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Meta has released Muse, a personal AI agent designed to work independently once given a goal, handling tasks like drafting emails, organizing saved content, building grocery lists and booking travel. Unlike Meta's existing AI assistant, Muse can connect to third-party services such as Google Workspace, Spotify, Ticketmaster and Apple Health, and can even build its own integrations when a public API exists.
Sony's disc-manufacturing division, DADC, clarified that a widely circulated report misstated comments from an executive about its Thalgau plant. Rather than cutting disc output by 90 percent in 2028, the company actually expects only a 10 percent overall decline in product volume that year. Sony still plans to stop producing new PlayStation games on disc starting January 2028, but will allow publishers to reorder existing disc titles afterward.
NextEra Energy has received a $1.9 billion federal loan to refurbish the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa, a nuclear plant shuttered since 2020 that Google pledged to help revive last October. The plant is slated to restart in 2029, with Google reportedly planning up to six data centers nearby, while only 50 megawatts of output will go to the local power cooperative.
Planet Labs, which runs the world's largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites, has been named No. 4 on Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 list. The company generates over 3 terabytes of high-resolution imagery daily, used by governments, researchers and media to track environmental and security threats. Its recognition stems from an in-house approach called 'Agile Aerospace,' used to build satellite systems including Pelican and Owl.
Chipotle developed a High-Efficiency Equipment Package after frontline workers flagged that slow prep and grilling were hurting throughput and consistency. The package, built through rapid R&D iteration and in-restaurant testing, includes a three-pan rice cooker, dual-sided plancha griddle, high-capacity chip fryer, and produce slicer, cutting prep time by hours per restaurant daily. The innovation helped land Chipotle the No. 2 spot on a Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 list.
Danijar Hafner is developing 'world models' — AI systems that simulate physical reality — and training reinforcement-learning agents inside them so robots can anticipate outcomes before acting in the real world. This model-based approach lets agents rehearse complex tasks virtually, avoiding the costly trial-and-error training typical of conventional robotics. Hafner, a former Google Brain and DeepMind researcher who worked alongside figures like Geoffrey Hinton, is now recognized as a rising talent in AI research.
Google's research division ran an experiment rerouting a small subset of Google Maps drivers across 10 U.S. cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago, spreading vehicles across more routes instead of funneling them onto the fastest-looking path. The published results, which appeared in Nature Cities, showed average speeds rose about 2% and travel times shortened by 0.7%, with highway-focused rerouting in Los Angeles boosting speeds by as much as 4.6%.
A new Show HN project called HomeCat lets users design backyard offices by automatically generating code-compliant building plans, material and cut lists, and construction guides. The tool aims to simplify the planning phase of small structure projects for DIY builders and homeowners.
An Amazon-contracted cargo jet arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico ran off the end of the runway at Miami International Airport around 2 p.m. Sunday and struck vehicles, leaving at least five people dead. Federal investigators are now examining the circumstances of the landing to determine what went wrong.
A new report from the Plastic Pollution Coalition finds plastics industry groups, including the Society of Plastics Engineers, have been supplying free or low-cost teaching materials to K-12 schools nationwide. These include lesson plans, worksheets, science activities and traveling programs like PlastiVan that emphasize plastics' benefits to society while minimizing their environmental and health harms. The coalition is urging schools to adopt stricter policies limiting industry-funded curricula.
Jeff Schneble, who leads digital 401(k) provider Human Interest, discussed why more small businesses should start offering retirement plans as the savings industry undergoes rapid change. He explained his decision to leave venture capital to run the fast-growing company amid rising demand for retirement products.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Phil Schiller is leaving his role leading the App Store, becoming an Apple Fellow on unspecified projects. While Schiller cited wanting more time for family and philanthropy, Gurman says he also grew wary of plans by CEO John Ternus and services chief Eddy Cue to boost App Store margins and recurring revenue.