A Google security engineer was charged with insider trading after winning $1.2 million using confidential company data to place bets on the cryptocurrency-based Polymarket decentralized prediction market.

36-year-old Michele Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen residing in Switzerland and a Google employee since 2014, appeared on Wednesday in the Southern District of New York.

In parallel, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a separate civil complaint the same day, seeking restitution, disgorgement, civil monetary penalties, and trading and registration bans.

According to the criminal complaint, throughout this scheme, Spagnuolo used his access to an internal software tool containing confidential “Year in Search” data (Google’s annual ranking of top trending search terms), which was marked with a “Google Confidential” banner in red text.

Beginning in October 2025, Spagnuolo allegedly used a Polymarket account under the alias “AlphaRaccoon” to bet on whether specific individuals would appear on Google’s top trending search lists. He also allegedly used confidential data from Google’s internal data tool and placed bets with near-perfect accuracy across approximately 25 unlikely outcomes, while risking roughly $2.75 million in total.

After Google publicly announced its Year in Search results on December 4, 2025, Spagnuolo’s AlphaRaccoon Polymarket account collected approximately $1.2 million in USDC.e winnings.

“From on or about December 4, 2025 through on or about December 10, 2025, when the Polymarket markets regarding Google’s Year in Search resolved, the software released approximately 3,914,362 million USDC.e to the AlphaRaccoon Polymarket account. On or about December 10, 2025, the AlphaRaccoon Polymarket account sent approximately 5.045 million USDC.e, to Wallet-0xAf6,” the complaint reads.

The FBI traced the AlphaRaccoon account to a payment processor account registered in Spagnuolo’s name and linked to an Italian government identification card. After online communities on Discord and X began speculating that AlphaRaccoon was a Google insider, the username was removed from the account, reverting it to an alphanumeric wallet address.

Prosecutors said that Spagnuolo subsequently moved the illegal proceeds through multiple cryptocurrency-swapping services, including one that removes wallet addresses from the blockchain.

“Today’s charges reinforce a decades-old message: corporate insiders cannot use confidential business information to turn a profit in our markets,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “As alleged, Spagnuolo violated the duties he owed to his employer and used Google’s confidential business information to make more than $1.2 million in trading profits on Polymarket.”

“Employees who are entrusted with confidential business information cannot misappropriate that information for personal financial gain,” added CFTC Director of Enforcement David I. Miller.

Spagnuolo now faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on a commodities fraud count and 20 years each on wire fraud and money laundering counts.

Automated pentesting tools deliver real value, but they were built to answer one question: can an attacker move through the network? They were not built to test whether your controls block threats, your detection rules fire, or your cloud configs hold.

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“I used to walk into a room and just go ‘ta-da!’ Now, I tiptoe.” This is a line I’ve directly quoted from episode 1 of Russell T Davies‘ blistering new Channel 4 drama Tip Toe, but it’s also the sentiment of any LGBTQIA+ person living in the UK over the last few years.

As Western politics continues to shift to the right, being out and proud is something that’s starting to have a brand-new set of consequences — and instead of shying away from it, Davies presents us with an alarming vision of the future.

South of Tucson, in a stretch of Arizona desert that looks like any other patch of scrub and sun, a plain concrete entrance leads straight down into one of the most complete remnants of the Cold War. This is Complex 571-7, the single surviving Titan II missile site preserved exactly as it stood when the last crews walked out in 1987. Everything else from the original fifty-four sites was destroyed or buried. Here the underground command center and the missile itself remain untouched.

The descent begins at ground level and lowers approximately thirty five feet through a reinforced gateway. We’re talking about gigantic blast doors, each weighing several tons, that can seal the facility in an instant. They were designed to endure a nuclear strike anyplace nearby, including the shock, heat, and fallout. As you pass them, the air changes, as if you’ve stepped into another world. The temperature remains constant throughout the year, and the stillness is so terrible that it feels like it weighs ten times more than a typical basement.

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This self-contained three-story steel and concrete rig serves as the command center. Four individuals lived and worked here when there were 24-hour alerts. The dwelling quarters were located on the ground floor. There is a row of bunks for when the crew takes a break between shifts. Next to that is a small kitchen outfitted with metal cupboards and basic appliances similar to those found in an average 1960s American home. A little table and a couch chair complete the setup. Meals were prepared upstairs and then carried down because two guys had to stay on the lower level to keep an eye on things. It was simple and unpretentious, but it made sense for folks who could have been stuck down there for days.

Moving down, the second level housed the operations hub. Consoles and rows of equipment filled the entire area. The officers would monitor missile status, communications, and security from above. Everything was analog, based on what was available at the time, with sequencing technology that employed punch cards and mechanical timers. Every button and indicator has a reason for being present. The area was constructed so that the crew could go through all of the launch procedures without ever needing to surface.

Next, there’s a long tunnel that connects the command center to the missile silo. Even walking it now takes a few minutes. Back then, it must have been a long journey because the tunnel carried power, data, and staff between the two structures. At the further end, it opens into the silo. The Titan II missile, one hundred and three feet tall, remains perched in its launch position. I’m talking huge, since the surrounding concrete walls rise over one hundred forty feet. There are access platforms and equipment distributed around the area. That one missile carried a warhead that was far more devastating than the ones launched on Japan in 1945.

Engineers had designed the entire complex with independent systems so that it could function even if it were cut off from the rest of the world. The complex was self-sufficient due to a diesel generator that provided power throughout, as well as air filtration systems and water storage that could keep the crew going during extended periods of isolation… and some seriously necessary upgrades to protect sensitive equipment, such as shock-absorbing mounts to prevent damage. Then there was the strong reinforced concrete and various blast doors, which formed layers of security to keep the personnel and vital equipment secure from any attacks. The fundamental mission was simple: maintain the crew alive and able to take commands and carry them out regardless of what was going on above.

Life in the underground bunker followed a very tight sched. Crews took turns staying at their positions for alerts, with a couple of people riveted to the consoles while the others rested, ate, or performed necessary repairs. The living quarters, kitchen, bunks, and tiny communal rooms were really merely tools to help the workers prepare to launch at a moment’s notice, much like the launch equipment a whole level below.

The majority of the installations were demolished in accordance with arms-control agreements once the Titan II program ended. However, veterans of the 390th Strategic Missile Wing refused to let the final remaining site be demolished. So they teamed up with the Arizona Aerospace Foundation to keep Complex 571-7 intact. Today, it serves as the Titan Missile Museum. Visitors are taken on guided tours that follow the same route as the original crews: down to the command center, down the tunnel, and alongside the real missile. They even get to participate in a simulated launch sequence in the control room to get a sense of what those operations sounded like.

Here’s what we read and liked this week.

The YouTube-to-prestige-horror pipeline is looking very strong this weekend.

Taking the number one spot at the box office is “Backrooms,” a feature film expansion of Kane Parsons’ series of YouTube videos featuring eerie found footage of a mysterious office space (drawn from a 4chan thread) that defies physics.

Directed by Parsons, “Backrooms” made $38 million on Friday, and is expected to bring in a total of $80 million to $90 million at the domestic box office over this weekend alone. For indie studio A24, that’s its biggest opening by far — the previous record was held by “Civil War,” which made $25.7 in its first weekend of release.

The number two film, “Obsession,” is pulling off something that’s arguably even more impressive. True, it made a mere $8 million on Friday, with an estimated weekend haul of $28.5 million — but the movie (about a romantic wish gone nightmarishly wrong) already made more money in its second weekend than its first, and now its third weekend is set to grow another 19 percent.

For context, most wide release films normally fall between 50 to 70 percent in their second weekend; last year’s “Sinners” was considered an extraordinary word-of-mouth success because it fell less than 5 percent. Outside of Christmas releases (which have more staying power, thanks to the holidays), growing from weekend to weekend is unheard of — according to the Hollywood Reporter, “Obsession” is the first film since 1982 to grow on both its second and third weekends.

And like “Backrooms,” “Obsession” is a horror movie directed by filmmaker who first made his name on YouTube — Curry Barker, who released the hourlong found footage horror film “Milk & Serial” on YouTube in 2024. Barker has already shot his next film and is set to direct a new remake of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The two releases follow the surprise success of “Iron Lung,” a video game adaptation released earlier this year. Directed by Mark Fischbach — better known under his YouTube account name Markiplier — “Iron Lung” grossed nearly $41 million domestically.

In a New York Times article about the recent “YouTube-to-filmmaker boomlet,” Rutgers CInema general manager Mark DelVecchio noted that “lots of YouTubers have tried to make the leap to mainstream movies and come up short.” What sets Parsons, Barker, and Fischbach apart? DelVecchio said that despite their youth (Parsons is 20, Barker is 26), they all have “longevity.”

“At this point, some of them have been making videos for a very long time, and that’s how you develop a loyal audience that will follow you,” he added.

By the way, while I haven’t seen “Backrooms” yet (fingers crossed for tomorrow), I have seen “Obsession.” So I can confirm that it absolutely does not disappoint — I watched most of the second half with my fingers over my eyes, and I may even have screamed a few times.

Foundation Future Industries, a San Francisco startup founded in 2024, sent two of its Phantom MK-1 humanoid robots to Ukraine earlier this year. The company described it as the first known deployment of humanoid robots in a combat theatre. The tests, backed by the US government and conducted with Ukrainian officials, focused on logistics in hazardous areas.

CEO Sankaet Pathak told CNBC the MK-1 testing proved the robots can perform supply pickups that currently expose soldiers to danger. The robots carry approximately 44 pounds. They lack waterproofing and sufficient battery life for sustained deployment.

Foundation plans to send improved Phantom 2 units to Ukraine this year. Pathak says they will have “superhuman abilities” and double the payload capacity. The company is targeting front-line deployment with the US military within 12 to 18 months.

The political dimension is unavoidable. Eric Trump, the second son of the sitting president, recently joined Foundation as chief strategy adviser. The company has received $24 million in government research contracts across the Army, Navy, and Air Force for feasibility testing in inspection, logistics, and weapons handling.

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Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren alleged the contracts were “corruption in plain sight.” A Foundation spokesperson told CNBC that Eric Trump had been an investor before becoming an adviser. The two parties share a vision of bringing manufacturing back to the US.

Pathak is best known for leading Synapse, a fintech platform that declared bankruptcy in 2024. Foundation also attracted scrutiny after suggesting it had close ties to General Motors, claims GM subsequently rejected. The company’s credibility is a live question.

The military argument for humanoid robots centres on urban combat environments. “Modern urban combat spaces, where there are stairwells, ladders, basements and narrow corridors, were created for human movement,” said Kateryna Bondar, senior fellow at CSIS. Humanoid systems could have advantages over tracked or quadruped robots in these scenarios.

The counterargument is cost and complexity. “Making robots look like humans is a complex and expensive engineering challenge,” said Melanie Sisson at the Brookings Foreign Policy program. “What Ukraine has taught us is the opposite, that we need the ability to adapt rapidly and manufacture quickly and cheaply.”

Ukraine’s war has already become the primary testing ground for AI and robotics in combat. Ground robots deliver supplies to front lines. Autonomous drones conduct precision strikes. The conflict is generating operational data that peacetime testing cannot replicate.

The European defence-tech sector is moving faster on autonomous strike systems. Berlin’s Stark is raising €300 million at a €2.5 billion valuation for kamikaze drones. Destinus manufactures 2,000 cruise missiles annually through a Rheinmetall joint venture. These companies build purpose-designed weapons. Foundation is trying to make a humanoid do the same job.

Pathak said some weaponised uses of the Phantom robots will retain human confirmation in the decision loop. In certain time-critical scenarios, the robots will need to make fully autonomous decisions. The ethical implications of autonomous lethal decision-making remain unresolved internationally.

Foundation’s ambitions are large. Pathak plans to scale production to thousands of units this year. The goal is to deliver “the best robots we can build” to the US military, “better than anything China has.” China has its own leading humanoid companies and has publicly funded military robotics initiatives, though the extent of its trials remains unclear.

The broader humanoid market is splitting into clear use cases. 1X ships home robots at $20,000. Colin Angle is building companion robots with bear cub ears. Foundation is building robots that carry supplies through artillery fire. The technology is the same. The applications could not be more different.

Toby Walsh, chief scientist at the University of New South Wales AI Institute, expects tracked, flying, and underwater robots to replace human forces before humanoids do. “It might be a science fiction trope to expect humanoid terminator-style robots,” he said. The age of AI robots in war is near. Whether they need to look human to fight is the question Foundation is spending $24 million in government contracts to answer.

When did a 65-inch QLED television with a built-in streaming, variable refresh rate, and HDR10 support become something you could buy for under $400?

Apparently now, because Amazon has cut the Roku Select Series 65-inch 4K QLED TV from $449.99 to $379.99, a $70 saving that puts a genuinely capable large-screen set well below what this size and panel technology used to cost.