Tech News — 2026-05-11#

Story of the Day#

Google’s Threat Intelligence Group has successfully identified and halted the first known instance of a zero-day exploit developed with the assistance of artificial intelligence. The vulnerability, intended for a mass exploitation event to bypass two-factor authentication, marks a critical inflection point in the cyber arms race where AI is weaponized to scale sophisticated attacks.

Top Stories#

[End-to-End Encrypted RCS Finally Arrives for iOS and Android] · Google Blog Apple’s iOS 26.5 update has begun rolling out support for end-to-end encrypted RCS messaging with Android users in beta. The feature, denoted by a new padlock icon in the Messages app, ensures cross-platform chats are secured by default and puts green-bubble conversations on par with iMessage privacy. This rollout represents the culmination of a long-fought battle by Google to force Apple into modernizing its interoperable messaging standards.

[AI Chipmaker Cerebras Targets $4.8B in Upsized IPO] · Bloomberg Cerebras Systems is increasing the size and price of its initial public offering to raise up to $4.8 billion amid soaring demand for AI hardware. The company’s unique wafer-scale architecture offers dramatically higher memory bandwidth than Nvidia’s H100, positioning it as a potent, albeit specialized, alternative for rapid AI inference tasks. As the industry shifts from training massive models to deploying complex agentic inference workflows, Cerebras is banking on its blisteringly fast token generation to carve out a massive slice of Nvidia’s pie.

[Anthropic’s ‘Mythos’ Bug-Hunter Deemed a Marketing Stunt] · Slashdot Despite the heavy hype surrounding Anthropic’s security-focused AI model, Mythos, cURL creator Daniel Stenberg says the tool only found a single, low-severity vulnerability in the project’s codebase. Stenberg dismissed the model’s capabilities as overblown, noting that it surfaced false positives and simple bugs rather than advanced security flaws, calling the entire endeavor an “amazingly successful marketing stunt”. The lackluster results raise questions about the immediate efficacy of using large language models to reliably audit critical open-source infrastructure.

[Bambu Lab Legal Threats Kill Open-Source 3D Printing Project] · Slashdot The developer behind OrcaSlicer, a popular open-source fork of Bambu Lab’s 3D printer slicing software, has shuttered the project following cease-and-desist threats from the hardware maker. Bambu Lab accused the developer of reverse-engineering its software to bypass its cloud middleware by spoofing client metadata. The shutdown has sparked outrage from right-to-repair advocates, highlighting the growing friction between open-source communities and hardware vendors fiercely guarding their cloud ecosystems.

[Texas Sues Netflix Over Unconsented Data Collection and “Spying”] · The Verge Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against Netflix, alleging the streaming giant illegally collects user data, including information from children, without consent to sell for profit. The suit further claims that Netflix utilizes manipulative design tactics to make its platform addictive. This aggressive legal move signals a potential escalation in state-level crackdowns on how major entertainment platforms harvest and monetize viewer habits.

[TikTok Tests Ad-Free Subscriptions to Dodge EU Privacy Laws] · The Verge TikTok is preparing to launch a £3.99 per month ad-free tier for users over 18 in the UK. This “pay or consent” model is a direct response to stringent data privacy laws like GDPR, which prohibit social media companies from harvesting personal data for targeted advertising without explicit user consent. By offering a paid opt-out, TikTok is attempting to safeguard its lucrative European operations while shifting the cost of privacy directly onto its users.

Also Worth Knowing#

• [Venmo Defaults to Private Transactions] (The Verge): Venmo is testing a major redesign that sets new users’ payment posts to be visible only to friends by default, abandoning its long-standing, privacy-hostile public feed.
• [Logitech’s Foldable Mouse Leaks] (The Verge): Leaked marketing images reveal Logitech is developing a wireless, travel-friendly mouse that folds completely in half, resembling a classic flip phone.
• [PS3 Emulator Devs Reject “AI Slop”] (Slashdot): The development team behind the open-source PS3 emulator RPCS3 has publicly pleaded with contributors to stop submitting low-quality, AI-generated pull requests that clutter their GitHub repository.
• [Forza Horizon 6 Leaks Weeks Early] (The Verge): Microsoft accidentally uploaded a 150GB unencrypted preload build of Forza Horizon 6 to Steam, leading to immediate piracy and online cracks well ahead of its official launch.
• [Discord Adds Xbox Game Pass to Nitro] (The Verge): Discord’s new Nitro Rewards program now includes a free “starter edition” of Xbox Game Pass, granting subscribers access to over 50 games and cloud streaming.