ConsoleWarrior

Tim O’Reilly built a publishing empire that AI is helping to destroy. Yet he loves AI—as long as it’s open source. Source: https://www.wired.com/story/tech-visionary-says-the-big-ai-labs-dont-get-what-people-want/

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Flock is tightening its rules in response to a growing surveillance backlash The police-tech giant Flock is changing officers’ access to its nationwide network of license plate readers. The move comes… Source: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/08/14/1142033/the-download-flock-new-rules-cloning-future/

The board voted to close the Washington, D.C., arts complex's main campus for a $250 million renovation — three months after a federal judge temporarily blocked a similar closure. Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/13/nx-s1-5930349/kennedy-center-shut-down-board-vote-trump

Zhu was renowned for reforms that sought to transition China from the post-Maoist years to a more global market-oriented financial system, without ceding party control over the economy. Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/08/12/1196705508/zhu-rongji-china-former-premier-dead

That’s a lot of people chatting with their AI friends all day. | Image: Google For the 14th time, a Google product has hit 1 billion users. Google CEO Sundar Pichai posted on X that a billion people are using Gemini every month, and that Gemini is Google's fastest-growing product ever. A billion users is a huge milestone, but Google isn't the first AI app to hit it. OpenAI's ChatGPT hit the mark a few weeks ago, though the company buried the announcement that "more than 1 billion people are putting ChatGPT to work" in an otherwise anodyne blog post about how people use AI. External data suggested ChatGPT crossed 1 billion users as early as this June, but OpenAI hadn't announced anything until that post on August 6th. … Read the full story at The Verge. Source: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/978113/chatgpt-gemini-1-billion-users

Check out this video from MSNBC: "Will name recognition be enough for Lindsey Graham's sister to take the late Senator's seat?" Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHGevCic7ac

A naked-eye view of the sun's outer atmosphere is the reason eclipse chasers travel the world. Here's what it may look like on Aug. 12. Source: https://www.space.com/stargazing/solar-eclipses/the-total-solar-eclipse-on-aug-12-will-reveal-something-nobody-has-ever-seen-before

A SIM swapping attack could compromise your phone, your personal accounts, and even your identity. Here's how to thwart them. Source: https://www.zdnet.com/article/your-phone-doesnt-block-sim-swapping-attacks-turn-on-carrier-settings/

Also: Black Ops quietly won the summer Source: https://kotaku.com/the-ram-is-all-gone-folks-2000722562

European Commission president says work needed in five areas of migration control including returning more people The president of the European Commission has called for action to strengthen Europe’s borders after tens of thousands of people arrived and quickly left the Spanish territory of Ceuta, triggering a furious row between Madrid and other European countries. In a letter to Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, on Monday, Ursula von der Leyen said: “From this incident, it is clear that we must do more to further strengthen our borders at critical points, including vigilant monitoring and the use of physical barriers where needed.” Continue reading... Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/03/stronger-eu-borders-physical-barriers-ceuta-von-der-leyen