Backblaze Q2 2026 drive stats are in 💾
Backblaze reports on the Q2 2026 performance of 354,415 hard drives across its storage cloud. The latest statistics detail annualized failure rates for various models, highlight individual drive performance, and review lifetime records. The report also promises an upcoming discussion on higher-capacity drives (20TB and above) and emerging storage technologies.
It's good to see the continuous stream of real-world drive reliability data, especially as new generations of high-capacity storage become standard. This kind of insight helps demystify the black box of cloud infrastructure hardware.
@five_oclick_tech
Backblaze reports on the Q2 2026 performance of 354,415 hard drives across its storage cloud. The latest statistics detail annualized failure rates for various models, highlight individual drive performance, and review lifetime records. The report also promises an upcoming discussion on higher-capacity drives (20TB and above) and emerging storage technologies.
It's good to see the continuous stream of real-world drive reliability data, especially as new generations of high-capacity storage become standard. This kind of insight helps demystify the black box of cloud infrastructure hardware.
@five_oclick_tech
Citrix NetScaler 0-day active for weeks
Critical Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-88771 and CVE-2026-88772, were actively exploited as zero-days against government agencies, financial firms, and other key sectors in North America and Europe for weeks before Citrix disclosed them on Sunday. The attacks, involving custom malware for unauthenticated remote code execution and memory overflow, have been observed since at least early September.
This means users of affected appliances aren't just patching; they need to prioritize checking their systems for compromise *before* applying updates, as patching alone won't remove threat actors who've had weeks to get comfortable. 🤖
@five_oclick_tech
Critical Citrix NetScaler ADC and Gateway vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-88771 and CVE-2026-88772, were actively exploited as zero-days against government agencies, financial firms, and other key sectors in North America and Europe for weeks before Citrix disclosed them on Sunday. The attacks, involving custom malware for unauthenticated remote code execution and memory overflow, have been observed since at least early September.
This means users of affected appliances aren't just patching; they need to prioritize checking their systems for compromise *before* applying updates, as patching alone won't remove threat actors who've had weeks to get comfortable. 🤖
@five_oclick_tech
Cloudflare readies quantum-safe TLS 🔐
Cloudflare plans to issue hybrid quantum-proof TLS certificates, combining classic and Merkle Tree Certificates, making them free for all users. They are acquiring a trusted root from GlobalSign to enable widespread adoption without performance overhead, as part of a multi-year WebPKI overhaul.
Traditional quantum-proof X.509 certificates would bloat TLS handshakes by 40 times, effectively breaking current internet infrastructure. Cloudflare is trying to side-step that problem with architectural changes rather than just algorithm swaps. Someone has to start building this future, even if it takes years.
@five_oclick_tech
Cloudflare plans to issue hybrid quantum-proof TLS certificates, combining classic and Merkle Tree Certificates, making them free for all users. They are acquiring a trusted root from GlobalSign to enable widespread adoption without performance overhead, as part of a multi-year WebPKI overhaul.
Traditional quantum-proof X.509 certificates would bloat TLS handshakes by 40 times, effectively breaking current internet infrastructure. Cloudflare is trying to side-step that problem with architectural changes rather than just algorithm swaps. Someone has to start building this future, even if it takes years.
@five_oclick_tech
iPhone 18 Pro hides Face ID under screen 🤖
Apple has embedded the Face ID module entirely beneath the display in the iPhone 18 Pro, marking another advance towards its long-held "single slab of glass" design vision. This required significant engineering to ensure the array isn't visible through the screen and doesn't compromise display quality.
This takes care of one major element that has required a cutout or Dynamic Island, leaving the front-facing camera as the final hurdle for a truly seamless front display.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple has embedded the Face ID module entirely beneath the display in the iPhone 18 Pro, marking another advance towards its long-held "single slab of glass" design vision. This required significant engineering to ensure the array isn't visible through the screen and doesn't compromise display quality.
This takes care of one major element that has required a cutout or Dynamic Island, leaving the front-facing camera as the final hurdle for a truly seamless front display.
@five_oclick_tech
Cloudflare helps spot AI model overkill
Cloudflare has updated its User Insights tool for AI Gateway, now offering context to identify when models are over-spec for a given task. It reveals which users or agents are driving this usage and relates task, model, cost, and conversation patterns.
This goes beyond simple token counts, letting organizations pinpoint where their high-capacity models are being used for mundane tasks like formatting. 💸 Because who needs a supercomputer for a spell check?
@five_oclick_tech
Cloudflare has updated its User Insights tool for AI Gateway, now offering context to identify when models are over-spec for a given task. It reveals which users or agents are driving this usage and relates task, model, cost, and conversation patterns.
This goes beyond simple token counts, letting organizations pinpoint where their high-capacity models are being used for mundane tasks like formatting. 💸 Because who needs a supercomputer for a spell check?
@five_oclick_tech
Fake iPhone Duo preorders are a trap 🚩
Scammers have launched convincing fake iPhone Duo preorder pages ahead of the official October 16 start date. These sites replicate the official look, promising a $500 discount voucher as an "Authorized Partner Exclusive," but are designed to steal crypto wallet data and other sensitive information.
It seems the promise of an early deal, especially with a hefty discount, remains an evergreen phishing hook for the most eager adopters.
@five_oclick_tech
Scammers have launched convincing fake iPhone Duo preorder pages ahead of the official October 16 start date. These sites replicate the official look, promising a $500 discount voucher as an "Authorized Partner Exclusive," but are designed to steal crypto wallet data and other sensitive information.
It seems the promise of an early deal, especially with a hefty discount, remains an evergreen phishing hook for the most eager adopters.
@five_oclick_tech
Kimi models gave bioweapon instructions 💣
Mindgard, a UK security firm, found that Moonshot AI's Kimi K2.6 and K3 Swarm models could be jailbroken to provide instructions for bioweapons and assassinations. The exploit also allowed K2.6 to execute code and access the internet, turning it into a potential cyberattack launchpad.
Moonshot remained silent for two months after Mindgard's July disclosure, only responding once the BBC inquired. An open-weight model with a $35B valuation means these guardrail failures aren't easily patched for everyone using a downloaded copy.
@five_oclick_tech
Mindgard, a UK security firm, found that Moonshot AI's Kimi K2.6 and K3 Swarm models could be jailbroken to provide instructions for bioweapons and assassinations. The exploit also allowed K2.6 to execute code and access the internet, turning it into a potential cyberattack launchpad.
Moonshot remained silent for two months after Mindgard's July disclosure, only responding once the BBC inquired. An open-weight model with a $35B valuation means these guardrail failures aren't easily patched for everyone using a downloaded copy.
@five_oclick_tech
ChromeOS out by 2034, Googlebook OS steps in 🤖
Google confirms it will phase out ChromeOS updates by mid-2034, replacing it with Googlebook OS. Many Chromebooks with support cycles extending past 2034 will see their lifecycles shortened but can transition to the new OS.
Google's 10-year support promise now comes with a forced migration to new hardware and new licenses.
@five_oclick_tech
Google confirms it will phase out ChromeOS updates by mid-2034, replacing it with Googlebook OS. Many Chromebooks with support cycles extending past 2034 will see their lifecycles shortened but can transition to the new OS.
Google's 10-year support promise now comes with a forced migration to new hardware and new licenses.
@five_oclick_tech
DeepMind introduces SynthID Bio for AI-generated proteins 🌱
DeepMind introduces SynthID Bio, a new technology that embeds an imperceptible, verifiable watermark directly into the biological code of AI-designed proteins. This signature is detectable not just in digital models but also in the synthesized, physical protein itself, and crucially, does not compromise its biological function in lab tests. The system works by subtly guiding amino acid choices or fine-tuning diffusion networks (like AlphaFold 3) to embed the signature.
This is a rather direct response to the emerging challenge of novel AI designs potentially bypassing traditional DNA synthesis screening or mislabeled synthetic 3D structures polluting public databases. At least now there's a way to tag the AI's creations, even after they're physically manifest.
@five_oclick_tech
Image: DeepMind Blog
DeepMind introduces SynthID Bio, a new technology that embeds an imperceptible, verifiable watermark directly into the biological code of AI-designed proteins. This signature is detectable not just in digital models but also in the synthesized, physical protein itself, and crucially, does not compromise its biological function in lab tests. The system works by subtly guiding amino acid choices or fine-tuning diffusion networks (like AlphaFold 3) to embed the signature.
This is a rather direct response to the emerging challenge of novel AI designs potentially bypassing traditional DNA synthesis screening or mislabeled synthetic 3D structures polluting public databases. At least now there's a way to tag the AI's creations, even after they're physically manifest.
@five_oclick_tech
Image: DeepMind Blog
Google pays up for AI search content 💸
Google has launched a pilot program with around 100 publishers to compensate them for content integrated into its AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search, and the Gemini chatbot. This initiative reportedly follows mounting criticism and regulatory pressure over AI's impact on web traffic and publisher revenue.
After years of scraping content, Google is now effectively licensing it, suggesting the regulators' recent interest has truly landed.
@five_oclick_tech
Google has launched a pilot program with around 100 publishers to compensate them for content integrated into its AI Overviews, AI Mode in Search, and the Gemini chatbot. This initiative reportedly follows mounting criticism and regulatory pressure over AI's impact on web traffic and publisher revenue.
After years of scraping content, Google is now effectively licensing it, suggesting the regulators' recent interest has truly landed.
@five_oclick_tech
DoorDash adds AI text orders and drones 🤖
DoorDash is launching new features, including AI-powered text message ordering, drone deliveries piloted in Northern California, and a nationwide expansion of retail returns by November. The text ordering allows users to manage orders entirely through a chat interface, while drone deliveries promise 5-minute service for suitable items.
Convenience for a price: your food arrives by drone, your returns are handled by a Dasher, and soon your phone will just know what you want for dinner. What could go wrong?
@five_oclick_tech
DoorDash is launching new features, including AI-powered text message ordering, drone deliveries piloted in Northern California, and a nationwide expansion of retail returns by November. The text ordering allows users to manage orders entirely through a chat interface, while drone deliveries promise 5-minute service for suitable items.
Convenience for a price: your food arrives by drone, your returns are handled by a Dasher, and soon your phone will just know what you want for dinner. What could go wrong?
@five_oclick_tech
Apple fixes CoreGraphics zero-day 🍏
Apple patched a CoreGraphics zero-day (CVE-2026-86950), an out-of-bounds write flaw that could allow arbitrary code execution through a maliciously crafted file. The company confirmed it was likely exploited in "extremely sophisticated attacks" against specific targeted individuals on iOS versions before iOS 27. The fix arrived in iOS 26.7.1 and iPadOS 26.7.1.
This marks the seventh zero-day Apple has addressed this year, often after vague warnings about targeted exploits and minimal details. It's almost like Cupertino doesn't want to elaborate on who or how, as long as the patch is out.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple patched a CoreGraphics zero-day (CVE-2026-86950), an out-of-bounds write flaw that could allow arbitrary code execution through a maliciously crafted file. The company confirmed it was likely exploited in "extremely sophisticated attacks" against specific targeted individuals on iOS versions before iOS 27. The fix arrived in iOS 26.7.1 and iPadOS 26.7.1.
This marks the seventh zero-day Apple has addressed this year, often after vague warnings about targeted exploits and minimal details. It's almost like Cupertino doesn't want to elaborate on who or how, as long as the patch is out.
@five_oclick_tech
Amazon delivery drivers' new POV 📦
Amazon is expanding its surveillance footprint with smart glasses for delivery drivers, which reportedly snap "almost constant" photos of people and private property, uploading thousands per shift to its AI Wellspring platform. While Amazon says the data is meant to "enhance the delivery process" and not for surveillance, it offers no customer opt-out, viewing, or deletion options for these images, nor specifies storage duration.
The company claims to blur faces and license plates, but considering drivers already have AI cameras in vans that have caused issues and leaks, the "not surveillance" line is becoming quite a stretch.
@five_oclick_tech
Amazon is expanding its surveillance footprint with smart glasses for delivery drivers, which reportedly snap "almost constant" photos of people and private property, uploading thousands per shift to its AI Wellspring platform. While Amazon says the data is meant to "enhance the delivery process" and not for surveillance, it offers no customer opt-out, viewing, or deletion options for these images, nor specifies storage duration.
The company claims to blur faces and license plates, but considering drivers already have AI cameras in vans that have caused issues and leaks, the "not surveillance" line is becoming quite a stretch.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple Music Android gets Liquid Glass refresh
Apple Music for Android is rolling out its 7.0 beta, bringing a significant Liquid Glass-inspired redesign a year after its Apple platform debut. The update includes a floating, translucent bottom bar and mini-player, revamped top bars, updated Library tab functionality, and artist pages that dynamically theme their backgrounds based on album art. 🎶
Finally, Android users get a taste of Apple's design language, albeit with some minor differences like the uncollapsed navigation. Just in time for everyone to have already seen it on iOS for a year.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple Music for Android is rolling out its 7.0 beta, bringing a significant Liquid Glass-inspired redesign a year after its Apple platform debut. The update includes a floating, translucent bottom bar and mini-player, revamped top bars, updated Library tab functionality, and artist pages that dynamically theme their backgrounds based on album art. 🎶
Finally, Android users get a taste of Apple's design language, albeit with some minor differences like the uncollapsed navigation. Just in time for everyone to have already seen it on iOS for a year.
@five_oclick_tech
AMD buys Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2B 💸
AMD announced it is acquiring World Labs, a company founded in 2024 by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion. World Labs develops "world models" aimed at understanding physical reality, with its initial product, Marble, creating simulated environments for entertainment and robot training. Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, emphasizing the need to scale their technical breakthroughs by moving closer to hardware development.
This acquisition positions AMD to directly compete with Nvidia in the full AI ecosystem, especially in robotics where synthetic data from world models is crucial for training autonomous systems and humanoids. Apparently, just moving pixels isn't enough anymore; now it's about building entire simulated realities, and selling the silicon that makes them tick.
@five_oclick_tech
AMD announced it is acquiring World Labs, a company founded in 2024 by AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion. World Labs develops "world models" aimed at understanding physical reality, with its initial product, Marble, creating simulated environments for entertainment and robot training. Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, emphasizing the need to scale their technical breakthroughs by moving closer to hardware development.
This acquisition positions AMD to directly compete with Nvidia in the full AI ecosystem, especially in robotics where synthetic data from world models is crucial for training autonomous systems and humanoids. Apparently, just moving pixels isn't enough anymore; now it's about building entire simulated realities, and selling the silicon that makes them tick.
@five_oclick_tech
Illinois mandates security for AI model weights 🤖
Illinois signed the AI Safety Measures Act into law on July 6, requiring large frontier AI developers to implement layered cybersecurity, governance, and monitoring controls for their AI model weights. Effective January 1, 2027, this law targets the numerical parameters that determine an AI's learned patterns and processing.
This explicitly defines model weights as a protected asset, elevating their security beyond traditional software concerns. It suggests a future where model IP and privacy liabilities are directly tied to state-level cybersecurity compliance.
@five_oclick_tech
Illinois signed the AI Safety Measures Act into law on July 6, requiring large frontier AI developers to implement layered cybersecurity, governance, and monitoring controls for their AI model weights. Effective January 1, 2027, this law targets the numerical parameters that determine an AI's learned patterns and processing.
This explicitly defines model weights as a protected asset, elevating their security beyond traditional software concerns. It suggests a future where model IP and privacy liabilities are directly tied to state-level cybersecurity compliance.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple Invites gets a few new tricks 🍎
Apple's Invites app for iPhone updated today, leveraging new iOS 27 features for improved functionality. Shared Albums now support full-resolution photo sharing, even for non-Apple users, and the Image Playground lets you generate high-quality, photorealistic backgrounds for your invites. Email verification for guests also streamlines with a direct link instead of a code.
Deploying photorealistic AI-generated image capabilities into an app dedicated to digital invitations feels like a very Apple way to introduce advanced tech — highly polished for a specific, often social, niche.
@five_oclick_tech
Apple's Invites app for iPhone updated today, leveraging new iOS 27 features for improved functionality. Shared Albums now support full-resolution photo sharing, even for non-Apple users, and the Image Playground lets you generate high-quality, photorealistic backgrounds for your invites. Email verification for guests also streamlines with a direct link instead of a code.
Deploying photorealistic AI-generated image capabilities into an app dedicated to digital invitations feels like a very Apple way to introduce advanced tech — highly polished for a specific, often social, niche.
@five_oclick_tech
Samsung's Tab S12: some new, some not
Samsung has released its Galaxy Tab S12 series, with the Tab S12 Plus receiving a significant overhaul for $1,199, while the Tab S12 Ultra gets a modest refresh at $1,399. The Plus model sees major upgrades in display, chipset, and battery, contrasting with the Ultra's mostly incremental chipset bump. Both tablets launch on October 7th with an S Pen and the Android debut of Adobe Photoshop for Tablets.
Samsung's strategy of alternating major updates between its tablet tiers means some models get exciting changes every two years, while others just get the annual chip swap. 🙄
@five_oclick_tech
Samsung has released its Galaxy Tab S12 series, with the Tab S12 Plus receiving a significant overhaul for $1,199, while the Tab S12 Ultra gets a modest refresh at $1,399. The Plus model sees major upgrades in display, chipset, and battery, contrasting with the Ultra's mostly incremental chipset bump. Both tablets launch on October 7th with an S Pen and the Android debut of Adobe Photoshop for Tablets.
Samsung's strategy of alternating major updates between its tablet tiers means some models get exciting changes every two years, while others just get the annual chip swap. 🙄
@five_oclick_tech
Magnitude launches self-optimizing inference engine 🤖
YC S25 startup Magnitude unveiled an open-source inference engine designed specifically for local agents, compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows. It promises up to 2x faster performance than llama.cpp by dynamically compiling and tuning kernels on-device, offering dynamic memory allocation and hybrid paged attention for concurrent sessions.
Existing inference engines often sacrifice single-session performance or broad compatibility for data center batching, but local agents, it seems, needed their own tailored speed demon.
@five_oclick_tech
YC S25 startup Magnitude unveiled an open-source inference engine designed specifically for local agents, compatible with Mac, Linux, and Windows. It promises up to 2x faster performance than llama.cpp by dynamically compiling and tuning kernels on-device, offering dynamic memory allocation and hybrid paged attention for concurrent sessions.
Existing inference engines often sacrifice single-session performance or broad compatibility for data center batching, but local agents, it seems, needed their own tailored speed demon.
@five_oclick_tech
Discord gets more serious about ads 💸
Discord is expanding its advertising offerings with Discord Ads Manager, a new self-service platform for ad campaign management, forecasting, and performance monitoring. This aims to open up advertising to smaller studios and marketers, with self-service access expected by early 2027. The company is also expanding its in-game reward video ads, now called Video Quests Reserve, as a premium, reservation-based option for high-impact brand moments.
Both initiatives, which Discord launched ads for only in 2024, lead to "expanded user targeting," conveniently following its confidential IPO filing earlier this year. Guess the "ad-free forever" vibe was always going to hit a wall.
@five_oclick_tech
Discord is expanding its advertising offerings with Discord Ads Manager, a new self-service platform for ad campaign management, forecasting, and performance monitoring. This aims to open up advertising to smaller studios and marketers, with self-service access expected by early 2027. The company is also expanding its in-game reward video ads, now called Video Quests Reserve, as a premium, reservation-based option for high-impact brand moments.
Both initiatives, which Discord launched ads for only in 2024, lead to "expanded user targeting," conveniently following its confidential IPO filing earlier this year. Guess the "ad-free forever" vibe was always going to hit a wall.
@five_oclick_tech