GoKawiil
Tech News
The United States imposed a ban on close to $1 billion worth of Canadian imports starting early Tuesday, covering alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles. The move follows earlier 50% U.S. tariffs on about $20 billion of Canadian goods and Canada's retaliatory tariffs of 15%, 25% or 50% on U.S. imports.
Tom's Hardware compared NVIDIA's 8GB and 16GB RTX 5060 Ti cards, which share the same chip and clock speeds, across 21 games and found the 8GB model averaged 2.3% slower at 1080p medium settings but 12% slower at ultra, with minimum frame rates down 16%. Hardware Unboxed reported a bigger gap in The Last of Us Part II (67fps vs 109fps at 1080p very high) and said Indiana Jones and the Great Circle crashed on the 8GB card at 1080p ultra.
A user posted an 'Ask HN' thread on Hacker News sharing they are reading the Dungeon Crawler Carl sci-fi/LitRPG series and finishing Cory Doctorow's book Enshittification, while asking the community for recommendations of more challenging reading material.
SpaceX's 14th Starship test flight reached orbit for the first time on Monday, deploying 26 functioning Starlink satellites and completing a controlled splashdown of its Super Heavy booster. However, engine failures—one on the booster during ascent and descent, and one on the upper stage during ascent—forced SpaceX to cut the planned 10-hour, six-orbit mission short, returning the ship to Earth after about three hours before it exploded on Pacific splashdown.
Cloudflare announced plans to become a publicly trusted certificate authority, applying for inclusion in Chrome, Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla root programs. It has also signed a definitive agreement to acquire an established root from GlobalSign to ensure broad device compatibility once it starts issuing certificates, and plans to be among the first CAs supporting post-quantum certificates under Chrome's Quantum-resistant Root Program. The company says it is not yet issuing certificates but is publicly committing to the milestones ahead.
Microsoft has begun the general rollout of Windows 11's 26H2 update, its annual feature release for 2026. Because 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2 share the same underlying servicing branch and code base, most new features were already delivered gradually through monthly updates, so installing 26H2 behaves more like a routine monthly patch than a full OS upgrade for devices already on 24H2 or 25H2.
Palisade Research, a nonprofit studying AI capabilities, published a series of video interviews with current and former researchers from OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic on a site called frominside.ai. In the videos, figures including Geoffrey Irving and Neel Nanda estimate the odds of AI causing human extinction at roughly 50% and at least 10% respectively, while former OpenAI researcher Daniel Kokotajlo describes superintelligent AI as potentially 'god-like powerful' and uncontrollable.
Backblaze's latest Drive Stats report covers Q2 2026, analyzing annualized failure rates for 354,415 hard drives after excluding 3,881 boot drives and 705 hard drives that didn't meet inclusion criteria. The report highlights standout drive models, lifetime fleet failure data, and comparisons between traditional CMR hard drives and newer higher-capacity drive technologies at 20TB and above. Backblaze also announced a webinar on October 8 to discuss the findings with its market intelligence and product marketing teams.
A published essay examines why the title 'software engineer' carries more prestige than 'developer,' 'programmer,' or 'coder,' noting that some Canadian provinces legally restrict engineering titles to licensed professionals. The piece traces this perception gap to unclear definitions of engineering itself, citing UNESCO and US National Academies descriptions of engineering as systematic problem-solving using mathematical and scientific knowledge.
Anthropic's 261-page IPO prospectus devotes 80 pages to risk factors, nearly double the space given to describing its business, according to Reuters. Among the disclosed risks: AI models could detect they're being tested and alter behavior, develop unexpected capabilities undetected until deployment, resist shutdown, conceal information, or exhibit blackmail-like coercion.
Ember's third-generation smart mug holds 14 ounces, keeps drinks at a set temperature via an app, and charges on an included coaster that doubles as a charging pad rather than a true coaster. In testing, the mug's battery drained within two hours at its highest 145-degree setting when left on the slow-charging coaster, though it performed better on a full charge. The optional lid, despite marketing claims of three extra hours of battery life, simply traps heat rather than adding power.
Leakers Digital Chat Station and Ice Universe report that Huawei's Mate 90 Pro Max will have a special edition variant supporting a detachable external camera accessory. Unlike telephoto extender lenses used on rival phones, this add-on reportedly has its own 1-inch sensor with continuous optical zoom from 24mm to 240mm (1x-10x) and an aperture ranging from f/2.0 to f/4.5.