-
Apple adds AI listening to new Watch, promises privacy safeguards
Apple has set out how its new Audio Intelligence features on the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 are designed to protect user privacy, following concerns about the “ambient listening” capabilities unveiled at its iPhone Duo launch event. The company says raw microphone audio is processed entirely within a hardware-isolated “Secure Exclave” on the…
-
The Apple Watch Ultra 4 is ready for the new Siri
Apple has confirmed the Apple Watch Ultra 4, its rugged flagship smartwatch, which looks almost identical to the Ultra 3 but is built around a new S11 chip designed to power Siri’s forthcoming AI upgrade in watchOS 27. The extra processing headroom enables a suite of on-device “Audio Intelligence” features, including Live Rewind, Sound Recognition…
-
Martin Herlihy Departs SNL After Five Years as Please Don’t Destroy Trio Dissolves
Martin Herlihy has left Saturday Night Live after five seasons, closing out the SNL chapter of the sketch trio Please Don’t Destroy. Herlihy joined the NBC show in 2021 alongside Ben Marshall and John Higgins, but the group’s joint run effectively ended a year earlier when Marshall was promoted to featured cast member and Higgins…
-
Chinese researchers design egg-inspired armour for orbital debris
Researchers at Dalian University of Technology in China have designed a new type of spacecraft armour inspired by the shape of an egg, aiming to better protect satellites and crewed vehicles from the growing threat of orbital debris. The work matters because low Earth orbit is becoming increasingly congested, with collisions between spacecraft and debris…
-
Mother of convicted terror plotter seeks school board seat in Canada
Dr Khdiga R Metwally, whose son Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy is serving a 40-year US prison sentence for plotting an ISIS-inspired terror attack in New York, is standing for election as a school board trustee in Halton, Canada, near Toronto. She has told the Daily Mail that her son is mentally ill, that she rejects violence…
-
Martin Herlihy Leaving ‘Saturday Night Live’ After 5 Years
Comedian and writer Martin Herlihy is leaving Saturday Night Live after five years, marking the end of his run on the NBC sketch show. He joined in 2021 as part of the Please Don’t Destroy trio alongside Ben Marshall and John Higgins, becoming known for the group’s pre-taped comedy videos before staying on solely as…
-
No Man’s Sky’s 10th Anniversary Update is a Massive Overhaul of Space Itself
Hello Games has released Cosmos, a sweeping update marking No Man’s Sky’s 10th anniversary, which overhauls the game’s depiction of space itself rather than adding new planets or gameplay systems as recent updates have done. The studio says the space between planets has barely changed since the game’s troubled 2016 launch, so Cosmos introduces a…
-
Besxar is building an orbital semiconductor factory, one SpaceX rocket at a time
Besxar, a start-up founded by former OpenAI staffer Ashley Pilipiszyn, is developing a way to manufacture advanced semiconductor precursors in orbit, using the vacuum of space to avoid the costly clean-room infrastructure required by terrestrial chip fabs. Crucially, the company has secured a deal with SpaceX to test its technology aboard reused Falcon 9 rocket…
-
Israel row, Gulf tanker strikes and Ground Zero air-quality files dominate briefing
West Nations’ Israeli settlement trade ban has enraged Israel, while reported US strikes on Iranian tankers spark Gulf tensions and Mamdani releases thousands of Ground Zero air-safety documents; also Putin-Trump call, Meta’s Muse, LIV Golf’s bankruptcy and Glastonbury 2027 news.
-
9/11 mastermind’s trial set for 2028 after two decades of pre-trial proceedings
A quarter of a century after the 11 September 2001 attacks, the trial of alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has still not begun, though a trial date has now been set for June 2028 following pre-trial proceedings at Guantanamo Bay that have dragged on for 20 years and been overseen by five different military judges.…