Humanoid robot breaks half-marathon record, White House and Anthropic hold ‘productive’ meeting

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A humanoid robot competing against flesh-and-blood runners has broken the world record at a Beijing half-marathon, showcasing the rapid technological advancements achieved by Chinese makers. Spectators lined the roads in Yizhuang in the capital’s south on Sunday to watch the machines and their human rivals race, each group in a separate lane to avoid accidents or collisions. The winning humanoid, equipped with an autonomous navigation system and running for Chinese smartphone maker Honor, completed the roughly 21km (13-mile) course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds. See YouTube video below. Al Jazeera

The White House has said it has had a “productive and constructive” meeting with the head of artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, which is suing the US Department of Defense. The meeting comes a week after the firm released its Claude Mythos preview, an AI tool that the company claims can outperform humans at some hacking and cyber-security tasks. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei spoke to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles on Friday, Axios reports. BBC 

A British man has pleaded guilty to plotting to hack into the computer systems of 12 companies to steal at least $8m (£5.9m) in virtual currency from US victims. Tyler Buchanan, of Dundee, was involved in a group that used text message phishing attacks to con workers into revealing their login details so they could access computer systems, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) said. Buchanan, 24, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Sky News 

Apple may be offering blood sugar monitoring on your future Apple Watch if a new breakthrough is anything to go by. Scientists at MIT have released research which was able to use a light to measure blood glucose. This is not only huge news for the world of smartwatches but also for anybody with diabetes, who may have had to take invasive finger pricks for blood measurements. The MIT team used a form of Raman spectroscopy to detect glucose levels in the blood. This is done by shining near-infrared or visible light onto tissues in order to detect their chemical composition. T3.com

When it comes to deterring burglars, light is a powerful weapon. Burglars hate to be seen, especially at night when they can’t easily pretend to be working at the property or just visiting a friend. Enter the Reolink Solar Floodlight Cam. A very interestingly designed home security camera, it features two large spotlights either side of a main unit to help deter intruders. On top, there’s also a fixed solar panel for additional power. So not only can you flood your property with light if the PIR motion sensor is triggered, you also don’t have to worry about taking the device down every couple of months for recharging. Tech Radar 

For the first time ever, messages sent between iPhone and Android handsets will be end-to-end encrypted and more innovations will come onstream in due course. The encrypted messaging update is the most important change and could arrive as soon as iOS 26.5. Apple announced in the release notes for the iOS 26.4 developer beta that it was being tested, adding, “This feature is not shipping in this release and will be available to customers in future iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS 26 releases.” Forbes

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