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Daily Briefing

World in a Pulse

Briflio distills the day's signals into one calm feed — a personalized mix of the top stories across every topic, with context, not noise.

cxagent — a terminal coding agent
AI

cxagent — a terminal coding agent

A terminal AI coding agent. Give it a goal in plain language; it reads your files, works out what to change, and changes them.

What I learned driving the Slate electric truck prototype
Technology

What I learned driving the Slate electric truck prototype

If my 45-minute drive yesterday morning is anything to go by, I think Slate Auto will have quite the hit on its hands. The startup had one of its prototype trucks in town and asked if I wanted to check it out—no jumping on a plane or having to spend yet another night in an interchangeable hotel room, just a drive from southwest DC to Rockville, Maryland. Easy-peasy. The prototype truck had been well-used, with almost 6,000 miles (9,656 km) showing on the small and minimalist but very legible digital display that also shows your speed and, if you engage reverse, the backup camera.

NASA Space Grant Students Fuel Agency’s Inspiration Tour
Science

NASA Space Grant Students Fuel Agency’s Inspiration Tour

4 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman addresses a standing-room-only crowd during an Inspiration Tour stop at Iowa State University. Credit: NASA NASA’s Inspiration Tour spread the excitement of space exploration and aeronautical innovation by connecting the public, industry, and academia with the people, technologies, and organizations that drive American leadership in space.

Cyberattack hits French blood bank site but no blood products were compromised
Health

Cyberattack hits French blood bank site but no blood products were compromised

French authorities have reported a cyberattack on several blood banks that attempted to raise temperatures to dangerous levels

Sports

Use FanDuel promo code to get $350 bonus bets by targeting 76ers-Pistons, NBA, college football on Wednesday

Sign up and bet with the latest FanDuel promo code on Wednesday to get your bonus bets

World

Danish students join European protest wave against education funding cuts

Danish government proposes scrapping allowance scheme for students from wealthier families.

Apple is restricting a fast-growing category of apps. Here’s what users need to know
Business

Apple is restricting a fast-growing category of apps. Here’s what users need to know

Apple is about to put greater restrictions on dating apps and AI companions.  Starting on Nov. 16, it will require developers to declare whether their apps use AI to facilitate romantic connections. The apps that do use AI, whether it’s an AI companion, or technology that assists humans in connecting to one another, will only be allowed for users over 18.  According to Apple’s Nov. 2 announcement, apps will have to declare whether the app offers real-world location sh

Emmerdale airs explosive Joe Tate and Caleb Miligan confrontation in early ITVX release
Culture

Emmerdale airs explosive Joe Tate and Caleb Miligan confrontation in early ITVX release

Warning: Contains spoilers for Wednesday's episode of Emmerdale, which airs at 8pm on ITV1 or can be streamed now on ITVX.

Safari finally gets 3 popular browser features - and I can't wait to try them - ZDNET
AI

Safari finally gets 3 popular browser features - and I can't wait to try them - ZDNET

New developer beta release notes point to deeper Siri AI integration and more Safari customization.

AI Is Taking the Memory Your Phone Needs, and AMD Just Confirmed It
Technology

AI Is Taking the Memory Your Phone Needs, and AMD Just Confirmed It

AMD says AI chips are competing with phones and laptops for the same memory supply. Here’s why that means phone prices will keep climbing in 2027.

Hubble Reveals Cosmic Mystery
Science

Hubble Reveals Cosmic Mystery

This is an image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of NGC 4449, one of the dwarf galaxies in the Galaxies Losing Oxygen via Winds (GLOW) study. Researchers found that dwarf galaxies can hold onto only a small fraction of the oxygen made by their stars. NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage–ESA/Hubble Collaboration, Alessandra Aloisi (STScI, ESA) This photo released on Nov. 2, 2026, showcases NGC  4449, a dwarf irregular.

Love green tea? Gabriela Peacock reveals why she's a 'huge fan'
Health

Love green tea? Gabriela Peacock reveals why she's a 'huge fan'

Matcha is a trendy green powder made from shade-grown tea leaves, traditionally whisked into hot water.

NFL survivor pool picks, knockout strategy, advice for Week 9, 2026: Fade the New England Patriots
Sports

NFL survivor pool picks, knockout strategy, advice for Week 9, 2026: Fade the New England Patriots

SportsLine's advanced computer model just locked in its top Week 9 NFL survivor picks for those still left in their original pool or or survivor revival leagues

World

Owono enduring ‘hardest days of my life’ after De Miguel death

Tenerife striker De Miguel died on Tuesday as a result of injuries from a collision with FC Andorra goalkeeper Owono.

Elon Musk spent nearly $500 million on the midterms. It bought him almost nothing
Business

Elon Musk spent nearly $500 million on the midterms. It bought him almost nothing

Elon Musk put about $474 million into the 2026 midterms, according to a New York Times tally. (And that’s just through October 14, when the FEC and IRS filings stop. The trillionaire may have given far more in dark money.) For comparison, the world’s richest man spent an estimated $250 million to get Donald Trump elected in 2024. But this time, he has little to show for his efforts. Democrats wrested control of both the House and Senate from Republicans Tuesday night. A Forbes analysis

Pokémon Pokopia DLC Dazzling Decorations Release Date and Features Revealed
Culture

Pokémon Pokopia DLC Dazzling Decorations Release Date and Features Revealed

Pokémon Pokopia DLC Dazzling Decorations launches December 9. Here are the new features and requirements to access the expansion.

AI

I tried Apple’s Siri Recaps. They’re surprisingly useful — and a little unsettling

Apple's AI-powered Siri Recaps won me over in just one day, despite my privacy reservations. But there's still room for improvement.

Technology

Satellite analysis finds little evidence that data centers cause widespread ground warming

A new study published in Environmental Research Letters has found little evidence that hyperscale data centers cause significant heating of surrounding land. While a previous study suggested data centers heat surrounding land by about 2 °C on average (up to 9 °C), reaching 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)

Man builds robotic cat feeder that senses when dish is empty
Science

Man builds robotic cat feeder that senses when dish is empty

An ultrasonic sensor ensures kibble doesn’t dump on the pet’s head.

The biotech startups skipping AI for drug discovery
Health

The biotech startups skipping AI for drug discovery

In this edition of AI Prognosis: These biotech startups don't think drug discovery is where AI can make the biggest difference.

Sports

Use DraftKings promo code to claim $200 bonus + free NBA League Pass for 76ers-Pistons, NBA, college football

DraftKings offers $200 in bonus bets and three free months of NBA League Pass after your first $5 wager for NBA, college football, NFL betting on Wednesday

Israeli president begins process to decide which leader should try to form a government
World

Israeli president begins process to decide which leader should try to form a government

Yitzhak Herzog criticises racist attacks on Palestinian citizens who turned out to vote at historic rates

IREN Stock Slides as Midterm Results Raise Regulatory Fears - IREN (NASDAQ:IREN)
Business

IREN Stock Slides as Midterm Results Raise Regulatory Fears - IREN (NASDAQ:IREN)

IREN shares are falling Wednesday as Democratic wins, including in Texas, raised fears of slower data center and AI infrastructure growth.

Helicopter Crashes Into Biscayne Bay in Miami, Search and Rescue Underway
Culture

Helicopter Crashes Into Biscayne Bay in Miami, Search and Rescue Underway

A helicopter plunged into Miami's Biscayne Bay Wednesday morning ... leaving two injured and a third person feared dead, according to local reports.

AI

Google faces backlash for plan that would turn off Search for schools that restrict AI

Politicians on the left, like NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani and former FTC chair Lina Khan, accused Google of acting as an unregulated monopoly.

Technology

Fireworks provide a few minutes of joy, but the economic and environmental costs last much longer

Every Bonfire Night, people pay for a box of fireworks so their friends and family can enjoy the colorful display. Within a few minutes, it's all over. But the price on the box doesn't reflect the hidden costs: the smoke inhaled by neighbors, the animals disturbed or the public services called out w

NASA Announces Ka-Band Satellite Relay Awards for Space Communications
Science

NASA Announces Ka-Band Satellite Relay Awards for Space Communications

Credit: NASA NASA selected three companies on Wednesday to perform work to develop Ka-band space relay capability concepts that are compatible with current missions in space, ensuring service continuity for existing spacecraft without requiring modifications to their onboard systems. Through this work, NASA will aim to acquire end-to-end solutions that include space, ground, launch, operations, and integration elements, as one of many customers in the commercial marketplace. The awards, under the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-3 Broad Agency Announcement Appendix

Arthritis ruled Susan's life - until this drug-free therapy
Health

Arthritis ruled Susan's life - until this drug-free therapy

A few years ago, Susan Harrison's joints were causing her so much pain that she felt hip and knee replacement operations would soon be inevitable.

College football odds, predictions: Miami vs. Notre Dame, BYU vs. Utah lead monster Week 10
Sports

College football odds, predictions: Miami vs. Notre Dame, BYU vs. Utah lead monster Week 10

Brad Crawford and Chris Hummer reveal their picks for arguably the biggest regular-season weekend of the College Football Playoff era

World

The new Congress may struggle to push a progressive agenda

Major change on key issues, such as Israel-Palestine, will be limited by the president and the Democratic establishment.

How AI impacts solopreneurs’ relationships with their clients (and what to do about it)
Business

How AI impacts solopreneurs’ relationships with their clients (and what to do about it)

Most people I know have asked themselves some version of “Is AI replacing me?” It’s a fair question.  But, running a solo business, I think the question extends beyond “Is AI replacing the work I do?” It’s also impacted the way clients interact with the people they hire.  Clients expect AI to make your work cheaper Some companies are really moving their budgets away from hiring people to AI. The Ramp Economics Lab tracked how businesses split their spending b

VisionQuest episode 7 twist sees Paul Bettany take on integral Marvel characters and fans are blown away
Culture

VisionQuest episode 7 twist sees Paul Bettany take on integral Marvel characters and fans are blown away

The history of Vision stretches further than fans might have expected...

Redditor uses AI to get Switch games running natively on Apple TV - Engadget
AI

Redditor uses AI to get Switch games running natively on Apple TV - Engadget

The TVPort project is another example of people using Claude Code to bring software to other platforms

Sam Altman addresses RAM comments: people should ‘put as much as they want in their computers’
Technology

Sam Altman addresses RAM comments: people should ‘put as much as they want in their computers’

‘Ram Altman’ wants you to have ‘so much ram.’

NASA, NOAA Track 2026 Antarctic Ozone Hole
Science

NASA, NOAA Track 2026 Antarctic Ozone Hole

4 min read NASA, NOAA Track 2026 Antarctic Ozone Hole Earth’s protective ozone layer remains on track for long-term recovery, despite atmospheric conditions that contributed to a larger Antarctic ozone hole in 2026, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported. The ozone hole ranked seventh largest by area in 48 years of monitoring, but was not as deep as other large holes on record. From Sept. 7 to Oct. 13, peak ozone depletion season, the average extent of the hole covered about 9.6 million square miles (25 million square kilometers).

Health

iGC: Antibody Optimization via Reinforcement Learning over a Learned Somatic Hypermutation Prior

Antibody affinity maturation is a natural optimization process in which B cells acquire mutations through somatic hypermutation (SHM), undergo selection for improved antigen binding, and iteratively evolve toward higher affinity. Computationally modeling this process requires capturing both biologically plausible mutations and antigen-specific selection. However, existing mutation models do not directly optimize binding, while affinity optimization often neglects realistic mutation trajectories.

Lions' Jack Campbell issues statement updating condition after scary injury vs. Vikings
Sports

Lions' Jack Campbell issues statement updating condition after scary injury vs. Vikings

The Lions linebacker says he has full movement in his lower body and is making progress with his upper body following a scary collision against the Vikings

World

Netanyahu bet on Trump – but both lost

Israel's political establishment grapples with US voter rejection of White House ally and own contribution towards it.

Amgen Analyst Likes Diversified Business, Remains Patient Until MariTide Obesity Data - Amgen (NASDAQ:AMG
Business

Amgen Analyst Likes Diversified Business, Remains Patient Until MariTide Obesity Data - Amgen (NASDAQ:AMG

Amgen approaches 52-week highs on Q3 earnings beats and raised 2026 guidance, while Wall Street analysts lift price targets.

Men Who Do Less of This Have Better Luck Dating, According to a New Survey
Culture

Men Who Do Less of This Have Better Luck Dating, According to a New Survey

A new survey reveals an unexpected preference among women when evaluating potential dates, but there's a surprising catch.

Google Insists It Is Not Extorting Schools with Forced AI to Keep Search
AI

Google Insists It Is Not Extorting Schools with Forced AI to Keep Search

Google responded to political backlash from Bernie Sanders and Lina Khan over its policy linking school Search to AI features.

Technology

Aligning Language Models with General Preferences: An Empirical Study of Direct Nash Optimization

Direct Nash Optimization (DNO) aligns a language model to a general preference function by approximating the Nash equilibrium of a two-player preference game. Its practical variant, DNO-Prct, iterates on-policy sampling, LLM-based rating of the samples together with a teacher's gold response, large-margin preference-pair selection and a DPO-style contrastive update. We re-implement DNO-Prct independently and study it on two open-weight instruct models, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct and Mistral 7B Instru

Earlier sleep tied to weight loss in people with prediabetes
Science

Earlier sleep tied to weight loss in people with prediabetes

"When we fall asleep—not just how much we sleep—seems to be an important and overlooked factor for weight loss and metabolic health."

Where does MAHA go from here? Three possible futures
Health

Where does MAHA go from here? Three possible futures

Republican losses leave Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s MAHA movement with three possible futures.

CJ Carr faces defining moment as Notre Dame's CFP hopes ride on showdown vs. No. 1 Miami
Sports

CJ Carr faces defining moment as Notre Dame's CFP hopes ride on showdown vs. No. 1 Miami

The Fighting Irish quarterback has struggled against ranked opponents, but Miami's vulnerable secondary offers the perfect stage to save Notre Dame's playoff hopes

Police find child sex abuse images in investigation into Meghan Markle’s father
World

Police find child sex abuse images in investigation into Meghan Markle’s father

Police were granted a warrant to examine the alleged stash of child sex abuse material last Thursday

CVS is splitting into two companies: Healthcare giant’s ‘Pharmacy’ breakup explained
Business

CVS is splitting into two companies: Healthcare giant’s ‘Pharmacy’ breakup explained

CVS is breaking up. On Wednesday, the healthcare giant announced plans to split into two separate, independent companies, and both will be publicly traded.  The two companies will form a “leading healthcare solutions company” called CVS Health, and will encompass Aetna, CVS Caremark, CVS Specialty, Oak Street Health, and Signify Health. The second company, dubbed CVS Pharmacy, will be made up of roughly 9,000 CVS pharmacies, mail pharmacy, MinuteClinic, and the Health100 tech servi

Maura Higgins shares ‘reality’ of competing on Dancing With The Stars
Culture

Maura Higgins shares ‘reality’ of competing on Dancing With The Stars

The Love Island star is taking part on the US version of the dancing series, where she has been paired with professional dancer Mark Ballas.

Your next phone could cost even more, and this time it’s not just RAM
AI

Your next phone could cost even more, and this time it’s not just RAM

A couple of reports suggest Samsung’s OLED panels could witness a significant price bump starting next year.

Binance says hackers who stole billions in crypto spent months planning heist
Technology

Binance says hackers who stole billions in crypto spent months planning heist

The hackers who stole billions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the Binance exchange spent months working on the theft and used both social engineering and novel malware in the process, the company said Tuesday. The heist, which both the FBI and the TRM Security firm attributed to North Korean actors, initially targeted $6.34 billion in cryptocurrency from Binance wallets. The exchange has since frozen or intercepted $2.85 billion of that sum. Binance said it has set aside funds required to cover the loss and provided this link to a Proof of Reserves page.

Rajeev Singh, Smartsheet CEO: A Fortt Knox Update
Science

Rajeev Singh, Smartsheet CEO: A Fortt Knox Update

Smartsheet, now private, unveiled vsActual, its first standalone agentic product — software that runs a corporation's annual operating planning start to finish, built on a context graph assembled over 20 years. Speaking with Jon Fortt, CEO Rajeev Singh also detailed a shift to "AI as UI" access and

Health

Empirical Bayes Flow Matching for Continuous Cryo-EM Heterogeneity

We address the problem of learning generative priors over high-dimensional latent variables from indirect, noisy observations, with a focus on continuous heterogeneity in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). In this setting, 3D atomic structures $x \in \mathbb{R}^{3N_a}$ are never directly observed and must be inferred from 2D projection images $y$ generated by a complex, non-linear forward operator. We propose Empirical Bayes Flow Matching (EB-FM), a method that learns a flow matching prior $p_θ

College basketball rankings: Milan Momcilovic shows why he could be the sharpshooter Kentucky has been missing
Sports

College basketball rankings: Milan Momcilovic shows why he could be the sharpshooter Kentucky has been missing

Momcilovic balls out in his first game for the Wildcats, the No. 20 team in Wednesday's Top 25 And 1

Air traffic control outage cost UK economy £33 million, new report finds
World

Air traffic control outage cost UK economy £33 million, new report finds

The disruption led to thousands of flights being cancelled

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: Midterms sent a ‘very clear message’
Business

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: Midterms sent a ‘very clear message’

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said this morning that Democrats’ sweeping midterm victory sent a “very clear message” about the damage inflation has done to American consumers.   During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Khosrowshahi said the problem stems from how the economy has evolved since the 2008 financial crisis, as wages have not kept pace with skyrocketing prices. “When you look at capitalism, there’s capital investment and return on capital, and obviously there’s return o

Crimson Desert Patch Notes for Update 2.04.06 – DLC Fixes and Performance Improvements
Culture

Crimson Desert Patch Notes for Update 2.04.06 – DLC Fixes and Performance Improvements

Crimson Desert update 2.04.06 fixes DLC issues, crashes, and framerate drops. Here are the full patch notes and platform availability details.

AI

Building on open source AI? Hugging Face’s policy chief on the costs, risks, and trade-offs

Open source models are becoming more mainstream as enterprises, governments and startups alike rely on the promise of lower costs, more control, and more flexibility. But as increasingly capable models become more freely available, how do companies capture value? And with Chinese open models gaining ground, can American players keep up?  On this episode of […]

The DEA banned a drug some opioid users called a miracle
Technology

The DEA banned a drug some opioid users called a miracle

In 2012, as the driver of deaths in the opioid crisis began moving from prescription pills to heroin, Laura Bohn was tasked with finding safer drugs to manage pain. Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2017 she and other scientists revealed in the science journal Cell that several compounds—including a particularly promising one called SR-17018—could relieve pain in mice without causing respiratory depression.

NASA Navigation Experiment Shows Promise for Planetary Landings
Science

NASA Navigation Experiment Shows Promise for Planetary Landings

3 min readPreparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater) An Alta-X drone flies an advanced guidance and navigation system known as the Safe and Precise Landing – Integrated Capabilities Evolution (SPLICE) experiment near NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, on Wednesday, July 15, 2026. Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston developed SPLICE, which successfully communicated with the remotely piloted aircraft during hover maneuvers in flight.

Cocaine overtakes heroin as leading cause of drug deaths in England and Wales
Health

Cocaine overtakes heroin as leading cause of drug deaths in England and Wales

The number of deaths linked to cocaine use in England and Wales has nearly quadrupled in a decade.

Robert Kraft named one of five contributor nominees for 2027 Pro Football Hall of Fame class
Sports

Robert Kraft named one of five contributor nominees for 2027 Pro Football Hall of Fame class

The Patriots owner is one of five contributor nominees still under consideration after falling short of induction in the previous Hall of Fame cycle

World

Key moments as Democrats sweep to victories in US midterms

Democrats have been celebrating across the US after a series of victories saw them take control of both chambers.

What's Going on With Microsoft Stock on Wednesday? - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Business

What's Going on With Microsoft Stock on Wednesday? - Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Microsoft stock jumps over 6% on Wednesday as Azure cloud acceleration drove a Big Tech rally, while Wall Street analysts defended targets up to $722.

Tributes paid to drummer with dozens of number ones
Culture

Tributes paid to drummer with dozens of number ones

Amarillo singer Tony Christie says Clem Cattini was a "world class" musician and gentleman.