|
August 18, 2026, 1:05 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
A short video found in Apple's macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC appears to show a man demoing camera-equipped AirPods using Visual Intelligence and Siri to answer questions — Apple is working on camera-equipped AirPods that appear to be nearly ready to launch, based on a video MacRumors found in the macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate.
More: The Information, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, Computerworld, 9to5Mac, Futurism, TechSpot, Digital Trends, What Hi-Fi?, Spyglass, Daring Fireball, TechRadar, Android Authority, Tom's Guide, Engadget, The Mac Observer, Mashable, Notebookcheck, SoundGuys, PCMag, Gizchina, Forbes, GSMArena.com, The Shortcut, T3, Creative Bloq, Moneycontrol, OSnews, iThinkDifferent, The Verge, Gizmodo, Times of India, Digit, Appleosophy, Business Today, Macworld, and AppleInsider
X: @aaronp613, @aaronp613, @kylebrussell, @caro_milanesi, @autismcapital, @dylanmcd8, @parkerortolani, @mweinbach, @mweinbach, @brandonbutch, @samkohl, @zellzoi, @taylorlorenz, @st_eppel, @parkerortolani, @outofgalaxyy, @appltrack, @gregorymcfadden, @tgod34748, @shishirshelke1, @oliviatheehye, @snazzylabs, @aaronp613, @markgurman, @zollotech, @leakerapple, @michaelmiraflor, @idevicehelpus, @benbajarin, and @matthewberman
Bluesky: @simli, @manton.org, @martinsfp, and @carnage4life. Mastodon: @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social
Forums: r/apple, r/apple, and MacRumors Forums
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple's macOS Tahoe 26.7 RC references unreleased products: a Home Hub, home accessories, two new Beats, AirPods Pro 4, Apple Intelligence in China, and more — The macOS Tahoe 26.7 release candidate that Apple seeded today has references to several unreleased products, from home devices to iPhones, iPads, AirPods, and Macs.
More: Macworld, Thurrott, 9to5Mac, Gizmodo, Implicator.ai, Engadget, MacRumors, iThinkDifferent, Apple Must, and AppleInsider. Forums: MacRumors Forums
| Cecilia Kang / New York Times: |
OpenAI debuts ChatGPT for Teens, a mode that limits high-risk chats about self-harm, eating disorders, violence, and more, and has studying tools and guardrails — The artificial intelligence start-up announced a chatbot mode that will automatically limit some conversations to better protect young users.
More: OpenAI, The Verge, PCWorld, Business Standard, Moneycontrol, 9to5Mac, MacRumors, PCMag, TechCrunch, Associated Press, Livemint, UPI, Blockonomi, Digit, Neowin, Los Angeles Times, Engadget, Android Authority, Reuters, BBC, Axios, The Economic Times, Finimize, Digital Trends, Quartz, Seeking Alpha, The Decoder, The Independent, Wall Street Journal, CNN, Unite.AI, Bloomberg, Bitcoin Insider, Mashable, Fast Company, BMI, Financial Times, Daily Sabah, Yahoo Finance, Telecompaper, and MediaBrief
X: @kimmonismus, @btibor91, and @foxandfriends
LinkedIn: Lauren Haber Jonas and Leigh N.
| Apple: |
Apple unveils new EU business terms from October 1, resolving disputes with the EU, including a new Core Technology Commission and App Store commission tiers — Apple today announced changes to its business terms for apps in the European Union, following close collaboration with the European Commission.
More: The Verge, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Apple Must, and Michael Tsai
Forums: Hacker News and r/apple
| Bloomberg: |
The EU says it “welcomes Apple's changes” and they follow a “close dialogue”; IAP fees are 26%, alt payment processing fees are 20%, and link-out fees are 15% — Apple Inc. has agreed to a set of sweeping changes for its App Store in Europe, including dropping per-install fees … | Julian Chokkattu / Wired: |
Dutch company Fairphone launches its $650 flagship repairable Fairphone (Gen. 6+) in the US and plans to keep launching new phone generations every two years — More than a decade after launching in Europe, the Netherlands company is now selling its repairable phones in the US, starting with the Fairphone (Gen 6+).
More: Gizmodo, How-To Geek, Fairphone, PCMag, 9to5Google, BGR, Trusted Reviews, Android Police, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, The Verge, Android Authority, and Engadget
| Wired: |
Meta ran ads for a nudify app featuring a porn video with a deepfake closely resembling a prominent US politician; Apple removed the app from the App Store — One advertisement featured a pornographic video with a deepfake closely resembling a prominent US politician.| Michael Acton / Financial Times: |
In filings, Apple acknowledges App Store regulatory changes are weighing on its $100B+ services business; US App Store spend fell 6% YoY in Q2, per Sensor Tower — Court rulings and new App Store rules are beginning to weigh on one of the iPhone maker's profitable growth engines
More: Macworld, AppleInsider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, PYMNTS, and MacTech.com
| Juro Osawa / The Information: |
Alibaba says its new open-source multimodal model, Qwen3.8-27B, passed 1M+ downloads within a few days of release, making it one of its fastest-growing models — Alibaba Group said its new small-size AI model that customers can run on their own personal computers has been downloaded …
| Andy Greenberg / Wired: |
Q&A with Proton CEO Andy Yen on Proton's story, dislodging “a hundred million people” from Google, AI backlash, privacy, US politics, EU Chat Control, and more — Proton's CEO is a champion of encryption for everyone. So why is he going all in on un-encryptable AI?
Mastodon: @agreenberg@infosec.exchange
| Jonathan Vanian / CNBC: |
Opening arguments begin on Tuesday in the US state AGs' social media addiction lawsuit against Meta; New Mexico AG says the consequences could be “astronomical” — If New Mexico created the blueprint for taking on Meta, California could determine the company's fate when it comes …
More: Breitbart, Gizmodo, BBC, WKYT-TV, The Guardian, Engadget, Mirror, UPI, Silicon Republic, New York Times, India Today, Sky News, Fortune, Implicator.ai, Washington Post, Protecting Kids Online, New Jersey Office …, State of California, TechRadar, Attack of the Fanboy, Law.com, Motley Fool, Straight Arrow, The American Bazaar, NPR, New York Post, Fox Business, Livemint, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, and PetaPixel
X: @agrobbonta, @moreperfectus, @agjayjones, @agjayjones, @rahmemanuel, and @robbonta
Bluesky: @whodat35 and @ukbastard
Forums: Hacker News, r/inthenews, r/Foodforthought, r/democrats, r/UpliftingNews, r/technology, r/facebook, and Slashdot
| Owen Dahlkamp / Politico: |
Sources: AI-drafted bills are swamping the US House's Legislative Counsel, which now spends more time fixing them than it would spend to draft them from scratch — Congressional lawyers are struggling to manage a flood of legislative proposals generated using artificial intelligence tools …
More: Gizmodo, Engadget, New York Times, Townhall, and The Lever
Bluesky: @jackjenkins.me, @annmlipton, @fry69.dev, @andrewlevesque, @ohnoim.online, @jamesgoodwin, @frankpasquale, and @jtlg. Mastodon: @hrbrmstr@mastodon.social
Forums: r/politics and r/law
| Melia Robinson / Business Insider: |
Harvey announces Harvey Tenet, its first in-house, proprietary model for legal work, trained on mock disputes and case files using a version of Kimi K3 — Harvey built an $11 billion legal-software business on top of other companies' AI models. Now it's trying to prove it can build one of its own.| Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Situational Awareness offered part of its $5B Anthropic stake at a 20% discount as it scrambled for cash; word of its trouble left it “being hunted” — From whispers of an Anthropic stake sale to strange options moves, traders sensed trouble and swung into action
More: MarketWatch and New York Post
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
Reddit launches an early experiment to convert select text posts and comments into short videos with AI voiceovers, rolling out on the web, iOS, and Android — Reddit's latest experiment creates videos with AI voices reading posts and comments out loud.
More: TechCrunch, Mashable, PCMag, The American Bazaar, TechRepublic, Engadget, WeRSM, and RuntimeWire
Bluesky: @jaypeters.net and @seosavvyagent.com
Forums: r/redditstock and r/technology
| Jason Parham / Wired: |
Rogue Studio, which calls itself a “playground for creative ethical mischief”, launches Rogue 1.0, an AI video tool to make adult content of Hollywood quality — Rogue Studios, a new cinematic adult AI-generator, is betting big on the future of “sophisticated” spicy content.| Lauly Li / Nikkei Asia: |
Sources: Google has told suppliers it plans to move all Pixel phone, smartwatch, and wireless earbud manufacturing out of China in 2027 amid US-China tensions — TAIPEI — Google has told suppliers it plans to have all of its Pixel smartphones, watches and wireless earbuds produced outside …
More: Moneycontrol, MobileSyrup, Digit, 9to5Google, Engadget, Livemint, Blockonomi, @theweek, Notebookcheck, Business Today, and Telecompaper
X: @pstasiatech and @tculpan
| Brock E.W. Turner / Axios: |
Francisco Partners plans to take patient engagement software company Weave Communications private for ~$650M; Weave went public at a ~$1.5B valuation in 2021 — Francisco Partners plans to take patient engagement software company Weave Communications private for approximately $650 million, the companies announced Tuesday.
More: Pulse 2.0
| Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: |
Palona, which uses AI agents to automate real-time workflows in brick-and-mortar businesses, raised a $20M Series A, following a $10M seed in 2025 — Artificial intelligence startup Palona AI, which is building an intelligence operating layer for physical businesses, is ready to show …
More: Restaurant Technology News, Pulse 2.0, RuntimeWire, and FinSMEs
| Robbie Whelan / Wall Street Journal: |
AI inference chip startup Etched raised $700M led by its new server rack customer Jane Street at a $21B valuation, up from $10.3B after raising $300M in July — Etched, founded by Harvard dropouts, has its own in-office data center and has signed quant-trading firm Jane Street as its first customer.
More: Reuters, Finimize, Etched, and RuntimeWire
X: @packym, @christophersaum, @mattshumer_, @bentossell, @etched, @etched, @etched, and @trace_cohen
| Bloomberg: |
Baidu reports Q2 revenue down 2% YoY to ~$4.62B, below ~$4.69B est. and its fifth straight quarterly decline, and net income of ~$341M, as it lags AI rivals — Baidu Inc.'s revenue fell for a fifth consecutive quarter, reflecting a weakening position in ads as well as AI development against rivals like Moonshot.Sponsor Posts
Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything. Cape doesn't. — Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more. Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Most carriers track everything. Cape doesn't. — Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more. Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
Introducing qualified electronic signatures via SIGN8 for the EU — Every document carries a different level of risk, and the type of electronic signature you choose should reflect that.
Introducing qualified electronic signatures via SIGN8 for the EU — Every document carries a different level of risk, and the type of electronic signature you choose should reflect that.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.Featured Podcasts
Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Best of Big Technology: How Ozempic Changes Our Bodies, Minds, and Economy — With Johann Hari
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Zuckerberg's Anti-Doom Fantasy + Finally an A.I. Detector That Works + A.I. Math
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:05 PM ET, August 18, 2026.
The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.
From Mediagazer
Ted Johnson / Deadline:Ted Johnson / Deadline:
Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Prathik Jayaprakash / Reuters: |
| Connor Hart / Wall Street Journal: |
More: Payments Dive, PYMNTS, Sifted, Proactive, Finimize, The Independent, Adweek, Yahoo Finance, City A.M., Barron's Online, Reuters, and Blockonomi. Bluesky: @shamr0cker
| Madeleine Cuff / New Scientist: |
More: Google, Associated Press, Aerospace Technology Institute, and The Register
Earlier Picks
| David Sacks / @davidsacks: |
More: Inc, The Decoder, The Week, The Information, Breitbart, TechRepublic, The New Stack, Marcus on AI, and Quartz
X: @balaselvam, @wolfejosh, @neilturkewitz, @dimakrotov, @kvallier, @jenzhuscott, @genejchan, @romeovdean, @ramez, @taylorlorenz, @_the_prophet__, @mark_k, @alexframegreen, @deryatr_, @davidsacks, @jtlonsdale, @migtissera, @deanwball, @thestalwart, @amasad, @mtslive, @fidjissimo, @halvarflake, @ahall_research, @ccatalini, @rohanpaul_ai, @svpino, and @darioamodei
Forums: Hacker News and r/Snorkblot
| Stacy Cowley / New York Times: |
More: Straight Arrow. Bluesky: @rweingarten, @damonberes.com, @bradleyrsimpson, @mjgault, and @jessefelder.com
Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot
| Bloomberg: |
More: Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Quartz, Axios, Fortune, The Decoder, CTech, Neowin, TechCrunch, International Business Times, Bloomberg Law, Techstrong.ai, Reuters, CNBC, RuntimeWire, and Unite.AI
| Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch: |
| Bloomberg: |
More: NVIDIA, SiliconANGLE, OpenAI, New York Times, ZeroHedge News, Implicator.ai, Silicon UK, Blockonomi, Heatmap News, CNBC, The Neuron, Seoul Economic Daily, Financial Times, Neowin, Hindustan Times, Semafor, Motley Fool, JIJI PRESS, Barchart.com, Watcher Guru, New York Post, Yahoo Finance, Axios, International Business Times, TechCrunch, UPI, Techstrong IT, Pulse 2.0, The Verge, crypto.news, The Decoder, DatacenterDynamics, Business Standard, Capital Brief, Constellation Research, HotHardware, Unite.AI, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, and Wall Street Journal