Amazon shuts Mechanical Turk to new customers, AI dominates tech landscape with Google and Mistral advances, while Apple faces manufacturing challenges on foldable iPhone and price hikes draw criticism.

Amazon will stop accepting new customers for Mechanical Turk, its crowdsourcing platform, marking a significant shift in how the company manages its human intelligence task workforce.

Google announced $1 million investment in Africa's indie game developers and launched Gemini Spark for macOS with connected apps integration, expanding its AI assistant capabilities across platforms.

Mistral AI emerges as a notable OpenAI competitor, while Alibaba bans employees from using Claude Code, reflecting intensifying corporate AI policy debates and competitive positioning in the sector.

Apple faces manufacturing constraints on its foldable 'iPhone Ultra,' expected to repeat iPhone X's supply limitations, while the iPhone 18 will require 9GB RAM to support certain iOS 27 features.

Midjourney demands Hollywood studios disclose AI usage details in productions, highlighting ongoing tensions between AI developers and entertainment industry over intellectual property and transparency.

A global fungal network map published by researchers reveals the planetary-scale underground ecosystem supporting plant life and climate regulation, marking a major scientific breakthrough in understanding Earth's biosphere.

Wildfire prediction markets have emerged as controversial tools, with survivors calling them 'morally reprehensible' due to concerns they could incentivize arson and exploit disaster risks.

Google launched Gemini Omni Flash and Nano Banana 2 Lite models for developers seeking cost-efficient AI scaling solutions, complementing its broader strategy to democratize AI tools.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 lineup shows pricing irony with the new 'Wide' model undercutting the unchanged 'Ultra,' signaling potential strategy shifts in the foldable smartphone market.

Trump administration proposes weakening chemical safety rules, raising concerns about increased industrial accidents and environmental risks alongside broader tech sector regulatory changes.