Amazon says the FTC's complaint over Sponsored Ads cites no evidence of consumer price increases or advertiser harm, and misunderstands how advertisers operate (About Amazon)
https://www.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-ftc-sponsored-ads-lawsuit-response
https://www.aboutamazon.com/company-news/amazon-ftc-sponsored-ads-lawsuit-response
Amazon News
Amazon’s response to the FTC’s lawsuit regarding Sponsored Ads
The FTC today filed a misguided lawsuit claiming Amazon misled advertisers about its Sponsored Ads pricing and auction. Amazon strongly disagrees.
The Pentagon launches ChatGPT Mil and Grok for Government on its GenAI.mil platform, giving its 3M personnel access to AI tools "tailored to warfighter needs" (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/the-pentagon-now-has-its-own-version-of-chatgpt-and-grok/
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/the-pentagon-now-has-its-own-version-of-chatgpt-and-grok/
TechCrunch
The Pentagon now has its own version of ChatGPT and Grok | TechCrunch
Versions of OpenAI's ChatGPT and SpaceXAI's Grok will join Google's Gemini on the Pentagon's central portal for AI tools.
Sources: AI sales and marketing startup Clay is raising a round led by Wellington at a $7B pre-money valuation, up from $5B via an employee tender in January (Lucinda Shen/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/2026/08/31/clay-7-billion-pre-money-valuation
https://www.axios.com/pro/all-deals/2026/08/31/clay-7-billion-pre-money-valuation
Axios
Scoop: Clay to be valued at $7B pre-money
Its valuation has more than quadrupled since its Series B.
Filing: Apple claims a former iPhone engineer used a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work at OpenAI, evidence is being destroyed, and more (Chance Miller/9to5Mac)
https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/31/apple-openai-forensic-macbook-evidence/
https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/31/apple-openai-forensic-macbook-evidence/
9to5Mac
Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit - 9to5Mac
Apple has filed a new document in its ongoing lawsuit against OpenAI as it continues to push for expedited discovery....
Florida says it is revoking permits for Flock cameras and similar license-plate readers on state roads and no longer intends to issue such permits (Ryan Gillespie/Orlando Sentinel)
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/08/31/florida-orders-flock-cameras-off-of-state-roads/
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/08/31/florida-orders-flock-cameras-off-of-state-roads/
Sources: Anthropic has signed a $35B cloud deal with Nvidia-backed Lambda; Nvidia will hold the lease on and supply chips to a Texas data center built by Hut 8 (Anissa Gardizy/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-signs-35-billion-cloud-deal-backed-by-nvidia-f12622f1
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/anthropic-signs-35-billion-cloud-deal-backed-by-nvidia-f12622f1
The Wall Street Journal
Exclusive | Anthropic Signs $35 Billion Cloud Deal Backed by Nvidia
Nvidia will supply the chips to the Texas data center and hold the lease, again using its financial might to boost a customer.
Anthropic details security efforts following Claude cyber evaluation incidents, including a weeks-long pause on higher-risk RL and work to curb reward hacking (Anthropic)
https://www.anthropic.com/news/improving-alignment-security-efforts
https://www.anthropic.com/news/improving-alignment-security-efforts
Anthropic
Improving our alignment and security efforts
On July 30, we reported three incidents in which Claude models gained unauthorized access to real computer systems. We are conducting an in-depth analysis of both incidents, and planning to work with METR for an independent review. In the meantime, we’re…
AI startup Mirage streamed a 24-hour "live" AI news show on X on August 11, which cost ~$50K in tokens, featuring realistic avatars that struggled to converse (Alex Konrad/Upstarts Media)
https://www.upstartsmedia.com/p/the-good-bad-ugly-of-24-hour-ai-news
https://www.upstartsmedia.com/p/the-good-bad-ugly-of-24-hour-ai-news
Upstartsmedia
I Went On An AI Show. It Made Me Feel Better About Human News.
Inside the good, the bad, and the ugly of a 24-hour live AI broadcast experiment by video startup Mirage.
As Gov. Josh Shapiro, once a data center champion, calls them "predatory" and imposes guardrails, some in struggling western Pennsylvania welcome the projects (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/business/pennsylvanias-ai-gold-rush-meets-second-thoughts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9lA.KBLE.IknGeEotR6cJ&smid=url-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/business/pennsylvanias-ai-gold-rush-meets-second-thoughts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9lA.KBLE.IknGeEotR6cJ&smid=url-share
Nytimes
Pennsylvania’s A.I. Gold Rush Meets Second Thoughts (Gift Article)
Amid a backlash, Gov. Josh Shapiro is pumping the brakes on enormous data centers. But in a region scarred by the collapse of the steel industry, some welcome billions in construction.
Filing: OpenAI denies Apple's allegations of trade secret theft, saying "this dispute is a mess of Apple's own making, and it is trying to blame everyone else" (Deepa Seetharaman/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-says-apple-has-only-itself-blame-trade-secret-fight-2026-09-01/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/openai-says-apple-has-only-itself-blame-trade-secret-fight-2026-09-01/
Study: ~33% of UK adults say they used illegal streaming services in the past three months, costing the sports, TV, and film industries ~£1.4B in annual revenue (Daniel Thomas/Financial Times)
https://www.ft.com/content/40ea5643-865a-4443-b591-3ecd0458078b
https://www.ft.com/content/40ea5643-865a-4443-b591-3ecd0458078b
Hong Kong-listed Z.ai reports H1 2026 revenue up 5x YoY to ~$142M, with "open platform and API revenue" up 28x to ~$122M, and net loss down 12% YoY to ~$308M (Juro Osawa/The Information)
https://www.techmeme.com/260901/p4#a260901p4
https://www.techmeme.com/260901/p4#a260901p4
Techmeme
Hong Kong-listed Z.ai reports H1 2026 revenue up 5x YoY to ~$142M, with “open platform and API revenue” up 28x to ~$122M, and net…
Juro Osawa / The Information: Hong Kong-listed Z.ai reports H1 2026 revenue up 5x YoY to ~$142M, with “open platform and API revenue” up 28x to ~$122M, and net loss down 12% YoY to ~$308M
Microsoft says it is testing a fix to an outage affecting Exchange Online and Outlook, lasting for 17+ hours from around 11:30AM ET on Monday (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/microsoft-tests-fix-for-latest-hours-long-outlook-outage/
https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/31/microsoft-tests-fix-for-latest-hours-long-outlook-outage/
TechCrunch
Microsoft tests fix for latest hours-long Outlook outage | TechCrunch
Microsoft says it's testing a fix for the widespread Outlook issues that have led to email delays and failures.
Google raises the price of its Google TV Streamer by $50 to $150 in the US, as well as for "select" Nest cameras and doorbells, citing "rising component costs" (Abner Li/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2026/08/31/google-tv-streamer-increase/
https://9to5google.com/2026/08/31/google-tv-streamer-increase/
9to5Google
Google TV Streamer gets $50 price increase
Google has quietly raised the price of the Google TV Streamer to $149.99.
How lawn care YouTuber Greg Chism scaled a family channel to 13B views with YouTube's coaching, before YouTube banned it in 2017 following online backlash (Jon Ronson/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/magazine/greg-chism-youtube-bad-baby.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9VA.ZahU.hfCU_sYRVjFU&smid=url-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/30/magazine/greg-chism-youtube-bad-baby.html?unlocked_article_code=1.9VA.ZahU.hfCU_sYRVjFU&smid=url-share
Nytimes
He Was a Top Lawn Care Influencer on YouTube. Then Everything Went Haywire. (Gift Article)
Many people think Greg Chism is a freak — or worse. He says he was just following the incentives of the platform.
Tim Cook took Apple's market cap from under $350B in 2011 to $4.6T today, a 2,736% total return, and annual revenue from $157B in FY 2012 to ~$477B in FY 2026 (Ryan Vlastelica/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/apple-s-2-275-gain-under-cook-is-tough-act-for-ternus-to-follow
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/apple-s-2-275-gain-under-cook-is-tough-act-for-ternus-to-follow
Bloomberg.com
Apple’s 2,275% Gain Under Tim Cook Is a Tough Act for John Ternus to Follow
Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook handed over the reins to John Ternus on Tuesday, capping a tenure as chief executive officer that cemented the company as an iconic global brand and turned its stock into one of the most reliable bets.
John Ternus takes over as Apple CEO, as Tim Cook becomes executive chair; sources say Laura Legros, an Apple hardware VP who retired in 2022, has rejoined Apple (Kalley Huang/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/technology/apple-tim-cook-john-ternus.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/technology/apple-tim-cook-john-ternus.html
Nytimes
John Ternus Replaces Tim Cook as Apple CEO
Big technology and management changes are greeting John Ternus, whose long-serving predecessor, Tim Cook, will stay on as executive chair.
Dyson unveils the $499 CameraJet, an AI-powered toothbrush with a 100K-pixel macro lens that scans at 28 images per second and is trained on nearly 470K images (Samantha Kelly/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/dyson-announces-499-camerajet-smart-toothbrush-with-ai-built-in-camera
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/dyson-announces-499-camerajet-smart-toothbrush-with-ai-built-in-camera
Bloomberg.com
Dyson Debuts $499 AI-Powered Toothbrush With a Built-In Camera
Dyson Ltd. introduced a $499 toothbrush that uses artificial intelligence and a built-in camera to give real-time feedback, the latest in a growing subset of gadgets that put AI and video in sometimes unconventional places.
A look back at Tim Cook's 15-year tenure: Apple silicon, wearables, a $1T market cap, privacy, Apple Vision Pro, Apple Car, AI, App Store battles, and Trump (Emma Roth/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/tech/987043/tim-cook-biggest-wins-misses
https://www.theverge.com/tech/987043/tim-cook-biggest-wins-misses
The Verge
Tim Cook’s Apple: his 10 biggest wins and misses
A look back at Tim Cook’s legacy.
Nvidia plans to launch DLSS 5 on September 3 on RTX 50-series desktop and laptop GPUs and through GeForce Now, following a divisive announcement in March (Jay Peters/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/tech/986378/nvidia-dlss-5-launch-nba-2k27
https://www.theverge.com/tech/986378/nvidia-dlss-5-launch-nba-2k27
The Verge
Nvidia’s controversial DLSS 5 arrives September 3rd and requires serious GPU horsepower
It seems to look better than the terrible initial examples.
Roku unveils its first self-branded OLED smart TVs, starting at $999 for 55" and 65" 120Hz models and $1,299 for 144Hz models, sold exclusively via Amazon (Chris Welch/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/roku-launches-its-first-oled-tvs-with-prices-starting-at-999
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-01/roku-launches-its-first-oled-tvs-with-prices-starting-at-999
Bloomberg.com
Roku Launches Its First OLED TVs, With Prices Starting at $999
Roku Inc. introduced its first self-branded smart TVs with organic light emitting diode, or OLED, display technology, which will lend the new models greater contrast and punchier black levels than previous first-party Roku TVs.