SpaceX approached AI coding startup Cognition about an acquisition, Bloomberg reports, and Cognition did not engage. Chief executive Scott Wu replied publicly that his company is “not for sale and we haven’t been talking.”

SpaceX approached the AI coding company Cognition about buying it, according to Bloomberg, and Cognition did not engage. It would have been the company’s second large AI takeover in a matter of months.

The denial arrived the same day and went further than the report. Chief executive Scott Wu wrote publicly that Cognition is “not for sale and we haven’t been talking.”

Those two accounts are close but not identical. Bloomberg describes an approach that was not taken up, alongside continuing discussions about working together, including a possible arrangement for Cognition to use SpaceX’s computing capacity.

Cognition is not cheap either way. It raised $1bn at a $26bn valuation in May and has been in early talks with investors this month at a valuation of at least $40bn.

The context is what SpaceX bought last week. It completed a $60bn purchase of Cursor on 14 August, the largest name in the vibe coding market.

Buying a second one so quickly says something about the first. SpaceX’s AI arm has trailed rivals in selling to businesses and has been through job cuts and restructuring.

Cognition would have arrived with customers attached. Its Devin agent is used by Mercedes-Benz and GE Aerospace, and Bloomberg reports that its commercial progress interested SpaceX as much as its technology.

Elon Musk has set the pace himself. He told staff that AI revenue would out-earn rockets by September, a target that requires enterprise customers rather than research prestige.

The compute talks are the part worth watching. If Cognition ends up renting SpaceX’s GPUs, a company that refused to be bought becomes dependent on the infrastructure of the company that tried.

Wu has said this before, which matters when reading the denial. He told Bloomberg in May that the round he had just closed was what allowed Cognition to “stay independent and continue as an independent business.”

For European developers the direction is the story rather than the deal. The tools their engineering teams now depend on are being gathered into an American conglomerate that also launches rockets and runs a satellite network.

In spite of a recent demo video leaking, the AirPods with cameras are rumored to not be ready for release until 2027. Also, concerns over them becoming “pervertpods” can be set aside.

After Apple accidentally leaked its own video of AirPods with cameras, speculation has been running wild. A new rumor suggests that the timeline for release hasn’t shifted.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is expected to debut a set of AirPods Pro 4 with cameras. These earbuds won’t be able to take photos and won’t be announced until sometime in 2027 when product issues are resolved.

Various leakers have shared their opinions on the matter, with some like Kosutami suggesting the product was cancelled. It seems that may be half true, with the AirPods Pro 3 variety of the product being shelved entirely, while an AirPods Pro 4 version is still in development.

Those speaking anonymously in the report say that the leaked video is for the AirPods Pro 3 variety. This aligns with Kosutami’s assertion that the video was old and accidentally left behind.

The danger of wearable cameras

Since the product won’t be able to capture photos or videos, people shouldn’t worry about them becoming “pervertpods.” The societal rejection and nickname stem from abuses committed by people wearing Meta’s smart glasses with built-in cameras.

Apple’s move towards smart glasses needs to be carefully considered

AppleInsider already speculated about the challenges Apple would face when it announces smart glasses with cameras in the future. It seems the AirPods with cameras may have to battle that issue first.

It seems like a potential solution to the privacy problem of wearable cameras is the one being rumored for these AirPods. Include sensors for AI and accessibility use, but don’t give users the ability to capture photos or video.

Since AirPods are such small and underpowered products, it seems incredibly likely that they won’t be able to capture photos due to physical limitations like battery life and sensor size. The included sensors will be able to get enough data to perceive the world for AI analysis, like scanning the book in that demo, but won’t have enough to produce a pixel-perfect image of the environment.

It remains to be seen if this distinction will be enough for privacy advocates. The problem with Meta glasses is their ability to capture photos and record videos without users’ consent.

Those videos become fodder for social media, whether it’s men abusing women in massage parlors or teen boys bullying teen girls in middle school — there is a reason they’ve become known as “pervert glasses.”

The accessibility aspects of wearable cameras and sensors could be life-changing for many. I doubt Apple will ignore that utility, but I also believe the company won’t release them into the world without real safeguards in place.

Personally, I think the images and video captured from glasses like Meta’s are awful, so I’m okay with Apple shipping glasses without that capability. Preventing the cameras on AirPods or smart glasses from capturing anything at all may be the best way to ensure users gain the utility of things like Visual Intelligence without the damage caused otherwise.

There aren’t too many streaming services that lean into membership perks for their subscribers, but Peacock is testing the waters with a rewards program. On Tuesday, the company announced the launch of a beta test for a select group of Peacock Premium and Premium Plus subscribers, aimed at providing “meaningful recognition, exclusive access, flexibility, and experiences that extend beyond traditional discounts.”

The news arrives the same week the streamer announced a round of price hikes across its plans.

The rewards membership is included with the streaming subscription at no extra cost, and is offered in three tiers based on how long you’ve subscribed to the service. Customers who’ve had an account for three months to one year are in the Gold tier; Platinum members are those with one to three years under their belts; any subscriber who’s had one of the eligible Peacock plans for more than three years is in the Diamond tier.

For now, the beta version has rewards that fall under four categories. NBCUniversal rewards are tailored for Peacock and NBCU programming brands, and currently, subscribers can get discounts on items in the NBCU Shop or Bravo Shop. Partner rewards are tied to perks from the brand’s partners, and at rollout, that includes a free Instacart Plus membership. Subscribers can also tap into Engagement rewards (based on app activity) or Experiential rewards, which are designed to give fans real experiences within the NBCUniversal world.

As the testing phase continues, Peacock plans to expand the program and offer more rewards and benefits connected to Universal Parks, early entry to live events from NBCUniversal and previews of TV shows and films.

Loyalty programs from platforms such as Disney Plus and Crunchyroll give members the opportunity to buy products at a discount, receive exclusive or early access to events or take advantage of savings at partner companies. While Peacock’s rewards program doesn’t cost extra for subscribers, some offers may have small fees attached.

Kourtnee Jackson

Senior Editor

Kourtnee covers streaming services and entertainment. She previously worked as an entertainment reporter at Endgame 360, where she wrote about film, television, music, celebrities and streaming platforms.

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Fujifilm put together a simple bundle around its Instax Mini 41 camera, priced at $99.95 (was $117), that lets anyone grab quick shots and walk away with physical prints in about 90 seconds. The bundle includes the camera itself, one 10-pack of Instax Mini film, a hand strap, two AA batteries, a quick start guide, and a one-year limited warranty. Credit-card-sized prints measure roughly 2 by 3 inches overall, with the image area at 62 by 46 millimeters, and they develop on their own once ejected.

Classic lines define the camera’s body, which is made up of black and dark silver surfaces with a splash of brilliant orange. It provides the camera a sleek retro appearance and can be effortlessly slipped into a bag or hung from the wrist strap. At 104.5 by 122.5 by 67.5 millimeters, with a weight of 345 grams when devoid of batteries or film, it is truly something you can throw in your luggage and forget about for all-day carry-on travels or weekend trips.

Operating the camera isn’t difficult either, as you simply twist the lens to turn it on, then twist again to switch to close-up mode, where you can photograph subjects between 0.3 and 0.5 meters away, as the built-in parallax correction ensures they look right in the finished print. If you want to take a self-portrait, there is a small mirror next to the lens: simply line yourself up, click the shutter button, and let the camera handle the rest, with flashes and exposure automatically sorted.

Most common day-to-day circumstances, whether daylight or indoors, have exposure totally set to auto. The shutter speeds range from 1/2 to 1/250th of a second, and slow synchro can be used if the light becomes too dim. The built-in flash starts up with automated brightness adjustment and can handle subjects ranging from 0.3 to 2.2 meters; it recycles in around seven seconds on a new set of batteries. Power comes from two AA alkaline cells, which provide enough juice for around ten full film packs under regular use. They also have an auto power-off mode that activates after 5 minutes of inactivity to save the batteries.

You feed the film into the back, there’s a little counter to keep track of how many exposures you have left, and the camera will print the image for you after the shutter is fired. The photographs hold up well, with the same old Instax appearance and feel, and they can even withstand a little water if you get caught in a downpour or put them in your wallet.

Google is giving Gemini Live a pretty meaningful upgrade with the addition of Deep Research. The feature is rolling out today to all Gemini app users, letting you start a full research task through a voice conversation and come back to the finished report later.

Deep Research has already been available inside Gemini for some time. Instead of giving you a quick chatbot answer, Gemini can dig through multiple sources, follow useful leads, and put together a much more detailed report with citations. The process can take several minutes, but you don’t have to keep Gemini open while it works. Once the research is finished, you’ll receive a notification.

Deep Research already does a lot more than a normal Gemini query

Everyone seems to have a Deep Research tool these days. ChatGPT has one, Claude has one, and Gemini has had its own version for a while. Instead of returning a quick answer, Gemini can search across multiple sources, follow relevant leads, and build a longer report complete with citations. It can also work with uploaded files and information from connected Google services such as Gmail and Drive.

The process can take several minutes, so it makes more sense for questions that need proper digging than something you need answered immediately. You also don’t have to sit around waiting. Gemini can continue working in the background and notify you once the report is ready.

You can move between talking and typing without starting over

The Gemini Live integration also keeps the Deep Research report in context as users switch between voice and text. For example, you could start a research request through Live, lock your phone while Gemini works, and return later to discuss the findings by voice. You can then switch to typing for a follow-up question or refine part of the report without beginning a separate conversation.

Google announced the feature as part of a wider back-to-school update that also includes a student hub, study notebooks, and interactive visualizations. Deep Research in Gemini Live, however, is not limited to students and is rolling out to all Gemini app users.

Eight leaked Steam Frame videos are informative and kinda silly.

Chalid Raqami has gotten Android 13 running on the reMarkable Paper Pro. The YouTuber known for detailed E Ink device work installed a full Android system that sits alongside the tablet’s factory Linux-based software instead of replacing it.

On the 11.8-inch color E Ink notebook, you can transition between the original focused note-taking interface and Android in roughly 20 seconds, with a simple double tap on the power button. Raqami began the project on Android 12 because the Paper Pro only had 2GB of RAM and a 1.8ghz cortex-a53 quad core processor, but once that version was stable, he changed to Android 13 as it proved out to be a better fit for modern app compatibility without using too much of the hardware.

You can now access all of the usual features that standard software does not include. For example, you can use Kindle to read books or comics, internet browsers for quick searches, Microsoft OneNote and other productivity tools that accept pen input, or audiobooks. Bluetooth keyboards can even connect to the tablet without the need for ReMarkable’s expensive keyboard folio. The Wi-Fi, USB, front light controls, audio, and sleep cover all function normally.

What about the stylus response? Raqami paid special attention to this, since he created a low latency pen mode that activates from the nav bar, and writing in supported Android apps feels almost as seamless as using the original program. Battery life has also improved, as deep sleep has decreased standby drain to roughly 0.3 percent per hour, allowing for many hundred hours of standby time on a single charge. He also made some modifications to the gpu acceleration, E Ink refresh rates, and memory management to keep the interface useable on the color gallery 3 display, even though the panel is fantastic image quality but not so great at speed.

Heavy apps continue to struggle, as obsidian and other memory-intensive tools do not function efficiently, and video playback and rapid scrolling remain clumsy on the E Ink panel. The main goal of the Android version is to plug the gaps in the original software and provide you practical tools, rather than trying to transform it into some kind of traditional tablet.

Unfortunately, the port is still a ways away from being ready for public release. For the time being, it only requires dev mode, and any updates to the reMarkable software will erase the Android installation, forcing you to start over from scratch. Raqami is still working on improving the installation and recovery process so that it can be shared more widely; once that is done, he intends to conduct some limited testing with a small group; for the time being, it is more of a personal project to demonstrate how the Paper Pro can maintain its clean writing focus even with some additional tools to make it more practical.
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Swedish furniture maker IKEA and Microsoft’s Xbox division posted a short Instagram video this week that shows pieces shaped like the buttons and sticks on an Xbox controller. Designers from both companies worked together on the line. A full look at the collection is expected during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, on August 26.

Close-ups in the video begin with a real-life analog stick, a ridged circular surface, until flashing light flares traverse it, revealing a brilliant green D-pad shaped like a square with rounded corners chopped out. Next, we see a larger, stick-shaped object that resembles a stool or coffee table. As the clip progresses, wider shots of a room decked out in Xbox colors appear near the finish, but none of the particular things are identifiable. They’re staying silent about specifics like product names, materials, price points, and the exact number of pieces.

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IKEA has experimented in the gaming furniture market before. They’ve done ranges with ASUS Republic of Gamers, their own Brännboll line, and a variety of other items such as desks, chairs, storage, and crazy colorful chairs that are designed to blend in with your everyday environment. This time is unusual, as it is the first time they have collaborated directly with a console company. Xbox, on the other hand, has been experimenting with non-traditional gaming hardware, as evidenced by the Series X mini fridges and the toaster that burns their branding directly onto your toast.

All of this comes at a nice moment, as Xbox celebrates its 25th birthday. If you’re attending Gamescom, you can find them in Hall 7, where they’ll be demoing new titles on playable stations. These furniture pieces are designed to be part of their show presence, so you might be able to sit on them or get a closer look in person. For the time being, it is unknown when they will be available for purchase, which regions they will be offered in, and whether they will be limited editions.

People online have been laughing about the assembly instructions and meatballs, but there are lots of others who are truly curious about whether more shapes like a controller will appear. Xbox responded with a brief Swedish “Hej” in one of their own posts, and the video itself has received tens of millions of views on their own channels. Until August 26, all we can confirm is the green D-pad cushion and the big oversized stick shape we noticed. Everything else? For the time being, the specifics are being kept under wraps.

Between August 11 and 12 NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter locked onto a quiet patch of lunar ground and returned the clearest views yet of a brand-new scar. The crater formed six days earlier when a spent Falcon 9 upper stage struck the surface at roughly 5,400 miles per hour.

On January 15, 2025, a Falcon 9 upper stage launched Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost 1 lander toward the Moon. After that happened, that section had almost no fuel remaining. Going through the motions, attempting to manage re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, was no longer possible. So, starting in January 2025, for well over a year, this empty rocket stage just kinda hung there, floating in a roughly elliptical orbit under the gravitational influences of the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, and then suddenly on August 5, its path came to an end on the lunar surface, at 6:35 in the morning (according to the clocks on UTC).

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Independent observers first noticed that the stage was heading for a collision with the Moon’s surface in April, prompting NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies to take a closer look at the trajectory, essentially refining the math to improve their models; once completed, the predicted zones were passed on to South Korea’s Danuri orbiter. Danuri then took some images of the new crater site, barely hours after the impact, which turned out to provide them a very accurate position, not too far from the expected collision zone, allowing the LRO team to plan their own passes.

Every two hours, the LRO orbiter passes by the Moon from pole to pole at a speed of about a mile per second and an altitude of about 60 miles, which is the type of speed that requires some effort to tilt. The Narrow-Angle Camera on board has fairly decent resolution at that speed, and can pick up details as small as three feet across – but in order to keep the new crater centered, the spaceship had to make some very severe rotations on repeated orbits, tilting by more than 20 degrees at times. It also had to be precise in terms of time, because even a ten-second delay would have relocated the target nearly ten miles out of the frame. Only by imaging the stage in various lighting settings were they able to obtain the series of views presented this week.

The measurements they took of the rim put the crater at 60 feet across, and based on the shadows on the floor, they estimate the depth is less than 10 feet. The impact occurred at an angle of about 31 degrees to the horizontal, resulting in the V-shaped spray of ejecta on the southern side, and the darker material fanning out was all from the top foot and a half of the regolith, a layer that had been exposed to solar wind, cosmic rays, and micrometeorites for a long time, so it is naturally rougher in texture and more muted in color. The brighter pieces near the rim, on the other hand, are most likely younger rock and dust that was pulled up from deeper underground and has not yet had time to change color.

The crater’s updated coordinates are 19.4759 degrees north, 266.7138 degrees east, and 511 meters elevation, and comparing the new images to earlier images of the same area, there’s no doubt that this change is relatively recent, and engineers will find it an interesting opportunity to test their tools for predicting collisions with objects of known size, mass, and speed. Furthermore, it demonstrates how a seemingly minor collision can mess up strata on the Moon that have been in place for millions of years.