Tech News — 2026-04-09#

Story of the Day#

John Deere has agreed to pay farmers $99 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit accusing the agricultural giant of illegally monopolizing equipment repairs,. The monumental settlement also requires the company to provide digital diagnostic tools for 10 years, a landmark win for the right-to-repair movement,.

Top Stories#

[Amazon Considers Selling Trainium AI Chips to Third Parties] · Quartz Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated in his annual shareholder letter that the company may eventually sell its Trainium AI chips directly to outside customers, rather than exclusively through AWS. The move would place Amazon in direct competition with Nvidia, capitalizing on an in-house silicon unit that is already generating over $20 billion annually,. Demand is so strong that current and future generations of the chips are already largely spoken for.

[Anthropic Loses Pentagon Appeal, Restricts Release of ‘Mythos’ Model] · CNBC A federal appeals court denied Anthropic’s emergency motion to block a Trump administration order that blacklists the company from Defense Department contracts,. Concurrently, Anthropic announced it is holding back the general release of its new, highly capable “Mythos” model over fears it could be used to write novel cybersecurity exploits. The dual developments highlight the intense regulatory and security scrutiny currently facing frontier AI labs,.

[Tesla Reverses Course, Working on Cheaper Electric SUV] · Reuters Tesla is reportedly dialing suppliers to prepare for the production of a new, smaller, and more affordable electric SUV,. The vehicle, which is distinct from the Model 3 and Model Y, is expected to be built first in China before potentially reaching other markets,. The move marks a strategic reversal for Elon Musk, who had previously scrapped a $25,000 EV project to focus exclusively on robotaxis.

[OpenAI Launches $100-a-Month ChatGPT Pro Subscription] · The Verge OpenAI introduced a $100 monthly tier for ChatGPT Pro, offering users five times more access to its Codex coding tool than the standard Plus plan,. The pricing places it directly against Anthropic’s Claude “Max” tier as both companies race to monetize heavy “vibe coding” sessions,.

[Apple Closes First Unionized US Retail Store] · Engadget Apple is permanently shuttering three retail locations this summer, including its Towson, Maryland, store, which was the first US location to successfully unionize and reach a contract agreement. Apple cited declining conditions at the shopping centers, but the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers accused the company of union-busting and is actively exploring legal options,.

Also Worth Knowing#

• [First Conviction Under US Anti-Deepfake Law] (Ars Technica): An Ohio man became the first person convicted under the Take It Down Act after using AI to generate and distribute non-consensual explicit images of women and children.
• [EFF Departs X After 20 Years] (The Verge): The Electronic Frontier Foundation is abandoning X, noting that posts today receive less than three percent of the views a single tweet delivered seven years ago,.
• [Spotify Lets Users Turn Off All Videos] (Engadget): Spotify is rolling out a universal toggle that allows users to disable all video content, including music videos and podcasts, catering to those who want a pure audio experience.
• [Volkswagen Ends US Production of the ID.4] (Ars Technica): Volkswagen is halting production of its all-electric ID.4 at its Tennessee plant to retool the assembly line for its gas-powered Atlas SUV, following a collapse in EV sales after the loss of tax credits,.
• [Google Bakes NotebookLM Into Gemini] (Engadget): Google has fully integrated its AI research tool, NotebookLM, directly into the Gemini app, allowing users to create custom knowledge bases from PDFs, YouTube videos, and URLs without leaving the chatbot,.