On this date in 2018, Nvidia released the GeForce RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti, the first consumer GPUs built on the Turing architecture with dedicated hardware for real-time ray tracing. CEO Jensen Huang touted the launch as ushering in a new era of graphical realism, though the mainstream RTX 2070 didn't arrive until October and few games initially supported the new capability. The RTX 2080 outperformed the previous-generation GTX 1080 Ti but launched at a higher price of $799 for the Founders Edition.
Australia's public service minister Katy Gallagher announced the government is exploring a ban on Meta's AI-enabled smart glasses in federal government buildings, citing privacy and security risks tied to their recording capabilities. Officials plan to consult the public service commission and hold a roundtable with major employers like Microsoft and Commonwealth Bank to develop broader AI workplace guidelines.
With Switch 2 now offering Handheld Mode Boost and free or paid upgrades for older titles, the original Switch is increasingly being outpaced as more major games go Switch 2-exclusive, including Splatoon Raiders and upcoming titles like Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and Metroid Ravenous. The original Switch OLED still holds advantages in battery life and screen contrast, but its $399.99 price looks weak next to the base Switch 2 model for anyone who mostly docks the console.
TechCrunch is offering discounted early registration for its Disrupt 2026 conference, with savings of up to $200 expiring September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The event, running October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, will feature over 250 speakers, 200+ sessions across six stages, and more than 300 exhibiting startups. Attendees can also access networking tools like AI matchmaking and the Deal Flow Café to connect with investors and partners.
Engineers at Delft University of Technology built a lightweight whisker sensor system that lets tiny drones under 100 grams navigate by physical contact rather than cameras or LiDAR. Two whiskers mounted at the front connect to miniature pressure sensors that detect surface contact, letting the drone estimate depth, avoid obstacles, and map its surroundings using just 34KB of software.
Lael Shelton Costa published an explainer on mathematical billiards, a field where balls bounce endlessly and frictionlessly inside convex shapes like ellipses. The post introduces 'inner billiards,' showing how a ball struck between two boundary points traces a trajectory of chords as it reflects off the walls. Costa illustrates the concept using Geogebra diagrams and a custom-built visualization tool hosted on their personal website.
Square Enix director Naoki Hamaguchi told Video Games Chronicle at Tokyo Game Show that Final Fantasy VII Revelation could require 200GB or more of storage, exceeding a single UHD Blu-ray's 93.1GB capacity and needing an additional download of 100GB or more. He noted splitting the game across two discs would force compromises on scope or visual fidelity, and confirmed two planned DLC packs covering Vincent and Sephiroth's backstories that could push total storage to 215-220GB.
Winamp Group has announced plans to relaunch Winamp in 2027 through a partnership with Deezer, bundling its player with Deezer's streaming catalog and licensing infrastructure. The revival will introduce Winamp's first-ever paid subscription tier, promising a customizable interface, social features, and new music discovery tools, though pricing and supported platforms remain undisclosed.
Security firm Zimperium has identified RatHat, a new Android malware strain that tricks users into installing a fake app resembling Google Chrome through a spoofed Play Store page. Once granted accessibility permissions, it silently enables developer-level ADB Shell access, deploys an AI-driven agent to run system commands, and funnels stolen data to remote servers. Researchers have already found 162 infected apps tied to roughly a dozen attacker-controlled servers, with China-linked actors primarily targeting payment apps like WeChat Pay and Alipay.
Researchers studying birdsong for International Dawn Chorus Day found that species such as blue tits, blackbirds, great tits, woodpigeons and yellowhammers show clear regional and even individual variation in their calls. Woodpigeons' familiar phrase changes syllables depending on location, while yellowhammers split into two dialects across the UK, distinguished by pitch differences in the final notes of their song.
At this year's Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, discussions shifted from the usual festive tone to serious debate over artificial intelligence and data center risks. Rep. Troy Carter said nearly all 62 CBC members would back legislation establishing guardrails, transparency requirements, and safety guidelines for AI, arguing that competing with China should not override protecting communities from potential harms.
Prusa Research and Bondtech have released the INDX, a toolchanging system that can print up to eight colors or materials using slim, moving-part-free toolheads mounted on Prusa's CORE One platform. The system ships pre-installed on new CORE One+ Gen 2 printers or as a $749 conversion kit for existing CORE One owners, and Bondtech also sells it separately as a DIY kit for other open-source printers.
GoKawiil