X is shutting down its revenue-sharing programme on September 7 and replacing it with a new system called the Original Content Rewards Programme. The change is designed to reward creators who post original work, not people who repost other users’ content with a caption slapped on top. Under the new rules, creators earn money based on “qualified impressions” their original content receives from verified users. X defines original content as a user’s own writing, reporting, photos, videos, memes, or illustrations.

The eligibility bar is high. Creators must be 18 or older, pay for a Premium, Premium+, or Premium Business subscription, have at least 500 verified followers, and have earned at least 500,000 home timeline views from verified users in the past 90 days. Those requirements must be maintained after acceptance, not just met once. If a creator’s numbers drop, payouts stop. Impressions only count if they come from other Premium users, which narrows the audience that matters for monetisation to X’s paying base.

The definition of “original” is specific. Adding a caption or text overlay to someone else’s video that simply describes what is happening does not count. Creative editing, meaningful commentary, or original analysis of another person’s post does count. The distinction is X’s attempt to separate creators from aggregators, a problem that has plagued every platform that pays for engagement. Snapchat made a similar move last week, banning AI-generated videos from Spotlight recommendations to protect human creators from being drowned out by machine-made content.

People currently enrolled in revenue sharing must reapply for the new programme when it opens on September 8. Those not in the old programme can apply now. In March, X updated its revenue-sharing rules to weight engagement from a user’s home region more heavily, a change widely seen as a response to reports that dozens of popular pro-Trump accounts were run from outside the United States. YouTube has been fighting the same battle from the opposite direction, cutting payouts for AI-generated content while its algorithm punishes legitimate creators who do not show their faces. X’s bet is that requiring originality and a paying audience will produce a different outcome.

My wife and I have been working on sleep training our baby, and my iPhone has been very helpful in our pursuit thanks to its Background Sounds features. This feature transforms your iPhone into a white noise machine. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, playing sounds from a white noise machine can help soothe your baby and get them to settle down, giving you a moment of respite.

When Apple released iOS 15 in 2021, the operating system brought a hidden feature called Background Sounds. You can play these sounds by themselves or under a podcast, music or video streaming app.

When Apple introduced Background Sounds, there were six ambient sounds to play on a loop: rain, stream and ocean waves, which are natural sounds, and bright, balanced and dark noise, which are different pitches of white noise. But if you have iOS 26 on your device, you have over a dozen sounds to choose from now, including rain on roof and babble, which sounds like a busy cafe. 

If you want to use these sounds to lull a baby back to sleep, or for any other reason, here’s how to enable Background Sounds on your iPhone.

How to access Background Sounds from your Control Center

Instead of searching through Settings each time you want to turn Background Sounds on, here’s how you can set up a toggle in the Control Center to turn the feature on to use on your iPhone.

1. Open Control Center.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign in the top left of your screen.
3. Tap Add a Control near the bottom of your screen.
4. Tap the Background Sounds control under Hearing Accessibility to add to Control Center.

Once the Background Sounds control icon is in Control Center, tap it to start playing a background sound. Press and hold the icon to open a menu showing you the volume as well as what sound is playing. Tap Sounds to open the full list of sound options, like Ocean and Rain. Tap any of these to choose them.

Use Accessibility Shortcuts for Background Sounds

You can also set up an accessibility shortcut to turn Background Sounds on or off from your home screen or within an app. Here’s how to set it up.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Accessibility Shortcut.
4. Tap Background Sounds.

Now, when you press the side button on your iPhone three times, Background Sounds will turn on. You can tap the button three times again to turn it back off.

More Background Sound options

If you want more control over Background Sounds, here’s where to go.

1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Audio & Visual.
4. Tap Background Sounds.

Here you can turn Background Sounds on by tapping the Background Sounds toggle near the top of the menu, and you can change the Background Sound by tapping Sound and choosing a new sound. 

There are also two other toggles in this menu: Use When Media Is Playing and Stop Sounds When Locked. Tapping the toggle next to Use When Media Is Playing allows Background Sounds to keep playing while you watch a video or listen to music. And tapping the toggle next to Stop Sounds When Locked ensures Background Sounds will turn off when your device locks. If you don’t have this enabled, the sounds will continue to play when your device locks.

There are also two new menus in iOS 26: Equalizer and Stop Sounds with a Timer. Equalizer lets you adjust the tone and contour of Background Sounds, as well as balance more toward the right or left speaker or headphone. Stop Sounds with a Timer allows you to turn Background Sounds off at a specific time that you can choose or after a certain amount of time has passed. 

For more iOS news, here’s what you should know about iOS 27 and our iOS 26 cheat sheet.

Zachary McAuliffe

Senior writer

Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him hanging out with his wife, son and dog in their home.

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As awesome as trebuchets are, the fact that medieval engineers didn’t create versions capable of launching supersonic projectiles is a bit of a bummer. Fortunately it’s possible to correct this oversight with modern insights and technologies, as [Tom Stanton] demonstrates in a recent video.

While a traditional trebuchet is fairly straightforward, using a heavy weight moving an arm around a pivot that has the projectile attached to the other side, a few tweaks can make it much more lethal. One change is to have the projectile’s rope wound around the arm, forcing an additional pass around the arm to gain velocity. The other is to use a gearing system which uses the dropping weight’s energy more efficiently.

One complication here is that the arm now takes a few rotations to come up to speed, meaning that the release of the payload has to be controlled exactly, with only about an 0.0025 second release window. The solution was both low-tech and effective: since the arm is attached to a drum that the rope is wound onto, the moment enough rope is unwound from the dropping weight, a latch inside the drum is released to launch the projectile.

In a first test with a 10 kg weight, the projectile reached a velocity of around 528 km/h, which definitely was a good start, but also showed just how not aerodynamic the arm was. Some redesigns later of the entire trebuchet, the entire system was tested again with 10 kg and achieved a projectile velocity of 634 km/h. From there it was time to ramp up the weight to the full 40 kg, which theoretically should hit supersonic speeds.

Unfortunately the first attempt hit a mere 1,152 km/h (716 mph), which is just shy of the sound barrier at 1,235 km/h at 39% system efficiency and some components clearly breaking apart. Some more redesigns later and with a lighter projectile at 4 grams, a 40 kg weight achieved an arm speed of 2,342 rpm. The projectile now left the sling with 346.4 m/s, or 1,249 km/h, with an audible snap as the sound barrier got broken.

Even if the era of trebuchets in warfare is well and truly past, they remain fascinating physics demonstrations, with this case in point.

The European Space Agency is trying to understand why astronauts lose their eyesight in space, in the hope they can figure out how to treat—or even prevent—the condition as looming longer spaceflights heighten the risk of permanent vision damage.

The agency has commissioned British eye-scanning startup Siloton to develop a solution ahead of the international Artemis flights to the moon and other deep space missions. The health tech uses quantum technology to shrink core components used in eye-testing equipment found at optometrists to fit on a photonic chip smaller than a coin.

Founded by physicists in 2020, Siloton is currently working with the UK’s National Health Service to enable patients with retinal conditions to self-scan at home. “The ESA pretty much has the same requirements,” says cofounder and chief technology officer Euan Allen. “It’s just in a totally different environment.”

Spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) is a collection of eye and brain changes caused by spending prolonged periods in a low-gravity environment, and it impacts around 70 percent of astronauts on the International Space Station, according to NASA. One of the starkest cases is that of NASA astronaut John Phillips, who launched to the ISS in 2005 with 20/20 vision, and splashed down six months later with his vision at 20/100—what’s considered a moderate visual impairment. While he was in space, bodily fluid, uninhibited by gravity, built up in his head, squashing his eyeballs, swelling his optic nerve, and pushing his retina forward.

Courtesy of Siloton

While returning to Earth can reverse some of the damage, space agencies are concerned by both the operational risk of astronauts losing their vision mid-mission, as well as the longer-term health impacts. “The eye condition SANS is a serious health risk facing astronauts on long missions,” says Rebecca Evernden, director of the UK Space Agency. Medical engineers want to develop their understanding of the condition and the factors causing it so that they can manage any ocular damage, and eventually treat it or even stop it from becoming a problem.

Scientists are already monitoring how spaceflight impacts the human eye on the ISS using a modified version of the device found in optometry offices that measures the thickness of layers at the back of the eye. However, the device is bulky and requires real-time remote guidance from experts on the ground. As astronauts journey further into deep space, lengthening communication delays with Earth will mean this is no longer feasible.

Siloton’s device would allow astronauts to scan their retinas more frequently by automating some of the process so that examinations do not need ground support. The ESA hopes that will generate more data on any ocular degeneration, and possibly provide early warning signs that changes in the eye may be occurring—even before they result in vision change.

You can tap the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner for a quick menu that includes books and pictures like you’d find in the All menu. There’s also Cloud Sync, which lets you see what’s being uploaded or was uploaded over Wi-Fi from the app; USB Drive, which turns on USB Drive mode to upload files instead of Wi-Fi; and Settings. The app is very straightforward, but you’ll need to create an account and pair your device by scanning the QR code displayed on the Xteink.

The X4 Pro still tells me I need to pair it to an app (there’s a floating box whenever I’m in the Settings menu, even though I’ve already paired it), but the app remembered which devices I had, and has no issues sending material to the device.

Because most ebooks from major stores are Digital Rights Management (DRM)-protected and can’t simply be copied over, you’ll need DRM-free EPUB files if you want to upload books to an Xteink device. These are versions of books you can legally upload, whether it’s through Cloud Sync or USB upload. You’ll also likely want software designed for e-book management, like Calibre, to organize these files on your computer.

The Xteink devices are unlocked, so you can also upload your own software or even games to use on them. Popular options are CrossPoint and Crossink, open-source reading software you can install on the Xteink for a different experience. However, regardless of what software you’re using, there’s still a roadblock you’re going to hit: where the books come from.

Content Gap

Photograph: Nena Farrell

There’s no built-in bookstore for the Xteink as you’d find on a Kindle or Kobo. Xteink devices also aren’t directly compatible with the Libby app, a popular way to get e-books from your local library. You need to obtain those DRM-free e-books and prepare them for uploading yourself. There are a few popular sites for this: Standard Ebooks offers entirely free, public-domain books, while eBooks.com has a DRM-free section you can shop from.

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, the role AI is playing in it. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!

In just a few days, Amazon-owned Zoox will start charging for robotaxi rides. This might not seem like a big deal; the company’s custom-built robotaxis are already giving rides to passengers in Las Vegas and San Francisco, after all. And it’s opening up an early rider program in Miami and Austin too. 

None of this matters — in a business sense — until the company can operate commercially. 

And now it can, starting August 10, thanks to an exemption issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Because Zoox vehicles lack many of the traditional controls required under federal law, such as a steering wheel and pedals, it needed an exemption from federal motor vehicle standards in order to operate. It had an exemption that allowed it to demonstrate the technology; this one allows Zoox to operate a fleet of up to 2,500 vehicles commercially for two years. 

The exemption is a win for Zoox, but it also paves the way for any other autonomous vehicle developer that wants to launch a robotaxi that lacks a steering wheel, pedals, or other requirements that might not be needed in a vehicle with no human driver. For instance, a robotaxi really doesn’t need a rearview mirror; it already achieves that kind of visibility with sensors on the exterior of the vehicle. 

Tesla is the obvious beneficiary here since it is developing its two-seater Cybercab. But there will be others as well.

In other news, you might have missed my comprehensive assessment of Uber’s autonomous vehicle empire. Check it out; it offers a complete rundown of every company that Uber has partnered with (and in some cases invested in). And I hear more are coming. 

You might recall that the Financial Times did its own calculus of how much Uber was investing in AVs. The outlet determined it was about $10 billion. And what do you know? That is exactly the number Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared during the company’s earnings call. He said the company would commit $10 billion “over the coming years” to deploy 120,000 driverless vehicles.

Deals!

Moove started out as an African fintech company that provided vehicle financing for app drivers. While Moove remains in the mobility sector, it has evolved into a mega ride-hail fleet owner (42,000 vehicles and growing) across 13 countries. 

It has also added a new business division focused on autonomous vehicles. Moove got an early win and is now the fleet operator for Waymo in Phoenix, Miami, and Las Vegas, and in the future, London. But co-CEO Ladi Delano clearly has grander ambitions for Moove — and now he has the fresh capital to try. 

The startup, now based in Dubai, raised $250 million in a Series C round led by Mubadala Investment Company with Woven Capital and Ion Pacific as co-leads. Moove, which is now valued at $2.1 billion, plans to use the funds to scale its autonomous vehicle fleet management business, including hiring about 350 people. 

One interesting item of note: Moove plans to buy Waymo robotaxis and already owns the robotaxi assets of another unnamed company.

Other deals that got my attention this week …

Accell Group Holding, the Dutch bike maker behind brands like Lapierre, Raleigh, and Sparta, was granted a suspension of payments, kicking off an insolvency process. In 2022, a consortium led by KKR bought the firm for 1.56 billion euros ($1.77 billion at the time).

Advanced Electric Machines Group, a U.K.-based manufacturer of rare earth and magnet-free electric motors, raised £16 million ($21.5 million) in a round led by Barclays Climate Ventures, PXN Ventures, Northstar Ventures, and the Low Carbon Innovation Fund. The funding round was complemented by loan support from Innovate UK.

Chargepoly, a French company specializing in the electrification of heavy-duty and commercial vehicle fleets, raised €23 million ($26 million) in a round led by Meridiam.

Hadrian, a defense tech company building automated manufacturing facilities, raised a $1.37 billion round at a valuation of $7.87 billion. The lead investors in the round include WCM Investment Management, Washington Harbour Partners, Valor Equity Partners, 137 Ventures, and Baillie Gifford.

Matel Motion & Energy Solutions, an India-based company developing energy-efficient motors, motor controllers, and integrated powertrains, raised INR 130 crore ($13.6 million) in a Series B funding round led by UC Impower. 

River, the Indian electric vehicle startup, raised $120 million in a Series C funding round led by Elev8 Venture Partners and Claypond Capital. Other investors included Singularity AMC, Anicut Capital, 360 ONE Asset, JIF Capital, HDFC AMC, along with existing backers Yamaha Motors, Al-Futtaim Group, and Mitsui.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Ford has a name and a number for its new midsize EV. It will be called Fathom and will start at $28,350 when it goes on sale in 2027. TechCrunch climate tech reporter and long-time EV owner Tim De Chant argues that Ford needs another Taurus, and the Fathom isn’t it. What do you think? 

Joby Aviation, the electric vertical takeoff and landing company, reported earnings this week. Revenue is up compared with the same quarter last year, thanks to its acquisition of Blade Air Mobility. Net losses shrank a bit to $245 million. One of the more interesting announcements this week, though, was Joby’s partnership with Atoms, Travis Kalanick’s AI and industrial automation startup. The partnership will develop and finance a network of transportation hubs serving air taxis and autonomous ground vehicles with an initial focus on Florida, New York, and Texas, as well as California, according to Joby.

Lucid Motors’ second-quarter earnings struck a somber it’s-time-to-get-down-to-business tone. And that comes with a cost. New CEO Silvio Napoli outlined four must-win priorities that include a $1.4 billion cost savings plan. It’s also banking on a successful robotaxi program with Uber and Nuro and launching its midsize Cosmos EV, which has now been delayed until the second half of 2027. 

Nvidia has released its Alpamayo 2 Super for commercial use — an AI model designed for autonomous driving. The model is available on Hugging Face, and the open license covers commercial redistribution and derivative models that allow AV developers, automakers, and others to adapt Alpamayo to their own data, driving policies, and deployment strategies, the company said.

Teamsters California sued the California Department of Motor Vehicles, alleging that the agency did not properly study and disclose the economic impacts of allowing self-driving heavy-duty trucks on the state’s roads. I reached out to a few AV developers and all declined to comment. However, the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association did issue a statement: “This lawsuit from the Teamsters sets a new standard in abusive and frivolous litigation and cannot be taken seriously.”

TechCrunch teamed up with New York-based financial research firm Hudson Labs again. This time to map what Elon Musk and Tesla’s other executives have spent the last seven years talking about on the company’s quarterly earnings calls. Check out the full story for graphs and complete findings. Here is a taste: Musk now speaks about artificial intelligence, along with robotaxis and Full Self-Driving software, nearly 50% of the time.

Speaking of Elon Musk, his companies had a newsy week. SpaceX reported its first earnings report as a publicly traded company. The TL;DR: The company doubled its revenue compared to last year, in large part thanks to the growth of its Starlink satellite internet service and deals it struck to rent out computing power to Anthropic and Google. And during the earnings call, Musk made some out-of-this-world claims about the company’s business and future prospects, while his fellow executives tried to bring his ideas closer to Earth.

Meanwhile, Tesla and SpaceX said that “Terafab,” the advanced chip factory they are jointly developing, will be built in Grimes County, Texas, outside Houston, and that they will make an initial investment of $16.8 billion in the project.

The New York Times published an investigation on Uber’s defense strategy against more than 4,000 lawsuits filed by passengers who allege the company failed to protect them from sexual violence. 

Waymo dropped the waitlist for its robotaxi service in Dallas, opening it up to all residents and visitors.

One more thing …

Travis Kalanick, and his AI and industrial automation startup Atoms, is popping up everywhere these days (see that Joby partnership above). Kalanick isn’t just making deals — although remember he did just raise $1.7 billion. The former Uber CEO also appears to be getting the band back together and bringing on former engineers and executives he once worked with. 

For instance, Gautam Gupta, the former finance chief under Kalanick, has joined Atoms as chief financial officer. Gupta spent more than four years at Uber until he left in July 2017, just a few weeks after Kalanick resigned as CEO. 

Beyond handhelds, there are other interesting gaming laptops that play with form factors. My favorite is the Asus ROG Flow Z13 (7/10, WIRED Recommends). This is a 2-in-1 gaming laptop, meaning it’s essentially a Windows tablet with a detachable keyboard cover. All the guts of the device are behind the screen, which, in the case of the 2025 model, includes the AMD Ryzen Max+ chip. In other words, it’s a Surface Pro designed for playing games.

Nearly every gaming laptop I’ve ever used gets warm on the palm rests and keyboard while gaming, leaving you with sweaty hands after a few missions of Arc Raiders. But not so with the Flow Z13; because it’s a tablet, your hands are never near vents and warm surfaces. It’s also one of the smallest and most compact gaming devices you can buy. Asus has also been experimenting with dual-screen gaming laptops for years, with the most interesting edition out later this year: the ROG Zephyrus Duo. I saw it at CES a few months ago, and it was one of the most exciting new gaming devices I’ve seen in a while.

Many laptops that aren’t necessarily marketed as gaming products can play games. Some laptops with discrete GPUs are oriented toward content creators, like the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i (7/10, WIRED Recommends) or the Asus ProArt P16 (9/10, WIRED Recommends). I like both of these options, particularly given the new version of the Yoga Pro 9i with an RTX 5050 for $2,400. Not bad.

For something a bit more grounded, I’d consider the Dell XPS 14 (8/10, WIRED Recommends). While it doesn’t have a discrete graphics card, you can configure it with Intel’s latest X7 integrated graphics, which are surprisingly powerful. While I wouldn’t buy the XPS 14 mainly as a gaming device, like a 16-inch MacBook Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends), it’s absolutely capable of running AAA games on the side. I was able to average 56 frames per second in Cyberpunk 2077 with the settings at medium. For a laptop without a discrete graphics card, that’s kind of mind-blowing. When you need it, Intel offers both a low-latency mode and XeSS upscaling. When used together, you get faster frame rates without too much visual distortion or input lag. Your battery will also benefit if you go with a non-gaming laptop. Unlike many of the gaming laptops on this list, it actually gets fantastic battery life, competitive with the 14-inch MacBook Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends).

Other Good Gaming Laptops I’ve Tested

Photograph: Luke Larsen

Alienware 15 for $1,160: For the price, the Lenovo LOQ 15 is a better buy, given it offers both more power and a better display. It’s the screen, in particular, though, that keeps the Alienware 15 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) from being a full recommendation, as the colors look desaturated. However, the RTX 5050 configuration of the Alienware 15 that I tested performs well for what it is and is solidly built.

Lenovo LOQ 15 Essential Gen 11 for $1,850: Not to be confused with the LOQ 15 I mentioned as my top recommendation, this newer model intends to be an entry-level option (despite its current price tag being higher). The LOQ 15 Essential is, however, a step up from the Alienware 15 in terms of the quality of the display. The configuration I tested comes with an RTX 5060, which offers better gaming performance over the Alienware. Its crucial flaw is that its included power adapter is only 135 watts, meaning it’ll actually drain the battery, even while plugged in when playing games in Performance mode.

Spectre has been haunting CPU security since 2018, and MIT researchers have now found another way to make it misbehave. The new TONTOU attack can bypass some of the defenses Intel and AMD have added over the years by exploiting a tiny gap in how those protections work. The research comes from Daniël Trujillo and Mengjia Yan at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). Their findings show that even after a processor wipes or isolates information used by its branch predictor, there can be a brief window before that information is actually used. TONTOU, short for Time-of-Neutralization to Time-of-Use, attacks precisely that gap.

The tiny gap that TONTOU exploits

To understand TONTOU, it helps to understand what makes Spectre attacks possible in the first place. Modern CPUs use speculative execution to predict what software will do next and start working ahead of time. When that prediction turns out to be wrong, the processor discards the result, but traces of that activity can remain inside the CPU and potentially leak information through side channels.

After Spectre emerged, chipmakers introduced defenses designed to clean or isolate the processor’s branch predictor, which helps the CPU guess where code will execute next. The idea is straightforward: remove anything an attacker may have planted before sensitive code runs. The problem, according to MIT’s researchers, is that the cleanup and the moment the prediction machinery is actually used cannot happen at exactly the same time, leaving a tiny “post-neutralization window.” TONTOU targets that gap by injecting a carefully timed interrupt and poisoning the predictor again.

The researchers tested TONTOU on Intel Cascade Lake Refresh and Arrow Lake, as well as AMD Zen 2 and Zen 4 processors, and were able to trigger the necessary branch mispredictions on both platforms. AMD’s Safe RET defense leaves a particularly tiny window, just two instructions wide and typically lasting tens of nanoseconds, but the researchers were still able to hit it by manipulating processor timing. Their technique, called interrupt injection, essentially schedules high-frequency timer interrupts and attempts to land one inside that window, allowing the attacker to poison structures such as the return stack buffer (RSB) or branch history buffer (BHB).

And yes, it can leak protected data

This isn’t purely theoretical. On an AMD Zen 2 system running a stock Linux kernel, the researchers built a complete end-to-end exploit that broke Linux’s kernel address space layout randomization (KASLR) in all 10 attempts. They were also able to locate and leak /etc/shadow, which contains root password hashes, in five of those runs. However, the attack isn’t exactly a speed demon: MIT measured the protected-memory read rate at roughly five bytes per second, while The Register reports that each complete exploit attempt took around 18 minutes and required specific software conditions on Intel.

In other words, TONTOU is a sophisticated attack that demonstrates a real weakness, but it isn’t something ordinary malware can casually throw at a random PC.

The good news is that this isn’t an unpatched zero-day waiting to eat your PC. Trujillo and Yan notified AMD and Intel in February, and Linux kernel maintainers in March. AMD subsequently released a kernel patch that mitigates the attack, so keeping Linux updated is particularly important. Intel, meanwhile, told the researchers it doesn’t plan additional mitigations, arguing that real-world exploitation depends on too many factors, including the availability of suitable disclosure gadgets. Intel did, however, award the researchers a bug-bounty payment.

The bigger takeaway is less “your Intel or AMD PC is about to be hacked” and more that Spectre-style attacks remain a stubborn problem at the hardware level. TONTOU shows that even carefully designed defenses can leave tiny windows that researchers may eventually find a way to exploit. For most desktop users, this is not an immediate reason to panic. But for shared systems, cloud infrastructure, and multi-tenant environments where untrusted code runs alongside other workloads, the research is a useful reminder that the Spectre saga is far from over.

First look: Dopamine 3.0 has brought jailbreak support to iOS 26.0 and iOS 26.0.1 on devices powered by A12 and A13 chips, marking the first jailbreak release for Apple’s newest mobile operating system. Released by Lars Fröder, known online as opa334, the update arrives 326 days after iOS 26 debuted. The rootless, open-source tool also supports older Apple hardware and a broader range of iOS versions. Its release shows that jailbreak development continues even as Apple maintains tight control over its mobile software.

The release also adds compatibility with devices running iOS 16.5.1 through iOS 17.3.1. That widens the range of iPhones, iPads, and Apple silicon devices that can run Dopamine, particularly older firmware versions that were not previously covered.

Dopamine works on both arm64 and arm64e hardware. Its arm64 version covers devices with A8 through A11 chips, while the arm64e version supports A12 through A17 chips, along with Apple’s M1 and M2 processors.

Compatibility varies by device generation and software version. On A14 through A17 hardware and M1- and M2-based devices, Dopamine works with iOS 15.0 through iOS 17.3.1. Devices with A8 through A13 chips are supported on iOS 15.0 through iOS 18.7.1, as well as iOS 26.0 and 26.0.1.

The iOS 26 addition is limited to A12 and A13 devices. However, the broader update is notable for filling in compatibility gaps across the iOS 16.5.1-to-17.3.1 range, giving users more options if they have held onto an older iOS build.

Dopamine is a rootless jailbreak, meaning it does not alter the operating system’s root file system. Instead, jailbreak files and tweaks are kept in a separate location. This approach affects how packages are installed and how developers build compatible modifications.

The jailbreak works with the Sileo and Zebra package managers, which users can use to install and manage tweaks. Dopamine is also open source, allowing developers to review its code and track changes through opa334’s GitHub repository.

With version 3.0, Dopamine covers a wide range of Apple hardware, from A8-based devices to A17 models, although the supported iOS versions vary across those chip families. A full list of compatible devices and firmware versions is available through AppleDB.

Hwatsing Technology, China’s leading producer of chemical mechanical polishing equipment, announced a metrology system for six-inch wafers on Thursday that can be built directly into the polishing workflow. The company describes it as China’s first six-inch metrology system paired with CMP equipment.

The integration is the substantive part. Rather than measuring wafers separately after processing, the system takes readings before and after polishing and feeds live data back to the control system, according to the South China Morning Post.

Why polishing matters more than it sounds

Chemical mechanical polishing flattens and smooths the silicon disc between processing layers. Modern chips stack dozens of layers, and each one has to be planar to within nanometres or the next layer prints badly.

It is unglamorous work that determines yield. Closing the measurement loop should improve wafer uniformity and cut waste, which matters more in a country whose fabs run older lithography and need every point of yield they can find.

The number in the announcement

Six inches is 150mm. Leading-edge logic runs on 300mm wafers, and the sub-10nm nodes that export controls exist to restrict are made nowhere else.

The 150mm format belongs to mature nodes and compound semiconductors, and even there it is being left behind. Silicon carbide power devices are already migrating from 150mm to 200mm in volume manufacturing, while gallium nitride is moving from 200mm towards 300mm.

None of that makes the tool unimportant. It does mean this is a step on a ladder rather than a jump to the top of it.

What Hwatsing has actually achieved

The company’s track record is the stronger signal. China’s share of the global CMP equipment market rose from roughly 1.5% in 2022 to almost 11% in 2023, with Hwatsing responsible for most of the gain, according to Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

Volume backs that up. Hwatsing shipped its 1,000th CMP system in April and has said it is targeting advanced chip manufacturing next.

It is spending accordingly, seeking up to 4 billion yuan, around $552 million, through a private placement to expand capacity, build out wafer reclamation services, and fund high-end tool development. A separate $237 million plant investment is also underway.

Applied Materials still leads the CMP market decisively, with Ebara holding roughly 27% globally. Eleven percent is a real position, not a dominant one.

The lithography problem it does not solve

Polishing tools are not the binding constraint. ASML remains the only company making EUV lithography machines, and China cannot buy them at any price under US-led export controls.

That is where the more consequential work is happening. China’s homegrown immersion DUV tool now has a name, Shanghai Aishengna, and a domestic DUV machine would matter considerably more than a metrology upgrade, though independent analysts have attached heavy caveats to reported progress there.

The strategy underneath

Beijing’s approach is to close every gap it can while the hardest one stays shut. Chinese semiconductor equipment self-sufficiency has reportedly reached around 35%, up from roughly 25% two years earlier.

Washington is weighing further restrictions on chip equipment sales, with Beijing arguing that cutting the supply chain damages everyone in it. Each round of controls has accelerated the localisation it was meant to prevent.

What success looks like when it arrives

China has already proved it can build a world-scale chip company in a segment where the tools are obtainable. Memory maker CXMT jumped 466% on its Shanghai debut to become the most valuable listed DRAM company in the country.

Demand is following. Apple has begun testing CXMT memory chips, which is roughly the highest-profile validation a Chinese chipmaker can receive.

CXMT still depends on foreign equipment it cannot always get. That is precisely the dependency tools like Hwatsing’s are meant to unwind, one process step at a time, which is slower than a breakthrough but harder to sanction.