Designator

The Best Motion Sensors and Home Security Gadgets Without Cameras

Motion sensors and alternative systems can secure homes without cameras, offering private security options.

Moonstone: Modern, cross-platform Lua runtime and package manager written in Zig

Moonstone is a new cross-platform Lua runtime and package manager, developed using Zig, designed to provide reliable and deterministic Lua environments.

I Started a "Dirt Notebook"

A writer embraces messy note-taking by dedicating a "dirt notebook" to unorganized thoughts, quotes, and ideas, aiming to overcome the urge for perfectly structured journals.

DrDroid (YC W23) Is Hiring

DrDroid, a Y Combinator-backed startup, is hiring a product engineer in Bengaluru to develop AI agents that automate debugging and remediation for platform and infrastructure teams.

18 Jul2 min read

Vertu wants executives to pay $6,880 for an AI agent — here’s how it actually performs

Vertu's $6,880 Alphafold, marketed to executives with an AI agent for task automation, uses the same underlying hardware as the $1,100 ZTE Nubia Fold.

Kaiser nurses say AI, workplace surveillance are making their jobs, care worse

Kaiser Permanente nurses report that workplace surveillance and AI systems tracking call times and empathy are negatively impacting patient care and their ability to perform duties.

17 Jul16 min read

Databricks hits $188B valuation, extending its run as AI’s favorite second act

Databricks reaches a $188 billion valuation after a new funding round led by Coatue.

Taylor Farms pulls iceberg lettuce from the US market after cyclosporiasis outbreak

Taylor Farms pulls iceberg lettuce from the US market after a cyclosporiasis outbreak.

The Zoom hack that says, ‘Don’t record me’

VC Jeremy Levine adds a note to his Zoom name to prevent recording and transcription.

Agility Robotics plants its flag in Tesla’s backyard

Agility Robotics opens a 60,000-square-foot facility in Fremont, California to train its humanoid robots.

Shark’s versatile ChillPill cooling system is back to its best price

Shark's ChillPill cooling system is on sale for $99.99, offering a rechargeable fan and dry-touch mister.

AI-driven memory crunch jolts India’s smartphone market

India's smartphone market is declining due to rising handset prices caused by increased memory costs.

17 Jul5 min read

Wired

AWS Billing Glitch Hits Customers With Billion-Dollar Fees

An AWS billing glitch caused some customers to receive incorrectly inflated fees, ranging from millions to billions of dollars.

Remarkable’s new Paper Pure is good. That’s why I wrote this review on it.

The reMarkable Paper Pure tablet offers a monochrome display, improved handwriting conversion, calendar sync for meeting notes, and enhanced document sharing, targeting distraction-free work.

Mozilla: The state of open source AI

Mozilla's report on open-source AI highlights its rapid progress, with open models achieving parity with closed counterparts in many areas and dominating production token volume, despite closed models retaining a lead in frontier reasoning.

17 Jul10 min read

No product? No problem. This Disrupt 2026 session shows how to get pre-seed funding with conviction, storytelling

A TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 panel will address how pre-seed founders can secure funding through conviction and storytelling, even without a developed product, amidst increased AI startup investment.

9to5Google

Samsung’s plans for free storage upgrades become clearer as Galaxy Z Fold 8 nears launch

Samsung will reportedly offer free storage upgrades from 256GB to 512GB for its upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Flip 8 models, while a 50% upgrade cost will apply for the 1TB variant.

AI Meets Cryptography 2: What AI Found in OpenVM's ZkVM

An AI auditor identified a critical soundness bug in OpenVM's zkVM guest library, allowing malicious provers to forge pairing equalities, which was subsequently assigned CVE-2026-46669 and fixed.

17 Jul12 min read

Zoox issues software recall after a robotaxi got confused by heavy smoke

Zoox issued a software recall for its robotaxis after one vehicle struggled to navigate a smoke-filled emergency fire scene, prompting an update to enhance smoke detection.

9to5Google

Signal for Android will finally let you use one account on multiple devices

Signal for Android now allows using one account on multiple devices with a new link device feature.

First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

Researchers found an atmosphere on LHS 1140 b, a rocky planet in a distant star's habitable zone.

Over half a million power tool batteries have been recalled due to a USB-C charging fire risk

Over half a million power tool batteries have been recalled due to a USB-C charging fire risk.

Bethesda teases Fallout 5 soon after Xbox’s mass layoffs

Bethesda confirms Fallout 5 is in development, with the project currently in preproduction phase.

Three ways people respond to a problem (other than solving it)

People respond to problems by pushing them around, preserving them, or promoting new ones, rather than solving them.