Tech News Roundup — August 12, 2026 (PM)
The afternoon tech cycle today is dominated by browser-economics news — Firefox and Brave are publicly distancing themselves from Chrome and Edge as Manifest V2 extensions (including uBlock Origin) are dropped — alongside a high-severity ASUS security advisory, a quiet but consequential Windows 11 price hike, and a wave of new product launches from Honor, Insta360 and SpaceXAI.
Browser Wars: uBlock Origin finds refuge in Firefox and Brave
Microsoft Edge is preparing to drop support for Manifest Version 2 (MV2), which means uBlock Origin will stop working in the browser. Mozilla and Brave both moved quickly to publicly reassure users that they have no plans to follow suit.
Firefox’s official X account posted simply: “Firefox support for uBlock Origin is not going anywhere.” Brave went further, stating it will keep hosting uBlock Origin and other MV2 extensions on its own servers; users can re-enable them via Settings → Extensions → Manifest v2 extensions. The browser’s built-in ad blocker is unaffected by the MV3 transition regardless.
The underlying cause is the migration from MV2 to MV3: the new platform removes the WebRequest API that lets ad blockers dynamically intercept requests before they load. uBlock Origin Lite, the MV3 replacement, cannot intercept requests preemptively, so it blocks fewer ads and uses more bandwidth. Over 70% of respondents in a recent Windows Central poll said they still use the full uBlock Origin.
ASUS Armoury Crate hit by 8.4/10 severity vulnerability
ASUS has disclosed a high-severity vulnerability in Armoury Crate — the management utility that ships preinstalled on its gaming laptops, ROG handhelds (including the Xbox Ally X), and many desktops. Tracked as CVE-2026-8917, the issue carries an 8.4/10 CVSS score and warrants prompt patching.
The advisory, posted to ASUS’s security board on August 10, also lists security updates for GPU Tweak III, GPU Tweak II, and AI Suite 3. If any of these tools are installed on your system — even silently, as part of an OEM image — it is worth checking the ASUS advisory page and applying the fix.
Microsoft raises Windows 11 license prices
Pplware reports that Microsoft has quietly increased Windows 11 license prices, adding another layer of cost pressure on top of the ongoing RAM and component price escalation. The exact figures vary by region and channel, but OEM and retail SKUs are both affected. With new PCs already more expensive to build, the licence hike widens the gap between upgrading an existing machine and buying new hardware — a calculation that’s likely to push more users toward Linux or staying on Windows 10 where supported.
The ChatGPT dog-cancer vaccine is now a startup
Remember the Australian tech entrepreneur who claimed he had used ChatGPT, Grok and other AI tools to design a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for his dog? That story has now produced a company.
Paul Conyngham has formally launched Gamgee, which promises “personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs.” The startup’s ambitions are not limited to canines — the website positions Gamgee as an AI-and-genetics platform that will eventually develop personalised treatments for other species, including humans. The Verge’s earlier reporting on the original vaccine was sceptical about the scientific basis; the launch makes the dispute a commercial one as well as a scientific one.
SpaceXAI ships Grok Bot — an autonomous AI “teammate”
SpaceXAI has introduced Grok Bot, an always-on agent service designed to behave like an independent co-worker. Bots share a cloud-based computer environment, can sign into apps and websites the user already uses, and only return when their assigned task is complete or needs human approval.
The pitch is unmistakably competitive — Grok Bot is SpaceXAI’s answer to OpenAI’s enterprise agent offerings and Google’s workspace integrations. The catch is that you’ll need to be comfortable handing over login credentials to the bot so it can act on your behalf across your existing tool stack.
Honor Robot Phone puts a gimbal inside an Android
Honor’s “Robot Phone” launched today in China — an Android handset with its main camera mounted on a compact motorised gimbal that physically unfolds from the rear of the device. The gimbal is smaller than DJI’s Osmo Pocket line (Honor claims it is the smallest in the world) but the trade-off is a bulkier phone. After an hour of hands-on testing, The Verge’s reviewer came away cautiously optimistic that the design works in practice — a non-trivial engineering result given how many fold-out cameras have failed in past devices.
In Brief
Linux 7.2 reverts to FIFO DRM scheduler. The “fair” policy default introduced for 7.2 is being rolled back at the last minute after regression reports; the FIFO policy will ship as default instead. Affects AMDGPU and other DRM kernel graphics drivers. (Phoronix)
Insta360 X6 announced. Smaller than the X5 and X4 Air, but with larger custom 1/1.1-inch square sensors and improved 8K video. (The Verge)
Xbox Elite Series 3 prototype leaks on Reddit. Images appeared in r/Controller on August 11 and were rapidly deleted (likely after a Microsoft takedown), but preserved by The Verge’s Tom Warren. (Windows Central)
Samsung Galaxy Buds gain hearing-aid functionality. New firmware turns compatible Buds into clinical-grade hearing assistance, joining a growing consumer-electronics push into the hearing-health market. (Pplware)
Anthropic ships invisible watermarks on Claude outputs. New detection layer lets platforms identify text as Claude-generated without altering visible formatting. (Pplware)
Intel LLM-Scaler gains Muse Glimmer support. The Intel inference runtime adds compatibility with the Muse Glimmer model family plus additional LLM backends. (Phoronix)
NASA extends Voyager 2’s mission. A software update to the 1977-launched probe pushes operational life expectancy further into the late 2020s. (Pplware)
Roundup compiled from the TTRSS Tech feed. 22 articles from 7 sources (Windows Central, The Verge, Pplware, Phoronix) clustered into 6 thematic stories and 7 in-brief items.