Tech news from around the world, rewritten in plain English.
A roundup of newer, lesser-known book apps that help readers track reading, set goals, and find new titles. The list excludes Goodreads, which is owned by Amazon and is arguably the most popular book app.
China proposed restricting exports of some AI technologies in mid-October, requiring licenses for 23 technologies tied to large-scale models, agents, computing clusters, and information processing. Days later, state media reported that DeepSeek and MiniMax were authorized to continue exporting. The move supports China's goal of building export industries while keeping sovereign-capacity tools under Beijing's control.
Tioli said on the 26th that it had independently reproduced and verified the Node.js vulnerability 'Node2Shell (CVE-2026-111497)', disclosed on the 21st, and published a response guide. The flaw stems from a memory-handling error when decompressing Brotli-compressed data, and Node.js rates its severity as High. Patched versions 22.23.4, 24.22.1, and 26.12.1 were released.
Logpresso has released a 'PHP2Shell Scanner' app that diagnoses the PHP remote code execution vulnerabilities known as PHP2Shell. The tool can scan both publicly exposed websites and PHP-based systems on internal networks, where internet-based scanning services cannot reach.
AI-enabled devices such as smart speakers, smartwatches and smart glasses that are always ready to respond can collect data, raising privacy concerns. Global shipments of AI glasses reportedly jumped to 8.4 million in 2025 from 2.1 million in 2024, according to Omdia data cited by Reuters. Experts warn that bystanders may be monitored without owning any device, and that AI can interpret far more collected information than earlier voice assistants.
OpenAI held its first 'OpenAI Model Masters' event in Korea on the 23rd at its Seoul office, where 11 startups demonstrated services built on its models. The program, which provides API credits to startups recommended by venture capitalists, aims to help turn AI ideas into real products. OpenAI highlighted the selected startup Cutback's video-editing work as a standout example.
Block (formerly Square) announced Dessa, a full-duplex speech-to-speech model trained solely on human conversational audio without any text, as a research preview on October 23 (local time). Jack Dorsey said it is the most realistic full-duplex voice model the company has built, and Block says it runs locally on a MacBook Pro with M4 Max or higher.
Reported AI-generated election deepfakes surged worldwide, with January to September 2026 cases already exceeding last year's full-year total by 27%, according to a Surfshark study. South Korea ranks third globally in cumulative cases with 16 since 2021, behind the United States and India. The study counted 235 cases across 46 countries from January 2020 to September 2026.
A German tech publication has published a top-10 ranking of KVM switches based on its own tests. The switches let users connect a mouse, keyboard, and monitor to several computers without re-plugging cables.
Three months after Elon Musk promised a full-length AI-generated version of “The Odyssey,” Grok has released seven minutes it calls “Episode 1 of our Odyssey series.” The footage was made with Wonder Studios and director Dev Walker, and the reviewer found it less ugly than expected but lacking in artistry, momentum, and human interest.
Terrence O'Brien, The Verge's weekend editor, reviews Scott Walker's 2006 album The Drift as one of the most genuinely terrifying Spooky Season records. He describes its dark lyrics on death, disease, and tragedy and its unsettling experimental soundscape. The review argues the album is challenging but rewarding, and that it makes the skin crawl rather than offering shivers.
Platier has officially launched XGEN TMS, a test management solution that can operate in air-gapped (closed network) environments. The solution integrates the entire quality assurance process from requirements management to defect tracking and uses AI to generate test cases and recommend regression test scope.
Hwaseong Special City in Gyeonggi Province will showcase AI urban technologies with 56 companies and institutions at the AI expo 'MARS 2026' at Seoul's COEX from November 3 to 5. The event covers five fields, including mobility, manufacturing, daily life, urban operations, and aerospace, and includes conferences and investment programs.
A YouTuber reproduced a cracked screen on Apple's iPhone Duo during durability testing, then took the phone apart to look for the cause. He believes a thinner link in the complex hinge snapped at a small notch and that the hinge may have caught on the support plate.
Paulina Borsook’s 2000 book “Cyberselfish,” long out of print, is returning in a new edition from Tin House with a new introduction by Gil Durán. Borsook says the book examines techno-libertarian influence on Silicon Valley culture, which she argues has been anti-regulation despite benefiting heavily from government.
The Verge's Terrence O'Brien says Zen Browser is a strong replacement for Arc, which Atlassian is phasing out in favor of its AI-focused browser Dia. Zen copies Arc's best visual and organizational features while remaining AI-free and privacy-focused. It has some drawbacks, including no DRM-protected video playback for now.
Meta has brought Instagram for TV to Apple TV, quietly adding the platform to its compatible list in the App Store on October 23rd. The app presents Reels, live streams, and other video content on a larger screen, following earlier launches on Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TVs, and Google TV. The move supports Instagram's push into longer-form, episodic content and microdramas.
Vietnam's Vietnam National University, Hanoi inaugurated a UAV testing zone in Hoa Lac, Hanoi, on October 25. The zone supports researchers and students in researching, building, flight-testing and refining unmanned aerial vehicles, and lets businesses order research and co-develop products with university teams.
Apollo Global Management's chief economist Torsten Slok says AI has not improved profit margins or revenue per worker at large U.S. companies outside the tech industry. He examined the S&P 493, the S&P 500 excluding seven major tech firms, and found no evidence of AI-driven productivity gains.
Nearly 900 of the 1,615 new top-level domain (TLD) applications filed with ICANN have multiple bidders, and private companies are applying for city-name domains such as .muenchen and .frankfurt without the cities' approval. Participants at ICANN's meeting in Bali suggested the current application round could end up significantly smaller than the 2012 round.
A columnist who has owned a Tesla Model 3 since September 2021 reports on its 5-year maintenance inspection, which found no major failures and a battery at 92.8% state of health. The writer notes that the brake pads wore only about 1mm thanks to regenerative braking.
Leading European tech executives, including Mistral CEO Arthur Mensch and DeepL CEO Jarek Kutylowski, are warning against a policy shift toward focusing on AI applications rather than building frontier models. They argue that relying on foreign models risks technological dependence and a trade deficit for the EU.
Louisiana resident Leslie Pickett spent months chatting with a scammer posing as rock star Jon Bon Jovi, who used AI-generated photos and videos to gain her trust. The story is featured in National Geographic's documentary Super Scam Me, where journalist Mariana van Zeller investigates online scams.
Oracle will hold Oracle AI World 2026 in Las Vegas from the 25th to the 28th, presenting an AI strategy that spans data, applications, and cloud infrastructure. About 20,000 attendees, including customers, partners, and developers, are expected. The event highlights how Oracle aims to turn enterprise AI adoption into measurable business results.