Engadget News + Next

-As part of its latest revamp, Faraday Future, the embattled electric car company, is now pitching a lineup of robots, including humanoids, quadrupeds and a robotic arm. -OpenAI has updated GPT-5.5 Instant, the model you interact with the most when you use ChatGPT, to be better at understanding context and adapting to queries as you alter them to add more conditions or clarifications. -And do you really need AI to check your spelling and grammar? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Superhuman offers services such as hallucination and plagiarism detection as well as a nifty little tool that displays how much of the internet is artificial intelligence. -Mark Zuckerberg has directed Meta to create a prediction markets app, that reportedly goes by the name "Arena" and could eventually compete with platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi. -Anthropic has announced Claude Tag, which is currently in research preview, and could eventually take over Slackbot's job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI has launched Patch the Planet, a new initiative part of its Daybreak cybersecurity program, which was designed to serve the open-source community. -China's LineShine from the nation's National Supercomputer Center hit 2.198 Exaflops of performance, beating the previous champ El Capitan -Meta's Oversight Board has called on the social media company to strengthen its protection for ordinary people targeted by sexualized deepfakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Wall Street Journal has found that the company is paying social media creators to post misleading content promoting the prediction market. -Norway is imposing a strict ban on the use of generative AI tools by elementary school kids. -Octopus Energy, the UK's largest energy provider, has teamed up with CATL, the world's biggest EV battery maker, to bring Chinese-style battery swap stations to Europe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice previously testified at Seattle city council meetings about AI data centers. Now, three of them are apparently under investigation by the company. -Richard Hermer, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, has reportedly told his department to stop posting official updates on X. -Rivian has been sued on allegations that it made misleading statements about the self-driving capabilities of its R1T truck and R1S SUV. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Waymo told Engadget that it identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones, adding that the company voluntarily restricted freeway operations last month. -Relativity Space will provide spacecraft, rocket and cruise operations to deliver the agency's science instruments to Mars. -Apple's outgoing CEO Tim Cook all but confirmed that higher prices are on the way for the company's products, saying "price increases are unavoidable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The recently resurrected Commodore is getting back into phones, but rather than taking on the likes of Apple and Samsung at their own game, the Commodore Callback 8020 is a proudly non-conformant flip phone that wouldn't have looked out of place in the '90s. -WhatsApp is finally offering what most of its contemporaries already have: disappearing (view-once) texts. -The White House app is reportedly coming to all devices managed by the Department of Homeland Security, whether the user wants to download it or not. GovExec that it was a "cause for alarm," as any app installed on government-issued devices can "potentially create backdoor access to government networks behind the firewall." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The government recently annulled the results of a key medical school entrance test because it said that the answers were leaked ahead of time on Telegram. -The Atlantic has published four searchable databases of music that has been used to train AI models. The scope is pretty staggering, with 12 million tracks in one database, 9 million in another, and the two final ones each containing about 100,000 songs. -Google Earth has a flight sim mode of its own, and it can now be accessed by anyone globally via their browser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Fox Corporation announced it will be acquiring Roku, best known for its streaming device ecosystem for about $22 billion for Roku, or $160 per share. -Ahead of the G7 conference in France, Donald Trump is once again threatening massive tariffs on France if it doesn't remove its three percent digital tax on US tech companies. -The UK is banning young people under 16 from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices