To perform a free reverse phone lookup without hitting paywalls, combine real-time community spam directories, exact-match search engine operators, social messaging app profile checks, and free technical carrier lookup tools. This multi-layered investigation method reveals caller identities, line types, and scam risks without requiring a subscription or credit card.
Quick Take: Reverse Lookup Method Comparison
Different reverse phone lookup methods yield distinct types of data. While community databases highlight telemarketers and scammers quickly, search engines and messaging apps are better suited for identifying unknown individuals.
Lookup Method
Information Discovered
Best Use Case
Paywall Risk
Community Spam Directories
Caller reputation, robocall tags, spam categories, business names
Identifying telemarketers, delivery drivers, and active scam calls
Low (Free web searching available)
Exact-Match Search Operators (OSINT)
Associated owner names, forum posts, PDF resumes, public classifieds
Uncovering the digital footprint of unknown individual callers
None (100% free)
Messaging App Correlation
Profile pictures, display names, public bios, activity statuses
Verifying personal mobile lines on WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal
None (100% free)
Technical Carrier Utilities
Line type (VoIP vs. Mobile vs. Landline), original carrier, line status
Detecting burner numbers, virtual call centers, and spoofing tools
Low (Free daily query tiers)
Prerequisites & Anti-Paywall Red Flags
Before initiating a reverse search, standardizing your input digits improves accuracy across search engines and directory databases. Most reverse search failures happen because the query string omits essential formatting or includes extra characters that break direct database matching.
Standardizing Phone Number Formats Before Searching
Search engines and public databases parse telephone numbers differently depending on how punctuation is used. When preparing a number for analysis, test these common variations:
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Unformatted 10-digit string: 1234567890 (best for raw database and URL parameter searching)
Standard hyphenated format: 123-456-7890 (standard formatting for web articles and classified ads)
Parenthetical local format: (123) 456-7890 (common in corporate directories and footers)
International E.164 format: +11234567890 (required for messaging platforms and global lookup APIs)
If you regularly inspect incoming calls on mobile devices, review our reference guide on standard phone number formats to streamline bulk queries across multiple tools.
How to Spot Deceptive “Free” Lookup Traps
The vast majority of commercial “free reverse lookup” websites use aggressive lead-generation mechanics. Commercial background check services like Whitepages paywall mobile subscriber names behind subscription models, limiting free results strictly to landline owner details, general city locations, and carrier line types.
Watch for these common indicator patterns that signal a site will demand payment before delivering usable data:
Progress bar animations: Simulated loading screens claiming to scan “50 billion public records” or “criminal databases” for a basic phone query. Real database lookups execute in milliseconds.
Trial subscription lures: Prompts offering a full background report for $1.00 or $5.00. Accepting these trials enrolls your payment card in recurring monthly fees ranging from $19.95 to $34.95.
Hidden subscriber disclosures: Micro-copy in site footers stating that cellular phone records are protected by telecommunication privacy laws and cannot be provided for free.
Step-by-Step Reverse Phone Lookup Protocol
Follow this multi-tier protocol to trace unknown numbers. If you are dealing with suspected robocalls or telemarketers, start at Step 1. If you are trying to identify a specific personal caller, skip directly to Step 2 and Step 3.
When an unknown caller leaves no voicemail, your first step should be cross-referencing public spam reporting networks. Millions of users submit real-time reports categorizing calls from debt collectors, political campaigns, delivery agents, and financial scams.
Open a browser tab and access Truecaller’s web lookup engine. Enter the full 10-digit number with its country code to view caller reputation scores, business names, and user-submitted flags.
If the caller operates within the United Kingdom or Europe, search the Who Called Me database to view community comments detailing exact call scripts and caller behavior patterns.
For US-based incoming calls, cross-reference the number against public regulatory indices using tools like Block Guard’s FTC complaint search to verify whether the line has been cited in official federal telemarketing violation reports.
Expected Outcome: If the number belongs to a call center or scam campaign, community directories will surface the caller’s business identity, operational category, and risk score instantly without requiring account creation.
Step 2: Execute Exact-Match Google OSINT Searches
If community directories return no results, the number likely belongs to a private individual or local small business. General search engine queries often obscure specific phone matches under paid advertising results. Using exact-match search operators (open-source intelligence dorking) bypasses sponsored ads and forces the search engine to return indexed pages containing that explicit digit string.
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Search exact digit strings by wrapping the number in quotation marks: "123-456-7890" and "1234567890".
Restrict results to specific social platforms and professional directories by appending domain parameters: site:facebook.com "123-456-7890" or site:linkedin.com "123-456-7890".
Search for associated documents such as public real estate listings, corporate PDF filings, or classified ads: filetype:pdf "123-456-7890".
Applying structured advanced search operators exposes forgotten forum postings, old Craigslist listings, church newsletters, and municipal public records where individuals published their direct cell numbers online.
According to the official OSINT Industries investigation workflow, testing both national international prefixes and local hyphenated formats across major search engines captures cached web pages that standard search algorithms filter out.
Expected Outcome: Uncovering direct web footprints connecting the number to real names, personal blog posts, business registration documents, or historical real estate listings.
Step 3: Cross-Reference Social Messaging Apps
Mobile messaging applications often link telephone numbers directly to user account profiles. By temporarily saving an unknown number into your device contacts, you can inspect associated profile pictures, screen names, and bio metadata within privacy-respecting messaging ecosystems.
Create a temporary contact entry in your smartphone address book (e.g., “Trace Subject”) and save the unknown number in full international format (+1XXXYYYZZZZ).
Open WhatsApp, select the new chat icon, and search for your newly created contact entry. If the contact possesses an active WhatsApp profile, their profile photo, display name, and public “About” text will load automatically.
Open Telegram, access the contact sync menu, and check whether an associated account appears. Telegram profiles frequently expose custom user handles, personal avatars, and recent activity statuses.
Open Signal to check for public profile names and avatar disclosures.
Once your inspection is complete, delete the temporary contact from your address book. You can also safely backup contact lists to ensure sandbox testing does not pollute your main address book sync.
Expected Outcome: High-resolution profile photos, full display names, and personal bio text provided directly by the account owner, effectively confirming who holds the line.
Step 4: Verify Carrier, Location, and Line Type
When web searches and messaging applications reveal no user profiles, auditing the technical infrastructure of the phone line provides critical answers. Knowing whether a number is a physical landline, a cellular phone, or a virtual internet line dictates how you should handle incoming calls.
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Navigate to a free telecommunication lookup utility. Query the number using the IPQualityScore phone carrier lookup tool to fetch underlying network routing records.
Inspect the line type specification: Landline, Mobile/Wireless, Fixed VoIP, or Non-Fixed VoIP.
Review the original issuing carrier (e.g., Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, Bandwidth.com, or Twilio) and verify the original geographical rate center (city and state).
Identifying non-fixed virtual phone line services confirms that the caller operates through an internet application rather than a physical SIM card or home landline, which is a common characteristic of commercial call centers and automated web applications.
Expected Outcome: Clear determination of line type, network operator, origin location, and line activity status, establishing whether the caller is using a physical telephone or a virtual web application.
Verification: Confirming Identities and Detecting Spoofing
Gathering a name or carrier record is only effective if you verify that the information actually matches the person on the other end of the line. Misidentification occurs easily when relying on a single data point.
Cross-Referencing Multi-Source Signals
Never accept a single search result as absolute proof of identity. Validate your findings by comparing at least two independent data channels:
Match the geographical area code and carrier location from Step 4 against the physical address details discovered via search dorking in Step 2.
Confirm that the display name exposed in messaging apps (Step 3) aligns with public business directory records or social profiles found in Step 2.
Verify that the line type reported by carrier utilities matches the caller’s behavior (for instance, a local bank calling from a non-fixed VoIP line warrants extra scrutiny).
Detecting Caller ID Spoofing
Caller ID spoofing occurs when a caller alters the outgoing call signal to display a fake number on your phone screen. Scammers frequently practice “neighbor spoofing,” disguising outgoing calls with your local area code and exchange prefix to increase answer rates.
To guard against spoofed calls, implement these defense measures:
Never rely solely on incoming Caller ID: Seeing a legitimate hospital, police department, or utility company name on your caller ID screen does not prove the call originated from that organization.
Perform outbound verification callbacks: If an incoming call demands urgent payment or sensitive information, hang up immediately. Search for the official published phone number of the institution independently and initiate an outbound call directly.
Review established defensive strategies: Read our complete guide on identifying caller ID spoofing tactics to learn how modern call authentication standards (STIR/SHAKEN) handle call routing verification.
Troubleshooting Common Lookup Failures
Even structured investigations can encounter dead ends. Here is how to resolve common reverse phone lookup roadblocks.
No Results Found Across Directories
If every public directory, search engine, and messaging application returns zero records, you are likely dealing with one of these scenarios:
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Newly provisioned mobile lines: Newly assigned cellular numbers take several months to accumulate public digital footprints or appear in cached search engine indexes.
Strict privacy settings: Mobile users who uncheck “Discoverability by Phone Number” in their social app settings will not appear during messaging app contact syncs.
Unlisted private numbers: Individuals who never publish their contact details on public websites or e-commerce platforms will leave no indexable search engine footprint.
Handling VoIP and Virtual Burner Numbers
When carrier lookup utilities identify a line as “Non-Fixed VoIP” (provisioned by services like Google Voice, TextNow, Pinger, or Skype), individual owner details are shielded behind service provider privacy protections. Non-fixed VoIP numbers can be created in seconds from anywhere in the world, making them popular for privacy-conscious individuals as well as telemarketers.
If you encounter a persistent virtual line that cannot be traced to a real person, consult our overview of temporary virtual phone numbers to understand how disposable internet numbers operate and how privacy apps handle user registration data.
Where This Approach Has Limits: Legal & Privacy Boundaries
Understanding the legal limits of public data retrieval prevents wasted effort and keeps your expectations realistic. Cellular carriers in North America and Europe are legally restricted from publishing master subscriber directories under telecommunication privacy regulations, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Legitimate, 100% free reverse phone lookup techniques rely entirely on public OSINT footprints, real-time spam reporting feeds, and opt-in user profiles. Websites promising to reveal private cellular billing addresses, SSNs, or credit histories for free are deceptive lead generators designed to sell recurring monthly subscriptions.
Key Takeaways
Bypass commercial paywalls by avoiding sites that run fake loading screens or demand credit cards for $1 trial reports.
Start every unknown call investigation by querying community spam directories like Truecaller to catch telemarketers quickly.
Use exact-match Google search operators with quotation marks around both hyphenated and unformatted numbers to uncover cached web pages.
Save unknown numbers to a temporary sandbox contact list to reveal associated WhatsApp, Telegram, or Signal profile pictures and display names.
Verify the underlying line type using free technical lookup utilities to determine whether a caller is using a physical SIM card or a virtual VoIP burner app.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I perform a completely free reverse phone lookup on a cell phone number?
Yes, but not through traditional directory white pages. Because cellular phone owner databases are protected by telecom privacy laws, finding a mobile caller for free requires open-source intelligence methods. By combining exact-match Google search operators, social messaging app profile checks (such as WhatsApp and Telegram), and community caller ID directories, you can identify cell phone users without paying for background check reports.
Why do most lookup websites demand payment after showing search progress?
Commercial reverse lookup websites operate on lead-generation models. They present animated loading graphics to simulate scanning private government or public records, creating a false sense of value. Once the animation finishes, the site hides basic mobile subscriber names behind a paywall, requiring a trial fee or monthly subscription to access records that are often outdated or incomplete.
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What does it mean if a reverse lookup shows a number is VoIP?
A VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) classification means the phone number is routed over an internet connection rather than a physical copper landline or cellular cell tower. VoIP numbers are generated by virtual phone services like Google Voice, Skype, or business call center software. While legitimate businesses and privacy-conscious individuals use VoIP lines daily, scammers also favor them because they can be created remotely without a physical location contract.
How can I tell if an incoming call is using a spoofed phone number?
You can identify potential caller ID spoofing by evaluating caller behavior and technical line data. If an incoming caller claims to represent an official agency (like a bank, government office, or utility provider) but carrier lookup utilities identify the originating line as a non-fixed VoIP number or residential landline, the caller ID is likely spoofed. Always hang up and call back using the institution’s official published website number to verify authenticity.
Before this week, the dominant story about Nvidia went something like this: For the first few years of the AI boom, Nvidia was the only source for state-of-the-art GPUs, which became immensely profitable as the industry scaled out. In the last few years, hyperscalers like Amazon and Google have started building their own chips, and Nvidia is no longer the only game in town, leading many investors to wonder how durable its advantage really is.
It’s a compelling story, and mostly true. After growing its market cap 10x between the start of 2023 and mid-2025, Nvidia shares have been on a more modest trajectory for the past year, driven by concerns about GPU competition.
A new narrative has taken shape since the company’s earnings on Wednesday and investors are starting to realize that Nvidia’s advantage goes far beyond GPUs. As AI’s compute grows into the gigawatt scale, orchestration has become an increasingly complex task. Not surprisingly, Nvidia has built much of the state-of-the-art hardware needed to handle it, giving the company a huge advantage in the systems that surround the GPU even as it sees increased competition on the GPUs themselves.
For all the talk of compute as a commodity, it’s still incredibly difficult to operate a megascale data center at peak efficiency — and as deployments get bigger and faster, that challenge is only growing.
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You can see some of this just by looking at the details of what Nvidia is actually selling. The company is currently rolling out its Vera Rubin architecture, which pairs the Rubin GPU with a collection of other units, including the Vera CPU, the Groq 3 LPX inference accelerator and similar racks for storage and networking.
Over the past week, I’ve been talking to folks at Nvidia about what those systems actually do, and the results have been surprising. Like the Rubin GPU itself, they’re extremely specialized systems, but instead of churning through tokens, they’re making sure everything outside the GPU works as efficiently as possible. If the GPU is the engine, these are the rest of the car.
The Vera CPU in particular is focused on the problem of orchestrating data. “Vera is important because there’s only so much memory that you can put in a single server or any sort of compute platform,” Jason Hardy, Nvidia’s VP of storage technology, told me.
As data centers have scaled up computing power, memory capacity has scaled up too, which is why companies like Micron have gotten rich in the second wave of the infrastructure boom. But getting that data to the GPU at the right time isn’t straightforward — and as companies look to drive tokens-per-watt lower and lower, they’re realizing how important that kind of traffic direction is.
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“We saw upwards of 3x improvement in these operations, where the Vera CPU is allowing for acceleration,” Hardy said. “So now we can use our flash to its fullest potential, because we can get all that performance out of it without bottlenecking.”
You can see versions of the same problem outside of Nvidia. When OpenAI developed its Jalapeño chip, a major focus was avoiding these challenges entirely by minimizing the amount of data that needs to be moved around.
“We designed Jalapeño to minimize data movement and communication delays,” the company said in a blog post earlier this month. “Its large domain allows the entire workload to remain within one connected system, minimizing data movement and helping the complete request stay fast and efficient from beginning to end.”
It’s a different approach, avoiding data movement entirely by conducting a workload within one integrated chip. But the overall logic is the same, increasing efficiency with smarter traffic control instead of just more processor cycles. That in turn opens up a whole new layer of infrastructure for companies to compete over.
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This new focus on data orchestration isn’t automatically a win for Nvidia. The company will have to compete with rival chipmakers and hyperscalers just as it has with GPUs. But the competition has moved to a new layer, where building a rival GPU matters less than being able to make the entire system work efficiently.
And at least in the early stages, Nvidia looks to have a commanding lead.
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AWS and DuckLabs have been working together since 2024.
Amazon is acquiring Amsterdam-based DuckLabs, the company behind the open-source analytical database DuckDB.
Details of the transaction were not disclosed, however, DuckDB is not included in the acquisition and will remain free and open source under the independent nonprofit that oversees the project, the company clarified.
The company’s team of more than 30 employees are set to join Amazon Web Services (AWS), while co-founders Hannes Mühleisen and Mark Raasveldt are expected to continue leading the team and DuckDB’s technical direction, alongside working on data lakehouse DuckLake and the Quack protocol.
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“For almost a decade, the DuckDB team has worked with the idea of building a tool that lets people work with data, with confidence. I find that sentiment – not just making data easy to work with, but actively empowering people to ask questions, build, and really innovate with data – is exactly in line with how AWS and our customers think about data,” said Andy Warfield, Amazon’s vice-president.
“We’ve been working closely with the DuckLabs team for the past two years, and I am so excited at the opportunity to work with them even more closely.”
Amazon’s cloud business, AWS, has been working with DuckLabs since 2024. The 2021-founded start-up said that the acquisition gives it access to resources to help widen its reach to developers and pursue ideas on a much larger scale.
“Together, we plan to use DuckDB, DuckLake and Quack to help power a new generation of data services. Our ambition is to reach people who may eventually depend on the Duck Stack every day, whether they interact with it directly or encounter it quietly inside the products and services they use,” the founders said in a joint statement.
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DuckLabs has refused venture capital funding since its launch, and has instead been owned fully by its founders and the development team.
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The Los Angeles Times first calls Ridley Scott’s newest movie “a postapocalyptic thriller that trades zombies for pandemics and asks whether hope can outlast catastrophe.” But besides
The Dog Stars, Scott is also working on an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” starring Hugh Jackman, and is thinking about turning one of his past films into a musical. (“I can’t tell you which one because they’re being difficult.”) The common theme, they suggest, is a director who allows his stories to “speak through evocative, immersive images rather than unnecessary exposition.”
The British director says it’s because he got his start in advertising after attending the Royal College of Art in London. After 1982’s neon-coated sci-fi thriller “Blade Runner,” Scott notably made the iconic Apple Macintosh computer ad “1984,” a memorable Orwellian-themed clip that contained suggestions of the dystopias that would continue to fascinate Scott in his filmmaking. “Advertising in England at that point became a competitive art form,” he says, pointing to the notorious “Adland Five,” a group of directors that included Hugh Hudson, Adrian Lyne, Alan Parker, Scott and his brother Tony. “I’ve got a show reel which is 50 years old which would entertain the s — out you. Hasn’t aged at all. Our visual drive changed the face of how films looked.”
That’s apparent in Scott’s latest, “The Dog Stars” (in theaters Friday), a film about survival after the end of the world. It’s based on Peter Heller’s 2012 novel and set in Colorado 10 years in the future after an aggressive flu has decimated much of the population. Those remaining alive use any means necessary to stay that way, resulting in instability, brutality and, more hopefully, connection…
These days, Scott develops movies with his production company, Scott Free, which he founded with his late brother Tony in 1995. Before that he says he struggled to find good scripts. And rarely has someone handed one to him. “I’ve only ever had three films land on my desk,” he says. “One was ‘Alien,’ which I was fifth choice for after Robert Altman.” He makes a face. “Can you imagine offering Robert Altman ‘Alien’? How stupid can you get?”
Another was 2015 space adventure “The Martian,” which Scott says had been sitting on a shelf for two years before it was sent to him. Scott’s grounded, semi-comedic take on Andy Weir’s novel resulted in seven Oscar nominations. The third screenplay to materialize was “The Dog Stars.” “I read it and I was blown away,” Scott says.
Deadline notes that Scott is already re-writing the third prequel to Alien, citing Scott’s comments to French outlet AlloCiné.
“The one that just came out [2024’s Alien: Romulus] was OK. I think it needs some help. So, I’ve gone back in.” Scott continued, “I’ve already got a footprint for the next Alien…. I’m picking up where we left off in Covenant with Micheal Fassbender, who now thinks he’s Ozymandius.” With the sequel bringing back Fassbender’s futuristic AI droid, Scott sees an opportunity to explore the repercussions of artificial intelligence in our current world. “I like the fact that AI has gone off the rails,” said Scott of where the character is at the end of Covenant. “If we go AI, the moment we discover it’s off the rails is too late. It could switch every digital thing off in the world like that. You’d have fucking chaos. It’s that kind of stuff that’s scary.”
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Scott tells the Los Angeles Times that the malfunctioning AI character fascinates him, and in the movie will be creating a “brave new world for himself… AIs can go off. And if they do, it’s like a bomb…”
So far, Scott says he hasn’t implemented AI technologies into his filmmaking. He holds up his “Treasure Island” Ridleygrams [hand-drawn storyboards] and shakes them at the camera. “I can compete with an AI without any problem making images,” he says. “But it’s coming, inevitably.”
Scott was not involved in the forthcoming Prime Video series “Blade Runner 2099,” out in November. “I can’t blame my lawyers and my agents at that time, but somehow we let ‘Blade Runner’ go,” he says. “And when you’re not the author of the actual written word, you don’t have a piece.” (He was more involved in Noah Hawley’s recent “Alien: Earth” series, which he calls “pretty damn good….”)
Does that mean he thinks about his legacy as a filmmaker? He does, but not often. “When you think of your legacy, you’re too near the end,” Scott says. “I’m not near the end.” He looks up from his drawings. “I’ve had a riotous time,” he says. He corrects himself: “I’m having a riotous time.”
Hollywood’s finest — the people accustomed to massive eight-figure checks and exotic movie sets — are now betting on something much smaller: microdramas.
Microdramas are short, scripted series designed to be watched on phones. Episodes typically run just a few minutes, and often feature soap opera-style plots, dramatic twists, and cliffhangers designed to keep viewers watching, and often paying, for the next episode.
The format took off in China before rapidly gaining traction internationally. Omdia estimates that U.S. revenue generated by microdramas is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year. A growing number of apps have emerged to capitalize, including ReelShort and DramaBox, and even TikTok has entered the market, launching its own app, PineDrama, earlier this year.
Now, Hollywood talent is starting to get involved, whether by starring in new series, launching their own companies, or investing in platforms.
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It’s understandable. Movie studios are looking for cheaper and faster ways to produce content, and many talent and crew are going without work. At the same time, TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are capturing an ever-larger share of viewers’ attention, which is turning microdramas into an increasingly attractive new corner of the entertainment business.
Here are some of the most well-known names getting a slice of the microdrama pie.
The latest recognizable Hollywood actor to make the jump is James Franco, who stars in “Love, Lies & Frank,” streaming exclusively on Shortical.
Franco plays the CEO of an advertising agency that becomes mixed up in crime and werewolves. The premise seems to follow a similar formula to most microdramas, and is packed with outrageously dramatic scenes and a forbidden romance.
The project is notable for being one of the first microseries produced under SAG-AFTRA’s new verticals agreement, a union contract specifically for low-budget microdramas. This offers an early glimpse of how the format could create new opportunities for actors and other Hollywood talent.
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Beyond that, Franco’s involvement has drawn attention for another reason: The project marks his attempt at a comeback following sexual misconduct allegations and a legal settlement in 2021. Variety’s review of the show wasn’t glowing, either, with the magazine writing that the actor “appears to be sleepwalking through his lines.”
What compelled Franco to take on a microdrama gig is anyone’s guess, but his casting is still notable. It’s rare to see a major actor who has made millions and starred in blockbuster projects headline a small series built for mobile screens.
Issa Rae
Image Credits:HBO
Issa Rae may be one of the most natural stars to embrace the microdrama boom. She created and starred in the 2011 web series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” which helped launch her career.
In May, Issa Rae’s company Hoorae Media partnered with TikTok’s new PineDrama app to launch “Screen Time,” a thriller about a double date that takes a dark turn when a mysterious person hijacks the television and starts forcing the couples to confront their secrets.
The series quickly became a breakout hit, gathering nearly 75 million views in its first week and becoming the top-performing vertical series on TikTok and PineDrama at the time. It later surpassed 150 million views.
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Jesse Tyler Ferguson
Image Credits:Chris Delmas / AFP / Getty Images
“Modern Family” star Jesse Tyler Ferguson is also getting into the business with “Theater Kids Vs. Zombies,” an upcoming musical comedy for vertical storytelling platform aTwist.
The premise is pretty much what the title suggests: A group of theater students finds their high school overrun by zombies, and realizes their best chance of survival is to put on a musical.
Ferguson’s entry could be significant, as this series doesn’t sound much like the romance and soap-opera formulae that dominate microdramas, instead leaning into comedy and theater-kid culture.
Taye Diggs
Image Credits:CandyJar
Not only did Taye Diggs star in a microdrama, he’s getting more deeply involved in the business, too.
In January, Diggs was announced as the star and executive producer of “Off Limits & All Mine” for platform CandyJar. He plays a widowed mogul who becomes involved in a forbidden romance with his best friend’s adult daughter.
More notably, Diggs has launched his own mobile-first, vertical storytelling platform, Microhouse Films, which aims to give filmmakers greater control over how they produce and monetize their projects. Eight projects were included in the platform’s debut launch, including “Tides of Temptation,” a series created in collaboration with Lifetime.
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The move is significant because instead of just jumping on the microdrama trend, Diggs is now helping build the space itself.
Kim Kardashian
Image Credits:Nathan Congleton/NBC / Getty Images
Kim Kardashian’s involvement highlights another way celebrities are entering the market. While the celebrity hasn’t starred in a microdrama yet, she has already put money behind the business, investing in GammaTime alongside her mother, Kris Jenner, and other angel investors.
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ServiceNow released security patches for three new maximum-severity AI Platform vulnerabilities that can be exploited in code injection, SQL injection, and privilege escalation attacks.
The ServiceNow AI Platform (formerly known as the Now Platform) is an enterprise-grade Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that helps integrate AI into core enterprise workflows and powers more than 100,000 enterprise AI apps at 85% of all Fortune 500 companies.
In a Thursday advisory, the company said it patched its cloud-based platform against the three critical security flaws (CVE-2026-18885, CVE-2026-18886, and CVE-2026-74820) and advised customers to secure their self-hosted instances.
The first is a code injection vulnerability that can allow attackers to execute arbitrary code, the second stems from a code injection weakness that enables them to escalate privileges, and the third allows threat actors to access or modify instance data through SQL injection attacks.
All three security vulnerabilities can be exploited by unauthenticated threat actors in low-complexity attacks that don’t require user interaction.
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On Thursday, ServiceNow also addressed a high-severity sandbox escape security issue (CVE-2026-6876) affecting the same platform that could let attackers with basic privileges gain remote code execution on targeted systems.
Release
Version Updated
Xanadu
Patch 11 Hot Fix 7a
Yokohama
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Yokohama Patch 12 Hot Fix 3b
Yokohama Patch 13 Hot Fix 4
Zurich
Zurich Patch 7b Hot Fix 3
Zurich Patch 8 Hot Fix 5
Zurich Patch 9 Hot Fix 6
Zurich Patch 10 Hot Fix 2m (m-branch)
Zurich Patch 10 Hot Fix 3 (standard)
Zurich Patch 11
Zurich Patch 12
Australia
Australia Patch 2 Hot Fix 3
Australia Patch 3 Hot Fix 2
Australia Patch 3m
Australia Patch 4
Australia Patch 5
“We are not currently aware of malicious exploitation against ServiceNow instances. We recommend customers promptly apply appropriate updates or upgrade to a patched release if they have not already done so,” the company said.
While ServiceNow didn’t flag any of the vulnerabilities patched on Thursday as actively exploited, multiple security flaws in ServiceNow products have been targeted in attacks in recent years.
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Two years ago, threat actors chained three ServiceNow flaws (CVE-2024-4879, CVE-2024-5178, and CVE-2024-5217) using publicly available exploits to breach private firms and government agencies worldwide in data theft attacks.
More recently, in July, threat intelligence company Defused reported that attackers are now exploiting another critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-6875), a pre-auth sandbox escape in the ServiceNow AI Platform.
ServiceNow has also privately disclosed a security incident last month in which security researchers or customer-led research used an unauthenticated access flaw via a vulnerable API endpoint to query data from customer instances.
Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.
The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.
The REI Half Dome 2 is the best budget two-person backpacking tent. I’ve toted it on many backpacking trips and found it plenty sturdy, quick to set up, and capable of fitting two people along with their gear. It even comes with a footprint (which I never bother with, but it’s nice to have it if you have to deal with pointy rocks).
The Big Agnes Copper Spur series is our top pick among freestanding ultralight tents. This is the bike-packing model, which features shorter pole segments that are easier to haul on a bike, but I really prefer it for the more subdued colors. The Copper Spur is a high-quality, well-designed tent that’s lightweight, easy to set up, and roomy enough to be livable in the backcountry. The “awning” design (with trekking poles or sticks) is a nice extra.
Nemo’s Dragonfly tents are roomy for the weight. There’s a generous amount of mesh at the top, which provides some nice ventilation on warm summer nights and is perfect for falling asleep under the stars when the weather permits. The Osmo fabric is a blend of nylon and polyester that absorbs less water than pure nylon rainflies.
MSR’s Groundhog stakes aren’t cheap, but they’re the best tent upgrade you can make. They’re superstrong—I’ve never had one bend or pull out on me—and considering their strength, they’re pretty lightweight. I suggest carrying a mix of stakes when backpacking—some of these, some carbon fiber pegs, and some shepherd hooks. That way, no matter the terrain, you’ve got something that’ll work.
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Deals on Outdoor Clothing
Now is a great time to score some new base layers and mid layers ahead of the cooler months.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Smartwool’s 100 percent merino base layer is my top pick for cooler weather in our guide to the Best Base Layers. Its loose fit allows it to work as a long-sleeve T-shirt in the shoulder seasons. That extra bit of roominess also makes it possible to use it as a second light layer over something thinner. Note that colors and sizes are limited on this deal.
This is an REI Outlet deal because it’s been discontinued, which is a shame (hopefully that just means new colors are coming next year). REI’s 100 percent merino base layers are some of the best values around, even at full price. On sale, they’re a true steal. I like this half-zip for the extra ventilation the zipper provides, but if you prefer, the regular top (on sale for $30) is also on sale, as is the base layer bottom (on sale for $30).
Nothing says outdoors like a hatchet loop on your pants. Fjällräven Vidda Pro trousers give you that and great ventilation. The Vidda Pro uses Fjällräven’s G-1000 fabric, a 65 percent recycled polyester and 35 percent cotton blend, with pockets everywhere and extras like ventilation zippers, reinforced knees (with openings for pads), and that sweet, sweet hatchet loop on the leg.
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This deal is limited to one color, with sizes disappearing fast, but it’s a pretty outstanding deal. The Ghost Whisperer Down Jacket is my top pick for a backpacking puffer jacket. The men’s large I tested weighs just 7.3 ounces, packs down to a tiny little thing (stuffing into its own pocket), and the 800-fill-power goose down offers one of the best warmth-to-weight ratios on the market.
Camp Stove and Water Filter Deals
Nothing says camping like roasting marshmallows over open flames and burning beans on the camp stove. Check out our guides to the best backpacking stoves and best camping stoves for more picks.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
MSR’s PocketRocket Deluxe is our top pick for a backpacking stove. It wins the title thanks to its larger burner area, which allows the flame to spread out for faster boil times and better fuel efficiency, especially with larger pots. It also fared better in the wind than smaller burners. The genius of the deluxe model is the small curved lip around the burner, which helps keep wind from getting to the base of the flame. It’s a small design element, and one that you certainly want. During long-term testing, I found it more effective at maintaining a simmer in the wind, should you want to do any actual cooking.
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You can put together a lighter cooking setup, but Jetboil’s Stash is the lightest all-in-one system out there, and it does boil water a bit faster than the rest. The heat diffuser design speeds up boil times (Jetboil claims 2.5 minutes, which I could only match indoors in still air), but the real appeal is how this kit packs down into itself and how simple it is to use.
Jetboil’s larger all-in-one cooking system, the Flash, offers a larger capacity 1-liter pot that combines an integrated pot and burner into an easy-to-use system. I prefer the more compact Stash above, but if you’re cooking for two and are all-in on dehydrated meals, this stove is popular for good reason.
While I prefer the larger burner head of the Deluxe model above, the MSR PocketRocket 2 is lighter at 2.6 ounces compared to the Deluxe’s 2.9. It still has wide enough arms to support just about any one- or two-person pot. It’s simple to use, even while wearing gloves, and it’s efficient. At 947-foot elevation, it boiled 1 liter of water in 3 minutes, 47 seconds. You can even get it to simmer, though the flame radius is small, so fancier cooking isn’t easy.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
MSR’s WhisperLite series is probably the most popular backpacking stove ever made. They last forever (mine is over 30 years old and still works great), and this model, the Universal, can use just about any fuel you can imagine—white gas, kerosene, unleaded gasoline, and isobutane-propane canisters, to be precise. The only downside is that it can be fiddly compared to stoves like the Jetboil. But if you’re headed out on a long trip, buying fuel as you go, this is the most flexible option out there.
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This is by far the most compact two-burner stove I’ve tested. It’s my pick for any situation where space is at a premium—whether that’s canoeing or just because you have a small car. The burners are large, and with some practice, I could get a light, simmer-friendly flame. My main gripe is the windscreen, which is not the best. The Basecamp version, with fitted pots, is also on sale for $300 ($100 off).
Courtesy of Coleman
My favorite stove in Coleman’s current lineup, the Coleman Cascade 3-in-1 features heavy-duty cast-iron grates and comes with a cast-iron griddle and grill. It’ll comfortably fit a 12-inch pan and a 10-inch pan side by side, and it’s significantly sturdier and more robust than other Coleman stoves, making it worth the extra money if you use it often. That said, the much cheaper stove below will get you by if you’re only using it a few nights a year.
This stove is ubiquitous at campgrounds for a reason. It’s well-built, sturdy on a table, and just works. It’s not the most powerful stove, and it lacks frills like push-button ignition, but it’s capable of holding a low flame, simmering soups, and cooking scrambled eggs without browning them. It’s also incredibly durable.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The MSR Gravity Autoflow filter is a must-have for backpacking with a group. To use this filter, scoop up 10 liters of water in the dirty water bag, attach the hose, connect your water bottle, and sit back and relax. The filter is good enough to keep you safe from all the usual protozoa and bacteria, and the flow rate is a solid 1.5 liters per minute when the filter is clean.
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The MSR Guardian is our pick for trips with sketchy water sources because it filters down to 0.02 microns, which will even remove viruses. It is heavy at 22 ounces and may be overkill for trips in the US, but it’s a great option for overseas adventures. I really like that it’s designed to be self-cleaning, which makes field maintenance incredibly easy, and that it screws right onto a Nalgene bottle. Also, because it’s a pump filter, it’s very fast. You can crank out a couple of liters in hardly any time at all. The gravity-fed version is also on sale at Backcountry for $232 ($78 off).
Camping Gear Deals
Courtesy of Kelty
This camp chair is the coziest way to hang out around the fire. It is somewhat huge, heavy, and awkward to fold up and carry, but so long as you have room for it in your vehicle, there’s no better way to relax under the stars with your loved ones.
The thing to keep in mind when you shop REI brand gear is the company’s basic proposition: You get 90 percent of the designer item for 70 percent of the price. It’s a strategy that works well and has produced some great, affordable gear. This chair is a good example: It’s comfortable (it does wobble a little, side-to-side when you move, though) and less than half the price of competitors.
I’ve noticed that when people try to lighten their load with a smaller, lighter-weight backpack, they struggle to fit all their gear. The answer for sleeping bags and clothing is this compression stuff sack, which smashes anything soft down to about half the size of the same item in a regular stuff sack. This works well with sleeping bags and clothing, especially puffer jackets, but also fleece and merino wool.
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Sleeping Bag Deals
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Our favorite backpacking sleeping bag, the Bishop Pass 15 offers the best warmth-to-weight ratio while packing down small and staying affordable. I have slept in this bag for more than two weeks, with nighttime temps ranging from 28 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and, yes, it was too warm in the heat, but on those warmer nights, I unzipped it and used it as a blanket. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a versatile bag.
REI’s Magma line of down gear is some of the best value around. The Magma 15 sleeping bag has long been an affordable option that’s perfect for shoulder-season trips when the temperature potentially swings lower than you expect (the comfort rating is 21). There are three lengths and three widths, which makes it easy to find a perfect fit for your body, and the 850-fill-power goose down (Bluesign-approved) packs down nicely and small. If you don’t need the shoulder-season coverage, the Magma 30 is also on sale for $262 ($87 off), and makes a great summer sleeping bag.
This down mummy bag has a spoon-shaped design for side sleepers and extra room in the elbows and knees so you can roll over onto your side without feeling like you’re slipping into a straitjacket. It’s built for temps down to 30 degrees Fahrenheit and has zippered gills you can open to avoid overheating when it’s warmer.
Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
The best budget ultralight quilt, the Magma Trail is a great value for the money. The lower price does mean that this one is a bit heavier (it uses 850-fill-power down), though at 24 ounces for the long, wide version I have, it’s competitive on the scale. The straps for attaching it to your sleep pad aren’t as nice as what you’ll get with something like the Enlightened Equipment’s Revelation Quilt, but it’s just as warm and does a respectable job of keeping out drafts. There’s even a zippered foot box with a drawstring for cooler nights.
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Nemo’s Pulse quilt uses RDS-certified, gold-infused 1,000-fill-power ExpeDRY down, which does a good job of shedding moisture from tent condensation and reportedly dries faster than standard down, though I’ve never figured out a good way to test this. The Karo Step baffle stitching keeps down well distributed, and at 12 ounces for the regular, this one is pretty dang lightweight.
Courtesy of REI
This is our favorite sleeping bag for car camping. The REI Siesta is plenty warm and affordable. It’s also not a mummy bag because you’re not climbing Denali here. The rectangular cut makes for a much roomier, more comfortable sleeping experience. The 20-degree-Fahrenheit rating makes it warm enough for three seasons, and unlike most rectangular bags, the Siesta has a hood, which helps on those cold nights.
The Kindercamp makes a great car camping bag if you’ve got young children. Once your kids are about 4 feet tall, an adult sleeping bag works just fine. Prior to that, they’ll benefit from a kids’ sleeping bag like the Kindercamp, which is cut smaller so your little ones don’t have to heat up a huge, adult-size sleeping bag to stay warm.
Deals on Action Cameras and Gadgets
If you snap a selfie in the woods and Instagram isn’t around to see it, did it happen? You’ll never have to answer that question if you’ve got one of our favorite action cameras or 360 cameras with you.
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Photograph: Scott Gilbertson
Insta360’s X6 360 camera just launched—our review will be coming soon—but the X5 is still a great option, especially on sale. The twin 1/1.28-inch sensors capture 8K video, which means you can reframe your footage to fit rectangular video formats and still have nearly 4K clips sharp enough to mix with footage shot with your phone. The dynamic range is impressive, and the X5 also has great battery life.
If you’re going to turn your action camera on yourself, consider the Ace Pro 2, our top pick for vlogging. It has a great lens and sensor co-engineered with Leica, is capable of recording 8K video at up to 30 frames per second (fps), and has some pretty darn nice color even in the default settings. My guess is that the Ace Pro 3 is coming pretty soon, but this is still a good deal.
Sure, phones have some of the features you’ll get with a satellite messenger, but we still think you’re better off with a dedicated device. Garmin’s new inReach Mini 3 Plus now offers some of those phone features—like voice messaging—along with the emergency features and excellent service worldwide. It’s also still tiny, well-built, and it has great battery life. A non-Plus model, which doesn’t have a speaker and mic, is also on sale.
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When you’re in a public space, like the subway, one of the best ways to listen to music with a friend is using headphone splitter. If you’re lucky enough to have one of the few Android devices that let you share audio via Bluetooth, you can use that as well. However, headphone splitters provide a quick and no-nonsense method for enabling multiple people to listen to music from one audio source on two or more pairs of headphones. The biggest concern about these unusual gadgets, however, is whether they actually hurt the quality of audio.
Generally, a good quality headphone splitter won’t negatively affect audio quality. That’s because the splitter’s main function is to just “split” the audio signal between two outputs. That means it doesn’t do any compression or conversion that can affect the quality of audio. In a normal setup, you shouldn’t hear a difference in sound quality compared to when you just plug one pair of headphones in. However, before you visit your favorite e-commerce store and buy just any splitter you find, you should know that there are several factors that play a role in the audio quality while using a headphone splitter.
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Different factors can affect audio quality when using a headphone splitter
Ольга Симонова/Getty Images
The quality of the headphone splitter matters for sound quality. Cheap splitters tend to use lower-quality materials, which can negatively affect electrical conductivity and potentially impact audio quality. High-quality ones use better materials like gold-plated connectors and double-shielded cables, which ensure minimal degradation of the audio signal.
Another key factor that determines whether audio quality is affected is the impedance of the source and the headphones. In simple terms, impedance (measured in ohms) “shows how hard the headphones are to drive for your audio source,” according to major headphone brandSennheiser. Connecting two or more pairs of headphones to a single source decreases the overall impedance.
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As a result, the source device has to deliver more current to drive the sound. That can be problematic because if the combined headset impedance is too low for the source to drive properly, you might experience issues when listening to audio, such as reduced volume, distortion, or changes in frequency response. Reviews of products like UGREEN’s Headphone Splitter show that some users faced these issues. Specifically, some reviewers complained about volume loss, while others reported reduced sound quality when using the splitter.
The race car is gearing up for a public launch on 9 September in DCU.
A team of students from Dublin City University (DCU) has designed and built Ireland’s first solar-powered racing car.
The custom-engineered car, which relies entirely on solar energy and clean battery storage, recently under underwent track validation and high-speed testing at Kildare’s Mondello Park motor racing circuit.
After receiving the green light in a test drive today (27 August), the car is now ready for a public launch on 9 September in DCU.
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The “ultra-efficient” single-seater vehicle features a six-metre ‘bullet’ model frame that’s been designed for maximum power conversion and minimal drag, the university said. It is equipped with custom solar array architecture, designed with lightweight composite materials and bespoke telemetry systems.
The entire process – from designing to completing a successful test run – took the DCU Solar Racing team four years, and required intensive research, prototyping and aerodynamic testing.
More than 40 multidisciplinary students, spanning mechanical, electrical, software engineering and business operations, contributed to the project, DCU said.
The Solar Racing team is now gearing up to represent Ireland at the iLumen European Solar Challenge, a 24-hour endurance competition for solar vehicles, set to take place this September at Circuit Zolder in Belgium.
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It is the largest race of its kind in Europe, and second largest globally – only behind the 3,000km-long World Solar Challenge in Australia.
The Solar Racing team is sponsored by more than 30 organisations including DCU Innovate; Intel; Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland; tire manufacturing giant Bridgestone (which is also the lead sponsor behind the World Solar Challenge); Fidelity Investments; and Irish space-tech EireComposites.
“Timeless hours over the past four years have resulted in this pinnacle of Irish engineering, thanks to the support of our partners, university and the students behind the project,” said Rian Gill, the team principal and lead engineer at DCU Solar Racing.
Jennifer Bruton, the executive dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Computing added: “This project showcases the practical, future-focused, boundary-pushing talent emerging from DCU.
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“Beyond competing in international motorsport, these students are proving that sustainable transport solutions are achievable today through dedication, teamwork, multidisciplinary hands-on application and vision.”
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Google’s AI assistant Gemini crawls your Google apps for “more personalized suggestions,” in a feature they call Personal Intelligence. Now when given permission, an Android/iOS app called Dreambeans “uses Personal Intelligence to connect information from Google apps like Gmail, Calendar, Photos, YouTube and Search History, to curate a finite collection of daily stories designed to spark new ideas.” In a slick new video Google says the app will “surface what matters to you.”
The blog 9to5Google notes that after previously requiring a subscription, Dreambeans “is now available for free Google Accounts in the US to test, calling it “very much like a hyper-personalized Google Now or Discover feed.”
Instead of using stock imagery, each Dreambeans story is accompanied by Nano Banana 2-generated artwork that uses an illustrated style. For example, if Dreambeans recommends a hike, you might see yourself and a group of friends at that location… There’s also an “Ask anything” chat experience to get more information. You can leave feedback by tapping the heart or downvoting, while the chat interface allows you to provide more details. “Tune your feed” lets you tell Dreambeans what you “want more stories about” and what it should never show.
Or, as TechCrunch senior writer Lucas Ropek puts it, you get a curated list of AI-illustrated “stories” that “will turn your life into a cartoon”
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[Gozde Oznur, the product lead behind the new app, told TechCrunch the app] has also been built as a doomscrolling antidote, in that it only provides users with a limited number of stories per day — typically 10 to 14. The idea is to get a few inspirational ideas and then go out and live your life, she said. A lot of companies are currently trying to court the user that is sick of phone addiction. I recently reviewed a startup, Bond, which also uses AI to auto-generate lifestyle suggestions for the user.
What about privacy protections? According to Oznur, they are pretty solid. The only person with access to the app’s stories is the user, she said. Users can also delete their data whenever they want, and can choose which Google services they want to connect to the tool.
A federal judge has entered a final judgment requiring Guardant Health to pay more than $245 million to Seattle biotech TwinStrand Biosciences and the University of Washington over DNA sequencing technology developed at the university.
The judgment, entered Friday in U.S. District Court in Delaware, follows a 2023 jury verdict that found Guardant willfully infringed two patents covering TwinStrand’s Duplex Sequencing technology.
The case also establishes a continuing revenue stream for the university and TwinStrand from some of Guardant’s products.
Jesse Salk, co-founder of TwinStrand. (TwinStrand Photo)
The court’s final judgment includes $83.4 million in damages awarded by the jury for infringement through June 2023, plus $19.5 million in supplemental damages, $119.4 million in accrued royalties and $22.9 million in interest.
Going forward, Guardant is required under the judgment to pay a 6% royalty on covered sales through March 2033, when the patents expire.
The technology at the center of the case traces back to research at the University of Washington, where scientists, including co-founder Jesse Salk, developed Duplex Sequencing as a way to make DNA sequencing more accurate. Salk — who stepped down as CEO of TwinStrand in 2022 — now is the co-founder of cancer diagnostics startup CytoTerra.
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The molecular biologist and clinical oncologist is the grandson of the late Jonas Salk, the scientist who discovered and developed the polio vaccine.
TwinStrand says its Duplex Sequencing technology can improve the accuracy of next-generation sequencing by more than 10,000-fold, allowing researchers to detect extremely rare genetic mutations that can be obscured by sequencing errors.
“Duplex Sequencing solved an accuracy problem the sequencing field had worked on for years, and this judgment affirms the jury’s finding that Guardant Health built products on that invention without a license,” said Chad Waite, chair of the TwinStrand board of directors, in a press release. “We remained steadfast in our conviction that the facts would prevail, and they have. We intend to see this through and stand firmly behind the intellectual property at the core of our technology.”
Salk and his colleagues from the University of Washington launched TwinStrand in 2015 to commercialize the technology. Based in Seattle, the startup raised funding from Madrona Venture Group, Soleus Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Ridgeback Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments. Section 32 led a $50 million series B round in the company in 2021.
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A jury found in November 2023 that Guardant willfully infringed the patents through 11 products and services. The products identified in the judgment include Guardant360, Guardant Reveal, Guardant Shield and other cancer-testing products.
The Delaware court subsequently rejected Guardant’s effort to overturn the verdict or obtain a new trial. In June, the court also awarded TwinStrand and UW ongoing royalties and supplemental damages. The final judgment now formalizes those awards.
Guardant is not accepting the ruling.
The California-based precision oncology company said Monday that it plans to appeal the judgment, arguing that the court’s order covers products that existed at the time of the 2023 trial and that many have since been discontinued or substantially upgraded. Guardant also said current versions of its Reveal and Shield products are excluded from the final district court order.
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Guardant — founded in 2012 — said the judgment and collection of potential royalties will be stayed pending the appeal.
“We strongly disagree with this decision and will promptly be appealing for its overturn,” said John Saia, Guardant Health Chief Legal Officer, in a press release. “We have full faith in the strengths and merits of Guardant’s intellectual property and R&D and are confident we will ultimately prevail on appeal.”
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