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Tech News
A former corporate communications executive recounts the chaos of 2017, when the Charlottesville violence and CEOs' ties to a presidential business council forced companies into snap decisions about public statements. The account describes how internal drafts kept shifting because leadership hadn't already agreed on core values, making crisis response slower and less confident.
Charter's Spectrum brand has finished absorbing Cox, with former Cox customers now billed by Spectrum starting Wednesday. The deal, agreed in May 2025, cleared its last regulatory hurdle after the California Public Utilities Commission approved it last month, giving Charter over 35 million customers nationwide.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, running October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, will feature a session called 'From Prototype to Production: Can It Scale in Reality?' on its Real World AI Stage. The panel brings together founders from space communications, autonomous systems, and AI infrastructure to discuss how they moved their technologies from early prototypes to reliable, deployable products.
Microsoft's longtime head of communications announced departure after 17 years in the role and almost 29 years at the company, saying the decision followed extended discussions with leadership. The executive will remain through the end of the calendar year while Microsoft determines next steps for the position, with an announcement expected in coming weeks.
Blizzard Entertainment employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to approve their first union contract, ending roughly two years of negotiations. The agreement covers about 1,900 workers and includes wage increases, hybrid work terms, disability and remote-work accommodations, expanded severance, and a requirement that Blizzard bargain over AI use in the workplace.
Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2026 ranking recognized eight advertising, marketing and PR firms, spanning Beverly Hills to London, for cultures that support employee-driven innovation. Highlighted examples include Autumn Communications' paid bicoastal office-swap perk for tenured staff and David&Goliath's dedicated 'bravestorming' spaces designed to spark cross-team collaboration.
Using Bluetooth or other signal jammers is banned in nearly all countries except for limited military use, under laws like the US Communications Act of 1934 and FCC regulations, alongside international rules from the ITU. These devices can disrupt Wi-Fi, medical equipment, security systems, and even emergency responder communications within a wide radius.
Companies are increasingly turning to subject-matter expert creators to shape brand perception, moving beyond the traditional binary of pitching journalists for earned media or buying advertising for guaranteed reach. This shift challenges the long-standing assumption that institutional newsrooms alone control audience trust.
The State Department and Treasury designated Italy's Autistici/Inventati as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 on August 26, accusing it of running encrypted communications, hosting and anonymity infrastructure used by far-left and Antifa-linked groups, including alleged links to the PKK. Analyst Beniamino Irdi argues the move is notable not for another extremism crackdown, but for applying 'material support' sanctions directly to technological infrastructure providers rather than individuals who commit acts.
After the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an FCC order that extended discounted 'lowest unit charge' TV ad rates to political parties and joint fundraising committees, the National Republican Congressional and Senatorial Committees said they will petition the Supreme Court. The 4th Circuit denied their request for an emergency stay but issued the mandate immediately, clearing the way for a Supreme Court appeal.
Gaurav Anand, global head of Tata Communications' Customer Interaction Suite, says most enterprises have attached conversational AI and automation onto legacy customer-experience systems that were never designed for it. He argues this has left companies with disconnected digital tools rather than integrated, scalable platforms, forcing human agents to manually piece together context across siloed systems.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory, working with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, built the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O), which used infrared laser light instead of radio waves to send data from the spacecraft. During the mission the system downlinked nearly half a terabyte of data at speeds up to 260 megabits per second, delivering sharp footage of the moon's far side, a solar eclipse, and meteoroid impacts.