Designator

What even is a ‘microdrama’?

RoseBerry Media is re-editing the Australian soap opera "Neighbours" into vertical video "microdramas" for the Epis streaming platform, aiming to introduce the classic series to new audiences.

California bans child marriage, a practice still legal in 32 US states

California has banned child marriage, requiring individuals to be 18 to wed, a practice still legal in 32 US states and often trapping minors in abusive relationships.

Show HN: Yantra – an LALR(1) parser generator for C++

Yantra is a new LALR(1) parser generator for C++ that builds a full Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) first, then walks it top-down, allowing parent rule actions to execute before children.

1 Oct5 min read

Vivo’s X Fold 6 accidentally feels like a throwback

Vivo's X Fold 6, launching internationally after its China release, features a tall, square-ish foldable design that now feels outdated compared to newer, wider form factors.

1 Oct3 min read

Elon Musk’s Grokipedia has a ‘newly refreshed’ design

Elon Musk's AI-powered Grokipedia, a competitor to Wikipedia, received a visual refresh with a new logo, updated homepage, and improved live edits page, following a period of inactivity.

1 Oct3 min read

Google releases Gemini 4 Argon, called its most powerful model yet

Google has released Gemini 4 Argon, an AI model specifically trained for defensive cybersecurity work, capable of autonomously finding, validating, and patching critical software vulnerabilities.

The new and huger Paramount has a new co-CEO

Paramount appointed Ynon Kreiz, former Mattel CEO, as co-CEO alongside David Ellison, ahead of its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, with Kreiz focusing on daily operations.

9to5Google

Google aware of Android Auto bug that blocks calls if your foldable phone is closed

An Android Auto bug prevents outgoing calls from closed foldable phones, like the Motorola Razr, with Google and Motorola acknowledging the issue.

Google reportedly tests paying publishers for AI search results

Google is reportedly testing a pilot program that compensates approximately 100 publishers for their content used in its AI-powered search features and Gemini chatbot.

Pledge signed by President Trump and top AI leaders misspells the United States

A joint pledge signed by President Trump and top AI leaders, committing to AI safety measures, misspelled "United States" as "Unites States" on the official document.

Ars Technica

BMW opens US order books for the new gas and electric 3 Series

BMW has opened US orders for its 2027 3 Series sedan, offering both gasoline and, for the first time, fully electric powertrains built on the new Neue Klasse platform.

Google launches Fitbit Air in India, though its high price might deter the masses

Google launched the screen-less Fitbit Air fitness tracker in India at a premium price of ₹13,999, potentially hindering its market penetration despite its health tracking features.

30 Sept5 min read

Cerebras Systems’ Andrew Feldman on whether AI can keep scaling at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman will discuss the future of AI scaling, addressing growing demands for compute, energy, and infrastructure, and the potential limits of current hardware.

30 Sept4 min read

Sam Altman says OpenAI won’t go public until its models are safe

Sam Altman stated OpenAI will not go public until its AI models are demonstrably safe, citing a desire to avoid Wall Street pressure during a period of significant capability advancements and new safety requirements.

30 Sept4 min read

America.gov gets really weird when you ask it about Minecraft, but it’s not a glitch

The new America.gov AI chatbot, built by Google and SpaceXAI, responds to Minecraft inquiries with a rewritten version of the game's "End Poem," an intentional easter egg, not a glitch.

Livenerf: Has Opus 5.5 been nerfed yet?

Livenerf is a new, deterministic benchmark designed to detect if large language models, specifically Claude Opus 5.5, degrade in performance after their initial launch by statistically measuring drift over thousands of samples.

29 Sept13 min read

Ars Technica

Most powerful obesity drug yet: People lost up to 25% of weight in trial

A new obesity drug, retatrutide, led to an average 25 percent body weight loss in patients over 80 weeks during late-stage clinical trials, also improving cardiometabolic health and resolving prediabetes.

29 Sept5 min read

Trump orders US government to call AI ‘Super Intelligence’

President Trump signed an executive order mandating that all US government entities replace the term "artificial intelligence" with "Super Intelligence" in official communications and documents.

29 Sept4 min read

The internet is convinced Elon Musk’s xAI trolled OpenAI’s ‘Dots’ launch

Elon Musk's xAI acquired the "dot.com" domain, redirecting it to Grok's download page, which many internet users interpret as a deliberate troll of OpenAI's new "Dots" AI agent.

Your car and its mobile app are probably handing over all kinds of data to tech companies

A new study found that 19 of 21 tested vehicles and 7 of 30 companion apps share sensitive driver data, including location and personal identifiers, with third-party tech companies.

After losing his voice to cancer, this founder is building “glasses for voice”

Uhura Bionics developed a non-invasive wearable device, Whitney, that allows laryngectomees to speak with emotion, laugh, and sing, aiming to provide a more natural voice than traditional options.

Oura shelves its $2.2B IPO citing ‘uncertainty’ in the market

Smart ring maker Oura has indefinitely postponed its up to $2.2 billion initial public offering, citing "uncertainty in the IPO market," despite strong product reception and projected 90% revenue growth.

Ars Technica