At a Republican midterm rally in Dallas, President Trump pledged that if the GOP retains control of both the House and Senate, his administration would issue a $5,000 payment to every American adult. He offered few details beyond requiring the money be spent on US goods and services, warning supporters not to spend it abroad. Analysts estimate the payout would cost roughly $1.3 trillion, before administrative expenses or inflationary effects are factored in.
Snap introduced Snapchat Plans, a new feature set letting users create, share and manage real-world hangouts with friends within the app. Users can set a title, date, time, invite up to 200 friends, and add Bitmoji-styled cover art, with invitations sent through one-on-one chats where friends can RSVP as Going, Maybe, or Can't Go. Snap says the events remain private and invite-only, and a future update will let users create plans directly inside group chats.
Arm announced a wave of agentic AI-focused updates to its IP portfolio at its Arm Everywhere China event, spanning mobile devices, robotics, and cloud/enterprise infrastructure. Among the highlights is the Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU, which integrates neural accelerators capable of delivering AI graphics performance at under one watt of power for mobile devices.
Nintendo has released firmware update 23.0.0 for the Switch 2, finally enabling variable refresh rate support when the console is docked and running in TV mode, a feature promised before launch but missing at release. The update also adds a handheld boost mode toggle in quick settings, nostalgic music options in the Mii editor, and full system transfer between two Switch 2 consoles.
OpenAI has appointed Paul Christiano, a former researcher who helped develop reinforcement learning from human feedback, to its Foundation board and its Safety and Security Committee. Christiano said he sees a meaningful risk that rapid AI capability gains could lead to catastrophic, irreversible loss of control, and that neither OpenAI nor the industry is doing enough to address it.
Amazon announced that Kevin Mandia, who founded Mandiant and sold it to Google for $5.4 billion, will join its board. Mandia left Google in 2024 and has since started an AI-driven vulnerability-detection company called Armadin while remaining a general partner at Ballistic Ventures. As part of the appointment, he received roughly $1 million in stock that vests starting in 2027.
At its 'Surprise and Shine' event, Apple confirmed that the new LLM-based Siri AI, built with Google, will launch in English alongside iOS 27 on September 14. French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish support will follow in October, executive Lilian Rincon said. The announcement came alongside new hardware including the foldable iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro models, Apple Watch Series 12 Ultra 4 and AirPods 5.
Apple used its Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 event to unveil watchOS 27, which introduces a new watch face called Siri Modular. The face revives the concept of the old Siri watch face that Apple had discontinued, now integrating the updated Siri assistant and a new Recaps feature for surfacing timely information.
Apple unveiled the Watch Ultra 4 and Watch Series 12 with two new agentic audio features, Live Rewind and Siri Recap, which let the watch continuously process ambient sound to summarize conversations or replay recent audio. This shifts the Apple Watch from a primarily health-focused device toward one that functions as an ambient AI assistant on the wrist.
Apple introduced the iPhone 18 Pro, featuring a variable aperture camera system that gives users more manual control over photos instead of relying solely on computational photography. The device is powered by the new A20 Pro chip, Apple's first 2nm processor, which includes a 6-core CPU, a 7-core GPU with up to 40 percent better performance, and a dual Neural Engine design. Apple also detailed upcoming Siri AI features, powered by large language models, set to launch in October.
Instinct, the AI assistant startup valued at $2.5 billion, announced it is issuing dedicated email addresses to its agent so it can independently sign up for services, contact businesses, and handle bookings without flooding users' personal inboxes. Founder Noah Shinn said this is the first step toward letting Instinct fully own and operate accounts on a user's behalf, building on a recent partnership with 1Password for credential handling.
Ahead of its 'Surprise and Shine' event, Apple has quietly added nearly 40 hardware identifiers to its backend systems, covering iPhones, Macs, iPads, Apple Watches, Apple TV, and a HomeAccessory category. Notably, seven iPhone identifiers appeared even though only six models are currently expected in the iPhone 18 lineup, suggesting either an unannounced variant or a surprise new device.
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