The Handover
Thursday 29 October 2026
The day in 7 stories, as Asia signs off and New York wakes up.
Security
Black October's AI-discovered PHP bugs prove hard to exploit, but experts warn of coming 'vulnpocalypse'
AI found critical flaws in PHP, used by roughly 70% of websites, but researchers say they are unusually hard to exploit. Security leaders warn the reprieve from automated attacks is temporary.
Hardware & Devices
Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro opens for pre-order, from $2,899
Apple opened pre-orders for its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, starting at $2,899 in the US. The laptops cost $400 more than standard models and start arriving November 6.
Programming
Google opens Android Studio to third-party coding agents such as Claude Code and Codex
Google opened Android Studio to third-party coding agents including Claude Code and Codex. Access to devices, performance tools and production crash reports lets agents investigate bugs, test changes and verify fixes.
Security
DHS takedown push fails to stop spread of leaked employee data
Distributed Denial of Secrets published a searchable database of personal details of more than 41,000 US Homeland Security employees. The department says it is addressing a potential breach.
Business
Alphabet shares fall 10% after earnings miss as investors weigh AI's impact on search
Alphabet shares fell as much as 8% after hours after third-quarter profit missed forecasts. Capital spending reached $51.4 billion, while revenue rose 25% to $127.6 billion.
Business
Samsung posts record profit, partners with Mistral AI as HBM4 sales ramp up
Samsung Electronics reported record quarterly operating profit above 100 trillion won and announced a 30 trillion won dividend. Its shares traded 5% lower after the results.
AI research
One compact model embeds text, images, audio and video together
Google researchers presented EmbeddingGemma 2, a 744-million-parameter model that embeds text, images, audio and video together. Across seven benchmark suites, they report it often matches or beats larger and specialist models.
The Handover is the day in a handful of stories, weekday evenings at 8pm your time, and a thread on X at 7am in New York and in London. Get it by email or push from your account, or subscribe by email.
Also posted as a thread on X: @zotpaper.