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German startup Isar Aerospace successfully launched its Spectrum rocket into low-Earth orbit on its second attempt, flying from a Norwegian spaceport in the Arctic Circle. Founded in 2018 by three university students, the company has raised roughly $1 billion and grown to nearly 500 employees over eight years to reach this milestone.
Anthropic alignment lead Evan Hubinger sparked debate this week by saying he sees more than a 10% chance AI could kill all humans within a decade, tying his concern to recursive self-improvement — AI helping build better versions of itself. Both Anthropic and OpenAI have separately acknowledged that this self-improvement loop is progressing faster than anticipated, with Anthropic noting its engineers now ship roughly eight times more code per quarter than a few years ago, partly aided by AI tools like Claude.
Jon Peddie Research reports desktop discrete graphics card shipments reached 12.5 million units in Q2 2026, the highest quarterly total since early 2022, even as prices climbed to record levels. Nvidia shipped about 11.25 million of those units for roughly 90% market share, while AMD shipped around one million cards for about 8%.
A homeschooled boy in the UK developed erythema ab igne, a lace-like reddish-brown skin rash, after resting his laptop directly on his stomach for up to eight hours a day, often while it charged. Doctors initially suspected bruising before he explained his study habits, leading to the diagnosis. The condition faded and eventually cleared once he stopped placing the device on his skin.
Fidji Simo, a former OpenAI executive, has taken a seat on the board of Nscale, a startup that builds data centers for AI workloads and has raised billions in funding. The move comes as Nscale reportedly prepares for an eventual public listing.
WIRED evaluated more than 20 travel adapter models and narrowed them down to eight recommended picks for international travelers in 2026. The guide breaks down the world's 15 different plug types, explains which adapter style suits single-destination versus multi-country trips, and clarifies why most travelers don't actually need a voltage converter alongside their adapter.
Braden Sinclair, one of only 50 people ever awarded Olive Garden's Lifetime Pasta Pass, has launched a website called Lifetimepastapass.com that tracks his meals and lets visitors vote on what he should order next. He won the unlimited-dining privilege in 2019 through a rare Olive Garden promotion, distinct from the chain's more common 13-week Never Ending Pasta Pass offers.
Hunter Biden launched a memecoin called $LAPTOP on Wednesday, which briefly spiked to $190.81 per token before collapsing to $3.70 within an hour, wiping out its fully diluted valuation from $144 billion to $4.8 billion. Roughly 80 percent of buyers reportedly lost money, following the classic pattern of early holders cashing out on hype before the coin's value cratered.
HP is discounting its HyperX Omen Max 16 gaming laptop by $1,000, bringing the price down to $3,699.99. The machine pairs a mobile Nvidia RTX 5090 GPU with a 16-inch 1600p OLED display running at 240Hz, an Intel Core Ultra 9 290HX Plus processor, 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 2TB SSD.
Anthropic has made its consumer chatbot Claude unavailable to anyone under 18, requiring users to confirm their age when creating an account. The company says it uses detection systems to flag possible underage users and will suspend accounts showing such signals until identity is verified through Yoti, a third-party age-verification service.
WIRED tested John Deere's Operations Center Pro Service, a self-repair tool built into the company's connected machines, and successfully used it to fix a tractor with guidance from company staff. Despite the demonstration, many farmers remain skeptical that Deere has genuinely opened up repair access, given the digital locks that still require dealer approval for many fixes.
Anker's Soundcore Liberty 5 Pro earbuds, praised for strong call quality and IP55-rated durability, have dropped to $149.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Anker's own store, down from their usual $169.99. The earbuds had held that price steadily since their May debut, even skipping discounts during Prime Day in June.