Here are today’s 11 verified tech & science stories, covering Tech & Apps, AI Tools, Science & Space and Streaming & Internet Culture.
Table of Contents
- The TLDR
- Tech & Apps
- AI Tools
- Science & Space
- Streaming & Internet Culture
- Make Your Digital Life Better
Every item below links to its original source.
The TLDR
- Tech & Apps: A music-history podcast worth catching up on
- AI Tools: A struggling AI hedge fund bets another $400M on chips
- Science & Space: 50 years ago, the Soviets launched their last moon mission
- Streaming & Internet Culture: Spotify still won’t let you sort albums into folders
Tech & Apps
A music-history podcast worth catching up on
No Dogs in Space, hosted by Marcus Parks and Carolina Hidalgo of the Last Podcast Network, digs into music scenes most outlets skip over — punk, alternative, and experimental rock across three seasons. The Verge calls it essential listening for music-history obsessives, though the show has gone quiet since its last episode, which wrapped an abbreviated third season on the band Can back in July 2024. The Verge
FCC wants to ban drones it already approved
The FCC has proposed banning a range of currently-sold drones over LiDAR, thermal-imaging, and other sensing capabilities it now considers national-security risks — even though the agency approved many of these same models for sale in the first place. DJI is the primary target; the ban wouldn’t strip drones already owned by consumers, but it could cut off their access to parts and software updates. The FCC is taking public comments on the proposal through September 2, 2026. Engadget
Will Apple’s price hikes finally buy real upgrades?
Apple raised prices sharply this summer amid a global memory-chip shortage — the iPad Air went from $599 to $749, the M5 MacBook Pro from $1,699 to $1,999, and the Apple TV from $129 to $199 — and 9to5Mac argues that could finally push Apple to update products that have gone years without meaningful changes. The iPad Air’s design has barely shifted since 2020, the base iPad since 2022, and the iMac since 2021, and the piece suggests relatively affordable additions, like a faster-refresh iPad Air display, could help justify the new prices. 9to5Mac
Why the Eve Weather sensor is a smart-home sleeper hit
9to5Mac’s HomeKit Weekly column makes the case for the Eve Weather sensor as an underrated tool for Apple Home automations, thanks to its Matter support and three tracked readings: temperature, humidity, and air pressure. Owners use it to trigger things like cold-weather alerts to drip faucets, dehumidifiers on muggy days, or delayed sprinklers after rain, and its pressure sensor can forecast weather trends roughly 12 hours out. 9to5Mac
AI Tools
A struggling AI hedge fund bets another $400M on chips
Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund started by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, put another $400 million into chip-manufacturing startup Source Foundry this week, bringing its total stake to $500 million. The move comes even as the fund has struggled — its assets under management fell from $20 billion to $10 billion after AI infrastructure stocks slid, forcing it to offload much of its public portfolio to Citadel in late July. Source Foundry, founded by Stanford researchers, is working on making chip manufacturing faster and cheaper. TechCrunch
Science & Space
50 years ago, the Soviets launched their last moon mission
Space.com’s daily space-history feature marks the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission, which launched on August 9, 1976 as the last Soviet lunar mission and the third Soviet probe built to bring physical moon samples back to Earth. Space.com
Could the northern lights crash next week’s total solar eclipse?
A total solar eclipse sweeps across Greenland, Iceland, northern Russia, and slivers of Spain and Portugal on August 12, 2026, blocking the sun for up to two minutes and 18 seconds along the path of totality. Space.com explores whether the northern lights could join the show — it’s possible if a solar storm hits in the days beforehand, but the eclipse’s corona would likely outshine any faint aurora right around the sun, even if auroral activity showed up elsewhere in the sky. Space.com
Historians uncover three ‘erased’ Assyrian kings
Historians Alexander Johannes Edmonds and Eckart Frahm identified three previously unknown Neo-Assyrian kings by re-examining poorly preserved cuneiform tablets, stelae, and royal grants that had been misattributed to later rulers with the same names. The kings — including Aššur-uballiṭ, whose monuments were later destroyed by a usurper, and Shalmaneser, whose name was overwritten by his successor — appear to have ruled during periods of unrest that were later scrubbed from Assyria’s official king list, pointing to a bloodier political history than the records show. ScienceAlert
A common sugar may help cancer cells spread, early study finds
Researchers at the Wistar Institute found that senescent cancer cells — ones deactivated by chemotherapy — release fructose that makes nearby active cancer cells less sticky and more likely to break off and spread, the first step toward metastasis. In mice, exposure to those fructose-rich secretions, and a high-fructose diet generally, led to more metastatic tumors than glucose did; the researchers stress this is early, preclinical work on chemo-treated ovarian cancer cells, not proof that dietary sugar alone drives cancer spread in people. ScienceAlert
Western Europe just had its hottest June–July on record
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed Western Europe just had its hottest June–July on record, with the region’s combined average temperature hitting 21.62°C (71°F), beating the previous record set in 2022. France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, the UK, Ireland, and Iceland were hit hardest, with major rivers like the Seine, Rhine, and Danube running unusually low and wildfire activity intensifying across the region. Phys.org
Streaming & Internet Culture
Spotify still won’t let you sort albums into folders
Spotify still won’t let users sort albums into folders the way it can with playlists, and TechRadar’s write-up captures a common complaint from fans who track their favorite album releases year over year. Many listeners lean on third-party apps like Musicboard to fill that gap, though with a bit more effort, building a Spotify playlist people actually listen to can help organize favorites within the app itself. TechRadar
Explore more: building a Spotify playlist people actually listen to, AI meeting transcription tools.
Make Your Digital Life Better
More practical tech how-tos, tool picks, and guides to upgrade your everyday digital life. More on GTWebs.
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Photo: Office of the Vice President of the United States / Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Originally published at gtwebs.com.
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