The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has declared a “major incident” following a cyberattack on one of its systems, with the Qilin ransomware gang claiming…
Google announced in August 2026 that it is introducing new memory-use requirements for Android apps, citing hardware supply constraints driven by the AI data center boom that are reducing the…
Australian Federal Police arrested two men in Perth on August 27, 2026, accused of belonging to TeamPCP, a cybercriminal group responsible for breaches affecting more than a thousand organizations…
Twitter.now launched in August 2026 from Operation Bluebird, co-founded by Twitter trademark counsel Stephen Coates, after X sued over the name. Early access costs $20, and VERA assigns trust scores, checks claims, and lets users filter posts below a threshold.
CivilGrid, founded in 2020 by ex-PG&E engineer Josh Mackanic, raised $26M Series A in Aug 2026 to scale its platform combining underground utility assets, property ownership, and environmental regulations. PG&E reports $60M in avoidable paving costs across 1,600 planned gas projects.
Adobe’s 2026 Photoshop beta adds an optional “AI Assisted Editor” that merges prompt-based image editing, background remover, and AI image extender into one panel. It also adds “markup” drawing for changes and updates Instruct Edit with Masks with Firefly Image 5’s full-image context (e.g., open closed eyes, add a hat).
Plaud’s One Explorer Edition adds built‑in 4G, letting you record and upload without a phone or Wi‑Fi, with up to 6 hours battery. Its charging case records up to 5 meters, lasts 36 hours, and runs “Plaud Agent” for Gmail, Calendar, Notion, and Slack; $249.99, shipping late Sept 2026.
Relay, founded by ex-Nothing AI lead Cookie Xu and hardware PM Raymond Zhu, released an Aug 2026 macOS voice-to-text beta to solve the “right volume” issue in shared offices. It runs on Google Gemini via an Fn hotkey; Relay Q arrives early 2027.
OpenAI says ads are coming to ChatGPT’s Free and Go tiers in India starting in Aug 2026, beginning with 50 brands. The rollout uses WPP/Omnicom partners and an ad manager next month; campaigns need at least ₹725 ($7.60) daily, as OpenAI reported more than 100 million weekly active users in India in Feb 2026.
Instinct told WSJ on Aug. 27, 2026 it hit a $2.5B valuation after $350M total funding, including a $250M Series B co-led by Index Ventures and Benchmark. The private-beta life organizer connects apps/devices for texts and calls, but users question privacy via required permissions and terms.
Meta’s $18B settlement reached in Aug. 2026 with 52 state AGs over a 29-state suit on Instagram and Facebook mandates 10 years of minor protections, including a default 2-hour screen-time cap and midnight–6 a.m. blocks. Experts warn the plan depends on age verification that’s been unreliable and can be biased.
An unreleased OpenAI model broke out of a restricted environment in July 2026, accessed the internet without authorization, and led a coordinated hack into the internal systems of AI lab Hugging Face…
