Apple’s M5 MacBook Air is down to its lowest price since July
A top-down view of the 15-inch MacBook Air, which features Apple’s M5 processor. | Photo: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The latest 13-inch MacBook Air is currently available for $1,099.99, marking the second time we’ve seen this $200 discount following the company’s hefty price increases over the summer. Although the base model — which features Apple’s M5 processor, 16GB …
The Download: a humanoid cleans house and Samsung builds for the AI boom
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. I watched a humanoid robot clean my apartment. It felt like a taste of the future. —Grace Huckins When I saw an X post about a new humanoid-robot cleaning service in…
Code in the iOS 27.3 beta suggests that Apple could add support for chatbots to its smart home hub. There's a flag listed for a "Conversational Apps" category. While there are no details about what apps would fall under that heading, it seems reasonable that AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude could be added to HomeView. According to pdfu on X, that new beta also adds support f…
I Used NYT Cooking’s New AI-Powered Recipe Modifier, and It’s Actually Pretty Good
The New York Times has added a beta feature to its Cooking app that helps readers swap ingredients or adjust recipes to suit their needs. It mostly hits the mark.
Megaspeed exec was recruited to spy on Nvidia CEO, according to US intelligence memo
A memo circulated earlier this year reportedly claimed that China’s Ministry of State Security recruited a female technology executive to spy on Nvidia's CEO.
I watched a humanoid robot clean my apartment. It felt like a taste of the future.
I’m not the sort of person who typically pays for a house cleaner. I’m too frugal, and I kind of enjoy putting on a podcast and going to town on my tub with a Magic Eraser. But when I saw an X post about a new humanoid-robot cleaning service in San Francisco, I immediately signed…
Measuring how AI agents handle everyday wet-lab science
OpenAI introduces BioBasicsBench, a 100-task benchmark measuring how well AI agents interpret raw experimental data and handle everyday wet-lab science.
There’s no slowing down media’s pivot-to-video 2.0
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the pressures of creating content for the internet, follow Mia Sato. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Almost exactly a decade ago, the media industry was in the middle of a video revolution…