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Tech News

September 22
Science

True Anomaly and Northrop Grumman to Build GHOST-R Reconnaissance Prototypes

DIU and Space Systems Command awarded True Anomaly and Northrop Grumman contracts for GHOST-R reconnaissance satellite prototypes under the RG-XX program. The spacecraft are to reach orbit by 2028 at lower cost, with Northrop promising a 24-month prototype based on its ESPASat-L bus.

AI

DOJ seeks AI legal assistant for pilot program

The US Justice Department has asked vendors for information on commercial AI legal assistant platforms. A pilot with 20–30 government users would test autonomous multi-step legal tasks and handling up to 100,000 documents per session.

DOJ seeks AI legal assistant for pilot program
Gadgets

AI glasses shipments surged 263% in H1 2026, Counterpoint says

Counterpoint Research reports global AI glasses shipments jumped 263% year over year in the first half of 2026. Meta captured 94% of the display-less segment with volumes up 260%, while the AR display segment grew 449%, led by Rokid at 41%.

AI glasses shipments surged 263% in H1 2026, Counterpoint says
Science

Europe Pushes Faster Procurement for Space Defense

At the Space and Defense & Security Summit, EDA and European Commission officials said Ukraine has accelerated a rethink of military requirements, cutting agreement times from up to 1.5 years to about six months. Key hurdles remain consensus among all 27 member states, certification and access to space, with the IRIS² program at the center.

Business

SoftBank's SB Energy delays IPO as investors question $50B+ valuation

SB Energy, SoftBank's energy unit, has delayed its IPO, originally planned for this month, as investors question the sought-after valuation of over $50B. Several data-center-related companies have also postponed offerings amid growing public backlash against energy-hungry facilities.

SoftBank's SB Energy delays IPO as investors question $50B+ valuation
Science

Neuralink Implant Lets ALS Patient Speak Again via Thoughts

Neuralink released a video showing Terry, an ALS patient and the third participant in its VOICE trial, communicating as his brain implant converts thought words into speech.

Neuralink Implant Lets ALS Patient Speak Again via Thoughts
Science

Katalyst to Demo Space-Based Power Beaming for Pentagon Program

Katalyst Space has been selected by the Pentagon's Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund to demonstrate space-based power beaming to remote locations with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Under the ASGARD program, a Katalyst Nexus spacecraft will use robotic arms to assemble a large-format power beaming system on orbit that converts solar energy into radio frequency microwaves and transmits it to Earth.

AI

Gemini Notebook adds configurable output languages

Gemini Notebook now offers an Output Language setting for chat responses, study guides, documentation, Audio Overviews and Video Overviews. Google lists over 80 supported languages, though coverage can vary by feature.

Gemini Notebook adds configurable output languages
Science

Volkswagen ID. Buzz Sets Guinness Record: 92 Countries in 445 Days

Driver Rainer Zietlow covered 99,767 km in 445 days in a production Volkswagen ID. Buzz, visiting 92 countries across six continents with 16 ocean crossings. It set a Guinness World Record for most countries visited in a continuous journey by an electric vehicle, and the battery retained 95.75% state of health after 300+ charging cycles.

Volkswagen ID. Buzz Sets Guinness Record: 92 Countries in 445 Days
Science

Ceer unveils EXOBOT, Saudi Arabia's first electric SUV and sedan

Saudi EV brand Ceer, founded by the PIF in 2022, revealed its flagship EXOBOT electric SUV and sedan. The SUV packs a 112 kWh battery, 850 hp and a 0-100 km/h time of 2.6 seconds with up to 560 km of NEDC range; seven models are planned over five years.

Ceer unveils EXOBOT, Saudi Arabia's first electric SUV and sedan
Policy

British Columbia Sues OpenAI Over Canada Mass Shooting Warning Failure

British Columbia filed a lawsuit in California on Monday against OpenAI, alleging the company could have used ChatGPT logs to warn police and avert a mass shooting in the Canadian province earlier this year.

Hardware

Snapping elastic rods let frog-like robot outrun rigid legs on six terrains

Roboticists at UCLA Samueli and the University of Michigan showed that elastic rods can be bent and twisted to repeatedly snap between shapes, releasing stored energy so small robots can hop, flip and swim. The design outperformed rigid-legged robots across six terrain types.

Snapping elastic rods let frog-like robot outrun rigid legs on six terrains
Gadgets

Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 review: replaceable batteries and Dolby Atmos

Sennheiser's flagship 2026 wireless in-ears, the MOMENTUM True Wireless 5, succeed the True Wireless 4. They bring a redesigned ergonomic shape, new colors and case, improved ANC, Dolby Atmos audio, and replaceable batteries in both the buds and case.

Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 5 review: replaceable batteries and Dolby Atmos
Gaming

Persona 4 Revival Brings Back Johnny Yong Bosch as Adachi

Atlus confirmed Johnny Yong Bosch will reprise his role as Tohru Adachi in Persona 4 Revival, making him the only original cast member returning for the remake. Judy Alice Lee (Aika Nakamura), Courtney Shaw (Nanako Dojima) and Ray Chase (Ryotaro Dojima) were also announced. The game launches Feb. 18, 2027 on PS5, PC and Xbox Series X, with a Switch 2 version on May 20, 2027.

Persona 4 Revival Brings Back Johnny Yong Bosch as Adachi
Business

GM Confirms Future EVs Will Still Drop Apple CarPlay

GM has denied reports that it is reversing its plan to drop CarPlay and Android Auto from future EVs. CarPlay support in the 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra applies only to gas-powered versions, while the electric 2027 Cadillac LYRIQ remains an exception.

GM Confirms Future EVs Will Still Drop Apple CarPlay
Security

U.S. jails expand continuous biometric monitoring as data rules lag

A growing number of U.S. jails are adopting continuous physiological and video monitoring of people in custody, while common rules for storing and accessing the data remain absent. 4Sight Labs urged agencies to add data-residency, access and deletion requirements; its systems are used by over 80 agencies in 19 states.

U.S. jails expand continuous biometric monitoring as data rules lag
Gadgets

Bose launches TV Speaker (2nd Gen) soundbar for $299

Bose has introduced the TV Speaker (2nd Gen), a refreshed compact soundbar priced at $299, six years after the original. The key upgrade is a dedicated center-channel tweeter for dialogue, while single-HDMI and Bluetooth connectivity remain.

Bose launches TV Speaker (2nd Gen) soundbar for $299
Software

Microsoft reminds admins IE Mode in Edge ends by late 2029

Microsoft sent admins a reminder (MC1473151) that IE Mode in Edge will be retired by the end of 2029. The company will give at least one year's notice, but urges organizations to start migrating legacy apps now.

Microsoft reminds admins IE Mode in Edge ends by late 2029
Policy

Bitcoin Hits $86,331 as SEC Clears Digital Securities Trading

Bitcoin rose 6.5% to $86,331, its highest since late January, after the SEC approved trading of digital versions of securities in the US. Falling oil prices and a broader return of risk appetite also helped crypto move past the stalled Clarity Act and recent Fed rate hike.

Science

Largest Supernova Catalog Yet: 2,884 Explosions Hint Dark Energy May Evolve

An international team led by the University of Queensland compiled the largest catalog of 2,884 Type Ia supernovae. The data add to evidence that dark energy may change over time rather than remain constant, as the standard cosmological model assumes.

Largest Supernova Catalog Yet: 2,884 Explosions Hint Dark Energy May Evolve
Hardware

IDC: Server Market Grew 52% to $166.3B in Q2 2026

IDC estimates the worldwide server market hit $166.32 billion in Q2 2026, up 52% year over year and 35.6% sequentially. GPU-accelerated systems accounted for 52.5% of revenue ($87.4 billion), with average selling prices up 43.5% to $170,220, while XPU system sales jumped 3.4x to $27.5 billion.

IDC: Server Market Grew 52% to $166.3B in Q2 2026
Gaming

Minecraft Live September 2026 set for September 26

Mojang confirmed Minecraft Live will take place on September 26 at 10 AM PT / 7 PM CEST. The stream is expected to show upcoming 2026 game drops and likely the next chapter of Minecraft Dungeons 2.

Minecraft Live September 2026 set for September 26
Software

Dave Plummer Releases Task Manager OG for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Retired Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer, author of the original Windows Task Manager, has released Task Manager OG (TMOG), a modern replacement that runs on Windows 11, Windows 11 on Arm, macOS, and Linux. A free version is available, while TMOG Pro costs $39.95 and adds Power & freq, Flight Recorder, Connections, Drivers, and benchmarks. The app is fully native code with no Electron.

Dave Plummer Releases Task Manager OG for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Gadgets

Apple may launch screen-less Watch Air health tracker to rival Whoop and Fitbit Air

Bloomberg reports Apple has spent about a year exploring a screen-less health band, the most plausible concept in a broader wearable redesign. The sensor stack and Readiness scoring engine already shipped in Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4, but there is no name, price or launch date.

Apple may launch screen-less Watch Air health tracker to rival Whoop and Fitbit Air
Policy

California Gov. Newsom signs seven bills regulating data centers

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed seven bills aimed at regulating the fast-growing data center industry. The new rules impose requirements on electricity costs, water use, and local oversight.

California Gov. Newsom signs seven bills regulating data centers
Software

iOS 27 adds a standalone Siri app to the iPhone Home Screen

Apple has released iOS 27 with a new standalone Siri app, pre-installed on iPhone for the first time. It offers a chat-style interface with conversation history, iCloud sync across Apple devices, and access to personal context. The app is limited to Apple Intelligence-capable devices, starting with iPhone 15 Pro.

iOS 27 adds a standalone Siri app to the iPhone Home Screen
AI

Kev: open decision models let AI agents choose without generating text

Developer Jared Palmer released Kev, a family of open decision models built on Qwen 3.5 with 0.8B, 4B and 9B parameters. Kev is prefill-only: it scores candidates in a single forward pass via a pointer head, skipping autoregressive decoding. Kev-9B reached 83.7% accuracy on the project's locked out-of-domain test.

Kev: open decision models let AI agents choose without generating text
Policy

Treasury chief: AI bosses, not bots, will be held liable for criminal acts

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said humans, not AI models, are responsible for the criminal actions of AI agents, citing the Hugging Face incident involving OpenAI. He rejected labs' proposals to shield them from legal liability for damages caused by rogue systems.

Treasury chief: AI bosses, not bots, will be held liable for criminal acts
Hardware

Australian RAM and SSD prices surge as memory shortage tightens supply

Australia's memory shortage has pushed a Samsung 4TB SSD from about A$500 to A$1,149 and 16GB RAM modules from about A$60 to A$200–300. Gartner expects DRAM and SSD prices to rise as much as 130% by the end of 2026, while HPE cut quote validity from 30 to 14 days.

Australian RAM and SSD prices surge as memory shortage tightens supply
AI

Meta's Muse hits 902K+ downloads in six days after launch

Sensor Tower data shows Meta's new AI agent Muse was downloaded over 902K times in the six days after its Sept. 8 launch, compared with 773K for Meta AI in the same post-launch window. META shares jumped more than 12%.

Meta's Muse hits 902K+ downloads in six days after launch