• Ant Group Releases LingBot-VLA, A Vision Language Action Foundation Model For Real World Robot Manipulation

    January 30, 2026

    How do you build a single vision language action model that can control many different dual arm robots in the real world? LingBot-VLA is Ant Group Robbyant’s new Vision Language Action foundation model that targets practical robot manipulation in the real world. It is trained on about 20,000 hours of teleoperated bimanual data collected from 9 dual arm robot embodiments and is evaluated on the large scale GM-100 benchmark across 3 platforms. The model is designed for cross morphology generalization, data efficient post training, and high training throughput on commodity GPU clusters. https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.18692 Large scale dual arm dataset across 9 robot…

  • Everything you need to know about the new 2026 Formula 1 engines

    January 30, 2026

    SPONSORED The roar of Formula 1 engines fired back to life this week as the teams prepare for the biggest rule change in the history of the world’s number one motorsport category. The 2026 F1 season, which starts with the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 8, will see the introduction of new chassis and engine regulations designed to improve the racing spectacle, while pushing the sport closer to meeting its ambitious target of becoming carbon-neutral by 2030. It’s a massive overhaul of every fundamental area, and it will continue to push the boundaries of engineering, technology,…

  • Jaecoo J7 recalled | CarExpert

    January 29, 2026

    Omoda Jaecoo Australia is recalling its debut model in Australia, the Jaecoo J7, as it could lose power suddenly. The recall affects only Jaecoo J7 crossover SUVs equipped with the turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, with the plug-in hybrid SHS unaffected. “Due to a manufacturing defect, the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) wiring harness may chafe against the engine mounting bracket and become damaged,” the company says in its recall notice. “As a result, this could lead to a sudden loss of motive power and/or engine shutdown without warning. “A sudden loss of motive power and/or engine shut down whilst driving…

  • Amazon discovered a ‘high volume’ of CSAM in its AI training data but isn’t saying where it came from

    January 29, 2026

    The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received more than 1 million reports of AI-related child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in 2025. The “vast majority” of that content was reported by Amazon, which found the material in its training data, according to an investigation by Bloomberg. In addition, Amazon said only that it obtained the inappropriate content from external sources used to train its AI services and claimed it could not provide any further details about where the CSAM came from. “This is really an outlier,” Fallon McNulty, executive director of NCMEC’s CyberTipline, told Bloomberg. The CyberTipline…

  • Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Tesla, and xAI in talks to merge, according to reports

    January 29, 2026

    Three of Elon Musk’s companies — SpaceX, xAI, and Tesla — are in play for a potential merger. While the talks appear to be in the early stage, according to reports from Bloomberg and Reuters, it could eventually lead to at least one company folding into SpaceX. Two scenarios are being hashed out. In one, SpaceX and Tesla would merge, per Bloomberg, citing unnamed insiders. In another, SpaceX and aXI (which already owns Musk’s social media platform X) would combine. According to reporting by Reuters, a merger between SpaceX and xAI could take place ahead of a planned SpaceX IPO…

  • 2026 Polestar 2 review: Quick drive

    January 29, 2026

    The Polestar 2 was the first model launched in Australia by the Swedish electric vehicle (EV) brand, and the battery-powered liftback has just received yet another update to keep it fresh in first-generation form. Launched globally in 2020 before making its Australian debut in 2021, the Polestar 2 is largely unchanged five years later – at least on the surface. There have been slight cosmetic tweaks here and there, but the most significant change to date has been the switch from front-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive for single-motor variants. It’s still a niche vehicle here, and while Polestar recorded 38.5…

  • Publishers are blocking the Internet Archive for fear AI scrapers can use it as a workaround

    January 29, 2026

    The Internet Archive has often been a valuable resource for journalists, from it’s finding records of deleted tweets or providing academic texts for background research. However, the advent of AI has created a new tension between the parties. A few major publications have begun blocking the nonprofit digital library’s access to their content based on concerns that AI companies’ bots are using the Internet Archive’s collections to indirectly scrape their articles. “A lot of these AI businesses are looking for readily available, structured databases of content,” Robert Hahn, head of business affairs and licensing for The Guardian, told Nieman Lab.…

  • Amazon is reportedly in talks to invest $50 billion in OpenAI

    January 29, 2026

    OpenAI, a company already valued at $500 billion, has made it known that it’s on the hunt for another $100 billion in investment. Such a funding round could lead the company’s valuation to shoot up to a titanic $830 billion. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that Amazon may contribute at least $50 billion of that record-breaking investment. Not much is known about the potential deal, although the Journal notes that Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, is currently leading the negotiations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. TechCrunch reached out to Amazon and OpenAI for comment. In its pursuit of additional…

  • BMW M5 V8 power cut to meet new emissions regulations

    January 29, 2026

    BMW has pared back the power of the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine found in the latest M5 performance sedan and wagon, as well as the XM SUV, in order to meet incoming emissions laws in Europe. The German automaker said the latest Euro 7 emissions regulations, due to come into effect in Europe in November 2026, will see the M5’s V8 drop from 430kW to 400kW – with the hybrid system making up the shortfall to keep total system output unchanged at 535kW. The changes stem from the introduction of the Miller Cycle internal combustion process, which the automaker…

  • Elon Musk’s SpaceX and xAI are reportedly holding merger talks

    January 29, 2026

    Two Elon Musk companies are reportedly planning to merge. On Thursday, Reuters reported that SpaceX and xAI are holding merger talks ahead of a planned IPO. Part of their plan is to launch AI data centers into space (but unfortunately, only as far as Earth’s orbit). Last week, it was reported that Musk planned to take SpaceX public despite having once said it wouldn’t happen until the company had a presence on Mars. Now, the IPO could happen as early as this year. Shares of xAI would reportedly be exchanged for shares in SpaceX under the merger. Reuters reports that…