AI Weekly Malaysia

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 passes are up to $300 off until August 21 at 11:59 p.m. PT, with larger group discounts also expiring then. The event runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, expecting 10,000+ founders, investors, and startup community members, with a focus on building in the AI era.

A peer-reviewed ASME study presents field measurements showing how data center waste heat raises neighborhood-scale air temperatures, framing it as an emerging urban environmental problem. The Hacker News discussion drew 311 points and 501 comments, indicating strong community interest in the physical externalities of data center growth.

Etched raised $700M at a $21B valuation led by Jane Street, which tested and purchased the startup's AI inference hardware. The valuation jumped from $10.3B in July to $21B in a month, driven by two custom components: a low-voltage prefill chip that packs more transistors to process tokens faster, and a cluster-scale shared memory pool with low-latency interconnect for the decode phase. Etched's systems now run any frontier model, not a single hardcoded one as originally intended.

Apple announced a tiered EU App Store commission structure: 26% for purchases through Apple's App Store and payment system, 20% for apps using their own payment processing, 15% for apps linking out to a website, and 5% for apps distributed via third-party stores or the web. Apple says this resolves DMA-related regulatory disputes, though the 26% rate is notably higher than the previously standard 30% only when considering the new lower-cost alternatives.

Apple replaced its EU per-install Core Technology Fee with a flat 5% commission on digital goods sold through alternative app marketplaces or the web. In-app purchase fees dropped to 26% from 30%, and alternative payment processing costs 20% (10% for qualifying programs). Apple also made it easier for developers to open alternative app stores, following a €500M EU fine and criticism that prior terms were 'malicious compliance.'

Terence Eden recounts Vodafone Egypt's 2011 experience during the revolution, where armed authorities forced mobile operators to send pro-regime SMS propaganda under emergency telecoms powers. He argues that no amount of cryptographic fail-safes or technical protections matter when the state shows up with guns and compels compliance, challenging the technologist's assumption that engineering can solve political coercion.

Anthropic is running a limited-time promotion that increases Claude Code weekly usage limits by 50% for Pro, Max, Team, and legacy seat-based Enterprise plans, now extended through August 31, 2026. The 5-hour usage limits are unaffected, and the increase applies automatically with no action required. Free plans and consumption-based Enterprise seats are excluded.

A ransomware affiliate calling itself 'Ransom Busters' has been emailing victim organizations proactively, claiming to have exploited vulnerabilities in ransomware-as-a-service administrative panels for over three years, and offering to delete stolen data for $20,000–$60,000. GuidePoint Research and Intelligence Team (GRIT) says the actor appears to be an affiliate across multiple RaaS operations including DragonForce, Settra, and Anubis, and that the activity likely violates the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Peacock reportedly raised its subscription prices by 18% after reaching profitability. The article body was not accessible beyond cookie consent boilerplate, so no further details on new pricing tiers, dates, or rationale are available.

Comcast rolled out a free, opt-in Wi-Fi Motion feature to XB7 and newer Xfinity gateways that detects movement inside a home by sensing disruptions to the Wi-Fi signal and sends notifications through the Xfinity app. The privacy catch: Comcast's support page states it may disclose motion data to third parties without further notice in connection with law enforcement investigations, disputes, court orders, or subpoenas.

The article URL points to an Ars Technica story about the US waking up to China's space program threat, but the captured text contains only cookie consent boilerplate — no article content was retrieved.

Leaked video footage and code found in Apple's macOS 26.7 RC confirm camera-equipped AirPods Pro 4, featuring a 'Visual Intelligence' mode that lets users ask Siri to save things they see. The code also includes a 'Hair Detected' error warning users when hair blocks the AirPods' camera.

Nvidia is leveraging its capital position as a competitive moat, announcing a $500 billion financing pact with Wall Street firms for its GPUs and up to $105 billion in support for OpenAI's Ohio data center. Jensen Huang noted that frontier labs are growing faster than their balance sheets and credit profiles can support, positioning Nvidia's financing capacity as a strategic differentiator as AMD and Google chip away at its technology lead.

Fairphone's Gen 6 repairable smartphone is now available in the US for $650. The article text itself was not captured—only the headline and cookie consent boilerplate are present.

A Surfshark study of 171 iOS apps from five tech giants found Meta apps declare collecting an average of 25 out of 35 possible data types, roughly triple Apple or Microsoft's 7-8. Google had 29 of the top 40 most data-hungry apps, and Amazon Alexa was the worst non-Meta app at 28 data types. The findings are based on self-reported App Store privacy labels, not independent traffic observation, and count data type categories rather than volume or frequency.

A Surfshark study of 171 iOS apps from five tech giants found Meta apps declare an average of 25 out of 35 possible data types—triple Apple or Microsoft's average of 7-8. Google dominated the top 40 most data-hungry apps with 29 entries, and Amazon Alexa was the most data-hungry non-Meta app at 28 data types. The findings are based on self-reported Apple App Store privacy labels, not independent network observation, and count breadth of data types rather than volume or frequency of collection.

CNBC's Jim Cramer expressed bullishness on TJX Companies ahead of its Wednesday earnings while flagging trouble for Meta. Broader markets fell as the 30-year Treasury yield climbed above 5.33%—a level not seen in nearly two decades—and WTI crude rose above $85/barrel amid stalled U.S.-Iran negotiations.

Bluesky experienced a day-long outage caused by a DDoS attack that flooded the site with junk traffic, marking the second such incident in recent months after a similar attack in April. Security researchers in the IFIN public forum report that Iran-backed attackers claimed responsibility, amid increased Iranian attacks on U.S. businesses since the start of the U.S.-Israel war earlier this year. Bluesky said it upgraded its defenses but disclosed no technical details.

ChargEV launched a referral programme where new users get a RM10 charging voucher and referrers get a 50% discount voucher (capped at RM20 per session) for each successful referral who completes a first charge. Referrals are capped at 5 per month (max RM100 in discounts), vouchers expire in 60 days, and the monthly cap resets on the 1st. The programme follows a recent app revamp that added a new interface and autocharge feature.

The provided article text contains only Ars Technica's cookie consent and privacy policy boilerplate — no actual content about the Ford Hypercar or Le Mans is present in the excerpt.

A US appeals court ordered a fresh review of DJI's designation as a 'Chinese military company,' requiring a judge to examine classified evidence for the first time. DJI remains on the Pentagon list during the review, meaning the designation and associated restrictions stay in effect for now.

Lenny Rachitsky launched Lenny's Jobs, a job board focused exclusively on product management, engineering, design, and growth/marketing roles at tech companies. It aggregates and vets open roles, filters out ghost postings, includes unlisted roles sourced from his X/LinkedIn audience and private Slack community, and offers AI tools per job post for fit-rating, interview prep, resume customization, and outreach planning. It also includes a curated 'Lenny 100' list of companies he recommends joining.

The article text contains only cookie consent and privacy policy boilerplate from Ars Technica. No substantive content about the referenced game review was captured.

Best Buy's 60th Anniversary Sale is offering the Bambu Labs P1S 3D printer bundled with the AMS color-printing module for $499, an all-time low price. The article itself is mostly site navigation and membership boilerplate with no additional technical detail beyond the deal.

Peacock is raising prices across all tiers effective August 18, 2026: the ad-supported Select plan goes from $7.99 to $8.99, Premium from $10.99 to $12.99, and ad-free Premium Plus from $16.99 to $19.99. Current subscribers see the hike after September 17, while annual and promo subscribers keep existing rates until renewal. This is Peacock's fourth price increase since its 2020 launch.