- Someone got Doom in an SQL database
ars-technica· 02-oct
1,300 lines of SQL querying renders accurate bitmapped views of Hell at 35 fps.
- Patient-zero drill put health facilities to the test—40% of them failed
ars-technica· 02-oct
Actors with makeup and fake symptoms staggered into 73 healthcare facilities.
- Research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed
ars-technica· 02-oct
Also: Spooky action at the LHC, Ice Age psychoactive use, yeast for building homes on Mars, and more.
- The 2008 economic crisis changed the US's relationship with energy
ars-technica· 02-oct
It wasn't obvious at the time, but the US uncoupled carbon emissions and GDP growth.
- The dawn of the age of the exoskeleton
ars-technica· 03-oct
The devices continue to show noticeable benefits for users in various real-world tasks.
- Apple changes full-disk access permissions to curb abuse from AI agents
ars-technica· 02-oct
Meta says FDA isn't sufficient to Muse reading messages. Apple begs to differ.
- US military ends long-running program to spot nuclear missile launches
ars-technica· 02-oct
A newer program has been operational since 2011, and the next generation could launch within 12 months.
- Amazon’s $1B plan to combat data center backlash draws more backlash
ars-technica· 02-oct
Amazon praised for ending NDAs but slammed for downplaying data center pollution.
- Lyft settles landmark driver misclassification lawsuit for $272.5M
ars-technica· 02-oct
Critics say workers are still owed far more.
- US arrests tech CEO accused of smuggling $300M in Nvidia chips into China
ars-technica· 02-oct
Nvidia’s chip-smuggling problem won’t go away as arrests continue.
- The Download: climate tech companies to watch and AI’s discovery problem
mit-tech-review· 29-sept
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Coming soon: our 2026 list of Climate Tech Companies to Watch With the planet nearing 1.5 °C of warming, climate policies being unraveled, and Big Tech backpedaling on its climate ambitions,…
- “We’re not going to shoot ourselves in the foot” over hack fallout, says OpenAI’s chief research officer
mit-tech-review· 30-sept
Two months after the bombshell news that a swarm of its agents had broken their containment and hacked into the computers of the AI company Hugging Face, OpenAI is still putting out fires. A steady drip of disclosures about other hacks in the weeks since has kept OpenAI in the spotlight and raised serious questions…
- The Download: OpenAI’s chief research officer explains its hacking response
mit-tech-review· 30-sept
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. “We’re not going to shoot ourselves in the foot” over hack fallout, says OpenAI’s chief research officer Two months after OpenAI’s agents hacked into the computers of AI company Hugging Face,…
- How smaller, distributed batteries could help the grid
mit-tech-review· 01-oct
If you want to install a big battery in New York City, you have to cut through a notoriously tough tangle of regulations. That’s made it difficult to get large energy storage projects on the grid. Faced with those obstacles, some startups are getting creative, finding ways to use relatively small batteries in unexpected places,…
- An AI “mind-reading” tool can reconstruct what you’re looking at from a brain scan
mit-tech-review· 01-oct
A new AI tool can guess what you’re looking at just by analyzing your brain scans—and re-create that image with remarkable precision. It can go the other way, too, and predict a person’s brain activity based on what they’re looking at. In the image above, for example, the left-hand image of each pair is what…
- The Download: AI “mind-reading” and creative uses for small batteries
mit-tech-review· 01-oct
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. An AI “mind-reading” tool can reconstruct what you’re looking at based on a brain scan A new AI tool can guess what you’re looking at just by analyzing your brain scans—and…
- Redefining enterprise intelligence with autonomous AI
mit-tech-review· 02-oct
Enterprise AI is no longer a future ambition. It is in full operational flight. Model capabilities are advancing faster than most organizations can absorb, while the cost of performance continues to fall. Globally, AI investment is set to reach $2.5 trillion in 2026, up 44% from the previous year. For many enterprises, this investment has…
- A new contest pits competitors against each other in a race to biological youth
mit-tech-review· 02-oct
This week, I officially signed up for an unusual competition. One that rewards competitors for getting younger. I recently turned 40, and I don’t need reminding that both time and my chronological age only tick forward. But this game is focused on competitors’ biological ages—figures that are meant to provide a better way to measure…
- Don’t be fooled—LLMs don’t reason
mit-tech-review· 02-oct
On an afternoon in Seoul in March 2016, I watched a program I helped build put a stone on the fifth line of a Go board in what looked like a gift to its human opponent. Move 37 in game two of the five-game match looked so absurd that some commentators thought it was a…
- The Download: a biological de-aging contest and why LLMs don’t reason
mit-tech-review· 02-oct
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. A new contest pits competitors against each other in a race to biological youth —Jessica Hamzelou This week, I officially signed up for an unusual competition. One that rewards competitors for…
- Apple says it’s tightening macOS ‘Full Disk Access’ controls due to new risks from AI agents
techcrunch· 02-oct
Apple says it will add new controls around macOS’s Full Disk Access permission, warning that increasingly capable AI agents make broad access to users’ files, messages, mail, and browsing history riskier.
- Affected by layoffs? Don’t miss this $75 deal for your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Expo+ Pass
techcrunch· 02-oct
Your next opportunity could be one conversation away. Get your Expo+ Pass for just $75. Limited to the first 100 qualifying people.
- Meta wants your next gadget to be Muse-infused
techcrunch· 03-oct
Meta wants Muse in your TV and your toaster, so it's giving the code away for free.
- Sanders introduces bill to ban the federal government from using Flock
techcrunch· 03-oct
The proposed legislation would extend to all automotica license plate readers.
- Sean Parker is rebuilding Stability AI around music
techcrunch· 02-oct
Sean Parker, who once taught the music industry what asking for forgiveness looks like, is now back with the labels' blessing and money.
- All the AI agents that can live in your text messages
techcrunch· 03-oct
We created a list of the most notable AI agents that can live in your text messages, from general assistants to agents designed for families, travel, and work.
- Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat disappears from app stores in India after government order
techcrunch· 03-oct
Bitchat has become largely unavailable in India as a result of the restrictions.
- OpenAI safety employee resigns, claiming the company’s ‘culture is broken’
techcrunch· 03-oct
By his own admission, David Robinson is “something of a cliché”: an employee at a leading AI company who issues a dire warning while resigning from their job.
- Spotify billionaire’s body scan startup has come to America
techcrunch· 03-oct
Farooq Abbasi, an investor in Neko Health, talked to Equity about the hot health tech company and what's next for it.
- Vessev built an electric ferry that almost flies
techcrunch· 03-oct
Vessev hopes its electric hydrofoil ferry will change the way people and cities think about boats.
- OpenAI’s Dot agent is enterprise software that can also order your dinner
the-verge· 02-oct
New helpful little guy just dropped. | Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge It's a tale as old as last week: OpenAI's new agent platform, called Dots, is full of cute little guys who can do your bidding. But unlike the ultra-approachable Meta Muse, Dots feel very much like using workplace software that happens to be able to order you a burrito - emphasis on work. OpenAI announced Dots earlier this week. Like Muse, Dots have blobby, anthropomorphic avatars and customizable names. In the future, OpenAI says you'll be able to have multiple Dots, but right now you get one. I named mine Dotty McDotface. The interface looks similar to Muse's; you chat with the agent in one window and follow its work in another as it … Read the full story at The Verge.
- An OpenAI safety employee has quit and is sounding the alarm
the-verge· 03-oct
David Robinson used to write the safety reports that accompanied every major model release at OpenAI. This week, he resigned from his position and is now speaking out in an editorial in The Atlantic. It's understandable if you're feeling a bit cynical about everyone suddenly coming out of the woodwork to warn about how dangerous the thing they helped build is. They did, after all, make this mess. But that doesn't mean we should discount their warnings. Robinson says that the culture in industry is fundamentally broken. That this is a deeper issue than simply slapping a few new rules or regulations on how we handle training models. Silicon … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Splice CEO Kakul Srivastava thinks AI emails are killing conversations
the-verge· 03-oct
Kakul Srivastava is the CEO of Splice, the sample platform countless producers rely on for one-shots and melodic loops. Samples pulled from the service have found their way into massive hits like Lisa's "Money" and "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter. (The original samples are here and here, for the curious.) Before that, Kakul held executive roles at Flickr, Yahoo, GitHub, and Adobe. Throughout her career, Kakul has found herself at the intersection of Silicon Valley and creatives. That's been especially true at Splice, where she's not just expanded the platform's footprint by acquiring Spitfire Audio, but also overseen its forays into the wor … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Sling TV drops its one-day cable passes
the-verge· 02-oct
Dish-owned Sling TV will no longer be offering its Sling Pass feature that allowed people to buy a single day of cable TV programming at a time, as reported by The Desk. The feature was announced last year and offered a day pass, a weekend pass, and a week-long pass option to be able to watch channels like ESPN and CNN without a full-month cable subscription. But soon after it launched, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery sued Sling TV over Sling Pass, though a federal judge ruled against Disney in its request for a preliminary injunction to block the feature. "Sling was built to give our customers the ultimate control over their entertainme … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Netflix is pivoting away from prestige
the-verge· 02-oct
Many of Netflix's biggest critically acclaimed hits have been the products of its multiyear production deals with noted directors like David Fincher and Shawn Levy. In the past few weeks, though, the streamer has brought some of those partnerships to an end in a way that feels indicative of a larger strategic shift. With rival studios Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery on the verge of a megamerger that will reshape the entertainment landscape, Netflix is clearly thinking about how it can continue to hold its own in the ongoing streaming wars. But as the company charts its path forward, its plan to court subscribers might not put so much em … Read the full story at The Verge.
- 3D movies are finally worth watching
the-verge· 03-oct
My colleague Cameron Faulkner models a pair of Xreal glasses. | Photo: Cameron Faulkner / The Verge Why am I suddenly buying up every 3D Blu-ray I can find after 3D became one of the biggest tech flops of all time? The technology's finally ready for 3D movies to shine, more than 15 years since James Cameron's Avatar wowed me on the big screen and went on to become the highest-grossing film worldwide. Video glasses are giving me the experience I've always desired. I've always loved 3D movies, but viewing them was awkward. Walking into a movie theater with a pair of polarized glasses, I would only get half the resolution and roughly half the brightness, since those glasses had to split one reflected image between my two eyes. Almost every … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Breaking up (with Elon Musk) is hard to do
the-verge· 02-oct
In a throwback to MySpace-style internet drama, Shivon Zilis announced that she and the father of her four children, Elon Musk, had broken up on X. To do so, she quote-tweeted a post from "Big Tech Alert," an account that, among other things, monitors what accounts are following and unfollowing each other. That post noted Musk was no longer following her on X. It was also sponsored by Kalshi, because everything in this relationship is totally fucking cursed, dude. In her statement, Zilis wrote, "It's hard to go from in love to let go in a week with no warning, but that's just how it is sometimes." "Uh, you know." Zilis, in addition to h … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Apple will limit Mac disk access as AI agents ‘substantially’ increase risk
the-verge· 02-oct
Apple will add new limits for "full disk access" on Mac in response to risks posed by AI agents, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. In an update on Friday, Apple says it's rolling out new controls to "ensure that users who genuinely wish to grant an app this extraordinary level of access can only do so with very explicit user action." The change comes just weeks after Inc's Jason Aten found that Meta's Muse AI somehow knew the contents of his messages, despite not giving the chatbot explicit permission to access them on his iPhone or Mac. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone pushed back on this report, saying access to Messages is "entirely opt-in. … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Meta open sources code to let you make Muse AI gadgets
the-verge· 02-oct
Meta now lets you make your own Muse gadgets that feature the company's new AI agent with code that the company open sourced. The company suggests projects like loading Muse on a color E Ink display to show reminders, adding it to an HDMI stick so you can display Muse on a big screen, or putting Muse on a small touchscreen device to make what looks kind of like a DIY Muse Charm. "Muse gadgets are open source devices you build yourself," Meta says. "Program an off-the-shelf ESP32 board or set up a Raspberry Pi with our SDKs, then connect Muse to your displays, buttons, sensors, actuators, and whatever else you've got lying on your workbench. … Read the full story at The Verge.
- Rivian’s sales pop as the company’s big R2 bet starts to pay off
the-verge· 02-oct
Rivian had high hopes for its more affordable R2 vehicle - and so far, those hopes appear to be paying off. The company released its third-quarter production and delivery numbers today, reporting 19,751 vehicles produced and 19,248 delivered. That represents an 85 percent year-over-year increase in production and a 45 percent jump in deliveries. (For a direct-to-consumer automaker like Rivian, deliveries serve as a proxy for sales.) The company also reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, expecting to deliver 65,000 to 70,000 vehicles. Rivian's sales surge is a rare bright spot in a struggling industry. A year after President Trump and Re … Read the full story at The Verge.