Tech & AI News Roundup — October 8, 2026, 7:05 PM 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.

White House blocks Microsoft from foreign worker hiring program

An international visa program has for years allowed US tech companies to hire highly skilled workers from abroad. — BBC Technology

Got a Microsoft 365 subscription? Your storage is about to shrink

Today, shared Microsoft 365 plans include 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage for every family member. Microsoft is about to shrink that allotment dramatically. — ZDNet

Tim Cook says ‘I’m not meddling’ in the new Apple CEO’s business

Tim Cook stepped down as Apple CEO in September, handing over the top job to former hardware chief John Ternus and taking an executive chairman role. Cook's still a visible representative of the company, having been recently photographed attending a state dinner at the White House. But in an interview with The Independent, Cook says he's "not meddling" in Ternus' work. "First of all, John and I ha — The Verge

I only bought Pokémon Legends: Z-A during Prime Day, and it’s still on sale

Pokémon trainers gearing up for battle. | Image: Nintendo After covering Amazon’s October sale for the last few days, only one item found its way into my shopping cart, and, lucky for you, it’s still on sale after the event’s conclusion. Pokémon Legends: Z-A for the Nintendo Switch or Switch 2 is $39.88 (usually $59.99 for Switch or $69.99 for Switch 2) at Amazon. The last Pokémon game I played wa — The Verge

FBI Says China-Linked Hackers Ran Portal Giving Third Parties Access to Stolen Emails

Hackers tied to a Chinese cybersecurity company stole email from government organizations, law enforcement agencies, healthcare systems, and religious institutions in Southeast Asia, the FBI and agencies in 6 other countries said on October 8. The company, Integrity Technology Group, has been sanctioned by the U.S. and the UK. The hackers scanned websites for flaws using a tool containing more — The Hacker News

Watch the trailer for ‘The Altruists,’ Netflix’s show about the FTX scandal

A fictionalized Sam Bankman-Fried is coming to your TV screen on November 19. — TechCrunch

Ben Affleck is an AI nerd, and the internet is impressed

Ben Affleck is going viral for his deep knowledge of AI, from neural networks and transformers to open weights. The actor, who sold his AI filmmaking startup to Netflix earlier this year, is proving he's more than just a Hollywood star. — TechCrunch

ThreatsDay: Ransomware Affiliate Betrayal, WhatsApp RAT, Exposed Hacker Tools and 12 More Stories

The crooks have trust problems of their own. One ransomware affiliate decided to keep the profits for himself. Elsewhere, an attacker left a server exposed, complete with tools and traces of an intrusion. Apparently, keeping things secure is a problem on both sides of the fence. The rest of the week isn't much more reassuring. Malicious code turned up in developer packages and extensions that — The Hacker News