Apple's AirPods 5 start at $129 and bring active noise cancellation and a swipe-based volume sensor previously reserved for Pro models. The $149 version adds a wireless charging case and five hours of battery life versus four on the base model.
Onsemi unveiled its Embedded Power Platform (EPP), which uses a 12-inch silicon wafer as the package substrate instead of a traditional PCB. The approach delivers up to 3–5x higher power density, 15% lower power losses, and 50% smaller solid-state circuit breakers for AI data centers. Subaru is the first announced partner for EVs.
The Basel Action Network estimates AI equipment will generate 395–617 million tonnes of e-waste between 2025 and 2050, equal to 15–23 million 40ft shipping containers. The report says 87% of data center hardware is unaccounted for in most figures, with each 1GW of capacity needing about 70,000 tonnes of electronics.
Oracle released JDK 27 with a final set of nine JEPs, and BellSoft shipped Liberica JDK 27. The week also brought Open J Proxy 1.0, A2A Jakarta 1.0, Azul Payara 7.4.0, JHipster 9.4.0, Ktor 3.6.0 and BoxLang 1.17.0, plus Netflix ja for JMS.
Figure says its Figure 03 humanoid with Helix 2.5 completed household tasks in 30 previously unseen Bay Area homes without retraining. It succeeded in 237 of 420 trials (56%), while a model trained without Index pretraining managed only 9%.
Surging AI compute performance is forcing a fundamental redesign of data center power architectures. Gallium nitride (GaN) is emerging as a key technology for meeting the industry's power demands.
A Florida driver, Kevin Finley, faced felony fleeing and reckless driving charges for nearly two years after being arrested at gunpoint in his own driveway. Footage from his Tesla's built-in Dashcam showed he never saw the unmarked patrol car, and a judge acquitted him before the case reached a jury.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
