⚡️👀 ICYMI - The man who locked humanity behind a screen has just decided that recess is over. Jony Ive wants to kill the smartphone. The legendary iPhone designer has teamed up with Sam Altman to create the ultimate “AI companion”: a screenless pebble, packed with cameras and microphones, capable of anticipating your every need. Scheduled for release in 2027, priced at over $300. The official promise? A more “peaceful” device to free us from our addiction to screens. The irony is chilling: the guy who designed the most alienating object in modern history now claims to be weaning us off it… by selling us yet another device. And the parallel between the tech giants is fascinating. On one hand, Meta is releasing its Muse Charm: this little AI keychain tailor-made to create a new compulsive reflex in the palm of your hand. On the other, OpenAI wants us to believe that an AI can monitor us 24/7 in the background—without a screen, without friction, and without ever demanding our attention. Two worldviews, but the same conclusion: we’ve squeezed so much out of the smartphone that the tech giants are ready to sell us anything. Even the illusion of silence.

⚡️🇮🇱 NEW - Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich: Ninety percent of my time I am finance minister — that’s my business. Ten percent of my time I’m in the Defense Ministry, having fun in the West Bank.

⚡️💬 NEW - Mark Zuckerberg claims less than "one-tenth of a percent" of users have tampered with Meta's so-called "pervert glasses." The Meta CEO says the company now disables the camera if the recording light is tampered with, or even taped over. Some owners had been drilling out the light so they could film people WITHOUT them knowing.

⚡️🇩🇰‼️ NEW - Denmark says unauthorised parties accessed the names, addresses and ID-numbers of about 8.8 million people in its central population register. The country has only 6 million residents; the total includes emigrants and the dead. Attackers abused a private Danish company's lawful access to the register, abused during September. Police are investigating.

⚡️💬 NEW - OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the world should accept “some bad things happening,” in exchange for the enormous benefits of AI.

⚡️ GM - Parkour!

⚡️🚨 NEW - Polymarket reportedly failed to detect a massive $10 million fraud attempt on its U.S. platform. According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, fraudsters allegedly used stolen debit cards to fund Polymarket accounts, place bets, and then attempt to withdraw the money to “clean” cards or accounts. At one point, more than 80% of deposits processed by its payment processor, Checkout_com, were reportedly flagged as fraudulent—compared to the industry average of about 1%. The most explosive aspect concerns the internal handling of the incident. According to employees, CEO Shayne Coplan reportedly instructed the company to continue prioritizing growth despite compliance warnings, even if it meant “paying a fine” later. Polymarket disputes the claim that it ignored its obligations and asserts that it has since strengthened its anti-fraud controls and compliance management. The matter doesn’t end there: another breach that occurred in July reportedly compromised nearly 500 accounts.

⚡️👏 NEW - I don't know who's behind the @Nostrich app, but man, they're quick to respond. You can now delete your wallet—I requested this feature yesterday, and it's available today. Way to go!

⚡️🇩🇪 EOD - Germany now has an electricity plan specifically marketed at gamers. German energy provider SWK Energie launched meinGAMING, a tariff for households that use a lot of power, including people running multiple high-end gaming PCs. The plan is designed for homes using at least 2,500 kWh per year. Customers pay a higher base fee but get a lower price per kWh, which can make it cheaper for heavy users. And despite the name, you don't actually need to be a gamer. The tariff can also suit households with things like electric cars, heat pumps or other power-hungry equipment.

⚡️🇰🇷 NEW - South Korea is investing almost $900bn to rival China and the US as an AI superpower. To ensure enough home-grown talent, primary school children are taught robotics and how to code. Al Jazeera’s Jack Barton reports.

⚡️🇵🇸🇮🇱 NEW - Artificial intelligence is becoming an increasingly powerful tool in modern warfare. In Gaza, Israel has used the technology in surveillance to identify, monitor and analyse Palestinians. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum reports.

⚡️🇮🇳 ICYMI - Apple has removed Jack Dorsey’s Bitchat from the Indian App Store at the request of India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Bitchat is a decentralized messaging app that uses Bluetooth mesh networking, letting nearby people communicate without mobile networks, Wi-Fi, phone numbers, or a central server, so it can keep working during an internet shutdown. Apple’s notice says the removal was requested under Section 69A of India’s IT Act, claiming the app contains content illegal in India, but does not identify the specific content. This follows a July attempt to restrict Bitchat’s GitHub repositories. Indian authorities argued that its decentralized design could hinder lawful interception and user attribution.

⚡️🚨 WTF - An experienced crypto trader lost about $600,000… after trying to prove he was human on a fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA. A fake verification page asked him to open the Windows “Run” window, paste a command, and then press Enter. This action actually launched a malicious script directly on his computer, without even requiring him to sign a suspicious crypto transaction. The victim thus executed the command that compromised his computer himself. It’s a scam that doesn’t ask for your seed phrase or a suspicious signature… just for you to obediently follow the instructions of a fake CAPTCHA.

⚡️🤡 NEW - Elon Musk to rename SpaceXAI to SpaceXSI. "SpaceX is a super intelligence company."

⚡️🇮🇱 NEW - Netanyahu: I heard from defense officials that they need more equipment. A sixth submarine has arrived in Israel. They want more vessels and other capabilities that I do not intend to detail here. But I want to tell you one thing: in this field as well — both above and below the surface — I intend for Israel to become one of the world leaders in this type of warfare. We will protect the State of Israel from the sea as well.

⚡️🇺🇸 NEW - Trump: I am announcing the formation of the Super Intelligence Force (SIF). The Super Intelligence Force will coordinate the Federal Government's engagement with Consumers, Public Interest Groups, Religious Organizations, Critical Infrastructure Providers, and Super Intelligence Companies, and will be led by Director of National Intelligence, Jay Clayton, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, Andrew Ferguson, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, and Chief Technology Officer, Emil Michael, and Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Scott Kupor, and will report to the President of the United States (ME!), and the Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles.

⚡️‼️ NEW - Nikita Bier says he stepped down as X's head of product because "crazy people regularly show up at your house trying to hurt you or your loved ones."

⚡️🇺🇸🇰🇵 NEW - Trump on North Korea: I get along great with Kim Jong Un of North Korea. When people have 112 nuclear missiles, it's nice to get along. But here's the difference: Iran will never have a nuclear missile.

⚡️🇺🇸 NEW - Q: CEOs are basically screaming for regulation, warning of losing control of AI. Bessent: Well, then they should slow down. I mean, it’s kind of like Hannibal Lecter: stop me before I kill again.

⚡️📊 NEW - A Cornell study of 25,880 people in 25 countries confirms that Bitcoin is adopted most widely in places where the traditional financial system functions the least effectively. In El Salvador, 72.1% of respondents say they have owned Bitcoin at some point. In Venezuela, the figure is 44.4%, and in Nigeria, 44.3%. These are also countries where monetary instability, financial restrictions, or limited access to banking services drive some users to seek alternatives. The study also shows that 46.7% of people familiar with Bitcoin believe it increases their financial freedom—a figure that rises to 79.4% among those who currently own it. In Nigeria, 75.8% of respondents familiar with Bitcoin share this view, compared to only 29.5% in the United States. The study suggests that in countries where the banking and monetary systems function properly, Bitcoin is often still perceived as a speculative asset.