Daily briefing
November 7, 2026
8 stories · about 8 minutes
Voters backed data center limits in dozens of midterm votes
Local measures to restrict AI data centers passed almost everywhere they appeared, and Democrats who promised pauses won Texas and Georgia. Elon Musk, who gave $474 million to Republicans, now faces a harder road for his AI build-out.
- Of the local ballot measures on data centers, voters sided with restrictions in almost every one; one tracker counted 33 restrictive measures passed or leading out of 45.
- Democrats who promised to pause data center construction won the governorships of Texas and Georgia, two states that host a large share of the US build-out.
- Elon Musk gave about $474 million to Republican causes and posted that data centers in space looked 'pretty appealing right now' after the result.
- Analysts expect friction and slower permits for the next wave of projects, not an end to the build-out.
Why it matters: Voters backed restrictions on data centers in nearly every local ballot measure that tracked them, and Democrats who promised pauses won the governorships of Texas and Georgia. The two states host a large share of the US build-out, and Elon Musk, who gave about $474 million to Republicans, has major AI projects in Texas. Analysts expect slower permits and higher costs for new sites rather than a halt, with the next fights coming at the state and local level.
Read the full story →Chainalysis says hackers took logins and tokens for all its customers
The crypto-tracing firm says an attacker used AI agents, then an on-path attack, to take names, password hashes and live tokens for every user. Its tools are back online.
- Chainalysis says an outside attacker used offensive agentic techniques, meaning AI agents, to get into its systems and internal tools in October.
- On November 4 the company said names, usernames, password hashes and live tokens for all of its users were exposed, after an on-path attack on its network.
- The company says it has found no sign that investigation data was accessed or that its attribution data was changed.
- Reactor, KYT and Address Screening are back online as of November 7, and every user must reset their password and rotate API keys.
Why it matters: Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis says an outside attacker exposed names, usernames, password hashes and live tokens for all of its users. The attack began in October with AI agents and later used an on-path attack on its network. The firm says no investigation data was accessed. Reactor, KYT and Address Screening are back online, and every user must reset passwords and rotate API keys.
Read the full story →OpenAI says its AI disproved a famous computer science rule of thumb
OpenAI and Anthropic each say an AI model found a faster way to crack a famous puzzle that experts thought had no shortcut. Outside experts are still checking.
- OpenAI announced on October 26, 2026 that one of its internal AI models disproved the Exponential Time Hypothesis, a computer science idea about how hard a famous puzzle called 3-SAT is.
- Anthropic says a Claude model reached the same result on the same day, October 16, using 14 million output tokens and no human help.
- Both companies published the proof in Lean, a tool that lets a computer check every logical step. The two people who proposed the hypothesis, plus MIT's Ryan Williams, lead the outside review.
- Nothing changes for your apps today. The result is about how fast a method can scale in theory, not a faster tool you can download.
Why it matters: OpenAI says one of its internal AI models disproved the Exponential Time Hypothesis, a long-standing idea about how hard the 3-SAT puzzle is to solve. Anthropic says a Claude model reached the same result independently on the same day. Hundreds of research papers rest on the hypothesis. Experts led by its own proposers are now checking the proofs, so the result is not yet confirmed.
Read the full story →Hackers heat cold rooms at French blood service sites, and a CISA alert follows
Plasma rooms at three French blood service sites were pushed to extreme temperatures on November 2. Alarms caught it, and the wider fridge attacks now reach US military bases.
- Cold rooms holding plasma at three sites of France's blood service were pushed to very high temperatures on November 2, through its refrigeration supplier.
- Alarms and staff caught it, and the service says no blood products were lost and no health impact was found.
- Many attacks in the wider wave hit Danfoss controllers running outdated firmware, and nobody has been confirmed as responsible.
- The same kind of attack reached supermarkets in at least 11 European countries and, in August, stores on US military bases.
Why it matters: Hackers raised temperature settings in cold rooms holding plasma at three sites of the French national blood service on November 2, by attacking its refrigeration supplier. Alarms caught the change, and no blood products were lost. The attack is part of a wave that has hit supermarkets in at least 11 European countries and stores on US military bases, and CISA has now issued an alert. Nobody is confirmed responsible.
Read the full story →Amazon lets you text Alexa to shop, and it can buy for you
Alexa for Shopping, Amazon's AI shopping agent, now takes requests by text message. It starts with a small invite-only group in the US and reaches millions more in the coming weeks.
- Amazon began inviting a small group of US customers to text Alexa for Shopping on November 6, with millions more due in the coming weeks.
- The agent can search, compare, fill your cart and complete the purchase, and it shows up in your contacts as "Alexa Shopping".
- Amazon says more than 400 million customers used Alexa for Shopping in the last 12 months.
- The launch comes weeks after Amazon blocked Meta's Muse agent from its store.
Why it matters: Amazon started inviting a small group of US customers to text its Alexa for Shopping agent, which can search products, fill a cart and buy on your behalf. Photos work too, so you can text a picture of an outfit and ask for similar items. Amazon says more than 400 million people used Alexa for Shopping in the past year. Millions more customers get the texting option in the coming weeks.
Read the full story →Asahi Linux brings Apple's M3 Macs out of testing and adds Thunderbolt
The Asahi Linux project says M3 Macs no longer need a special flag to install Linux, and that Thunderbolt and a new way to play PC games are on the way.
- Support for Apple's M3 Macs is now generally available in Asahi Linux, with no EXPERT flag needed in the installer.
- Thunderbolt now works for USB3 devices and for linking two computers, but not yet for most docks or displays.
- Initial code for the M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 chips has been sent to the Linux kernel, enough to boot to a text screen.
- The M3 graphics chip has no Linux driver yet, but the team has drawn its first triangle on it.
Why it matters: The Asahi Linux project says support for Apple's M3 Macs is now generally available, so installing Linux on them no longer needs the EXPERT flag. Thunderbolt now works in a limited form, and the first code for the M4 Pro, M4 Max and M5 chips has reached the Linux kernel. The M3 graphics chip still has no driver, only a drawn triangle. The team plans to keep sending its work upstream.
Read the full story →Google's AI spots signs of high blood pressure from a smartwatch
Google Research built an AI that finds signs of high blood pressure using only the pulse and motion sensors in a regular smartwatch. No cuff is needed to set it up.
- Google Research trained an AI on nearly 500,000 hours of smartwatch data so it can spot signs of high blood pressure with no cuff calibration.
- In a study of 196 people, the watch found 65.8% of those with high blood pressure, against 55.3% for a single office check.
- The method already feeds the blood pressure trends tool in the Google Health app, free on Pixel Watch 3, 4 and 5.
- It gives a High or Not high trend, not numbers, and it does not replace a cuff or a doctor.
Why it matters: Google Research built an AI that detects signs of high blood pressure from a regular smartwatch's pulse and motion sensors, with no cuff calibration. In a study of 196 people it found 65.8% of those with high blood pressure, against 55.3% for one office check. The method is already inside the Google Health app on Pixel Watches. It gives a High or Not high trend and does not replace a diagnosis.
Read the full story →Axon invests $1.2 billion in Skydio and becomes its exclusive police drone seller
Axon's largest investment ever lifts its stake in drone maker Skydio to 37% and makes Axon the only seller of Skydio drones to police in the US and Canada.
- Axon announced a $1.2 billion investment in Skydio on November 5, 2026, the largest single investment in Axon's history.
- The deal values Skydio at $5.2 billion before the new money and lifts Axon's stake from about 15% to 37%.
- Axon becomes Skydio's exclusive distributor for public safety agencies in the US and Canada.
- Skydio expects about $1 billion in bookings this fiscal year and says it has more than 1,500 public safety customers.
Why it matters: Axon, the company behind Taser stun guns and police body cameras, announced a $1.2 billion investment in drone maker Skydio. It raises Axon's stake from about 15% to 37% and makes Axon the exclusive seller of Skydio drones to public safety agencies in the US and Canada. Skydio expects about $1 billion in bookings this year and has more than 1,500 public safety customers. The companies say drones at agencies using the system cut priority response times by as much as 65%.
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