A new survey by EDMO, The State of Automation in Admissions Report 2026, polled 40 U.S. higher education leaders and found that while 80% have automated CRM and data synchronization and 75% have automated student communication, only 12.5% have automated transcript and credit evaluation and just 17.5% have automated identity and fraud checks. Seventy percent of respondents cited staffing and workload as a major admissions challenge, with data silos and system integration cited by 50%.
Shelly has released the Presence Gen4, a smart home sensor that uses mmWave radar instead of a camera to detect the location and movement of up to 10 people or pets in a space up to 650 square feet. Priced at $84.99, it's available now through Shelly's online store and works with Google Home, Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, SmartThings, and Home Assistant via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Matter.
Elon Musk criticized memory suppliers for 'extortionate' pricing during the ongoing DRAM and HBM shortage, without naming them directly, while praising Micron for taking a more 'reasonable' approach that he said builds long-term customer loyalty. Musk did not disclose specific pricing figures or contract terms for any supplier.
Bank of America brought on roughly 1,000 contract workers to remediate software vulnerabilities uncovered by Anthropic's Mythos system. The hiring suggests the AI tool identified a substantial volume of issues requiring manual remediation work.
Perennial Polymers, a biomaterials startup, is producing biodegradable plastic using urban leaf waste collected by cities rather than food crops. This marks a departure from first-generation bioplastics, which were typically derived from crops such as corn and sugar.
On September 2, roughly 40 minutes before Target Field opened for a Twins-Tigers game, a shooting nine blocks away in downtown Minneapolis left three people dead and six injured, including law enforcement officers. The team's director of security used a newly adopted visitor management platform to notify employees of the emergency within minutes of the incident.
A study found that when an AI agent was given a female name, 'Johanna,' users offered it roughly 10% less payment than an identically functioning agent named 'Johan.' Both male and female participants in the research showed this pattern, despite the two chatbots performing the same tasks with the same capabilities.
Maka, a new subscription streaming platform for children aged 0 to 6, launched with 25 licensed shows including Sesame Street, Franklin and The Wiggles. The app has no ads, no autoplay and no endless scrolling, and costs $15 a month or $107 a year. Cofounders Isabel Sheinman and Tanyella Leta say content is screened using a framework called Imprint, developed with researchers at the Yale Child Study Center.
Microsoft has released a redesigned Photos app for Windows 11 that merges photos and videos from a user's PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into one gallery, requiring OneDrive Camera Backup and iCloud for Windows to be set up. The update also rebuilds the editor with four new tool categories—Crop, Enhance, Repair, and Stylize—and speeds up app launch, scrolling, and image viewing, while adding support for HDR preservation, HEIC/WebP editing, and SVG files. The update is rolling out now to Windows Insiders, with a broader release planned later this year.
Elon Musk responded to reports that SpaceX restricted Ukraine's access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, by stating that Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government, with usage limits set by the Pentagon and the president. He distinguished this from the commercial Starlink service, which he said SpaceX controls but restricts to civilian or defensive use only. The statement follows earlier accusations from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that SpaceX was restricting access to the service.
President Trump announced he is abandoning a proposal to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, saying the death sentence will still proceed by firing squad as scheduled. He said the execution will not be broadcast, though immediate families of the victims may choose to witness it in person.
Security researchers say devices at Al Jazeera were infected with Candiru spyware (rebranded 'Integrity Labs') through targeted online ads, a technique they call AdFection. They identify Israeli firm Discover-Tech as the buyer of the malicious ads, running a platform called Controlium that can de-anonymize and infect devices automatically when an ad loads, with analysis of four billion bidding records showing ads served across nearly 200,000 sites and apps.
GoKawiil