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Tech News
YouTuber JerryRigEverything subjected the Trump Mobile T1 to scratch, bend, and teardown tests, finding the device survives physical abuse but contains internals nearly identical to the 2024 HTC U24 Pro. The teardown showed matching screws, motherboard layout, battery placement, and even the same model number on the daughterboard, and swapping motherboards between the two phones left both fully functional.
Voters go to the polls on 3 November in elections that could flip Republican control of the House and possibly the Senate. The outcome follows Trump-administration moves that cut thousands of research grants, reduced the federal science workforce, and sought greater political oversight of agencies like the NIH and NSF, while Congress has so far resisted proposed budget cuts exceeding 50% for the NSF.
FDA scientific staff largely opposed a policy that would have made it easier for Americans to obtain unproven peptide drugs favored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to six people familiar with its development. Agency officials reportedly warned that career scientists had serious safety concerns and would not endorse a regulation declaring the peptides safe, and staff said they had limited input in drafting the policy.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent Trump a letter accusing him of using tariff exemptions as a form of personal enrichment. He cited carve-outs for Brazilian meat, diamonds and smartphones as examples that he says don't fit the administration's stated criteria, and demanded White House and USTR communications on tariff relief for over a dozen industries, plus correspondence with executives including Apple's Tim Cook and Rolex's Jean-Frederic Dufour, by November 11.
The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology sent letters dated October 15, 2026 alleging TP-Link submitted false or incorrect information in equipment authorization applications for four router models, including high-end Archer units. Three of the four routers reportedly exceeded allowed power usage limits, adding a new obstacle to TP-Link's push to sell Wi-Fi 8 products in the US. TP-Link responded that routine FCC spot checks are standard industry practice and said it supports the agency's oversight role.
Crypto-industry political action committees have amassed $176 million in contributions ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, according to reporting on campaign finance figures. The funds are intended to back candidates viewed as favorable to digital-asset regulation in Congress.
A new essay examines how news has shifted from reporting natural events to manufacturing 'pseudo-events'—staged happenings like press conferences, interviews, and ribbon cuttings—a concept drawn from Daniel J. Boorstin's 1962 book The Image. The piece traces how editors and audience boredom jointly determine what counts as newsworthy, arguing that importance in media is often circularly defined by what gets covered.
The EPA, under Administrator Lee Zeldin, is set to propose undoing Biden-era methane regulations that were projected to cut emissions from oil and gas operations by 80 percent over 14 years. The rollback would ease standards on low-producing 'marginal wells,' which account for about half of industry methane emissions despite producing only 6 percent of US oil and gas, and would eliminate the Super Emitter Program that flagged large methane releases.
Anthropic's initial public offering prospectus, made public Monday, devotes more than 90 pages to risk factors, including the possibility its AI models could pose 'catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.' The filing also cites tensions with the Trump administration and growing public opposition to data centers, which Anthropic depends on to train and run its models, as business risks ahead of the midterm elections.
Senior Democratic lawmakers say the Trump administration is refusing to disclose information about abuses of a government surveillance authority currently under congressional debate. They argue that details lawmakers need to evaluate the program are being kept from public and congressional view.
Data centres, the warehouse facilities powering AI services like ChatGPT and online activity generally, are drawing bipartisan political opposition ahead of the 3 November US midterms. Both Republican and Democratic candidates have spoken out against their rapid growth, citing heavy electricity consumption and environmental concerns, while President Trump has dismissed the backlash as a 'sick conspiracy.'
Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink used by Ukraine's army, was reportedly throttled last week to block terminals moving above certain speeds, which disabled interceptors used against Russian attack drones. Ukraine says it got no advance notice; President Zelenskyy has linked the move to tensions with the Trump administration, and the incident is tied to at least two deaths and 17 injuries. SpaceX, Elon Musk and the White House have given conflicting accounts of who ordered the restriction.