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Rode’s Rodecaster Video Core makes livestreaming even cheaper

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Rode’s not done releasing trimmed-down versions of its production tools with an eye on budget conscious creators. Today, it’s launching Rodecaster Video Core, an all-in-one studio setup which sits below its flagship Rodecaster Video and its (now) mid-range Video S. It’s aimed at folks who are either dipping a toe into this world, or already have audio gear and just want to broaden out to HD video as well. Arguably, the biggest change is the lack of any controls on the hardware itself, as you’ll be running the show entirely from inside the Rodecaster App.

In terms of connectivity, you’ll find three HDMI-in, one HDMI-out, four USB-C, two 3.5mm and two Neutrik combo ports ‘round back. Connect a compatible video device to a USB-C port and you’ll be able to run up to four sources at a time, and you can even use network cameras via Ethernet. Plus, you’ll be able to use the Rode Capture app to wirelessly connect the feed from an iOS device to your setup. And you’ll even be able to set it up to automatically switch between feeds based on audio inputs, reducing your need to micromanage multi-person feeds.

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And, if you’re already rocking one of Rode’s audio consoles, the Rodecaster Sync app will make your life a lot easier. Essentially, if you’ve got a Rodecaster Pro 2 or Duo, you’ll be able to hook it up to your Video Core, allowing you to set shortcuts directly to your pads. In fact, you can run your audio and video setup from the one desk, hopefully reducing the amount of fiddling you need to do in the middle of your stream.

Core is designed to stream straight to YouTube, Twitch and any other platforms you’d care to use instead. You’ll be able to record your footage to an external drive and, thanks yo a new firmware update across the range, you’ll also be able to output a EDL file for DaVinci Resolve. Oh, and you’ll now be able to import media in non-standard resolutions and aspect ratios — such as square footage from social media — which will be automatically scaled and optimized for your show.

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Rodecaster Video Core is available to pre-order now for $599, but there’s no word yet on when the sturdy boxes will start winging their way around the world.

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Apple could launch a Macbook Ultra with OLED screen later this year

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Apple may be preparing to introduce an entirely new high-end laptop later this year.

According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the company is working on a premium “MacBook Ultra” featuring an OLED display and touchscreen support. This could potentially mark one of the biggest changes to the MacBook lineup in years.

The device is expected to sit above the current MacBook Pro models, rather than replace them. Gurman suggests Apple is positioning the laptop as a new top-tier option. As a result, it is expanding its Mac lineup with a more expensive, flagship-tier machine aimed at users who want the very best hardware.

One of the headline upgrades could be the move to OLED display technology. Apple has already adopted OLED for several products, including the iPhone and the latest iPad Pro. The same shift could finally arrive on the Mac. OLED panels typically offer deeper blacks, stronger contrast and improved colour accuracy compared to traditional LCD displays.

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The report also mentions touchscreen support, something Apple has long resisted on Mac laptops. If accurate, it would mark a significant shift in Apple’s design philosophy, potentially bringing the MacBook closer to the touchscreen experience offered by many Windows laptops.

With those upgrades likely comes a higher price tag. It is worth noting that when Apple introduced OLED displays on previous devices, prices typically rose by around 20%. This suggests a similar premium could apply here. The new model would therefore sit firmly at the top of Apple’s laptop lineup.

The rumoured MacBook Ultra also fits into a broader strategy at Apple. The company has been expanding its product range both at the entry level and the premium end. At the lower end, Apple recently introduced the MacBook Neo, a £599/$599 model designed to compete with cheaper Windows and Chromebook devices.

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At the same time, Apple appears to be exploring more Ultra-branded products at the top of its range. Upcoming premium devices could include an “iPhone Ultra” and “AirPods Ultra”. This reflects a push toward higher-end hardware alongside more affordable options.

While the final name is not confirmed, Apple could still keep the traditional MacBook Pro branding, expecting the OLED-equipped MacBook to launch towards the end of the year if development continues on schedule.

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Anthropic Claims Pentagon Feud Could Cost It Billions

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Anthropic executives allege that current customers and prospective ones have been demanding new terms and even backing out of negotiations since the US Department of Defense labeled the AI startup a supply-chain risk late last month, according to court papers that also revealed new financial details about the company.

Hundreds of millions of dollars in expected revenue this year from work tied to the Pentagon is already at risk for Anthropic, the company’s chief financial officer, Krishna Rao, wrote in a court filing on Monday. But if the government has its way and pressures a broad range of companies from doing business with the AI startup, regardless of any ties to the military, Anthropic could ultimately lose billions of dollars in sales, he stated. Its all-time sales, since commercializing its technology in 2023, exceed $5 billion, according to Rao.

Anthropic’s revenue exploded as its Claude models began outperforming rivals and showing advanced capabilities in areas such as generating software code. But the company spends heavily on computing infrastructure and remains deeply unprofitable. Rao specified that Anthropic has spent over $10 billion to train and deploy its models.

Anthropic chief commercial officer Paul Smith provided several examples of partners who have privately raised concerns to the AI startup in recent days. He said a financial services customer paused negotiations over a $15 million deal because of the supply-chain label, and two leading financial services companies have refused to close deals valued together at $80 million unless they gain the right to unilaterally cancel their contracts for any reason. A grocery store chain canceled a sales meeting, citing the supply-chain-risk designation, Smith added.

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“All have taken steps that reflect deep distrust and a growing fear of associating with Anthropic,” Smith wrote.

The executives’ comments are part of statements from six Anthropic leaders in support of a preliminary order that would allow the San Francisco company to continue doing business with the Department of Defense until lawsuits about the supply-chain-risk issue are resolved.

Anthropic has sued the Trump administration in two courts. A lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday alleges the government violated the company’s free speech rights. A separate case filed Monday in the federal appeals court in Washington, DC, accuses the Defense Department of unfairly discriminating and retaliating against Anthropic.

The company is seeking a hearing as soon as Friday in San Francisco for a temporary reprieve. The legal battle and sales fallout follows a weeks-long dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon over the potential use of AI technologies for mass domestic surveillance and autonomous lethal weapons. Anthropic contends AI is not yet capable of safely undertaking the tasks, while the Pentagon wants the right to make that judgment on its own.

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By law, the supply-chain designation prevents a narrow set of companies that do business with the Pentagon from incorporating Anthropic into their systems. But Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has cast a wider net. He posted on X late last month that “effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”

Rao wrote that the Pentagon reinforced the message by reaching out to several startups about their use of Claude, which he said he learned had happened from speaking with an investor that Anthropic and the smaller companies all share. They “have grown worried and uncertain about their ability to use Claude,” Rao wrote.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the lawsuits and did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Rao’s allegation about the outreach.

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OpenAI and Google employees rush to Anthropic’s defense in DOD lawsuit

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More than 30 OpenAI and Google DeepMind employees filed a statement Monday supporting Anthropic’s lawsuit against the U.S. Defense Department after the federal agency labeled the AI firm a supply-chain risk, according to court filings.

“The government’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk was an improper and arbitrary use of power that has serious ramifications for our industry,” reads the brief, whose signatories include Google DeepMind chief scientist Jeff Dean.

Late last week, the Pentagon labeled Anthropic a supply-chain risk — usually reserved for foreign adversaries — after the AI firm refused to allow the Department of Defense (DOD) to use its technology for mass surveillance of Americans or autonomously firing weapons. The DOD had argued that it should be able to use AI for any “lawful” purpose and not be constrained by a private contractor.

The amicus brief in support of Anthropic showed up on the docket a few hours after the Claude maker filed two lawsuits against the DOD and other federal agencies. Wired was first to report the news.

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In the court filing, the Google and OpenAI employees make the point that if the Pentagon was “no longer satisfied with the agreed-upon terms of its contract with Anthropic,” the agency could have “simply canceled the contract and purchased the services of another leading AI company.”

The DOD did, in fact, sign a deal with OpenAI within moments of designating Anthropic a supply-chain risk — a move many of the ChatGPT maker’s employees protested.

“If allowed to proceed, this effort to punish one of the leading U.S. AI companies will undoubtedly have consequences for the United States’ industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond,” the brief reads. “And it will chill open deliberation in our field about the risks and benefits of today’s AI systems.”

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The filing also affirms that Anthropic’s stated red lines are legitimate concerns warranting strong guardrails. Without public law to govern AI use, it argues, the contractual and technical restrictions developers impose on their systems are a critical safeguard against catastrophic misuse.

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Many of the employees who signed the statement also signed open letters over the last couple of weeks urging the DOD to withdraw the label and calling on the leaders of their companies to support Anthropic and refuse unilateral use of their AI systems.

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Nvidia Is Planning to Launch an Open-Source AI Agent Platform

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Nvidia is planning to launch an open-source platform for AI agents, people familiar with the company’s plans tell WIRED.

The chipmaker has been pitching the product, referred to as NemoClaw, to enterprise software companies. The platform will allow these companies to dispatch AI agents to perform tasks for their own workforces. Companies will be able to access the platform regardless of whether their products run on Nvidia’s chips, sources say.

The move comes as Nvidia prepares for its annual developer conference in San Jose next week. Ahead of the conference, Nvidia has reached out to companies including Salesforce, Cisco, Google, Adobe, and CrowdStrike to forge partnerships for the agent platform. It’s unclear whether these conversations have resulted in official partnerships. Since the platform is open source, it’s likely that partners would get free, early access in exchange for contributing to the project, sources say. Nvidia plans to offer security and privacy tools as part of this new open-source agent platform.

Nvidia did not respond to a request for comment. Representatives from Cisco, Google, Adobe, and CrowdStrike also did not respond to requests for comment. Salesforce did not provide a statement prior to publication.

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Nvidia’s interest in agents comes as people are embracing “claws,” or open-source AI tools that run locally on a user’s machine and perform sequential tasks. Claws are often described as self-learning, in that they’re supposed to automatically improve over time. Earlier this year, an AI agent known as OpenClaw—which was first called Clawdbot, then Moltbot—captivated Silicon Valley due to its ability to run autonomously on personal computers and complete work tasks for users. OpenAI ended up acquiring the project and hiring the creator behind it.

OpenAI and Anthropic have made significant improvements in model reliability in recent years, but their chatbots still require hand-holding. Purpose-built AI agents or claws, on the other hand, are designed to execute multiple steps without as much human supervision.

The usage of claws within enterprise environments is controversial. WIRED previously reported that some tech companies, including Meta, have asked employees to refrain from using OpenClaw on their work computers, due to the unpredictability of the agents and potential security risks. Last month a Meta employee who oversees safety and alignment for the company’s AI lab publicly shared a story about an AI agent going rogue on her machine and mass deleting her emails.

For Nvidia, NemoClaw appears to be part of an effort to court enterprise software companies by offering additional layers of security for AI agents. It’s also another step in the company’s embrace of open-source AI models, part of a broader strategy to maintain its dominance in AI infrastructure at a time when leading AI labs are building their own custom chips. Nvidia’s software strategy until now has been heavily reliant on its CUDA platform, a famously proprietary system that locks developers into building software for Nvidia’s GPUs and has created a crucial “moat” for the company.

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Last month The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia also plans to reveal a new chip system for inference computing at its developer conference. The system will incorporate a chip designed by the startup Groq, which Nvidia entered into a multibillion-dollar licensing agreement with late last year.

Paresh Dave and Maxwell Zeff contributed to this report.

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Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 Review – Trusted Reviews

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Verdict

The Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 blower is a powerful yet lightweight garden tool. With an extremely comfortable grip shape like to the ones you’d find on Ryobi’s drills, it’s easy to manoeuvre around with minimal hand fatigue. It lacks a bit of raw power but makes up for it by being so easy to handle.


  • Comfortable grip shape

  • Light and manoeuvrable

  • Comes with two nozzle tips

  • Can only be locked on full power

Key Features


  • Cordless


    Uses the same batteries as Ryobi’s cordless tools


  • Powerful for smaller jobs

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    Blows air up to 7m/s (from one metre away), making it good for smaller jobs

Introduction

Compatible with the company’s range of batteries, the Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 is a flexible and versatile leaf blower. A little limited in power, it’s still a good choice for smaller jobs, particularly for those who own Ryobi tools already.

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Design and Features

  • The grip shape is ergonomically designed and very comfortable
  • Supplied with two nozzle tips for focus and wide sweeping
  • Can be locked on full power

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If you’re familiar with Ryobi’s bright green offerings, then the RY18BLCXA-125 is another cleverly designed tool to join the family. It feels sturdy, well-thought-out and is more like holding a drill than a leaf blower. This choice makes it supremely easy to point the nozzle tip at individual leaves that stick to wet grass.  

Weighing just 1.5 kg with the battery in place, this blower is ultra lightweight and very easy to hang on to. It boasts a variable speed trigger that is sensitive and responsive. The trigger can be locked on, a bit like cruise control on a car, but it only locks on full power. 

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Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 triggerRyobi RY18BLCXA-125 trigger
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

The Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 comes with a 2.5 Ah battery and charger, as well as a pair of nozzle tips and extension tubes. The standard round tip is for focused blowing, while the wide tip works a bit like a broom. You lose a bit of air speed, but the wide stream of air is great for jobs like clearing a path of fallen leaves. 

Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 battery and controlRyobi RY18BLCXA-125 battery and control
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

And because it comes with a battery and charger, you can use it in any one of hundreds of Ryobi tools. You can take apart the extension pieces and nozzle tips to store the blower away neatly, and hang it up by the handle to save floor space. 

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Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 heroRyobi RY18BLCXA-125 hero
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)

Performance

  • Excellent focused air stream
  • Lightweight yet powerful
  • Loud and harsh on full power

What stands out about the RY18BLCXA is how easy it is to point at the target. Thanks to the excellent grip shape and overall light weight, it’s a doddle to use. Unlike some of the big and chunky blowers, anyone could use this tool without getting tired after a few minutes. 

At high speed from one metre away, I measured the air speed at 7m/s, which is enough of a gust to blower lighter debris around. This blower lacks the raw strength of the Einhell GP-LB 36/270 but has an impressive power-to-weight ratio. Overall, this kind of power is good for smaller jobs in smaller gardens, but you’ll need something larger and more powerful for bigger piles of leaves or bigger gardens.

I like the idea of being able to lock the trigger on, but as it only does so on full power it will drain the battery in less than 10 minutes, so it’s not always ideal. Keeping the blower on about half power extends the runtime to a decent 15 minutes. 

The real downside of this blower is the noise that it makes. The noise levels of 80dB on the lowest power setting and 98dB on the highest are not ideal. The tone is quite high too – on full power, it’s quite piercing. 

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Should you buy it?

You want a lightweight yet powerful little leaf blower

If you already own Ryobi tools, it’s an easy decision to make. 

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You want to move big piles of leaves around

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More suitable for focused blowing, this leaf blower lacks the raw power of bigger machines. 

Final Thoughts

I like this blower for its lightness and ease of use. The two nozzle tips make it useful for focused blowing as well as path clearance too. The brushless motor is mighty enough for smaller jobs, but annoyingly loud on full power. If you need something more powerful, read the guide to the best leaf blowers.

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How We Test

We test every leaf blower we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.

Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.

  • Tested with a variety of garden debris
  • We measure wind speed and air flow

FAQs

Is the Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 compatible with the same batteries as the power tools?

Yes, you can use the standard batteries you use with the cordless drills and so on with this leaf blower.

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Test Data

  Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125
Sound (normal) 93 dB
Air speed 15cm (low) 10 m/s
Air speed 15cm (high) 15 m/s

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Full Specs

  Ryobi RY18BLCXA-125 Review
UK RRP £129.99
Manufacturer
Weight 1.53 KG
Release Date 2026
First Reviewed Date 03/03/2026
Accessories Two nozzles
Leaf blower type Cordless
Speed settings Variable speed trigger, trigger lock
Max air speed 15 m/s
Adjustable length

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Samsung’s smart glasses are real and coming sooner than you think

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Samsung’s long-rumoured smart glasses may finally be getting closer to reality.

Speaking at MWC 2026 in Barcelona, Samsung executive vice president Jay Kim confirmed that the company is actively developing the wearable. He also hinted that a launch could happen sooner than many expected.

While details remain limited, Kim did confirm one key feature: the glasses will include a camera positioned at eye level. That camera will capture what the wearer is looking at and send the information to a connected Galaxy smartphone. The phone then processes the data and returns relevant insights to the user.

The approach keeps the glasses lightweight by shifting the heavy lifting to the phone. It’s a similar concept to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses. In this case, the wearable acts mainly as the sensor while the smartphone handles computing tasks.

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What Samsung didn’t confirm is whether the first version will include a built-in display. When asked about screens, Kim pointed toward Samsung’s existing devices including its smartphones and smartwatches. This suggests the glasses may rely on them instead of embedding a display directly in the frames.

That doesn’t necessarily rule out a display in the future. Reports suggest a more advanced version with integrated visuals could arrive later. Possibly around 2027, with the first model focusing more heavily on camera and AI-driven features.

Samsung’s broader vision for the product appears to centre on context-aware AI. The glasses could recognise what you’re looking at and provide helpful information instantly. For example, they could translate a menu, identify landmarks, or help with tasks like navigation and messaging without needing to pull out your phone.

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The project has reportedly been in development since 2023, with Qualcomm and Google involved in building the underlying chips and software platform.

Samsung hasn’t given a precise launch date yet, but executives at MWC suggested the company aims to bring the glasses to market sometime in 2026. If that timeline holds, Samsung could soon be stepping into the fast-growing smart glasses space. Rivals like Meta are already establishing an early lead.

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‘Flying Cars’ Will Take Off in American Skies This Summer

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New kinds of aircraft, sorts of “flying cars” that can take off and land with little space like helicopters but function like airplanes, will start operating in US airspace as early as June, the US Department of Transportation announced on Monday.

Eight regions across the US, including New York and New Jersey, Texas, Florida, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, will take part in a three-year pilot program that will see new aircraft designs ferrying people and cargo around the country even before they formally receive full certifications from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The companies building the tech say their aircraft are quieter, cheaper, and release fewer emissions than helicopters or airplanes. Some promise totally autonomous trips. Many involved in the project, including electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, and ultra-short takeoff aircraft, require way less space to operate, landing and taking off outside of traditional airports and closer to where people live and work. The companies outline futures in which regular people can zip between neighboring cities in a matter of minutes, sailing above traffic and reordering the economy as they go.

Electra EL9 Ultra Short

Electra’s nine-passenger EL9 Ultra Short.

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Courtesy of Electra

On an earnings call with investors earlier this month, Adam Goldstein, the CEO and founder of Archer Aviation, one of the firms involved, called the federal pilot program “our Waymo moment,” a science fiction project turned real life. “Now the goal is to have half a million people in the biggest cities in the country start to see these aircraft as part of your everyday commute, just like they started to see Waymos every day,” he said.

Archer’s electric air taxi, called Midnight, is built to carry up to four passengers on 60 to 90-minute trips. The company will take part in pilot projects in Texas, Florida, and New York. Goldstein told investors that Midnight would complete another important step toward certification “in the coming quarters.” The company has received funding from automaker Stellantis and United Airlines.

Other companies involved in the pilot projects include the small electric plane manufacturer Beta Technologies, Toyota- and Jet Blue-funded air taxi maker Joby Aviation, and Electra, which is building a hybrid electric ultra short aircraft. All four of those firms have completed test flights in the US.

“What we love about the [pilot] is the chance to demonstrate that this is not fantasy,” Electra CEO Marc Allen tells WIRED. “It’s not science fiction. It’s in the real world.”

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Jay Graber steps down as Bluesky CEO, moves into chief innovation officer role at social media platform

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Jay Graber accepts her Uncommon Thinkers award at the GeekWire Gala in December 2025. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber announced Monday that she’s stepping down from her position and moving to a new role as chief innovation officer of the decentralized social network.

“As Bluesky matures, the company needs a seasoned operator focused on scaling and execution, while I return to what I do best: building new things,” Graber, who is based in Seattle, wrote in a post.

Toni Schneider, former CEO of Automattic (operates WordPress.com) and partner at True Ventures, is joining Bluesky as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent new leader.

“I deeply believe in what this team has built and the open social web they’re fighting for,” Schneider, who has been an advisor to Bluesky and Graber, wrote on LinkedIn. He also penned a blog post on Bluesky.

Graber has led Bluesky since 2021, when it spun out of Twitter. The platform has become a leading alternative to X, growing its user base 60% last year from 25.9 million users to 41.4 million. The company reported Monday that it now has 43 million users.

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“Scaling up this company has been a learning experience unlike anything else,” Graber wrote in her post. “I’ve grown a lot as a leader and had the privilege of assembling the best team I’ve ever worked with.”

She added: “I’m most energized by exploring new ideas, bringing a vision to life, and helping people discover their strengths. Transitioning to a more focused role where I can do what brings me energy is my way of putting that belief into practice.”

Wired reported that the chief innovation officer position was created for Graber, who also sits on the company’s board.

Bluesky has differentiated itself from other social media networks with the AT Protocol, an open technical standard for social media that Bluesky’s team built as the foundation for its network. Most social networks today are walled gardens, where one company runs the servers, owns the data, and sets the rules.

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“Last year, we grew a world-class team, expanded the AT Protocol ecosystem, and proved that a values-driven social network could thrive at scale,” Graber wrote.

Bluesky has no official headquarters. Graber and several employees work out of a co-working space in Seattle.

Graber was honored at last year’s GeekWire Gala as one of five Uncommon Thinkers — inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs selected in partnership with Greater Seattle Partners for their work transforming industries and the world. 

Related: Uncommon Thinkers: Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is planting the seeds for a decentralized digital world

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Australians Flock to VPNs in the Wake of Online Age-Restriction Laws

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A new set of laws in Australia requiring adult websites and app stores to age-restrict content for those under 18, and requiring AI companies to restrict chatbot offerings from displaying certain types of sensitive or adult content to minors, is apparently driving many to download Virtual Private Network apps there.

Major adult sites have closed their virtual doors to those who aren’t age-confirmed in Australia, and these changes follow a nationwide ban on social media use by teenagers and young children that went into effect in December.

According to reports from Reuters, The Guardian and others, in response to the bans, downloads of VPN-related apps, which people can use to circumvent location-based restrictions, are sharply on the rise. According to Reuters, three of the 15 most downloaded free iPhone apps in the country were VPN-related as the new laws went into effect on Monday.

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Lawmakers in some regions, including the US, are well aware that people use VPNs in this way. In states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, laws are being proposed to limit or outright ban VPN use. Wisconsin’s proposed law would require adult sites to block VPN traffic, while Michigan’s proposal would ban VPN use entirely in the state.

There is also a proposal in England under consideration to ban VPN use by minors. That proposal is currently under review.

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How AI Assistants Are Moving the Security Goalposts

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: AI-based assistants or “agents” — autonomous programs that have access to the user’s computer, files, online services and can automate virtually any task — are growing in popularity with developers and IT workers. But as so many eyebrow-raising headlines over the past few weeks have shown, these powerful and assertive new tools are rapidly shifting the security priorities for organizations, while blurring the lines between data and code, trusted co-worker and insider threat, ninja hacker and novice code jockey.

The new hotness in AI-based assistants — OpenClaw (formerly known as ClawdBot and Moltbot) — has seen rapid adoption since its release in November 2025. OpenClaw is an open-source autonomous AI agent designed to run locally on your computer and proactively take actions on your behalf without needing to be prompted. If that sounds like a risky proposition or a dare, consider that OpenClaw is most useful when it has complete access to your entire digital life, where it can then manage your inbox and calendar, execute programs and tools, browse the Internet for information, and integrate with chat apps like Discord, Signal, Teams or WhatsApp.

Other more established AI assistants like Anthropic’s Claude and Microsoft’s Copilot also can do these things, but OpenClaw isn’t just a passive digital butler waiting for commands. Rather, it’s designed to take the initiative on your behalf based on what it knows about your life and its understanding of what you want done. “The testimonials are remarkable,” the AI security firm Snyk observed. “Developers building websites from their phones while putting babies to sleep; users running entire companies through a lobster-themed AI; engineers who’ve set up autonomous code loops that fix tests, capture errors through webhooks, and open pull requests, all while they’re away from their desks.” You can probably already see how this experimental technology could go sideways in a hurry. […] Last month, Meta AI safety director Summer Yue said OpenClaw unexpectedly started mass-deleting messages in her email inbox, despite instructions to confirm those actions first. She wrote: “Nothing humbles you like telling your OpenClaw ‘confirm before acting’ and watching it speedrun deleting your inbox. I couldn’t stop it from my phone. I had to RUN to my Mac mini like I was defusing a bomb.”

Krebs also noted the many misconfigured OpenClaw installations users had set up, leaving their administrative dashboards publicly accessible online. According to pentester Jamieson O’Reilly, “a cursory search revealed hundreds of such servers exposed online.” When those exposed interfaces are accessed, attackers can retrieve the agent’s configuration and sensitive credentials. O’Reilly warned attackers could access “every credential the agent uses — from API keys and bot tokens to OAuth secrets and signing keys.”

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“You can pull the full conversation history across every integrated platform, meaning months of private messages and file attachments, everything the agent has seen,” O’Reilly added. And because you control the agent’s perception layer, you can manipulate what the human sees. Filter out certain messages. Modify responses before they’re displayed.”

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