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Android Authority polled over 4,200 readers on the best alternative to Google's new Pixel 11, and the Samsung Galaxy S26 won with roughly 26% of the vote. The budget-friendly Motorola Edge (2026) finished a close second, trailing by just 54 votes, while the pricier Pixel 11 Pro came in third with about 18.5% support.
The FTC reached a settlement with Zillow ending its antitrust lawsuit over a 2025 rental listings arrangement with Redfin, which regulators said involved Zillow paying Redfin to syndicate listings while Redfin agreed to drop its own advertising business and avoid competing on multifamily listings. Under the settlement, Redfin can keep syndicating Zillow's rental listings without the restrictive terms, but must rebuild the rental advertising operation it had shut down. Several state attorneys general joined the FTC in approving the deal.
Pizza Hut is temporarily dropping 'Pizza' from its branding for 25 weeks to coincide with the 2026 NFL season, covering signage and swapping social media logos to display just 'Hut.' The chain confirmed the name will revert after football season ends, framing it as a marketing stunt rather than a permanent change.
Anthropic revised Claude Tag, its Slack-based agent, so it now analyzes entire conversation threads instead of assessing messages individually. The company says this context upgrade makes the agent about 30% more accurate at judging when to jump into a discussion unprompted—and when to stay silent. Executive Scott White frames this as part of a broader push toward 'multiplayer AI,' where Claude operates as a shared organizational resource rather than a private chatbot.
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii has produced the most detailed video and simulations ever recorded of swirling plasma on the sun's surface. The footage shows turbulent motion resembling hurricanes or mixing ocean currents, offering visual support for a long-theorized process occurring where plasma of differing densities interacts.
Google is reportedly launching a new premium laptop line called Googlebook, developed with partners including HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, and Asus, expected around September. The devices will run a new Linux-based operating system called Aluminum OS that merges Android and ChromeOS, centering Gemini AI as a core feature and enabling closer integration between phones and laptops.
As robotaxi fleets grow in cities like New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco, local officials and lawmakers are moving to impose new restrictions, including vehicle caps, per-mile fees, and stricter citation powers. Governor Hochul shelved a plan to expand driverless taxis beyond NYC after union and legislative opposition, while San Francisco's mayor now backs tougher rules following traffic disruptions caused by Waymo vehicles. Federal regulators have also warned AV makers about safety risks when interacting with emergency responders.
CNBC reported that the U.S. Treasury Department is considering tapping its roughly $950 billion General Account to help finance its bond buyback program. Senior Treasury officials did not specify how much of that fund would be used but confirmed it remains an option after Secretary Scott Bessent unexpectedly expanded the buyback effort last week. Treasury yields fell following the report.
Vitamix debuted the Nano, a 1,000-watt personal blender that comes with two 20-ounce cups designed to fit car cup holders. The device features SmoothiePilot, a machine-learning program that automatically picks blending speed and time, alongside a manual variable-speed option. It's priced at $200, available now on Vitamix.com and through retailers like Amazon, backed by a three-year warranty.
A Reddit user with an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 found that running the laptop in Asus' Eco mode, which disables the discrete GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU to save battery, caused Windows to eventually uninstall the Nvidia drivers entirely. Investigation of Windows logs revealed that pnpclean.dll, a routine that purges drivers for hardware absent past a timeout period, treated the disabled GPU as permanently disconnected after 15 days and wiped its drivers.
MSI's Crosshair 16 HX E14W arrives as a budget-tier gaming laptop that manages to hold down its price despite the ongoing surge in memory costs. Reviewers note the machine delivers expected gaming performance for its class but does so through several noticeable trade-offs in build and features.
A new round of job cuts hit major tech firms including Apple, TikTok, LinkedIn and Netflix in August 2026, continuing a year of workforce reductions across the industry. Total layoffs for 2026 have already exceeded the full-year figure for 2025.