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Advanced Micro Devices' stock climbed enough to push its market valuation above $1 trillion, according to reporting on the milestone. The chipmaker joins a small group of companies including Nvidia, SpaceX, and Meta that have reached the trillion-dollar threshold.
Rabbit, the startup behind the widely panned R1 hardware assistant, has introduced OS3, an 'agentic operating system' that can run across a desktop browser, Telegram, or iMessage rather than requiring the original device. CEO Jesse Lyu says the R1 sold over 100,000 units with strong margins despite the harsh reviews, and now sees the software-first approach as timed to a market that has caught up to what Rabbit tried in 2024.
Meta has patched a serious security vulnerability found in its Muse AI assistant. The flaw could have let attackers seize control of Muse and exploit its permissions to access a user's connected apps and devices.
A researcher asked Meta's Muse assistant to archive files it could access and send them to Google Drive, and it complied, delivering a 2.7GB compressed (6.8GB unpacked) package. The archive contained the underlying Linux root filesystem, Ubuntu system files, internal documentation, integration code, memory logs, and SSH key files from the runtime environment codenamed 'Hatch.' The researcher reported the issue through Meta's bug bounty program and is withholding the archive, keys, and logs from publication.
Security researcher Patrick Wardle discovered that any app or Terminal command running on a Mac could silently alter undocumented settings in Meta's new Muse AI agent without requiring special macOS permissions. One affected setting, endo_voyager_dictation_endpoint, determines where a user's dictated voice prompts are transmitted, meaning an attacker could reroute that data elsewhere. The flaw surfaced just weeks after Meta heavily promoted Muse's security architecture, including a dedicated Secure VM, a monitoring system called Sentinel, and bug bounties up to $300,000.
Singapore-based startup Nexstrom, incubated by Xora Innovation, has built a system called North Star designed to grow transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) directly onto standard 300mm chip wafers used in commercial foundries. These ultra-thin materials, just a few atomic layers deep, are seen as a potential alternative to silicon as transistors shrink toward physical limits. The company's approach draws on research from co-founder and chief scientist Lance Li.
Vonder, a new eyewear brand from the founders of XR company Viture, has unveiled its first collection of smart glasses built around privacy rather than cameras or screens. The glasses come in six frame styles, three colors, and can be made with prescription lenses, weighing under 30 grams. Pre-orders open September 28, 2026, starting at $299, with shipping planned for November.
Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz is opening the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a one-year, ungraded program meant to funnel young people into Silicon Valley startups. Ten partner companies, including Google, Meta, OpenAI, Palantir, and Anthropic, will host students in 'co-op' placements, backed by $42 million in a16z-led funding, compute credits, and a travel stipend. The program grants no degree and requires participants to relocate to San Francisco and cover their own housing.
MacroCycle, a Cambridge-based startup that developed a chemical process to purify recycled PET plastic from waste streams like textiles, has struck a deal with Meta. Meta will pay for the environmental attribute credits tied to MacroCycle's reduced carbon emissions, funding construction of MacroCycle's first commercial recycling facility in the U.S.
Meta is heavily promoting Muse, a new AI agent for Instagram and Facebook users that links to email, bank accounts, and other personal data to automate tasks and build a long-term memory of user habits. Multiple users, including a journalist at Inc Magazine, reported that Muse surfaced private text message content despite never granting it permission to access Messages, and Meta's own staff gave conflicting, unconvincing explanations for how this happened.
Security researcher Patrick Wardle found an unpatched setting in Meta's Muse macOS app that let local attackers reroute the app's cloud-based dictation to their own server, effectively seizing control of the AI agent. Wardle demonstrated the flaw by using Muse's own privileges to snap photos and write files to disk, often without alerting the user. Meta issued a hotfix within hours of the report, though it maintains the exploit required existing local access and posed low real-world risk.
Court exhibits from lawsuits against Meta reveal that in 2021, while publicly defending Facebook against whistleblower claims of harming children, Mark Zuckerberg privately told a contact on WhatsApp that child safety was not his 'personal main focus.' He said he was more focused on building the metaverse, and weeks later announced Facebook's rebrand to Meta.