Federal judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google will not be forced to sell off its advertising technology business, despite an earlier finding that the unit constituted an illegal monopoly. Instead, Google must change certain business practices to give competitors fairer access, though the ruling did not specify exactly what those changes will look like. The detailed written order remains sealed for two weeks while parties prepare redactions.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-02
Tech entrepreneur Paul Graham argued publicly that companies should always hire the most qualified candidate regardless of nationality, prompting Palmer Luckey to challenge him for suggesting that hiring any foreign worker undermines an 'American firms should hire Americans' stance. The dispute unfolded as a lengthy public exchange over how immigration and merit intersect in tech hiring decisions. The author uses a personal family story about an Army-drafted tool engineer who ended up working on early heat-shield research under Wernher von Braun to question what 'qualified' really means.
marginallycompelling.com
· 2026-09-02
A geophysicist at Virginia Tech analyzed satellite data and identified gradual acceleration in ice and rock movement in the weeks leading up to the August 26 glacial collapse in Nepal, which triggered a flash flood that killed more than 1,000 people. The subtle shifts, though slow-moving, revealed a detectable pattern preceding the catastrophic failure.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-02
A developer commentary questions why so many software tools rely on JSON for configuration files despite JSON's inability to natively support comments. The piece argues this makes it difficult for users to document why specific settings were chosen, a basic need in configuration management.
textlog.cc
· 2026-09-02
A federal judge who previously found Google operates an illegal monopoly in advertising technology has stopped short of ordering the company to sell off that business. Instead, the ruling leaves Google's ad tech operations largely intact, drawing sharp criticism from advocacy groups who argue the remedy fails to match the severity of the monopoly finding.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-02
A federal judge ruled that Google must stop certain practices that have suppressed advertising rates paid to web publishers, addressing antitrust concerns about its dominance in ad technology. However, the court stopped short of ordering Google to sell off its ad exchange or other core advertising tools, rejecting the more severe remedy sought by antitrust enforcers.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-02
Judge Leonie Brinkema denied the Justice Department's request to force Google to divest parts of its advertising technology operations, opting instead for behavioral remedies to restore competition. The specific measures, which could include limits on self-preferencing in ad auctions and expanded data access for rival ad tech tools, remain confidential until parties finalize redactions and revisions. Google may still appeal the underlying ruling that found it illegally monopolized the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-02
Geophysicist Manoochehr Shirzaei of Virginia Tech found satellite imagery from days before the 26 August flash flood near the Nepal–Tibet border showing that a glacier section and underlying rock were accelerating in the weeks leading up to the collapse. The disaster, which killed more than 1,000 people and left over 4,000 missing, may have started with a rockslide dragging the glacier down or a glacier failure destabilizing the rocks; the exact sequence remains unclear.
nature.com
· 2026-09-02
Harvard Business School has launched an eight-week online entrepreneurship program priced at $699 that uses AI-generated avatars of its faculty to provide round-the-clock guidance to participants. The course lets aspiring founders interact with digital clones of professors instead of relying solely on scheduled lectures or office hours, and early participants have reportedly responded positively.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-01
Reports indicate Apple's hardware engineering chief John Ternus is emerging as the leading internal candidate to eventually succeed CEO Tim Cook. The framing centers on the scale of what he would inherit: a company with enormous revenue, market value and global reach built under Cook's leadership.
wsj.com
· 2026-09-01
GoPro has agreed to be acquired by Starman Optical for $285 million, with shareholders receiving $1.14 per share and retaining roughly 10% of the combined company. The deal, expected to close by year-end, will eliminate GoPro's $92 million in debt and keep the company publicly traded. It follows earlier signals that GoPro was exploring a shift toward defense technology, and comes just after YouTuber Markiplier disclosed an 8.5% stake in the company.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-01
Hacker News has posted its recurring monthly hiring thread for September 2026, where companies can list open positions directly. The post lays out submission rules, requiring location details and remote-work status, and restricting entries to employees of the hiring company rather than recruiters or job boards. It also links to several third-party search tools for browsing past listings and points to a companion thread for job seekers.
news.ycombinator.com
· 2026-09-01