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Volkswagen unveiled and actually drove a new prototype EV called Mission Efficiency, taking it nearly 800 miles from Wolfsburg to Vienna with just one charging stop. The car averaged about 279 MPGe on the trip, using the motor and battery from the ID. Polo housed in an aerodynamic, teardrop-shaped body with a drag coefficient of just 0.158.
Volkswagen unveiled the Mission Efficiency, a near-production electric coupe prototype built on its MEB+ platform that shares components with the upcoming ID. Polo and ID. Cross models. The teardrop-shaped car achieved a drag coefficient of 0.158, which VW says makes it the world's most aerodynamic road-legal vehicle, and completed a 1,278 km trip from Wolfsburg to Vienna on one charge of its 54.9 kWh battery, arriving with 164 km of range left.
Anthropic's September 2026 threat report found that an Iran-linked group used its Claude AI model to compile targeting data on U.S. naval vessels in the Middle East, combining satellite imagery, ship transponder data and personnel names scraped from public photos, while also probing known vulnerabilities in shipboard communications gear. Separately, a Houthi-linked cell in Yemen reportedly used Claude Code to help develop guidance, navigation and control software for three weapons programs, including a guided rocket, a long-range ballistic missile, and an R2000 hypersonic glide vehicle variant. Anthropic says it banned the accounts, added detection safeguards, and reported the activity to U.S. authorities.
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's dismissal of a 2022 lawsuit accusing Jackson, Mississippi officials of knowingly exposing residents to lead-contaminated tap water. Trump-appointed Judge Kurt Engelhardt ruled that no constitutional right to clean water or truthful government disclosure during a public health crisis exists, even though plaintiffs claimed city officials withheld information and issued boil-water notices that worsened lead exposure.
Sony has pulled the plug on Physint, Hideo Kojima's ambitious spy-thriller project for PlayStation, according to reports citing internal budget overruns and repeated missed deadlines. The game had been teased as a major star-studded production but apparently failed to progress fast enough to justify continued investment.
The European Space Agency is pressing ahead with its Envision mission to Venus after NASA signaled it likely can't deliver the US-built synthetic aperture radar it had promised under a 2024 partnership agreement. That radar was meant to be the spacecraft's main tool for mapping the planet's volcanic surface through its thick sulfuric-acid clouds at ten times the resolution of NASA's 1990s Magellan mission. ESA's project scientist says development will continue at full pace regardless.
Defense contractor RTX has entered a collaboration with fusion energy startup Xcimer Energy to explore applications of laser fusion technology, an approach with roots in Cold War-era research. The partnership aims to investigate whether high-powered laser systems originally developed for energy generation could be adapted for defense purposes, including countering missiles and drones.
NASA and Katalyst Space attempted to use a robotic probe called LINK to grab the aging Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and push it back into a stable orbit, but the probe suffered altitude-control failures shortly after its July launch, forcing cancellation of the mission. Swift, launched in 2004, is now expected to reenter Earth's atmosphere and burn up as soon as later this year, sooner than the 2030 estimate scientists once projected.
Apple unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable iPhone, featuring two displays, strong cameras and battery life, with orders opening next month. Details emerging from the announcement and Apple's website show an under-display camera on the inner screen, exclusive software features like Smart Take and Kid Cue, a Camera Control button but no Action button, a nano-texture finish limited to the folding display, and Apple Pencil support.
Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' event introduced the company's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, marking a major shift in its product lineup. The event also featured the Apple Watch Series 12, Apple Watch Ultra 4 with unchanged pricing, AirPods 5 with upgraded noise-canceling, and iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max models in four colors. The 81-minute presentation is available for replay on Apple's website and YouTube, and marked new CEO John Ternus's first major public event.
Defense startup Covenant announced it has emerged from stealth mode with $250 million raised across three funding rounds, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, Lux, 8VC, Aleph and Lightspeed. The company opened a 105,000-square-foot factory in Dallas to build its Anthem long-range cruise missiles, aiming to produce 1,000 units in the first year starting in early 2027 and scaling to 5,000 annually.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple's first foldable iPhone will be named the iPhone Duo and will support the Apple Pencil. The device is expected to launch in October starting at $2,000 for 256GB storage, with a 2TB option priced around $3,000, in Dark Blue and White colors.