GoPro announced a $285 million merger with optical-photonics firm Starman Optical, aiming to enter the AI infrastructure market through Starman's optical transceiver technology. The camera maker also plans to expand into defense, government, robotics and aerospace sectors while retaining its core action-camera business. The news comes days after YouTuber Markiplier disclosed an 8.5% stake, becoming GoPro's largest individual shareholder.
Android's Safe Mode disables third-party apps and enables Airplane Mode, a feature meant to help troubleshoot problems like lag, battery drain, or malware. Because it's activated so easily through the power menu, phones can get stuck in this restricted state accidentally, leaving apps grayed out and unusable.
Reliance-controlled JioHotstar is expanding beyond India for the first time, taking over from Hotstar in the UK, Canada and Singapore starting September 2. The service launches with over 160,000 hours of entertainment content, but existing content deals mean live sports like the IPL and Premier League won't be available at launch, though the company hasn't ruled out adding them later.
Apple has begun labeling Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' on Apple Maps for users in the United States, following a Trump executive order that already led Google to make a similar change. The lake retains its original name in Canada and shows both names elsewhere, with the rollout still inconsistent between Apple's desktop and mobile versions.
A new interactive site analyzes 50 European cities, from London to Athens, ranking neighborhoods on factors like dining, nightlife, healthcare access, transit and parks. Each city page includes a livability score, a walking guide, and a street-level map showing what amenities sit within a 10-minute walk of any given area.
Razer introduced the Prio, a $100 USB-C mobile game controller that weighs about 101 grams and folds down to roughly wallet size, unlike its bulkier Kishi line. When unfolded, it attaches to large phones such as the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Galaxy S26 Ultra, offering dual thumbsticks, a D-pad, face buttons and shoulder triggers for both iPhone and Android devices.
A newly launched dark web marketplace called Nexus is offering digital scans of more than 153 million drivers licenses from people in the U.S. and Canada, along with millions of ID cards, travel documents, and medical cards. Investigators suspect the data was siphoned from a Louisiana-based identity verification firm, and the FBI's New Orleans field office has opened an inquiry into the source of the leaked images.
A developer detailed a personal setup running local language models on an Apple M4 Pro Mac mini, using Qwen and Gemma models served through an inference tool called oMLX, connected across devices via Tailscale. The setup powers an agent backend called Hermes plus various chat and coding tools, and reportedly takes about 30 minutes to configure.
Apple has added a feature to the Messages app that lets users personalize the background of individual conversations. Users can choose from built-in animated wallpapers like Color, Sky, Water, and Aurora, or upload their own photos, with the app also suggesting images from their library. An AI-powered Playground option can generate backgrounds too, though that requires an iPhone 15 Pro or newer.
Apple has updated Apple Maps to display Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' for users located in the United States, following an executive order Trump signed on August 27. Canadian users will still see 'Lake Ontario,' while people outside both countries will see both names listed. Google made the same change last week, citing its policy of following official U.S. government naming databases.
Apple's SEC filing reveals incoming CEO John Ternus will receive an annual compensation package worth $58 million, split between a $3 million base salary and $55 million in stock awards starting fiscal 2027. Tim Cook, moving into the newly created executive chairman role, will earn a $47 million package with a $2 million salary and $45 million in equity, split evenly between performance-based and time-based shares.
AI training-data startup AfterQuery has reportedly raised new funding valuing it at $3.2 billion, just five months after its $30 million Series A priced it at $300 million. Y Combinator partner Gustaf Alströmer called it the fastest launch-to-unicorn run in the accelerator's history, achieved by founders who are just 22 and 23 years old.
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