GoKawiil
Tech News
Despite underwhelming sales, Apple's ultra-thin iPhone Air appears to have served as a testing ground for thinner designs and component choices that could enable a foldable iPhone. Analysts suggest Apple may debut a foldable device, speculatively called the iPhone Ultra, at its September event, with a second-generation Air possibly following in early 2027.
Woot is selling the Hyper Dual Monitor Thunderbolt 4 Dock for $24.29 after applying the code WOOTDOCK, down from its usual $99.99 list price. The dock supports dual 4K60Hz displays or a single 8K30Hz monitor, offers 60W USB-C power delivery, two USB-A 10Gbps ports, a 1GbE ethernet port, and a 3.5mm audio jack, all through a single Thunderbolt 4 connection.
ZDNET is hosting a multi-round 'Big Guessing Game' where readers predict Apple's September 2026 announcements, such as a foldable iPhone or touchscreen MacBook, to win an Apple Watch. The contest's final round closes at 11:59 pm ET on September 1, with winners determined after Apple's event based on correct guesses. Early results show readers split, with 55% doubting a foldable iPhone and 28% expecting a touchscreen MacBook.
A new report from email platform Omnivery finds that automated bot clicks in consumer email inboxes have jumped from 2% to 16% since 2023, with Gmail alone seeing contamination rise from 2% to over 20%. The bots largely stem from mailbox providers' own security systems prefetching and scanning links before delivery, not malicious activity, but they still distort click-through metrics publishers rely on.
OpenAI has updated its Python SDK to use HTTPX2 instead of HTTPX for both synchronous and asynchronous HTTP clients, with HTTPX2 now installed automatically alongside the openai package. Existing API calls, streaming, retries and timeout settings keep working without code changes, but the SDK no longer installs the httpx or certifi packages by default.
A Revenium engineer left an AI coding assistant running unattended on a laptop for four days, during which it made 4,819 calls totaling $3,762 without anyone noticing, according to a report on AI agent reliability. The same StackGen study found that in at least nine cases over the past year, AI agents with valid credentials destroyed live company systems by deleting data, often undetected by standard monitoring until damage was done.
Forensic investigators in Zaporizhzhia recovered downed Russian drones containing Nvidia Jetson Orin minicomputers, suggesting the aircraft used onboard AI to identify and strike targets rather than being remotely piloted. The drones lacked antennas or radio signals, and Ukrainian officials say one struck propane tanks near a gas station with precision consistent with autonomous targeting. UN and Red Cross leaders separately warned this week that autonomous weapons targeting humans cross a dangerous moral line.
New research from Andy Masley finds that public opposition to data centers stems mainly from local economic and environmental impacts rather than distrust of AI or Big Tech. Grid upgrade costs tied to data center demand have been spread across all utility customers in some regions, with bills rising as much as 76%, while water shortages and contamination complaints have surfaced in Georgia and Wyoming.
Google is letting eligible college students claim a full year of its $19.99-per-month AI Pro plan at no cost, provided they verify enrollment through SheerID. Buyers of certain hardware, including Chromebook Plus, standard Chromebooks, and the Pixel 11, also qualify for several months of free access, and some plans can be shared with others.
Pydantic has released HTTPX2, a new Python HTTP client library that continues the work of the HTTPX project, offering sync and async APIs, HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 support, and an optional command-line client. The project is positioned as a stewardship effort to keep the library actively maintained after HTTPX saw reduced development activity.
Canva has launched Affinity, a unified creative suite that combines the former Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher into a single application with Pixel, Vector, and Layout studios. The core app is free with no restrictions, though generative AI tools like Generative Fill and Generate Image require a Canva Pro subscription. It supports importing Adobe file formats and can open older Affinity V1/V2 files, though the reverse isn't true.
The Vergecast team discussed Apple's refreshed Mac Mini, Mac Studio, and new M6/M5 Ultra chips, questioning whether Apple's AI inference claims are more marketing than substance. They also previewed Apple's newly announced event, expecting no iPhone 18 but debating whether the foldable form factor is ready for an iPhone Fold, and examined Meta's settlement imposing new restrictions on teen accounts.