TechCapsules

Meta unveiled its $1,299 Meta VR Glasses at Connect 2026, positioning them as a hybrid between traditional opaque VR headsets and transparent AR glasses. Weighing roughly 100 grams—about one‑fifth the mass of conventional headsets—the devices aim to deliver a more comfortable, everyday‑wearable experience. Reviewers, including The Verge’s Sean Hollister, compared them side‑by‑side with Valve’s Steam Frame, Apple’s Vision Pro, and Xreal’s Aura, noting that the Meta glasses combine lightweight form factor with a “best‑of‑both‑worlds” visual pipeline that blurs the line [...]

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1246, mandating that autonomous‑vehicle operators such as Tesla, Waymo and Zoox provide on‑site support when their robotaxis malfunction or impede emergency responders. The law requires U.S.‑licensed remote drivers, local incident technicians, and timely notification of municipalities during system‑wide failures. Companies face fines if a robotaxi blocks police or firefighters for more than 30 minutes. The legislation follows several high‑profile incidents in the state, many involving Waymo’s fleet, where disabled robotaxis disrupted traffic, [...]

XPeng delivered 41,256 vehicles in September, a 5 % rise from August and contributing to a 15 % increase in third‑quarter shipments to 118,390 units. The L03 model alone surpassed 10,000 handovers in the month, highlighting the breadth of the company’s lineup. Despite the delivery growth, XPeng’s shares have fallen more than half their value this year, trading at €8.47 after a 52‑week low of €8.32, and posting only a 1.1 % daily gain. JPMorgan downgraded the stock from Overweight [...]

Entanglement swapping links two particles that have never interacted by performing a Bell‑state measurement on one member of each of two independent entangled pairs, projecting the remaining particles into an entangled state. The process extends entanglement over longer distances and underpins quantum repeaters, which combine swapping with classical communication to enable quantum teleportation and quantum key distribution. Patent eligibility for a quantum repeater that incorporates entanglement swapping is contested. Examiners may deem the invention abstract, arguing it [...]

Serbia and the United States announced a joint initiative to develop and apply artificial intelligence technologies, marking the first formal bilateral cooperation of its kind between Belgrade and Washington. The agreement, signed by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, outlines collaborative research, joint funding for AI startups, and the establishment of a shared testbed for autonomous systems. Both governments pledged $150 million in combined public investment over the next five years, [...]

Tesla unveiled an updated Model 3 for the Chinese market, adding a 16‑inch front touchscreen, black headliner, vehicle‑to‑load (V2L) capability, and a Zen Grey interior limited to Premium and Performance trims. The White interior is discontinued, replaced by the new colour, while 19‑inch Dark Nova wheels become standard on the Premium version. Prices range from 235,500 yuan for the rear‑wheel‑drive base to 339,500 yuan for the Performance model. The enhancements mirror features already appearing on U.S. Model Y and [...]

Taiwan’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index rose to 63.4 in September, the strongest level since August 2021, as AI‑related hardware demand propelled growth across all six major industries. The index’s jump from 61.7 in August reflected expanding output despite a 2.9‑point dip in the new‑orders sub‑index to 63.6 and mounting supply‑chain strains, including material shortages, excess inventories and longer delivery times. Manufacturers are shifting focus from pure expansion to inventory and logistics management while coping with higher raw‑material costs [...]

Augusta University warned its community on October 1, 2026 that cybercriminals are leveraging artificial‑intelligence tools to craft more convincing phishing emails, deepfake audio‑visual messages and “quishing” scams that exploit QR codes. Assistant Vice President of Cyber Defense Heather Roszkowski emphasized that trust‑based attacks now outweigh technical exploits, urging staff, faculty and students to verify emails, links and requests before responding. The university highlighted five top threats of the year: AI‑enhanced phishing, realistic deepfakes, compromised credentials from password reuse, automated [...]