The chip equipment maker’s European sale share dropped to nothing from a measly 1pc.

The Dutch chip industry keystone ASML sold nothing to European customers this past quarter, in what should be a worrying sign for the region as it attempts to catch up with the US and China, a senior executive for the company said in a panel earlier this week.

Europe should spend its time developing its capital markets and removing red tape, rather than on foreign competition, ASML’s executive vice-president Frank Heemskerk told the panel. He added that very little happens here.

This comes more than a year after an EU special report found that the region would likely not reach its Chips Act goal, which targeted a 20pc share in the global semiconductor market by 2030, despite “reasonable progress” in implementing it.

The April 2025 report said that the “overly ambitious” target would be hard to reach given the European Commission’s limited mandate and resources, reliance on member state’s actions, private sector investments and other factors such as energy costs. It asked the EU to carry out an “urgent reality check”.

ASML plays an extremely important role in the intricately connected global semiconductor supply chain, owning the sole rights to develop the sophisticated lithography equipment key to producing chips.

Its machines are used by the biggest chip manufacturers globally, including the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung, to print minuscule transistors widely used across electronic devices.

ASML’s European sale share dropped to nothing from a measly 1pc, which, according to PwC chief economist Barbara Baarsma is a clear demand issue.

Baarsma, on the panel, pointed to how the French domestic intelligence service ditched Palantir in favour of domestic AI providers earlier this year, and said that governments should act as launching customers to bundle demand.

The chipmaking machine provider’s biggest market is South Korea, which represented 43pc of ASML’s quarterly sales, followed by Taiwan, China, Japan and the US. The company expects full-year sales to come in between €43bn and €45bn.

What’s important for ASML is that Europe catches up, Heemskerk said. The equipment maker is getting courted to expand its presence in the US, China and India, he said, adding that very little actually happens in Europe.

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Microsoft has confirmed that some users may experience desktop loading issues, including black screens, after installing the August 2026 preview updates and subsequent updates.

However, the company says this mainly affects Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) hosts using FSLogix (a software solution that speeds up user profile loading in virtual desktop environments).

Windows users affected by this known issue may experience multiple symptoms. The most common symptoms include a black screen after sign-in, so users can’t access their desktop until they start the desktop session manually, and application event logs showing Windows Explorer crashes.

Until a permanent fix is available for those who installed KB5120996 (Windows 11 26H1), KB5120998 (Windows 11 24H2/25H2), and this month’s Patch Tuesday updates (KB5124008 and KB5122880), Microsoft says users can temporarily work around the issue by manually launching Windows Explorer.

This can be done by opening Task Manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc), selecting Run new task, entering explorer.exe, and clicking OK.

Microsoft has also mitigated this issue for enterprise customers via Known Issue Rollback (KIR), a Windows feature that reverses buggy updates delivered through Windows Update.

IT administrators can apply the mitigation on enterprise-managed devices by installing one of the following group policies:

“You will need to install and configure the Group Policy for your version of Windows to resolve this issue. You will also need to restart your device(s) to apply the group policy setting,” Microsoft said. “Note that this Group Policy will disable the change causing this issue until a resolution is released in a future Windows update.

Admins can find further guidance on deploying and configuring KIR group policies on Microsoft’s support website.

Earlier this month, Microsoft also resolved known issues that wiped mouse and desktop settings on some Windows 11 systems that were also triggered after installing the KB5120998 August 2026 optional update.

Join Mikko Hyppönen and security leaders from the NFL, CHANEL, and Atlassian for a two-hour digital summit on what AI-speed attacks change, what defenders should stop doing, and how to validate, decide, fix, and re-validate at machine speed.

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The organisation will launch a prototype satellite as a first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher.

Google has confirmed plans to launch a prototype satellite next week as part of its strategy to study how its tensor processing units (TPUs) operate in space. 

The first in orbit test is a part of Project Suncatcher, which is a research effort designed to explore space’s potential to host large-scale AI computing infrastructure, particularly under harsh conditions.  

In a statement Google’s senior director for Paradigms of Intelligence Travis Beals said, “Project Suncatcher is a long-term, research moonshot exploring whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure. 

“In low Earth orbit, satellites can access near-constant sunlight, generating up to eight times more solar power than on Earth. Eventually, it could be possible to link together multiple constellations of satellites, allowing them to manage larger AI workloads while in orbit.”

Beals added, “Turning that idea into reality starts with a basic question, can our AI hardware operate in space? This initial mission onboard the upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare mission with SpaceX was developed in partnership with Planet. 

“It’s designed to gather in-orbit data on how our TPUs handle the physical stress of spaceflight and the radiation and thermal extremes of space.”

According to Google, a rocket trip, in low orbit, takes roughly ten minutes, during  which the craft is buffeted by intense vibrations and a sustained acceleration that can be ten times the force of gravity.  

Beals said, “individual components, such as the TPU chips, can experience even greater forces up to 50 to 100 g. The team conducted vibration testing by intensely shaking the satellite on all three axes to mimic the frequencies of a rocket launch.” 

Once in space, the TPUs are then exposed to radiation outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, as well as solar events and cosmic rays that can disrupt electronics.

Google’s TPUs were tested in a proton beam facility at UC Davis’s Crocker Nuclear Laboratory while running AI workloads. 

Beals said, “During the test, we monitored closely to see how errors, like a bitflip, would affect our workloads. Initial results have shown that our Trillium TPUs hold up remarkably well and can survive a radiation total ionising dose greater than what they would receive during a five-year space mission.”

Tests, while useful, are only half the equation, as noted by Beals who explained that the real test is in how the TPUs perform in space. The hope is that, by putting the TPUs into orbit, the team will be able to gather data and learnings to inform future launches.

Beals said, “Exploring space as a viable location for scalable AI compute won’t happen all at once. 

“It takes methodical engineering, starting with proving our hardware can handle the physical and unpredictable realities of operating in orbit. This first launch is about seeing what works, identifying points of failure, and applying those findings to future missions.”

Earlier this month Google announced its largest single investment in Europe to date, amid a promise to invent €13bn into Finland’s digital infrastructure over the course of the next two years. This will include supporting data centre build-outs and the funding of clean energy and nature restoration projects.

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Lightspeed is sharpening its India strategy around AI, targeting $250 million for a new early-stage fund as the venture firm bets the technology will drive the next wave of startups in one of the world’s largest markets.

The Silicon Valley venture firm is already a major investor in AI companies including Anthropic, xAI, and Databricks. In India, it has backed Sarvam AI, one of the country’s leading large language model developers and a startup selected by the Indian government to help develop sovereign AI models.

The new fund, Lightspeed India Partners V, will be half the size of its $500 million predecessor, raised in 2022, and has already secured commitments for 80% of its $250 million target, according to a letter sent to investors on Thursday and seen by TechCrunch.

In late April, Lightspeed disclosed the new fund in a U.S. regulatory filing, though the filing did not specify its target size. Indian media had previously reported that the firm was looking to raise between $300 million and $350 million for the vehicle.

Lightspeed plans to begin investing from the new fund within two months and has designed it around an investment period of roughly two and a half years, per the letter. Until then, it will continue making its final investments from the existing fund.

A Lightspeed spokesperson declined to comment.

Starting with the new fund, Lightspeed is also moving its India funds onto the same fundraising cycle as its global funds for the first time, per the investor letter. The change brings a regional business it established nearly two decades ago more closely in line with the rest of the firm.

The move follows a similar shift by rival firm Accel, which in August raised its latest $550 million India fund alongside new U.S. and Europe funds and a global growth vehicle as part of a coordinated $3.5 billion fundraising effort. It was the first time Accel had raised all four funds simultaneously.

The $250 million fund is sized to match how quickly Lightspeed is currently investing and its shorter investment period, according to the letter. Lightspeed suggested to investors that the smaller size lets it focus on individual deals rather than fund size, and raise its next fund sooner.

The new fund also marks a sharper focus on AI for Lightspeed’s early-stage investment strategy in the region. The investment thesis outlined in the letter anticipates AI creating more value in India than the internet did, with the fund seeking out AI companies across India and Southeast Asia.

India has yet to produce a major frontier AI model developer on the global stage and has attracted far less investment in AI than the U.S. and China. Investors, nonetheless, increasingly see an opportunity for India in the application layer, drawing on the country’s large pool of software developers and its decades-long history as a hub for software and technology services.

The new $250 million India vehicle is a fraction of the capital available across Lightspeed’s global platform. The firm, which manages more than $65 billion in assets globally, raised $9 billion across several new funds last December, the largest fundraising haul in its history. The total included a $980 million early-stage venture fund.

Lightspeed’s dedicated India and Southeast Asia funds represent only part of the capital the firm has put to work in the region. Those funds have deployed roughly $900 million, while Lightspeed’s global funds have invested another $1.6 billion to support companies from the regional portfolio, according to the investor letter.

The decision to dedicate its newest regional fund entirely to AI also marks a sharper thematic focus for Lightspeed in a market where it has historically invested across sectors. Its India portfolio spans businesses including quick commerce, consumer internet, software, and household services.

Lightspeed’s bets in India have included companies such as quick-commerce startup Zepto, audio platform Pocket FM, house-help startup Snabbit, rooftop solar startup SolarSquare, and a range of enterprise software businesses.

The same team that led Lightspeed’s previous four India funds will manage the new fund, per the letter.

HTX Studio spent about two months turning a full work desk into a charger that finds a phone wherever you set it down and starts feeding it power. Apple showed that idea in 2017 as AirPower, a small mat that would charge a phone, Watch, and AirPods case without lining them up on a single coil. The pad never shipped. Apple cancelled it in 2019. The YouTube builder waited through nine promised “next years,” then built a version big enough to work on.

Apple’s design for the pad included filling it with a lot of coils so that it didn’t matter where you placed the devices. Covering an entire desk like that would require approximately 600 coils, which is a large number to say the least. HTX Studio took an alternative approach, just slotting a single coil onto a motorized trolley and allowing the coil to go instead. A camera situated above the desk monitors your phone and transmits location information to the motors. The coil then glides below till the charging begins, and to make things even neater, they inserted two extra coils into each corner for when you leave your gadgets plugged in in the same location.

Apple 2026 Mac mini Desktop Computer M6 chip

• LITTLE DO-IT-ALL — Mac mini packs pure power into a small, five-by-five-inch desktop as the M6 chip delivers next-level AI capabilities. Mac mini…
• M6 CHIP — Everything you do on Mac mini feels more responsive with the M6 chip and its next-generation CPU. Fly through AI workflows with up to 4.8x…
• CONNECT IT ALL — Features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, and a 2.5Gb Ethernet port in the back, and two USB-C ports and a headphone jack…

The initial prototype demonstrated that the concept was viable, as well as a thorough examination of why getting to work on a desk is so much more difficult than using a mat. To get things rolling, the motors had to crawl along slowly. Then there were the cables, which were dragged around and snagged on various objects. The surface above did nothing more than obscure the coil beneath. Faster motors sped up the process, but it still required patience. Then there was the difficulty of getting the moving power line to play out and retract without making a mess, which took a week on its own with a homemade cable reel. HTX later discovered that a linear slide would have avoided the need for all of the moving wires and had things up and running in no time.

In the end, the desktop became more of a screen. When you place your phone down, an animated cat will ride along with the coil, as if it is hauling up power from below. Once one device has been fully charged, the system searches for the next one that need a charge. In idle mode, one coil sits beneath the keyboard, concealing a receiver coil, allowing the keyboard to recharge as well. One moving coil cannot feed multiple phones at the same time, as AirPower promised, so this one travels between them instead. The corners protect the extras.

A Mac mini sits inside the frame, and when you plug in a display, the desk functions as a computer. The screen displays the charge status, a short daily to-do list, and a small dot that lights up when you finish a job. Sit still for approximately an hour with the surface remaining low, and the entire top will light up in a soft glow. The cat returns with a reminder and a button that elevates the motorized legs to a predetermined standing height. Every hour or so, an electromagnet on the trolley slides a matching cup toward you, ensuring that you do not simply ignore your water. Focus Mode activates a 25-minute timer beneath the phone. Lift the phone before the countdown expires, and the desk will not charge it when you put it back down.

In the end, the finished AirDesk functions as a standard workstation for a keyboard, trackpad, and monitor, but with all the bells and whistles. After nine years of waiting for a product that would never come to fruition, the builder now has a surface that charges everything you throw on it, reminds you to stand and drink, and even cuts off power if you keep reaching for your phone.
[Source]

It occurs to me that, as a new(ish) father, and someone who reviews products for a living, I am a nightmare to get gifts for. I’m not alone. Most of my friends have no idea what to get their dad, and end up brainstorming in group chats with anyone they can get their hands on.

Fear not, I’m here to make gifting a little easier this year (or at the very least, contribute to the brainstorm). Below are some of the best WIRED-tested gifts for the dad or father figure in your life, including travel gadgets, dad-approved apparel, and best-in-class earbuds. I’ve personally gifted a few of these to my dad, with great results.

Updated September 2026: I completely overhauled this guide with 27 new picks, including tech accessories, headphones, dad-approved apparel, fitness gear, and more.

For the Travel Dad

From businesses exhausting yearly AI budgets in just months to some imposing limits on staff AI use, it’s clear heavy token consumption or ‘tokenmaxxing’, is reaching its limits.

Instead of incentivizing and measuring business output, many are measuring consumption and usage.