Retailers are discounting several Apple and Apple-adjacent products ahead of the fall Prime Day sale, including a $500 cut on a 2TB M5 Pro MacBook Pro (now $2,699), markdowns on AirTag 2, an 80%-off Beats 360 Cushion Kit, and a new low on a 2026 Mac Studio with M5 Max. HomeKit brands ecobee and Eve are also running official discounts on smart plugs, switches and outlets, while Belkin's 25W MagSafe charging stations and various third-party chargers from Anker, UGREEN and Baseus are on sale.
A developer analyzing Infocom's 1983 text adventure Infidel discovered a 'wild pointer' bug that corrupts memory, tracing it to a flaw in the game's original compiler. The bug, found using a memory-level debugger on the 1984 Macintosh release (and present in the original 1983 version too), affects how the game tracks objects left in its endless desert area.
A tech guide lists ten practical second uses for retired Android phones, noting that even older devices retain working cameras, GPS, displays, speakers, sensors and Wi-Fi. Suggested uses include turning the phone into a kitchen display, hiking GPS unit, or retro gaming handheld. The guide recommends backing up data and performing a factory reset before repurposing a device.
Refurbished Nintendo 3DS units are now selling for around $250 at retailers like GameStop, up from roughly $100 previously, with XL models costing even more. The price rise follows Nintendo's 2023 eShop shutdown and 2024 closure of the 3DS's online servers, which eliminated digital purchases and multiplayer features, though StreetPass still functions locally.
A developer has implemented the Entombed maze generation algorithm, originally used in the 1983 Atari 2600 game Entombed, within a contemporary raycasting project. The algorithm relies on a mysterious lookup table created under severe memory constraints, which has puzzled game archaeologists for years. The developer drew inspiration from tutorials and historical research to bring this old maze logic into a new context.
Google updated its content guidelines to explicitly prohibit fake bylines and AI-generated headshots, stating it will no longer prioritize sites using these deceptive practices in Search and Google News. The change follows a Futurism investigation into Brown Brothers Media, a company that built an AI content farm using invented journalists with fabricated credentials, which drew tens of millions of monthly page views largely via Google traffic. Google had already suppressed Brown Brothers' sites after the investigation, and the company halted publication shortly after.
Great Question, a YC W21-backed customer research platform, is hiring full-stack Product Engineers based in Canada to work remotely. The company says the hires will help rebuild core parts of its product around an agent-first approach, with engineers owning problems end-to-end from customer conversations through production. Great Question previously raised a $13M Series A led by Inovia and counts ServiceNow, Brex and Canva among its customers.
Apple has launched SmartphoneAISettlement.com, letting eligible customers file claims for the $250 million settlement over allegedly misleading Apple Intelligence marketing. Buyers of iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and various iPhone 16 models purchased between June 10, 2024 and March 29, 2025 can apply for payouts of $25 to $95 per device before the claims window closes on Dec. 21, 2026.
Meta has rolled out shopping capabilities within its Muse AI agent, letting users ask it to search retail sites for products matching specific brand, price and availability criteria. Users can complete checkout directly through Muse using payment partners like Link by Stripe or Shopify Shop Pay, with PayPal support announced but not yet live, after confirming order details via an 'approval card'. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will collect a small fee on these transactions.
Google suspended product vulnerability submissions to its Open Source Software Vulnerability Reward Program as of October 1, citing a surge of invalid, AI-generated reports. The company said supply chain reports and Google Cloud VRP submissions are unaffected, and it plans to provide an update on the program by early 2027 while it reworks the process.
A Wall Street Journal survey of 1,500 registered voters conducted in late September found 63 percent support pausing AI development, 57 percent want immediate government regulation of AI, and only 12 percent trust AI companies to regulate themselves. The same poll found broad bipartisan support for populist economic measures, including a 61 percent backing for a federal wealth tax on billionaires, 90 percent support for banning surprise medical bills, and 79 percent favoring a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates.
Secret Mode, which split from Sumo Group last year, is publishing Star Wars: Galactic Racer, a roguelite racing game from new studio Fuse Games, staffed partly by former Burnout and Need for Speed developers. The game lets players race across Star Wars planets using speeders and podracers, with permanent upgrades, ship damage effects, and a narrative campaign woven through runs.
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