Technology News: 3 November 2026

Canva said changes will affect 1,271 people, or 22 percent of its staff, including role changes, relocations to centralised hubs and some departures. Co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins said the company needs to refound itself around small, empowered teams, combining Product, Growth and Platform into one product organization. From January, most hybrid employees are expected to spend two to three days a week in office.

Fal, a San Francisco startup that hosts AI video, image and audio models, raised $1.3 billion in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners at a $16 billion valuation, double its April valuation. The company said it has raised $1.65 billion across Series E and F rounds and surpassed $800 million in annualized revenue earlier this year. The funding comes as demand grows for inference services that run trained models, particularly open source ones.

OpenAI said the volume of search queries run through ChatGPT now equals 20 percent of the volume run through Google, a figure announced by consumer product lead Adam Fry. The company defines a search as a query that triggers a web search, though it did not say where the Google volume figure came from. The claim comes as OpenAI invests in ads and an interactive search experience ahead of a possible IPO in early next year.

Reddit is testing ads in search results with a select group of advertisers, based on contextual relevance to queries. The move follows third quarter results in which global daily active users were flat at 130.3 million and US daily active users fell to 50.7 million, while fourth quarter revenue guidance came below expectations. Reddit said declining search traffic from Google's AI powered search is pushing it to earn more from existing users.

OpenAI said it is partnering with Cathedral, a cybersecurity startup founded by former DOGE employees, to use OpenAI models to challenge its defenses and find weaknesses. Cathedral is best known for reportedly hacking Anthropic's private systems under a bug bounty, with the two companies disagreeing over how long the access took and what was affected.

OpenAI also said it is more than quadrupling rewards for critical findings in its own bug bounty program.

Several indie developers said long Steam approval waits have delayed releases, including Studio Daimon's Food Devils and 2 Left Thumbs' Wheel Make It. Valve said store and page reviews typically take three to five business days but acknowledged it is running behind and may take up to 12 business days after a significant increase in submissions.

Developers suspect a rise in AI-labeled games is clogging the queue, while Valve said much of the delay involves re-reviewing games.

Netflix is rolling out an AI Discover tab in its TV app that offers experimental, theme based recommendations such as Something Light, Family Movie Night and Quick Watches. The feature is powered by a new intelligence layer that Netflix says learns from user feedback in real time, and users can exclude titles they do not want suggested again. It is starting with English language users on supported TVs in the US, with more users to follow.

Microsoft says Windows 11 on 8GB PCs is now up to 20% more responsive and multitasking up to 40% faster in lab tests. The update uses memory compression to keep up to 2GB more active data in memory, delays widgets, and makes Edge inactive tabs sleep after 15 minutes. The changes matter as component shortages push more laptops toward 8GB.

Google will turn off Gemini, NotebookLM, Gemini in Classroom and Search for K-12 student accounts unless school administrators explicitly enable them. Because Search and AI are integrated, schools that reject AI features will lose access to Search. Google is rolling out the controls in coming months and launching Guided Learning in Classroom.

Binance said hackers used fake job interviews and a compromised internal AI tool to steal a record $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency. The company said an engineer was lured through a job platform, installed malware disguised as an assignment, and the attackers used his computer and the AI tool in October to control two other engineers' laptops. Binance has set aside more than 100 percent of the funds needed to cover the loss.

Razer announced the Raiju V3 Pro Signature Edition, a limited PlayStation 5 controller available from November 10 for $349.99 in an initial run of 1,337 serialized units. The magnesium-alloy controller uses contactless TMR thumbstick sensors, six mappable buttons and a 2,000Hz wireless polling rate for PC. It includes a leather carrying case, spare thumbstick caps, back button covers, a wireless dongle and a USB cable.

OpenAI is testing its Grid Protectors Program at its planned Effingham County, Georgia campus to reduce data center power use when local demand peaks. The company said it has signed a 3.2-gigawatt agreement with Georgia Power that includes 1,000 megawatts of flexible demand response, enough to power around 800,000 households. The program aims to let campuses connect to the grid sooner and give utilities a resource during local peaks.

Bethesda confirmed the next Elder Scrolls game will be called The Elder Scrolls VI: Sentinel during a 40th anniversary video for its game studios. A short teaser showed a scroll emerging from sand, and Bethesda said the game is set in Hammerfell, a province previously seen in The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard and The Elder Scrolls Online. The studio said development continues and more details will come later.

Intel Foundry released Intel 14A PDK 0.9, giving chip designers transistor models and design rules based on silicon measurements rather than simulations. Intel said the node is reaching the performance and yield maturity expected at this stage, and PDK 1.0 will come in Q1 2027 to validate high-volume manufacturing readiness. The company expects risk production in the second half of 2027 and mass production in 2028.

Rockstar Games said the Grand Theft Auto VI preload file will require up to 212GB of storage depending on device. Preloading begins on November 10 at 12AM local time for PlayStation 5 and at 12AM GMT for Xbox Series X and S, ahead of the game's November 19 launch. The title will be sold for $79.99 as a digital download, with code-in-box versions available from retailers from November 12.

OpenAI began calling its sites compute campuses in a Grid Protectors Program announcement, starting with a site in Effingham County, Georgia. The program aims to address local power concerns, with OpenAI promising to pay the costs it creates and help communities keep the lights on. Reports say the rebrand comes before Tuesday's midterms as OpenAI anticipates a more hostile regulatory environment.

Critics say the new name does not reduce local burdens.

Apple said on its fourth-quarter earnings call that Siri AI may soon have usage limits as it works out the cost mix between on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute. Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said cloud inference creates costs, while on-device processing is efficient. Users may need to pay for expanded access through iCloud+ tiers, though no pricing details were given.

Bambu Lab has launched the H3C, a $2,499 3D printer that uses a nine-tool Swaptek system to switch nozzles in six seconds during a print. It can mix multiple colors, rigid and flexible filaments and different nozzle sizes, with a 330 by 320 by 325 millimeter build volume and a top-mounted AMS 3H module holding nine spools. Reviewers called it a fast, capable multicolor printer.

Apple's Mac mini with the M6 chip is selling for $779, down from $899, at Amazon ahead of Black Friday, with a UK price of £824. The compact desktop includes a 12-core CPU, 12-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory, 256GB of storage, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 7 and 2.5Gb Ethernet. Its media engine supports H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, while its Neural Engine targets machine-learning workloads.

Nvidia has reportedly told data center operators to cap Chinese customers at 49% of their business, leaving at least 51% to non-Chinese companies. The report says the policy was communicated by sales teams, not formal documentation, and applies globally to new and future contracts. The move comes amid U.S.-China AI tensions over access to Nvidia hardware.

Samsung has made its upgraded sleep apnea feature available in the US on the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch9, after FDA clearance in July and Korean approval. The feature uses AI to detect the frequency of breathing disruptions during sleep and can indicate mild, occasional or frequent sleep apnea, not a diagnosis. Samsung said the Galaxy Ring is the first smart ring with an FDA-cleared, over-the-counter sleep apnea risk detection feature.

Google's Gemini 4 Carbon has taken the top spot on Artificial Analysis' Intelligence Index V5, scoring 59 and beating Claude Opus 5.5 by one point. The model also led the firm's AA-Omniscience v1.1 test for hallucinations and knowledgeable recall, with the best score of 54 on a scale from -100 to +100. Google is offering access to cyber defenders first through its Fairwind program, with wider availability to follow.

Reddit is challenging Australia's under-16 social media ban in the High Court, arguing the law is inept and a substantial restriction on political debate. The company, with a libertarian advocacy group, said the rules lack specific means to keep minors off platforms and do not cover gaming sites where cyberbullying may occur. The government is defending the law and has doubled the maximum fine for non-compliance to AU$99 million.

RedMagic has launched the 12 Pro globally with RGB lights in its transparent liquid-cooling loop, a 6.85-inch 185Hz OLED display and an 8,400mAh battery. The phone uses Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, with 80W wired and wireless charging. The phone costs £799, about £170 higher than the RedMagic 11 Pro's starting price, while a review notes a mediocre camera and two-year update promise.

Google said it and partners dismantled XCPE, a backdoor that had built a residential proxy network of more than 1.3 million Android TV set-top boxes. The malware was preloaded on devices from a certified Android maker, Videostrong, which Google said intentionally infected users and sold access to the botnet. The network could be used for ad fraud, DDoS attacks, credential stuffing and hiding attacker addresses.

Apple will add App Store Connect questions that let developers declare whether apps share users' location or enable dating with real people or a virtual companion in sexual or romantic content. Apps with dating or relationship content will get a minimum 18+ age rating, so they are hidden from children under 18 when parental restrictions are set. They appear on November 16, and developers must answer them for all apps by January 12, 2027.

AI creator Nick Saraev says Amazon closed his account after he tried to buy seven Nvidia DGX Spark mini-PCs, with the closure email citing a verification process and giving no reason. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said his regular orders were accepted but canceled before arrival after he tried to buy two Nvidia GPUs. Amazon's terms let it cancel orders or terminate accounts in its sole discretion.

The National Cyber Security Centre said vulnerable technology was exploited in the UK after supermarket fridges and freezers were hacked across Europe on Monday. Its chief executive said the body worked through the night to alert potentially affected organisations. The British Association of Independent Meat Suppliers said some of its more than 300 members were affected, while the NCSC said it was too early to say who was behind the attacks.

Raspberry Pi has raised the price of its 16GB Pi 5 by $80 to $385, more than triple its January 2025 launch price of $120. Eben Upton blamed soaring memory costs, a lack of alternative 16GB DRAM suppliers and other component shortages. The 16GB Compute Module 5 variants also rise by $40, while the Pi 500+ escapes this round. The move follows a $12.50 increase on 2GB Pi 4 and Pi 5 models barely a month ago.

A SamMobile report says the Galaxy S27 Pro and Galaxy S27 Ultra will feature an upgraded version of the Privacy Display introduced on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. The source also says both phones will have enhanced display brightness for easier reading in direct sunlight. Earlier reports that the Galaxy S27 and S27+ would also have Privacy Display are said to be wrong.

Apple began beta testing Audio Intelligence for Apple Watch Series 12 with developers in iOS 27.3. The opt-in features detect important sounds, identify songs through Shazam, and let users catch up on conversations with Live Rewind and Siri Recaps. A chime and animation signal when the watch captures speech, aiming to balance usefulness with privacy.

A Weibo leak says both Oppo Reno17 and Reno17 Pro will have a 50MP periscope telephoto camera, up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The Reno17 is tipped to have a 6.5-inch display, Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 and an 8,000mAh battery, while the Reno17 Pro is said to have a 6.3-inch display, MediaTek Dimensity 8550 and a 7,200mAh battery. Oppo has confirmed the series will launch in China this month.

Gartner analysts said nine in 10 agent workflow steps are routine and can be handled by open-weight models at parity for a quarter of the price of the cheapest closed model. Against a frontier model used on every step, they said the cost can be as little as a twentieth, though real savings may be closer to five or six times. The firm expects 90% of enterprise operational agent workflow steps to run on open-weight models by 2030.

Cloud architect Andrija Panić created OpenVDDK, an open-source drop-in for VMware's Virtual Disk Development Kit after VMware restricted downloads to partners. A Go-based tool with a thin C layer exposes the same library interface and reads virtual disks for backup and migration but cannot write them. It has been tested on vSphere 6.7 U3, 7.0.3, 8.0.3 and 9.1.1, and independent testers used it with Forklift, MTV, Proxmox VE and nbdkit tools.

Google has a new research hub in Singapore and is investing more than $6 million in grants and capacity-building at NUS and NTU. The grants target AI for science, computing efficiency and AI safety. A $750,000 NTU fund will build research capabilities across Southeast Asia, and Google is also providing $3 million for INSEAD's Thrive Lab in Singapore.

Anthropic's revised S-1/A filing says it may imminently meet its Responsible Scaling Policy definition of dramatically accelerated progress attributable to AI. The company frames that as a step toward recursive self-improvement, where a system improves itself and the improved version continues. If it occurs, Anthropic says it will pursue ambitious security measures, internal 'eyes on everything' and stronger red-teaming.

Google launched Dreambeans in India, its first market outside the U.S., with support for 13 local languages. It uses connected Google services to generate personalized illustrated stories without prompts, and recently added Veo-generated animation in select stories. Google chose India, the world's second-largest internet market, for strong user interest and high overlap across Gemini, Gmail and Photos, though U.S. downloads fell 84% in October.

AISIN, in which Toyota is a major shareholder, unveiled a system-on-chip that stores AI model weights and an operating system in built-in STT-MRAM. The 16nm chip with an Arm Cortex A53 dual-core CPU and MaliG31 GPU starts in 65.7 milliseconds, 38 times faster than with external memory, and runs Tiny YOLOv3. AISIN has not said when it will reach production, while Nvidia and Qualcomm want to sell silicon to carmakers.

Apple reported fourth-quarter revenue of $114.48 billion, above expectations, but warned that soaring memory chip prices and its Siri AI push will squeeze margins. Chief Executive John Ternus said December-quarter memory costs will be even higher, with only partial offsets from price hikes and lower non-memory component costs. The warning matters because AI data center demand has created a high-bandwidth memory crunch.

SpaceX is reportedly in talks with EchoStar, parent of Boost Mobile, after Elon Musk met EchoStar chairman Charlie Ergen in October. A deal could give SpaceX ownership of Boost or access to its network, leased from AT&T and T-Mobile, letting Starlink serve cities and indoors where satellite signal is weak. AT&T and T-Mobile may need to approve because Boost's lease agreements typically cannot be transferred without host carrier consent.

OpenAI named former Trump administration Army Secretary Dan Driscoll as senior counselor for national security modernization. He will advise on how AI can strengthen national and cyber security, with a focus on working with U.S. allies to advance responsible use. Driscoll reportedly left the Pentagon in August after months of disagreements with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Apple said on its earnings call that it may look to boost services revenue through third-party apps and partnerships. Chief Financial Officer Kevan Parekh said AI offers a compelling reason for customers to upgrade and switch, without detailing how third-party apps would contribute. Investors are wondering whether Apple could distribute third-party AI agents through the App Store and take a cut of their revenue.

Chinese Android maker realme has launched the realme 16 Pro Harry Potter Edition, its second collaboration with Warner Bros. The collectible phone, in Magic Brown with a golden Hogwarts crest, sold out its first run within minutes, and a second batch is now available on realme's website. The company also offered Harry Potter-inspired earbuds, the realme Buds T500 Pro, as an alternative.

North Korea's Kim Yo-jong called claims that the country orchestrated the record $6.3bn Binance hack an absurd rhetoric and a US political provocation. The FBI and blockchain analysts say state-backed group TraderTraitor led the attack, described as the largest in history. Binance said initial checks indicated an engineer's laptop was compromised, allowing unauthorised withdrawals.

A Kyiv startup called CODE380 is gaining attention for the D·Vision SDR, a pocket-sized receiver that shows live camera video from many Russian drones. It weighs about 10 ounces, less than half the weight of competing Ukrainian models, and listens on channels used by newer Molniya drones. A radio specialist who advises Ukraine's president warned that most detectors do not see those frequencies well.

Russia's Digital Development Ministry has proposed countermeasures for data centers after Ukraine stepped up strikes on Russian data infrastructure. The measures include jamming hardware, camouflage, shockwave protection and possibly subterranean data centers to protect cloud and AI facilities. Ukraine targeted five data centers in October, including Russia's largest facility in Balakovo, owned by Sberbank, and three owned by Yandex.

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan said he spends about $100,000 to $200,000 a year on tokens for AI agents that help with research, coding and daily tasks. He said an agent has read his email, Dropbox, Apple Notes and therapy notes going back 20 years. Tan said Y Combinator uses an internal agent named Stray Light with context on founders and applications, and believes personal agents will become mainstream if costs fall.

Apple chief operating officer Sabhi Kahn said the company did not know when more iPhone Duo foldables would be available after the $1,999 phone sold out at release. CEO John Ternus said he was thrilled by early reaction, while Apple said it would replace phones affected by a small number of cracks along the inside fold. Apple reported iPhone sales rose 17% to $57bn in the quarter to 26 September, with overall sales up 15% to $479bn for the year.

Match Group said Hinge is testing a lower-priced subscription tier with additional filters and custom location boundaries. Chief financial officer Steve Bailey said it is designed for women in particular and price-sensitive users, noting Hinge has high revenue per payer and lower payer penetration than Tinder. Hinge reported 2.3 million paid subscribers, 12% growth in global monthly active users and $221 million in direct revenue.

The National Cyber Security Centre said AI-powered malware is highly likely to be used in a ransomware attack on UK critical national infrastructure by 2028. The body, part of GCHQ, added that Russia and China will start using AI routinely in cyber-attacks. Its chief executive will warn that AI can expose long-tolerated weaknesses in IT systems, increasing the prospect of more cyber incidents in coming months.