puerto Rico Is Rationing Water. It Could’ve Avoided It by Harvesting Rainwater
Amazon Can Use Your Twitch Content to Train Its AI—Unless You Opt Out
Google Workspace Promo Codes: 14% Off for August 2026
New York City Lawmakers Push to ‘Ban the Scan’ at MSG
The Best Movies to Stream This Month (August 2026)
The Next Big Influencer Is This 4-Foot-Tall Robot From China
Tech Visionary Says the Big AI Labs Don’t Get What People Want
Best Wireless Chargers (2026): My Picks After Testing 100+
The 4 Best Planners of 2026: Roterunner, Hobonichi, Cloth & Paper
FTC Strikes Deals to Ignore Unlawful Credit Discrimination
These ‘Masturbation Consultants’ Were Hired to Pleasure Themselves With AI
Best Pixel 10 Cases and Accessories (2026): Mous, dbrand, Bellroy
I Wore an Electrical Muscle Stimulation Body Suit to Zap Myself Into Fitness

Engadget

AI-generated bills are reportedly causing problems in the Capitol
Apple's macOS Tahoe preview may have leaked a ton of unreleased products
ChatGPT's stricter teen mode starts rolling out today
Fairphone is finally releasing its first official handset in the US
Google is reportedly planning to move all Pixel production out of China
Apple appears to have leaked its camera-equipped AirPods
Why flash drive capacity keeps increasing (and why small drives are rarely sold today)
What are your retro game consoles worth?
YouTube public view counts will likely get higher starting next week
Reddit is experimenting with video and audio versions of posts
Sonos put speaker controls on your iPhone's lock screen (again)
Why curved TVs failed but curved gaming monitors thrived
Apple is forced to stop favoring its own apps in personal data collection prompts
Why 4K Blu-ray always beats 4K streaming for picture quality
Apple is reportedly expanding Apple Wallet IDs to four more states
Samsung might be making a new foldable that's even wider than the Galaxy Z Fold 8
ByteDance agrees to reel in its AI models to protect Hollywood IPs
If you're ignoring iPhone focus modes, you're missing out on Apple's best productivity tool
Uber aims for 1 million daily drone deliveries with Zipline partnership
Is an iPhone 15 still worth your money in 2026?

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Cached on Atlas at August 18th 12:27 PM