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Simply the latest news, updated on the hour.

Wed, Apr 22, 2026, 1:33 PM EDT

Tech

AI Summary

  • Google is heavily integrating AI across its products, from making Chrome an AI coworker and adding AI Overviews to Gmail for work, to enhancing Google Maps with AI and releasing new agent building tools for enterprises, alongside a significant investment in Anthropic and deepening ties with Thinking Machines Lab.
  • Meta is leveraging employee data, including keystrokes, to train its AI models and faces lawsuits over scam ads on Facebook and Instagram, while also testing a WhatsApp Plus subscription focused on cosmetic upgrades.
  • OpenAI is expanding its reach through partnerships, including one with Infosys to bring AI tools to businesses and a collaboration with Microsoft that has sparked discussions about the future of the company.
  • The tech industry continues to see significant hardware developments, with Rivian starting R2 production despite factory damage, Framework launching new laptops and an eGPU kit, and advances in AI chips from companies like Anker.
  • Concerns are rising regarding data security and AI ethics, with reports of a UK government warning about state-sponsored spyware, a data breach at cosmetics giant Rituals, and AI company deleting user data used for facial recognition training.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • Threads introduces 'live chats' for following live events an hour ago by Matt Tate
    Social & Online Media, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Matt Tate

    Meta has introduced a new "live chats" feature to Threads, enabling people on the platform to participate in real-time conversations about live events they’re interested in. Live chats can be hosted within Threads communities, the topic-specific social spaces that Meta introduced last year. The new feature sounds a bit like Threads’ take on Instagram’s broadcast channels, but the latter only allows for one-way messaging. Live chats can be hosted by select creators, including Community Champions — users highly engaged within specific communities — and media personalities. Once a chat is launched or scheduled, the host chooses who is invited to contribute

  • Control: Ultimate Edition is out for the iPhone and iPad 3 hours ago by Nathan Ingraham
    Technology & Electronics, Handheld & Connected Devices, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Nathan Ingraham

    Control is one of my favorite adventure games of the last decade or so, a mind-bending trip through an ever-changing building where you get to use telekinesis to battle some pretty freaky enemies. It was a graphically-demanding game when it was released in 2019, but a lot can change in less than six years: Control: Ultimate Edition is now available on the iPhone and iPad for a mere $5, following its announcement last October. It’s a universal purchase, which means if you buy it it’ll work on the iPad, iPhone and Mac as well. Developer Remedy promises that it’s the full

  • Here’s to the stable ones: In praise of Tim Cook 3 hours ago by Daniel Cooper
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Daniel Cooper

    Tim Cook’s tenure as Apple CEO ends September 1 when he takes the role of executive chair. He will be replaced by John Ternus, a 25-year Apple veteran and head of its hardware engineering division. I get the sense Cook’s professional obituaries will focus on his steady hand, execution success and lack of intra-company drama. All of those are virtues but I suspect the media, ever in love with a narrative of its own concoction, will use them as cudgels. Consider this an attempt to balance the record ahead of Cook’s damning with the faintest of praise. Cook is quiet and

  • Xfinity Mobile now includes device protection and anytime phone upgrades 5 hours ago by Nathan Ingraham
    Telecommunication, Technology & Electronics, Handheld & Connected Devices, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Nathan Ingraham

    Cell phone plans can get exceedingly complicated, so Comcast’s pitch for Xfinity Mobile’s simplicity is rather appealing — particularly at a time when everything is more expensive than ever. Today, the company is announcing two simple plans priced at $30 and $45 a month that have some serious perks for their prices. The $30 Mobile Select plan covers the main basics, including 50GB of “premium” full-speed data; Global Travel Pass to cover yourself when traveling in 215 different countries; and Xfinity’s Wi-Fi PowerBoost. That latter feature takes advantage of Xfinity’s wide network of Wi-Fi hotspots around the country. Your phone will

  • Hey Meta workers, are you getting paid for those keystrokes? 5 hours ago by Avery Ellis
    Internet & Networking Technology, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Avery Ellis

    No longer content to subsume recognizable intellectual properties, the majority of the indexed internet and books (basically all of them), AI will apparently now begin devouring its own workforce. A report in Reuters alleged that the keystrokes, mouse movements and clicks of Meta's workforce are to be captured for the purposes of training AI — something the company's communications department was happy to confirm as accurate! In a cheery missive, a company spokesperson told Engadget that "If we're building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them [...] we’re


The Verge

  • Anthropic’s Mythos rollout has missed America’s cybersecurity agency an hour ago by Lauren Feiner
    AI, Anthropic, Policy, Politics, Security, Tech

    Several US federal agencies are taking up Anthropic's new cybersecurity model to find vulnerabilities, but one is reportedly not getting in on the action: the nation's central cybersecurity coordinator. On Tuesday, Axios reported that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) didn't have access to Mythos Preview, which Anthropic has touted as a powerful tool for finding and patching security vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, other agencies like Commerce Department and National Security Agency (NSA) are reportedly using the model, and President Donald Trump's administration has been negotiating broader access, Axios wrote last w … Read the full story at The Verge.

  • Microsoft teases mysterious Discord and Xbox Game Pass partnership 2 hours ago by Tom Warren
    Gaming, Microsoft, News, Tech, Xbox

    Microsoft has started teasing a new Discord and Xbox Game Pass partnership, just a day after lowering prices of its Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscriptions. Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma says the company is partnering with Discord again "as we continue to make Game Pass more flexible for our players." It's not immediately clear what the latest Discord and Xbox partnership will result in, but given it's a Game Pass one it's likely related to some perks for subscribers of Xbox Game Pass. At the moment Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can get a month of Discord Nitro as

  • Google Meet will take AI notes for in-person meetings too 2 hours ago by Stevie Bonifield
    AI, Google, News, Tech

    Google's AI meeting notetaker is no longer limited to Google Meets - Gemini can also generate summaries and transcripts of in-person meetings now, as well as meetings on Zoom and Microsoft Teams, as first reported by 9to5Google. Support for in-person meetings was previously limited to alpha users and only available on Android. Google's support page for the feature notes that, "If a user who is not in person wants to join the meeting, you can transition the meeting to a normal video call." The feature also works for impromptu meetings - Google says you "don't need to be in a meeting

  • Microsoft says the ‘idea’ of an Xbox mobile store ‘is not dead’ 2 hours ago by Tom Warren
    Gaming, Microsoft, News, Tech, Xbox

    Microsoft first revealed it was building an Xbox mobile gaming store to take on Apple and Google all the way back in 2022. Former Xbox president Sarah Bond even went on stage at a Bloomberg event nearly two years ago and promised the store would launch in July, 2024. Now, it looks like Microsoft has put the project on hold. Better xCloud developer redphx noticed that the store URL Microsoft had been testing for the past couple of years no longer works. It's not clear exactly when it disappeared, but the last time the website was updated was nearly a year

  • Will a new CEO help realize Apple’s smart home potential? 3 hours ago by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy
    Analysis, Apple, Report, Smart Home, Tech

    It took Tim Cook years to launch Apple into major new hardware categories, such as the smartwatch. But John Ternus could start his tenure right away with an ambitious new project: smart home hardware. All signs point to a strong lineup of new smart home devices coming potentially this fall, putting Apple back in the game in a category where it has been painfully slow to ship new devices. With a hardware man at the helm in Ternus, the chances of Apple fully committing to the smart home feel far higher than under Cook. And while, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Ternus


Wired


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