When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft finally found a Windows ad it doesn't like After an investigation and user outcry, Microsoft says it asked LG to disable a McAfee pop-up that auto-installed from its monitors. Microsoft is an advertising company. Not an advertising company, true, it makes software and hardware and sells online services. But it made $10 billion in revenue from "search and news advertising" in 2025, according to its own numbers.

Will AI help you do your job or replace you? Artificial Intelligence (AI) companies are making vast claims about the ability of their tools to replace human labour. Some jobs will be automated, others will be augmented. The bosses of the world's biggest companies are diverting vast sums into these tools, partly with the knowledge that they could save money on headcount. Flat is the new up, we are told, in terms of the size of a company's workforce as investors ask whether jobs should be done by new recruits - or, instead, armies of AI Agents, virtual workers tasked with doing specific roles, some of them relatively skilled.

CrashStealer Mac malware bypasses Gatekeeper via Apple notarization to steal keychain data, browser credentials, password manager vaults and cryptocurrency wallet keys.

Check your subscription status, update your details and more. An open-source flight-control system found in consumer drones has been installed in Ukraine's latest cruise missile, showing how cheap technology is making military hardware accessible to all Ukraine has developed a cheap cruise missile guided by an open-source autopilot system typically found in consumer drones. The use of hobby components highlights the shrinking gap between military and consumer electronics, which may make it easier for small countries and non-state actors to develop powerful high-tech weapons. With foreign long-range weapons hard to come by, Ukraine has had to develop its own. Fire Point, a Ukrainian company, showed off its FP-5 Flamingo cruise missile at the Eurosatory defence expo in Paris last month.

As they scramble to keep their systems online, AI companies are making things expensive for the rest of us. Large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude are so resource-hungry that tech companies may be purchasing 70 percent of the world's supply of high-end computer memory, causing a shortage. As a result, the prices of computer memory and storage are skyrocketing: Hard drives that I bought for my reporting two years ago for $350 each were $800 when I checked two weeks ago, and are now out of stock. The prices of some laptops have gone up as much as 50 percent, and low-cost computers are being hit the hardest. Affordable entry-level computers may "disappear by 2028" according to one forecast .

Try the new Siri AI and system-wide performance improvements. Adventurous early adopters, your moment has arrived: the first public betas of Apple's 2027 software updates are here . Previews of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27 Golden Gate and watchOS 27 are now available to be installed directly on your device. The headliner of iOS 27 is the long-awaited Siri AI . The new version transforms from a basic voice-command system into a modern AI assistant.

PCWorld reports that Windows PCs need updated 2023 Secure Boot certificates as older 2011 certificates expire in 2026, leaving systems vulnerable to malware. Hardware vendors, not Microsoft, control these critical security updates through UEFI/BIOS firmware, meaning unsupported older PCs may require hardware upgrades. Users can check their protection status in Windows Security app for a green Secure Boot checkmark and update firmware accordingly. You've probably seen countless warnings lately about Windows and expiring Secure Boot certificates . Why? Some PCs haven't gotten the updates yet--and won't unless you take action.

Things to Do in L.A. Tap to enable a layout that focuses on the article. This is read by an automated voice. Please report any issues or inconsistencies here . See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. A new federal lawsuit by California drivers accuses major gas chains, including Walmart and 7-Eleven, and technology company Kalibrate of using AI software to collude and keep pump prices artificially high.

This story appears in the August 2026 print edition. While some stories from this issue are not yet available to read online, you can explore more from the magazine . Get our editors' guide to what matters in the world, delivered to your inbox every weekday. Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst believe the future doesn't have to belong to slop. The art was way too heavy. In mid-March, the artists Holly Herndon and Mat Dryhurst were preparing an installation to coincide with the Venice Biennale, the prestigious international art festival, but the execution was becoming tricky. They wanted to suspend sculptures of a trippy cityscape upside down from the ceiling of an 18th-century palazzo. But the construction material they envisioned-- 3-D-printed sand--would weigh tons, which was more than the antique building could bear. The sculptures, they realized, might fall and crush someone. Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read. This was a rather analog problem for a married couple widely seen as technological prophets. Herndon, 46, and Dryhurst, 41, have reached the upper echelons of the art world thanks to a media-spanning output--music, images, software, and reams of commentary--with a cybernetic bent. They are high culture's most influential exponents of artificial intelligence, an invention that many people believe spells doom for the arts but that they think could lead to a renaissance. I met them on a cold, bright Tuesday in Berlin.

Flexion Robotics, a startup founded by ex-Nvidia engineers, has a clever way of training robots to do useful work. Humanoid robots might be able to run, dance, and occasionally kick people, but to become human, they're going to need to learn how to do all sorts of menial chores at work. Flexion Robotics, a Swiss startup founded by ex-Nvidia robotics researchers, thinks it has the solution. The company has developed a way to train robots to perform complex tasks that involve simple skills like opening doors, climbing stairs, and carrying boxes. The key is to teach the robots individual skills in simulation, then have a master AI algorithm determine how to use them.