2 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Archives for August 2026

Andrew J. Hawkins
Andrew J. Hawkins
Waymo engineer says Tesla ‘mostly bluffing’ on robotaxis.

Hat tip to investor Reilly Brennan, who noted in his Future of Transportation newsletter that Waymo software engineer Reed Morse has been beefing with Tesla fans on X over sensors and service area maps. Morse said Tesla is “mostly bluffing” its way through its upcoming Cybercab launch. It’s just more evidence that despite being the undisputed leader in driverless robotaxis, Waymo still feels the need to point out the fallacies in Tesla’s approach to robotaxis.

Screenshot: Reed Morse / X.com
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
MapQuest downloads surge after refusing to rename Lake Ontario.

It’s the top navigation app on Apple’s and Google’s app stores after it took a stance against renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America.” Google Maps changed the name of the Great Lake over the weekend, while Apple Maps may make the switch following the company’s chat with President Trump, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.

Screenshot: MapQuest
TC Sottek
TC Sottek
HBO to audience: “Baba Booey.”

As Netflix turns into a video podcast warehouse, HBO is planting its own flag with an original titan of radio. The Howard Stern Show arrives with weekly episodes on HBO Max September 17th. The series will be adapted from Stern’s SiriusXM program.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
OpenClaw 2.0 launches as Peter Steinberger says, “Local harnesses feel like relics of the past now.”

After the initial hype, the often-imitated OpenClaw is continuing to push new updates, releasing version 2.0 and promising a cleanup that touched every area of the bot’s framework with simplified installs, setup, and a rebuilt browser app.

Founder Peter Steinberger touted the use of shared cloud sessions to work on this update, with “Multiplayer coding + infinite compute” that kept everyone on the team up to date with others’ progress.

Screenshot of OpenClaw’s rebuilt browser app with the message “Welcome to OpenClaw 2.0” typed in the chat box.
Image: OpenClaw
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
George Santos is the first person banned from Kalshi for life.

Kalshi says that in February, the former Republican congressman “placed a series of large trades in a market where the underlying contracts depended upon his own attendance” at the State of the Union. He’s now permanently banned and penalized $71,356.

In other news about everything being gambling now:

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Huawei redesigned the folding mechanism for its next trifold phone.

The Mate XT was the world’s first trifold smartphone when it launched last year but the sequel has debuted with a major change. Instead of the original’s Z-shaped arrangement of folding panels, the Huawei Mate XT 2’s side panels each fold inwards meaning you can only use its larger screen when the device is fully unfolded. Preorders are now open in China, but full pricing won’t be known until September 7th.

<em>The Mate XT 2 will be available in multiple configurations with 512GB to 2TB of storage, but all versions will come with 16GB of RAM.</em>
<em>The three color options include obsidian black and white plus purple for those opting for the 16GB/2TB option.</em>
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The Mate XT 2 will be available in multiple configurations with 512GB to 2TB of storage, but all versions will come with 16GB of RAM.
Image: Huawei
New York Governor Kathy Hochul thinks AI should be ‘less evil’
Play

The governor on 3D-printed guns, AI and data center backlash, and who protects kids online.

Nilay Patel
Emma Roth
Emma Roth
AT&T accuses Charter of misleading customers about its “fiber” internet.

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, AT&T claims Charter misuses the word “fiber” in its “Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network” service to “hide the fact that its network mainly connects to customers’ homes using copper wire:”

Charter’s 100% fiber service is available only to “select residential consumers,” according to Charter’s website. It represents a small percentage of Charter’s network… The campaign deceives consumers, distorts competition, and appropriates the goodwill that AT&T’s 100% fiber network has earned.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
The next PlayStation State of Play event will bring an extended look at Final Fantasy VII Revelation on September 3rd.

The show will kick off on YouTube and Twitch at 9AM ET / 6AM PT, followed by a State of Play Japan livestream right after.

A graphic showing the times for a PlayStation State of Play broadcast for September 3, 2026
Image: Sony
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Google wants Disney, Universal, and other studios to license characters and films for its AI tools.

Google is pitching its AI tools as a way to streamline production and visual effects, but the effort faces pushback from union workers and creators concerned about copyright, job displacement, and artistic control.