TL;DR
TikTok is evolving into a super app with shopping, hotel booking, fintech, sports hubs, and microdramas beyond its video roots.
Tech
TikTok is quietly building a super app with shopping, hotel bookings, fintech, and sports
TikTok is no longer just a video app. The platform has spent the past year adding hotel bookings, in-app commerce, sports hubs, casual games, microdramas, and a fintech licence application, building out the infrastructure of what the industry calls a “super app,” a single destination that handles tasks users currently spread across a dozen different services.
The super app model originated in China, where WeChat combines messaging, payments, ride-hailing, government services, and e-commerce into one platform with more than a billion monthly users. TikTok’s parent company ByteDance already operates Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, which integrates AI shopping agents, ticket bookings, and payments in ways that Western platforms have not matched. The question is whether that model can cross the Pacific, and TikTok, now under primarily US ownership after a January transition to an Oracle and Silver Lake-led joint venture, is the vehicle ByteDance is using to find out.
The most commercially significant expansion has been TikTok Shop. According to eMarketer, TikTok Shop grew US sales by 407 percent in 2024 and another 108 percent in 2025 to reach nearly sixteen billion dollars, capturing more than 18 percent of total US social commerce. That share is expected to reach roughly 24 percent by 2027, putting TikTok in direct competition with Amazon, Shein, and traditional online marketplaces.
In May, TikTok launched TikTok GO, a feature that lets US users discover and book hotels, attractions, and experiences without leaving the app. The service partners with Booking, Expedia, Viator, GetYourGuide, and Trip, turning travel content that already drives millions of views into a direct booking funnel. It puts TikTok in competition not just with Google Search and Google Maps, but with the entire online travel agency industry.
The company is also pushing into financial services. In March, Reuters reported that TikTok applied to Brazil’s central bank for two fintech licences, one to offer prepaid accounts where users can store funds and make payments, and another to operate as a direct credit provider. Brazil, where TikTok reaches roughly 131 million users aged 18 and above, would be the first market where the platform handles money directly.
TikTok has also built a dedicated hub for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with live scores, match schedules, standings, and curated video highlights, keeping sports fans inside the app instead of switching to ESPN or Google. ByteDance, meanwhile, continues investing in content tools, recently unveiling its Seedance AI video model that produces 30-second clips at native 4K resolution. The parent company’s broader ambitions in AI, commerce, and entertainment all feed into TikTok’s platform expansion.
The entertainment push extends to scripted content and gaming. TikTok launched PineDrama in January, a standalone microdrama app offering bite-sized TV shows in one-minute episodes, and has added casual games to its DMs. The company previously attempted a music streaming service in 2023 but shut it down in November 2024, pivoting to partnerships with Apple Music and Spotify instead of competing directly.
Whether any of this amounts to a true super app outside China remains an open question. Western users have historically resisted consolidating their digital lives into a single platform, and regulators in the US and EU are more likely to scrutinize a company that handles shopping, payments, travel, entertainment, and social networking under one roof. TikTok is betting that the habit of opening one app for everything can be built incrementally, one feature at a time, rather than arriving fully formed.
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Friday Bitcoin closed at just $59,948 — dropping 19% just for June and more than 50% lower than its record high in October of $124,310.
To commemorate the occasion CNBC interviewed long-time bitcoin skeptic Jeremy Grantham, reporting that the 87-year-old cofounder/chief investment strategist of the massive asset-management firm GMO is “predicting it will gradually fade into irrelevance over decades.”
[The] longtime market commentator known for his calls on asset bubbles said bitcoin is a “useless, speculative” asset without intrinsic value, speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday. He also said bitcoin hasn’t outperformed during a bull market and questioned its practical use. “[Over] years and years, decades and decades, it will dwindle away, I suspect — not with a bang, but a whimper,” he said. “It’s not a stable form of value — it just halved … for no particular reason in a strong economy, so you can’t depend on it in that way.”
He added that gold has still delivered solid gains over the same period, even after pulling back from its highs. Bitcoin not only hasn’t proved itself as a useful asset to speculate on, it doesn’t provide any real world utility either, Grantham argued. “People don’t use it to make serious trades, they don’t use it to buy their dinner and pay at the supermarket. … What it does is allows crooks to move money around,” he said.
Bitcoin has become notorious over the years for its dramatic bear market crashes, which has taken it down at least 70% from its peak in every cycle.
The article adds that “many investors believe the current price slump could drag on for several more months.”
Verónica Cañas barely had time to grab her 6-year-old son and put on her shoes before running out of her apartment in Caracas. As she ran down the stairs, the walls began to crack and part of the facade started to crumble. A few kilometers away in Altamira, 50-year-old Eduardo Burger watched as one building swayed while another fell apart.
Neither of them knew that this was not just a single terrible earthquake but instead a rare phenomenon. On June 24, Venezuela experienced a seismic doublet that saw earthquakes of magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 occur just 39 seconds apart. The first tremor occurred with its epicenter in Yaracuy. Just a few seconds later, an even more intense earthquake shook the same region again.
Both occurred at a shallow depth of between 10 and 20 kilometers (6 and 12 miles), which caused the energy to reach the surface with greater intensity and allowed the seismic waves to be felt as far away as Colombia, northern Brazil, and several Caribbean islands such as Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. While one alone would’ve caused damaged, it was the one-two punch that created the conditions that brought down so many buildings and have made it hard to rescue survivors as the death toll mounts.
The Technical Explanation: Tectonic Plates, Damage, and Resonance
“The dining room table started to shake … We thought it was a tremor; then it started shaking much more violently. The walls were cracking, and pieces of the ceiling were falling. We thought it was going to collapse on top of us,” Cañas says.
She and her family managed to make it to a sports field across from the building, where other neighbors were beginning to gather. There, they were hit by another tremor.
“We all hugged each other, terrified, because we’re not used to this. In Mexico and Chile, there’s an earthquake-preparedness culture, and people are already prepared when an alarm goes off or they feel certain movements, but we aren’t,” she says.
Cañas’ experience highlights one of the main differences between Venezuela and other countries with higher seismic activity. Although the country lies at the boundary between the Caribbean Plate and the South American Plate, earthquakes of this magnitude are relatively rare.
Alan Damián Sánchez Pulido, a civil engineer from Mexico’s Ibero-American University and a specialist in structural damage assessment, explains that the plates’ positions and movements are why earthquakes aren’t as common as they are in other regions—and why they’re so powerful when they do occur.
“In Venezuela, the interaction between the Caribbean and South American plates involves parallel movement; that is what may have caused two earthquakes of considerable magnitude to occur in such quick succession,” he notes.
Unlike Mexico, where the Cocos Plate subducts beneath the North American Plate, in Venezuela, lateral movement leads to different outcomes. “It’s a very rare phenomenon, but the probability isn’t zero. It can occur anywhere in the world where there is interaction between tectonic plates,” Sánchez Pulido says.
What was surprising was not only that two major earthquakes occurred but that the second struck just 39 seconds after the first. To Sánchez Pulido, that short interval is what made this set of quakes so destructive.
“Many structures sustained some kind of damage from the first earthquake. That doesn’t mean the damage was extensive, but any damage alters the original behavior for which they were designed. When another earthquake of similar magnitude strikes immediately afterward, there is no longer any opportunity to reinforce, inspect, or repair the structure. As a result, it no longer performs as intended,” he says.
Robot mowers have come a long way from the boundary-wire era, and Segway’s Navimow range sits at the sharper end of where that technology has landed.
The Segway Navimow i205 AWD is down from £899 to £699 in this Prime Day deal, saving you £200 on a wire-free robot mower that maps your entire lawn from a single tap in the app, with the Garage S charging station included at no extra cost.
A sizeable discount lands on the Segway Navimow robot lawnmower, turning lawn care into a hands‑free upgrade that gives you your time back
A strong saving lands on the Segway Navimow robot lawnmower, transforming lawn care into a seamless, time‑returning upgrade.
That hands-free setup runs on EFLS Network RTK combined with Vision positioning, giving the mower centimetre-level accuracy across the whole garden, and the network data access is currently provided at no additional charge.
Where the i205 AWD justifies its name is on the kind of terrain that exposes the limits of a standard two-wheel mower, because the three-motor all-wheel-drive system engages that third motor only when the gradient actually needs it, keeping energy consumption down on flatter sections.
An automotive-grade Electronic Stability Control system keeps movement straight and controlled on slopes up to 45 degrees, while a patented Traction Control System adjusts grip automatically on wet or uneven ground so the wheels never spin out or leave marks.
The 2.5Ah battery covers up to 125 square metres on a single charge, and at 59 dB(A) the Navimow i205 AWD is quiet enough to run without clearing the garden of people first.
VisionFence obstacle detection recognises more than 150 object types and reroutes in under 0.1 seconds, while the smart security system fires an alert the moment the mower is lifted or moves outside its designated zones.
Gardens with a genuine mix of slope, tight corners, and awkward pathways are where the Navimow i205 AWD is designed to work without complaint, and at £699 with the Garage S thrown in, this deal takes a meaningful amount of friction out of that first step towards wire-free lawn care.
If you’ve got a small-to-mid-sized lawn that’s not particularly even, then the Segway Navimow i205 AWD could be for you. With its three-wheel AWD system, this robot drives over rough ground and copes with bumps without getting stuck. Add in its excellent object detection and avoidance, the integrated 4G and Wi-Fi (no need for a reference station for most people), the brilliant app and low price, and this is a great choice for most people.
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Great value
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Easy to set up
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Brilliant navigation and obstacle avoidance
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Integrated 4G
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Refurbished Sony hardware has a reputation for punching well above its price, and right now, there are two PS5 deals worth going for.
The standard PlayStation 5 has dropped to £392 from its £479.99 RRP, saving you £109.99 on a console that still represents Sony’s full vision for next-generation gaming performance at its most complete.
If Prime Day didn’t have the right deal for you, refurbished PlayStation consoles are still a great way to save
If Prime Day didn’t have the PlayStation deal you were hoping for, refurbished consoles are still a smart, money‑saving alternative.
That disc drive matters more than it might seem, because it opens up the secondhand game market alongside digital purchases, and over a console generation, that difference in buying flexibility tends to add up to real money saved.
Under the hood, the PlayStation 5 runs a custom AMD RDNA 2 GPU capable of 10.28 teraflops, paired with a 1TB NVMe SSD that effectively eliminates loading screens and lets open-world games stream assets in ways last-gen hardware simply couldn’t manage.
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing brings realistic light behaviour to supported titles, and the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers and haptic feedback make the physical sensation of playing something you notice almost immediately and then can’t stop noticing.
If the disc drive isn’t something you need, the PlayStation 5 Slim Digital Edition brings the same processing architecture in a lighter, more compact chassis, currently reduced to £405 from £438.02, a saving of £33.02.
The Slim Digital weighs just 2.6kg against the original digital model’s 3.9kg, and the redesigned chassis uses a removable side panel that supports Sony’s add-on Ultra HD Blu-ray drive if you change your mind about going disc-free further down the line.
Both consoles share the same 16GB GDDR6 memory, identical CPU architecture, and the same Tempest 3D Audio engine, so whichever you go for, the generational leap in performance is identical.
The decision now really comes down to how you buy games and how much the physical footprint matters to you, and at these prices, either way you’re getting Sony’s current-generation hardware at a meaningfully lower entry point than new.
A new slimmer PS5 lessens the physical footprint, adds more storage, includes smarter port options and offers a removable disc drive. The internals retain the same immense power, nuanced SSD technology and 4K-capable graphics. A brilliant DualSense controller, a compelling UI, the best library of exclusive games around, and proper reverence for PlayStation’s past ensures the PS5 remains this generation’s console king.
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Refined slimmer and lighter design
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Absurd power meets brilliant user interface
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DualSense controller is a step forward
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Removable disc drive adds flexibility
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Better library of first-party exclusives
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Mid-cycle refresh doesn’t improve internals
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Lags behind Series X and S when it comes to loading times
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Still expensive
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An endpoint agent cannot report its own absence. The 2026 Axonius Actionability Report, conducted with the Ponemon Institute and surveying 662 IT and security professionals, put a number on a gap SOC teams have worked around for years. Across the Axonius customer base, 12.7% of devices in a 298,000-device median inventory are missing their expected security agent.
If a device has no agent, no management console shows it. If a CMDB record is stale, no reconciliation flags it. An employee who installed Claude Enterprise outside procurement created a SaaS workspace, identity surface, and API-token footprint that endpoint telemetry alone will not reliably inventory. The coverage percentage on the EDR dashboard is structurally incomplete because the reporting mechanism cannot see what it does not cover.
That gap matters more now than it did six months ago. SOC and XDR vendors are pushing more autonomous investigation and remediation into production. Those agents will query the same dashboards, trust the same coverage percentages, and act on the same blind spots human analysts learned to work around. A human analyst second-guesses a 98% coverage number. An autonomous agent treats it as ground truth and moves at machine speed.
Three independent signals converged on the same gap
Gravitee’s 2026 survey of 900-plus executives found 88% reported confirmed or suspected AI-related incidents, and only 14.4% sent agents live with full security approval. The Axonius/Ponemon report found 52% of respondents would let autonomous agents act on recommendations — while 63% said the underlying data lacks important information. The CSA’s Agentic Trust Framework requires verified data governance before agents act on any finding.
Mike Riemer, Field CISO at Ivanti, said that known vulnerabilities on Azure’s honeypot networks are now attacked in under 90 seconds. “Traditional security measures continue to work,” Riemer told VentureBeat.
The caveat is that those measures only protect what they can see. An EDR agent deployed across 87.3% of the device inventory leaves the remaining 12.7% outside that agent’s telemetry, policy enforcement, and detection logic.
Exclusive deployment data quantifies the scale
Joe Diamond, CEO of Axonius, told VentureBeat that the average CISO sees roughly 50% of what is actually on the network. “Say 50% of their environment is sitting in dark matter,” Diamond said. “They don’t know what it is, or where it is, or who has access to it, if it’s secure, if it’s not secure.”
Deployment data from more than 900 Axonius customers confirms those numbers. TransUnion went from 70% to 99% endpoint coverage after out-of-band verification. Western Union went from 85% to 99% by consolidating data from 38 tools and cutting manual workload by half. Lumen discovered 1.1 million assets, where the CMDB showed 17,000. That translates to roughly 37,000 unmanaged endpoints per organization sitting outside every policy, every patch cycle, and every detection rule.
Diamond pointed to Mythos, Anthropic’s frontier reasoning model, as a sign that machine-speed offensive capability will make any unknown asset far riskier than it is today. “People tend to have shiny object syndrome,” he said. “If you didn’t understand what 50% of your environment looked like from a traditional endpoint perspective, and you think you’re going to wind sprint to granular control and governance of AI, your program will fail.” Diamond called the broader AI shift “as big, if not bigger than the internet.”
Three approaches compete to close the gap
No single architecture solves the visibility problem today. Three approaches compete, each with named tradeoffs security teams should evaluate before procurement.
A dedicated integration layer uses bidirectional API adapters to build an always-current inventory. Axonius runs 1,400-plus adapters and now discovers shadow Claude Enterprise installations via its Anthropic adapter (GA June 15). “We created a bidirectional API integration with all the IT systems and all the security controls to build an always up-to-date inventory of what the environment looks like,” Diamond told VentureBeat.
Platform-native EDR and XDR intelligence builds richer asset context inside the agent footprint. Depth within the agent footprint is the advantage. The limitation is structural. Platform-native intelligence is bounded by what the agent can see, and the gap the Ponemon report identified lives precisely where that visibility ends.
CMDB modernization requires continuous reconciliation against three or more independent telemetry sources. Only 13% of organizations reconcile daily, according to Axonius/Ponemon data. The remaining 87% operate on stale records that feed incorrect prioritization into any automated remediation pipeline.
EDR data readiness: Five gates before autonomous remediation
Before you let autonomous SOC agents close tickets or quarantine assets, this checklist tells you whether your EDR and asset data is solid enough to trust. It is vendor-agnostic, works with any EDR and CMDB, and gives you five pass/fail gates you can run in a single working session.
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Risk Area |
What the data shows |
Readiness threshold |
Action to take now |
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Asset inventory delta |
Ponemon: only 45% consolidate into a single view. Forrester TEI: 150% more assets than previously identified. Lumen: 17K in CMDB vs. 1.1M discovered. |
Delta ≤10% between discovery, CMDB, and EDR agent count. Delta above 10% blocks automated remediation until reconciled. |
Run API-based discovery against all segments. Diff against CMDB and EDR console count. Reconcile quarterly minimum. |
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Unmanaged AI services |
Gravitee: 88% confirmed or suspected AI incidents. Only 14.4% with full security approval. Anthropic adapter (GA June 15) discovers unmanaged Claude Enterprise installations. |
No high-risk AI services outside approved procurement. Weekly SaaS discovery scans. Unmanaged high-risk instances trigger IR triage before exception review. |
Deploy SaaS discovery or protocol-level adapters for AI service detection. Automate weekly scans. Route unmanaged instances to IR queue. |
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CMDB record accuracy |
Ponemon: only 13% reconcile daily (RSAC 2026). Brooks Running: 20% server discrepancy between console and independent discovery. Top remediation barriers: unclear prioritization, unclear ownership, inconsistent data. |
≥85% of records validated against 3+ independent telemetry sources. No stale or orphaned records in active remediation queue. |
Cross-reference CMDB against cloud inventory, EDR telemetry, and IdP directory. Continuous reconciliation replaces annual audit cycles. |
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Endpoint agent coverage gap |
Ponemon: an agent cannot report its own absence (p. 8). TransUnion: 70% to 99% after out-of-band verification. RSAC 2026: 12.7% of 298K median devices missing expected agent. |
≥95% agent coverage verified via out-of-band discovery. Many CISOs set this as the minimum before allowing autonomous remediation. No self-reported-only metrics in board reports. |
Run network-based or API-driven discovery against managed device list. Coverage below 95% blocks automated remediation scoping. |
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Asset ownership mapping |
Ponemon: 32% apply tags consistently. Only 51% assign ownership on new exposures (pp. 9, 16). TransUnion: 12K to 190K assets with ownership mapped. |
Owner assigned within 24 hours. Tags consistent across cloud, EDR, CMDB. Three systems showing three owners = failure. |
Automate ownership via cloud tags, IdP group membership, or CMDB metadata. Map asset, remediation, and business owner as separate fields. |
Five questions to ask before allowing autonomous SOC action
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What independently verifies endpoint-agent coverage outside the EDR console?
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How does the SOC reconcile conflicts between EDR, CMDB, cloud inventory, IdP, and discovery tools?
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Can AI agents act on assets with unknown or disputed ownership?
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Can the system distinguish “not vulnerable” from “not visible”?
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What data-quality gate blocks autonomous remediation when coverage or ownership falls below threshold?
Board-ready risk framing
Kayne McGladrey, IEEE Senior Member, has confirmed the pattern across multiple published VentureBeat interviews. The structural gap in self-reported coverage is not new. What is new is that autonomous agents will act on it at machine speed without the institutional workarounds human analysts developed over years of experience. Diamond put the board-level stakes plainly in an April 2026 press statement: “Findings pile up because the data isn’t trusted, ownership isn’t clear, and entire asset classes aren’t even in the picture.”
The CSA’s Agentic Trust Framework requires that any agent promoted to a higher autonomy level must pass five gates, including demonstrated accuracy and a security audit. The EU AI Act’s Article 50 transparency obligations take effect August 2, 2026. The May 2026 Digital Omnibus pushed high-risk system obligations to December 2027, but organizations deploying agentic SOC agents on incomplete asset data face immediate operational risk that outpaces any regulatory timeline.
The board-ready sentence: Our EDR coverage reports are structurally incomplete because an endpoint agent cannot report its own absence, and we are verifying coverage through out-of-band discovery before deploying autonomous agents that would act on those reports at machine speed.
Security director playbook
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Run out-of-band asset discovery this week. Compare results against your CMDB export and EDR console count. If the delta exceeds 10%, halt automated remediation scoping until the gap is reconciled.
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Deploy SaaS discovery for AI services. Employees install AI ahead of procurement, ahead of security. Weekly scans are the minimum. Route any unmanaged high-risk instance to your incident response queue for triage before exception review.
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Map asset ownership to remediation responsibility. Ponemon found only 32% of organizations apply tags consistently. If three systems show three different owners for the same asset, automated remediation has no routing target. Fix the ownership layer before deploying agents that depend on it.
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Kill self-reported-only coverage metrics. Any risk calculation or board report that relies on EDR console-reported coverage alone is built on data the reporting system cannot verify. Require out-of-band verification for every coverage number that informs a risk decision.
Valve will release its living room PC game console, called the Steam Machine, but it won’t be cheap, thanks to the ongoing memory shortage referred to as RAMageddon, which already shot up the price of the Steam Deck. The company finally unveiled the pricing for the Steam Machine, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
The Steam Machine will start at $1,049 for the 512GB version that doesn’t come with a Steam Controller, according to the listing page Valve posted on Monday. Adding a controller to the package will bring the price up to $1,128. Willing to spend even more? With 2TB of storage, the cost jumps up to $1,349 without a controller. The 2TB model with a Steam Controller will set you back $1,428.
On Friday, Valve sent the first wave of reservation emails to those interested in buying a Steam Machine. The window to buy the console will start on June 29 and will be open for three days. Those who do not complete their purchase will lose their reservation, and it will go to someone else. Everyone else who did not get a reservation email will be put on a waitlist and will have to wait for when Valve restocks inventory to get an invite to purchase a Steam Machine.
The Steam Machine is Valve’s gaming PC, built into a roughly 6-inch cube that’s designed to connect to a living room TV. The aim is to deliver a simplified PC gaming experience for a broad audience and for game developers to optimize for a single spec as they’ve done with the Steam Deck.
Here’s everything we know about the Steam Machine.
When does the Steam Machine come out?
The Steam Machine will be available for purchase starting June 29, but only for those who are picked to purchase it on the launch date.
Make some space in your living room for the Steam Machine.
Can I preorder the Steam Machine?
Preorders for the Steam Machine are closed. They opened on Monday and closed on Thursday. The first batch of reservation emails for those who will be able to order the week of June 29 has already gone out. They will get another email from Valve letting them know they can order their Steam Machine, and they will have 72 hours to complete their order.
Anyone who was not selected to buy the Steam Machine on June 29 will be put on a wait list. When Valve restocks more units, another group from the wait list will be invited to purchase their Steam Machine. Valve didn’t provide a window of how long for people on the wait list will have to wait to buy a Steam Machine. Those who waited until after the June 25 deadline to sign up for a Steam Machine will be put at the end of the wait list.
Watch this: Valve’s Steam Controller Gets Some Major Design Changes
How much will the Steam Machine cost?
The Steam Machine will start at $1,049 for the 512GB version without a Steam Controller. The other options include controllers or more storage:
- 512GB with Steam Controller: $1,128
- 2TB without Steam Controller: $1,349
- 2TB with Steam Controller: $1,428
What are the Steam Machine specs?
Valve released the final specs of the Steam Machine last week with the news of the official launch of the console.
Steam Machine Specs
CPU
AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T, up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
Memory
16GB DDR5 plus 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
Graphics
Semi-custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs, 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110-watt TDP
Storage
512GB NVMe SSD or 1TB NVMe SSD, high-speed microSD slot
Ports
USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (x2), USB-A 2.0 (x2), USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K@60Hz, supports HDR, FreeSync and daisy-chaining), HDMI 2.0 (up to 4K @ 120Hz, supports HDR, FreeSync and CEC), Gigabit Ethernet
Wireless Networking
2×2 Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
Operating system
SteamOS 3
Weight
5.7 pounds (2.6 kilograms)
Size
6 inches tall (5.8 inches without feet), 6.4 inches deep, 6.1 inches wide
What else is unique to the Steam Machine?
Valve is doing a bit more than just making a tiny gaming PC. The company is offering some features that aren’t found on the PS5, Switch 2 or Xbox Series consoles.
To start, there are removable face plates for the Steam Machine. This is similar to the faceplates for the Xbox 360, which offer a bit of customization for the console.
An e-ink display can be used as the front panel on a Steam Machine (used for testing by Valve, will not be for sale) https://t.co/NIO6m4qm5o pic.twitter.com/Gd30STsifs
— Wario64 (@Wario64) November 12, 2025
Steam Machines are upgradable. You can increase storage by adding a microSD card to the console’s microSD card slot or by replacing the solid-state drive. There is also the possibility to upgrade the RAM, but that will take a few more steps versus the storage swapping.
The Steam Machine will also be just a computer when needed. Connect it to a monitor with a mouse and keyboard, and the console will act just like a Linux desktop. There’s also the option to install Windows in lieu of SteamOS, which would make it still play PC games, although the experience won’t be as smooth as SteamOS.
The Steam Machine is a PC, too.
The Steam Controller for the Steam Machine will connect seamlessly to the console. And, for multiplayer games, four controllers can connect with a console very easily.
Wait, didn’t Valve already have Steam Machines?
Kind of. Back in 2013, Valve revealed a new operating system called SteamOS. It’s what powers the Steam Deck and creates the Big Picture Mode, which allows gamers to play their PC games in a mostly console-like experience instead of the typical desktop experience of using a mouse to double-click a game to start.
Along with the operating system, Valve also released its Steam Machine platform. This allowed computer hardware makers to develop computers shaped more like a home console instead of a desktop. Alienware and Dell were some of the notable companies that developed their own Steam Machines, but none of them really caught on, partly due to many games not being compatible with the Linux-based SteamOS.
The Steam Machines fizzled out in the mid-2010s as making games compatible with SteamOS was not a priority for game developers at the time. It wasn’t until 2018 that Valve developed Proton, a compatibility layer for SteamOS to make it easier to run most Windows games. Proton currently supports more than 20,000 Windows games.
Valve also ended up offering an alternative to getting a whole new piece of hardware. In 2015, the company released Steam Link, a device that allowed PC games to be streamed directly to a TV.
The Art TV category has become one of the television industry’s most competitive design battlegrounds, and Amazon is the latest major brand hoping to make a large black rectangle look less like it belongs in an airport lounge. Its new Ember Artline is Amazon’s first lifestyle TV, pairing a matte 4K QLED display, customizable frame colors, Fire TV, and access to more than 2,000 free works of art.
Samsung has largely defined this category since introducing The Frame in 2017, but the concept is no longer its private gallery. Hisense, TCL, and Skyworth have all introduced their own art focused TVs, while LG is preparing its Gallery TV line. Most follow the same broad formula: a matte screen, slim wall mounting, decorative bezels, and an art mode designed to make the television disappear when nobody is watching it.
Amazon is not reinventing the Art TV. It is, however, bringing the weight of the Fire TV platform and a substantial free art library to a category where Samsung has long held the advantage. That makes Ember Artline more than another lifestyle set with a tasteful frame; it is Amazon’s first serious attempt to hang a place in the premium living room on the wall.
Free Art, Fire TV, and a Matte QLED Display
Amazon’s Ember Artline TVs are designed to combine art display, personalization, and 4K streaming in a more accessible lifestyle TV package. The line is currently available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes.
Picture Quality: Ember Artline models use 4K UHD QLED panels with matte, anti-glare screens designed to reduce reflections when displaying art or watching television. Supported HDR formats include HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision.
Sound: A built-in two-channel speaker system provides 20 watts of output on the 55-inch model and 24 watts on the 65-inch version, with Dolby Audio support. That should be adequate for casual viewing, but a soundbar or separate audio system remains the better choice for movies, sports, and music.
Art and Photos: Art Display is the centerpiece. Amazon includes access to more than 2,000 works of art at no additional subscription cost, and users can also display personal images through Amazon Photos.
Match the Room: This AI-powered feature lets users upload photos of their space and receive art recommendations based on the room’s colors, style, and existing décor. It is accessed through the Art & Photos hub in the Fire TV sidebar.
Frame Options: Each Ember Artline includes one magnetic, interchangeable frame. Buyers can choose from ten options, making it easy to alter the TV’s appearance without taking it off the wall.
Wood-Look Finishes: Ash, Teak, Walnut, and Black Oak.
Contemporary Colors: Midnight Blue, Fig, Matte White, Pale Gold, Silver, and Graphite.
Fire TV OS (2026): Ember Artline TVs ship with Amazon’s redesigned Fire TV experience, which features a cleaner interface, dedicated content categories, expanded app pinning, and personalized recommendations through Alexa+. The goal, naturally, is less time wandering through menus and more time actually watching something.
Gaming Support: Although art display is the focus, Ember Artline supports cloud gaming through Amazon Luna and Xbox Game Pass, so a separate console is not required. A compatible game controller is recommended, while some party games can use a smartphone as a controller. Keep expectations in check, however: the Artline uses a 60Hz panel and is not positioned as a high-performance gaming display with advanced features such as 120Hz playback or variable refresh rate support. Subscriptions and a capable internet connection may be required.
Instant On: Amazon’s OmniSense technology uses built-in sensors to wake the display when someone enters the room, either showing selected artwork or making the TV ready to use. When the room is empty, the display turns off to conserve energy.
Alexa+: Alexa+ adds hands-free control, personalized content recommendations, photo browsing, smart-home management, and faster search. It is included with a Prime membership on compatible devices and is also available to non-Prime customers through the Alexa+ Standard plan for $19.99 per month. Alexa+ can also be accessed through compatible Alexa devices, Alexa.com, and the Alexa app.
Amazon Ember Artline TVs
| Amazon TV Model Number | Ember Artline |
| Product Type | 4K UHD QLED Smart TV |
| Price (List Price) | 55-inch: $899 65-inch: $1,099 |
| OS version | Fire OS 8 |
| Processor (SoC) | AML T963D4Z |
| CPU | 4x CA55 @ 1.9 GHz |
| Application BinaryInterface (ABI) | 32-bit |
| GPU | Mali-G57 MC1 |
| Memory (RAM) | 2.5 GB |
| Mic | Bottom 2×2 Mic Array |
| Connectors / Ports | 4 x HDMI (1 HDMI 2.1 with eARC, 3 HDMI 2.0 1 x USB 3.0 1 x RF Input 1 x SPDIF Digital Audio Output Optical 1 x Audio Output Headphone 1 x 3.5mm mini jack IR blaster output |
| Onboard Controls | One button for Channel Up/Down, Volume Up/Down, and Power |
| Audio System | 55″ – 10W+10W 65″ – 12W+12W |
| HDR Support | HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, dolby Vision |
| Resolution and Refresh Rate | 4k UHD (3840 x 2160) @ 60 Hz |
| Audio codecs (input formats) | AAC Up to 48kHz 2 channels
MP3. Up to 48kHz, 2 channels in DSP (16-bit and 24-bit) and software (16-bit) PCM/Wave. Up to 96kHz, 6 channels, 16-bit and 24-bit Opus. Up to 8 channels, 48 kHz |
| Dolby Audio. | – Support for AC3 (Dolby Digital) and EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus) pass through (omx.google.raw.dec) decoder
– Dolby passthrough support from Audio Track – AV Sync handling for Dolby passthrough – Mixing system sound with Dolby Stream in pass-through mode – Support device switching from Dolby passthrough to non-passthrough playback |
| Video Codecs | HEVC VP9 AV`1 |
| DRM (Digital Rights Management) | Yes |
| Bluetooth | Ver 5.4 |
| Wifi | 802.11ax 1T1R; WiFi 6, support 2.4GHz&5GHz; Chip MT7902B |
| Ethernet | 10/100 Mbps |
| Storage | 16 GB |
| Miracast(display mirroring with Fire tablet) | Yes |
| Far-field Alexa control | Hands-free voice control is supported only through a linked Echo device Near-field Alexa control |
| Mic button on Remote | Supported |
| Dimensions (WHD – with frame) | 55-inch model: 49.1” x 28.7” x 1.8” 65-inch model: 57.0” x 33.2” x 1.55” |
| Weight (with frame) | 55-inch model: 42.5 lbs 65-inch model: 57.1 lbs |
The Bottom Line
Amazon’s Ember Artline is not likely to topple Samsung’s The Frame or LG’s Gallery TV on picture performance alone. With only two screen sizes, a 60Hz QLED panel, and no premium gaming features, Amazon is taking a measured first swing at the Art TV category rather than arriving with a wrecking ball.
What makes Ember Artline different is the value proposition. Buyers get more than 2,000 artworks at no added subscription cost, a magnetic frame in the box, ten frame-style options, and Match the Room, which uses AI to suggest artwork that suits the colors and décor of a specific space. That is a smarter approach than simply hanging a matte TV on the wall and calling it culture.
The Ember Artline makes the most sense for Prime members and existing Fire TV or Alexa households who want an attractive, easy-to-use TV that does not demand another monthly fee just to look presentable between episodes. It is also a credible option for shoppers who prioritize décor, personalization, and Amazon’s ecosystem over reference-level black levels, serious gaming performance, or a wider selection of screen sizes.
Samsung still has the deeper Art TV pedigree, while LG and other rivals offer more premium alternatives. But Amazon’s retail reach, included art catalog, and ecosystem integration give Ember Artline a clearer purpose than another me-too lifestyle set. If the line expands beyond 55 and 65 inches, it could become a much more serious threat.
Price & Availability
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I have lost count of how many times I have copied something important, copied another thing before pasting it, and then realized the first item was gone. It is a small frustration, but it happens often enough to become annoying. I recently came across ClipboardAI, which caught my attention because it goes beyond Apple’s built-in clipboard by saving copied items into a searchable history.
Instead of replacing the last thing you copied every time, ClipboardAI keeps a searchable record of copied text, links, codes, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and images across iPhone, iPad, and Mac. That means an older clip does not disappear just because you copied something new.
It saves, sorts, and brings clips back quickly
ClipboardAI uses on-device AI to sort copied items into links, codes, emails, addresses, phone numbers, text, and images. Users can also create collections for material they reuse often, including research links, templates, travel details, or saved snippets.
The keyboard extension is the feature that makes the app feel most useful. It can show up to 20 recent clips inside any iOS text field, so you do not have to leave Messages, Mail, Slack, Safari, or another app to paste something copied earlier.
The app can summarize copied text, generate link previews, detect languages, offer translations, turn lists into checklists, and solve math expressions or unit conversions. Some tools will be useful often, while others are more situational.
The privacy approach is important
Since clipboards often contain private information like passwords, codes, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and copied messages, privacy is a make-or-break factor for apps like this. ClipboardAI keeps AI features on-device, stores clips locally using SwiftData, and avoids analytics, ads, third-party SDKs, and developer-run servers.
The app also treats sensitive clips differently from regular copied items. It can detect passwords, API tokens, credit card numbers, and SSNs, and then blur them by default. Passwords can disappear after 60 seconds, and sensitive clips stay out of the keyboard extension unless the user changes that setting.
Sync runs through the user’s own iCloud account and is optional. The free version includes automatic capture, categories, search, and up to 10 saved clips. Pro adds unlimited clips, iCloud sync, the keyboard extension, AI features, and collections, with a 7-day yearly trial and a $24.99 lifetime option.
Not everyone needs a clipboard manager. But if you lose copied links, codes, notes, or addresses several times a week, ClipboardAI could be a useful replacement for Apple’s built-in clipboard.
The US government has eased the restrictions it imposed on Anthropic’s most advanced AI model, Claude Mythos 5, allowing the company to grant access to more than 100 US organizations, including large corporations and government agencies.
In a letter sent to Anthropic’s cofounder and chief compute officer Tom Brown obtained by WIRED, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told the AI lab it would permit certain trusted partners to access Mythos because he had “determined that appropriate safeguards are in place.” Semafor first reported the existence of the letter.
“Anthropic has worked with the U.S. government to address risks associated with the Covered Models. These efforts have yielded significant progress,” Lutnick wrote.
However, the government stopped short of permitting a broader rollout of the model, and said nothing about the fate of Claude Fable 5, the consumer-facing version of Mythos that Anthropic released with significant additional safeguards. Lutnick noted in his letter that the other requirements outlined in the initial directive he sent on June 12 remain in effect.
“We received notice from the US government that Mythos 5, our strongest cybersecurity model, can be redeployed to a small group of cyber defenders and infrastructure providers,” Anthropic spokesperson Eduardo Maia Silva said in a statement to WIRED. “We are working to provision the approved set of providers and restore their access to Mythos 5 as quickly as possible. We are pleased to see this progress and continue to work with the government to expand access to Mythos 5 and make Fable 5 available for general use again.”
Anthropic is still in discussions with the White House about restoring access to Fable 5, and they are expected to continue over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter. Both parties are hopeful the resolution of this incident will help inform a lasting policy framework for future model releases, the person said.
The partial reinstatement comes roughly two weeks after the White House sent an export control directive to Anthropic that required the company to limit foreign nationals from accessing Mythos and Fable 5, including people working and living in the United States. In response, Anthropic disabled access to the models entirely. In his latest letter, Lutnick wrote that organizations approved to use Mythos may now allow their foreign national employees to access the model, and Anthropic may do the same for its own foreign national employees.
The Trump administration grew concerned about Anthropic’s rollout of Mythos after it learned the company granted access to a South Korean telecommunications firm it believed had ties to China, WIRED previously reported. Amazon and the National Security Agency also separately raised concerns to the White House that Fable 5 could be jailbroken, and the confluence of events convinced officials they needed to take action.
In recent weeks, Anthropic sent senior members from its cybersecurity and AI safety teams to Washington, DC to meet with Trump administration officials. Along with Brown, Anthropic’s public policy chief Sarah Heck have been leading the company’s discussions with the US Department of Commerce.
Getting Mythos 5 back online marks a promising step forward for Anthropic and the White House, but the saga has raised broader questions about the overall direction of US AI policy, particularly the extent to which the Trump administration will seek to control future model releases. On Friday, OpenAI announced it was delaying the release of its upcoming GPT 5.6 models in response to a request from the Trump administration.
Tech
After hiring AWS exec and raising $107M seed round, Virginia startup plants flag in Seattle area
Virginia-based AI startup Trase is expanding its presence in the Seattle region, with plans to grow from about 20 employees in the area today to as many as 100 in the coming months.
The 56-person company this week publicly launched and raised a $107 million seed round to focus on highly regulated industries like healthcare. Arch Venture Partners led the seed round.
GeekWire previously reported on the company’s hiring of Baskar Sridharan — a longtime Microsoft, Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services engineering leader — as president. It is now using the Seattle area as a key engineering hub, with plans to expand in the region with new offices to accommodate growth plans.
Sridharan, who is growing the Seattle-area team, said AI adoption is stalling where it’s needed most.
“AI adoption is faltering within sectors that need it most: complex, highly regulated enterprises overburdened with administrative tasks that are ripe for automation,” Sridharan wrote in a previous LinkedIn post. “The issue isn’t innovation, it’s implementation.”
He added: “The next era of technology will be increasingly defined by those willing to solve the messy, complex problems of real-world AI deployment at scale.”
Before joining Trase, Sridharan spent nearly 16 years at Microsoft, where he helped build Azure storage technologies. He later became vice president of engineering for Google Cloud before joining Amazon Web Services as vice president of AI, machine learning services, and infrastructure.
The company also recently hired Srirama Koneru, the former general manager of Bedrock Agentic AI Infrastructure and GenAI Services at Amazon Web Services and former senior director of engineering at Google and at Salesforce. The company’s CEO is Grant Verstandig, the founder and CEO of Red Cell.
Trase, incubated by the venture studio Red Cell Partners, is building an agentic platform that enables enterprises in healthcare, national security and energy to deploy autonomous AI agents within existing infrastructure while meeting security and compliance requirements.
Customers include Duke University Health System, which is using the specialized agents in its Division of Cardiology to automate the more than 5,000 faxes the clinic receives each month.
The expansion adds to Seattle’s growing reputation as a hub for enterprise AI talent, particularly among startups recruiting experienced cloud infrastructure leaders from Microsoft, Google and Amazon. GeekWire tracks a list of more than 100 engineering centers in the Seattle area.
We’ve reached out to the company and we’ll update this post as we learn more. The expansion in Seattle was first reported by The Puget Sound Business Journal.
Update: The company confirmed its expansion plans in the region and provided this statement: “Seattle is one of the nation’s leading technology hubs, making it a natural market for Trase as it continues to scale its operations.”
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