Tech

Benchmark raises $225M in special funds to double down on Cerebras

Published

5 hours ago

7 February 2026

This week, AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems announced that it raised $1 billion in fresh capital at a valuation of $23 billion — a nearly threefold increase from the $8.1 billion valuation the Nvidia rival had reached just six months earlier.

While the round was led by Tiger Global, a huge part of the new capital came from one of the company’s earliest backers: Benchmark Capital. The prominent Silicon Valley firm invested at least $225 million in Cerebras’ latest round, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Benchmark first bet on 10-year-old Cerebras when it led the startup’s $27 million Series A in 2016. Since Benchmark deliberately keeps its funds under $450 million, the firm raised two separate vehicles, both called ‘Benchmark Infrastructure,’ according to regulatory filings. According to the person familiar with the deal, these vehicles were created specifically to fund the Cerebras investment.

Benchmark declined to comment.

What sets Cerebras apart is the sheer physical scale of its processors. The company’s Wafer Scale Engine, its flagship chip announced in 2024, measures approximately 8.5 inches on each side and packs 4 trillion transistors into a single piece of silicon. To put that in perspective, the chip is manufactured from nearly an entire 300-millimeter silicon wafer, the circular discs that serve as the foundation for all semiconductor production. Traditional chips are thumbnail-sized fragments cut from these wafers; Cerebras instead uses almost the whole circle.

This architecture delivers 900,000 specialized cores working in parallel, allowing the system to process AI calculations without shuffling data between multiple separate chips (a major bottleneck in conventional GPU clusters). The company says the design enables AI inference tasks to run more than 20 times faster than competing systems.

The funding comes as Cerebras, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., gains momentum in the AI infrastructure race. Last month, Cerebras signed a multi-year agreement worth more than $10 billion to provide 750 megawatts of computing power to OpenAI. The partnership, which extends through 2028, aims to help OpenAI deliver faster response times for complex AI queries. (OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is also an investor in Cerebras.)

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Cerebras claims its systems, built with its proprietary chips designed for AI use, are faster than Nvidia’s chips.

The company’s path to going public has been complicated by its relationship with G42, a UAE-based AI firm that accounted for 87% of Cerebras’ revenue as of the first half of 2024. G42’s historical ties to Chinese technology companies triggered a national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, bumping back Cerebras’ initial IPO plans and even prompting the outfit to withdraw an earlier filing in early 2025. By late last year, G42 had been removed from Cerebras’ investor list, clearing the way for a fresh IPO attempt.

Cerebras is now preparing for a public debut in the second quarter of 2026, according to Reuters.

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Good News: We Saved the Bees. Bad News: We Saved the Wrong Ones.

Published

12 minutes ago

8 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Despite urgent pleas to Americans to save the honeybees, “it was all based on a fallacy,” writes Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. “Honeybees were never in existential trouble. And well-meaning efforts to boost their numbers have accelerated the decline of native bees that actually are.”

“Suppose I were to say to you, ‘I’m really worried about bird decline, so I’ve decided to take up keeping chickens.’ You’d think I was a bit of an idiot,” British bee scientist Dave Goulson said in a video last year. But beekeeping, he went on, is “exactly the same with one key difference, which is that honeybee-keeping can be actively harmful to wild-bee conservation.” Even from healthy hives, diseases flow “out into wild pollinator populations.”

Honeybees can also outcompete native bees for pollen and nectar, Milbank points out, and promote non-native plants “at the expense of the native plants on which native bees thrive.”

Bee specialist T’ai Roulston at the University of Virginia’s Blandy Experimental Farm here in Boyce warned that keeping honeybees would “just contribute to the difficulties that native bees are having in the world.” And the Clifton Institute’s Bert Harris, my regular restoration ecology consultant in Virginia, put it bluntly: “If you want to save the bees, don’t keep honeybees….”

Before I stir up a hornet’s nest of angry beekeepers, let me be clear: The save-the-pollinator movement has, overall, been enormously beneficial over the past two decades. It helped to get millions of people interested in pollinator gardens and wildflower meadows and native plants, and turned them against insecticides. A lot of honeybee advocacy groups promote native bees, too, and many people whose environmental awakening came from the plight of honeybees are now champions of all types of conservation…

But if your goal is to help pollinators, then the solution is simple: Don’t keep honeybees… The bumblebees, sweat bees, mason bees, miner bees, leafcutters and other native bees, most of them solitary, ground-nesting and docile, need your help. Honeybees do not.
The article calls it “a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences that emerge when we intervene in nature, even with the best of intentions.”

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Is the 'Death of Reading' Narrative Wrong?

Published

26 minutes ago

8 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Has the rise of hyper-addictive digital technologies really shattered our attention spans and driven books out of our culture? Maybe not, argues social psychologist Adam Mastroianni (author of the Substack Experimental History):

As a psychologist, I used to study claims like these for a living, so I know that the mind is primed to believe narratives of decline. We have a much lower standard of evidence for “bad thing go up” than we do for “bad thing go down.” Unsurprisingly, then, stories about the end of reading tend to leave out some inconvenient data points. For example, book sales were higher in 2025 than they were in 2019, and only a bit below their high point in the pandemic. Independent bookstores are booming, not busting; at least 422 new indie shops opened in the United States last year alone. Even Barnes & Noble is cool again.

The actual data on reading, meanwhile, isn’t as apocalyptic as the headlines imply. Gallup surveys suggest that some mega-readers (11+ books per year) have become moderate readers (1-5 books per year), but they don’t find any other major trends over the past three decades. Other surveys document similarly moderate declines. For instance, data from the National Endowment for the Arts finds a slight decrease in the percentage of U.S. adults who read any book in 2022 (49%) compared to 2012 (55%). And the American Time Use Survey shows a dip in reading time from 2003 to 2023. Ultimately, the plausibility of the “death of reading” thesis depends on two judgment calls. First, do these effects strike you as big or small…? The second judgment call: Do you expect these trends to continue, plateau, or even reverse…?

There are signs that the digital invasion of our attention is beginning to stall. We seem to have passed peak social media — time spent on the apps has started to slide. App developers are finding it harder and harder to squeeze more attention out of our eyeballs, and it turns out that having your eyeballs squeezed hurts, so people aren’t sticking around for it… Fact #2: Reading has already survived several major incursions, which suggests it’s more appealing than we thought. Radio, TV, dial-up, Wi-Fi, TikTok — none of it has been enough to snuff out the human desire to point our pupils at words on paper… It is remarkable, even miraculous, that people who possess the most addictive devices ever invented will occasionally choose to turn those devices off and pick up a book instead.

The authors mocks the “death of reading” hypothesis for implying that all the world’s avid readers “were just filling time with great works of literature until TikTok came along.”

Tech

Target Darts Omni Auto Scoring System Hits the Mark

Published

40 minutes ago

8 February 2026

NewsAdmin

I never liked playing darts, but I did a complete 180 with this auto-scoring system. This gadget has ignited my newfound love of the old pub favorite. It’s a light ring with four hi-def cameras that slots onto your board. Connect with the DartCounter app via Wi-Fi and you get effortless automatic scoring with an announcer calling your points and telling you what you need to check out.

I’ve been testing the Target Darts Omni Auto Scoring System for the last few weeks, playing locally on my own and with family, and playing the odd match online. It’s a pricey system, but for darts fans and players looking to improve their game, it could be worth the investment. As a casual fan, I’ve found that a wee game of darts is a great way to unwind at the end of your day.

Stepping Up to the Oche

Target Darts

Omni Auto Scoring System

The Target Darts Omni Auto Scoring System pairs with the DartCounter app (Android or iOS). It’s quick and easy to put together, attaching to your board via magnetic legs, but you will need to run the power cable to an outlet. Connect to Wi-Fi, run a short calibration, and it’s time to play. I tested with Target’s Star Wars Millennium Falcon Surround and Dartboard ($200 or £150) and a set of Darth Vader Darts ($340 or £250)—both amazing Star Wars gifts for the fan in your life—but it should work with most boards and any darts.

The LED ring lights up the dartboard beautifully. The four HD cameras accurately record the score for each dart thrown. The DartCounter app compiles comprehensive statistics on your play. You can configure all the match parameters in the app for a tailor-made session, and there are also multiple practice modes and games, such as Around the Clock, where you have to hit each number in sequence and then the bull’s-eye, and Bob’s 27, where you start with 27 points and have to hit the doubles shown.

Online multiplayer is perhaps the biggest selling point, and you can find matches or create your own lobby in the DartCounter app. I never had any trouble finding a match, and there were well over 100 live matches in progress every time I checked. You get three free online matches every week. To unlock all the features, including tournaments, unlimited online games, more detailed stats, and the Master Caller using your name, you must subscribe for $6 a month or $40 a year (£6 and £40 in the UK). You get a three-month free trial with the system. Local play is free, with the exception of a couple of games (121 Checkout and Halve It), so you don’t need to subscribe.

I’ve played loads of games over the past few weeks, but I had the most fun playing a tournament with my brother. We had a dartboard in the garage when I was a teen and spent hours throwing darts, but neither of us had played in years. After much hilarity at how inept we had become and plenty of reminiscing, we both got our eye in, and things became competitive. I won the best-of-five classic 501 matches, but then my brother beat me at Around the Clock (I got stuck on the bull’s-eye).

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CISA warns of SmarterMail RCE flaw used in ransomware attacks

Published

53 minutes ago

8 February 2026

NewsAdmin

CISA warns of SmarterMail RCE flaw used in ransomware attacks

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning that ransomware actors are exploiting CVE-2026-24423, a critical vulnerability in SmarterMail that allows remote code execution without authentication.

SmarterMail is a self-hosted, Windows-based email server and collaboration platform from SmarterTools. The product provides SMTP/IMAP/POP mail services along with webmail, calendars, contacts, and basic groupware functionality.

It is commonly deployed by managed service providers (MSPs), small and medium-sized businesses, and hosting companies offering email services. According to SmarterTools, its products are used by roughly 15 million users across 120 countries.

The CVE-2026-24423 flaw affects SmarterTools SmarterMail versions prior to build 9511, and successful exploitation can lead to remote code execution (RCE) via the ConnectToHub API.

The vulnerability was discovered and disclosed responsibly to SmarterTools by security researchers at watchTowr, CODE WHITE, and VulnCheck cybersecurity companies.

The vendor fixed the flaw on January 15 in SmarterMail Build 9511.

CISA has now added the vulnerability to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog and marked it as actively exploited in ransomware campaigns.

“SmarterTools SmarterMail contains a missing authentication for a critical function vulnerability in the ConnectToHub API method,” the government agency warns.

“This could allow the attacker to point the SmarterMail instance to a malicious HTTP server that serves the malicious OS command and could lead to command execution.”

CISA has given federal agencies and entities with obligations under BOD 22-01 guidance to either apply the security updates and vendor-suggested mitigations or stop using the product by February 26, 2026.

Around the same time that SmarterTools patched CVE-2026-24423, watchTowr researchers discovered another authentication bypass flaw, internally tracked as WT-2026-0001.

The flaw, which has no identification number, permits resetting the administrator password without any verification and has been exploited by hackers shortly after the vendor released a patch.

The researchers base this on anonymous tips, specific calls in the logs of compromised systems, and endpoints that exactly match the vulnerable code path.

Since then, SmarterMail has fixed additional security flaws rated “critical,” so it is recommended that system administrators update to the most recent build, currently 9526, released on January 30.

Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.

In this new Tines guide, learn how your team can reduce hidden manual delays, improve reliability through automated response, and build and scale intelligent workflows on top of tools you already use.

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Tech

How a single Nvidia GB10 system could replace human reporting staff and change the workforce forever

Published

1 hour ago

8 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Manual reporting can be replaced entirely using Nvidia GB10 and structured AI workflows
Automation reduces reliance on additional staff while maintaining consistent reporting accuracy
Sequential workflows simplify testing and troubleshooting before scaling enterprise-level automation

Many organizations rely on employees to manually collect, organize, and report performance metrics from multiple digital platforms.

A recent Serve The Home (STH) review replaced part of this manual reporting process using local AI systems built around Nvidia GB10 hardware.

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Tech

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus Turns Almost Any TV into a Portable Gaming Rig, Thanks to Xbox Game Pass

Published

1 hour ago

7 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus
Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, priced at $29.99 (was $49.99), is tiny, smaller than a pack of gum, but it packs a powerful punch, allowing you to stream 4K movies in super-sharp clarity and play console-quality games without the need for a large box under your TV. The new edition is the result of years of fine-tuning to provide you with a simple method to view your favorite shows or play games on virtually any screen with an HDMI connector.

You can have this device up and running in minutes by simply hooking it into your TV’s HDMI input, connecting the provided power adapter, and pairing the Alexa voice remote. Once you’ve set it up, the UI displays rows of apps and helpful recommendations based on over 1.8 million movies and TV episodes accessible on services like as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and, if you enjoy free things, Tubi and Pluto TV. Wi-Fi 6 ensures a rock-solid connection even when your home is jam-packed with gadgets. This means you won’t experience any lag when watching or downloading.

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Smarter searching starts here with Alexa – Find movies by actor, plot, and even iconic quotes. Try saying, “Alexa show me action movies with car…

The Fire TV Stick 4K Plus features a quad-core 1.7 GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. This means that apps open quickly, and menus scroll smoothly. With 8GB of storage, you may save downloaded information and keep your most frequently used items cached for easy access. All of this creates a seamless and hassle-free viewing experience.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus
Audio is transmitted over the TV in Dolby Atmos format, which is ideal for immersive sound if you have a soundbar or receiver that supports it. If you find yourself in a tight space behind the TV, don’t panic; an HDMI extender cable is provided in the package. Most brands’ remotes even include dedicated power and volume buttons, saving you from having to juggle multiple remotes.

Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus
Gaming is a whole new ballgame, and it’s all done via the cloud rather than local hardware. If you have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate membership, you can just launch the Xbox app on your TV and stream a variety of games, including recent releases such as Call of Duty, Hogwarts Legacy, and the iconic Halo and Fallout series. Amazon Luna is another choice, and Prime members receive access to a rotating selection of games for free, as long as they have a Prime subscription. Both services require a good internet connection, ideally cable or strong Wi-Fi, but if you have one, they should perform well at up to 1080p resolution.

Pairing a controller is simple; simply Bluetooth-connect an Xbox Wireless Controller and you’re ready to go, as it will function across a wide range of supported games in the Xbox app or Luna. Other Bluetooth choices, such as PlayStation controllers, appear to work in most cases. Input lag is kept to a minimum, especially if you have Wi-Fi 6 and Auto Low Latency Mode enabled, which simply adjusts the signal to your TV to ensure a speedy response time when gaming.

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Tech

180 Shots On A Roll With The Little Stupid Camera

Published

2 hours ago

7 February 2026

NewsAdmin

If you want to play with the coolest kids on the block when it comes to photography, you have to shoot film. Or so say the people who shoot film, anyway. It is very true though that the chemical medium has its own quirks and needs a bit of effort in a way digital cameras don’t, so it can be a lot of fun to play with.

It’s expensive though — film ain’t cheap, and if you don’t develop yourself there’s an extra load of cash. What if you could get more photos on a roll? It’s something [Japhy Riddle] took to extremes, creating a fifth-frame 35mm camera in which each shot is a fifth the size of the full frame.

The focal plane of a 35mm camera with tape masking most of the frame — We’re slightly worried about that much sticky tape next to the shutter, but hey.

Standard 35mm still film has a 24x36mm frame, in modern terms not far off the size of a full-size SD card. A standard roll of film gives you 36 exposures. There are half-frame cameras that split that frame vertically to give 72 exposures, but what he’s done is make a quarter-frame camera.

It’s a simple enough hack, electrical tape masking the frame except for a vertical strip in the middle, but perhaps the most interesting part is how he winds the film along by a quarter frame. 35mm cameras have a take-up reel, you wind the film out of the cartridge bit by bit into it with each shot, and then rewind the whole lot back into the cartridge at the end. He’s wound the film into the take-up reel and it winding it back a quarter frame at a time using the rewind handle, for which we are guessing he also needs a means to cock the shutter that doesn’t involve the frame advance lever.

We like the hack, though we would be worried about adhesive tape anywhere near the shutter blind on an SLR camera. It delivers glorious widescreen at the cost of a bit of resolution, but as an experimental camera it’s in the best tradition. This is one to hack into an unloved 1970s snapshot camera for the Shitty Camera Challenge!

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Starfish Space wins $54.5M Space Force contract for another satellite servicing vehicle

Published

2 hours ago

7 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Otter spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit with Earth in background — An artist’s conception shows Starfish Space’s Otter spacecraft in geosynchronous Earth orbit. (Starfish Space Illustration)

Tukwila, Wash.-based Starfish Space has been awarded a $54.5 million contract to produce another Otter satellite servicing spacecraft for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command.

The deal, announced this week, builds on a $37.5 million Space Systems Command contract that was awarded in 2024 through the Department of the Air Force’s Strategic Funding Increase program, or STRATFI. This new contract is funded through a Pentagon program called Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies, or APFIT.

Starfish noted that the award is the only APFIT contract issued to a space company in the current cycle and ranks among the largest in the program’s history.

Austin Link, co-founder of Starfish Space, said his company was “proud to grow our partnership with the Space Force under the APFIT program.”

“APFIT is a key program in transitioning platforms like Otter from development to deployed capability,” Link said today in a news release. “Through dynamic space operations and autonomous augmented maneuver, we enable the Space Force to sustain critical space assets, increase resilience and maintain operational flexibility across evolving mission demands.”

Like the earlier contract, the new one calls on Starfish to provide an Otter spacecraft for dynamic space operations in geosynchronous Earth orbit. Delivery is scheduled for 2028, with an option for two years of operational support.

Designed for autonomous inspection and docking, the Otter will be capable of servicing satellites even if they weren’t originally built for on-orbit adjustments. Otter would be able to move satellites into higher orbits to extend their lives, or nudge them into lower orbits for safe disposal. Just last month, Starfish secured a separate $52.5 million contract from the Space Force’s Space Development Agency for military satellite disposal.

A prototype called Otter Pup 2 was launched last year and has been undergoing orbital tests. Three full-scale Otters are currently being readied for launch — one for the Space Systems Command, one for a satellite maneuvering demonstration funded by the SES satellite company, and one for a NASA-funded satellite inspection mission.

Starfish Space was founded in 2019 by Link and Trevor Bennett, both former engineers at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture. In 2024, Starfish reported raising $29 million in an investment round that enabled the company to complete the development of the first three Otters. At the time, Starfish said its total cumulative funding amounted to about $50 million.

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Oura said to be working on smart AR glasses with smart ring controls

Published

2 hours ago

7 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Oura has filed a patent suggesting it is exploring smart AR glasses controlled by its well‑known smart ring, potentially allowing biometric data like heart rate to be displayed directly in front of the wearer’s eyes.

The Finnish company, best known for its health‑tracking smart rings, has been linked to a new wearable concept thanks to a recently published patent application numbered 20260023426.

The filing, dated July 2025 and published in January 2026, outlines how a smart ring could work in tandem with augmented reality glasses to display health metrics in real time.

The idea is straightforward: instead of pulling out a smartphone or checking a wristwatch, users could see their heart rate or other biometric data projected directly into their field of view. The smart ring would not only collect the data but also act as a controller, enabling gesture‑based interactions with the glasses.

The patent describes scenarios where such a system could be useful, particularly during workouts. For example, a runner could glance at their heart rate without breaking stride, adjusting intensity on the fly. Gesture controls via the ring could allow users to switch between metrics or dismiss overlays without touching the glasses themselves.

While this is not a groundbreaking leap in technology (similar concepts have been explored by companies such as Samsung and Even Realities), it does highlight Oura’s ambition to expand beyond rings into a broader wearable ecosystem.

Interestingly, the filing also mentions XR applications, covering augmented, mixed, and virtual reality. In practice, this could mean anything from simple overlays like heart rate data to more complex visual augmentations such as contextual translations or workout guidance.

However, the language in the patent is broad, and it is not clear whether Oura intends to pursue advanced AR features or stick to health‑centric displays. The distinction matters, as showing biometric data is technically an extension of reality but not the same as overlaying digital objects onto the physical world.

For now, this remains speculative. Patents often serve as exploratory markers rather than definitive product roadmaps. Oura has not announced any commercial plans for AR glasses, and the company continues to focus on its smart ring line, which has carved out a niche in sleep and fitness tracking.

Nevertheless, the timing of the patent suggests Oura was actively investigating this technology through mid‑2025, leaving open the possibility of future development.

If Oura does pursue this path, it would join a growing trend of wearable makers experimenting with ring‑controlled smart glasses.

Samsung’s Galaxy Ring has already been linked to its XR headset, while startups like Inmo and Even Realities have showcased similar integrations.

The appeal lies in discreet, hands‑free control and seamless health tracking, areas where Oura already has strong credibility. Until then, the patent remains an intriguing glimpse into what could be the next frontier for the brand.

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Variable aperture camera will give iPhone 18 Pro users more photo options

Published

2 hours ago

7 February 2026

NewsAdmin

The iPhone 18 Pro’s camera system will be more flexible for photographers, with claims of a variable aperture main camera and a larger-aperture telephoto camera undergoing testing and expected to arrive later in 2026.

Blue smartphone lying face down on a dark surface, showing triple rear camera bump, side buttons, and sleek metallic edges in soft, angled lighting

iPhone 17 Pro has a new wider camera plateau, which could feasibly contain a variable aperture mechanism.

The camera is one of the key marketable elements of the iPhone, and the rumor mill frequently tries to guess about the next changes to arrive. If current rumors are to be believed, that should include variable apertures.
According to Weibo leaker “Digital Chat Station,” Apple is currently testing a version of the iPhone with a variable aperture fitted. This is a feature that could be introduced as part of the iPhone 18 Pro range in September.
Rumor Score: 🤔 Possible
Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

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