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Waymo Opens Van Fleet to Public Riders Across Three US Cities

The Alphabet-owned robotaxi operator has completed its phased rollout of larger Ojai vehicles, expanding capacity options for autonomous ride-hailing customers in its core West Coast markets.

By Daniel R. Whitfield·Aug 20, 2026·4 min read
Products

Google Builds Study Tools Into Gemini as Academic Year Approaches

A new student hub integrates research notebooks, flashcards, and calendar syncing with syllabus deadlines, while Deep Research arrives in Ge…

Priya Nair ·   · 4m
AI

How AI Forecasting Could Cut Aviation's Hidden Climate Cost

A 30-month trial over the Atlantic will test whether machine-learning models can help planes dodge the atmospheric conditions that produce w…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 5m
Startups

Stripe's $7.5 Billion OpenRouter Bet Is Really About Controlling AI Spend

The payments giant's largest acquisition to date positions it at the center of a new infrastructure layer - one where every API call is a tr…

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 7m
Startups

Rivian Offshoot Also Closes $150M Round as It Pivots to Autonomous Delivery

The micromobility startup, less than two years old, has now raised $455 million as it shifts focus from e-bikes to self-driving vehicles.…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 4m
Products

Meta Brings Its AI Assistant to macOS, Chasing Desktop Productivity Race

The new Mac application offers screen-sharing capabilities and system-wide voice input as Meta pivots toward workplace-oriented AI tools…

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 5m
Products

Valve's Setup Tutorials for the Steam Frame Leak Online

Unboxing and accessory videos surfaced briefly in the ARM Steam client before being pulled, offering a rare look at the VR headset's retail …

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 5m
Startups

A New Derivatives Market Takes Shape Around AI Compute

Silicon Data builds pricing infrastructure for an asset class that now swallows more capital than traditional commodities - yet still trades…

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 5m
Products

Amazon Prime Air Targets 500 Cities by Year-End as Drone Logistics Race Heats Up

The e-commerce giant is betting on a sixfold expansion of its aerial delivery network to reshape last-mile logistics across the US, with fiv…

Marcus Halloran ·   · 4m
AI

OpenAI Rolls Out Automated Privacy Shield to Monitor Abuse Without Storing Data

New Private Safety Processing system scans across multiple sessions for misuse while enterprise conversations remain invisible to human revi…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 7m
AI

Why One Nuclear Startup's Energy Storage Play Could Solve AI's Power Problem

TerraPower's molten-salt design keeps reactors running at full capacity while buffering wild GPU load swings - a rare combo that could resha…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 5m
Products

Google's Fourth-Gen Foldable Faces a Tougher Crowd

The Pixel 11 Pro Fold brings a better camera and lighter build, but iterative upgrades and a $1,899 price tag leave it trailing Samsung and …

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 6m
Products

Google's Pixel 11 Lineup Hits Review Cycle Amid Hardware Refinement Push

Four devices cleared embargo simultaneously as Mountain View bets on incremental polish over platform disruption…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 5m
Dev

Framework's BIOS 3.20 Update Leaves Some Ryzen 7040 Laptops Inoperable

Users report unbootable systems after firmware upgrade, raising questions about validation protocols for modular hardware platforms…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 4m
AI

Itochu Commits Hundreds of Billions of Yen to Data Center Build-Out in Japan

The trading conglomerate plans to construct and lease roughly ten facilities by decade's end, riding the infrastructure wave driven by AI wo…

Kenji Watanabe ·   · 6m
Startups

Cognition's CEO Pushes Back on Acquisition Rumors as SpaceX Accelerates AI Push

Scott Wu publicly refutes Bloomberg's report while his startup navigates a valuation climb to $40 billion, even as computing-capacity talks …

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 4m
Policy

Google Acquires Spirit Airlines' Workforce Records in Unusual Auction

The search giant now owns years of employment data from the defunct carrier, with flight attendants raising privacy concerns despite de-iden…

Marcus Halloran ·   · 6m
Products

Amazon's Drone Ambitions Face a Suburban Noise Test

The e-commerce giant plans to expand Prime Air to nearly 500 U.S. neighborhoods by year-end, but scale brings scrutiny over daily flight pat…

Marcus Halloran ·   · 4m
Policy

Flock's Investigative AI Tracks Drivers by Behavior, Not Just Plates

New surveillance software allows law enforcement to locate people using movement patterns, physical descriptions, and natural-language promp…

Daniel R. Whitfield ·   · 5m
AI

OpenAI Pauses Training Runs as Safety Pressure Meets Market Reality

In a rare move for a company eyeing an IPO, the San Francisco lab has delayed major reinforcement learning work to shore up security - a dec…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 5m
AI

Hyundai Commits $6 Billion to Physical AI Ambitions Beyond the Assembly Line

South Korea's automotive giant is building an entire AI-focused urban center as it pivots toward robotics and embodied intelligence…

Hana Park ·   · 4m
Startups

Finance AI Startup Hits Unicorn Status After 48-Hour Fundraise

Rillet's unplanned $100M round reflects investor hunger for AI platforms challenging legacy enterprise software - and shows how quickly trac…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 4m
Startups

Flipkart Founder's Fintech Play Breaks Its Bootstrapped Streak

After eight years funding Navi with his own Walmart windfall, Sachin Bansal opens the cap table to Prosus at a $1.3 billion valuation - well…

Priya Nair ·   · 6m
Products

Google's Pixel 11 Lineup Faces an Unexpected Rival: Its Own Legacy

As hardware refinements plateau and prices climb, Mountain View's flagship phones must compete not just with Samsung and Apple, but with the…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 7m
Products

Google's Pixel 11 Pro Puts AI Between You and Your Photos

The latest flagship raises uncomfortable questions about computational photography's limits, even as it delivers faster Night Sight and poli…

Arjun S. Mehta ·   · 4m