Fortune reports that Microsoft's internal projections put the price of its 2028 holiday-season Project Helix console between $1,200 and $1,800, with a separate next-gen handheld planned by the end of next year. Fortune also reports internal disputes at Microsoft over whether the handheld should run a trimmed version of Windows or a custom operating system built by the Xbox team, with one executive reportedly threatening to cancel the device if forced to use Windows.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-20
An Entrepreneur contributor describes a large company that repeatedly missed a cross-functional launch commitment after a technology dependency slipped past operations' planned sequence. In response, leadership assigned a single senior business owner to answer for the commitment at monthly milestone reviews, but that owner was only brought in after the launch date, scope and work sequence had already been fixed during planning.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-10-20
Microsoft is promoting a trade-in offer encouraging Xbox Series X owners to exchange their consoles, reportedly in the lead-up to a new device referred to as Project Helix. The push suggests the incentive is tied to generating interest or offsetting costs for the upcoming hardware.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-10-20
Microsoft is reportedly planning an Xbox handheld device for holiday 2027, followed by a next-generation console codenamed Project Helix in holiday 2028, according to Fortune. The console is said to be internally projected to cost between $1,200 and $1,800 unless Microsoft subsidizes the hardware, and Fortune reports internal disagreement between Microsoft's Windows and Xbox teams over which software will run the system.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-20
Microsoft unveiled Guardian Agents, a new feature under its Project Perception security product, designed to watch over AI agents deployed within a company. The tool builds on a system originally launched in June with red, blue and green team agents meant to simulate and fix hacking vulnerabilities, but now addresses fears that enterprise AI agents themselves could pose risks, not just outside hackers.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-19
The New York Times reports that AI-generated advertising has become a major component of US midterm campaign spending, totaling more than $137 million so far—nearly a quarter of the $565 million spent on House and Senate ads, per Wesleyan Media Project research. Researchers identified over 220 AI-made midterm ads, roughly 80 percent produced by Republican-aligned groups and 20 percent by Democratic-aligned ones, including an Oklahoma PAC ad depicting AI versions of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump without disclosing its AI origin.
futurism.com
· 2026-10-19
GitHub user Panchovix has published a tool that lets Nvidia RTX 30-, 40-, and 50-series GPU owners modify VBIOS settings without physically flashing the firmware chip. Instead, the configurator stores a modified VBIOS image in the GPU's register key, which the Nvidia driver loads on startup, and it works on both Windows and Linux.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-19
A business leader describes changing how they run leadership meetings after a project reported as 'on track' with a green status turned out to be only 20% complete the day before its deadline. Instead of relying on status dashboards, the leader now asks teams one question — 'What am I missing?' — to surface hidden risks before they derail a project.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-10-19
Norwegian infrastructure firm Bulk is seeking a majority partner to fund and build 'Project Leif Erikson,' a transatlantic cable stretching from southern Norway to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland, then overland through Quebec to Montreal. Co-founder Peder Nærbø describes it as part of a 'sovereign cable system' for Canada, and the plan was presented to investors at a Canadian government-organized summit in September. Canada's Industry Minister Melanie Joly has met with Nærbø this year, though her department would not confirm details of the project.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-19
Microsoft has made its Disc to Digital tool available to all Xbox users after a month of Insider beta testing, letting players convert physical Xbox One and Series X game discs into digital licenses tied to their account rather than their console. The feature does not require an Xbox Game Pass subscription and is triggered manually by selecting 'Claim Digital License' from a game's menu rather than automatically on disc insertion.
wired.com
· 2026-10-19
The RepRap open-source hardware project has released details of the µRepRap, a 3D printer built from common materials capable of micron and sub-micron positioning. Its latest 'PIKA' V0.02 hardware achieves roughly 1μm repeatable positioning and 10μm accuracy within an 8mm cubic work volume, and has been used to deposit UV resin droplets as small as 4μm and cure 9μm resin lines using a fibre optic probe. An earlier 'MAUS' variant, now deprecated, reached about 5μm positioning over a 4mm square area and remains fully documented with build files on Printables.
github.com
· 2026-10-18
An investigation by The Outlaw Ocean Project documents how fishmeal, a dried fish powder prone to spontaneous combustion, caused at least 90 ship and plant fires from the 1950s through the 1970s. Cargill introduced ethoxyquin, a chemical previously used to preserve rubber tires and produce, as a fire-suppressing additive for fishmeal starting in 1967. Industry data cited in the investigation shows reported fires fell from about 16 a year to five after the chemical's adoption.
insideclimatenews.org
· 2026-10-17
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