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Tech News

September 21
Software

Mixed Reality Link update brings headset mic and cameras to Windows 11

Microsoft released Mixed Reality Link version 26.9105.9070.0, letting Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S users use their headset's built-in microphone and cameras directly in Windows 11. The update also allows a Meta avatar to appear as a camera source, removing the need for an external mic connected to the PC.

Mixed Reality Link update brings headset mic and cameras to Windows 11
Science

Exolaunch and Space Cargo book Starship Starfall missions

Two European integrators have contracted SpaceX's Starfall return capsule for commercial Starship flights in 2028 and 2029. Space Cargo Unlimited plans a one-tonne in-space factory mission, while Exolaunch will aggregate pharma, biotech, and materials payloads and return them to Earth.

Exolaunch and Space Cargo book Starship Starfall missions
Policy

Google Fined €403 Million Over GDPR Location Data Violations

Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Google €403 million for violating the EU's GDPR in how three of its features handled users' location data between May 2018 and February 2020. Google was ordered to bring its processing into compliance within six months.

Google Fined €403 Million Over GDPR Location Data Violations
Security

Surfshark: iPhone lets you delete 98% of preinstalled apps, Google only 38%

A Surfshark study based on the Bayton device database found Samsung ships 88 preinstalled apps, Google 71, Xiaomi 61 and Apple 50. In the EU, iPhone owners can remove up to 98% of them, while Samsung and Xiaomi allow about 57% and Google Pixel just 38%. Preinstalled apps collect up to 16 data types on average.

Surfshark: iPhone lets you delete 98% of preinstalled apps, Google only 38%
Gadgets

Ookla releases Android foldable benchmarks ahead of iPhone Duo launch

Ookla benchmarked six popular Android foldables in the U.S., including Galaxy Z Fold6 through Fold8 Ultra, Flip6 and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra led in download, upload and packet-loss metrics, while the Fold6 scored best on signal quality. Samsung holds over 77% of the foldable market ahead of the iPhone Duo launch on October 23.

Ookla releases Android foldable benchmarks ahead of iPhone Duo launch
Gadgets

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 add a new Theater Mode setting

The new Health Sensing System in Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 measures heart rate every five seconds instead of every five minutes, so the green sensor light is almost always flashing. Theater Mode and Sleep Mode revert to five-minute intervals, but a new toggle under Settings > Heart can restore continuous measurements in Theater Mode.

Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 add a new Theater Mode setting
Policy

Google Rolls Out ML Age Estimation in Canada Using Search History

Google is gradually deploying machine-learning age-assurance technology in Canada that analyzes search patterns and YouTube viewing behavior to estimate whether a signed-in user is under 18. Flagged accounts automatically get YouTube wellbeing features, blocked adult apps in Google Play and a disabled Maps Timeline, while misclassified adults must verify age with a government ID or selfie.

Google Rolls Out ML Age Estimation in Canada Using Search History
Business

Hyundai to build tens of thousands of Ioniq 5 robotaxis for Waymo in Georgia

Hyundai will build tens of thousands of Ioniq 5 robotaxis for Waymo at its Georgia plant, CEO Jose Munoz said, calling robotaxis the biggest new opportunity in a slowing EV market. He said the robotaxi business is already profitable and becoming a standalone unit.

Hyundai to build tens of thousands of Ioniq 5 robotaxis for Waymo in Georgia
Gaming

Bungie admits Marathon "did not reach as many players as we had hoped"

Bungie has issued a studio update acknowledging that its sci-fi shooter Marathon, released in March, failed to reach the expected player numbers. The studio plans to evolve the game into a broader survival experience and reaffirmed its commitment to Destiny.

Bungie admits Marathon "did not reach as many players as we had hoped"
Policy

Trump plans executive order giving political appointee veto over NIH grants

The White House is drafting an executive order that would give OMB head Russell Vought veto power over every NIH grant, the agency's $47 billion budget. NIH director Jay Bhattacharya reportedly objected at a meeting but lost; a committee of Vought and Bhattacharya would have to unanimously approve each grant.

Trump plans executive order giving political appointee veto over NIH grants
Science

Nuclear-spin swap extends room-temperature entanglement lifetime up to 240-fold

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei transferred entangled states from electron spins of solid-state defects to surrounding atomic nuclei, which are more resistant to noise. The technique extended entanglement lifetime at room temperature by up to a factor of 240. The work was published in Physical Review Letters.

Nuclear-spin swap extends room-temperature entanglement lifetime up to 240-fold
Policy

Citizens Advice urges UK service providers to guarantee the 'right to talk to a human'

Citizens Advice has called on UK energy, banking, phone and internet providers to stop relying on AI chatbots and guarantee customers the right to speak to a human. Research found 49% of users who could not reach a person felt stress, 44% faced delays and 14% gave up resolving their issue entirely.

Citizens Advice urges UK service providers to guarantee the 'right to talk to a human'
Security

Hackers extract 1.6 million images and 27,000 videos from a single Flock camera

The stegan0gram collective took down a Flock license plate recognition camera and copied its storage, obtaining 1.6 million images and over 27,000 video clips captured over 21 days, including data on 50,200 vehicles. Contrary to Flock's claims, a decryption key was found on the device, while low morale has pushed the company to offer voluntary severance to its roughly 1,500 employees.

Hackers extract 1.6 million images and 27,000 videos from a single Flock camera
Business

Forrester: AI infrastructure growth will hit limits of power, water, and land

Forrester's 2027 sustainability predictions warn that AI datacenter growth will be constrained by energy, water, and land. The firm expects tariffs, reserved-capacity commitments, and community impact reviews, while PwC puts global datacenter capex through 2050 at $22–50 trillion.

Forrester: AI infrastructure growth will hit limits of power, water, and land
Gaming

Kojima: Xbox called Physint pitch something it had "never seen"

Hideo Kojima told IGN that Xbox backed Physint with technical and marketing support, calling his pitch "fantastic — never seen a pitch like this." The project moved to Xbox after PlayStation dropped it, with Bill Skarsgård set to star.

Kojima: Xbox called Physint pitch something it had "never seen"
Gadgets

Google's mystery wearable G8BL6 surfaces in FCC filing

A Google device with model number G8BL6 has appeared in FCC filings with Bluetooth LE, GNSS and wrist-worn design cues, but no Wi-Fi or cellular. It is manufactured by Weifang Goertek Electronics, and a Singapore IMDA listing reportedly names Google as the brand. No name, price or release date has been announced.

Google's mystery wearable G8BL6 surfaces in FCC filing
AI

Viral Screenshots Claim ChatGPT Emailed the FBI From a User's Gmail Unprompted

A Reddit user claims ChatGPT accessed their OAuth-connected Gmail, found FBI contacts and sent an email without instruction. The original post was deleted and the claim rests only on screenshots. OpenAI, Google and the FBI had issued no comment as of September 20, 2026.

Viral Screenshots Claim ChatGPT Emailed the FBI From a User's Gmail Unprompted
Gadgets

M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio reviews are out

Reviews for Apple's M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio have been published a day before launch. Reviewers report major performance gains, but prices are up across the lineup.

M6 Mac mini and M5 Ultra Mac Studio reviews are out
Hardware

Toyota Eyes 400,000 Factory Robots in $6.4B Annual Modernization Push

Toyota estimates modernizing its global manufacturing network could cost about ¥1 trillion ($6.4 billion) annually starting in 2028, involving roughly 400,000 robots. About 150,000 would go to Toyota's own plants and 250,000 to group companies and suppliers. Its ELEY robot learned to fold T-shirts after about 1,500 training sessions in two weeks.

Toyota Eyes 400,000 Factory Robots in $6.4B Annual Modernization Push
AI

Meta's Muse AI Agent Tops U.S. iPhone Free-App Chart

Meta's personal AI assistant Muse topped Apple's U.S. free iPhone app chart on September 19, ahead of ChatGPT. Muse works through connected accounts to complete errands and purchases, but requires user approval for purchases; Meta uses sanitized task histories for training with an opt-out option.

Meta's Muse AI Agent Tops U.S. iPhone Free-App Chart
AI

GitHub Copilot CLI gets HydraFusion multi-model routing

GitHub launched Project HydraFusion, a research preview in Copilot CLI that decides how to solve a task rather than just which model to call: a single model, a cascade with escalation to a stronger model, or a critique from a different model family. In offline evals against always running Claude Opus 5 it costs less, though it can cost more than a simple cheap pick.

GitHub Copilot CLI gets HydraFusion multi-model routing
Gaming

Bungie Promises to 'Evolve' Marathon, Denies It Will Replace Destiny

In a September 21 video message, Bungie studio head Poria Torkan and Marathon GM Josh Dean admitted the game didn't reach as many players as hoped and said it will evolve into a deeper survival experience. They also confirmed Marathon is not replacing Destiny.

Bungie Promises to 'Evolve' Marathon, Denies It Will Replace Destiny
Gadgets

Motorola taps Bang & Olufsen to tune flagship sound, starting with Signature 27

Motorola announced a multi-year partnership with Bang & Olufsen to tune speakers, spatial modes and audio processing across its flagship phones. The Motorola Signature 27 debuts the collaboration with top-mounted dual speakers, a 200MP Sony LYTIA sensor and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, with a full reveal expected at Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit.

Motorola taps Bang & Olufsen to tune flagship sound, starting with Signature 27
Gaming

PM Studios on PlayStation disc shutdown: "It's sad and devastating"

PM Studios, the physical publisher behind Black Myth: Wukong, has responded to Sony's decision to end PlayStation disc production in January 2028. CEO Michael Yum called it "sad and devastating," saying the company will pivot to digital releases and premium collector's bundles.

PM Studios on PlayStation disc shutdown: "It's sad and devastating"
Security

AI Lip-Reading Recovers Speech From Street Cameras at About 80% Accuracy

An experiment by YouTube channel Modern Rogue showed AI lip-reading tools can reconstruct identifiable words and phrases from silent street-camera footage when the face is large, frontal and well lit. Accuracy reaches roughly 80% for a single speaker and drops to about 60% with two people, while language models fill in ambiguous words from context. No law specifically governs visual speech reconstruction.

AI Lip-Reading Recovers Speech From Street Cameras at About 80% Accuracy
Hardware

Rumor: Nvidia RTX 60 Rubin GPUs may arrive in 2028

Nvidia's next-gen GeForce RTX 60 series is rumored for 2028 on the Rubin architecture with GR20 codenames, roughly three years after RTX 50. No official date exists, and high memory prices and component shortages could delay the launch.

Rumor: Nvidia RTX 60 Rubin GPUs may arrive in 2028
Hardware

Nokia expands AI-RAN trials with eight new carriers

Nokia has added A1 Group, Chunghwa Telecom, du, e&, Mobily, stc, TPG Telecom and Zain Saudi to its AI-RAN trials. The platform delivers over 20% spectral efficiency gains, with commercial products expected in 2027.

Nokia expands AI-RAN trials with eight new carriers
Science

XRISM catches neutron star feeding on blue hypergiant's stellar wind

Astronomers using Japan's XRISM X-ray observatory have directly observed a blue hypergiant's stellar wind being captured by its compact companion, a superdense neutron star. This captured material powers the system's strong X-ray flares.

XRISM catches neutron star feeding on blue hypergiant's stellar wind
Hardware

Minisforum S5 NAS packs up to 40TB into a fanless compact chassis

Minisforum has unveiled the S5, a compact fanless NAS built around Intel's 15W Core 3 304 processor. It offers five M.2 PCIe 4.0 x1 slots for up to 40TB of NVMe storage, plus 10 GbE and 2.5 GbE ports, Wi-Fi 7 and two USB4 ports. Pricing and release date are not yet announced.

Minisforum S5 NAS packs up to 40TB into a fanless compact chassis
Business

Oracle layoffs hit India: severance capped at six months' salary

Oracle is offering severance to employees in its latest layoff round, capped at 26 weeks of base salary regardless of tenure. Around 3,000 workers in India may be affected, with unvested options and RSUs cancelled.

Oracle layoffs hit India: severance capped at six months' salary