Damian Pickett · No. 8
Friday 11 September 2026
Today is the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
César de la Fuente’s lab is using Codex and ChatGPT to mine living and extinct genomes for antimicrobial candidates to fight drug-resistant infections, one of medicine’s biggest looming threats.
Apple is giving existing iPhone owners another free year of satellite features, revealed quietly in a footnote to the iPhone 18 Pro press release.
Siân Heder’s first film since CODA is a biopic of disability rights activist Judy Heumann, praised at Toronto for being life-affirming and boasting a strong lead performance from Ruth Madeley.
Read · Lenny's Newsletter
I built a team of 9 AI agents that run my work and life. Here’s how you can too.
OpenAI launched its Agents API today, so this back-catalogue guide to building and living with a team of personal AI agents feels timely.
Listen · Founders
Thiel’s playbook for building a monopoly through a genuinely different product is a fitting listen on a day full of competing AI agent launches.
Listen · David Senra
DHH on building a profitable company without losing control speaks directly to running small software products your own way.
Listen · Acquired
Acquired’s deep dive into Costco is a masterclass in the kind of disciplined, product-first operating Damian studies.
OpenAI has launched the Agents API, a managed service built on its Codex harness for orchestrating cloud agents, long-running sessions and tool use.
OpenAI’s new GPT-Live-1 model brings full-duplex voice conversations to the API, with better instruction-following, custom voices and telephony support.
Meta’s new AI agent app Muse has climbed to number two on the US app charts, though it is off to a slower start than Meta AI or Threads.
OpenAI has paused new sign-ups for its Pro subscription tier because Astra demand is straining its systems, while it adds more capacity.
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang expects another year of strong growth, around 70%, and insists the company’s web of AI deals is not circular despite scepticism.
Google has launched a native Gemini app for Windows, complete with a keyboard shortcut to open it, matching the Mac version.
Elon Musk’s Boring Company has raised $3 billion in a round led by the UAE, and plans to dig more than 150 kilometres of tunnels there.
Google’s new Android feature lets users move their passkeys when switching password managers, removing a longstanding lock-in headache.
Yoto has announced two new audio devices for children, with upgrades that make them more capable and easier for small hands to use.
Fusion startup Proxima Fusion plans to build a €140 million factory making a key superconducting material, reducing its reliance on Asian suppliers.
Apple has opened App Store submissions for apps built for iOS 27 and its other new operating systems, ahead of their public release next Monday.
Apple has confirmed that iOS 27, macOS 27 and its other operating system updates will launch on Monday 14 September.
T-Mobile will charge $5 a month for iPhone Handoff, the new iOS 27 feature that lets one phone number work across two iPhones over eSIM.
Apple’s own repairability scores rate the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max as slightly easier to repair than last year’s iPhone 17 Pro models.
The Criterion Collection has opened its first physical shop, Cinema Cellar, in Toronto to coincide with the film festival there.
A new documentary on Megan Rapinoe, debuting at the Toronto Film Festival, is engaging and inspiring as it reflects on her career since retiring in 2023.
Steve Carell nearly played the father of The Office creator Greg Daniels in a biopic about the 1968 Olympics, after the two grew close making the show.
Toronto’s new film market has launched, with buzz around a Werner Herzog and Tom Hanks project and a Zack Snyder passion project among the titles for sale.
Manchester United manager Michael Carrick discussed the club’s 4-0 win in their return to the Champions League.
Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez said he loves Boston and wants to stay, after signing a record-breaking contract extension with New England.
Patriots chairman and CEO Robert Kraft has been elected to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, recognising decades of leadership that reshaped the NFL’s media landscape.
Charles Leclerc has admitted he didn’t behave as he should have towards Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton at Monza, and the pair have since talked it through.
Max Verstappen joked he might eventually have to give up his Red Bull seat, after the team signed junior driver Robin Raikkonen.
F1 drivers got their first look at the completed Madring circuit in Madrid, ahead of practice for the sport’s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix there this weekend.
With the Red Sox easing toward the end of the regular season, Boston.com highlights the trends worth following, including Roman Anthony and Sonny Gray.
Design studio Drift and architect Shigeru Ban recreated the Twin Towers using 2,977 drones, one light for each life lost, to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
