Google is killing Assistant on phones September 4. Gemini is the only option left.
Google is discontinuing Assistant on Android phones starting September 4, replacing it entirely with Gemini. The shutdown process will take several weeks to complete across all devices.
Anthropic Puts Inline Data Loss Prevention Inside Claude Enterprise
Every employee prompt in Claude Enterprise now routes through an organization's security server for approval before reaching the model, using inference hooks launched August 5, 2026. This inline data loss prevention system applies to chat, Claude Code, and Claude Cowork sessions through a single organization-level configuration.
Tour de France Femmes: Vollering victorious on stage five as Ferrand-Prévot’s defence unravels
Demi Vollering won stage five of the Tour de France Femmes by outsprinting Marlen Reusser on Mont Brouilly's final gradients. Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, the defending champion, lost significant time to the three leaders who broke clear of the peloton in the Beaujolais vineyards.
GPU prices are approaching 2.5x their launch cost. Asus and Gigabyte just made it official with a second 2026 price hike.
GPU manufacturers Asus and Gigabyte announced their second price increase in 2026, raising RTX 50-series and Radeon RX 9000 cards by $207 to $666 per model. The RTX 5090D V2 saw the largest increase, with Gigabyte raising channel prices $592 and Asus raising them $666.
Jeff Dean Leaves Google to Automate the Scientific Method With Discovery Loop
Jeff Dean departed Google after 27 years to co-found Discovery Loop, a startup aiming to automate experimental loops in scientific research. Google confirmed it will serve as a founding investor and Cloud partner for the new venture.
The Shai-Hulud npm worm didn't fake its security check — it earned a legitimate one
An attacker compromised the GitHub account of keyv's maintainer and distributed poisoned versions across at least 868 packages with 1,381 total versions, accumulating over two billion monthly installs. The malicious releases carried valid provenance signatures that were legitimately earned rather than forged, presenting a new threat to supply chain security infrastructure.
Peer-Reviewed Studies Tie Ambient AI to More Surgeries at Houston Methodist
Ambient AI in Houston Methodist's operating room was associated with a 7% increase in surgical case volume, or approximately 25 additional cases per month in a cardiothoracic suite. The study analyzed 5,417 surgical cases over 16 months using Apella's computer-vision platform.
AI startup Hark unveils first product: an affordable, fast computer use agent Hark Handoff
A computer use agent called Handoff scores 97.7 on the Online-Mind2Web benchmark, outperforming OpenAI's GPT 5.4 at 92.8 and other competing models. The agent costs $0.18 per million input tokens and $2.37 per million output tokens with 0.8 seconds per-turn latency, and operates through a dedicated virtual computer with its own browser and file system.
UN Summit on HIV/AIDS Shows Incredible Progress in Infection Rates, Deaths, Treatment Access
New HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths reached their lowest levels in over 30 years according to a UNAIDS report. Seven countries including Benin, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Nepal, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe achieved nearly equal rates of new infections and people receiving treatment.
NASA’s Perseverance Captures Phobos and Earth
NASA's Perseverance rover captured images of Earth passing behind the Martian moon Phobos on July 2, 2026, using its Mastcam-Z instrument on the mission's 1,907th sol. The composite of seven images shows Earth as a small bright dot moving behind Phobos against a black background.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Watches Earth Vanish Behind Martian Moon
NASA's Perseverance rover captured images of Earth disappearing behind the Martian moon Phobos, marking the first time this phenomenon was photographed from Mars's surface. Earth appears as a point of light in the Martian sky as it passes behind Phobos, the larger of Mars's two moons.
Beyond ReAct: Building the modern AI agent stack for massive tool ecosystems
Large language models struggle with decision-making accuracy when given thousands of tools due to context window limitations. Modern AI agent systems use optimized planning and selective tool routing to improve performance without overwhelming the model's available context.
Advanced Mini-laboratories Automate Space Station Research
Redwire's ADvanced Space Experiment Processors automatically conduct science experiments on the International Space Station to reduce crew time requirements. Each ADSEP facility contains multiple automated devices designed to handle experiments that would otherwise consume hours of astronaut work.
Inspiring CEO Gives Company to Charity After Working 80-hour Weeks for 58 Years, Saving it from Bankruptcy
Eddie Smith Jr. worked 80-100 hour weeks for 58 years to transform the near-bankrupt boat builder Grady-White into a nine-figure company. He then gave the company to charity after decades of personal sacrifice.
Mastercard Extends Crypto Credential to Cross-Border Stablecoin Payments in Borderless.xyz Pilot
Mastercard is testing cross-border stablecoin payments through a pilot program with three initial participants that verifies compliance once at the payment's origin rather than repeatedly. The pilot includes Infinia, Walapay, and Koywe as participants in the Borderless.xyz network of stablecoin payment providers.
Sitting up straight may improve your mood and decision-making
Sitting upright caused participants to report more pride and take more successful risks in a virtual balloon game compared to hunching over. Most participants did not realize their posture had been manipulated, suggesting the effect was not based on their expectations about how posture should affect them.
Amazon canopy bridges enable 15,000 wildlife crossings without a single roadkill
Rope bridges constructed above roads in the Amazon allow wildlife to cross without descending to ground level, resulting in 15,000 documented crossings with no recorded roadkill incidents. Eight bridges were installed to help primates and other canopy-dwelling animals navigate across roads that fragment their forest habitat.
The Download: NASA’s new telescope and Chinese tech import curbs
NASA will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in late August, which can detect dark energy and identify potentially dangerous asteroids. The telescope combines capabilities for studying cosmic expansion with planetary defense monitoring.
Scientists discover the brain cells that keep you motivated
Orexin neurons help maintain motivation when rewards become harder to obtain. Blocking these brain cells in rats reduced their motivation to continue working toward goals.
Game, set, Chat: how tennis players use AI to scout opponents and run their lives
Emma Raducanu uses ChatGPT extensively for various daily tasks and asked it to generate a "Chat Wrapped" summary of her personality based on her usage patterns. The AI tool provided an accurate personality assessment that Raducanu found notably concise and insightful about her character traits.
80-million-year-old snake brain reveals a surprising evolutionary secret
An 80-million-year-old Brazilian snake fossil shows that early snakes occupied diverse habitats including burrowing, above-ground, and marine environments. Brain reconstructions of Tametara mirim revealed adaptations for burrowing while other contemporary fossils displayed sensory systems suited to different ecological niches.
Mastercard’s Marc Pettican on the road to a $17.4 trillion virtual card market
Virtual cards address accounts payable and receivable friction by reducing invoice chasing and late payments that occur more than 30% of the time. The virtual card market is projected to reach $17.4 trillion, with potential to reduce credit control teams that currently span 20 to 50 people at mid-sized corporations.
Single Fossil Shows a Pterosaur Eaten by an Ichthyosaur Eaten by a Pliosaur: ‘A 3-Way Chompfest’
A single fossil preserves three consecutive predator-prey events: a pterosaur consumed by an ichthyosaur, which was then eaten by a pliosaur. Scientists completed their seven-year study of this rare Cretaceous-era assemblage showing the marine food chain's apex predators.
YouTube star Simone Giertz has some life and science lessons to share with you
Simone Giertz, a Swedish engineer influencer, has accumulated over 2.5 million YouTube followers during more than a decade on the platform. Her content focuses on pursuing a non-traditional path within science and engineering.
Malaysia implements total e-waste import ban to curb toxic trade
Malaysia enacted a total ban on electronic waste imports in April 2026 to stop illegal smuggling of hazardous electrical scrap. The regulation targets black market recycling operations that use falsified paperwork to bring toxic materials into the country.
A colossal magma system has been hiding beneath Tuscany
A magma reservoir covering approximately 6,000 cubic kilometers has been detected beneath Tuscany using seismic sensors that recorded natural ground vibrations. The discovery demonstrates that massive volcanic systems can exist without surface indicators and may help locate geothermal energy sources and critical minerals.
How the ABA changed basketball forever: Dr J, George Gervin and the league that dared to be different
The American Basketball Association introduced innovations and a distinctive playing style that influenced professional basketball before merging with the NBA fifty years ago. George Gervin learned from Julius Erving through intense one-on-one sessions after official practice as a Virginia Squires rookie.
NASA’s new dark-energy space telescope can also detect killer asteroids
NASA will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope in August to study dark matter and dark energy in the universe. The telescope can additionally detect potentially hazardous asteroids during its observations from Kennedy Space Center.
What We’re Reading: Building a Massive Wildlife Corridor From Fragmented Lands
A massive wildlife corridor is being built to connect fragmented habitats separated by highways and infrastructure. The project addresses both habitat loss and fragmentation by linking previously isolated lands for wildlife movement.
How schools are winning children over to healthier lunches
The government is updating school food standards in England for the first time in over 10 years. Schools are successfully encouraging students to choose healthier lunch options through these revised nutritional requirements.