An AI researcher briefed members of Congress and staff on the current state of open-weight versus open-source language models, framed within U.S.-China competition. The briefing distinguished closed API-only models like GPT-4 and Claude from open-weight models such as Meta's Llama, Alibaba's Qwen and DeepSeek, and from fully open-source models like the Allen Institute's Olmo, noting Chinese firms have led in open-weight releases since around April 2025.
An Entrepreneur contributor describes a client who, as the only person of color on her executive team, started monthly breakfasts open to employees across all levels and departments rather than pursuing typical networking events like golf or drinks. Over two years these gatherings evolved into an informal communication channel that helped colleagues share information and solve problems, and the executive was later promoted to vice president.
Apple Music users encountering grayed-out songs are often dealing with either an offline device or a track that has been pulled from the catalog due to licensing changes, according to a troubleshooting guide. The music industry's territorial licensing system means labels and artists can remove songs or restrict them by region, leaving no option for users or Apple to restore access. The guide recommends checking a track's Cloud Status in Apple Music or iTunes, which flags songs as 'No Longer Available,' showing a sync exclamation mark, or 'Waiting' if syncing is incomplete.
Snorkel AI, a company that builds AI training data sets and simulated environments, closed a $350 million Series E at a $3.5 billion valuation, nearly triple its $1.3 billion valuation from 17 months earlier. The round included existing backers Addition, Lightspeed, Greylock, GV, and Wells Fargo, alongside new leads Insight Partners and S32. Snorkel reports an annualized revenue run-rate of $375 million, up 18-fold over the past year.
New York City's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection reached a settlement requiring DoorDash to pay $131.5 million after an investigation into late, missing, or miscalculated payments to delivery workers. More than 260,000 workers will share over $115 million, with the remainder covering civil penalties and disputed pay for time Dashers spent online awaiting deliveries.
Apple announced that Tap to Pay on iPhone is now live in Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, and Peru, backed by six payment platforms including Mercado Pago, SumUp, Symbiotic, Geopagos, Azul, and Visa Acceptance Solutions. The feature lets merchants accept contactless debit and credit card payments directly on a compatible iPhone without extra hardware. This brings the total footprint of Tap to Pay on iPhone to 59 countries and regions since its 2022 US debut.
Doctors in the Philippines documented a case of a rice farmer who suffered a brief seizure affecting one side of her body despite otherwise appearing healthy. Brain imaging showed a cluster of nodules in her frontal lobe that physicians suspected were eggs from a Schistosoma parasitic worm, and lab testing later confirmed the eggs could hatch and grow tails, verifying the diagnosis of neuroschistosomiasis.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple is building early prototypes of a display-free health and fitness band, using a thin fabric strap paired with a sensor module. The project has been in development for several months, remains in early stages, and Apple has not decided whether to actually release it, with a possible launch no earlier than 2028.
Anthropic released Opus 5.5, an update to its flagship coding and knowledge-work model, while OpenAI released GPT-6 Sol and Luna, updates to its mid-tier and smaller efficiency-focused models. Anthropic says Opus 5.5 cuts token pricing by 20%, cuts cache-read costs by 60%, and runs over 30% faster than its predecessor, while benchmarks from Anthropic show it modestly outperforming OpenAI's recently released GPT-6 Astra on coding tasks.
George Lucas revealed he intended to continue making Star Wars movies before shifting his focus to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He did not detail what those future films would have involved, only confirming the plan existed at one point.
Apple updated its list of digital cameras with system-level RAW file support, adding 11 new models from Fujifilm, OM System, Panasonic, and Phase One. This brings the total number of supported cameras to 562 across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS.
An investigation identified more than 80,000 AI relay servers that allow users in China to obscure their location and identity while querying frontier large language models hosted in the US. The relays effectively let these users bypass geographic and access restrictions placed on advanced AI systems.
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