Ten Claude Opus 5.5 agents were tasked with finding a faster exact shortest-path algorithm for directed graphs with non-negative real weights and proving it correct in the Lean theorem prover. Over roughly 15 hours and 733 messages, the agents produced an algorithm called C-HD, which its creators say formally improves on previously published complexity bounds, including Dijkstra's algorithm and two recent 2025 and 2026 papers.
vals.ai
· 2026-09-22
USB extenders and long cables can technically move both power and data, but rarely deliver top performance in both categories at once. For example, Anker's 10-foot 240W USB-C cable transfers data at just 480Mbps, while Icron's 328-foot extender hits 5Gbps but only supplies 6W per port. USB-IF's compliance rules also don't cover generic male-to-female USB-C extension cables, even though such cables aren't illegal to sell or use.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-22
A new open-source project called npunlock reconstructs a path for writing custom C kernels that run directly on the programmable SHAVE cores inside Intel's NPUs, bypassing Intel's official stack which only exposes graph-level programming. The project has been verified on Windows x64 with Meteor Lake and the NPU3720 chip, and its latest update adds support for combining independent FP32 and FP16 custom code branches within a single execution graph.
github.com
· 2026-09-22
A developer traced a hard-to-find bug to type punning via pointer casts, which behaves correctly at -O0 but breaks under -O2 optimization. The root cause is that pointer casts violate strict aliasing rules and constitute undefined behavior in C, even though they compile and run correctly on most platforms, and C++ treats type distinctions even more strictly than C.
blog.pwkf.org
· 2026-09-22
Kairos Power has partnered with Samsung C&T, which will provide equity funding and in-kind engineering services worth up to $100 million, including a $70 million equity stake, to help build a 50-megawatt demonstration nuclear reactor for Google. The reactor, called Hermes 2, is part of a larger 2024 agreement in which Kairos aims to supply Google with about half a gigawatt of nuclear power by 2035, with Hermes 2 targeted to start operating in 2030.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-21
USB to USB-C adapters may look identical externally but vary widely in the USB specification they support, power delivery capability and internal component quality. These differences affect transfer speeds, charging times and can even risk port damage if a mismatched adapter is used.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-21
Amazon has cut the price of Anker's Prime Docking Station to $169.99, a $100 reduction from its $269.99 list price and a match of its previous lowest sale price. The 14-in-1 device merges a laptop dock with a charging hub, supporting dual monitors and up to 160W of combined power output.
androidauthority.com
· 2026-09-21
USB-A is the original rectangular USB connector from the USB 1 standard, designed with a one-way host-to-device connection so it only fits one way and can't be flipped freely. USB-C is the newer, smaller, reversible connector that replaced older peripheral formats like USB-B, Mini-USB and Micro-USB, especially on modern mobile devices.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-21
The Wolfbox MF60, a rechargeable electric air duster capable of spinning up to 110,000 RPM and producing air speeds of 72.4 m/s, is now selling for $33.99, down 32% from its $49.99 list price. It runs on dual 2,500mAh batteries offering up to 240 minutes at its lowest speed setting and recharges fully via USB-C in roughly 3.5 hours, and it ships with multiple nozzle attachments for tasks ranging from PC cleaning to inflating pool floats.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-20
Apple originally designed a smaller, hinge-mounted Apple Pencil exclusively for its foldable iPhone Duo, but according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the accessory hit unresolved technical problems before mass production and was scrapped. Apple instead opted to support the existing USB-C Apple Pencil, though that compatibility won't be ready at launch and is expected to arrive later in 2026 after further software development and testing.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-20
Monitors with built-in USB hubs use two types of ports: an upstream port that links the monitor to a computer, and downstream ports where peripherals like keyboards or drives connect. If a monitor's video signal runs over HDMI or DisplayPort, those cables don't carry USB data, so a separate USB upstream cable is required for the hub's downstream ports to function. USB-C can eliminate that extra cable when the monitor and cable support DisplayPort Alt Mode and USB Power Delivery.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-19
A longtime Rust open-source developer spent time reimplementing their existing Rust JSONPath project, jsonpath-rust, as a new Zig library called zig-jsonpath, in order to directly compare the two languages. Coming from years of RustRover and JetBrains tooling, they found Zig's IDE support strikingly minimal, offering little more than syntax highlighting and basic autocomplete, which forced a return to more manual, low-level development habits.
besok.github.io
· 2026-09-19
GoKawiil