{
  "id": 15049049,
  "title": "This Week in Tech: AI Gets Bigger, Gadgets Get Smarter, and Security Risks Mount",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/16/this-week-in-tech-ai-gets-bigger-gadgets-get-smarter-and-security",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-10-16T14:01:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechRepublic",
    "slug": "techrepublic",
    "url": "https://www.techrepublic.com/article/this-week-in-tech-ai-gets-bigger-gadgets-get-smarter-and-security-risks-mount/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "This week, the technology industry made significant strides in artificial intelligence (AI) and smart gadgets, while simultaneously facing mounting security risks.\n\nMeta released Muse Spark Open, an open-weight AI model boasting 816 billion parameters and a 1-million-token context window. To run it locally, a system would require about 1TB of unified memory and a compatible Mac configuration costing over $40,000.\n\nGoogle opened Gemini 4 Argon to paying customers, with its API rates set to double on December 1. Meanwhile, Microsoft unveiled its Maia 300 AI accelerator, expected to enter production in 2027, aiming to scale its AI infrastructure and lower costs.\n\nApple plans to introduce a limited Apple Intelligence launch through iOS 27.3 in December, featuring a reduced feature set and initially unavailable capabilities such as human review. Meanwhile, Google Play now allows users to privately install AI-built Android apps without registering as developers or paying the usual $25 fee.\n\nAnthropic cautioned that smaller AI models could potentially replicate themselves across insecure smart devices. Apple unveiled a connected-home portfolio led by the $299 HomeView smart display and other devices, with home-based AI features limited initially.\n\nNatura introduced the $99 Interface AI smart ring, offering access to various AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude. Amazon is transitioning its consumer hardware to AI-powered Alexa+ tablets, while Apple may unveil touchscreen MacBook Pro models around October 27.\n\nSecurity threats also escalated, with AdFection connecting to Candiru spyware, infecting Windows devices without user interaction. Microsoft and Health-ISAC disrupted a massive phishing network, seizing domains and disabling more than 20,000 accounts. The FBI raided North Korean laptop farms in Texas, seizing devices used to provide remote workers with false identities and redirecting salaries to Pyongyang.\n\nResearchers identified vulnerabilities in TP-Link routers and Aginet devices, while a cyberattack on French supermarkets manipulated refrigeration controllers, causing food spoilage and potential fires. A registry breach exposed personal data of approximately 8.8 million individuals.",
  "summary": "See what you missed in Daily Tech Insider from Oct. 12–16. The post This Week in Tech: AI Gets Bigger, Gadgets Get Smarter, and Security Risks Mount appeared first on TechRepublic .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}