US District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín issued a decision Thursday extending her temporary restraining order to a total of 28 days, report The Wrap and Variety. The mega media merger is paused for now due to lawsuits by a group of state AGs and the Writers’ Guild of America, as the judge plans to “hear the two motions for preliminary injunction on the same schedule” and has scheduled a hearing for August 3rd.

With previous import taxes struck down by the courts or set to expire, the Trump administration announced a new set of tariffs ranging from 10 to 12.5 percent on 60 trading partners, including the EU. This time around, the administration is accusing dozens of countries of failing to enforce bans on forced labor as a justification.

The new agentic AI platform, announced at Google I/O earlier this year, will be available to Google AI Pro subscribers in the US starting today. It’s also rolling out to Google AI Ultra subscribers worldwide with local language support. Access to the OpenClaw-like agent was previously limited to Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US.

Though Avatar: Seven Havens was originally slated to debut some time in 2027, Paramount has given the series a new October 9th premiere date — which is previously when Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender was going to drop before it leaked onto the internet — and released a tantalizing new teaser.

An advisory panel, stacked with RFK Jr.’s pro-peptide appointees, has voted to add BPC-157 and KPV to the bulk compounding list. This is despite FDA staff clinicians stating that there’s no convincing evidence. Central to the argument is whether allowing compounding will curtail the gray market or expose the public to unnecessary risk. Internally screaming.

The partially government-owned chipmaker’s Q2 2026 revenue increased 25 percent from last year, with data center and AI revenue up 59 percent. CEO Lip-Bu Tan:

TikTok is endless. Netflix is already starting the next episode. Who’s making time to read a book? Today we’re chatting with The Atlantic’s Rose Horowitch to discuss her story “The End of Reading is Here” and the role technology plays in reducing how much time — and attention — people have to read long pieces of writing. In a world where we’re inundated with more text than ever from social media feeds, AI, and group chats, is it really possible that we’re taking in less than before?

Powered by GPT-Live, the new voice mode allows users to ask ChatGPT to check their calendar, draft an email, prepare for a meeting, and perform other tasks on their computer by talking out loud. OpenAI is rolling out the update to the ChatGPT app on Windows and macOS.

Amazon’s Blade Runner streaming series has been in the works for ages, but it’s starting to feel a little more real. Entertainment Weekly just dropped the first images from the show, featuring stars Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer, while also confirming that Blade Runner 2099 is expected to come out this year.

Axios reports that the platform’s reviews, photos, and other business info will soon start appearing in ChatGPT responses as sources for local recommendations. Yelp also plans to add a “Request a Quote” feature that will allow users to contact local service providers through ChatGPT.

“When I logged into my Tesla account and view my lease/contract with it, it loads a PDF which just shows the Book of Enoch?” the anonymous owner said in a Reddit post (first spotted by Electrek). “What do I even do with this? Lol.” The Book of Enoch is a 2,000 year old apocalyptic religious book about angels and demons, so it’s anyone’s guess why it would pop up for a Tesla solar customer looking for their lease. AI-prompted mixup seems like a likely bet.

I forgot to bring my USB-C SD adapters to CES last year — but now that the $25 BaseQi lives inside my notebook, that won’t be a problem!

The acclaimed documentarian who’s taken on Enron, Elizabeth Holmes, and so many more is finally showing Musk. It almost wrapped up in 2025, but then… Premiering at the 83rd Venice Film Festival in September, the “hit piece” (according to Elon Musk in 2023) clocks in at 232 minutes. There’s a lot of ground to cover. Absent from the VFF line-up: Luca Guadagnino’s film about Sam Altman, Artificial.

The best (and my favorite) high-res audio player has improved its UI. The Qobuz player has more targeted recommendations, dynamic lyrics that follow along as you listen, and expanded song information. I’m loving the improvement so far, and find it’s also more intuitive to change bitrate and audio output.

In ReStory you’re tasked with growing your “quaint electronics repair shop in mid-2000s Tokyo” by dismantling, repairing, cleaning, and restoring devices like cellphones, consoles, and cameras. Developed by Mandragora Studio the game launches on Steam on August 6th

Usually, the CPSC works with companies to voluntarily recall dangerous gadgets — but it’s making an exception for these Chinese water heater sticks sold at Amazon and eBay. For the first time since 1987, it writes, it’s using its power to sue over an “imminently hazardous consumer product” after confirming these ones catch fire. It says more such exceptions are coming.

Apple announced that one of its biggest early hits will be coming back for a fifth and final season in 2027. The Morning Show premiered alongside Apple TV as one of its prestige plays, with a notably star-studded cast. The news comes the same day Apple announced a new dating series.

The new $149.99 VelocityOne Flightstick II upgrades the original with a new full color screen at the top of the joystick, 38 mappable inputs, and Hall effect sensors. It’s joined by the $149.99 VelocityOne Dual Throttle featuring two levers with adjustable tension, 35 programmable inputs, and an LED throttle indicator.

An Uber spokesperson tells Bloomberg that the move comes as the company works “to simplify operations, strengthen in-person collaboration, and continue to embrace AI.” Uber is also asking remote customer service employees to return to the office, Bloomberg reports.

Someone had to do it, I guess? BMX, the charger company launched last year by the founder of Hyper, launched a lineup of gallium nitride-equipped chargers called…GaNsta. It sells multi-port wall chargers with different output speeds starting at 70W for $60, going up to 140W for about $90 (it has similar specs to Ugreen’s $65 model).

404 Media, which has been all over ICE’s spying ways, has two pieces worth reading this week. Yesterday, it documented how the agency is gleaning personal information from credit card applications. Today, it has a an eye-popping piece on the scale of the agency’s surveillance tools. As always this stuff reminds me of Glenn Grohe’s 1942 poster: “He’s Watching You.”

The internet’s favorite dictionary just dropped a new word game, Tagline — and, surprisingly, there’s not a definition in sight. The game consists of three increasingly difficult clues with hangman-style answers to guess. The twist is that all the solutions are made up entirely from the same seven letters.

The final Coyote vs. Acme trailer underlines how much the movie’s really about consumer safety — a very topical subject that David Zaslav apparently didn’t think would resonate with audiences. The movie’s out August 28th.

The streamer announced its first dating show, called The Last Person on Earth, which it describes as an “eight-episode dating documentary series” about how opposites attract. No word on when it will release, but it’s part of a steady push from Apple to make its streaming service more mainstream.

Like Sergey Brin going hands-on with Google’s AI push (and in addition to a rumored bid for Liverpool), Reuters reports Bezos has made an unusual move to become personally involved in the “Lighthouse” project updating Prime Video’s homepage, recommendations, and voice control.