259 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Emma Roth

Emma Roth

News Writer

News Writer

    More From Emma Roth

    Emma Roth
    Emma Roth
    Firefox saw an increase in users following Apple’s default browser changes in the EU.

    Firefox spokesperson Christopher Hilton tells The Verge that the browser has seen a more than 50 percent jump in users in Germany and a nearly 30 percent increase in France:

    Despite less than ideal compliance, the recent implementation of the DMA choice screen is a promising step toward true competition online in the EU... Still, there is a lot of room for improvement, and we’ll continue to fight for a web that puts people over profits, prioritizes privacy and is open and accessible to all.

    Brave saw a similar increase in users after Apple started letting users choose their default browsers on iOS 17.4 in the EU last week.

    Emma Roth
    Emma Roth
    No, this isn’t CG.

    This is Figure’s humanoid robot, which can now use OpenAI’s large vision language model (VLM) to provide reasoning and language understanding. The video shows how the bot can identify and interact with the objects on the counter in front of it when given a prompt, like “Can I have something to eat?”

    Emma Roth
    Emma Roth
    Intel’s military defense grant may take a bite out of CHIPS Act funding.

    Intel was awarded a $3.5 billion grant to build chips for the US military as part of a spending bill President Biden signed last weekend, but now the Pentagon no longer wants to foot the bill, according to a report from Bloomberg.

    This could reportedly force the Department of Commerce to dip into CHIPS Act funding to pay Intel, which could come with some consequences, Bloomberg reports:

    The change could mean a greater share of Intel’s Chips Act funds is devoted to military uses, rather than commercial ones... It’s unclear whether the Secure Enclave funding will be swallowed into Intel’s total awards — meaning the company gets less overall money than expected — or come on top of what Intel was already set to receive, leaving less for everyone else.

    Emma Roth
    Emma Roth
    Paramount might have another potential suitor.

    Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm that owns the majority of Yahoo, is discussing a takeover or asset purchase with Paramount, according to a report from Axios.

    Rumors about a potential Paramount merger or sale have been swirling for months. Skydance Media is also reportedly in the running to purchase Paramount’s parent company, while Warner Bros. Discovery’s rumored deal is on pause. Meanwhile, reports suggest Comcast is looking into offering a Peacock streaming bundle with Paramount Plus as well.

    Emma Roth
    Emma Roth
    Apple might add a new Freeform feature in iOS 18 and macOS 15.

    The rumored feature could let you mark certain parts of your boards as “Scenes,” according to a report from MacRumors. This will reportedly let you quickly jump to those areas of the board and start editing them, even while working with other users.