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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued an order banning Chinese AI firm DeepSeek from use across federal civilian agency IT systems. The move follows mounting U.S. concerns over security and data risks tied to Chinese-developed artificial intelligence tools, and signals a tightening stance on foreign AI software in government use.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced a new quantum fabrication facility at New York University, described as a first-of-its-kind partnership that will give the city a financial stake in the emerging quantum industry. The announcement was published by both the mayor's office and NYU. The deal positions New York to compete for jobs and investment in quantum technology manufacturing, with the city gaining equity rather than simply offering incentives.

Anthropic has introduced Claude Duet, a new personal AI agent positioned as a competitor to offerings from OpenAI and Meta. The announcement has drawn attention across tech circles in India, Germany and Brazil, with the story also circulating among developer communities. Commenters are weighing how Duet stacks up against rival assistants in the increasingly crowded consumer AI market.

A question on Hacker News asks why the site still has no dark mode, with the poster noting the request has been made repeatedly over the years and resurfacing it in 2026. The plea taps into a long-running complaint among the tech community about the site's unchanged, minimalist design, despite dark mode now being a standard feature across most major platforms.

A developer has launched the Things to Do API, a service offering data on events and activities, and shared it with other technologists for feedback. Early reactions are modest in volume but curious, with users typically probing what data sources it covers, pricing, and how it compares to existing event listings services.

Google has made its internal Rust style guide publicly available on its GitHub style guide site, offering developers a detailed look at how one of the world's largest users of Rust standardises formatting, naming and code conventions. The publication follows Google's growing adoption of Rust in production systems and gives teams writing Rust a reference for interoperable, consistent code practices.

Ireland, often called Europe's tech capital and home to major US technology companies' European operations, is seeing a boom in labor union membership as AI-driven layoffs spread through the sector. According to Politico, workers at tech firms are increasingly organizing in response to job cuts, marking a notable shift in a country long known for its business-friendly, low-tax model that attracted Silicon Valley investment.

A measure to weaken California's landmark environmental review law is being financed by money from the oil and technology industries, according to reporting by Capital & Main. The involvement of both sectors suggests broad business interest in curbing the statute, which developers and companies have long criticized as a source of project delays and litigation costs. Environmental advocates are expected to push back against the effort.

Researchers have developed a new machine learning method that helps wheeled, flying and six-legged robots stay on track while moving, according to a report by Tech Xplore. The approach is said to improve how different robot types handle their paths, though detailed results and the team behind the work are not specified in the available coverage.

Nvidia used its GTC conference in Berlin to introduce new technology aimed at keeping autonomous AI agents under control, alongside a reference design for humanoid robots. The announcements position Nvidia at the center of enterprise AI and robotics development, as companies increasingly deploy autonomous agents and seek safeguards against unpredictable behavior.

CNBC reports that two iPhone models are in short supply, a signal that could point to strong demand or production constraints at Apple. The same report highlights two stocks driving a rebound in artificial intelligence-related shares. Investors are watching both developments as indicators of consumer tech demand and continued momentum in the AI trade.

French AI company Mistral has released Mistral Large 4, its newest flagship large language model, with documentation already published on its developer site. The release is drawing strong interest from developers and AI watchers, who are debating the model's capabilities, benchmarks, and how it stacks up against competing frontier models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.