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Bluesky rolls out massive revamp to policies and Community Guidelines

Two years after launching, social network Bluesky is revising its Community Guidelines and other policies, and asking for feedback from its users on some of the changes. The startup, a competitor to X, Threads, and open networks like Mastodon, says its new policies are meant to offer improved clarity and more detail around its user safety procedures and the appeals process. Many of the changes are being driven by new global regulations, including the UK Online Safety Act (OSA), the EU Digital S

What is Bluesky? Everything to know about the X competitor

Is the grass greener on the other side? We’re not sure, but the sky is most certainly bluer. It’s been over two years since Elon Musk purchased Twitter, now X, leading people to set up shop on alternative platforms. Mastodon, Post, Pebble (two of which have already shuttered operations) and Spill have been presented as potential replacements, but few aside from Meta’s Threads have achieved the speed of growth Bluesky has reached. As of February 2025, Bluesky has surpassed 30 million users. Its

iPhone 17 event news is coming but beware of fake invites

The most likely iPhone 17 event date is now the rumored iPhone 17 event date. No surprises there. But when should we expect Apple to actually confirm the date of its next big product reveal, and what should you make of that event invite leak on social media? iPhone 17 event right on schedule Save for a few exceptions, Apple typically announces new flagship iPhone models in the second week of September each year. This year appears to be following the pattern with an event rumored for Tuesday, S

Apple releases new iOS 26 beta 6 build for developers

Apple has released a new, revised build of iOS 26 beta 6 for developers. Here’s what you should know. iOS 26 beta 6 re-released with new developer build Earlier this week, Apple shipped iOS 26 beta 6 for developers. Curiously, that Monday release was never followed by a public beta—until today. Alongside today’s iOS 26 public beta 3 release, Apple has also shipped an updated beta for developers. That new beta carries the same ‘beta 6’ designation as Monday’s release. The prior beta 6 releas

Topics: 26 apple beta new release

Ratatan, a spiritual successor to Patapon, hits early access on September 19

We have some great news for fans of rhythm games. Ratatan hits Steam early access on September 19 . This is a spiritual successor to one of the most renowned rhythm games of all time, Patapon. The designer behind the original game, Hiroyuki Kotani, is involved. The mechanics here are similar to Patapon and its sequels, but look to be more elaborate . The game tasks players with rhythmically controlling cute little soldiers called Cobuns, but directing these warriors while avoiding damage is eas

Are sleep earbuds legit? My buying advice after testing in a busy NYC apartment

Soundcore Sleep A30 Earbuds ZDNET's key takeaways The Soundcore Sleep A30 will be available for $230 starting August 18th, 2025. The earbuds are comfortable with helpful sleep features. Their active noise cancellation falls flat. View now at Soundcore Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers. I care a lot about my sleep, to the point where I watch what I eat before bed, exercise regularly, and stick to a regular sleep schedule

Show HN: I built a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer

EmbedPDF Open‑Source JavaScript PDF Viewer EmbedPDF is a framework‑agnostic, MIT‑licensed PDF viewer that drops into any JavaScript project. Whether you build with React, Vue, Svelte, Preact, or vanilla JS, EmbedPDF delivers a smooth, modern reading experience and a clean developer API. 📚 Documentation Full docs, installation guides, API reference, and examples: 👉 https://www.embedpdf.com 🚀 Live Demo Try it now — load your own PDF or use the sample: 👉 https://app.embedpdf.com ✨ Features

Blood oxygen monitoring returning to Apple Watch in the US

Apple will introduce a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update coming later today. Users with these models in the U.S. who currently do not have the Blood Oxygen feature will have access to the redesigned Blood Oxygen feature by updating their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1. Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Wa

Wear OS smartwatches no longer have this leg up over the Apple Watch

Joe Maring / Android Authority TL;DR Apple is restoring blood oxygen tracking to certain US Apple Watch models via iOS and watchOS updates. The refreshed setup uses the watch to take readings but calculates and displays results on the paired iPhone. The feature was removed in January 2024 due to a patent dispute and an import ban. Apple Watch owners in the US are getting a health-tracking feature back that many thought might be gone for good. After more than a year in limbo, the blood oxygen

Microsoft fixes Windows Server bug causing cluster, VM issues

Microsoft has resolved a known issue that triggers Cluster service and VM restart issues after installing July's Windows Server 2019 security updates. The company acknowledged the bug in a private advisory seen by BleepingComputer three weeks ago and asked businesses to reach out for support to mitigate the cluster issues. As Redmond explained at the time, the Cluster service (a system component essential to cluster operation) may fail to function correctly after installing the KB5062557 updat

Pro-Russian hackers blamed for water dam sabotage in Norway

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) says that pro-Russian hackers took control of critical operation systems at a dam and opened outflow valves. The attack occurred in April and is thought to have been a demonstration of Russia’s ability to remotely hack critical infrastructure in the country. At the Arendalsuka annual national forum in the city of Arendal, the head of the PST, Beate Gangås, spoke about the incident saying that it was less of an attempt to cause damage than a display o

One of the Most Prolific VR Headset Makers (Not Meta) Now Has Smart Glasses (Not Ray-Bans)

XR, or extended reality, headsets are on the outs, but smart glasses are eating more and more of what was once VR’s slice of the face-mounted wearables pie. HTC, one of the few lingering pioneers of VR headsets with its Vive series, couldn’t stand up to Meta’s Quest for cheap consumer virtual reality, but it may be able to shoulder in some room with a new pair of smart glasses that goes tit for tat with Meta’s Ray-Ban and Oakley HSTN smart eyewear. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have proved pop

The First Federal Cybersecurity Disaster of Trump 2.0 Has Arrived

The second Trump administration has its first federal cybersecurity debacle to deal with. A breach of the United States federal judiciary’s electronic case filing system, discovered around July 4, has pushed some courts onto backup paper-filing plans after the hack compromised sealed court records and possibly exposed the identities of confidential informants and cooperating witnesses across multiple US states. More than a month after the discovery of the breach—and in spite of recent reports

REI Co-op Base Camp 6 Review: All-Weather, All-Season Family Tent

When my wife and I had kids, one of the first things we did was get a bigger tent. Fifteen years ago, the nicest car camping tent I could find was REI's Kingdom 6. All these years later, that tent is still going strong (a friend is off camping in it right now), but it turned out that we never really needed all that room. I'd happily trade that room for little more strength in stormy weather, which always seem to find me when I'm camping, and a smaller footprint that will fit in more spots. That

Topics: base camp mesh rei tent

Airbnb will allow US users to book stays without paying up front

Airbnb has launched a new feature called “Reserve Now, Pay Later” that lets users in the U.S. reserve a property without paying up front, potentially allowing people to cancel their bookings with less hassle if their plans change. The feature is applicable to properties that have a “flexible” or “moderate” cancellation policy. Flexible policies let users cancel their reservation up to 24 hours before they check in, while moderate policies allow for no-fee cancellations until five days before ch

I tried Meta's new Oakley smart glasses in my production studio - my verdict as a content creator

Jason Howell/ZDNET Get more in-depth ZDNET tech coverage: Add us as a preferred Google source on Chrome and Chromium browsers. When I saw that Oakley and Meta's collaboration on the HSTN Limited Edition smart glasses with improved 3K video for $499, I was excited they might be the perfect pair of POV glasses for the studio. Oakley's sport-forward design isn't my favorite, but I could easily overlook any aesthetic shortcomings if they nailed my primary use case of easy, hands-free recording fo

Blood Oxygen Monitoring Returning to Apple Watch in the US

Apple will introduce a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature for some Apple Watch Series 9, Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2 users through an iPhone and Apple Watch software update coming later today. Users with these models in the U.S. who currently do not have the Blood Oxygen feature will have access to the redesigned Blood Oxygen feature by updating their paired iPhone to iOS 18.6.1 and their Apple Watch to watchOS 11.6.1. Following this update, sensor data from the Blood Oxygen app on Apple Wa

Launch HN: Cyberdesk (YC S25) – Automate Windows legacy desktop apps

Hi HN, We’re Mahmoud and Alan, building Cyberdesk ( https://www.cyberdesk.io/ ), a deterministic computer use agent for automating Windows desktop applications. Developers use us to automate repetitive tasks in legacy software in healthcare, accounting, construction, and more, by executing clicks and keystrokes directly into the desktop. Here’s a couple demos of Cyberdesk’s computer use agent: Completing a lightning fast file import automation into a legacy desktop app: https://youtu.be/H_lRzr

MAGA Congresswoman Claims UFOs Might Be ‘Interdimensional Beings’

What are those unexplained objects zipping around in the sky? They could be aliens; they could be secret government aircraft; they might even be Superman. Or, if you believe the latest MAGA politician to appear on Joe Rogan’s podcast, they’re beings from another dimension. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, has held hearings on Capitol Hill to investigate UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomena, and the congresswoman told Rogan on Wednesday’s episode that she’s seen evidence they co

How We’ll Know for Sure If Microplastics Are Destroying Our Health

Researchers have found plastic in almost every corner of the human body, from our brains and poop to blood and testicles (at least it’s not making our stomachs crunch yet). Is this plastic contamination bad for us? While the answer to that question might seem like a no-brainer—and certainly no one is crazy enough to theorize that microplastics in breast milk are a good thing—there haven’t been any human trials to confirm that microplastics are detrimental to human health. Some research has simp

Marvel’s Best Movie of the Year is Coming to Streaming Soon

Whether you call them Thunderbolts or New Avengers, you can also call it home for dinner because one of the best, if not the best, Marvel movies of the year is headed to Disney+ later this month. Earlier today, Marvel announced Thunderbolts will make its way to the streaming platform on August 27. As noted in Marvel’s press release hyping its streaming debut, its pilgrimage to the premiere destination for all things MCU comes after the film built up a surprising amount of momentum in its theatr

Airbnb will allow US users book stays without paying up front

Airbnb has launched a new feature called “Reserve Now, Pay Later” that lets users in the U.S. reserve a property without paying upfront, potentially allowing people to cancel their bookings with less hassle if their plans change. The feature is applicable to properties that have a “flexible” or “moderate” cancellation policy. Flexible policies let users cancel their reservation up to 24 hours before they check-in, while moderate policies allow for no-fee cancellations until five days before che

Buzzy AI startup Multiverse creates two of the smallest high-performing models ever

One of Europe’s most prominent AI startups has released two AI models that are so tiny, they have named them after a chicken’s brain and a fly’s brain. Multiverse Computing claims these are the world’s smallest models that are still high-performing and can handle chat, speech, and even reasoning in one case. These new tiny models are intended to be embedded into Internet of Things devices, as well as run locally on smartphones, tablets, and PCs. “We can compress the model so much that they ca

Computing’s Top 30: Zhihao “Zephyr” Yao

On a typical mobile device today, financial and medical apps nestled up next to everything from karaoke playlists to time-killing games like Fruit Ninja. How to secure data that matters in this diverse digital buffet is a challenge for many researchers. For Zhihao “Zephyr” Yao, it’s a challenge that fuels his life’s work and also led to an award-winning project. That project—which earned ACM MobiSys 2023’s Best Artifact Award—demonstrated that making systems less complex can actually enhance m

Gemini’s getting a nice usability upgrade for its text responses (Updated)

Rita El Khoury / Android Authority TL;DR Google is working on an easier process for sharing text responses from Gemini. The new workflow can be initiated by double tapping or dragging to select specific text, and users can bypass the “Select text” option. However, this new method won’t work on text in a list, only the text before or after it. Update, August 14, 2025 (10:42 AM ET): After first identifying Google’s work towards bringing Gemini a greatly improved interface for text sharing a fe

Apple shares video of epic Severance mural in LA

LA is populated with marketing materials for all sorts of entertainment, but this giant painted Severance mural is one-of-a-kind. Apple shared photos of “The Exalted Victory of Cold Harbor” mural on display near an Apple TV+ billboard on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles this week. The finishing touches were put on the mural at the end of July, according to passersby on social media. These are the shots shared by Apple, including a selfie by Severance lead actor Adam Scott: Meanwhile, a Facebook

Teenage Engineering is giving away a free computer chassis, but it's already 'sold out'

Teenage Engineering, the hip Swedish tech/design brand that makes synths of all kinds (and a portable game machine with a crank ) has built another computer chassis. And it’s free! But you also can’t get one, right now at least. (Sorry about that.) Described by its maker as a "small form factor, mini-ITX computer case," the Computer-2 is made of a single sheet of semi-transparent plastic with snap hooks and living hinges for screw-free assembly. The engineering wizards at Teenage Engineering se

This SSD gadget locks prying eyes out and makes me feel like James Bond

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET Most of us already know that carrying unencrypted data on portable drives is a bad idea. The consequences of that data falling into the wrong hands can range from embarrassing to damaging to potentially opening up you or your company to legal headaches. But encrypting data on external drives can also be a pain. If you have to run separate applications, things quickly become a big hassle, and that's how data gets left unencrypted. Also: 10 tiny tools I carry with m

Topics: data drive like ssd use

The ‘Wednesday Season 2 Part 2’ Trailer Welcomes Back a Familiar Face

Now that we’re just over a week out from the first half of the season 2 release of Netflix’s The Addams Family remake, Wednesday, starring Jenna Ortega, the streamer has finally released a new trailer for its second half. The trailer starts nightmarishly, at least for Wednesday, with her waking up in a hospital bed. Although she’s not greeted by Momma Monster herself, Lady Gaga, who has yet to make an appearance on the show despite all the hype surrounding her mysterious involvement, Wednesday

Apple Watch gets reformulated, non-patent-infringing blood oxygen monitoring

In early 2024, Apple removed a blood oxygen monitoring feature from its then-current Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches, following a ruling that the feature violated light-based pulse oximetry patents from a California-based company called Masimo. Removing the feature allowed Apple to circumvent an import ban and continue selling the Series 9 and Ultra 2 (and, later, the Series 10) in the US. Today, Apple announced that it's restoring a version of the blood oxygen monitoring feature to af