Tech & AI News Roundup — October 17, 2026, 4:00 AM UTC

Quick links to what's actually happening in AI, tech, and IT right now — curated from real reporting, not rewritten, so you can go read the full story wherever it's genuinely worth your time.

Mark Wahlberg wants to take on the longevity-startup crowd with an affordable gym concept

Mark Wahlberg, who once sank money into a gym chain that got kicked off the NYSE, is now building his own, and he promises you’ll get a cold plunge, a blood panel and a protein muffin without needing a trust fund. — TechCrunch

Want an iPhone Duo before 2027? Don’t preorder from Apple – try this instead

Estimates for Duo preorders are now showing a ship date of late January, marking a new wait time record for Apple and its customers. — ZDNet

Attackers Tampered with AOMEI Backupper's Update Servers for Minutes to Deliver a Backdoor

Attackers repeatedly changed the files that AOMEI Backupper fetches from the vendor's own update servers, in windows of five to ten minutes at a time between May and July 2026, so that any copy of the Windows backup program that checked for an update during one of those windows would download and run a backdoor. Google Threat Intelligence Group, Mandiant, and ManageEngine's Threat Analysis — The Hacker News

Here’s Exactly How Tesla Made Its New 230-Mph Car ‘Fly’

It turns out the Roadster 2 both sucks and blows. — Wired

Razer Barracuda V2 Pro Review: A Gaming Headset for the Office

The Razer Barracuda V2 Pro headset has a place in the office as well as at your gaming battle station. — Wired

An Nvidia insider-turned-VC on why robotics hasn’t hit its ChatGPT moment, yet

Amulya Vishwanath, who spent seven years leading product marketing for NVIDIA’s robotics platforms, says robotics is currently in its “Lego era,” with the basic building blocks like actuators, robotic hands, software, and safety standards still being rebuilt. This view runs counter to those who believe that robotics, powered by a general foundation model, is about to have […] — TechCrunch

UAT-11985 Uses Fake Event Invites to Target Taiwan Research Affiliates With Google AitM Phishing

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an advanced persistent threat (APT) spear-phishing campaign that has targeted individuals affiliated with Taiwan research organizations to direct victims to an adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) phishing framework designed to harvest their Google account credentials and multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes. The activity is being tracked by — The Hacker News

Meta may use sweeping new commercial TOS to avoid millions in AI licensing fees

Meta “streamlined” its commercial TOS. Legal experts warn it’s an AI power grab. — Ars Technica