The business of tech stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
GitHub is testing a firewall that blocks suspicious or brand-new npm code from installing, a step aimed at poisoned updates that slip into business software.
Read more: GitHub adds a safety gate to stop booby-trapped code downloadsRo has launched Robin, an AI health agent, and its CEO wants Ro to become the place that guides your care. An outside expert says the proof is not in yet.
Read more: Ro launches an AI health assistant and wants to run more of your careSocure has launched Agent Intelligence, a tool that spots AI agents online and scores whether to trust them, as businesses struggle to tell helpers from fraudsters.
Read more: Socure Launches a Way to Tell Which AI Agents Can Be TrustedAI assistants in analytics tools let owners type a question about sales or customers and get a chart or number back, with no analyst on staff.
Read more: Small businesses can now ask their sales data questions in plain EnglishGoogle is letting outside apps run inside Search and Gemini, so a business could serve customers without sending them elsewhere. Access starts small.
Read more: Google Lets Outside Apps Work Inside Its Search and Gemini AssistantXmind, a mind map maker, added an AI agent and says its platform now opens up to ChatGPT and Claude, which could speed up planning and brainstorming.
Read more: Xmind adds an AI helper that builds mind maps for youAnthropic says its Claude 2.0 assistant is now offered in 95 countries, which could put the writing and research helper within reach of far more people.
Read more: Anthropic launches Claude 2.0 AI assistant in 95 countriesEasyjet has added a ChatGPT plug-in that shows live flight prices and status in a chat, though you still book on the airline's own website.
Read more: Easyjet now lets you search flights and holidays inside ChatGPTCoupler.io, a tool that gathers data from many apps into one report, now connects to ChatGPT Ads and StackAdapt, so ad results can sit side by side.
Read more: Coupler.io adds ChatGPT Ads and StackAdapt to its ad reporting toolAnthropic added a gallery of ready-made legal tools to Claude, including one that checks court citations for invented cases. No price or accuracy figures yet.
Read more: Anthropic gives lawyers ready-made Claude tools, including a fake-citation checkerHyphenate, which builds AI that handles company bookkeeping, raised $45 million. Finance teams are adopting AI fast but still keep humans in charge.
Read more: Startup raises $45 million to build AI that keeps company booksGoogle says shoppers will still see sponsored offers when AI agents do the searching, and its latest earnings show why it needs that plan to work.
Read more: Google says ads will survive even when AI does your shoppingStreaming services often give Black Friday deals only to new or returning customers, so canceling a service you barely use now could pay off later.
Read more: Cancel Your Streaming Services Now to Qualify for Black Friday DealsAWS Marketplace and Amazon Business now share one catalog, so company teams can buy software and office supplies in one place under one set of approval rules.
Read more: Amazon now lets companies buy software and supplies in one placeLegal software maker Legora says it uses OpenAI models, ChatGPT and Codex to speed up contract work, which could mean faster turnaround for people who pay lawyers.
Read more: Legal software company Legora uses OpenAI tools to speed up lawyers' workA new post says Anthropic's IPO will show how the company behind Claude makes money, which could hint at future pricing and stability for business users.
Read more: Anthropic's IPO Offers a Look at the Business Behind ClaudeThe Fed is all but certain to leave rates unchanged at 2pm ET, and Alphabet and Microsoft report after the close. Both could shape loan costs and tech sentiment.
Read more: Fed expected to hold rates today as Alphabet and Microsoft reportA former Facebook engineer who once lived as a monk has raised $25 million for software meant to speed up school food services and public records.
Read more: Former Facebook Engineer And Ex-Monk Builds Software For Local GovernmentA China-linked group used a VMware flaw to hide its tracks in attacks on U.S. law firms. Businesses should patch and check Microsoft 365 for unknown sign-in devices.
Read more: Hackers Linked to China Hid Their Tracks in Law Firm AttacksRishi Sunak, the UK's former prime minister, reported more than $2.9 million from advising Anthropic, Microsoft and Goldman Sachs, which works out to about $7,000 to $10,200 an hour.
Read more: Ex-UK leader Rishi Sunak earns up to $10,200 an hour advising tech and banksMoore Threads, a Chinese AI chipmaker, reported sales up 1,774% and a small profit, a sign China's homegrown chip supply is growing fast.
Read more: Chinese AI chipmaker's sales jump 1,774% and it turns a profitA writer let the Megu iPhone app plan three days of outfits from his own clothes. It broke his all-dark-blue habit, but its best features cost a subscription.
Read more: A writer let an AI app pick his outfits for three daysAndroid Authority reports ChatGPT is coming to Google Messages, the built-in texting app on many Android phones. Cost and privacy details are still unknown.
Read more: ChatGPT is coming to Google Messages, the texting app on AndroidA August poll found 57 percent of Texans oppose new data centers, and the fight is shaping races for governor and Senate. Power bills and water are at the center.
Read more: Texas voters of every party turn against data centers
