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Gohar Khan, a 2021 MIT graduate who is a first-generation, Pakistani-American student, turned his own difficult college application experience into a media and consulting business. His YouTube channel, Gohar's Guide, now reaches more than 10 million followers with advice on applications, essays and study habits, and he co-founded Next Admit, a paid consulting service for prospective college students.
Canada's requirement that streaming services fund and feature domestic content has drawn attention as a potential irritant in trade negotiations with the United States. US officials and industry groups have pointed to these rules as a barrier that disadvantages American streaming companies operating in Canada.
A company is promoting ArtQrCode, a stylized version of the traditional QR code that can be branded with colors, images, and designs while retaining scannability. The codes can be applied to fabric, paper, packaging, digital displays, or even rendered in 3D formats.
Prebiotic soda brand Poppi is running a recruiting push built around social media creators rather than traditional job postings, led by a team it calls 'culture' instead of HR. VP of Culture Sophia Sesto is fronting the effort, treating the hiring campaign like a marketing rollout aimed at online audiences.
Following its announcement that PlayStation disc production ends in January 2028, Sony sent customers copies of its Terms of Service and End User License Agreement, which state that PlayStation software is licensed rather than sold. The emails, likely routine notices tied to recent PlayStation Store purchases, arrived amid ongoing backlash over the discontinuation of physical media and a planned consumer boycott running August 23-30.
Target pulled a children's Halloween costume from its website after social media users noted it resembled imagery associated with Jim Crow-era blackface minstrel performances. The retailer apologized following the backlash, which comes about a year after Target scaled back its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Christopher Luxon announced draft legislation that would prohibit children under 16 from using social media platforms in New Zealand. He said the move responds to harm affecting young people, following Australia's similar restriction that took effect in December 2025.
ESPN is increasing subscription costs across nearly all its streaming tiers, with ESPN Unlimited rising to $32 monthly and $320 annually, and ESPN Select climbing to $14 monthly and $140 annually. Several Disney+ and Hulu bundles that include ESPN Select will also see price hikes, though bundles featuring ESPN Unlimited remain unaffected for now.
A daily tech digest covers a wave of regulatory and political pushback: both US parties are souring on AI data centers ahead of midterms, Dutch regulators fined Uber nearly $1 billion for automatically deactivating drivers without human review, and TikTok agreed to pay $400 million to settle a US case over collecting children's data. Separately, New Zealand is moving to ban under-16s from social media and Chinese humanoid robots reportedly broke Usain Bolt's 100-meter record at a robotics competition.
A UK minister said officials have already instructed social media companies to remove videos glorifying dangerous driving, arguing platforms understand their algorithms and the financial incentives that reward outrageous content. Downing Street backed Ofcom to enforce action against non-compliant platforms, while TikTok said it proactively removes videos breaching its rules, including an account allegedly belonging to a driver named Saddington.
Luis DeSantiago, a substitute teacher in Los Banos, California, discovered a sexualized AI-manipulated image of himself circulating on TikTok after friends alerted him in March. He traced the account to a middle school student he knew, and reported the incident to school administrators. He is one of at least four educators who told WIRED they have been targeted with similarly fabricated explicit content by students.
A study led by Dr. Ian Hughes at Texas A&M University found that employees who compulsively browse distressing news during work hours tend to dwell on what they've read, and that lingering rumination reduces their engagement with work. The findings, drawn from two studies of workers in the US and UK, show the effect is strongest among people high in neuroticism, a trait tied to anxiety and worry.