Rakuten Pay’s 10% Grocery Push Adds 8.5 Percentage Points Above Base Rewards
Rakuten Pay will lift code-payment rewards to 10% at participating supermarkets and drugstores on five Sundays.
Samsung’s Wide View OLED Targets Foldable Phones’ Brightness Gap
Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics, has shown a 7.6-inch OLED designed to keep foldable screens bright near the bend. The Wide View Display made its debut at IMID 2026 in
Riot shuts down 2XKO development, will refund all purchases after weak retention
Riot Games plans to stop active work on 2XKO in December, after saying the free-to-play fighting game hasn’t kept enough players to justify more support.
Genesis GV90 Launches With 310-Mile Range, Coach Doors
Genesis, Hyundai Motor’s luxury arm, rolled out the production GV90 electric SUV, which delivers 657 horsepower and a range the company pegs at 310 miles. The Neolun trim swaps out fixed center pillars for reverse-hinged coach doors. The company hasn’t released pricing.
Boltt Ace 5G and Evo 4G Pair Clean Android 16 With Two-Year Security Support
Boltt has disclosed a clean-Android strategy for its first smartphones. The Ace 5G and Evo 4G will run Android 16 without preloaded third-party apps. Both receive two years of security updates.
CMF Buds Neo Priced at ₹1,999; ₹100 Difference Tests Battery, ANC Cuts
CMF put its Buds Neo earphones on sale in India Thursday, pricing them at ₹1,999. The buds are advertised with 35-decibel active noise cancellation and a total playback time of 52 hours. Sales start August 26.
iQOO Z11 Priced from ₹34,999, Upgrades Cost ₹15,000 More
iQOO rolled out its Z11 5G in India on Thursday, pricing it at ₹34,999. The device features a 144Hz curved AMOLED display and packs a 7,050mAh battery. Sales begin August 25.
Ant’s Falcon TST 2.0 hits six banks, claims 60% FX savings
Ant International rolled out its Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0 on Thursday. Six major banks are working with Ant on the new forecasting tool. The company said the forecasts can cut foreign-exchange hedging and allocation costs by over 60%.
Stripe’s OpenRouter Deal Brings 10 Trillion Daily AI Tokens Into Its Billing Stack
Stripe agreed to buy OpenRouter, placing a fast-growing AI gateway inside its payments and billing business. The companies did not disclose the transaction price.
Amazon Targets 500 U.S. Drone-Delivery Locales as Permitting Test Looms
Amazon.com plans to offer drone delivery across about 500 U.S. locales by year-end. The expansion would move Prime Air far beyond its current 11-location footprint.
Ant’s Falcon TST 2.0 hits six banks, claims 60% FX savings
Ant International rolled out its Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0 on Thursday. Six major banks are working with Ant on the new forecasting tool. The company said the forecasts can cut foreign-exchange hedging and allocation costs by over 60%.
Stripe’s OpenRouter Deal Brings 10 Trillion Daily AI Tokens Into Its Billing Stack
Stripe agreed to buy OpenRouter, placing a fast-growing AI gateway inside its payments and billing business. The companies did not disclose the transaction price.
Amazon Targets 500 U.S. Drone-Delivery Locales as Permitting Test Looms
Amazon.com plans to offer drone delivery across about 500 U.S. locales by year-end. The expansion would move Prime Air far beyond its current 11-location footprint.
Samsung Raises Advanced Chip Prices Up to 15% as AI Demand Fills Capacity
SEOUL, August 20, 2026, 09:08 KST — Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some advanced contract-chip orders by up to 15%. AI demand has filled key production lines and restored pricing power to a foundry business that has lost money since 2022.
Waymo Lets San Francisco Users Book Ojai Robotaxis With Gemini Assistant Inside
SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, 2026, 14:12 PDT — Alphabet's Waymo opened up its Ojai robotaxi for any rider in San Francisco on Wednesday. The new model gives passengers more space and a Gemini AI assistant for in-car controls and questions.
Unitree’s 460% IPO Surge Prices Robot Maker Near 200 Times Sales
Unitree Robotics closed 460% above its offer price in its Shanghai debut. The surge valued the humanoid robot maker near $50 billion.
Rakuten Pay’s 10% Grocery Push Adds 8.5 Percentage Points Above Base Rewards
Rakuten Pay will lift code-payment rewards to 10% at participating supermarkets and drugstores on five Sundays. The offer spans 26 retail groups and begins August 30. Yet only 8.5 percentage points are incremental for users who already earn the service’s maximum 1.5% payment reward.
Samsung’s Wide View OLED Targets Foldable Phones’ Brightness Gap
Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics, has shown a 7.6-inch OLED designed to keep foldable screens bright near the bend. The Wide View Display made its debut at IMID 2026 in Busan, which ended Friday.
Unitree’s $50 Billion Valuation Comes Before Humanoid Software Release
Unitree has built up a market cap near $40 billion, but its CEO says humanoid software is still far off from where it needs to be. That shortfall is now at the center of the industry's main public trial.
Origin Energy Breach Exposed Full Bank Numbers for 60 Customers
Origin Energy said full bank account numbers for about 60 customers were accessed during its July data breach. Another 100 customers had an identity-document number accessed. The findings sharpen the risk inside an incident affecting roughly 900,000 people.
Erste Bank Pitches Spark7 LED Card for Youth, Focuses on Contactless Tech
Erste Bank and Sparkassen, both under Erste Group Bank, started offering a limited-edition spark7 debit card this week. The card features an LED that lights up for contactless payments. The group calls it the first illuminated debit card in Austria.
The Duskbloods Test Opens Today, Putting FromSoftware’s Non-Combat Scoring Bet on Trial
TOKYO, August 21, 2026, 12:16 JST — FromSoftware will open its first public test of The Duskbloods at 19:00 JST Friday. The five-session trial gives selected Nintendo Co. Switch 2 owners 20 hours of access.
Riot shuts down 2XKO development, will refund all purchases after weak retention
Riot Games plans to stop active work on 2XKO in December, after saying the free-to-play fighting game hasn’t kept enough players to justify more support.
Genesis GV90 Launches With 310-Mile Range, Coach Doors
Genesis, Hyundai Motor’s luxury arm, rolled out the production GV90 electric SUV, which delivers 657 horsepower and a range the company pegs at 310 miles. The Neolun trim swaps out fixed center pillars for reverse-hinged coach doors. The company hasn’t released pricing.
Boltt Ace 5G and Evo 4G Pair Clean Android 16 With Two-Year Security Support
Boltt has disclosed a clean-Android strategy for its first smartphones. The Ace 5G and Evo 4G will run Android 16 without preloaded third-party apps. Both receive two years of security updates.
CMF Buds Neo Priced at ₹1,999; ₹100 Difference Tests Battery, ANC Cuts
CMF put its Buds Neo earphones on sale in India Thursday, pricing them at ₹1,999. The buds are advertised with 35-decibel active noise cancellation and a total playback time of 52 hours. Sales start August 26.
iQOO Z11 Priced from ₹34,999, Upgrades Cost ₹15,000 More
iQOO rolled out its Z11 5G in India on Thursday, pricing it at ₹34,999. The device features a 144Hz curved AMOLED display and packs a 7,050mAh battery. Sales begin August 25.
Ant’s Falcon TST 2.0 hits six banks, claims 60% FX savings
Ant International rolled out its Falcon Time-Series Transformer Model 2.0 on Thursday. Six major banks are working with Ant on the new forecasting tool. The company said the forecasts can cut foreign-exchange hedging and allocation costs by over 60%.
Stripe’s OpenRouter Deal Brings 10 Trillion Daily AI Tokens Into Its Billing Stack
Stripe agreed to buy OpenRouter, placing a fast-growing AI gateway inside its payments and billing business. The companies did not disclose the transaction price.
Amazon Targets 500 U.S. Drone-Delivery Locales as Permitting Test Looms
Amazon.com plans to offer drone delivery across about 500 U.S. locales by year-end. The expansion would move Prime Air far beyond its current 11-location footprint.
Samsung Raises Advanced Chip Prices Up to 15% as AI Demand Fills Capacity
SEOUL, August 20, 2026, 09:08 KST — Samsung Electronics has raised prices for some advanced contract-chip orders by up to 15%. AI demand has filled key production lines and restored pricing power to a foundry business that has lost money since 2022.
Waymo Lets San Francisco Users Book Ojai Robotaxis With Gemini Assistant Inside
SAN FRANCISCO, August 19, 2026, 14:12 PDT — Alphabet's Waymo opened up its Ojai robotaxi for any rider in San Francisco on Wednesday. The new model gives passengers more space and a Gemini AI assistant for in-car controls and questions.
Unitree’s 460% IPO Surge Prices Robot Maker Near 200 Times Sales
Unitree Robotics closed 460% above its offer price in its Shanghai debut. The surge valued the humanoid robot maker near $50 billion.
Google’s $10 Million Spirit Data Deal Delayed Over Employee Privacy Risk
A U.S. bankruptcy court delayed approval of Google’s proposed $10 million purchase of Spirit Airlines’ internal data. The September 9 hearing will follow a union challenge over employee privacy.
Tecno Pova 8 Pro 5G Debuts in India at ₹49,999, Sales Start August 21
NEW DELHI, August 18, 2026, 16:02 IST — Tecno, a smartphone brand under Shenzhen Transsion Holdings, priced the new Pova 8 Pro 5G at ₹49,999 for India. The phone goes on sale August 21 on Flipkart and in retail shops.
Cerebras CS-4 Packs Six Times CS-3 Compute Into a New AI Rack
SAN FRANCISCO, August 18, 2026, 20:13 PDT — Cerebras Systems unveiled the CS-4, a three-wafer AI rack delivering 750 sparse-FP16 petaflops. First shipments are scheduled this quarter.