Google expands Gemini Enterprise AI platform for law firms, lawyers | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/business/google-expands-gemini-ai-platform-law-firms-lawyers-2026-08-25/

US consumer confidence slides again | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-inflation-economy-gas-prices-8fdcfa56f35b9eac2399fe1d167f8fbd

Meta to pay 47 states up to $17.1B in landmark child safety settlement • Kansas Reflector
https://kansasreflector.com/2026/08/26/repub/meta-to-pay-47-states-up-to-17-1b-in-landmark-child-safety-settlement/

>$17.1B

Not enough to sting.

"The lawsuit settlement news broke before the market opened, causing the stock to gap up and spike 4% in pre-market trading..."

>sting

I started to add a very similar comment.  The state AGs are suspender-snapping and doing lots of "we did a great job" political posturing now.

How many OnlyFans millionaires are there? | Mashable
https://mashable.com/life/onlyfans-millionaires-financial-report

FBI Disrupts Chinese Proxy Tools Used in Mass Hacking of US Agencies and Infrastructure | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/fbi-disrupts-chinese-proxy-tools-used-in-mass-hacking-of-us-agencies-and-infrastructure/

California plug-in solar bill earns approval of both legislative houses - pv magazine Global
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/08/26/california-plug-in-solar-bill-sb-868-earns-approval-of-both-legislative-houses-nears-governors-desk/

TLDR; Mechanical Turk
Amazon Putting End to Service It Has Offered for 21 Years
https://www.newser.com/story/395311/amazon-putting-end-to-service-it-has-offered-for-21-years.html

^{Florida smells money.}
Meta settles states' child-safety claims for $18B; Florida rejects deal as "peanuts" - Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/08/meta-settles-states-child-safety-claims-for-18b-florida-rejects-deal-as-peanuts/

Brief independent investigation of agents' behavior, reasoning and collaboration in the OpenAI / Hugging Face hacking incident - METR
https://metr.org/blog/2026-08-26-openai-hugging-face-incident-investigation/

CoMaps: The Offline App That Guided Rescuers Without a Signal in the Venezuela Response - HOT Website
https://hotosm.org/en/news/comaps-the-offline-app-that-guided-rescuers-without-a-signal-in-the-venezuela-response/

FDA Approves First in Class Targeted Therapy for Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer | FDA
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-class-targeted-therapy-metastatic-pancreatic-cancer

Taylor Farms: How One Company's Reach Became a National Risk
https://farmaction.us/taylorfarmsreport/

^{Gates has been reading th3core again...}

In an hourlong interview, he said his industry was downplaying the risks, which he believes include mass unemployment and bioterrorism.

Bill Gates Is Warning That A.I. Is More Dangerous Than Big Tech Will Admit - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/26/technology/bill-gates-ai-risks.html

If you haven't seen the flood videos:

There is no chance anyone in the top video survived. Unbelievable wall of water. Some reports 270ft. above normal river level. It looks like that was instant.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1042667471962683

Satellite views indicate an ice dam from melting glaciers formed, jammed, backed up the river, then gave way.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c6y8mjmnpxv0t

update: ice & rock slide
Satellite Images Reveal Possible Cause Behind Devastating Nepal Flash Floods
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/satellite-images-reveal-possible-cause-behind-devastating-nepal-flash-floods-11962416

Nearly 100 Local Governments Cancel Flock Cameras
https://www.mediaite.com/crime/nearly-100-local-governments-across-u-s-have-turned-off-their-flock-cameras-amid-growing-backlash/

Plug-in Balcony Solar panels now legal in the UK - pv magazine Global
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/08/26/plug-in-solar-panels-now-legal-in-the-uk/