The stories shaping the United States, Canada, and the world.
Every important story across the United States and Canada — ranked by freshness, coverage breadth, source authority and momentum. How ranking works
Last updated 3 min ago
Robot lawnmowers are finally good enough to take a lot of work out of maintaining a yard, but they’re still not set-it-and-forget-it machines. If you don’t want these autonomous cutting machines to tear up your lawn or go roaming in your neighbors’ yard, you’re still going to need to keep an eye on them. But […]
The Verge
Matic, my current favorite robot vacuum, just got a big upgrade. The company has launched Matic Cues, which brings voice and gesture control to the robot. Now, you can talk directly to your vacuum to tell it what you want it to do, or just point at a mess to have it spot-clean. The feature […]
The Verge
"I've lost trust ..."
Ars Technica
The Trump administration has yet to appeal a key firearms ruling handed down last week, leaving gun control groups worried and Second Amendment advocates hoping it means the Department of Justice (DOJ) is standing down.  When a judge ruled last week that parts of the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) could no longer stand, he gave the Trump administration…
The Hill
Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as regulator says five companies can raise bills to pay for infrastructure for new housing and datacentres The biggest factor for the FTSE 100 ’s underperformance on Thursday morning relative to other European markets is a big decline in the mining sector . Chilean miner Antofagasta is the biggest faller on London’s benchmark index, down 4.9% after it cut its guidance for future output. The London-listed miner cut its 2026…
The Guardian
Users of the popular streaming platform criticised allowing Amazon to use their data by dafault.
BBC News
The dangers of AI become clearer every day. Why are we still acting as if we have no choice about our future? Rather than producing jobs, the US economy actually lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday. In addition, May and June’s job numbers were revised downward, showing a combined 103,000 fewer jobs than previously reported. As if this weren’t bad enough, wage growth has also slowed. Average hourly earnings rose by just 0.1% from June.…
The Guardian
Flock Safety will implement new privacy and data retention policies as pressure grows on the automated license plate operator to prevent its technology from being abused or used to conduct mass surveillance. The company announced Thursday it will shorten the recommended default data retention window from 30 to seven days to cut the amount of…
The Hill
2K is launching a new AAA game development studio, Small Axe Studios, with an ambitious goal: to build the company's "next blockbuster sports franchise," according to a LinkedIn post. The post doesn't explicitly say what sport this new game will focus on. But an image included in the post features what appears to be a […]
The Verge
Steve Eisman is warning that the artificial intelligence boom has become increasingly dependent on the fortunes of just two companies: OpenAI and Anthropic.
CNBC
Pricing hasn't changed, and now you can get captain's chairs for the R1S.
Ars Technica
Severely redacted RCMP documents outline what police knew in immediate aftermath of mass shooting. Find out more.
Vancouver Sun
It’s a nice sentiment, but all AI users should ask three questions about their preferred choice of AI platform On Monday, Mark Zuckerberg published a 6,500-word essay, The Future Is for Everyone. The essay came with something even rarer: a new Meta open-weight model. An open-weight AI model is the kind of AI with which you download the entire thing, and it works on your own computer (with or without the internet) and nobody can switch it off except for you. Almost every mainstream AI tool you…
The Guardian
Bot training switch is on by default, because apparently asking first wasn't going to work
The Register
The base iPhone 18 model that Apple is expected to release by March 2027 will be equipped with 12GB of RAM, up from 8GB in the iPhone 17, according to analyst Jeff Pu. Pu's latest assessment, if accurate, would see the iPhone 18 gaining the same amount of memory as the iPhone 17 Pro models. Analyst Dan Nystedt claimed the same RAM upgrade for the iPhone 18 back in April.
MacRumors
From referred pain to migraine, here’s what research reveals about the sudden headache that can follow an enthusiastic bite of ice cream.
The Conversation
The mark flags anything Claude processed, even human writing it only edited.
Ars Technica
Some see them as sinister or hunt them for ritual use but these birds play a vital role in nature's cycle.
BBC News
Japanese risk aversion and conservatism blamed for slow AI take-up by the country's business sector.
BBC News
On 13 August, three states are set to carry out executions by lethal injection. It’s the first time since 2010 that three people will be put to death on the same day in the US. In Tennessee, the execution of Darrell Hines is in the spotlight, because the last lethal injection in the state was botched. Ed Pilkington speaks to Kai Wright about the doctor at the center of that botched execution, whose identity was revealed inadvertently last year. Ed explains how his reporting has lifted the lid…
The Guardian
Hundreds of Homeland Security drones retasked to survey wildlife and livestock.
Ars Technica
Trump admin claims New York suing Kalshi created "market emergency."
Ars Technica
Amid public concern over the impact of new technology, Silicon Valley’s use of its wealth to influence specific election races is an unwelcome development As the huge societal ramifications of artificial intelligence have become clear, some of the tech industry’s most senior figures have taken to writing thinkpieces on what comes next. The latest to do so is Mark Zuckerberg, who this week published 6,500 words making the case for a laissez-faire approach to AI development. Worrying too much…
The Guardian
From space to telecommunications, the US has a long history of fostering technology for the public good. These AI models could be aligned to democratic values, not corporate profits OpenAI, and then Anthropic, were each formed by AI developers who feared unrestrained corporate AI development – specifically, that companies like Google and Meta would steer the technology towards deleterious, maybe even catastrophically unsafe, outcomes for society. Their founders proclaimed that their new labs,…
The Guardian
Most deaths from the magnitude-7.4 quake were reported in Cali, Colombia’s third-most populous city, as crews search collapsed buildings for those still trapped.
BBC News
Showing 25 of 57 ranked stories.
