News Alert Digest
Generated: 2026-08-13 06:00:02 | Timespan: 72h | Period: 24h
Apple Releases New iOS 27 AirPods Firmware for Public Beta Testers
Apple today released new AirPods beta firmware available for public testers. The firmware has a build number of 9A5336b, and it is available for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, and AirPods Max 2. It is the same as the AirPods beta released for de…
The 'Godmother of AI' says the biggest risk of AI in schools is taking away kids’ motivation to learn
Fei-Fei Li said schools should use AI to help learners ask questions and get unstuck, without letting it replace independent thinking.
Former OpenAI executive Kevin Weil has sought a valuation of at least $750 million for his new AI science startup
Kevin Weil, the former chief product officer of OpenAI, is in discussions to raise a round of funding for a new AI science startup.
The FAA wants to reboot the nation's airspace. This airline shows how it might work
When Alaska Airlines wanted to optimize its operations, it turned to a small startup called Air Space Intelligence. Now the FAA has hired the company for a major reboot of the entire U.S. airspace.
Another OpenAI executive takes off
Brad Lightcap, OpenAI's special projects lead and the company's former COO, announced his departure after an eight-year stint at the AI lab. In an internal memo he later posted to X, Lightcap told colleagues he'd be starting "something new." "Over the last fe…
Spotify says it won’t recommend music from ‘AI Personas’
Spotify will soon label AI artists and remove their music from your recommendations. The change, which will start rolling out in mid-September, means you'll see an "AI Persona" badge on an artist's profile across the app if they do "not represent a real perso…
If AI Helps People Work Less, Why Are AI Lab Employees Working So Much?
They're using AI, right?
OpenAI loses another top executive, as Brad Lightcap leaves 'to start something new'
Brad Lightcap leaves OpenAI amid IPO plans, joining other executive departures; hints at new AI-related ventures in his farewell message.
Spotify Will Label 'AI Persona' Profiles, Exclude Their Music From Recommendations
Spotify will begin labeling AI-generated artist identities with "AI Persona" badges and exclude their music from editorial, algorithmic, and personalized recommendations unless users explicitly follow them. The company says the designation applies to whether …
Spotify’s AI Persona Label to Pluck AI Artists From Your Algorithm
Stamped on artist profiles, it’ll help listeners figure out who’s an AI musician, and who isn’t.
AI might be the one reason we're not in a recession, top economist David Rosenberg says
The AI boom is soaking up investor capital, shoring up economic growth, and showing signs of strain, David Rosenberg says.
Zuckerberg's AI-for-all pitch faces a big problem
Meta's Mark Zuckerberg spent 6,500 words explaining why he wants everyone to embrace AI, and how he's willing to throw money at people to get them on board.
AI is changing job interviews by letting candidates interview around the clock
Ribbon said its voice-based AI recruiting platform tools have improved accessibility by allowing candidates to interview at flexible times.
Ukrainian troops are buying war robots from their digital marketplace in record numbers
Ground robots are among the "fastest-growing categories" for Ukraine's state-backed innovation platform Brave1, an official said.
Latest iOS 27 Beta Expands Siri AI Voice Customization
With the fifth beta of iOS 27, Apple has expanded the voice customization options for Siri AI. Pace and Expressivity can now be adjusted for more of the available voice options instead of just the two American voices. There are seven American voice op…
Leaked memo: The Arena Group is rebranding to Paradium.AI and wants to build an 'AI-powered ecosystem'
Arena Group CEO Paul Edmondson told employees in a memo obtained by Business Insider that it was "more than a name change."
Meta launches Muse Glimmer model as Zuckerberg champions AI for 'everyone'
The social media giant plans to release an open-weight version of Muse Spark, its most powerful AI model, soon, Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday.
Spotify Will Start Labeling AI Artists on Its Platform Next Month
The human creators behind AI-generated profiles are encouraged to voluntarily identify themselves. If they don’t, the streaming platform says it has a plan to catch them.
Jewish school heads spend more time on security than education, review finds
It's one of the findings from an independent review into antisemitism in schools and colleges.
AI Is Helping Solve the Intricate Genetic Puzzle of Schizophrenia
Recent findings provide one of the most detailed pictures to date of the genetic architecture of schizophrenia, opening up new avenues for research into the disorder.
Anthropic’s Claude Will Add Watermarks to AI-Generated Text and Files
Anthropic joins a growing list of companies letting customers know if they’re consuming AI content.
Grok Bot Brings Always-On AI Agents to macOS and iOS
Elon Musk's SpaceXAI today announced the launch of Grok Bot, a "team of always-on agents" that can complete tasks using tools, websites, and apps. Grok Bot can work in the cloud, so jobs keep running when your laptop is closed. The feature is tied to Cursor, …
An AI Hacked Into a Gym to Secure a Spot in a Class, but Can It Cancel a Membership?
Australia's first AI cyber incident is also one of the dumbest yet.
AI CEOs are in their manifesto era
AI CEOs keep publishing lengthy missives. While unlikely to be read beyond techies, the CEOs want to "own" the narrative, communications advisers say.
Should you wait for the Google Pixel 11? Here's everything you should consider and how I'd spend my money
Google is gearing up to launch new Pixel 11 phones, but the Pixel 10 won't be going away anytime soon. Should you wait for the new model or buy now?
Apple Cutting Back 2026 Hardware Shipments Due to Memory Shortage
Apple is scaling back its hardware shipment plans in 2026 due to DRAM shortages, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. Kuo made the comment in a longer piece disputing a recent report suggesting TSMC has $1 billion of unpackaged processors waiting on me…
Why Some Entrepreneurs Multiply Their Impact With AI While Others Just Work Faster
AI won’t give you an edge if it just helps you move faster — it’s how you use it to think, decide, and scale that separates winners from the rest.
How AI Search Will Change in the Second Half of 2026 — and What It Means for Your Visibility
AI visiblity is quickly becoming the most organic lead generation tool in 2026 – but it's also the most volatile one.
For the First Time, AI Designed 16 New Viruses, Raising Fears and Hopes
The viruses were able to function and proliferate.
Can Google Boost Pixel Photos With AI Horsepower, Not Gimmicks?
Commentary: Google has the potential to advance the state of the art, but we’ll see if it just wants flashy AI features instead.
The AI takeover of mathematics has begun
Mathematician James Maynard has spent a lot of time this past year "soul searching." A professor at the University of Oxford and winner of the prestigious Fields Medal, Maynard told The Verge he's been grappling with the future of his field as the traditional…
What smart people are saying about Meta's open-weight model Muse Glimmer and Mark Zuckerberg's AI manifesto
Even the White House took notice of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's AI manifesto. Others focused on the release of Meta's open-weight model.
BCG is betting that the best AI leaders know how to lead people, too
With new roles for Amanda Luther, Silvio Palumbo, and Natasha Taylor, BCG is betting on leaders with people skills to bridge the AI divide.
Warren Buffett could wait forever. His successor may not be so patient.
Michael Burry of "The Big Short" fame said his "biggest fear" for a post-Buffett Berkshire may have come true.
AI is changing more than Wall Street's workflows. It’s creating a whole new career path.
AI startups like Rogo are attracting young bankers from some of Wall Street's biggest firms, and providing an option beyond buy- or sell-side.
ChatGPT and Gemini both just passed 1 billion users
For the 14th time, a Google product has hit 1 billion users. Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted on X that a billion people are using Gemini every month, and that Gemini is Google's fastest-growing product ever. A billion users is a huge milestone, but Google isn…
A Zoom Screen-Sharing Bug Let Anyone Take Over Other Devices on a Call
Researchers say it took fewer than 20 prompts for a public AI tool to find a flaw (now fixed) allowing anyone on a Zoom call to hijack another participants’ device.
Joby flexes military muscle with $500 million defense acquisition
Joby Aviation announced it was acquiring Dayton, Ohio-based defense firm Resonant Sciences in a $500 million deal, in a bid by the electric aircraft company to expand further into the military industrial complex. Joby says it expects to finance the deal with …
Early Access: Meta's Neural Band just got cooler with neural handwriting for Ray-Ban Display
Meta is rolling out its long-awaited neural handwriting feature in Early Access for Ray-Ban Display users.
This Satellite Will Literally Breathe Air to Stay in Orbit
The satellite is designed to scoop up gases from the atmosphere and use them to generate thrust.
Your Motorola phone is getting Android 17 – here's who's first
Motorola’s Android 17 rollout is underway for 50+ phones, bringing a refreshed HelloUI packed with new AI, customization, and smarter UI features.
OpenAI’s Only Ethicist Reportedly Left Last Month. She Wasn’t Replaced
She lasted less than a year.
iPhone Users Who Pay for Enough iCloud Storage Get New iOS 27 Perks
If you are subscribed to an iCloud+ plan with at least 2TB of storage, you will receive new perks in the Home app on iOS 27, according to Apple. Starting with iOS 27, Apple said iPhone users who are subscribed to an iCloud+ plan with at least 2TB of stor…
GuliKit’s new Switch controller features next-generation anti-drift thumbsticks
GuliKit announced its first wireless controller to use an improved version of the anti-drift tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) thumbsticks featured in its budget-friendly ES Pro that debuted nearly a year ago. Available now for $49.99, the new GuliKit ES Max …
Oracle has drawn up plans for a new round of layoffs this month, sources say
The potential layoffs reduce Oracle's payroll as it racks up billions in debt to fund AI infrastructure.
Here's the severance package TikTok offered to laid-off workers in its Nashville office, which is shutting down
TikTok is letting go of 250 workers in its Nashville office. Many of the staffers worked on trust and safety for its US business.
The new Google is destroying small businesses' reputations
Google AI Overviews are becoming customers' first impression of small businesses. Inaccurate summaries are damaging their reputations.
This New Open-Weight AI Model Is Built for Video and Robots
A new open world model from LTX shows how open-weights models can be used and customized by anyone.
Interstellar Travel May Soon Be Within Reach
Compact sensor-packed probes, propelled by laser- or Sun-powered sails, could be humanity's first scouts to another star system.
Cursor’s head of talent says companies get one crucial thing wrong with work trials
Cursor's head of talent, Adam Ward, said work trials, while expensive, offer technical signals and show how candidates collaborate and fit.
Bernie Sanders asked the leading AI CEOs to pause development. Read his letter.
Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to Dario Amodei, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg. "Stop building machines that humans cannot control," he wrote.
AI Assistant Hacks Gym Website In First Known Australian Autonomous Cyber Attack
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News & Headlines: Andrew asked his personal assistant to book him a spot in one of his gym's coveted morning classes. It was a task he thought was well suited to this particular assistant because the booking form w…
Spin Master's cofounder says your 20s are the best time to start a company
Ronnen Harary said people are less likely to view founders in their 20s as competition.
This tech job is in huge demand right now, Cursor's head of talent says
Matt Ward, Cursor's head of talent, said forward-deployed engineers are the most in-demand role in tech right now.
The bipartisan backlash to Big Tech's AI data centers is getting harder for politicians to ignore
The anti-data center movement is bipartisan, and that's worrying some local politicians in red states around the country.
Should you build or buy software? This Wall Street firm has a new tool to decide.
Should companies build or buy software? An RBC analysis finds custom AI apps are often more expensive than SaaS.
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan says his Tesla was on Autopilot when he crashed — but it's 'always your fault'
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said he had been using Tesla's Autopilot before a head-on crash. He called it a lesson in staying alert behind the wheel.
I worked at Amazon on an F-1 visa as layoffs mounted. Here's why I left for a semiconductor company.
An Amazon engineer explains why he left for the semiconductor industry after weighing Big Tech layoffs, his visa status, and long-term career growth.
Why Dropbox is sticking with remote work, according to its new co-CEO
Dropbox has been "virtual-first" since 2021, and its new co-CEO Ashraf Alkarmi said he plans to keep that model.
Apple could help you prove your iPhone photos aren’t deepfakes
Apple is seemingly developing an iOS feature that can verify when a photograph was taken using an iPhone camera. 9to5Mac reports that the iOS 27 beta 5 includes code references for an "Apple Reference Image" system that can embed provenance metadata into iPho…
Sonos Could Drop New Wireless Headphones Soon
The Sonos Ace Ultra headphones could launch as soon as September.
The 20 best college towns where life revolves around their universities, ranked
College towns offer student experiences that set them apart from big cities. Life in Ann Arbor revolves around the University of Michigan's culture.
T-Mobile vs. Verizon: Which Major Phone Carrier Works Best for You?
It’s time to compare what two of the biggest carriers offer in their mobile phone plans.
Bumble Changes the Feature That Made It Different From Other Dating Apps
Dating app Bumble is changing its policy to allow either person to message first, and is extending its response window from 24 to 72 hours.
Seaside visitors going home earlier, traders say
Business owners believe people are spending fewer evenings and less cash in Skegness this summer.
I took the best Bose and Sony earbuds to 3 noisy places to see which cancel out the most noise
I put Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (Gen 2) and Sony's WF-1000XM6 earbuds through three tests to figure out which is better at active noise cancelation.
iPhone 18 Pro Will Reportedly Start With 256GB of Storage
While the iPhone 17 Pro has double the base storage compared to the iPhone 16 Pro, there will apparently be no further increase this year. In a report this week estimating that the iPhone 18 Pro's bill of materials will be nearly 40% higher than the iPho…
Apple Reportedly Testing Controversial Chinese Chips as Memory Supply Crunch Intensifies
Apple is allegedly testing chips from a chipmaker that the Trump Admin considers a Chinese military company.
'I felt Tourette's would ruin my life, now I teach at Cambridge'
Amanda Cole previously hid her condition but now wants others to "tic freely" without embarrassment.
The 25 best state universities in the US, ranked
The ranking of the 25 best public schools in the US includes seven in California.
‘You Can’t Get Food Out of a Data Center’: Family Rejects Tech Company’s $26 Million Offer for Their Farm
82-year-old Ida Huddleston calls the Kentucky data center project a 'scam.'
Keychron’s wireless Hall effect keyboard is back to its lowest price
Getting a keyboard with customizable Hall effect sensors is more affordable than it used to be, and you don’t need to compromise on quality to get a good deal. Keychron’s aluminum-clad K2 HE with a 75-percent layout is down to $103.99 (was $130) at Amazon, wh…
Future Apple Watches Might Ditch the Screen
The company is reportedly exploring new form factors and, shockingly, round displays.
Jeff Dean's hour-by-hour breakdown of his Google exit: an 'emotional' video chat, Yoga at 7, and 'unemployed' at 11:59
Jeff Dean shared the play-by-play of his final two days at Google, from a soccer match to late-night messaging.
Tesla built a Starlink internet dish into its Cybercab robotaxi
Tesla and SpaceX have teamed up on a bunch of projects. On Monday, the automaker showed off another partnership between Musk's companies.
The preorder period is over, but T-Mobile will still give you a FREE Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 if you follow these steps
The Galaxy Watch 9 is here, and this T-Mobile deal will give you one for free.
I thought San Diego would be my forever home. Now I'm heading to Minnesota to be near my granddaughter.
My friends in California keep warning me about Midwestern winters. I'm moving there anyway.
Apple's All-Glass 20th Anniversary iPhone Reportedly Canceled
Apple's rumored all-glass iPhone expected to mark the device's 20th anniversary has been canceled, according to Jefferies analyst Edison Lee. Rumors have circulated since at least 2025 that Apple was developing a radically redesigned all-glass iPhone, wi…
Here’s What CNET Readers Want to Change About the iPhone – and Why It Probably Won’t Happen Soon
CNET readers expect to see a new foldable iPhone this year, but that’s not what’s at the top of their wish list.
I’ve Tried These College Dorm Devices At Home. Here’s What I Recommend
Dorms deserve these smart upgrades for lights, security, sound and more.
iOS 27 Hints at 'Apple Reference Image' Photo Authentication
Apple is working on "Apple Reference Image," a photo provenance system that will verify if an image was captured with an iPhone. References to the feature were found in a privacy disclosure included in iOS 27 beta 5, but it is not live yet. According to …
Business Formation Is Booming. What’s Driving the Surge?
Here's what's driving America's newest wave of entrepreneurs — and what the data suggests comes next.
Your Home Needs These 8 Headache-Free Privacy Boosts
Protect your privacy, identity and loved ones with these important home safety steps I’ve tested for the modern world.
Reuters: U.S. ‘Bipartisan Majority’ Wants Regulatory Crackdown on Social Media. We Also Think Social Media Is Fun
Democrat? Republican? Independent? You probably want to see social media regulated.
How to Watch Made by Google, the Pixel 11 and Watch 5 Event
Google’s launch for the Pixel 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro XL, Watch 5 takes place on Wednesday in New York City. Trevor Noah and other celebrities are set to take part.
Everything New in iOS 27 Beta 5
We're a little over a month away from the launch of iOS 27, and Apple is continuing to make changes. The fifth beta of iOS 27 changes the look of some app icons and adjusts Liquid Glass, plus it adds some smaller features that make the iPhone just a little …
T-Mobile Shifts to 3-Year Phone Installments with New “2.0” Mobile Plans
Buying a phone from the carrier now includes an option to get it for zero dollars upfront, not even taxes – for customers who qualify.
I consume less than an hour of digital media a day. 'Cheat days' never helped me cut screen time, but 'NPC hours' did.
To get off my phone, I spent years trying different ways to curb my digital addiction. Here's what actually worked and why "cheat days" never will.
Recent College Grads Who Want Their First Salaries to Go Far Should Focus on These U.S. States, New Research Reveals
New graduates should take income tax and unemployment rates into account.
The US Army is going digital, but soldiers still want physical backups of their battlefield maps
As the US Army undergoes a massive digital transformation, some soldiers are keeping their old physical copies in case the connection drops.
I don't let my kids attend sleepovers. The risk just isn't worth it.
My daughter was thrilled to be invited to her first sleepover at 6 years old. I had to tell her it wasn't happening.
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