9 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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AnandTech shuts down after 27 yearsAnandTech shuts down after 27 years
Victoria Song
Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
The kids are alright (at coding).

The creator of “One Million Checkboxes” has shared some heartwarming stories about the creative ways that teens interacted with the now-shuttered website. Check out the below video, this X thread, or Eieio’s blog for some feel-good Friday vibes about concealing URLs in binary and creating pixelated Rick-Rolls.

The rise and fall of OpenSea

Insider accounts of the company reveal a chaotic work environment, ever-shifting priorities, and troubles with the SEC

Ben Weiss
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Google switches up how you email collaborators in its office apps.

Now, when you choose “Share” within an already-shared Google Drive folder or document, you can click a new envelope-shaped icon to write an email to those you’ve shared it with.

The feature is rolling out now for some, with a broader rollout starting August 26th.

A screenshot showing the Google share dialog with a new envelope icon circled in red, on the same line as the header “People with access.”
Screenshot: Google
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Threads is giving Fleets a shot.

Meta is now testing posts that will disappear after just 24 hours, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. (You may recall Twitter’s short-lived version of this, Fleets.)

When replying to one, you’ll see a timer next to the person’s name, along with a banner at the top that says the post will disappear, taking any replies with it, the outlet writes.

David Pierce
David Pierce
TIL what an “asterism” is.

A few folks working on decentralized social stuff just proposed a new symbol for all things fediverse: the asterism, represented here by three asterisks in a triangle. Looks like this: ⁂

I dig it! But I might like one of the Hacker News comments even better: “that’s the sarcasterisk and should replace /s in modern communication.”

How The Onion is saving itself from the digital media death spiral

The new owners of the satire site rescued it from content farm hell. Now, they’re relaunching its newspaper.

Nilay Patel
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
OpenAI is fresh out of SearchGPT.

The company closed the waitlist for its “prototype” generative search product, sending out emails like the one below to signed-up users who weren’t chosen to test it.

The company has said only 10,000 users will get access at first, which could help it if its searchbot gives bad recommendations like gluing slippery cheese to pizza.

A screenshot of an email letting the receiver know they weren’t chosen for SearchGPT.
There’s not enough SearchGPT to go around.
Screenshot: OpenAI’s rejection letter
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Donald Trump’s account is currently unsearchable on X.

At the moment, if you type “from:realdonaldtrump” followed by a specific term in X’s search bar, you’ll get the same set of results, seemingly no matter what you type, according to a Mediaite story spotted by Engadget.

I experienced the same thing when I tried it, but could still search other accounts this way. X responded with an auto-reply when reached for comment.

‘There’s no price’ Microsoft could pay Apple to use Bing: all the spiciest parts of the Google antitrust ruling

Finally, a legal ruling on whether TikTok is a real search engine. (It’s not.)

Nilay Patel and Sarah Jeong
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Gemini may be rolling out to personal Gmail accounts on Android.

You may need to close and reopen the app to see it, but according to Android expert Mishaal Rahman, Gemini is showing up for non-Google Workspace users.

Gemini can do things like summarize emails, suggest next steps, or draft replies. Before now, you’ve needed a Google AI premium subscription or a Workspace account for access to the AI assistant.

Booking and Priceline chief Glenn Fogel wants you to yell at AI chatbots, not humans

The head of online hotel and flight giant Booking Holdings on how competition, regulation, and AI are changing travel.

Nilay Patel
The teens lobbying against the Kids Online Safety Act

Over 300 high school students converged on Congress to urge lawmakers to vote against KOSA. The bill passed in a landslide.

Lauren Feiner
Wes Davis
Wes Davis
Will Chrome start complaining about itself soon?

A new Canary test build of the Chrome browser (I see it in version 128.0.6611.0 in macOS) has a new performance alert to tell you when a tab is hogging resources, Windows Report spotted.

To try it, open the Canary Chrome browser, navigate to chrome://flags/#performance-intervention-ui, enable “performance intervention suggestions,” and restart. Now Chrome can complain about Chrome’s memory usage, too!