TechSpotlight News: What matters in tech, explained for you.

Photo prints of Airbnb stays: a wooden treehouse in autumn woods and a cabin among orange trees

AI · 4 min read

Airbnb is building its own AI travel agent, and says a chatbot is the wrong way to plan a trip

The Airbnb AI travel agent starts rolling out in the first half of 2027. What it will do, why Airbnb skips the chatbot, and what is still unknown.

Video of the day

EA puts 25 classic games on Steam, with Wing Commander restored from a rediscovered tape vault

Official video, played from YouTube. Read our story

AI

Google's photo for its AI in schools update: a teacher helps a student at a Chromebook

Google turns AI off by default for students, but schools that say no to all of it lose Search

Poster in black with the xAI name and the words 'Temporary turbines? Permits needed'

Judge lets the NAACP's clean-air case over xAI's Mississippi turbines go ahead

Three iPhones showing Apple Intelligence in Chinese: Genmoji, a Type to Siri box and Mail summaries

Apple Intelligence finally comes to China, with Alibaba's Qwen inside Siri

Big Tech & Business

Qualcomm's phone-chip sales fall 26%, as car chips nearly double and a data-centre bet begins

3M will pay up to $7.35bn to settle most 'forever chemicals' injury claims

AMD Helios AI server racks with the AMD Helios name on the door, from AMD's press kit

AMD's AI chip sales nearly double, and it expects a US$17 billion quarter as Helios racks ship

Science & Breakthroughs

NASA map of the Antarctic ozone hole 2026 on 18 September, shown in red and orange over Antarctica

The 2026 ozone hole is the seventh largest on record, but scientists say the ozone layer is still healing

A steel pylon carrying high-voltage power grid lines against a cloudy sky

Power grids dip slightly at the start of every minute. Batteries checking themselves are the reason

Illustration of Earth inside purple radiation belts, a red ring marking the impenetrable barrier, and the Arase satellite

The May 2024 solar storm broke through Earth's 'impenetrable barrier' in space, a new study finds

Phones & Gadgets

Hands holding the Motorola Signature 27 sideways, showing its woven dark back and camera block

Motorola Signature 27 is the first phone beyond Pixel to support GrapheneOS, at US$1,599

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro OLED models side by side, with a Dynamic Island at the top of each screen

Apple's first touchscreen Mac is an OLED MacBook Pro, and it starts at US$2,899

Apple's new 14-inch M6 MacBook Pro, half open, in front of a glowing M6 chip name

Apple's M6 MacBook Pro and iMac arrive at last year's prices, with older Macs in their sights

Apps & Software

OpenSSH flaw let attackers into some Alpine Linux servers without a password; fixes are out

Apple will check public iCloud links for harmful content from iOS 27.3

Google shuts down a botnet hidden inside 1.3 million Android TV boxes, and blames the maker

Launches

GTA 6 leads Jason and Lucia escaping on a dirt bike as a police car and helicopter chase them through Vice City

GTA 6 launch trailer lands: Grand Theft Auto VI arrives 19 November on PS5 and Xbox, with no PC date

The new white Tesla Roadster with both doors open and a large rear wing, in a dark studio

Tesla's new Roadster flew in a Texas demo, but buyers still have no price or delivery date

Gaming

Nintendo Switch 2 sales pass 26 million, but slow down as memory costs bite

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