A new documentary, 'The Sixty-Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World,' directed by Mark A. Altman, premiered in New York during Comic Con and opened in select theaters this weekend. The film examines the original 1966-1969 series through interviews with cast members including William Shatner, George Takei, Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner, alongside fans such as Mary L. Trump, tracing how the show reflected 1960s politics and influenced representation for marginalized groups.
Reports indicate that more smartphone manufacturers are exploring active fan systems inside upcoming flagship Android phones. The goal is to manage heat generated by the latest high-performance chipsets, which can throttle speed when devices overheat.
A blog-style essay contends that effectively using AI chatbots like Claude or ChatGPT on someone else's behalf is a distinct and valuable skill, even though the AI does the actual work. The author lists reasons people rely on others to query AI for them: distaste for AI's environmental footprint, not paying for premium subscriptions, unfamiliarity with current AI tools, and simply not knowing what to ask.
Universal Pictures released the horror film 'Other Mommy' to largely negative critical reception, yet the movie still drew a sizable opening audience, according to reporting on its box-office performance. Exact figures were not detailed, but the film is described as a significant commercial success for the studio despite the backlash.
Gigabyte's GO27Q24G is a 27-inch QHD OLED gaming monitor with a 240 Hz refresh rate, measured peak brightness over 1,300 nits, HDR10 support, Adaptive-Sync and wide color gamut, priced around $350. Tom's Hardware notes the monitor omits USB ports and built-in speakers to hit that price point, but otherwise includes gaming aids and premium build quality.
Amazon commits to at least four years of security updates for Kindle devices, but its Kindle Updates page shows some models, like the 2024 Paperwhite and first-gen Colorsoft, are slated for coverage through 2030. Earlier this year Amazon fully cut off devices as old as the 2007 original Kindle and other pre-2012 models from downloading, purchasing or borrowing new books, though previously downloaded titles remain readable.
Google has released the Fitbit Edge, its second Fitbit device of 2026, positioned as a successor to the Charge 6 with a Pixel Watch-like design. It features a 1.34-inch OLED touchscreen in an aluminum IP68-rated frame, a single side button, and up to seven days of battery life (two days with always-on display enabled). The device pairs with Android and iPhone via the Google Health app and costs roughly half the price of the Pixel Watch 5.
Fervo Energy has started commercial operations at its Cape Station project in Utah, turning on an initial 33-megawatt unit that will supply carbon-free electricity to Shell Energy in California. The $2 billion project uses drilling techniques adapted from oil and gas to create artificial geothermal reservoirs in hot, dry rock, and is designed to eventually reach 500 megawatts, with additional capacity backed by an agreement with Google.
Microsoft announced its third-generation Maia AI accelerator, the Maia 300, saying it will increasingly handle AI processing requests with its own silicon rather than Nvidia GPUs. The chip enters production in 2027, and Executive Vice President Scott Guthrie said Microsoft is targeting multi-gigawatt deployments of the Maia chip family across its Azure data centers.
Meta has released two new AI models, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, available immediately to Muse Code subscribers and accessible via the Meta Model API. The company says internal benchmark testing shows the models are competitive with leading systems from OpenAI and Anthropic, though it did not compare them to Google's newest model. Meta plans to eventually use Wonder to power its Muse AI agent, starting with subscribers, though no timeline was given.
AMD introduced Helion, a new 21-inch rack-scale reference design built to the Open Compute Project's ORv4 and DC-MHS standards, alongside last year's Helios design. Helion supports 44 OpenU trays and can house up to 128 EPYC 9996 'Venice' CPUs in a CPU-only configuration, totaling 32,768 Zen 6 cores per rack, with both air- and liquid-cooling options. AMD will not sell the racks itself; OEMs and ODMs will bring Helion-based systems to market, with partners to be named by CEO Lisa Su at the OCP Global Summit.
Duolingo's in-house design studio has produced Duo TV, a six-episode animated show featuring the app's mascot Duo alongside characters Lily, Zari and Falstaff working at a fictional grocery store called DuoMart. The first two episodes debut on Duolingo's YouTube and Instagram on October 12, with new episodes released daily until the series finale.
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