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2026-04-22 20:21:42

Anker has announced its own chip that can give its small, wearable products AI capabilities that run locally on device. The company is planning to debut the chip called “Thus” on a new model of headphones, slated to be unveiled at its Anker Day event on May 21.

Anker calls Thus the “first Compute-in-Memory (CIM) AI audio chip with neural networks.” The company explains that Thus is “inspired by the workings of the human brain” in that the storage and processing of information takes place in one location instead of keeping them separate, similar to how it works on modern chips for computers.

Thus integrates computing power directly into NOR flash memory cells, which provide faster read speeds than NAND memory. A NOR-based CIM system requires only a tiny space inside devices, which makes it an ideal option for small products like headphones. Anker says headphones are a particularly challenging environment to demonstrate what a new chip can do, because “hardly any other device places higher demands on an AI chip.” They have a tiny space allotted for components and operate with just a few milliwatts of power, even though they have to consistently provide noise cancellation. If the model delivers, it could be a huge advertisement for Thus, which Anker plans to put in other mobile accessories and IoT devices, as well.

While the company has yet to reveal all its upcoming headphones’ AI-powered capabilities, it did announce one particular feature. Clear Calls, as it’s called, will cancel noise “with a large neural network running entirely on the device, supported by eight MEMS microphones and two bone conduction sensors.” Anker says it will enable significantly clearer conversations even in environments that are challenging for conventional noise cancellation.

2026-04-22 18:31:30

Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, has announced the launch of custom timelines, which lets you curate what you see on your feed based on your topics of interest. He called the update “one of the biggest changes to X” and a ”huge undertaking” that took the team “many months” to develop. The feature lets you pin specific topics to your home tab, so you can switch from one to the other to see the latest discussions about your interests and hobbies.

Bier said that X’s custom timelines is “powered by Grok's understanding of every post with the algorithm's personalization.” You have 75 topics to choose from, including food, art, photography, business, finance, movies and TV. As you’d expect, the personalization aspect of the feature works better if it’s a topic you already engage with regularly. X’s new feature is similar to Bluesky’s and Threads’ custom feeds, which also allow you to pin topic-based timelines to the home screens of the apps, and which their users have been enjoying since 2023 and 2024, respectively.

At the moment, X’s custom timelines is still in its early access phase and is only available to Premium subscribers on iOS. It will be rolling out to Premium users on Android “very soon,” as well. Bier has also announced that X has released a tool to snooze topics on the For You tab. With the tool, you’ll be able to hide certain topics, such as politics or sports, for 24 hours from your feed. It’s now available for Premium users on iOS and the web.

2026-04-22 17:10:17

Anthropic is investigating potential "unauthorized access" to its Claude Mythos model that has been touted for its ability to find cybersecurity flaws, the company told Bloomberg. A group gained access to the model through a third-party contractor portal and by using internet sleuthing tools, according to the report. However, the group is only interested in trying the models and not using them maliciously, according to a person familiar with the matter. 

"We're investigating a report claiming unauthorized access to Claude Mythos Previous through one of our third-party vendor environments," Anthropic said in a statement. 

The Claude Mythos Preview arrived earlier this month as part of "Project Glasswing" with significant fanfare. Anthropic limited the preview release to a small number of trusted test companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Cisco. Another was Mozilla, which said the model helped it find and patch 271 Firefox vulnerabilities. A growing number of banks and government agencies have been seeking access as well in order to safeguard their own systems. 

However, several unauthorized users (who reportedly have a private chat on Discord), supposedly gained access to Mythos through a developer portal and by making an educated guess as to where the model might be located. That same group may also have access to other unreleased Anthropic models, according to the report. 

The new Mythos model has gained notoriety of late for its supposed ability to sniff out security flaws in operating systems and internet browsers. This has prompted some skepticism among security researchers but also fear that AI-generated cyber attacks could become a "real threat," CTO of cloud security firm Edera Alex Zenla recently told Wired. Anthropic was recently designated as a "supply chain risk" by the US Department of Defense, but has been in talks with the Trump administration of late to have that label removed. 

2026-04-22 07:21:31

SpaceX and AI company Cursor have struck a new partnership that could see the owner of X buy the AI company for $60 billion later this year. "SpaceXAI and  @cursor_ai  are now working closely together to create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI," SpaceX wrote in a post on X. 

According to SpaceX, the deal allows for it to either invest $10 billion into the company known for its AI coding tool, or acquire it entirely "later this year" for $60 billion. If an acquisition were to happen, it's not clear at what point Cursor could officially join the fold of Elon Musk's rapidly expanding and increasingly enmeshed web of companies. SpaceX bought xAI, the billionaire's AI company that also controls X, earlier this year. SpaceX is currently getting ready to go public this summer in what will likely be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in history. 

Cursor, which has reportedly been in talks to raise its own $2 billion round of funding, is known for its AI coding tool of the same name that's become the vibe coding platform of choice for many developers. It allows people to use either its own models or those from other leading AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic and xAI.

In a statement, Cursor said its partnership with SpaceX will "accelerate our model training efforts" while addressing infrastructure-related issues that have slowed it down in the past. "We've wanted to push our training efforts much further, but we've been bottlenecked by compute," the company said. "With this partnership, our team will leverage xAI's Colossus infrastructure to dramatically scale up the intelligence of our models for coding and beyond."

2026-04-22 06:43:30

Anthropic's buzzy announcement about using AI to improve cybersecurity earlier this month was met with plenty of skepticism. However, Mozilla shared some details that support use of the company's special Claude Mythos Preview model as a way to protect critical services. Using Mythos helped Mozilla's team find and patch 271 vulnerabilities in the latest release of the Firefox browser. "So far we’ve found no category or complexity of vulnerability that humans can find that this model can’t," the foundation said.

The blog post from Mozilla feels like a positive sign for Anthropic's Project Glasswing. Obviously the AI company would want to put itself in the best possible light while presenting its own initiative, but there's something encouraging about hearing the benefits from a third party. Mozilla also noted that in its time with Claude Mythos, the AI wasn't able to turn up any bugs that a human wouldn't have been able to find, given enough time and resources, which indicates that AI isn't presently able to do more to crack cybersecurity protections than a person can.

An organizaion successfully using AI for good is certainly a refreshing change of pace in tech news. And for those Firefox users who aren't personally interested in applying any generative AI in their browsing, Mozilla has given the option to turn it all off for the past several months.

2026-04-22 05:06:51

Cash App, the banking and payments app run by Block, has added support for parent-managed kids accounts. The new accounts include key benefits from the service's normal account, with an eye towards teaching financial literacy to younger users ages 6 to 12. Cash App first allowed teenage users on its platform in 2021.

As part of the "expanded Cash App Families experience," eligible legal guardians and parents can create managed accounts that offer "a dedicated place on the platform to send allowances, set aside savings, and track spending for their child, kickstarting their path to financial independence," Cash App says. Adults managing these accounts will be able to set up recurring transfers, see how their child is spending and do things like lock their child's account to prevent transactions. Kids will get a custom debit card and the ability to receive payments from up to five trusted accounts, though notably they won't be able to access Cash App itself.

Cash App says managed accounts are designed for kids 6 through 12. Once those kids turn 13, Cash App says parents will be able to choose to convert their account to a "sponsored account" to unlock more features, like the ability to send and receive payments, invest in stocks or trade crypto. Those sponsored accounts are technically still monitored and controlled by a parent or legal guardian, but they do give 13-year-olds more control over how they use their money.

A parent-managed account for kids is not a new idea in the fintech space, though Cash App is trying to reach a younger audience than some of its competitors. Venmo rolled out access to its payment platform to teens between the ages of 13 to 17 in 2023. Separately, both Apple and Google also offer their own kids accounts in Google Wallet and Apple Cash Family.