GoKawiil
Tech News
An investigation identified more than 80,000 AI relay servers that allow users in China to obscure their location and identity while querying frontier large language models hosted in the US. The relays effectively let these users bypass geographic and access restrictions placed on advanced AI systems.
Relay, a five-year-old AI workflow automation startup positioned as a Zapier alternative, ceased operations this week. The company struggled to justify its existence as a standalone product once larger platforms like OpenAI and Google began building similar email and task automation directly into their own tools.
Apple is adding Apple TV and Arcade, plus some ad-free Apple Music Select radio stations, to its base-tier iCloud+ subscriptions in more than 100 countries. The entry-level iCloud+ plan, which costs roughly $1 a month, will now include these extras without requiring customers to buy the pricier Apple One bundle. The US is not part of this rollout, but markets like India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Türkiye and the UAE are included, and Apple TV itself is expanding to 59 new countries as a result.
A startup founded by former Nothing employees showcased the Relay Q, a small handheld AI microphone, at IFA Berlin. The device lets users dictate text or issue voice commands quietly by holding down its tip, double-click to send messages, and can detach into a wearable pin that clips to clothing via magnet.
A technical guide walks through configuring a Tor exit node on an Ubuntu 14.04 system, the type of relay that connects anonymous Tor traffic to the regular internet. It outlines the legal and reputational risks operators face, including potential harassment from ISPs and authorities, plus practical hurdles like sites blocking exit node traffic or forcing CAPTCHAs.
London startup Relay, founded by former Nothing staffers Cookie Xu and Raymond Zhu, has released voice dictation software for macOS ahead of a companion hardware device called the Relay Q, due in early 2027. The founders say existing software tools like Wispr Flow struggled with inconsistent microphone pickup in office settings, prompting them to build purpose-made hardware for accurate speech capture.
Apple has silently fixed a flaw in iCloud Private Relay that allowed a user's real IP address to leak under three specific conditions, despite the feature being enabled. Security researchers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk, who discovered the issue and built a public tool to test for it, confirmed the fix landed in iOS 26.6.1 (and matching updates for other Apple platforms) though Apple did not disclose it in official release notes. The researchers noted the repair appears limited to Safari and was made without them first reporting it to Apple.
Apple announced that iCloud+ Hide My Email addresses will continue to use the icloud.com domain, reversing an earlier plan to move them. Meanwhile, new Sign in with Apple relay addresses will switch from privaterelay.appleid.com to private.icloud.com later this year, though existing addresses will keep working without disruption.
Digital car keys, which rely on UWB or NFC to confirm phone proximity, avoid the relay attacks that plague traditional key fobs. However, they introduce new vulnerabilities: a stolen or dead phone could theoretically lock owners out or grant access to thieves, though automakers build in safeguards like remote lockdown features and reserve battery power for NFC access lasting up to five hours after a phone dies.