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Business Insider reports that Hugging Face has fielded acquisition interest valuing the AI model-sharing platform at $13 billion or more, nearly triple its $4.5 billion valuation from a 2023 Salesforce Ventures-led round. No buyer has been named and no deal is finalized, but the startup is reportedly consulting banks to weigh potential bids.
Scientists at Southern Illinois University Carbondale used CRISPR-modified yeast to convert PET plastic and agricultural waste into proteins, fats, and flavor compounds, which were then 3D-printed into cookie shapes called 'µBites.' The team presented the work at the American Chemical Society meeting in Chicago, though the cookies haven't been tasted yet pending university approval.
Taiwanese prosecutors have charged nine individuals connected to a scheme accused of illegally routing AI servers containing Nvidia chips to China, circumventing U.S. export restrictions. The case highlights ongoing efforts by Chinese buyers to obtain restricted American semiconductor technology through indirect channels.
An Entrepreneur contributor argues the AI industry is shifting from a race to deploy tools quickly toward a tougher demand: proving the systems actually deliver reliable business outcomes. The piece points to 2026 IPO activity in AI-linked companies, where some newly public firms have faced investor scrutiny over valuations and capital needs despite strong initial interest.
With homeownership feeling increasingly out of reach, many Gen Z adults are redirecting money toward retirement accounts instead of down payments. Pew Research found 89% of adults under 40 believe buying a home is harder for their generation than for their parents, while Fidelity data shows Gen Z retirement contributions rising 65% year-over-year, more than double millennials' growth rate. Young savers like 26-year-old Kana Cummings say they started investing early after pandemic-driven financial anxiety pushed them to build multiple savings buckets for the future.
Digital car keys, which rely on UWB or NFC to confirm phone proximity, avoid the relay attacks that plague traditional key fobs. However, they introduce new vulnerabilities: a stolen or dead phone could theoretically lock owners out or grant access to thieves, though automakers build in safeguards like remote lockdown features and reserve battery power for NFC access lasting up to five hours after a phone dies.
Amazon has dropped the price of Apple's AirTag 2 four-pack to $79.99, working out to about $20 per tracker and beating last week's anniversary sale pricing. Single units remain at $24, matching earlier lows, while the four-pack discount is now the cheapest ever recorded for the device.
In an interview with Michael Cohen, President Trump dismissed community opposition to new data centers as a mistake, arguing they bring jobs and no longer strain power grids since companies now build their own power plants under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. He framed the buildout as essential to keeping US AI leadership ahead of China.
At FMS 2026, Marvell pitched a three-part 'AI memory infrastructure' strategy built around CXL, combining its Structera X memory expansion controllers, the Structera S switch, and the Photonic Fabric optical tier from its Celestial AI acquisition. Only the Bravera SC6 PCIe 6.0 SSD controller, sampling in Q4 2026, is genuinely new; the rest has already been shipping or announced over the past two years, with Marvell VP Khurram Malik highlighting reused DDR4 memory paired with CXL as a top use case.
A class action lawsuit filed by Connecticut streamer Warren Pandiscia accuses Amazon of using Twitch users' broadcasts to train its AI models without consent or compensation. The suit claims this violates Twitch's contract with streamers, who collectively produced over 215 million hours of content in early 2026 alone. It seeks damages plus a court order to stop Amazon from continuing the practice.
NFL running back Christian McCaffrey has taken an ownership and co-founder stake in a footwear startup, letting his nine-year Nike deal lapse to do so. The partnership, formed with entrepreneur Todd Meleney, has produced a training shoe called The CMC, designed around McCaffrey's own feedback after he criticized an early prototype for lacking support and stability.
Emacs 31.1 has shipped without one dominant flagship feature, instead delivering a batch of quality-of-life improvements. Notable changes include broader tree-sitter support with a long-requested automatic grammar installer, and the formal deprecation of the decades-old unexec memory-dumping mechanism used to speed up startup. A planned new garbage collector was left out and pushed to the next major release, Emacs 32.