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The FCC's latest broadband deployment report, released August 14 under Chairman Brendan Carr, eliminates the previous gigabit-speed goal and rephrases its language to describe broadband as merely 'often' essential rather than fully essential to modern life. The report claims 96.9% of Americans now have access to 100Mbps/20Mbps speeds, though these figures rely on self-reported data from internet service providers.
Erin Katz of Allen Service told CNET that homeowners should avoid turning off air conditioning entirely while traveling, since a home left to overheat can damage electronics, kill houseplants, and endanger pets. Instead, she recommends raising the thermostat only a few degrees above the usual setting, such as 75°F instead of 70°F, to save energy without letting the home get dangerously hot.
Samsung's new Galaxy S26 FE sits between its A-series and flagship S lineup, offering a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED display, a triple rear camera setup, and an Exynos 2500 processor with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB storage. It includes a 4,900mAh battery, 45W wired and 15W wireless charging, and seven years of software support, at a starting price of $700, up $50 from last year's model.
Meta has settled a lawsuit brought by attorneys general from nearly every US state accusing the company of designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive to minors and misleading the public about platform safety. As part of the deal, Meta will pay $18 billion toward child online safety and youth mental health programs while rolling out new teen protections, including a two-hour daily usage cap and blocked access between midnight and 6 a.m.
Across the United States, individuals are disabling, damaging, or stealing Flock Safety surveillance cameras used by local police departments, employing tactics ranging from spray-painting lenses to outright destruction. In Lumpkin County, Georgia, a sheriff's Facebook post offering a $1,000 reward for information about a vandalized camera backfired, drawing over 30,000 comments largely siding with the vandals rather than law enforcement.
Agroscope researchers enlisted about 1,000 citizen scientists to bury more than 2,000 pairs of organic cotton underwear and 12,000 tea bags at 1,000 sites across Switzerland. After one and two months, participants dug up the items and returned them so scientists could measure how much material had been eaten away by soil organisms, using decomposition as a proxy for biological activity. Private gardens showed the highest soil activity of any land type tested, while lawns showed the lowest.
Sahuarita, Arizona police chief John Noland told the Daily Wire that his 68-officer department has used electric-shock gloves, known as GLOVEs, for roughly two years, calling the devices successful at gaining compliance. His comments follow reporting that ICE has ordered a large supply of the same equipment and that Oklahoma officers used them on students during the 2025-2026 school year.
OpenAI announced it will begin showing advertisements to users of ChatGPT's Free and Go subscription plans in India, starting with roughly 50 brands via partnerships with ad agencies WPP and Omnicom. The company plans to launch a self-serve ad manager next month, requiring a minimum daily budget of about ₹725 ($7.60) for marketers to run campaigns.
Bentley let Ars Technica ride in a camouflaged prototype of the Torcal, its debut battery-electric model, shorter than the Bentayga but similarly spacious inside. The SUV shares underlying engineering with the Porsche Cayenne EV and targets roughly 300 miles of EPA range with 400 kW DC fast-charging, producing over 850 PS and more than 1,000 Nm of torque.
Nvidia shares jumped over 7% in premarket trading after strong revenue guidance calmed investor worries about slowing AI spending. CFO Colette Kress projected 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028, while CEO Jensen Huang said actual demand exceeds that figure but supply constraints are limiting sales. The rally spread across the chip sector, lifting Micron, Marvell, Arm, Intel, AMD and cloud infrastructure firms Nebius and CoreWeave.
A new report highlights that executives at several S&P 500 companies, including Walmart, DoorDash, and Target, continue to receive large compensation packages even as many of their employees face financial hardship. The findings point to a widening gap between CEO pay and worker wages at firms often categorized as low-wage employers.
WIRED's updated posture buying guide adds honorable mentions: the $199 Etalon Posture Bra, which uses six adjustable straps to spread support across the back and shoulders and doubles as a sturdy sports bra, and the $70 BackEmbrace brace, a split-strap design that pulls shoulders back and offers lumbar support. The guide also recommends the $65 Branch Adjustable Laptop Stand as a desk ergonomics accessory to complement posture-focused gear.