Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former Rep. George Santos after finding reasonable cause he bet on whether he would attend Trump's State of the Union address, allegedly netting him nearly $18,000. Kalshi also fined him over $71,000 and separately suspended or penalized several other political candidates, including Ben Midgely, Laurie Buckhout and Stephen Cloobeck, for allegedly wagering on their own races.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-31
European regulators have designated ChatGPT as a search engine under EU digital regulations, placing it under stricter oversight requirements. Reddit and Roblox have also received similar classifications, bringing them under the same heightened regulatory scrutiny.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-08-31
Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former congressman George Santos and fined him $71,356, marking the platform's first-ever lifetime ban. Santos had allegedly profited over $17,500 by betting he'd skip the State of the Union due to travel issues, then selling those contracts after claiming publicly he would attend. Kalshi says it flagged the scheme to regulators and imposed the harsher penalty because Santos failed to cooperate fully with its internal investigation.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-31
The European Commission classified ChatGPT as a Very Large Online Search Engine and Reddit and Roblox as Very Large Online Platforms after each surpassed 45 million average monthly EU users. This designation subjects all three to the Digital Services Act's toughest compliance requirements, joining 28 other services already under this heightened oversight.
engadget.com
· 2026-08-31
Two decades after the International Astronomical Union voted in 2006 to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet, a vocal group of scientists, historians and enthusiasts continue to push back against that decision. Critics like Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida argue the IAU's planetary definition is scientifically unworkable, while others such as writer Laurel Kornfeld have campaigned against the ruling since the day it was announced. The dispute remains largely an American phenomenon, tied partly to national pride since Pluto was discovered by a US astronomer in 1930.
theguardian.com
· 2026-08-31
The Atlanta Rideshare Drivers Union says Uber and Lyft drivers have seen falling pay and longer waits since Waymo's robotaxis launched in the city last June. The group is asking city and state officials to impose a $0.50-$1.00 per-ride fee on robotaxi trips to fund driver retraining, and to bar Waymo vehicles from picking up passengers at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Organizer Liza Ramsey admits there's no formal data yet, relying instead on driver-shared earnings screenshots as evidence.
futurism.com
· 2026-08-30
The EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which took initial effect August 12, replaces the 1994 Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive and now applies to any business shipping goods into the bloc's 27 member states. Independent tabletop RPG creators like Johan Nohr and Josh Fox say the rules, combined with Extended Producer Responsibility fees that differ by country and sometimes recur annually, are proving costly and confusing to navigate. Fox, of Black Armada, says the compliance burden may force his company to halt sales in the EU.
rascal.news
· 2026-08-28
In Houston, two on-duty police officers jumped into an Uber driver's vehicle mid-shift to pursue a shirtless suspect who had allegedly threatened a woman and her two children. The driver, Anthony Baines, followed the officers' directions and even picked up a second officer before both bailed out to continue the chase on foot. The suspect ultimately got away, and Baines later learned he wasn't legally obligated to assist police in that way.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-08-25
It has been two decades since the International Astronomical Union voted in August 2006 to strip Pluto of its planetary status, reclassifying it as a dwarf planet after astronomers discovered a similarly sized object, later named Eris, in 2005. The decision remains contentious, with figures like NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and actor William Shatner recently arguing Pluto deserves to be called a planet again.
cnet.com
· 2026-08-24
Disk Union, in collaboration with Maxell, has released a special-edition run of UD-60U cassette tapes in Japan, reviving the original 1970s ferric oxide formula. The companies are marketing the tapes toward nostalgic buyers who remember the original UD series, suggesting uses like dubbing vinyl records and making mix tapes.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-08-23
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