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Simply the latest news, updated on the hour.

Wed, Sep 2, 2026, 3:50 AM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • OpenAI is set to release its Astra model, noted for its advanced capabilities in system penetration, while also delaying development following a significant breach at Hugging Face.
  • Apple's new CEO, John Ternus, has signaled a major product launch next week, amidst speculation about a new MacBook potentially named 'MacBook Neo'.
  • Google continues its AI push with a new tool that generates designs from text prompts, competing with platforms like Canva, and its Android update addresses motion sickness and accessibility.
  • Anthropic has launched updated versions of its Claude models (Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1), offering reduced costs and enhanced flexibility for agentic tasks.
  • Tech news is abuzz with acquisitions and funding, including GoPro's potential acquisition, Empirik's $21M launch for outage prediction, and AIR's $50M round for AI agent vetting.

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  • Dell’s newest laptop sounds a lot like a MacBook Neo an hour ago by Antonio G. Di Benedetto
    Dell, Gadgets, IFA 2026, Laptops, News, Tech

    That’s a bold color, especially for a Dell. | Image: Dell Dell's new Dell 14S laptop sounds a lot like a MacBook Neo: it comes in four colors, is aimed at students, and it starts with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Announced at IFA 2026, the 14S is meant to sit below the recently launched XPS 13 and offer another affordable laptop option as most other models continue to climb in price. The 14S will come in linen (beige), dusty rose (pink), washed denim (blue), and velvet green (yep, that's green). That's much more colorful than the XPS

  • This new Roomba seals itself to your carpet 2 hours ago by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    IFA 2026, News, Robot, Smart Home, Tech

    The Roomba Max 875 Combo is iRobot’s latest flagship robot vacuum mop. | Image: iRobot iRobot has announced a new flagship robot vacuum, which it will showcase at IFA in Berlin this week, the company's first big tech trade show in years. The Roomba maker will be exhibiting under its new owner, Picea Robotics , the contract manufacturer that purchased the once-troubled American robotics company out of bankruptcy in January. The $1,199 Roomba Max 875 Combo is the company's newest top-of-the-line robot vacuum and mop, and it debuts alongside the $899 Roomba Plus 678 Combo. Both models are available now

  • Google needs Hollywood more than the studios need AI 9 hours ago by Charles Pulliam-Moore
    AI, Analysis, Disney, Entertainment, Film, Google, Report, Streaming, Tech, TV Shows

    Google has reportedly been reaching out to a number of Hollywood's biggest studios, hoping to strike licensing agreements that would allow it to train its AI models on copyrighted material in exchange for massive piles of cash. In theory, these deals would be a win-win: a huge financial boon to the studios that would also give Google a significant advantage in its race to outpace other AI companies. But while there's little downside for Google, these deals pose a distinct set of risks to each of the studios that might be thinking about going all-in on AI. Getting into bed

  • Anthropic launches Claude Fable 5.1 and says it’s up to 45 percent cheaper for agentic work 10 hours ago by Stevie Bonifield
    AI, Anthropic, News

    Anthropic says its newest AI models, Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 , address criticisms from customers about price, data retention, and overzealous safeguards. The company claims Claude Fable 5.1 offers stronger performance than Fable 5, but costs around 25 percent less typically and up to 45 percent less for complex agentic tasks, thanks to reduced pricing on cached data that was already processed and stored. Along with the announcement, a slew of early impressions popped up, including from Every CEO Dan Shipper, who claims , "It's the strongest coding model we've used, but now it's fast, token-efficient, and crucially actually

  • Apple Maps follows Google in renaming Lake Ontario 11 hours ago by Emma Roth
    Apple, Apps, News, Policy, Politics, Tech

    Apple Maps has officially changed the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, as reported earlier by Bloomberg . The company joins Google in re-labeling the Great Lake following an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in the midst of a trade dispute with Canada. The Canadian version of Apple Maps still shows "Lake Ontario" when panning over the area, while international versions of the app show both names, according to Bloomberg . Google updated its map shortly after the name change went live in the US Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), but Apple waited a bit longer. Both


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