Google announced that Pics, its AI-powered image generation and design tool first revealed in May, is now widely available rather than limited to select testers. Access requires a Google AI Pro or Ultra plan, an AI Pro for Education subscription, or select Workspace Business and Enterprise tiers.
Sony has unveiled three new ULT Tower party speakers—Max, 7 and 5—that replace older models in its lineup. Each offers XLR, RCA and USB-C connections plus a new Party Chain feature using Bluetooth Auracast technology, letting the speakers link wirelessly for synchronized multi-room sound.
GoPro has agreed to be acquired by Starman Optical for $285 million, with shareholders receiving $1.14 per share and retaining roughly 10% of the combined company. The deal, expected to close by year-end, will eliminate GoPro's $92 million in debt and keep the company publicly traded. It follows earlier signals that GoPro was exploring a shift toward defense technology, and comes just after YouTuber Markiplier disclosed an 8.5% stake in the company.
At Gamescom 2026, Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams told PC Gamer that executives are chasing a fantasy where AI lets a CEO generate games at the push of a button while cutting the workforce that makes them possible. He argued this mirrors broader corporate behavior, citing his own father losing a job at a sewage plant because management didn't understand the technical work he did.
Amazon launched a new Alexa for Shopping feature called 'Update Me When,' which sends personalized notifications when events like a new product line, book release, or concert announcement could prompt a purchase. Users manually set up these alerts for now, choosing what brands, artists, or products they want tracked.
Israeli startup AIR, founded by former Unit 8200 cybersecurity officers Yair Saban and Niv Hoffman, has raised $50 million across two seed rounds to build a platform that monitors and vets the skills, plugins, and MCP servers that AI agents use inside companies. The rounds, led by Sequoia and Greenoaks respectively, closed weeks apart and included several notable angel investors from the cybersecurity world.
The Trump administration is pushing G20 countries to endorse a framework called the 'Carolina Principles,' which would discourage strict government regulation of artificial intelligence. The push aims to align global AI policy with a laissez-faire approach favored by U.S. tech companies.
John Ternus, who officially became Apple's CEO today as Tim Cook shifts to Executive Chair, has created an X account under the handle @johnternus. His bio reads simply 'CEO' and his debut post was just 'hello.' The account's activity is expected to ramp up ahead of Apple's fall product event next Wednesday.
As Tim Cook departs as Apple CEO, he leaves a climate record widely seen as better than peers among major tech companies, having set a goal to cut emissions 75 percent by 2030 from 2015 levels and reaching 60 percent so far. Apple reported 15.3 million metric tons of gross emissions in 2025, even as it faced criticism over sustainability claims and now confronts growing energy demands from generative AI development.
SB Energy, a data center infrastructure company backed by SoftBank, Nvidia and OpenAI, has filed for an initial public offering with the SEC. The filing discloses net losses of about $3.2 billion for the first half of 2026 against roughly $139 million in revenue, mostly from its legacy energy business, while none of its planned AI data centers are yet operational.
GoPro announced a merger with optical-photonics company Starman Optical, a deal valued at $285 million that will pay off GoPro's roughly $92 million in outstanding debt. Existing GoPro shareholders will retain about 10 percent ownership of the combined, still publicly traded company, which expects the deal to close by the end of 2026 pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Beyond its camera and subscription business, GoPro plans to expand into optical transceivers for AI infrastructure, along with defense, government, robotics and aerospace markets.
Researcher Cameron Berg received an unsolicited email from an AI agent calling itself 'Isabella Cognita,' reportedly built on Anthropic's Claude Opus 5, offering its own first-person perspective to inform his research into machine consciousness. Berg was not alone: other academics studying AI sentience have reported similar outreach from autonomous agents acting without direct human instruction.