Technology
- Android lets you ‘bubble’ apps for easy access now – how it works October 23, 2026Keep your most-used apps accessible with this new feature.Artie Beaty
- PHP2Shell: Haven’t patched yet? Take these steps now to mitigate October 23, 2026The PHP Project provides instructions to stop further RCE exploits in limited settings.Charlie Osborne
- Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+, and the 2 big changes include AI audiobooks October 22, 2026Unlike narrated audiobooks from Audible and other providers, the audiobooks created with Virtual Voice in Kindle+ will instead be narrated by AI.Maria Diaz
- The latest PowerToys gives your mouse 2 new tricks for free – how to use them October 22, 2026PowerToys is one of my favorite free Windows utilities. With more than 30 tools, it offers something for everyone from beginners to power users. Here’s what’s new for mousing.Lance Whitney
- GridCraft is the open-source Excel clone for Linux I’ve been waiting for October 22, 2026If spreadsheets are your thing, but Microsoft Office isn’t, you might want to give the open-source clone, GridCraft, a try.Jack Wallen
- Not impressed with Google Maps? Make Waze your default on Pixel – here’s how October 22, 2026If you’re tired of Google Maps failing to get you where you need to go, set Waze as the default on your Pixel. I’ve finally figured out how.Jack Wallen
- Hold onto your old HomePod – an upgrade is on the way October 21, 2026An upcoming update will bring new features to existing HomePods. Here’s what to know.Jada Jones
- OpenAI’s most powerful AI models turned off safety monitoring – then lied about it October 21, 2026The models Astra and Sol misinterpreted instructions during internal use, which has serious implications for alignment monitoring.Radhika Rajkumar
- Chrome warns you about suspicious websites now – how to turn on Google’s new scam protection October 21, 2026Google’s browser will flash two types of warnings based on whether the site is deemed dangerous or just suspicious.Lance Whitney
- Amazon unveiled 5 new Blink cameras, including a 4K model that caught my eye October 21, 2026Five new Blink cameras are coming to the market, and the extended-range model has all my attention.Maria Diaz
- ServiceNow and Nvidia launch Arc, a new AI agent for enterprise October 21, 2026The two companies are trying to solve the AI agent security conundrum with multiple layers of real-time security checks.Radhika Rajkumar
- Gemini on Android Auto can access my photos, emails, and calendar now – why I’m OK with that (mostly) October 20, 2026The latest Android Auto update lets the AI assistant tap into your Google services for context-based responses.Kerry Wan
- Latest Windows update disables key security setting – but there’s a workaround October 20, 2026A bug in Microsoft’s October Windows update prevents you from turning on a security setting that blocks malicious or suspicious apps. A Registry hack fixes the glitch.Lance Whitney
- TechPulse puts ZDNET and 4 other tech sites in one feed – for free October 20, 2026Choose which CNET Group publications appear in your feed, then catch up on news, reviews, and videos – without an algorithm deciding what you see.Elyse Betters Picaro
- How to find Flock cameras near you with MapQuest’s new ‘surveillance layer’ October 19, 2026A name from the past is emerging again to help you stay out of sight of surveillance cameras.Artie Beaty
- Plug-in solar is legal in these 10 states now – how it could save you money October 17, 2026So-called balcony solar setups are becoming legal across the US. Here’s the latest.Maria Diaz
- Have a Meta business account? You’re consenting to AI scraping now, legal experts say October 16, 2026And there’s no opt-out available.Nina Raemont
- Munich dumps proprietary for open source (again) – but no Linux desktop October 16, 2026Open source in the public sector doesn’t fail because of technical issues. It fails because it’s not aligned with the political agendaSteven Vaughan-Nichols
- Anthropic gives third-party auditors ’employee-like access’ in AI industry first October 16, 2026As AI labs continue to self-regulate, external evaluators play a crucial role in spotting risks.Radhika Rajkumar
- Want an iPhone Duo before 2027? Don’t preorder from Apple – try this instead October 16, 2026Estimates for Duo preorders are now showing a ship date of late January, marking a new wait time record for Apple and its customers.Lance Whitney
Technology
- A look at Alpha School, a network of private schools that claims to teach kids 2x as fast using AI; data shows ~50% of K-8 students missed this goal in math (Dana Goldstein/New York Times) October 24, 2026Dana Goldstein / New York Times: A look at Alpha School, a network of private schools that claims to teach kids 2x as fast using AI; data shows ~50% of K-8 students missed this goal in math — Alpha School, a private network, is spreading into public education. While its students' test scores are high, […]
- An interview with Ciena CEO Gary Smith, a veteran of the 2001 telecoms crash, on AI demand outpacing supply for Ciena's optical networking chips, and more (Steven Rosenbush/Wall Street Journal) October 24, 2026Steven Rosenbush / Wall Street Journal: An interview with Ciena CEO Gary Smith, a veteran of the 2001 telecoms crash, on AI demand outpacing supply for Ciena's optical networking chips, and more — Ciena CEO Gary Smith is ‘suitably paranoid,’ but optimistic — The historic telecommunications crash of 2001 is burned indelibly …
- Block unveils Dessa, a "true speech-to-speech" AI model trained on "nothing but human conversation" that it says runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or newer (Jay Peters/The Verge) October 24, 2026Jay Peters / The Verge: Block unveils Dessa, a “true speech-to-speech” AI model trained on “nothing but human conversation” that it says runs locally on a MacBook Pro M4 Max or newer — You have got to listen to these conversations with Block's new Dessa AI model.
- Ukraine says Starshield was working normally again on Saturday morning; US officials said Trump asked Elon Musk to restore the service (Wall Street Journal) October 24, 2026Wall Street Journal: Ukraine says Starshield was working normally again on Saturday morning; US officials said Trump asked Elon Musk to restore the service — Speed restrictions imposed by Elon Musk's SpaceX have hampered Ukraine's drone forces since Oct. 14 — KYIV—Ukraine's military Starlink system …
- Inside Meta's law enforcement outreach team, which uses AI and human reviewers to analyze social media posts, aiming to prevent threats like school shootings (Rachel Monroe/New Yorker) October 24, 2026Rachel Monroe / New Yorker: Inside Meta's law enforcement outreach team, which uses AI and human reviewers to analyze social media posts, aiming to prevent threats like school shootings — Algorithmic social media, which has helped create the conditions for the spread of such violence, is reckoning with how it can be part of the […]
- A look at OpenAI's Project Daybreak, which lets vetted partners use its top hacking models to find and fix vulnerabilities and helped uncover PHP2Shell RCE bugs (Thomas Brewster/Forbes) October 24, 2026Thomas Brewster / Forbes: A look at OpenAI's Project Daybreak, which lets vetted partners use its top hacking models to find and fix vulnerabilities and helped uncover PHP2Shell RCE bugs — This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. — Using the latest GPT model, cyber researchers …
- The PHP Foundation, which coordinated fixes for two critical PHP flaws, operates on a shoestring budget with one full-time staff member and 14 contractors (Toby Sterling/Reuters) October 24, 2026Toby Sterling / Reuters: The PHP Foundation, which coordinated fixes for two critical PHP flaws, operates on a shoestring budget with one full-time staff member and 14 contractors — The discovery of two serious flaws in PHP this week set off a global scramble to keep websites safe from hackers …
- Google updates its privacy policy to clarify it could use data shared via Personal Intelligence from connected apps, including Gmail and Photos, to target ads (Shimul Sood/Android Authority) October 24, 2026Shimul Sood / Android Authority: Google updates its privacy policy to clarify it could use data shared via Personal Intelligence from connected apps, including Gmail and Photos, to target ads — Your inbox has secrets, and Google's ads might want in. — • … TL;DR — Google updated its privacy policy …
- Andy Jassy says AWS capacity for 2027 is "largely sold out" and a "good chunk" of 2028 capacity is also sold, though AWS reserves some capacity for on-demand (Catherine Perloff/The Information) October 24, 2026Catherine Perloff / The Information: Andy Jassy says AWS capacity for 2027 is “largely sold out” and a “good chunk” of 2028 capacity is also sold, though AWS reserves some capacity for on-demand — Amazon Web Services capacity is mostly booked up through at least next year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy …
- The UK plans to invest £100M to create the AI Biosecurity Lab to boost defenses against biological threats, supported by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind (Liv McMahon/BBC) October 24, 2026Liv McMahon / BBC: The UK plans to invest £100M to create the AI Biosecurity Lab to boost defenses against biological threats, supported by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google DeepMind — The UK says it will establish a national AI Biosecurity Lab (AIBL) to help strengthen its defences against emerging biological threats.
- OpenAI says it built an "offline world" from cached web content to train isolated frontier models to browse, search for information, and use web apps (OpenAI) October 24, 2026OpenAI: OpenAI says it built an “offline world” from cached web content to train isolated frontier models to browse, search for information, and use web apps — In order to work with software, AI models need computing environments: digital workspaces where they can write and run code …
- Utopai, an AI film studio that says it has more than 20 projects in the works, raised $60M at a $1B valuation (Rocket Drew/The Information) October 23, 2026Rocket Drew / The Information: Utopai, an AI film studio that says it has more than 20 projects in the works, raised $60M at a $1B valuation — While much of the AI industry has fixated on new personal AI assistants from Meta and OpenAI, video AI is enjoying a quiet renaissance. Hollywood mogul Jeffrey […]
- Memo: Helen Chiang, Xbox's first COO, is leaving Microsoft on October 23, just months after the role was created; she spent 21 years at the company (Tom Warren/The Verge) October 23, 2026Tom Warren / The Verge: Memo: Helen Chiang, Xbox's first COO, is leaving Microsoft on October 23, just months after the role was created; she spent 21 years at the company — Helen Chiang is leaving Microsoft after 21 years. … Xbox is losing its first chief operating officer (COO) after creating the new role […]
- Mave, which is developing an AI-driven tool to automate security investigations, raised a $28M Series A led by Red Dot, bringing its total funding to $34M (Meir Orbach/CTech) October 23, 2026Meir Orbach / CTech: Mave, which is developing an AI-driven tool to automate security investigations, raised a $28M Series A led by Red Dot, bringing its total funding to $34M — The funding, led by Red Dot Capital Partners, brings Mave's total funding to $34 million. The company is developing AI …
- Sources: Instacart, currently valued at $12B, is in talks to sell itself and held preliminary conversations with DoorDash and Uber; CART jumps 9%+ (The Information) October 23, 2026The Information: Sources: Instacart, currently valued at $12B, is in talks to sell itself and held preliminary conversations with DoorDash and Uber; CART jumps 9%+ — Instacart is in talks to sell itself in a transaction that would cap the grocery delivery app's 14-year run as a standalone company.