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Tech News
The Los Angeles County clerk's office says it has not connected a USB drive sent by the Department of Justice that purportedly contains data on noncitizens who received ballots. The county says plugging in the unverified device would breach its data privacy and information security protocols.
The FBI has arrested an OpenAI employee in connection with an espionage-related case, according to reporting on the matter. The arrest comes as AI companies in Silicon Valley have already been tightening security measures against spying, including the use of 'honey pots' and monitoring for insider threats.
Autheo's THEO token had been reviewed by Halborn, CertiK and Avelar Labs, but on October 13, 2026 a suspected bridge exploit allowed 19 million unauthorized tokens onto Base. THEO's price dropped from about $0.08 to around $0.006 within a day, and the attacker reportedly swapped the minted tokens for roughly 700.8 ETH, worth about $1.76 million, though that figure hasn't been confirmed on-chain. Autheo has told users to avoid buying, selling or bridging THEO while it investigates.
Bloomberg is enhancing its generative AI chat interface, ASKB, by allowing users to incorporate their own information into the system. This update aims to give the tool more contextual data to work with when answering queries.
SK Hynix shares fell more than 10% and Samsung Electronics dropped 7.1% as an Asian tech sell-off spread Thursday, hitting LG Innotek, Seoul Semiconductor, Samsung SDI, SoftBank, Advantest, Tokyo Electron and Renesas. The rout followed a Wall Street decline after stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data raised fears of further Federal Reserve rate hikes, with the Nasdaq down 1.88% and the S&P 500 down 1.11%.
The Illinois Railway Museum's 11th annual Bus Day featured 13 operable buses, including King County Metro No. 4020, a 1987 MAN SG-T310 articulated trolley bus. The event highlighted how the museum's pivot-jointed 'bendy buses' function, prompting visitor questions about the mechanics behind their two-section, hinged design.
At TechCrunch Disrupt, Ricursive Intelligence founders Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini described their startup's approach to using AI systems that design computer chips, learn from each design iteration, and improve future designs. The pair, who previously built Google's AlphaChip system that produced unconventional layouts like a 'donut-shaped' circuit arrangement, said their goal is to automate and speed up chip design to make chips more efficient.
Apple has expanded its Detailed City Experience feature in Apple Maps to cover Austin, Texas, including 3D renderings of the Circuit of the Americas track ahead of next week's Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. The update adds 3D day and night views of landmarks like the Texas State Capitol and Sixth Street, plus detailed track features such as grandstands, pit buildings and entry points, alongside navigation upgrades like marked bus and bike lanes.
Flock founder and CEO Garrett Langley publicly defended his company's license-plate camera and surveillance systems at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, arguing that halting the technology's expansion would hinder crime accountability. He addressed criticism that has led some cities to cancel contracts and the company to lay off staff, but largely responded with anecdotes from police chiefs rather than direct solutions to privacy concerns.
TechCrunch has selected five startups to compete in the Startup Battlefield finals at Disrupt 2026, chosen from 20 companies that pitched across four categories: space and physical AI, energy and manufacturing, health tech and life sciences, and enterprise and security. The finalists include Apate.ai, which uses AI agents to bait scammers; Flox Intelligence, which builds a sensor-based wildlife deterrent system; and Intero Biosystems, which grows lab organoids that mimic human intestines for drug testing. The finals take place the following day, with a judging panel awarding the winner a $100,000 equity-free prize and the Startup Battlefield Cup.
Anthropic reported quarterly revenue of nearly $17 billion, a 45% increase, according to information shared with public-market investors on Wednesday. The meeting came as the company prepares for a planned initial public offering next month.
Nature's careers team hosted a 60-minute webinar last month examining whether graduate students' growing use of AI tools for literature searches, presentations, coding and paper summaries is weakening core doctoral skills. The session, moderated by science journalist Julie Gould, featured three panellists and a live audience Q&A, and a recording is now publicly available.