Month: October 2026

Valor Mortis gets October 13 launch date: coming to Game Pass day one

One More Level’s first-person dark action RPG Valor Mortis is now set for October 13, 2026. It was previously slated for September 24, but the team pushed it back to steer clear of a packed release window. The game comes from One More Level, the studio behind Ghostrunner, along with publisher Lyrical Games. It’s still due out this year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, and it’ll hit Xbox Game Pass on day one. No word yet on a global unlock time.

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The game takes place in an alternate Napoleonic Europe and puts you in the boots of William, a resurrected soldier who’s been infected by the plague tearing through the continent. As he digs into the conspiracy behind it all, Napoleon starts showing up in his mind. Combat blends stamina-based melee, muskets, and supernatural Transmutations that cover offense, defense, and traversal. You’ve also got parries, dodges, dashes, finishers, parkour, and non-linear Metroidvania-style exploration in the mix. Early previews have pointed to the game’s oppressive atmosphere and its unusual first-person soulslike approach, though some hands-on impressions also mention uneven difficulty, clunky animations, and technical hiccups.

If you’re after a darker, weirder take on the soulslike formula, Valor Mortis seems like one to keep on your list. The standard edition is priced at $39.99, while the $59.99 deluxe edition throws in future cosmetic bundles and a story expansion. You’ll be able to pick up Valor Mortis on October 13 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, or just jump in through Xbox Game Pass.

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Daiichi Kosho confirms supply chain breach: 8.72 million users may be exposed

Daiichi Kosho has disclosed a large data breach that may have exposed the personal information of about 8.72 million people in Japan.

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The company says the incident could affect roughly 8.63 million customers and about 93,000 employees. It started with malware on a contractor’s computer at Nippon Columbia Group, not inside Daiichi Kosho’s own systems, so this appears to be a supply chain attack.

The data that may have been exposed includes names, genders, dates of birth, email addresses, and phone numbers. Reports say passwords and credit card details were not compromised. Even so, information like this can still be used in phishing attempts by email, text message, or phone call.

If you use Daiichi Kosho services, you should read the disclosure. Attacks involving vendors and contractors are becoming more common, and third-party breaches are part of what’s pushing the average global breach cost to a record $4.99 million in 2026, according to industry reports. Recent incidents at Lawson, JR East, and Bookoff Group Holdings also show the pressure on Japanese companies to tighten vendor checks and keep closer watch on subcontractors.

You can find the company’s official disclosure through Daiichi Kosho’s official channels. If you may be affected, be extra careful with unexpected messages or calls asking for personal details, login information, or urgent action.

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Nvidia in talks for Reflection AI: acquisition, acqui-hire or compute

Nvidia is said to be in early talks with Reflection AI, a startup founded in 2024. The discussion reportedly covers a few paths: a full acquisition, a larger investment, or more compute. Nothing is locked in, and the whole thing could still fall apart.

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One structure that’s been floated is an acqui-hire. In that setup, Nvidia would bring the Reflection AI team onboard and license the company’s technology instead of buying the company outright, which could mean less regulatory hassle.

Nvidia has reportedly already put about $800 million into Reflection AI. The startup was recently out raising at a pre-money valuation of roughly $25 billion.

Reflection AI was started by former Google DeepMind researchers Misha Laskin and Ioannis Antonoglou. The company is focused on open-weight models. Its first model, Beam, is aimed at coding and agent-style work, and it launched on 5 October.

This one matters if you keep an eye on AI dealmaking. Nvidia reportedly wants more sway higher up the stack, across software, tools, and models. It’s also been tied to a possible $12.93 billion acquisition of Hugging Face, along with a licensing deal involving Groq. And inside that broader push, Reflection AI is reportedly seen as a US answer to DeepSeek, a view the Trump administration also favors.

There’s another wrinkle. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating Groq, so a straight takeover of Reflection AI would probably face more scrutiny than an acqui-hire, a licensing agreement, or a bigger investment.

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Beam is available now.

Yandex loses a third data center in four days: 80+ services disrupted

Yandex said on October 11 that a drone strike had damaged its data-center facility in Vladimir. For the Russian internet and cloud company, it was the third data-center outage in four days.

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The October 11 hit came after strikes on Yandex’s Sasovo and Kaluga sites on October 8 and 9. That left 3 of Yandex’s 5 main sites disabled and, according to reports, disrupted more than 80 services, including Yandex Cloud, Alice, Yandex Music, ride-hailing, Russian Railways, and MegaFon.

Yandex said the Vladimir site’s core infrastructure was damaged. No casualties were reported, but nearby residents were evacuated after a fire. The loss matters for another reason: the Sasovo site reportedly housed 2 of YandexGPT’s 3 supercomputers, and Vladimir hosted the third.

If you use Yandex’s cloud or apps, keep an eye on this: rival cloud providers are reportedly helping customers move data and apps, Yandex reportedly added drone and missile attacks to its force-majeure terms, and the company reportedly removed data-center location details from its maps.

After the Kaluga strike, shares fell more than 4%, and reported traffic also dropped, with Russian bot traffic at 0.4% of a peak. Ukraine said the Kaluga strike was retaliation after earlier Russian attacks reportedly disrupted internet service for 100,000 Ukrainian homes. That makes clear these sites are strategic targets, and full recovery could take longer than restoring service.

Yandex services are still accessible on web, mobile, and cloud platforms, though availability may vary.

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EU and China reach hybrid-car curb: exports to Europe set to slow

The European Union and China have struck a provisional agreement on imports of Chinese hybrids and plug-in hybrids, adding a new check on how many of those vehicles can come into Europe.

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EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said the deal could cut projected Chinese hybrid exports to the bloc by more than half over the next four years and keep “several million” vehicles out of the market. Even so, there’s still no formal public text, no start date, and no clear enforcement detail yet.

This comes after the EU’s 2024 tariffs on Chinese battery EVs. Chinese brands responded by pushing much harder into hybrids: their share in the EU climbed from 2% in 2024 to 14% of hybrids and 25% of plug-in hybrids in the first half of 2026. Export volumes surged too, up 179% for plug-in hybrids and 142% for full hybrids in 2026.

Analysts think the final mechanism will probably be a World Trade Organization-compliant tariff-rate quota, somewhere around 350,000 to 400,000 vehicles a year, compared with the roughly 800,000 that would otherwise have been expected in 2026. Imports may still rise. Just not as fast.

Under the provisional agreement, China also agreed to lower tariffs on nearly €4 billion worth of EU goods and relax rare earth licensing. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders still need to sign off, and more talks are scheduled for January and March. Beijing, carmakers, and trade lawyers are all still sizing up the risk of a broader trade fight, along with possible World Trade Organization complications. If you follow Europe’s car market, keep an eye on this.

For the latest details, check the European Commission’s public trade statements.

The Firm is now streaming on Paramount+: Tom Cruise’s hit returns

The Firm, Sydney Pollack’s 1993 take on John Grisham’s novel, is streaming on Paramount+ now, which makes this a good time to revisit a legal thriller that still plays 33 years after it came out. Tom Cruise is right at that early-movie-star peak as Harvard grad Mitch McDeere, who thinks he’s landed his dream job at a wealthy Memphis law firm. Then the suspicious deaths start piling up, the FBI starts pressing him, and the firm’s criminal underbelly comes into focus. Watching Cruise shift from confidence to paranoia is still one of the big reasons the movie works.

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Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Holly Hunter, Ed Harris, and Hal Holbrook give The Firm more heft than a standard potboiler. Its blend of conspiracy suspense, fraudulent billing, attorney ethics, and institutional corruption still feels current. And the box office story holds up too: according to Box Office Mojo, the film made $270 million worldwide on a $42 million budget and ended up as 1993’s top-grossing R-rated release.

If you like legal thrillers, this is an easy one to pick up, especially with recent interest boosted by the 2023 30th Anniversary 4K edition and John Grisham’s sequel novel The Exchange. The film is on Paramount+, and it may also be available on Hulu or Philo depending on your region and subscription. If not, you can rent or buy it through digital storefronts, including Apple TV.

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Blade Runner 2049 is now on Prime Video: ahead of Blade Runner 2099

Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve’s 2017 follow-up, is now on Prime Video in the U.S. It left Paramount+ on November 1, 2026, and the move gives Amazon one of the franchise’s biggest titles just a few weeks before Blade Runner 2099 premieres as a limited series on Prime Video on November 25.

That timing doesn’t feel random. It looks a lot more like franchise setup than a standard licensing move, especially since Blade Runner 2099 takes place after the events of Blade Runner 2049. Ridley Scott is attached as an executive producer, and Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer lead the cast.

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Villeneuve’s sequel stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Dave Bautista, Ana de Armas, and Robin Wright, so Prime Video is picking up a legacy sequel that was widely praised for its striking visuals, its meditative tone, and the way it expands on Ridley Scott’s 1982 original. Blade Runner 2049 holds an 88% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, made about $259 million against a reported $150 million to $185 million budget, and still came away with five Oscar nominations, winning Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards.

If you want to catch up before Blade Runner 2099 arrives, Blade Runner 2049 is well worth revisiting, even with Ridley Scott calling it “too long” and dismissing Alien: Romulus as merely “okay,” despite both movies landing better with critics and audiences than most of his recent work. The main commercial exception is the more expensive Gladiator II.

You can stream Blade Runner 2049 on Prime Video now.

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Everything that has leaked from Apple: HomeView, Apple TV 4K, and a HomePod mini we weren’t expecting

With just one day to go until the “Welcome home” event on October 13, the latest leaks leave little room for surprises. After months of following Apple’s push into the smart home, we’re looking at a new HomeView and a refresh of the Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini that will be integrated into a much broader ecosystem around Siri AI.

HomeView will be the hub of the home

According to the rumors, the big star of tomorrow’s event will be HomeView. As Bloomberg reports, it will feature an A18 chip, a touchscreen, and Siri AI as the main way to interact. It will arrive in a tabletop version with a metal base with an integrated speaker (with better audio than the HomePod mini’s, apparently) and in another version designed for the wall.

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Apple will accompany HomeView with various accessories developed together with LG and Schneider Electric, including cameras, locks, thermostats, and sensors. An expansion that will make HomeView go beyond the smart-home features we’re used to.

Apple TV 4K and HomePod mini level up

The new Apple TV 4K will debut an A19 chip with 8 GB of memory and support for Siri AI. Apple has also tested adding built-in microphones and a Siri Remote with a speaker to locate it more easily, although it isn’t clear whether these two improvements will make it into this generation.

The HomePod mini will move from the S5 to the S10 from the Apple Watch Series 10 and will also be ready for Siri AI. A much bigger hardware upgrade than expected for this device, which will arrive in green, pink, blue, white, and midnight.

Apple will present the three products tomorrow, October 13 and, as far as we know, the Apple TV 4K and the HomePod mini will arrive on October 30, while HomeView is expected in mid-November.

Microsoft updates its AI push with “Super Intelligence”: against OpenAI and Anthropic

Microsoft has changed how it talks about AI. The company is now using “Super Intelligence” branding and putting more weight on model controls after a late-September 2026 directive from the Trump administration, although Microsoft hasn’t said the order is what prompted the change. Satya Nadella says Microsoft is swapping out older industry language for the new term, and he wants enterprises to treat top AI models less like neutral tools and more like possible insider threats: systems that can fail, drift, or be manipulated even when nobody is acting with obvious malicious intent.

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In Nadella’s version of that idea, models shouldn’t get broad access on their own. They should have tight permissions and sit inside a setup built around multiple models, full logging, independent audits, human kill switches, and governance that gives you confidence in the system as a whole, not just in one model. That framing also gives Microsoft room to sell Azure and the rest of its software stack as an alternative to OpenAI and Anthropic, while it develops its own MAI models and argues for a multi-model approach that’s cheaper and easier to align with compliance requirements.

If you’re deploying AI inside an enterprise, this is something to keep an eye on. The case gets stronger with backing from security figures such as Box CEO Aaron Levie, the creation of a new Washington Super Intelligence Force, new voluntary safety pledges, and recent reports describing unintended behavior in systems from OpenAI and Anthropic.

You buy into that Microsoft strategy through Azure and the company’s broader software platform.

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Tesla renames Full Self-Driving in Europe: Assisted Driving appears on EU sites

German officials say Tesla has renamed Full Self-Driving in Europe to Tesla Assisted Driving after September 2026 talks with Germany’s transport minister, Steffen Bilger, and pressure from Germany’s Transport Ministry. Their view was that Full Self-Driving overstated what the software can actually do, since it’s still a driver-assistance system. Drivers still have to stay alert and be ready to take over at any moment. In return for the name change, Germany agreed to back a faster EU approval process.

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For Tesla owners using these features in Europe, the rename isn’t the only part that matters. German officials say the country may allow the system to operate up to 10% above posted speed limits to keep traffic moving more smoothly, and they say the early results look especially strong in city driving. All of this is happening while a California judge’s December 2025 ruling against the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving names is being appealed in the US, where Tesla hasn’t changed the branding.

Tesla Assisted Driving is already showing up on Tesla websites in Germany, Spain, and France. But approval across the EU still hasn’t gone through. Regulators are still working through the technical and liability questions, including the Dutch type-approval authority that originally signed off on the system, and the bloc-wide vote has slipped from October to at least December 2026.

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