Technology

Meta's Muse AI was built to manage tasks, but users are developing romantic AI relationships and even calling the AI companion their girlfriend.

An old idea springs anew as a chorus of influential voices predicts that AI may trigger crises of vast magnitude In a preface to his book Capitalism and Freedom, the American economist Milton Friedman famously observed that a crisis can propel once-fringe ideas into the political mainstream. “Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around,” he wrote. The job of intellectuals, thinktanks and economists, he argued, is to refine the quality of these ambient ideas, so that good ones are ready when disaster strikes. Continue reading...

Mark Zuckerberg has made a deal with Meta to help him pay a proposed billionaire tax that is on the ballot in California

Biggest Apple smartwatch gets better health tracking and new readiness tools with a battery and chip boost in preparation for controversial audio AI As the Ultra enters its fourth year as Apple’s biggest and beefiest smartwatch it gets the best kind of spec upgrade – longer battery life – while waiting for something potentially more transformative. That’s because several of the key features announced as part of Apple’s new smartwatch lineup for 2026 have yet to be enabled, awaiting updates towards the end of this year. That leaves the £749 (€899/$799/A$1,349) Apple Watch Ultra 4 the top dog, but basically the same as last year’s model . Case size: 49 x 44mm Case thickness: 12mm Weight: 63g Processor: S11 Storage: 64GB Operating system: watchOS 27 Water resistance: 100 metres (10ATM) Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, wifi 4, 5G RedCap/4G, UWB Sensors: HR, ECG, spO2, temp, depth, dual-band GPS, compass, altimeter Continue reading...

Braden Peters, better known as the controversial influencer “Clavicular,” was in court today to enter a plea after he was accused of raping an intoxicated 17-year-old last April. NBC News’ George Solis reports.

AI was used to uncover a security weakness that affects most of the world's websites, researchers said. Here's what internet users should know.

Memphis has become a hotspot for data centers driven by Elon Musk's SpaceXAI.

A Minnesota murder suspect's notebook listed 11 people search websites, raising urgent questions about data broker opt-out and online privacy risks.

The language that’s known as the backbone of the internet is now subject to what experts are calling the one of the most notable vulnerabilities in recent memory

Medical laboratory operator Quest Diagnostics said it learned of a cyber breach of one of its systems this week, likely compromising some records for patients

The Wall Street giant is committing $500 million to expand its 10,000 Small Businesses program and launch an AI institute, partnering with Google, Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to bring AI know-how to Main Street. NBC's Christine Romans spoke exclusively with Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and with small businesses figuring out how to make AI work for them.

Scientists have traced Vincent van Gogh's “The Starry Night” to a celestial scene that suggests a new date for one of the world's most famous paintings

Consumer demand for Apple's first foldable phone is strong despite the device's hefty $1,999 price tag.

Google Universal Cart tracks price drops, surfaces promo codes and uses Google Wallet to match your best credit card rewards before checkout.

Governments and corporations worked throughout the night to update software after the AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities in a programming language vital to about 70% of websites globally

An assessment of the world's coral reef ecosystems has found that almost all face a high risk of collapse in the next 50 years mostly due to warming oceans and heat waves

The Audacity is a fearless satire taking on Silicon Valley’s ‘egomaniac weirdos’. Its creator and stars talk ayahuasca ceremonies, mining kids for data – and punching CEOs Showrunner Jonathan Glatzer wanted the tagline of his latest TV creation to be: “We’re so fucked.” He laughs. “Sadly it got rejected by the network. Hey, maybe I can use it for season two!” The show in question is The Audacity, his darkly comic drama about AI tech titans. Instead, it went with the more PG tagline “Move fast and break people” – a twist on “Move fast and break things”, the Facebook motto coined by Mark Zuckerberg. The Audacity promises to do for tech bros what Succession did for legacy media. Considering Glatzer is a former writer on Succession, that is no empty threat. This acerbic and all-too-timely Silicon Valley satire follows CEO Duncan Park (played by Billy Magnussen), the obscenely wealthy founder of a data analytics company. He’s a self-proclaimed “inventor of the future” who also happens to be a morally bankrupt man-baby. “Duncan is worth about half a billion,” says Glatzer. “Naturally, that’s not enough. He desperately wants to be a billionaire and ascend to what we call ‘God Mountain’. But he’s no God.” Continue reading...

You Can See Everything, a documentary about the disgraced biotech company founder Elizabeth Holmes, has enjoyed a record-breaking opening in the US. It is a testament to how fascinated we remain by the convicted fraudster, but what is behind the enduring appeal? US technology editor Blake Montgomery tells Madeleine Finlay why Holmes continues to fascinate us, and reflects on whether the Theranos scandal has had a permanent impact on Silicon Valley Continue reading...

Waze has rejected Malaysia's claims that it collects sensitive government information or allows exploitation of personal user data

With host communities across the U.S. turning against their gargantuan data centers, America’s technology giants are promising to take fewer taxpayer handouts, keep fewer secrets or shower more money onto the communities willing to allow the server war...