Volvo's updated 2028 XC60 and XC90 plug-in hybrids pair the existing 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder engine and electric motors with a larger 41.2-kWh battery, of which 37.9 kWh is usable. This pushes electric-only range to 78 miles on the XC60 and 73 miles on the XC90, up from roughly 35 miles previously, while system output stays at 455 horsepower and total combined range for the XC90 reaches 560 miles. Mild-hybrid B5 and B6 versions without plugs remain available for both models.
A widely shared essay recounts how Australian gold prospector Mick Leahy, while pushing inland from New Guinea's coast in 1930, stumbled upon a densely populated highland region previously unknown to colonial governments and coastal peoples alike. The essay draws on the book 'First Contact: New Guinea's Highlanders Encounter the Outside World' to explain how roughly a million people had lived isolated in the island's mountainous interior, unaware of any world beyond it.
A reverse engineer discovered a hidden Extensions Framework in iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate that lets Siri hand off voice and text requests to third-party AI models like Claude, with Siri acting as a middleman for system tasks requiring privacy access. A separate, deeper integration point called Model Manager Services could let providers such as a GPT-5.6 model replace Apple's server-side Siri AI entirely, though Apple hasn't confirmed any such partnership.
Five men accused of leading a Black Axe cybercrime cell—Perry Osagiede, Franklyn Osagiede, Osariemen Clement, Collins Otughwor, and Musa Mudashiru—have been extradited from South Africa to the US to face wire fraud and money laundering charges. Prosecutors say the group ran romance scams and advance-fee schemes targeting American victims from Cape Town between 2011 and 2021, using fake identities, dating sites, and VoIP numbers, and blackmailing victims with threats to leak intimate photos when they resisted paying.
The New Mexico Supreme Court held attorney Stephen Aarons in contempt and fined him $5,000 after he submitted an appellate brief containing fictitious police testimony and witnesses invented by ChatGPT. Aarons said he used the AI tool to summarize trial proceedings for a murder conviction appeal, claiming he didn't realize it could fabricate facts. The court is also referring him to a disciplinary board for further investigation.
New cost-per-frame analysis across 10 countries shows Nvidia's GeForce cards have risen in price more sharply than AMD's Radeon or Intel's Arc lineups, eroding Nvidia's value proposition for gamers. At original MSRP, Intel's Arc B580 and AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT offered the best value in the budget segment, while AMD's RX 9070 XT beat Nvidia's RTX 5070 and RTX 5070 Ti on cost per frame in the mid-to-high end.
A commentary argues that tech companies are increasingly designing AI products to make it effortless for people to offload cognitive tasks, drawing a parallel to how fast food chains capitalized on consumers' desire for convenience. The author recounts a personal anecdote involving their accountant that revealed how deeply AI-driven automation has quietly crept into everyday professional decisions without public awareness.
Microsoft has released an emergency out-of-band update to correct problems introduced by its September Patch Tuesday release, which fixed nearly 1,000 vulnerabilities but broke folder sharing on Hyper-V Linux virtual machines, disrupted Remote Desktop Services sessions, and caused issues with some USB audio devices. The new fix covers Windows 11 versions 26H1, 25H2, and 24H2, along with Windows Server 2025, 2022, and 2012 R2, plus LTSC editions of Windows 10.
Microsoft has confirmed a bug in its September 2026 KB5002914 security update causes copy-paste, autofill, and formula dragging to silently fail in Excel 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2024. The issue produces no error message or warning, leaving users unaware that their paste actions did not take effect. Microsoft says it is investigating but has not yet issued a fix, though affected users can uninstall the update via command-line instructions to restore normal functionality.
A new technical guide explains how Graphviz's four layout engines—dot, neato, twopi and circo—use different algorithms to arrange diagram nodes, from hierarchical ranks to force-directed springs to radial and circular placements. It recommends pairing this knowledge with a browser-based diagram-as-code editor so developers can preview and switch engines to avoid overlapping nodes and crossed lines.
The US Space Force has confirmed publicly for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, marking a shift from its previous focus on defensive and monitoring roles. The branch, established in 2019 as the first new US military service in over 70 years, was originally created to safeguard American satellites used for communication and surveillance.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink publicly acknowledged for the first time that the US now has 'space control weapons' already stationed in orbit, capable of defending military forces from hostile action. He declined to specify what the weapons are, when they were deployed, or whether they've been tested, citing deterrence concerns.
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