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Tech News
Vitamix debuted the Nano, a 1,000-watt personal blender that comes with two 20-ounce cups designed to fit car cup holders. The device features SmoothiePilot, a machine-learning program that automatically picks blending speed and time, alongside a manual variable-speed option. It's priced at $200, available now on Vitamix.com and through retailers like Amazon, backed by a three-year warranty.
Code inside Google Play Store version 52.8.55-34 reveals that the Ask Play conversational search feature will soon accept image attachments from a phone's camera or gallery. Users could upload a screenshot of a home screen widget or app feature and ask Ask Play's AI to identify it or find similar apps. Google also appears ready to drop the separate 'Ask Play about this app' section, replacing it with scrollable suggested-question chips.
A Reddit user with an Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 found that running the laptop in Asus' Eco mode, which disables the discrete GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU to save battery, caused Windows to eventually uninstall the Nvidia drivers entirely. Investigation of Windows logs revealed that pnpclean.dll, a routine that purges drivers for hardware absent past a timeout period, treated the disabled GPU as permanently disconnected after 15 days and wiped its drivers.
MSI's Crosshair 16 HX E14W arrives as a budget-tier gaming laptop that manages to hold down its price despite the ongoing surge in memory costs. Reviewers note the machine delivers expected gaming performance for its class but does so through several noticeable trade-offs in build and features.
Dolby Digital Plus, or E-AC-3, is a lossy audio codec that can support up to 7.1 channels, but it can also carry standard 5.1 audio, meaning its presence doesn't guarantee extra surround channels. It was built specifically for streaming and downloadable content, which is why services like Netflix rely on it, and it can also serve as a delivery method for Dolby Atmos object-based audio.
A new round of job cuts hit major tech firms including Apple, TikTok, LinkedIn and Netflix in August 2026, continuing a year of workforce reductions across the industry. Total layoffs for 2026 have already exceeded the full-year figure for 2025.
A user recounts their partner's layoff after 15 years at a major tech company, describing her as a high-performing manager who was cut due to last-minute budget revisions. They argue the real cause was mismanagement by a senior executive two levels above her, who has a track record of costly failures yet remains employed while her entire 30-person team was let go.
A daily tech digest covers a wave of regulatory and political pushback: both US parties are souring on AI data centers ahead of midterms, Dutch regulators fined Uber nearly $1 billion for automatically deactivating drivers without human review, and TikTok agreed to pay $400 million to settle a US case over collecting children's data. Separately, New Zealand is moving to ban under-16s from social media and Chinese humanoid robots reportedly broke Usain Bolt's 100-meter record at a robotics competition.
Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley used a Fox News interview to urge critics to find a middle ground between privacy and public safety, as opposition to his company's AI camera network intensifies. The remarks follow a Washington Post investigation that uncovered dozens of cases of police misusing Flock's surveillance tools, including to track women, prompting Langley to issue a public apology earlier this month.
Businesses adopting AI models are increasingly considering building or buying specialized 'harness' software that governs how AI tasks are executed and controls associated token consumption costs. This layer sits between raw AI models and end applications, managing workflows and spending.
A finalized feasibility study for Chilean telecom regulator Subtel, conducted by Salience Consulting and Pioneer Consulting and funded by CAF with partial backing from China's MCDF Finance Facility, concludes that a fiber-optic cable across the Drake Passage to Antarctica is technically achievable. The study proposes either a minimum build connecting three facility clusters near King George Island for about $370 million, or a nine-landing optimal build linking bases run by Chile, Argentina, Brazil, the US and the UK for roughly $620 million.
AI chatbots like Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude often store user conversations on company servers and use that data by default to train future AI models. Users can disable this training option and delete past activity, though turning off tracking does not automatically erase previously stored data. For Gemini specifically, users must disable both Google's Web & App Activity and Gemini's own Activity setting, then manually delete existing records.