AI cracks 18-year-old quantum computing problem

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AI cracks 18-year-old quantum computing problem LINK

• Physics research company PSI says it solved the Aaronson-Ambainis conjecture, an 18-year-old problem about when quantum computers can beat conventional ones, using an automated system that finished the proof in three days.
• The system ran on a non-public Anthropic model and produced a proof accepted by Lean, software that checks whether mathematical arguments are logically correct, before improving the proof twice to a final accepted version.
• The result has not had full independent academic review yet, though researchers at Stanford who proved a special case in August 2026 gave feedback and are preparing a shorter write-up of the full proof for other experts.

Amazon lets you text Alexa to shop LINK

• Amazon is letting a small group of invited US customers text its AI shopping agent, Alexa for Shopping, to search for products, place orders and track prices, with millions more people getting access in the coming weeks.
• Shoppers who opt in get a contact called "Alexa Shopping" that replies to texts or photos with options, buying with approval or automatically when a price hits a target, and the conversation carries over to Amazon's app, website and Alexa devices.
• The text thread is also a new spot for ads, since sponsored products can appear among the agent's suggestions, though Amazon isn't charging advertisers yet and orders the agent completes on its own carry no ads.

Fox bought Roku for $22B LINK

• Fox has wrapped up its $22 billion purchase of Roku, closing one of the biggest recent media deals far ahead of schedule and strengthening its footing in the streaming and connected TV market.
• The combined business now ranks as the third-largest television company in the U.S. by viewership, with founder Anthony Wood saying Roku's teams will keep building with Fox's backing behind them.
• Fox gains direct access to Roku's reach of more than 100 million households, which it expects to sharpen ad targeting and cut its reliance on traditional TV distribution.

Microsoft ends its Oracle AI cloud deal LINK

• Microsoft is shutting down the AI computing power it rented from Oracle, declining to renew a 2023 contract that once helped run an AI version of Bing, Bloomberg reported, sending Oracle shares down 4% yesterday.
• The rented Oracle hardware relied on older Nvidia chips that no longer matched Microsoft's specifications for its changing AI work, making the capacity less useful as the company reviewed billions of dollars in cloud deals.
• Oracle pushed back, saying demand for its AI infrastructure stays strong even for earlier GPUs, noting it renewed contracts for four-year-old chips in September at a 20% premium over their original prices.

iPhone Duo hits 100,000 optimized apps LINK

• Apple says the iPhone Duo now has more than 100,000 apps built for its foldable screen on the App Store, with thousands more arriving daily as developers catch up after a slow start at launch.
• The milestone came alongside over a dozen newly optimized apps, including Microsoft Word, Outlook, Zoom, Etsy, Goodnotes, and NBA and NHL sports apps, joining earlier ones like Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
• To get apps ready, Apple ran over 50 in-person workshops across 19 cities for more than 2,000 developers, helping them drop the black side bar that non-optimized apps show on the Duo's wider display.

AMD declares itself a 'data center first' company LINK

• AMD chief executive Lisa Su has declared the company "data center first," saying that server chips, not PC gaming, now define its identity after the segment made up about 63% of record third-quarter 2026 revenue.
• AMD's Instinct AI accelerators and Epyc server processors pushed quarterly revenue to a record $13.4 billion, up 97% from a year earlier, while gaming sales crashed 40% to $773 million as AI buildouts consumed memory and parts.
• Su said the data center business should grow 50% from the third to the fourth quarter and more than double next year, adding that AMD invests for three to five years ahead, a timeline that offers little comfort to gamers.

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Trending tools

SafetyClip: a Mac clipboard manager that saves copy history for quick search and paste, while detecting passwords and API keys and locking them behind Touch ID. LINK

Codiclens: describe what you want and it finds apps, files, or clipboard content by meaning rather than name, a free open-source Mac launcher running entirely locally. LINK

Muse Realtime Avatar: turns a reference image into a live, expressive talking avatar with facial, hand, and full-body motion for real-time conversations. LINK

Fleeep: collects your screenshots, notes, saved posts, bookmarks and tabs in one place, syncing across phone and computer with offline access. LINK

PacerTrip: aggregates 3,000+ marathons across 142 countries with entry dates, fees in your currency, signup reminders, nearby stays, and auto-translated runner communities. LINK

Standflow: a Mac menu bar timer that cycles you through sitting, standing, perching, and movement breaks, tracking posture goals with local-only data. LINK

Trending papers & reports

Office-work AI agents can be trained on just 4,000 realistic task examples built from real job files, letting a small model beat one roughly 50 times larger at producing usable work deliverables. LINK

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