GoKawiil
Tech News
Researchers using a computer algorithm modeled on cave dwelling traits in south Wales identified similar cave sites in Ireland, aided by caving specialist Shane Diffily and digital mapping consultant Darren Lee. The findings from newly discovered cave art suggest that Ireland's earliest known human inhabitants likely crossed over from Wales rather than arriving by another route.
Users running the iOS 27 beta have reported that Apple's Digital ID passport feature in the Wallet app suddenly disappears, disrupting airport check-in plans. The issue appears to be a software bug limited to the beta build, and affected users can fix it by re-adding their passport to the Wallet app.
A new analysis argues that digital infrastructure—search engines, cloud platforms, and networks people rely on daily—should be designed, built, and maintained with the same rigor applied to physical infrastructure like water systems and power grids. It draws comparisons to failures such as Flint's water crisis and Puerto Rico's electrical grid collapse to illustrate what happens when essential systems are neglected.
The RIAA reported that US recorded music revenue rose 6.9% in H1 2026 versus H1 2025, with physical formats up 25.9%—vinyl grew 17.7% and CDs jumped 58.6%. Streaming still dominates overall revenue at $4.9 billion, but the outsized physical growth stands out amid rising anger over digital ownership issues.
The Swiss Federal Chancellery is spending CHF 9 million to test the openDesk open-source suite as a replacement for Microsoft 365 across 3,000 federal employees, roughly 7% of the workforce, with migration targeted for completion by end of 2027. The pilot follows a proof-of-concept with 172 employees that rated document editing and email positively but flagged limitations in large-scale video conferencing, and it will run alongside Microsoft 365 rather than replace it immediately.
The Internet Archive is asking supporters to start recurring monthly donations of $25 or more in September, with each new gift matched 2:1 during the campaign. The nonprofit says it relies on donor funding to maintain its own servers and infrastructure, which store 210 petabytes of freely accessible material without ads or paid subscriptions.
Apple's upcoming watchOS 27 update, expected later this month, removes the Walkie-Talkie app entirely and eliminates the double-click Digital Crown gesture that previously let users jump between two apps. It also changes single-click behavior on the Digital Crown, now always opening a dynamic app grid instead of the traditional static launcher.
Tirias Research founder Jim McGregor argues that AI is not one workload but millions of varied ones, meaning data centers can no longer treat memory and storage as secondary hardware. He says inference and agentic AI demand purpose-built systems capable of continuous, real-time data ingestion, caching, and movement rather than legacy infrastructure designed for training workloads.
Roland has released Melody Flip, a digital audio workstation plug-in that uses generative AI to create musical building blocks rather than finished songs. The tool draws from roughly 250 genre-based 'Palettes' to generate melodies, chord progressions, basslines, or drum patterns, either from scratch or based on a reference track fed in by the user. Outputs come as simple MIDI loops with basic instrument sounds, meant to be exported into a DAW and refined with other synths.
Android Authority found new code in a Digital Wellbeing beta build (version 1.47.964183037) showing Google testing a redesigned interface with a Material Expressive look. The changes include a reworked app activity dashboard, multi-app selection for setting shared daily timers, and a restructured Bedtime mode that removes collapsible sections and reorders elements like Bedtime routine and Weekly average.
Code strings found in a beta version of Google's Digital Wellbeing app reveal an in-development feature called Weekly wrap, which would send users a notification summarizing their phone usage over the past week. Rather than requiring users to manually check screen-time stats, the tool would proactively surface personalized insights based on existing usage data, likely powered by Gemini Nano.
A new opinion analysis argues that digital advertising is shifting toward transaction-based models where the point of purchase itself has become a key driver of brand demand, not just its final step. This trend, described as 'commerce media,' extends the retail media concept beyond retailers and CPG brands into other transactional ecosystems like travel and finance.