The Average Social Security Check Is $2,086 in 2026. Here’s How Yours Stacks Up
Your Social Security check might be falling short without you realizing why, and the gap between what you collect now and what you could collect may be large...
Software & security
1,690 stories
Nearly 8 in 10 Americans Don't Want the Social Security Full Retirement Age Raised
There's a reason that Social Security is called "the third rail of American politics" – as in, touch it and die. Most Americans – especially seniors – are fi...
Apple’s iOS 26.4 update adds age verification in the UK
Apple is rolling out age verification in the UK with the launch of iOS 26.4. The company says users in the country will need to verify they’re an adult to “use certain services or features.”
Opera just added a free VPN to its browser for anonymous internet access
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Voters are turning to AI on politics. Is it up to the task?
Artificial intelligence is playing a growing role in how voters get information about politics and elections, raising fresh questions about how the technology could influence the way voters stay informed. From chatbots to standard internet searches, voters this election cycle are interacting with AI-generated content, even when they may not realize it. Recent research on…
Bengaluru firm emerges L1 for army’s 600 software-defined radio order
News News: BENGALURU: Bengaluru-based defence equipment manufacturer Alpha Design Technologies has emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for an Indian Army requireme.
Trump’s Grip on GOP Slips as Midterm Election Anxiety Sets In
As Donald Trump took an aggressive stance on the global stage at the United Nations on Tuesday, several Senate Republicans were breaking from the president b...
Kagan steers Supreme Court clear of high-profile surrogacy fight
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan declined a surrogate’s emergency bid on Tuesday to intervene in her custody fight that drew national attention after the biological parents’ told her to get an abortion and she left for Texas instead. McKenna West, the surrogate, sought to lift a parentage judgment in favor of the couple issued in a California…
Trump’s ‘Lavish Welcome’ for Xi Slammed by Key GOP Senator
Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker sharply criticized Donald Trump for the manner in which he plans to host Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washingt...
Lawsuit targets ‘medically frail’ Medicaid work requirement exemption
A new lawsuit is challenging how the Trump administration plans to exempt medically frail people from Medicaid work requirements. Medicaid enrollees, alongside several major health care advocacy organizations and the city of Columbus, Ohio, said the administration’s final rule implementing work requirements is not what Congress intended. They argue the rule narrowly defines who qualifies…
California will fine creators for sneaky political ads.
Over the weekend, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill that will penalize creators for failing to disclose paid political content, with fines reaching up to $5,000 per violation, The New York Times reports. Though the FTC requires influencers to disclose product advertisements, it doesn’t have the same rules for paid political content, which has become widespread in recent campaigns. [Link: California Cracks Down on Influencers’ Undisclosed Political Ads | https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/19/business/media/california-political-ads-influencers-law.html | The New York Times]
Bipartisan senators press Blanche for guidance on automated license plate readers
A bipartisan pair of senators are pressing the head of Department of Justice to provide guidance to state and local law enforcement agencies to prevent the misuse of automated license plate readers (ALPRs) as backlash against the technology grows across the country. In a letter sent Monday, Sens. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.)…
Collins urges White House not to move forward with NIH grant proposal
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday urged Trump administration officials to not proceed with an executive order that would give the White House political control over scientific grants at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). In a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and NIH…
Netanyahu Attacks Mamdani on Social Media Ahead of UN Speech
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a video Tuesday, escalating a feud with one of his most prominent US crit...
Trump backs diesel export ban; Bessent says admin ‘examining that’
The Trump administration is considering a ban on exports of diesel as high prices of the fuel put a crunch on American agriculture and trucking. Asked Tuesday whether he was considering a ban on diesel exports, as some Republican lawmakers have called for in recent days, President Trump said, “I’ve called for that, too.” “I’ve…
Earth’s Changelog highlights the good news around the world you probably missed.
If you need an alternative to all the soul-destroying news filling your feeds all day long you can point your browser to Changelog.earth which is a variation on video game patch notes that instead highlights all the positive progress our planet is making. Believe it or not, good things are still happening. [Image: https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/09/earthchange.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
Hackers say they owned the whole FBI workforce.
404 Media reports, with Reuters corroborating in part, that hackers from ShinyHunters claim to have obtained information on “all FBI employees and applicants.” The data reportedly includes phone numbers, home addresses, dates of birth, and “in some cases” details on spouses. The group also reportedly defaced the FBI jobs page earlier today, which is currently displaying a “system unavailable” banner. [Link: ‘We Hacked the FBI:’ Hackers Say They Have Data on All FBI Employees | https://www.404media.co/we-hacked-the-fbi-hackers-say-they-have-data-on-all-fbi-employees/ | 404 Media]
Hacking group ShinyHunters claims it breached the FBI, stole agents' and applicants' data | TechCrunch
The theft of agents' personal information could present a major counterintelligence threat, where agents and their families are extorted into cooperating with a foreign government.