At its Meta Connect event in Menlo Park, Meta announced it will extend its Private Processing system to Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, allowing the AI assistant to handle requests without Meta itself accessing the underlying data. The feature previously launched for WhatsApp and the Meta AI app, powering WhatsApp's Incognito Chat. Meta has not specified which glasses features will use the system, though engineering director Pritam Shah said the platform is already built and functioning rather than just planned.
wired.com
· 2026-09-23
A preprint led by Lisa Matthias at Humboldt University of Berlin tracked 440 academic journals that began as diamond open-access, meaning free for both authors and readers, but later shifted to charging fees between 2009 and 2026. Most of these titles, 369, moved to gold open access with article-processing charges, 52 adopted hybrid models, and 19 became fully paywalled, with fees ranging from $8 to $5,300 depending on publisher type.
nature.com
· 2026-09-22
A newly published online text presents an unconventional, visually driven introduction to the Discrete Fourier Transform, aimed at digital signal processing learners. Rather than relying on dense mathematical proofs, it uses interactive diagrams, animations, and audio examples across roughly 30 pages to build intuition. The author frames it as a supplementary, pop-science style resource rather than a rigorous textbook replacement.
jackschaedler.github.io
· 2026-09-18
Apple's iOS 27 rollout is causing some iPhone users to see faster-than-normal battery drain in the days following installation. The company attributes this to background processes like search-index rebuilding, app refreshes, and data prep for Siri and AI features, which typically resolve within one to three days. Users with large photo libraries or heavy AI usage may see the effect last longer.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-17
Apple is reportedly shifting its iPhone camera strategy toward giving users more manual control over how photos are processed, rather than relying solely on automatic computational adjustments. The change is expected to arrive with the iPhone 18 Pro, allowing photographers greater flexibility in shaping the final look of their images.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-16
A concept discussed via Nature.com outlines transforming static research papers into interactive AI agents that readers could query directly. The idea would let users converse with a paper's content, methods, and data rather than just reading a fixed text.
nature.com
· 2026-09-16
A veteran smart-home reviewer argues that Apple's next major hardware push should be a dedicated home computer that processes data locally rather than another cloud-connected screen. She notes that new CEO John Ternus described the iPhone using language—an 'intelligent personal hub' focused on local processing and privacy—that better fits a smart home hub than a phone. The piece also points to Anker's Eufy MindBase, shown at IFA Berlin, as an early example of this 'super hub' category supporting Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Thread, Zigbee and Matter.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-11
Nvidia's portfolio of equity stakes in tech and AI companies jumped more than tenfold over the past year, reaching $99 billion as of late July, up from roughly $7 billion a year earlier. The chip maker has committed over $40 billion to financing deals across the AI industry in 2026 alone, alongside separate pledges including up to $105 billion in conditional credit support for an OpenAI data center and a planned $12.9 billion acquisition of Hugging Face.
cnbc.com
· 2026-09-04
A designer who worked alongside OpenAI's Ben Barry recounts building multiple algorithms for generating random gradient art, starting from Barry's 2017 four-corner color interpolation. The author later developed heightmap-based gradients using smoothed Perlin noise combined with randomized color scales, and separately built a lightweight layered radial gradient system that powered OpenAI's homepage in 2019 using an 85-byte image.
justinjay.wang
· 2026-09-03
A Glassdoor review analysis found 98% of claims-adjuster reviews mentioning AI were negative, the highest criticism rate among occupations studied. Adjusters like Ahmad Jackson describe AI misclassifying claims during initial loss reporting, forcing workers to correct faulty summaries and reroute files manually. Insurers continue expanding AI into chatbots, damage assessment, and medical record summarization despite these frontline complaints.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-01
Bolt CEO Ryan Breslow is raising as much as $27 million from existing investors in a convertible-note bridge round that carries a pay-to-play clause penalizing backers who don't participate. The financing is meant to bridge the checkout company toward a future Series E2 round, after its valuation collapsed from $11 billion in 2022 to roughly $300 million. Breslow says Bolt is nearing profitability but declined to disclose how much cash remains.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-31
The piece explains how Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), built for AI workloads in data centers, differ from GPUs and NPUs. TPUs are now replacing NPUs in Google's upcoming Pixel 11 phones, with Google claiming up to 3.5 times faster AI processing at up to 3.5 times less energy use. GPUs, meanwhile, remain versatile chips handling gaming, 3D rendering, AI training and crypto mining.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-29
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