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Apple unveiled updated Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops featuring new chip options, including the first Apple computer built on an M6-generation chip made with TSMC's 2-nanometer process, alongside an M5 Pro option. The company emphasized neural engine hardware and a memory architecture designed to help developers run and fine-tune large AI models directly on the machines rather than in the cloud.
A wave of essays from figures like Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, Dario Amodei, Marc Andreessen, Leopold Aschenbrenner and Palantir's Alex Karp have set out sweeping visions for AI and technology's future. Despite their companies' enormous resources and influence, these authors cannot unilaterally dictate outcomes and instead use these writings to try to shape public opinion and expectations.
Apple has refreshed the Mac Studio desktop lineup with new M5 Max and M5 Ultra chip options, now available for pre-order alongside the updated Mac mini. The M5 Max configuration brings an 18-core CPU, up to 40 GPU cores with Neural Accelerators, and faster memory bandwidth, while the top-end M5 Ultra model scales up to a 36-core CPU and supports up to 512GB of unified memory.
Apple has refreshed its Mac mini with a new M6 chip and given the Mac Studio upgrades to M5 Max and M5 Ultra processors. The base Mac mini now starts at $899 with 256GB storage, an increase of $100, while the Mac Studio starts at $2,499 for the M5 Max version and $5,499 for the M5 Ultra model. Buyers wanting more performance can also configure the Mac mini with an M5 Pro chip for $1,699.
Apple has introduced the M5 Ultra, its most powerful chip yet, by fusing two M5 Max dies into a single quad-die processor connected at 4.4TB/s. It offers up to 36 CPU cores, an 80-core GPU option, and support for up to 512GB of unified memory with 1.2TB/s bandwidth, arriving in new Mac Studio models starting at $5,499.
Uber is testing a feature that lets parents or guardians linked to a teen's account view a live video stream from the driver's selfie camera during a trip, showing the back seat area. The feed starts with a push notification and a tap to view, ends when the ride does, and is currently piloted in nine U.S. cities before a wider national rollout.
Apple introduced new Mac Mini and Mac Studio desktops built on updated silicon, including an M6 chip fabricated on a 2nm process and an M5 Ultra option, alongside M5 Pro and M5 Max tiers to match its MacBook Pro lineup. The hardware designs remain unchanged, but most base prices rose—Mac Mini now starts at $899, and the M5 Ultra Mac Studio jumps to $5,499—while preorders begin today ahead of shipping later in September.
WhatsApp rolled out new account-security features, letting users replace their six-digit two-step verification PIN with a longer alphanumeric password and add multiple passkeys to one account, useful for people switching between iOS and Android. Android users will also see added context on calls from unknown numbers, such as the caller's country or shared groups.
Andy Dunn's startup Pie has launched a new feature called Community Homes, giving its roughly 300,000 users permanent group pages instead of just event listings. The homes include shared feeds, admin controls, shareable pages, and event-planning tools, letting anyone in the group post updates, not just organizers. Pie, backed by investors like Forerunner, Lightspeed, Accel and Ev Williams, plans to add group chats and casual hangout prompts next.
Perplexity has released Portable Computer, a version of its agentic 'Computer' platform designed to run entirely on local hardware, starting with Nvidia's DGX Spark desktop and Linux machines with RTX GPUs. The system keeps models, files, and processing on-device by default, only asking permission to route individual steps to cloud-based frontier models when needed, meaning local tasks incur no billing credits.
A National Bureau of Economic Research survey found that more than 90 percent of executives reported no impact from AI on their firm's employment over the past three years, and 89 percent saw no gains in labor productivity. Despite this, companies are continuing to cut jobs while citing AI as justification, according to University of Pittsburgh professor Mark Ma.
ASUS has refreshed its ROG Xbox Ally X handheld into the X20 edition to mark 20 years of its Republic of Gamers line. The update keeps the same internal hardware, including an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 24GB RAM, and 1TB storage, but swaps in a larger 7.4-inch OLED Nebula HDR display with higher peak brightness and a new translucent black-and-gold design.