Apple challenges UK government’s latest demand for iCloud backdoor: report
Apple has appealed a new legal demand by the U.K. government, which critics say could threaten the privacy rights of users all over the world.
Apple finally fixed Siri. So why does it feel anticlimactic?
Apple’s long-awaited AI overhaul finally makes Siri the assistant it was always supposed to be. But after years of delays, the launch lands in an AI landscape where chatbots have evolved into agents that can code, reason, create media, and complete complex tasks. Siri AI is genuinely useful, yet it arrives at a moment when … Read more
Outernet turns your saved posts into real-world adventures
Founded by the creators of viral offline events like San Francisco’s citywide scavenger hunt Pursuit, Outernet’s app helps users save places and events they discover online, then nudges them to actually go.
XRP Holders Can Now Borrow Ripple’s RLUSD on Ethereum Without Selling Their Crypto
Flare’s FXRP has been approved as collateral in a $280 million RLUSD lending vault, allowing XRP holders to tap Ethereum’s lending markets.
WhatsApp says it is is fixing an issue that disabled several accounts
Meta says it’s restoring access to WhatsApp accounts that were mistakenly flagged and placed “under review” after users reported being unexpectedly locked out of the messaging app.
Europe’s AI labeling and transparency rules are now in effect
The EU made some AI labels that companies can use instead of designing their own. | Image: The European Commission / The Verge The European Union has ushered in some additional rules that aim to make it easier for people to identify chatbots and AI deepfakes online. The new transparency obligations under the bloc’s landmark … Read more
Crypto Privacy Tools Serve ‘Essential Protective Functions’: Report by ChangeNOW, CoinRabbit
Authoritarian oppression, corporate treasuries and “wrench attacks” make up the privacy case in a new report from ChangeNOW and CoinRabbit.
From weeks to minutes: How Formula 1® uses agentic AI on AWS to accelerate data operations
Formula 1® (F1) engages an audience of over 800 million fans globally across digital platforms, F1 TV, social media, ticketing, and merchandise year-round. Races happen every two weeks. Fan engagement windows are measured in minutes and commercial decisions need to move at the speed of the grid. Behind the scenes, F1’s marketing technology (MarTech) platform, Customer … Read more
The first-gen Kindle Scribe is a big e-reader and digital notebook that’s $150 refurbished
The Scribe comes with a Premium Pen, which includes a built-in eraser. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge The Kindle Scribe is worth considering if you’re heading back to school, as its large 10.2-inch screen can display textbooks and ebooks, or let you jot down handwritten notes during class. Now through August … Read more
Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire leads $1B round for nuclear startup Valar Atomics
Valar Atomics raised $1 billion at a $6 billion valuation after signing a development deal with Nvidia in June.
Solo Bitcoin Miner Hits Jackpot, Scoring $200K BTC Reward
CKPool’s developer put the winner’s hashrate at a “wildly variable” peak of 100 PH, noting that it was probably rented.
Base Power raises another $1B to save the grid using backyard batteries
Base Power’s $1 billion round will help the startup ramp production of its home batteries.
Kenya moves 30 million academic credentials onto Avalanche blockchain
A new digital verification platform aims to reduce forged certificates by allowing employers and universities to authenticate academic records onchain.
Congress’s favorite AI tool? ChatGPT
House spending records show OpenAI’s ChatGPT dominates paid AI use on Capitol Hill, with congressional offices relying on the chatbot to draft memos, summarize legislation, and assist constituent communications.
Microsoft is bringing Xbox 360 games to PC
Building on its recently announced plans to bring original Xbox games to PC, Microsoft is also planning to let developers bring their Xbox 360 games to PC as well, according to a leaked document, seen by The Verge, that was sent to developers recently. Xbox 360 games will be able to run on the next-gen … Read more
Automated Reasoning policy refinement in Amazon Bedrock
Refining an Automated Reasoning policy in Amazon Bedrock has been a manual cycle of diagnose, hand-edit, retest, and repeat. Today, we are announcing automatic policy refinement, which automates the diagnose-and-fix work in that cycle. The refinement engine diagnoses failing tests and proposes formal-logic fixes. You approve every change before it takes effect. Automated Reasoning checks … Read more
Wispr Flow is preparing to launch a meeting notetaker, updated terms suggest
Wispr Flow’s new terms of service indicate it will introduce a notetaker that generates meeting summaries and action items.
Trump Family’s American Bitcoin Tops 8,000 BTC After Record Mining Quarter
The Hut 8 subsidiary increased its Bitcoin holdings by 14% in the second quarter even as Bitcoin’s price fell.
BlackRock launches tokenized money market funds for stablecoin reserves
The asset manager introduced two blockchain-based money market funds designed to qualify as stablecoin reserve assets under the US GENIUS Act.
Meet the Hackathon Winner: Packworks on the Future of Phygital Retail and Building With Bright Data
Welcome to HackerNoon’s Meet the Hackathon Winner interview series, where we peel back the layers of winning projects across our hackathons for a peek at the technical and operational decisions that propelled them to our winners’ podium. Meet Packworks: Proof of Usefulness Hackathon Winner in the Bright Data Category Packworks was one of four projects … Read more
Tom Lee’s Bitmine Buys More Ethereum, Adds to Stock Buyback
The crypto treasury company says it added another 10,399 ETH last week, bringing its holdings to nearly 5.8 million ETH as it pushes toward its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.
Trump-linked American Bitcoin president Matt Prusak departs for Giga Energy
The executive is leaving the Eric Trump-backed miner to join an AI power infrastructure firm, highlighting the shift toward energy and data center buildout.
Hashdex to shut smallest Bitcoin ETF after more than two years
The spot price Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which was never able to attract more than $18 million in net assets, will pay out investors and sell its 225 BTC in the coming weeks.
Bluesky’s new CEO wants a big tent, not a bubble
Today, I’m talking with Toni Schneider, who is the brand new CEO of the social platform Bluesky — he formally took over after a short stint as interim CEO. This is one of my favorite kinds of interviews to do on Decoder, because a couple years ago, we had Bluesky’s prior CEO, Jay Graber, on … Read more
Palworld’s expanding to mobile with a new MMORPG
After its 1.0 launch last month, Palworld is coming to iOS and Android with a new open-world MMORPG launching later this year, Polygon reports. Garena, the developer behind the new game, says in its announcement that Palworld Online “reimagines the depth, freedom, and scale of the original PC survival creature-collecting title for mobile.” The core … Read more
U.S.-Japan intervention revives yen carry trade fears for bitcoin
Coordinated action sent the yen sharply higher, but bitcoin’s recent correlation suggests U.S. dollar strength, rather than the carry trade, may be the bigger risk.