📱 Apple plans a cheaper iPhone 17e at $499

Apple is preparing its lowest priced iPhone yet. The iPhone 17e is expected in the first half of 2026 with a price around $499.

🔸 Rumors point to a 6.1 inch OLED display with 60 Hz, Dynamic Island, and the new A19 chip. The processor is expected to match the base iPhone 17.

🔸 The focus is on essentials rather than extras. Hardware choices suggest cost control without splitting the core platform.

This would place Apple deeper into the mid range price segment.

📊 @tech

🤖 Open-source ClawdBot runs as a local AI agent

🔸 ClawdBot is gaining attention as a new open-source AI agent that runs fully on a local machine. The agent can be deployed as a self-hosted service and accessed through common messengers like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Discord.

🔸 It goes beyond a chat interface. ClawdBot can open a browser, run terminal commands, read and edit files, access the camera and screen, and handle automation tasks through defined skills. The setup is designed for direct control rather than cloud dependency.

🔸 The agent is highly customizable. Users can connect their own tools, integrate smart home devices, link external services, and extend behavior through plugins. It also includes a file-based memory system with long-term context stored in MEMORY.md and daily logs stored by date, both indexed and reused in prompts.

ClawdBot is built by Peter Steinberger, founder and CTO of PSPDFKit, as a personal project. It is unrelated to Anthropic despite the name similarity.

Source:
https://github.com/clawdbot/clawdbot

https://clawd.bot/

📊 @tech

🤖 ClawdBot trades stocks and crypto to pay for an RTX 4090

A user shared a case where ClawdBot suggested buying an RTX 4090 to improve performance. Instead of buying the GPU, the user set up Claude to trade stocks and crypto around the clock.

The system runs continuously and executes trades without manual input. The stated goal is to earn enough to cover the hardware cost.

The setup turns a performance request into an automated income loop.

📊 @tech

🎮 Doom runs on wireless earbuds with under 1 MB of RAM

Australian developer Arin Sarkisyan got Doom running on Pinebuds Pro, the only wireless earbuds with open firmware. Each earbud uses a Cortex M4F chip rated at 300 MHz, though stock firmware caps it at 100 MHz to save battery.

Bluetooth was too slow for video. The workaround was USB to UART via the earbuds’ contact pads, pushing 96 KB per frame. Memory was tighter. Doom expects at least 4 MB of RAM, while the earbuds expose under 1 MB. The game code was trimmed and assets compressed from 4.2 MB to 1.7 MB.

The result is Doom at 18 FPS over an MJPEG stream, playable through a browser connection. It runs, which is the whole point.

📊 @tech

📊 Claude lands inside Microsoft Excel for Pro users

Anthropic has встроила Claude directly into Microsoft Excel. The integration lets users work with data through plain tasks instead of writing formulas.

You can ask things like grouping customers by LTV and purchase frequency. Claude analyzes the table and returns results inside Excel. It also generates formulas for a given task, explains how they work, checks existing formulas for errors, builds pivot tables, compares periods, and flags trends or outliers.

The shift moves Excel from manual logic to intent based analysis. For Pro users, spreadsheets become a conversational interface rather than a syntax problem.

📊 @tech

📄 OpenAI launches Prism for writing research papers

OpenAI has released Prism, a collaborative LaTeX editor built on technology from its acquired startup Crixet. The tool embeds ChatGPT directly into the writing workflow.

Prism can check citations, turn sketches into LaTeX formulas or diagrams, and assist with drafting inside the editor. It is positioned as a working environment rather than a separate chat tool.

The product is free to use. Subscribers to ChatGPT are expected to get additional features later.

📊 @tech

🤖 Elon Musk says Tesla will start selling humanoid robots by end of next year

Elon Musk said Tesla plans to begin robot sales by the end of next year and stressed the timeline is firm. According to him, the humanoids already handle simple tasks at factories.

The robots are positioned for basic work and household routines like cleaning. Musk described their scope broadly, saying users will be able to ask them to do almost any task.

A test production line is already running at Tesla’s Fremont factory. Pricing is still not final, though earlier estimates were around $20,000 per unit.

📊 @tech

🌐 Chrome turns into an AI agent with Gemini integration

Google rolled out a major update that deeply integrates Gemini into Google Chrome. The browser now includes a persistent Gemini side panel that stays open across tabs and works alongside whatever page is active.

Users can compare products across sites, summarize reviews, or check availability while browsing.

Chrome also adds in-browser image transformation, connected access to Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Maps, and shopping tools, plus an auto browse mode that handles multi step tasks like price research, form filling from PDFs, or adding items to a cart with budget limits.

The update shifts Chrome from passive browsing to task execution. For now, advanced features are limited to AI Pro and Ultra subscribers in the US.

📊 @tech

🎬 xAI launches Grok Imagine API for video generation

xAI has launched the Grok Imagine API. It is a video and audio generative model. The release was announced on xAI’s official X account.

Grok Imagine can animate images, generate scenes from text prompts, and refine longer cinematic sequences. The model is offered through xAI’s video API.

xAI positions this as a high performance API built for video workloads. The focus is on turning text or images into finished video output.

The launch puts xAI directly into the video generation model category.

https://x.ai/news/grok-imagine-api

📊 @tech

✔️ AI takes over homework grading in Chinese schools

Chinese schools are increasingly using AI to check homework. Systems scan handwritten notebooks, find mistakes, and assign grades automatically.

The technology is already used in hundreds of schools in Shanghai, Beijing, and other large cities. For essays and creative tasks, teachers often adjust results because algorithms still miss nuance.

According to developers, these systems cut teacher workload by almost half. Time shifts from routine grading to direct work with students.

📊 @tech