Friday, October 16, 2026
Published 7:01 AM · 120 articles from 14 sources · about 5 min to read in full
Tech industry
Memory shortages driven by AI demand hit consumer hardware, and chip supply chains are renegotiating around US capacity. Platform terms and AI-assisted engineering produced the other notable items.
What happened
Bank of America's CEO says the bank hired 1,000 contractors in Q2 to patch vulnerabilities identified by Mythos, and they are still working. It is a concrete measure of the remediation cost that AI-driven bug discovery creates. The Register ↗
Smartphone shipments fell sharply as AI-driven memory shortages raised component costs. Analysts expect little relief before 2028. The Register ↗
SK Hynix's Solidigm reportedly seeks US approval to ship more chip equipment to its China fab while weighing a new US NAND factory. TSMC, meanwhile, is sending staff to check US datacenter construction and power supply, with up to $64B budgeted for expansion. TechCrunch ↗
Meta's new commercial terms will have business accounts consent to scraping of their websites starting October 30, per legal experts quoted by Nieman Lab. Hacker News (front page) ↗
Ramp reached a $60B valuation as annualised revenue passed $2B and customers hit 85,000. TechCrunch ↗
A developer reports a $24,000 AI-assisted experiment porting the TypeScript compiler to Rust, claiming twice the speed of the Go rewrite. Linus Torvalds has also shared views on AI-assisted kernel contributions, per a Lobsters thread. The Register ↗
Withings now charges new users $99/year to sync health data with Apple Health, which drew criticism on Hacker News. Hacker News (front page) ↗
Articles the model saw · 25
BIPM voted to abolish the leap second, expediting the change to take effect May 20 next year, ending a long-standing timekeeping adjustment.
The VergetimestandardsinfrastructureFeed excerpt
An important change will soon be made to global timekeeping that aims to prevent potential infrastructure failures akin to the Y2K bug scare. On Thursday, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) voted to scrap the leap second, an ad hoc time adjustment that's occasionally added so tracked time standards mirror the Earth's real (and inconsistent) rotation. BIPM members previously agreed in 2022 to cease using leap seconds on or before 2035, but this is now being expedited to take effect on May 20th next year, aligning with World Metrology Day. There's an unprecedented reason for its retirement being brought forward: changes t … Read the full story at The Verge.
Linus Torvalds shares his views on AI-assisted contributions to the Linux kernel, per a Lobsters discussion thread.
LobsterslinuxkernelaiFeed excerpt
Comments
Tesla showed its next-generation Roadster driving upside down, briefly flying, and hitting 60mph in under a second, with no pricing or release details.
The VergeteslaroadsterdemoFeed excerpt
Elon Musk promised a flying car. And the Tesla Roadster did exactly that. Tesla demonstrated its next-generation Roadster at an event in Waco, Texas, where the electric supercar drove upside down, briefly flew, and accelerated to 60mph in under a second. It was an impressive demonstration of a car that likely will come with some heavy caveats and restrictions if it ever goes into production. The event was less than 30 minutes and felt more like a stunt show than a product reveal. Indeed, there was no mention of price, trim levels, release date, or other such mundane details. Musk promised the hypercar would go into production in 2028, b … Read the full story at The Verge.
Meta's new commercial terms will have business accounts consent to scraping of their websites starting October 30, per legal experts.
Hacker News (front page)metascrapingprivacyFeed excerpt
Article URL: https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/10/metas-new-commercial-terms-will-allow-the-scraping-of-news-sites-legal-experts-say/ Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50111852 Points: 67 # Comments: 21
The Rust project announced the release of Rust 1.99.1.
LobstersrustreleaseFeed excerpt
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KDE marks its 30th anniversary with Plasma 6.8, remote upgrade features, and a formal farewell to the X11 session.
Ars TechnicakdelinuxdesktopFeed excerpt
KDE celebrates 30 years with a new Plasma release, a farewell to X11, and a movie.
Withings now charges new users $99/year to sync health data with Apple Health, drawing criticism on Hacker News.
Hacker News (front page)withingsapple-healthsubscriptionFeed excerpt
Article URL: https://support.withings.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/51887047154577-Unacceptable-Apple-Health-Sync-is-now-behind-a-99-year-paywall-for-new-accounts Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109375 Points: 17 # Comments: 6
A developer reports a $24,000 AI-assisted experiment porting the TypeScript compiler to Rust, claiming twice the speed of the Go rewrite.
The Registertypescriptrustai-codingFeed excerpt
Microsoft's Go rewrite gets some competition, with a developer claiming his port runs twice as fast
Volvo expands its nearly decade-long Nvidia partnership to automated driving beyond battery electric vehicles.
TechCrunchautomotivenvidiaautonomous-drivingFeed excerpt
Volvo is leveling up its automated driving system through an expansion of its nearly decade-long partnership with Nvidia that will extend beyond its battery electric vehicles.
SK Hynix's Solidigm reportedly seeks US approval to ship more chip equipment to its China fab while weighing a new US NAND factory.
TechCrunchsk-hynixexport-controlssemiconductorschinaFeed excerpt
SK Hynix’s Solidigm is reportedly seeking U.S. approval to send more chipmaking equipment to China as it weighs building a new NAND chip factory in America.
Smartphone shipments fell sharply as AI-driven memory shortages raised component costs, with analysts expecting little relief before 2028.
The Registersmartphonesmemorymarket-dataFeed excerpt
AI's appetite for components hammers budget handsets, with analysts seeing little relief before 2028
E Ink announced Kaleido 4, a next-generation color e-paper with better color reproduction, contrast, and faster refresh than Kaleido 3.
The Vergee-inke-readersdisplayFeed excerpt
E Ink announced the next generation of its Kaleido color e-paper screen technology today, delivering several welcome improvements. The company's existing Kaleido 3 displays can be found in e-readers and tablets from companies like Kobo, PocketBook, and Boox, while Amazon's Kindle Colorsoft uses a customized version to improve performance. The new Kaleido 4 technology addresses some of Kaleido 3's shortcomings with improved color reproduction, better contrast, and faster screen refreshes. Other E Ink technologies, like its Gallery 3 display found in the Remarkable Paper Pro, use colored pigments that move around to form full-color images, bu … Read the full story at The Verge.
Nvidia's RTX Spark Arm chip is launching in Asus laptops, promising Windows apps run natively on Arm after the failed original Surface RT.
The VergenvidiaarmwindowslaptopsFeed excerpt
An Nvidia RTX Spark chip aboard an Asus laptop motherboard. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Fourteen years ago this month, Microsoft released an Nvidia-powered Windows PC that would become one of the greatest tech flops in modern history. The original Microsoft Surface, which ran a stripped-down version of Windows on an Nvidia Tegra chip, bombed so hard that Microsoft had to write off $900 million in inventory. The problem was that Nvidia's Arm chip couldn't run existing Windows apps. Buyers had to leave their legacy programs behind. This Friday, October 16th, Nvidia will once again be at the heart of Arm-powered Windows PCs with the first wave of RTX Spark laptops. But now, the company says, they'll run everything. Adobe. Offic … Read the full story at The Verge.
Microsoft redesigned the Windows 11 Photos app to merge local, OneDrive, and iCloud galleries into one browsing view.
The VergemicrosoftwindowsonedriveicloudFeed excerpt
Link your image libraries together into one easy browsing gallery. | Image: Microsoft Microsoft has redesigned its Photos app for Windows 11, overhauling the editor and image viewer, and combining photos and videos from your PC, OneDrive, and iCloud into a single space. The new combined gallery experience aims to make it easier to manage and view your photos without jumping between apps or devices, while also improving app launch and scrolling performance in Photos. To combine your galleries in the Windows 11 Photos app, you'll need to turn on Camera Backup in the OneDrive mobile app on iOS or Android, and follow Apple's guide to set up iCloud for Windows. Once combined in the Windows 11 Photos app, you can browse by date, o … Read the full story at The Verge.
Ramp reached a $60B valuation as annualized revenue passed $2B and customers hit 85,000.
TechCrunchfundingfintechaiFeed excerpt
The funding comes as Ramp's annualized revenue crosses $2B, and its customer count reaches 85,000.
Google's Universal Cart shopping tool has launched in the US across Search and the Gemini app.
TechCrunchgooglegeminishoppingFeed excerpt
The new shopping tool is available in the U.S. across Google Search and the Gemini app.
Bank of America's CEO says it hired 1,000 contractors in Q2 to patch vulnerabilities identified by Mythos, and they are still working.
The Registerbank-of-americapatchingmythosFeed excerpt
CEO said the workers were hired in Q2 and are still helping today
Microsoft claims Windows 11 is up to 20 percent more responsive after performance work on Start, Explorer, Search, and memory use.
The Vergewindows-11microsoftperformanceFeed excerpt
Earlier this year Microsoft laid out a plan to fix Windows 11, with a focus on performance, reliability, and the overall OS experience. After months of fixes, Microsoft now says the "result is a Windows experience that's up to 20 percent more responsive." Microsoft has made improvements to Start, File Explorer, Search, Edge, and other parts of Windows 11 to make it feel faster and more responsive. "A big part of that work is making smarter use of memory and system resources," says Navjot Virk, corporate vice president of Windows experiences at Microsoft. "We've improved memory management and efficiency across Windows to help keep more of yo … Read the full story at The Verge.
TSMC is sending staff to assess US datacenter construction progress and power supply, while budgeting up to $64B for expansion.
The RegistertsmcsemiconductorsdatacentersFeed excerpt
Silicon giant budgets up to $64B for expansion while keeping an eye on construction progress and power supplies
Rocket Lab delayed the first Neutron launch to 2027 due to carbon composite problems.
The Registerrocket-labspaceflightdelayFeed excerpt
Carbon composite woes cause another delay for Peter Beck's Hungry Hippo
Ubuntu 26.10 "Stonking Stingray" shipped with Linux 7.3, GNOME 51, and completed its migration to Rust coreutils.
PhoronixubuntulinuxrustFeed excerpt
Ubuntu 26.10 "Stonking Stingray" is now officially available as the newest six-month non-LTS update to Ubuntu Linux...
Blue Origin is building New Glenn launch infrastructure designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade.
Ars Technicaspaceblue-originrocketsFeed excerpt
The infrastructure is designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade.
Ars Technica reviews Google's Googlebook, finding Android on laptops promising but still rough, with much work ahead.
Ars TechnicagoogleandroidreviewlaptopsFeed excerpt
Android laptops are here, but Google has a lot of work ahead to make them good.
The Register reports on an open source sovereignty event focused on migration targets, security rules, and metrics.
The Registeropen-sourcesovereigntyeventFeed excerpt
Migration targets, security rules, and management metrics take center stage at this year's event
Benchmark's commentary says AI is making the venture capital norm against backing rival startups harder to maintain.
TechCrunchventure-capitalaistartupsFeed excerpt
Benchmark says the Valley’s rule against backing rivals is getting harder to keep.