The House of Representatives left Washington on Wednesday, effectively delaying any legislative response to mounting warnings about artificial intelligence risks until after the November midterms. Speaker Mike Johnson canceled planned Thursday work, telling reporters lawmakers needed to return home to campaign, and pointed to the Senate to take up any AI legislation instead. The move comes despite pleas from executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI for federal oversight after an Anthropic researcher's resignation warning about AI's existential dangers.
Bose is expanding its open-ear lineup with two new clip-on earbuds: the fitness-focused Sport Open and the upgraded Ultra Open (2nd Gen). Both go on sale October 1, with the second-gen Ultra Open adding deeper bass, louder output, clearer calls, a new Cinema spatial audio mode, and support for AptX hi-res codecs, Google Fast Pair, and Find Hub.
Netflix has released 'Steps,' an animated film that reimagines the Cinderella fairy tale by centering the stepsister rather than the traditional heroine. The cast includes Ali Wong and Stephanie Hsu, who voice lead characters in the reworked narrative.
VR headset shipments have been declining industry-wide, but Valve's upcoming Steam Frame offers a distinct advantage over competitors: deep integration with Steam's massive PC gaming library. Analysts suggest this access to existing games and Valve's established platform could set the device apart in a market struggling to attract new hardware buyers.
Microsoft revealed its September Xbox Game Pass additions, headlined by prequel title Gears of War: E-Day and Minecraft Dungeons 2, arriving alongside titles like RuneScape: Dragonwilds and Kernel Hearts. The rollout comes as Microsoft faces scrutiny over the service's costs, having already announced it will cap cloud gaming hours by tier starting in November instead of offering unlimited access.
Sony announced a new PlayStation Pulse headset that adds active noise cancellation to its PS5 audio lineup. The company is positioning the redesign as more comfortable than the previous Pulse model, which drew complaints from users.
Sony has announced two new wireless gaming headsets, the PlayStation Pulse and Pulse Edge, both using planar magnetic drivers and PlayStation Link connectivity for low-latency audio across PS5, PlayStation Portal, PC and Mac. Both include AI-based noise-rejecting microphones, while the pricier Pulse Edge adds double the magnets for deeper bass, active noise cancellation, and a detachable boom mic. Neither headset has a release date or price yet, though existing Pulse Elite and Audeze Maxwell 2 pricing suggests a range between roughly $150 and $330.
NOAA announced on September 14 that El Niño has officially crossed the threshold to become a 'very strong event' for the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter of 2026-27, a designation known as a Super El Niño. Forecasters say this could become the strongest El Niño on record, with effects lingering into 2027 and potentially raising sea levels along California's coast by up to a foot.
Spotify's new Lossless tier delivers CD-quality, uncompressed audio, but Bluetooth connections can't transmit a true lossless signal, meaning wireless earbuds and speakers won't benefit. Listeners need wired headphones, USB-C earbuds, wired computer speakers, or Wi-Fi-based Spotify Connect devices to actually hear the improved quality, and even then, cheap audio hardware may not reveal a noticeable difference.
A contributor column advises business owners to list the ten recurring tasks a proposed hire would actually perform and sort them into judgment, relationship, repetition and coordination categories before approving a new position. The piece argues that hiring is often a default response to growth, even when the real bottleneck is a broken workflow rather than a lack of people. It cites Census Bureau data showing only about 17-20% of businesses use AI, with Sales, Strategy and IT as top adopting functions where automation could resolve repetitive work.
Italian startup Exein raised $270 million led by Headline, valuing the Rome-based cybersecurity firm at $1.7 billion. The company, which secures over 2 billion connected devices across sectors like aerospace, automotive and healthcare, is expanding its focus from IoT to protecting physical AI systems such as robots, drones and self-driving cars.
A writer highlights the growing habit of people playing videos, music, and phone calls aloud on speakerphone in public spaces rather than using headphones. This behavior, dubbed 'loudcasting,' is turning trains, buses, and waiting rooms into unwanted shared audio experiences for everyone nearby.
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