Researchers Alex Matrosov and Dan Holmes discovered a memory-corruption flaw, rated 9.5 out of 10 in severity, in an ICMP component of TianoCore EDK II, the open-source reference code underlying UEFI firmware used by most hardware vendors including AMI, Insyde, and Phoenix. The flaw allows code execution before the operating system or protections like Secure Boot can engage, and although the initial exploit payload doesn't persist, it could be used to install other malware that runs at every boot. A planned coordinated disclosure for January was disrupted after AMI published a pull request detailing the bug and fix last month, prompting TianoCore to issue a public advisory early.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-27
Reuters reports that Discover-Tech, an Israeli advertising technology company, has been identified as the entity behind 'Shadow-Earth-79,' a codename used by Trend Micro's research arm TrendAI for suspicious ad-auction bidding tied to Starlink traffic across more than 100 countries. The bidding was concentrated in conflict zones like Syria, Libya, Yemen and South Sudan, but researchers say they have no evidence that any individual was actually tracked.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-27
OpenAI published solutions to three long-standing math problems, including a disputed refutation of the Exponential Time Hypothesis, a foundational assumption in computational complexity theory. Anthropic mathematician Levent Alpöge suggested OpenAI's proof drew on prior work, and Anthropic then released its own version of the refutation hours later. Unlike earlier releases, OpenAI varied its disclosure approach by field, with mathematicians getting a GitHub dump while computer scientists and physicists formed working groups to manage public discussion and verification.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-27
Google DeepMind is running trusted-tester programs for Genie 4, an experimental AI world model that generates photorealistic, interactive simulations with native audio and real-time steering. Testers from film, journalism, education, gaming and engineering are trying it for tasks like pre-visualizing film scenes, turning archival photos into explorable environments, and rapidly prototyping game concepts.
deepmind.google
· 2026-10-27
Nintendo announced its next Indie World showcase will stream on October 28 at 10AM ET, running about 15 minutes. The presentation will highlight upcoming indie games for Switch and Switch 2, arriving shortly before Nintendo's remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time launches.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-27
OpenAI has released two new manuscripts, one proving Sogge's local smoothing conjecture for waves across all spatial dimensions, and another presenting a proof that the Exponential Time Hypothesis is false. The company also worked with external expert groups to validate and explain computer science and physics findings, including a proof involving interacting quantum field theories with gauge fields and fermions in four dimensions, though the physics writeup has not yet been published.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-27
Daylight saving time concludes at 2 a.m. local time this Sunday, when most of the US sets clocks back one hour. The change comes a day after Halloween, so evening trick-or-treating light won't be affected. Standard time will remain in effect until clocks spring forward again on March 14, 2027.
cnet.com
· 2026-10-27
Brick, maker of an NFC tap-to-block productivity tool launched in September 2023, is introducing a new Bluetooth-enabled device aimed at nighttime use. The device automatically blocks a user's chosen apps once they enter their bedroom, extending Brick's screen-time-limiting approach beyond daytime productivity into sleep routines.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-26
Muhammad Aqeel built pgVolvra, a tool that logs every row change—before and after values, author, timestamp, and transaction—on chosen Postgres tables so individual mistaken changes can be reversed without a full database restore. It is implemented entirely in plain SQL and PL/pgSQL, requiring no compiled extension, superuser access, or filesystem access, and installs by running a single SQL file against the database.
pgedge.com
· 2026-10-26
OpenAI posted results to GitHub including a proof extending Sogge's local smoothing for waves to all dimensions above two, which also yields related Kakeya and Stein restriction estimates. It also released a paper claiming a deterministic subexponential-time, polynomial-space algorithm for counting satisfying assignments of fixed-width CNF formulas, which for 3-SAT would refute the Exponential Time Hypothesis. A group led by Russell Impagliazzo, Ramamohan Paturi, and Ryan Williams will review the ETH claim, and OpenAI released materials immediately at that group's request.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-26
Digital Wellbeing, Google's built-in Android screen-time tracker, has been installed more than 10 billion times but is rarely opened deliberately because it lacks a home-screen icon and sits inside the Settings menu. The app tracks app usage, unlock counts and notification volume, and offers tools to set time limits, holding a 4.1-star rating across 1.49 million reviews. Some manufacturers, including Samsung and Huawei, ship their own equivalent tools instead, since Google requires makers to include some screen-time and parental-control feature but not Digital Wellbeing specifically.
engadget.com
· 2026-10-26
McDonald's has confirmed the McRib, its boneless pork sandwich topped with barbecue sauce, onions and pickles, is returning to menus in select U.S. cities this week on a limited basis. A crowd-sourced locator map is being used to help customers find participating restaurants carrying the item.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-10-26
GoKawiil