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Tech News
Rosetta Stone, the 34-year-old language-learning company, is overhauling its core product with a mobile-first design, AI-powered conversation practice, and more customizable lessons. The update marks a shift from its earlier desktop-oriented approach toward smartphone-centered learning.
In a Modern CEO newsletter interview, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone described relying on constant customer feedback to generate ideas for the company. He also shared three questions he asked company leaders before accepting the CEO role.
A new benchmark evaluates AI systems on their ability to interpret instructions and reason through the multi-step process of assembling IKEA furniture, a task long considered notoriously difficult even for humans. Early results reportedly show that AI models still struggle to fully complete such assembly tasks without errors.
Florida startup Star Catcher is launching a prototype system on a SpaceX rocket to beam concentrated solar energy via laser to a separate orbiting satellite. CEO Andrew Rush says the system, called power nodes, gathers and refines sunlight into concentrated wavelengths that can then be directed as a laser beam toward satellites needing power.
Dreame's X50 Ultra, a robot vacuum and mop hybrid that can climb thresholds up to 6 centimeters tall, is discounted to $899.99 for Amazon Prime members, down from a list price of $1,599.99. The device is available for even less, $849.99, through a free account on Dreame's own website. Originally launched in early 2025, the X50 Ultra features extending mop pads and a self-emptying bin Dreame says can go up to 100 days without maintenance.
Developer NorthPoint Development sent letters to every household in Hazle, Pennsylvania offering a $10,000 grant if residents approve the first of up to 15 planned data center buildings on a 1,300-acre site. The company says the payout could total $45 million for roughly 4,500 households, plus $120 million in community support over 15 years, but many residents have rejected the offer.
Google has published the schedule for its October 28-29 Android Dev Summit, listing Android 18 alongside a mention of upcoming 'powerful new graphics features.' The event will include an Android leadership keynote covering recent features and updates, plus tracks on AI, Android XR, app foundations, and developer tools.
A security researcher describes finding a vulnerability in 2020 that granted access to a Brazilian federal system containing near-complete personal records for over 200 million citizens, including IDs, addresses, family details and witness-protection status. The researcher reported the flaw directly to the responsible agency by phone, which was initially skeptical before confirming and fixing the issue quickly without extracting any data.
Android Authority found that Android 17 QPR2 Beta 5 expands Pixel HiLight's color options from five to nine, adding blue, cyan, green, orange, pink, purple, teal, white and yellow among the choices. The beta also contains code referencing 'LIGHT_ANIMATIONS_SETTING_FAVORITE_MESSAGES_ENABLED,' suggesting Google is developing support for message notifications through the Pixel 11 Pro's camera-ring lighting feature.
WIRED's wearables reviewer tested Apple's current three-model Watch lineup—Series 12, Ultra 4, and SE 3—and named the Series 12 the best overall choice. The Series 12 introduces a new Health Sensing System with a 32-electrode ECG, more frequent heart-rate and HRV tracking, a new Readiness score, and Audio Intelligence features, alongside faster charging and satellite connectivity that the Series 11 lacked.
Parley is a new federated chat system where anyone can run their own instance tied to a domain, with identities formatted like email addresses (e.g. [email protected]). Instances discover each other via DNS and exchange signed messages over HTTPS, but present themselves to users as a standard IRC server compatible with clients like irssi, WeeChat, or Textual without plugins. The project's creators describe it as a working proof of concept that is not yet hardened for production use.
A columnist for Android Authority describes turning off eight built-in features in Google Messages, including the Gemini AI shortcut, profile sharing, outgoing message sounds, floating chat bubbles and follow-up reminders. The writer says disabling these options over a week made the app less cluttered and reduced notification interruptions, and provides steps for other users to switch them off.