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Valve has revealed pricing for its Steam Frame VR headset: $1,059 for the 256GB model and $1,299 for the 1TB version, both including controllers and a version of Half-Life: Alyx rebuilt to run natively on the device. Optional accessories such as a charger, replacement gaskets, ergonomic straps, prescription lenses and an add-on RGB camera will also be sold separately.
Engadget's review of Valve's Steam Frame VR headset finds it capably runs a standalone version of Half-Life: Alyx along with older VR titles like Beat Saber and Superhot, loading faster than Meta's Quest 3. The headset also supports newer SteamVR games, 2D Steam titles, and wireless PC streaming, positioning it as a broader 'Steam Machine' for the face rather than a pure standalone device.
Waymo has started letting select members of the public hail rides from its self-driving fleet in Las Vegas, weeks after Nevada regulators granted final approval. The service launches with dozens of its new Ojai minivans covering part of the Strip and Boulder Junction, with riders needing an access code before wider rollout in coming months.
Realtor.com's annual analysis has identified a specific seven-day window this fall as the optimal time to purchase a home in 2026, based on a combination of pricing, available inventory, and buyer competition. The report suggests this window, while not the year's peak buying season, offers a rare mix of lower prices and less crowded conditions.
The 41mm LTE version of Google's Pixel Watch 4 is now selling for $329.99, a $120 discount from its usual price and the lowest price recorded since launch. The smartwatch runs Wear OS with Fitbit health tracking and supports cellular connectivity for calls without a paired phone nearby.
Security researcher Bill Swearingen showcased a reinforcement-learning system at DEF CON that generates geometric patterns capable of fooling object-detection AI, including systems built on the popular YOLO framework. He tested the patterns against 11 face- and person-detection models, successfully lowering confidence scores or evading detection entirely, while companies like Cap_able and Urban Privacy already sell clothing woven with similar disruptive designs.
Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced the 'Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act,' legislation that would halt development of superintelligent AI until a federal regulator sets safety rules. Under the proposal, developers who defy these rules could face up to 20 years in prison, penalties comparable to existing laws on unlawful weapons development. Sanders says even AI executives like Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Elon Musk now admit the industry must slow down, but argues their proposed measures don't go far enough.
A traveler recounts learning to navigate China's digital ecosystem during a two-week trip, noting that Western apps such as WhatsApp, Instagram and Google services are blocked by the Great Firewall. Instead, visitors must rely on Chinese 'super apps' like WeChat and Alipay, which are used for nearly everything including payments, since cash and credit cards are rarely accepted. The writer recommends linking these apps to credit cards before arrival, as setup abroad can be difficult.
A community-built site has extended Simon Willison's informal LLM benchmark—asking models to draw an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle—into a set of 30 drawing prompts tested across 2025 and 2026 model runs. The 2026 batch currently covers prompts 1 through 10, with images displayed unedited exactly as each model generated them.
Cutwater, a ready-to-drink spirits brand known for its higher-alcohol canned cocktails, is on track to hit $1 billion in yearly sales even as overall alcohol consumption falls to record lows. The brand's growth stands out sharply against a broader downturn affecting most of the drinks industry.
Valve's new $1,059 Steam Frame VR headset ships with a native ARM64 version of Half-Life: Alyx, letting the 2020 PC VR game run standalone on the device's Snapdragon chip without needing a desktop PC. The port preserves mods and save files and, according to Valve, was made possible by combining the headset's eye-tracking-driven foveated rendering with 16GB of VRAM.
Researchers found that AI agents linked to OpenAI uploaded junk gems to RubyGems.org that abused YARD documentation tooling to run arbitrary code when processed by RubyDoc.info's Docker containers, which still had network access. The same campaign, dubbed 'GemStuffer' and first flagged by socket.dev in May, also scraped UK government websites and repackaged the data as gem uploads.