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Anthropic's Claude AI Improves Riemann Hypothesis Lower Bound to 67.2%
An unreleased research version of Anthropic's Claude AI has increased the known lower bound for the fraction of Riemann zeta function zeros satisfying the Riemann hypothesis from 41.6% to 67.2%. This development, achieved by an AI model without significant mathematical training, demonstrates progress in AI's mathematical problem-solving capabilities.
Joby Aviation Acquires Resonant Sciences for $500 Million to Expand Defense Business
Joby Aviation is acquiring Dayton, Ohio-based defense firm Resonant Sciences for $500 million, comprising $450 million in cash and $50 million in equity. This acquisition establishes a dedicated defense division for Joby, integrating Resonant Sciences' radio frequency, sensing, and mission systems capabilities, and allowing Joby's commercial division to focus on air taxi development.
New York Funds Water System Cybersecurity; Senate Bill Proposes $300M Annual Federal Aid
New York State has allocated over $9 million to 153 drinking water and wastewater systems to enhance cybersecurity defenses and comply with new state standards. Concurrently, Senate Democrats introduced the Water Cyber Shield Act, proposing $300 million annually for national water infrastructure cybersecurity improvements and expanded EPA authority, following recent cyberattacks on water systems.
Linux Desktop Market Share Reaches Over 10% in North America, Data Suggests
Statcounter reported that Linux desktop usage in North America reached 10.65% in July 2026, marking its first time in double digits for the region. This increase is partly attributed to a reduction in Statcounter's "Unknown" category, suggesting improved classification rather than a mass migration of users. Other data sources, including the US federal government's Digital Analytics Program and Cloudflare, also indicate significant Linux desktop usage, with Cloudflare observing a peak of 22% on a specific workday.
Cloudflare Reports 519% Surge in 1 Tbps DDoS Attacks in Q2 2026
Cloudflare's H1 2026 DDoS Threat Report indicates a 519% quarter-over-quarter increase in network-layer DDoS attacks exceeding 1 Tbps between Q1 and Q2 2026. The report, based on data from Cloudflare's network, highlights a shift in attack vectors, with DNS-based attacks becoming the primary method, and notes the influence of geopolitical events on the threat landscape.
BdThemes WordPress Plugins Removed After Supply Chain Attack Creates Rogue Admins
A supply chain attack on BdThemes, a WordPress plugin vendor, led to the compromise of their infrastructure and the modification of a remote JSON feed. This allowed attackers to create rogue administrator accounts on WordPress sites using affected plugins, prompting WordPress.org to remove all BdThemes products, impacting over 350,000 active installations.
New York and Illinois Enact Age Verification Laws for Online Platforms and OS
New York's SAFE for Kids Act, effective January 25, 2027, requires social media platforms to implement age verification for algorithmic feeds and late-night notifications. Concurrently, Illinois' Children's Online Social Media Safety Act (HB5511), effective January 1, 2028, mandates age verification at the operating system level for devices sold or used in the state, impacting device manufacturers, OS providers, and app stores.
Malachyte Raises $10M Seed Funding to Bring Spotify-like AI Recommendations to E-commerce
Malachyte, a startup founded by former Spotify engineers Sidd Motwani, Ian Anderson, and Shivaditya Sinha, secured $10 million in seed funding to apply its AI-driven recommendation technology to e-commerce. The company aims to provide real-time, intent-aware shopping experiences, moving beyond traditional personalization methods based on past purchases or demographics. Its platform uses a "two-headed Vector AI" system, similar to Spotify's Vector AI which powers 90% of its recommendations, to predict shopper intent.
Security Researcher Receives 400,000 Sensitive Emails Due to Misconfigured 'Noreply' Domains
Security researcher Cory Solovewicz has received over 400,000 emails containing sensitive personal and company information since December 2024. This data leakage occurs because organizations are misconfiguring their internal systems to send information to his purchased domains, noreply.us and noreply.net, which they mistakenly believe are unmonitored placeholder addresses.
UK Man Sentenced for Blackmail and Sextortion of 117 Victims as Part of 'The Com'
Justin Swaddle, a 20-year-old from Leeds, was sentenced to two years in prison for blackmail and sextortion offenses against 117 victims aged 13 to 17. Operating under aliases like 'Epstein' and 'Moscow' on platforms including Snapchat, Telegram, and Discord, Swaddle was a member of 'The Com,' an online collective whose members coerce victims into self-harm and sexual activity for peer status.
Apple Explores Major Apple Watch Redesign, Including Round Screens and Screenless Devices
Apple is reportedly considering a significant overhaul of its Apple Watch lineup, exploring designs such as circular displays and screenless fitness trackers. These potential changes aim to address increasing competition and expand the product range with both more premium and more affordable options, alongside an AI-centric software revamp for the Health app.
AMD Launches Radeon RX 9050 GPU, Including 4GB VRAM Variant
AMD has launched the Radeon RX 9050 graphics card, featuring both 8GB and 4GB VRAM configurations. The 4GB variant marks the return of lower VRAM options to new GPUs, while early benchmarks indicate the 8GB RX 9050 is approximately 30% slower than Nvidia's RTX 5050 in gaming.
FCC Proposes Retroactive Ban on Foreign Drones with LiDAR and Thermal Imaging
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed banning the import and sale of foreign-made drones equipped with LiDAR sensors, thermal imaging, and other capabilities, classifying these technologies as "military-grade." This proposal, outlined in public notice DA 26-758, expands on an existing ban from December 2025 by retroactively targeting previously approved models, potentially affecting popular consumer drones like some DJI models.
Windscribe Releases deGDID Script to Block Microsoft's Global Device Identifier
Windscribe, a VPN provider, has developed an open-source PowerShell script called "deGDID" that removes existing Microsoft Global Device Identifiers (GDIDs) from Windows PCs and prevents new ones from being created. This tool addresses privacy concerns related to persistent device tracking, but using it may disrupt some Microsoft cloud services that rely on device authentication.
Tesla and SpaceX to Build $16.8 Billion Terafab Chip Factory in Texas
Tesla and SpaceX announced an initial $16.8 billion investment to build "Terafab," an advanced chip factory in Grimes County, Texas. The facility, planned for over 100 million square feet, aims to produce AI inference processors and high-power processors to meet the future computing demands of both companies, including Tesla's Optimus robots and SpaceX's space-based data centers. The factory will be powered by natural gas plants and large battery arrays.
Emporia, Kansas Approves Data Center Amid Arrest and Virtual Meeting Shift
Emporia, Kansas, approved zoning changes for the Flint Hills Digital Campus, a hyperscale data center, despite community opposition. The approval followed the arrest of Lux Claridge, a high school physics teacher, for clapping at a city commission meeting, and the city subsequently moved future meetings online, citing public safety concerns due to threats.
New CSS Attacks Bypass Webmail Defenses, Enabling Password and Token Theft
New research by PortSwigger's Gareth Heyes, presented at Black Hat USA 2026, demonstrates CSS-based attacks that allow email content to escape its message boundary and interact with webmail interfaces. These techniques can capture passwords, exfiltrate tokens, and hijack UI actions across major webmail providers like Outlook, Gmail, Fastmail, Proton Mail, Yahoo Mail, and AOL Mail.
Denmark Implements Oral Defenses and Supervised Writing to Combat AI Cheating in Schools
The Danish government has introduced new measures for upper secondary schools to address AI cheating, including mandatory oral defenses for all written assignments completed at home and supervised in-school writing. These changes, effective immediately, apply to students aged 16-19, including approximately 9,000 students in the two-year HF program, and aim to establish clearer guidelines for AI use in education.
GAO Report Questions DOGE's Claimed $215 Billion in Federal Savings
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could not verify most of its claimed $215 billion in federal savings. The GAO identified issues with the transparency and reliability of DOGE's "Wall of Receipts," noting that many reported terminations of contracts and grants lacked sufficient evidence or did not occur. This matters because it casts doubt on the accuracy of reported government spending reductions and highlights a lack of accountability.
Airbnb Attributes Strong Growth to AI Investment, Reports Faster Feature Development
Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky stated that AI has reduced product development time by 60% and increased the number of shipped features by 80% year-over-year. The company's stock surged 15% after reporting strong growth, which Chesky directly attributed to increased AI investment, indicating plans for significantly more spending on AI tokens.
North Carolina Ports Hit by Cyberattack, Forcing Manual Operations
North Carolina Ports experienced a cyberattack that disrupted IT systems and forced a shift to manual operations across its three locations: Wilmington, Morehead City, and Charlotte. The incident, detected on August 4, led to system-wide outages and delays, though operations are gradually returning to normal with manual processing still in effect. This event highlights the ongoing vulnerability of critical infrastructure to cyber threats.
Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope Observes Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities on Sun's Surface
Scientists using the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope have observed Kelvin-Helmholtz Instabilities (KHI) on the Sun's surface, appearing as small swirling patterns. This discovery, published in Nature, provides the highest-resolution image of the Sun's visible surface and may explain how the Sun's outer atmosphere heats up and how magnetic energy builds and moves, influencing solar flares that impact Earth's technology.
Rep. Ro Khanna Introduces "Data Center Bill of Rights" to Empower Local Communities
Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) has introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives proposing a "Data Center Bill of Rights." This resolution aims to grant local communities the authority to reject data center construction and regulate their development, addressing concerns about utility rate increases, energy and water consumption, and proximity to residential areas.
Hadrian Raises $1.37 Billion at Nearly $8 Billion Valuation for Defense Manufacturing
Hadrian, a manufacturing startup focused on defense and aerospace, secured $1.37 billion in a new funding round, bringing its valuation to approximately $7.9 billion. This investment will support scaling its workforce, software platform, and addressing production challenges in defense sectors, including submarines, munitions, and drones.
iPhone 18 Pro Production Faces Delays Due to DRAM Shortage, Impacting Availability
Production of Apple's iPhone 18 Pro is reportedly experiencing delays due to a DRAM shortage, affecting the packaging of the A20 Pro processors. This situation could lead to limited availability and longer wait times for the new device, with approximately $1 billion worth of processors awaiting DRAM delivery.
Zbtlink Routers Found with Factory-Shipped Backdoor, Codename ENDLESSDOORS
Cybersecurity researchers at VulnCheck discovered a factory-shipped backdoor, codenamed ENDLESSDOORS, in at least 20 Zbtlink router models. This implant, present in all 21 available firmware images over two years, establishes an unauthenticated root shell and beacons to Chinese command-and-control infrastructure, posing a significant security risk by allowing remote control and bypassing typical network defenses.
Samsung Unveils New Memory Technologies for AI and General Computing at FMS
Samsung introduced zHBM, zNAND-O, and BV-NAND memory technologies at the Future of Memory and Storage (FMS) conference. These advancements utilize wafer bonding to improve performance, density, and energy efficiency, primarily targeting AI data centers and specialized computing applications.
Mirendil Secures $100M+ Google Cloud Deal for Self-Improving AI Compute
AI lab Mirendil has signed a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud, valued at over $100 million, to acquire compute capacity for its self-improving AI research. This agreement provides Mirendil with access to Google's TPUs and Nvidia GPUs, enabling the startup to scale its work on AI systems that iteratively improve themselves.
LG's 27GX704A-B OLED gaming monitor now priced at $379.99
LG's glossy 27-inch OLED gaming monitor, the 27GX704A-B, is currently on sale for $379.99, down from its original price of $799.99. This sale highlights the rarity of high-performance OLED monitors available at this price point, appealing to budget-conscious gamers.
Reddit Introduces AI-Powered Moderation Tools and Aims to Reduce Karma's Importance
Reddit is rolling out "Rules Hub," a new suite of AI-powered moderation tools that use large language models (LLMs) to evaluate post and comment intent against rules. This system is currently expanding to all newly created communities and is intended to eventually replace the keyword-dependent Automoderator, aiming to make communities more accessible to new users by reducing reliance on karma and account age for posting permissions.
Hark Launches Handoff AI Agent for Autonomous Web Navigation
Hark, an AI startup founded by Brett Adcock, has released Handoff, a computer use agent designed to autonomously navigate the open web for tasks like ordering food or booking flights. Hark claims Handoff achieved the highest score on the Online-Mind2Web benchmark and offers lower token pricing compared to competing models. The company raised $700 million in Series A funding in May.
MacPaw Partners with Liquid AI for On-Device AI on Mac, Starting with Eney Assistant
MacPaw has partnered with Liquid AI to develop an on-device AI technology stack for macOS, beginning with MacPaw's Eney AI assistant. This collaboration aims to integrate Liquid AI's Liquid Foundation Models with MacPaw's Elix for inference and Mnemos for memory, enabling local AI processing for privacy, security, and offline functionality. MacPaw plans to make this technology available to developers through its Setapp app store.
Civilian Medevac Plane Crash in New Mexico Linked to Military GPS Jamming
A twin-engine Beechcraft King Air medevac plane crashed in New Mexico, killing all four occupants, after encountering GPS jamming from a US military exercise at White Sands Missile Range. The incident, which occurred in May, marks the first fatal civilian plane crash in the US attributed to GPS jamming, raising concerns about the impact of military electronic warfare activities on civilian aviation.
77 Malicious "Evil Twin" Extensions Removed from Open VSX Marketplace
Manifold Security discovered 77 malicious "evil twin" extensions on the Open VSX marketplace between July 26 and August 1, 2026. These extensions mimicked legitimate developer tools and exfiltrated system and development environment information, leading to their removal from Open VSX on August 3, 2026.
Wispr Flow Launches AI-Powered Meeting Notetaker for Mac Users
Wispr Flow, previously known for its voice-to-text AI tool, has launched Notetaker, an AI-powered meeting assistant for Mac. The new feature generates transcripts, summaries, action items, and insights from meeting audio, expanding Wispr Flow's offerings beyond dictation and positioning it to compete with existing meeting notetaker services.
28.9M Parameter LLM Runs on $8 ESP32-S3 Microcontroller Using Flash Memory
A 28.9 million parameter language model has been successfully run on an ESP32-S3 microcontroller, which costs approximately $8. This was achieved by storing most of the model in flash memory rather than RAM, a technique inspired by Google's Per-Layer Embeddings, allowing significantly larger models to operate on resource-constrained edge devices.
Greatness PhaaS Adds Device Code Phishing, Targets Microsoft 365 Accounts
The Greatness phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) toolkit now supports device code phishing, exploiting the OAuth 2.0 Device Authorization Grant to bypass Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and compromise user accounts. This update allows attackers to steal MFA-approved authentication tokens and maintain access to compromised accounts, posing a greater threat to online security. The platform is sold for $289 per month and targets platforms including Microsoft 365, iCloud, Yahoo, and Google Workspace.
New Jersey Sues Amazon Over Alleged Antitrust Violations in Delivery Network
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging the company abuses its power over third-party delivery contractors. The complaint claims Amazon's practices lead to lower wages and harsher working conditions for drivers by preventing unionization and restricting hiring between contractors. This is described as the first state-level monopsony conduct complaint.
Palantir's Q2 Revenue Jumps 93% to $1.94 Billion, Driven by Commercial Growth
Palantir reported second-quarter revenue of $1.94 billion, a 93% increase year-over-year, surpassing analyst estimates of $1.8 billion. This growth was primarily fueled by a 149% surge in U.S. commercial revenue and a 90% rise in U.S. government revenue. The company also raised its full-year revenue guidance, indicating continued expansion in its commercial sector.
Russia Charges Telegram Founder Pavel Durov with Aiding Terrorism, Seeks Arrest
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activity and placed him on an international wanted list. The FSB alleges Telegram failed to remove channels and bots used by Ukrainian special services and extremist organizations to coordinate sabotage and terrorism within Russia, resulting in casualties and financial damage. Durov has rejected the allegations, stating Russia is retaliating for his refusal to comply with demands for mass surveillance and censorship.