A user running the *arr media automation stack discovered that Sonarr had automatically grabbed a file posing as a South Park episode, which was actually an .exe with thousands of seeders on public torrent trackers. Analysis showed the file was padded with 886MB of junk data to evade antivirus scanners, with a genuine 118KB payload full of junk code designed to obstruct reverse-engineering in tools like IDA.
In fiscal year 2022, the federal government distributed $1.26 trillion to state and local governments, mostly through grant programs. States then passed along $662 billion to local governments, while nonprofits separately received $294 billion in government grants that year.
MIT researchers placed an AI agent in a virtual island environment with no assigned tasks and observed it over time. Without explicit goals, the agent began inventing games, constructing temple-like structures, drawing mandalas, and exploring its surroundings in playful ways.
Anthropic is giving six researchers from the nonprofit evaluator METR employee-level access, including company laptops, office space, and internal tools, to independently review its models, safety practices and risk management. METR will publish its own assessments, and Anthropic says it cannot veto publication, though it can require redactions in narrow categories like customer data or model architecture details. METR is currently the top tier in a three-tier evaluator system Anthropic is building, above groups like SecureBio that need company approval for narrower reviews.
Penn State scientists have reconstructed what the Liberty Bell likely sounded like before it cracked, using acoustic data gathered from one of its replicas. The research was presented at an Acoustical Society of America meeting in Philadelphia and later detailed in Physics Today, timed to the nation's upcoming 250th anniversary. The bell itself has not been rung since 1846, when a prior crack worsened during a February 23 ringing.
Rockstar Games published the launch trailer for Grand Theft Auto 6 on Thursday, featuring a new track from Justice with Tame Impala, SZA and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. The trailer introduces protagonists Jason, a former soldier with a troubled past, and Lucia, whose phone call sets the story in motion. The game is set to launch Nov. 19 on Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
Sonos has released version 27.2 of its app, updating to version 90.1 on iOS to support Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone Duo in both folded and unfolded states. The company announced the release on Reddit, noting it is available now via the App Store and can be installed manually. It follows the broader Sonos 27 update, which redesigned the app and added speaker features.
Ecobee is selling a refurbished version of its Essential smart thermostat (formerly the Lite) for $120 with free shipping, down from its $140 regular price, through its own refurbished store. The deal includes the same three-year warranty as a new unit and runs through Wednesday, October 21. Refurbished Enhanced ($170) and Premium ($220) models, bundles with security accessories, standalone sensors ($50), and a video doorbell ($130) are also on sale.
Reports indicate Tim Burton may direct a film adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel 'Klara and the Sun' following his work on 'Wednesday'. The project is said to feature 'Wednesday' star Jenna Ortega, with Ishiguro's Nobel Prize-winning novel serving as the source material.
In a newly published YouTube interview, Apple's Rich Dinh and JP Guillou addressed claims that the iPhone Duo simply uses an off-the-shelf Samsung display. They said Apple defines the design goals and engineering challenges internally, then works with manufacturers like Samsung to develop components such as the display, hinge, enclosure and chip.
Meta released Muse Spark Open, an open-weight model with 816 billion total parameters, 42 billion active parameters, and a 1 million-token context window, designed for coding and multi-step agentic tasks. The model is optimized to run locally across two Mac Studios equipped with 512GB M5 Ultra chips using Apple's MLX framework, which Meta calls the best desktop setup for running a powerful model. Apple has not yet released the 512GB Mac Studio, though it is expected later this month.
Bluesky announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 that its experimental Attie platform now lets users build websites, games, quizzes and polls using AI, not just custom social feeds as before. CEO Toni Schneider described it as 'vibe coding' for communities, with creations tied to users' AT Protocol identities and built using either a user's own AI model or open-weight options.
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