Tech News — 2026-03-22#

Story of the Day#

Elon Musk just dropped a $20 billion bombshell: “Terafab,” a massive new chip fabrication plant in Austin, Texas, jointly run by Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. The facility aims to churn out terrestrial chips for robotics alongside ultra-durable chips for space-based AI data centers, reflecting Musk’s frantic bid to secure raw computing power as the industry’s hardware crunch deepens.

Top Stories#

California Takes Aim at Big Tech’s ‘Self-Preferencing’ · Slashdot California introduced the BASED Act, a bill explicitly designed to prevent digital platforms worth over $1 trillion from favoring their own products. Backed by Y Combinator and Fight for the Future, the legislation directly targets the anticompetitive nudges and rigged search results deployed by giants like Apple, Amazon, Google, and Meta. If passed, it could forcibly level the playing field for AI startups and mandate data portability for consumers.

Google Search is Quietly Using AI to Rewrite Headlines · Slashdot Google has started experimenting with replacing original publisher headlines in its traditional “10 blue links” with AI-generated alternatives. The automated rewrites have already been caught altering the meaning of stories, essentially putting words in the mouths of journalists without their consent. Google claims this is just a “narrow” test and that a full launch wouldn’t use generative models, but it sets a terrifying precedent for publishers already squeezed by AI search summaries.

Apple Temporarily Blocks ‘Vibe Coding’ Apps · Slashdot Apple temporarily halted updates for popular AI coding apps like Replit and Vibecode, taking issue with how they use in-app web views to run user-generated applications natively. By allowing users to create and execute mini-apps on the fly, these platforms essentially bypass the App Store’s strict safety and design review processes. Apple is now forcing developers to push these vibe-coded creations out to external web browsers to comply with its draconian marketplace rules.

Waymo’s Safety Protocols Trap Passengers During Attack · Slashdot A terrifying incident in San Francisco highlights a glaring flaw in robotaxi safety logic: a Waymo passenger was trapped for six minutes while a man attacked the vehicle, threatening to kill the occupants. Because Waymo’s software forces the car to freeze when a pedestrian is near and locks the doors, passengers become sitting ducks for anti-robot vigilantes. The company currently refuses to allow remote operators to manually drive the car away in these hostile situations, leaving riders helplessly stuck.

The Unsurvivable Collapse of Cable TV · Slashdot The US cable industry is officially in freefall, with over 50 regional operators expected to shut down or transition entirely to internet service provision this year. With traditional pay-TV households plummeting to roughly half of the country, smaller companies are tapping out and pointing customers to YouTube TV, which is projected to hit 12.6 million subscribers by the end of 2026.

Samsung Bridges the Walled Garden with AirDrop Support · CNET In a massive win for cross-platform interoperability, Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 lineup will officially support Apple’s AirDrop. Following a similar move with the Pixel 10, the integration will roll out to the S26 this week and expand to other Galaxy devices later, finally chipping away at one of iOS’s stickiest ecosystem lock-ins.

Cursor Built Its New Model on China’s Kimi · TechCrunch The wildly popular AI coding assistant Cursor admitted that its latest model is built on top of Kimi, an AI system developed by Chinese startup Moonshot AI. Relying on a Chinese foundation model introduces significant geopolitical and security friction, raising serious questions for enterprise developers who trust Cursor with their proprietary codebases.

Also Worth Knowing#

• Amazon Tests Four-Legged Delivery Robots (Slashdot): Amazon acquired Swiss robotics firm Rivr to test four-legged wheeled robots that can autonomously carry packages from delivery vans directly to customer doorsteps.
• Crimson Desert Devs Apologize for AI Slop (Engadget): Following player backlash, Pearl Abyss admitted to “unintentionally” leaving experimental AI-generated 2D assets in the final release of its RPG Crimson Desert, promising to patch them out in future updates.
• SEC Drops Faraday Future Probe (TechCrunch): After four grueling years of subpoenas and depositions, the SEC has officially dropped its investigation into the perpetually beleaguered EV startup Faraday Future.
• Deep Ocean Mining Gets Real (Ars Technica): The Metals Company and various state-backed enterprises are pushing forward to commercialize deep-sea mining, looking to deploy massive robotic tractors to hoover up millions of tons of battery-critical minerals from the ocean floor.