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Xbox app is coming to TCL TVs just as Microsoft rolls out pay-as-you-go cloud gaming
Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to more TVs, just as Microsoft makes some major changes to its cloud gaming service.
Exchange Online outage causes email delays, 'Server busy' errors
Microsoft is working to resolve an ongoing Exchange Online outage that is delaying email sent to and received from external domains.
Sony's PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90
Sony’s PlayStation disc plant is losing 10 percent of its volume in 2028, not 90 Sony won’t license disc pressing to anyone else, Microsoft does, and a former PlayStation boss thinks that’s the whole problem. When Sony DADC chief Dietmar Tanzer spoke with an Austrian broadcaster in July about PlayStation disc production at the Thalgau plant, a number of press outlets misunderstood the report, writing that production would fall to a tenth of current levels. It won’t. Sony DADC confirmed to Game this week that the figure is a 10 percent decline, not a decline to 10 percent. “To clarify and avoid any misleading information: in that statement Dietmar anticipated an overall product volume decline by 10 percent, not a decline down to 10 percent,” a spokesperson with Sony DADC told Game. That figure covers 2028. Tanzer didn’t put a number on the years after, and the spokesperson declined to comment further. What we do know is that on July 1, PlayStation announced that physical game disc production for all new games releasing on PlayStation consoles will be discontinued starting January 2028 and that the transition has no impact on games that have already released in disc format or will be releasing in disc format prior to that month. “So, there will be reorders going to the market after January 2028,” the Sony DADC spokesperson said. “For details around that I would ask you to liaise with the PR team from PlayStation, as we can’t speak or comment on their behalf.” PlayStation officials did not respond to questions about reorders or other disc-related matters. But I did recently speak with Shawn Layden, Game Industry Strategic Advisor and former chairman of SIE Worldwide Studios, who called a future without physical PlayStation discs “depressing, but solvable.” then added, “I think.” The chief hurdle to third-party manufacturing of collector’s editions or any other version of a PlayStation game disc is that Sony owns the proprietary process to press those discs, Layden said. “And unless they decide or determine a way to license that to some of these bespoke disc manufacturers, there’s no way to make it happen,” he said. Layden was careful to add that he understands the concept but doesn’t have “line of sight on the particulars.” “Depressing but solvable, I think.” — Shawn Layden Microsoft already licenses replication to outside plants. Xbox discs are pressed by manufacturers Microsoft certifies as Authorized Replicators, a term defined in its publisher agreements, with the approved list set at the company’s sole discretion and Microsoft retaining the right to halt manufacture. The structure is still in place today: publishers select an Authorized Replicator in Partner Center and submit a bill of materials created with a Microsoft representative. Sony, by contrast, presses PlayStation discs through Sony DADC, its own manufacturing subsidiary. No one I spoke with said they were in discussions with Sony about doing that, and PlayStation hasn’t responded to questions about whether it would be open to a licensing deal. There is an obvious reason Sony might not want to. Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed it out on the day of the announcement: it’s a platform-led decision, he wrote, designed to cut costs, eliminate the resale market, and drive all revenue through the PlayStation Store. The math is not subtle. On a $70 third-party game sold through the PlayStation Store, Sony keeps $21. Sold at retail, Ahmad says, it earns about half that. Licensing disc replication to an outside manufacturer might not be worth it. And even if it were, it seems unlikely that such a deal would come from boutique companies like iam8bit, which sells collector’s editions of video games. “We would absolutely love to find a way forward to continue making physical PlayStation games,” said Jon Gibson, co-owner and co-creative director of the company. “We are big believers in giving humans the option to truly own media. If we can play a role in helping make that a reality for the future of PlayStation games, count iam8bit in!” If it were to happen, it would most likely be with a company like Conectiv Supply Chain Solutions, a Memphis-based manufacturer of optical discs and vinyl records that also runs third-party logistics, fulfillment and distribution for packaged media. The company, which was formed in 2025 when Los Angeles private equity firm Variant Equity Advisors purchased Vantiva’s Supply Chain Solutions division, traces its lineage back to Technicolor. When it sold the division, Vantiva described the business as having served video game creators for more than 25 years. Conectiv is also buying, not shrinking. Last month it acquired SDS, the distributor for Universal and Warner Bros. home entertainment, consolidating those studios’ packaged-media pipeline from pressing plant to retail shelf. I reached out to Conectiv and its CEO, but haven’t heard back. Layden pointed to music and books in our discussion about the ongoing value of physical media. “No one ever saw the comeback of cassette tape,” he said. “And vinyl didn’t so much come back. The flame went down, the fire’s dying, but the ember was always there, and it just kind of came back. Much like the book business. We thought we’d all be on Kindles right now. “I believe that physical media is crucial and important. One of the things that makes us gamers, one of the core game mechanics, going back to the beginning of time, is collecting stuff. “Did you get all the diamonds in Crash Bandicoot? Did you get all the stars in Mario? And we like to collect our games. And we have a game shelf. And we put all our boxes up there. And if you’re super hardcore, when you buy a game, you buy two copies, right? One stays in the shrink wrap, and you play the other one. What happens to that important cultural part of the gaming world? You know, we buy the steelbook and the three-disc Final Fantasy set and the figurine and, you know, you can’t download any of that. “What happens to that?” And Layden believes it shouldn’t have been a revenue question for PlayStation. “This was a core thing to the experience of our most devoted fans,” he said. “Yeah, it’s fan service. Why would we take that away? Well, we can’t afford to. It’s already 120 bucks, you know, limited edition special purchase onyx box version of whatever, and those sell at a higher rate than the box selling at $69.99 does. So yeah, the market has said they will continue to buy them. You’re just saying you just don’t want to make them anymore.” Layden said he was recently talking with someone about these sorts of business decisions and how they’re made. Too often, he said, it’s all about the financials and nothing else. “OK, we can do this and save this much money, or we can invest this to look at that outcome, or we can do this and have this happen over there, or move this team to Sri Lanka,” he said. “But each one of those, someone also has to have a ledger there saying, ‘OK, what is the brand impact from that move?’ “Iif you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” — Shawn Layden “If we do that, dollars and cents work out. I get it. That’s just math. But what’s the brand impact? Are people going to say, ‘Good move, you guys?’ Or are they going to say, ‘We hate you guys. Quit doing that.’ And sometimes they say, ‘We hate you.’ Then you take a note and say, OK, how much of that can we live with? How much ‘we hate you’ is OK. And when does it go over the line? “I see a lot of companies making decisions which, objectively speaking, I don’t know what the dollar end of that was for you, Mr. Company, but your brand value just dropped 30 percent. So I hope it was worth it.” Of course, shifting to a digital-only model for games raises other issues beyond simply wanting to collect. The biggest is ownership. Layden pointed out that once you go to a streaming-only or download-only model, it’s just a digital footprint on a hard drive. “What does ownership mean anymore?” he said. “It’s a genuine question. Well, in fact, it’s not even a question anymore. It’s like you are shifting the model from ownership to accessibility. “And what’s always been true, which people forget, is you’ve never been able to sell your iTunes library. And you can’t sell your PlayStation download library. So if you can’t resell it, do you really own it?” The touching tribute found in the credits for Star Wars Zero Company. Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy Interview and Hands-On with a Minoan Masterpiece Star Wars Zero Company hands-on: Attack Astromechs, permadeath, and delightfully fatal Rube Goldberg tactics Control Resonant opens up as you get stronger — and as characters start trusting you
Microsoft’s Project Zenith is a ‘distraction-free Windows experience’ for developers
The first Project Zenith devices ship with AMD’s Ryzen AI Halo chips.
Apple Is Testing a Four-HomePod Surround System, Code Suggests
Apple appears to be working on some major new HomePod home theater features, including a four-speaker surround sound system and a new "Party Mode," according to code found in audioOS 27 beta 8, and shared on the MacRumors forums by member pdfu. References in the software for the second-generation HomePod suggest the ability to tune for a setup with front-left, front-right, rear-left, and rear-right HomePods.
FDA finalizes recall due to heart devices sending delayed alerts—software update on the way
Boston Scientific is warning clinicians about an ongoing safety concern with its LUX-Dx family of insertable cardiac monitors. No devices need to be returned or replaced, but the FDA did finalize a Class II recall.
Tesla Introduces 'Automatic Collision Evasion' for Manual Drives
Tesla has quietly added a major new active safety capability to its vehicles, turning its autonomous driving software into an emergency crash-prevention tool
OpenAI is set to release legal software integrations built for lawyers
OpenAI wants to sell large enterprises on its technology. Now, it's taking its case to law firms.
Microsoft to impose time limits on Xbox cloud gaming subscribers as costs continue to climb
Xbox Game Pass subscribers will have cloud gaming capped starting in November.
Microsoft opens up Xbox Cloud Gaming with new pay-as-you-go option
Microsoft is trying once again to tempt people without an Xbox into its ecosystem.
Microsoft slashes Xbox Cloud Gaming to just 15 hours a month for Ultimate subscribers
The new cloud gaming hourly restrictions come nearly a year after all Game Pass subscribers got cloud access.
Team Science: AI Helps Dentists Practice the Conversations that Matter
A University of Rochester collaboration is using an AI-powered virtual patient to help dentists strengthen communication, build trust and better respond to patients’ fears and concerns.
The Health Benefits Workers Have Earned, the Support Families Deserve
“Labor Day is an opportunity to recognize the hardworking individuals and families who strengthen our communities every day.”
Sony and Microsoft request dismissal of consumer lawsuits over tariff refunds
Both companies argue they are not legally required to provide refunds to those who bought price-hiked hardware
In Elkhart County, a barometer of the national economy, industry softens amid tariffs
The American Dream survives in Elkhart. But will Trump's tariffs bring back jobs, or eliminate them?
Following Nintendo's example, Sony and Microsoft argue they have no obligation to pass tariff refunds onto customers
Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are in agreement that you shouldn't expect refunds for paying extra for their products as a result of US tariffs.
Changes to Medicare’s quality payment program may disadvantage radiologists
CMS is moving to new MIPS Value Pathways, or MVPs, which are specialty-specific measures intended to replace traditional ones, experts write in JACR.
Imaging artificial intelligence vendor Elucid raises $55M
The Boston AI firm touted the “oversubscribed” Series D funding round, which included participation from an unnamed, publicly traded medical technology firm.
Soft opening announced for new Henderson sports, entertainment complex
Henderson Sport and Social offers indoor soccer, bowling, and an arcade without requiring families to walk through a smoky casino.
Soft opening announced for new Henderson sports, entertainment complex
Henderson Sport and Social offers indoor soccer, bowling, and an arcade without requiring families to walk through a smoky casino.
Soft opening announced for new Henderson sports, entertainment complex
Henderson Sport and Social offers indoor soccer, bowling, and an arcade without requiring families to walk through a smoky casino.
Soft opening announced for new Henderson sports, entertainment complex
Henderson Sport and Social offers indoor soccer, bowling, and an arcade without requiring families to walk through a smoky casino.
Work list prioritization tool cuts reporting and turnaround times by over 70%
This could be particularly beneficial in high-volume radiology departments, where delays can accumulate as readers work through lengthy work lists.
Seattle-based software maker cuts 117 jobs after acquiring another company
Qualtrics, a Seattle-based survey-software maker, is cutting 117 employees after acquiring another company in a multibillion-dollar deal.
Sony and Microsoft say they’re not obligated to pass U.S. tariff refunds to consumers, echoing Nintendo
Back in July, Sony executives told investors that the company expected to receive $508 million in refunds from the U.S. government, after tariffs that the PlayStation-maker paid were ruled mostly in 2025 were found to be illegal. “Most” of the refund would by recouped by Sony’s gaming division, its chief financial officer said. This week, Sony’s lawyers are arguing that the company is not legally obligated to pass those proceeds on to consumers who paid for recently price-hiked PlayStation consoles. That’s in the face of a lawsuit from gamers calling on them to do exactly that. “Paying fair market price for voluntarily purchased consumer goods is not a legally cognizable injury in fact,” the lawyers wrote in a legal motion filed on Monday, as they asked a judge in California’s Northern District to dismiss a potential class action lawsuit over the tariff refunds. Microsoft made a similar argument two weeks ahead of Sony’s lawyers, in a similar lawsuit brought by a gamer in federal court in Washington State. As Microsoft’s legal team put it on August 21, in their request for a dismissal of that lawsuit: “There is nothing unjust about Plaintiff purchasing an Xbox at an advertised price and getting exactly what he paid for—regardless of whatever theory he devised months later about Microsoft’s cost structure.” Both legal fights are set to go on for some time. How things got to this point U.S. tariffs impacting a wide range of imported goods, including game consoles, had kicked off in early 2025. In May 2025, Microsoft raised the price of its Xbox consoles, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” They raised them again that September. In August of that year, Sony raised the price of PlayStation 5 consoles, citing “a challenging economic environment.” Sony later told investors that its tariff fees for the fall quarter were nearly $200 million. in February of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the 2025 tariffs illegal, prompting impacted companies to begin to request refunds. In turn, consumers began suing the likes of Sony and Microsoft to get what they said was their share. The gamers in the Microsoft and Sony lawsuits argue that the 2025 price hikes of PlayStation and Xbox consoles, which added $50 or more to their sticker price, were due to illegal tariffs and should now be returned to consumers. The Sony suit started in May, when a group of gamers sued in federal court in California, saying Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation) would be unjustly enriching itself if it did not pass tariff refunds to its PS5 buyers. “Sony is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” the gamers’ lawyers wrote at the time. They called for Sony to partially reimburse anyone who bought a PlayStation in the U.S. since August 1, 2025. The Microsoft suit, filed by gamer Trevor Hastings against the Xbox giant in July, made similar claims. The console makers push back In late July, Nintendo’s lawyers, facing a similar suit accusing them of double-dipping on tariffs and refunds, replied with arguments that previewed Microsoft’s and Sony’s: “Nintendo or one of its retailers set a price for each product, and consumers decided whether that price was worth paying,” they wrote. Sony has buttressed that Nintendo-style argument this week by saying that the gamers have failed to prove that tariffs were the reason for its August 2025 PS5 price hike. They call thatclaim “speculative and illogical.” Other factors, including “inflation, currency fluctuations, component costs, logistics, competitive dynamics, or demand,” could have played a role. (No, the Sony lawyers do not break down the costs and factors that officially triggered the price increases). Microsoft has also argued that there’s no proof in these lawsuits that tariffs drove all or some of the price increase, as it seeks to dismiss the tariff refund suit it’s facing: “Plaintiff provides no specific allegations that would establish any pricing differential attributable to tariffs or suggest any possibility that Microsoft applied then or could recreate now any dollar-for-dollar calculation of tariff-related pricing—any more than it could any other market factor that affects pricing.” To further skewer the gamer side’s argument in its case, Sony’s lawyers have pointed to what might be a surprising defense: yet another PlayStation 5 price hike from this past spring, after the tariffs were ruled illegal. “If the original price increase were attributable to tariffs, SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment, aka PlayStation] would have had no reason to raise prices again after the Supreme Court invalidated the IEEPA tariffs.” … “If tariffs were the cause of the price increases, one would expect SIE to lower prices once the tariffs were eliminated—not raise them again. Instead, the timeline confirms that the pricing of PlayStation consoles includes a diverse and dynamic set of input costs.” Judges have not yet ruled on the arguments made by Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. Last week, Panic, the company behind the small, yellow Playdate handheld said it would be passing its tariff refunds on to consumers. It is the only gaming hardware maker to have made such a pledge. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my reporting, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe Item 2: A reporter’s second Second Life Wagner James Au, who from 2003-2006 was paid by San Francisco-based tech company Linden Lab to be a full-time journalist embedded in their virtual world Second Life, is returning to the company. This time, he’ll be an editorial advisor and business development specialist, he tells Game File. The new role will involve trying to share the stories of people inhabiting Second Life’s ongoing online world with reporters and by extension the public. Au plans to continue to also chronicle some of that through his long-running blog New World Notes. I’ve known Au since the mid-2000s and featured him in a 2007 article for the Columbia Journalism Review about reporters like him opening up virtual news outlets within Second Life. As I wrote at the time: On April 22, 2003, writing as Hamlet Linden for the New World Notes blog on Second Life’s Web site, Au introduced himself. “For the next few months, Linden Lab has invited me to set aside my journalist cap, and instead, don the digital beanie of their in-house virtual correspondent.” He wasn’t paid to keep it positive. He wrote about builders and eccentrics, but then in August of that year, he reported on a tax revolt against Linden Lab (a complaint about the fees it charges users who build stuff) led by a resident whose avatar was a big cat. Second Life has always been less of a video game and more of a virtual world where people can live, hang out, make art, sell virtual items and flirt. Back in 2007, Au described touring it as “sort of like underwater lucid dreaming.” For the past two decades, Au has maintained New World Notes as an independent publication. But he said he’s been drawn back to Second Life and Linden Lab as a place to directly work. The virtual world has around 650,000 monthly active users, he said, “which is actually about what it was during the hype wave.” Au says he’s still finding rich stories in Second Life, the kind that keep him interested 20 years into the beat: “Over the last few months for instance, I wrote about an SL creator in Venezuela whose apartment was destroyed by the earthquakes, so the global SL community rallied to get him back on his feet,” he told me. “Then there’s the woman from a Middle Eastern country who explored her lesbian sexuality in SL, then earned enough from her virtual jewelry to escape her abusive family situation and country.” Au wants to beckon more reporters to give Second Life another look. He argues that it is often ahead of internet trends, noting, for example, an early backlash in the community against AI-made art. Now the platform is drawing curiosity from more of the user-generated content community who’ve grown up with the likes of Roblox, according to Au. “Second Life was too early during its hype wave in 2005-2010, but it now feels right for a new wave of interest,” he told me.
Leak lists Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake developer as Xenoblade Chronicles studio
A retailer may have inadvertently leaked information about the Ocarina of Time remake. Elkjøp specifies Monolith Soft as the lead developer for the Switch 2 game. While the Xenoblade Chronicles studio has supported Nintendo EPD in recent Zelda projects, its leverage over the franchise has grown.
Microsoft to start disclosing Azure quarterly revenue as company consolidates business units
Microsoft will begin reporting quarterly Azure revenue in dollars for the first time, providing more clarity about its business that competes with AWS.
iOS 27 Introduces New 'iPhone Handoff' Feature
Apple has added a new "iPhone Handoff" feature to iOS 27 that will allow you to switch between two iPhones while using the same phone number on each device. This functionality was briefly mentioned during the WWDC 2026 keynote in June, on a slide that listed hundreds of new features coming in iOS 27 and corresponding software updates, but Apple never shared any further details at the time.
Women’s Sports Leagues Have Exploded Around the Nation
Money is flowing into start-ups in softball, baseball, volleyball and basketball, and TV viewership is following.
Microsoft Finally Backs Down: The Windows 11 Taskbar Update You've Been Waiting For
Microsoft is at last reversing one of its most hated design choices—and giving users back the control they've been asking for.
Xbox Network outage now fixed, Microsoft confirms
Microsoft has confirmed that the Xbox Network is experiencing a major outage which is preventing players from signing in to Xbox devices.
Xbox Acknowledges 'Major Outage' as Sign-In Issues Hit PC and Consoles
Microsoft has acknowledged a "major outage", with account issues across PC, Xbox Series X/S and other devices.
People-First Executive Drives Community Effort to Improve Health in Kansas City
KANSAS CITY, September 2, 2026 — Through the American Heart Association’s Heart of Kansas City campaign, Mark Garrett, volunteer chair and Chief People Officer at Garney will lead community-wide efforts to help ensure every individual in Kansas City has...
Capcom removes Denuvo from Dragon's Dogma 2 ahead of its new expansion
As well as a mountain of other changes, Dragon's Dogma 2 has had Denuvo DRM software removed ahead of the Dark Arisen expansion.
Commercial AI cuts pulmonary nodule assessment times by up to 25%
The use of artificial intelligence-enabled software could significantly reduce interpretation times for chest CT scans, experts write in RSNA's Radiology.
August Monthly Review: ChatGPT In Epic
Death, taxes, another frontier lab healthcare launch inspiring truly insane LinkedIn takes. As much as I want to stay away, I repeatedly am the crewman unplugging his ears whenever we pass these sirens. So it’s not the first and probably not the last time we dial up the typewriter rather than tie ourselves to the mast. The full blow-by-blow timeline: Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe The End of the Standalone PHR (Jan 8): ChatGPT Health arrives for consumers, at the time powered by b.well. I was bullish on the approach in that the best way for the PHR to finally solve distribution was to meet consumers were they already are (i.e. When Horizontal Meets Healthcare (Jan 9): OpenAI for Healthcare puts out the shingle for enterprises, with SharePoint ingestion standing in for the EHR integration the product actually needed. Another One: Anthropic’s Healthcare Debut (Jan 16): Claude's version, on HealthEx rails instead of b.well, with Agent Skills for FHIR development as the one true vertical-specific investment. ChatGPT for Clinicians: The Trap Sprung (Apr 24): OpenAI filled in the missing GTM middle with a free product for verified clinicians, effectively peeling the enterprise wrapper off ChatGPT for Healthcare and taking the PLG fight directly to OpenEvidence. OpenAI’s Second Attempt at Health (Jul 31): a relaunch of their patient specific app, now branded Health in ChatGPT, where the privacy partition came out, the connectors thinned, and b.well disappeared in favor of first-party FHIR work against a smaller network Beyond a Shingle So what was announced now? Today, we’re introducing a new electronic health record integration that brings authorized patient context from Epic into ChatGPT for Healthcare, along with the Healthcare Public Data plugin for direct, structured access to official healthcare datasets like PubMed, DailyMed, and CMS Coverage. Together, these capabilities bring ChatGPT closer to the systems and sources healthcare teams trust, while supporting the controls and compliance healthcare work requires. The core portfolio is unchanged from prior announcements we delineated and discussed (aside from the relaunch of patient-facing). Since trade publications still seem to be confusing them by using the wrong names: Enterprise sales motion: ChatGPT for Healthcare Protecting their core product / PLG: ChatGPT for Clinicians Consumer/patient-facing product: Health in ChatGPT So really, this is a feature release (specifically for ChatGPT for Healthcare when it comes to EHR integration). What’s cool about it, though, is that we are moving beyond just putting out a shingle. Everything in the January enterprise launch was horizontalizable: Horizontal tech companies thus generally start verticalization with their “putting out a shingle phase”. Telling the world you’re open for business as a horizontal tech company reliably attracts early inbound interest from buyers who are already trying to force-fit horizontal tools into domain-specific workflows and are eager for any signal that the vendor intends to support their use case more directly. Nothing was really vertical specific, which is exactly what you'd expect from the ultimate hypergrowth horizontal company dipping their toes into specific industries. But eventually you have to stop changing the sign on the door and start changing the product. Can you guess where the horizontal product was going to run out of road? This is the core dilemma writ large: verticalization requires differentiation, while scale economics of consumer and horizontal push toward unification. I’ve buried the lede so deep here it will be painful to some readers, but what should be shocking to no one is that my perspective is that EHR integration is the only path that meaningfully resolves this tension for ChatGPT for Healthcare. Integration with Microsoft Sharepoint is fine, but it is categorically insufficient for any product that hopes to influence clinical decision-making. SMART Money Well here we are, eight months later! Real vertical investment has begun, which surprised a few people. One friend in the industry messaged me: “Absolutely no way Epic gave ChatGPT API access.” Looking forensically at the announcements, the integration is notably read-only across appointment notes, laboratory results, medications, and specialist documentation. So while I’m not a betting man, I'd wager the house this is a SMART on FHIR launch: That sounds a lot like USCDI! The recommended path for the workflow they outline would be SMART on FHIR Their Health AI lead’s post is evocative of both standalone and EHR launch SMART, which another termed “ChartGPT” and “EHR Plugin” The implementation burden for SMART on FHIR is the lowest of the available integrative paths This is the team who literally did patient-facing SMART on FHIR with Epic last month Most importantly, if you’re a horizontal company, you generally still haven’t taken the full plunge and thus (overly) value reusability. SMART on FHIR is the logical compromise: healthcare-specific enough to matter, but standardized enough to reuse. Nobody Asked Judy Another friend asked “I thought they had to go to each health system, or did they go direct to Epic and now health systems opt in?” Given the trust paradigms in healthcare, this functionally cannot be Epic hoovering up all the data for OpenAI and shoving ChatGPT in their customers’ faces (or they would revolt). However, I do believe the aforementioned terrible coverage by TechCrunch and other outlets is probably responsible for that question, given the 325 million reference. When using FHIR as a business associate to an Epic customer, there is no EHR gatekeeping to speak of, as that isn’t how fhir.epic.com works: You register an app You pick your APIs You test against the sandbox APIs You list as “Ready for Production” Hospitals pick your app You test and go live with them Bluntly, nobody had to say yes or no in Verona (nor were they given the chance). Vendor Services (their next developer tier up that I doubt OpenAI is using quite yet in this initial release) certainly has contractual paperwork that some resent, but even there, the twin pressures of mounting antitrust and information blocking make outright gatekeeping increasingly fraught. My friend’s sentiment is, to me, representative of a broader industry neurosis, perhaps a sort of scar tissue of prior eras: people assume the gate is still there and never actually try the door. There are certainly other ways Epic (and any EHR) can put its thumb on the scale, but they are not so dumb as to stand in front of a federally mandated API and play bouncer at this exact moment in time. So I think they can and probably should go deeper, as this release is at best parity and at worst behind vertical-specific competition. OpenEvidence did a basic SMART launch with Sutter Health in February, allowing for more convenient evidence search by providers. They then add patient-context (the equivalent SMART on FHIR flow to what we see here) when Cedars-Sinai went enterprise-wide in May. UpToDate has four distinct applications across deeper workflows like patient engagement listed in Epic Showroom and announced a partnership with Epic to power Art at UGM Abridge and other ambient scribes have invested deeply into the deepest bidirectional clinical copilot workflow with integrations well beyond SMART on FHIR. In that light, the “Who is OpenAI primarily targeting here?” is clear. This release brings them into striking distance of OpenEvidence, but not the others quite yet. They are the only one of the three you can reach without building something truly Epic-specific. When will they go further? Competition is a great motivator to overcome the horizontal demons and start building things that can’t be reused: not across industries, not across EHRs, maybe not past the customer you built them for. That’s the price of actually verticalizing. The question is if and when OpenAI will be willing to pay it. Month in Review Here is the monthly review. As a reminder, this is a regular round-up of the month’s posts and other content to surface things you may have missed across regulation, litigation, interoperability, and beyond. AI assistance is used in these bullet summaries so I can focus on articles. Articles Published: None this month Video Content: The Information Exchange: Standards-based Thruple Edition (Aug 14): Back to school for us too, with Brad reporting in from the CMS Health Tech Ecosystem’s one year anniversary in DC. We get into the January CMS-0057 deadline, the fall rulemaking reading list, and why enrollment still keeps most apps off FHIR. The Information Exchange: Epic Dúnadan Edition (Aug 25): A UGM roundup with Ryan Brickner joining for the first time to check our takes against what the building actually thinks. Rangers, Ergo sitting on top of EHI, and a down-market lineup that needs some cuts. Regulatory: Stacked Deck, Bad Hand (Aug 05): ONC’s website refresh took the entire HIT Policy Committee record with it, so I rebuilt the archive and went looking for the regulatory capture story everyone assumes is buried in there. Stacking the deck and winning the hand turn out to be very different things. The Sixth Generation of Patient Access (Aug 19): A quick catalog of the five generations of patient access we’ve layered on since HIPAA, and the two candidates now competing to be the sixth. One is planned. The other is the market routing around the plan entirely. Court cases: Three Cases Walk Into a Docket (Aug 06): Two surprise settlements cleared the board in a single week, and then Judge Maddox dropped ninety-four pages on Vyne v. Henry Schein. The sleeper is a DMCA holding that makes direct-to-database a considerably riskier business model. Epic v. Health Gorilla: Into the MDL (Aug 10): Nine class actions are headed to Miami, and the Panel signaled it wants to bring the case that spawned them along too. That would leave Epic arguing the requests were obviously fraudulent in one courtroom and unknowable in the other. Amazon v. Perplexity: Agents Are Legalized! (Aug 11): The Ninth Circuit vacated the injunction against Comet, holding that the user is the one accessing the servers rather than the company that built the agent. A real win for agentic access, and a much narrower one than the headline suggests. Veeva v. Epic: Come At Me, Bro (Aug 26): Epic’s response brief wants the dismissal affirmed and, unusually, wants the opinion published as precedent. Buried in it is Epic’s own description of what its non-competes actually prohibit, which current and former employees should read closely. EHRs: The Contract Epic Would Never Sign Today (Aug 04): A 1999 SEC exhibit catches Epic licensing nearly its entire product line, Tapestry included, to the company that became TriZetto. The marketing services menu attached to it is the part that will make you blink. Forecast from Verona (Aug 07): The Epic Almanac makes one argument six different ways: the AI is only as good as the networks behind it. Emmie headlines, Art’s context stack is the most ambitious part, and Penny finally gets an autonomous coding date on the calendar. Works With Epic MyChart (Aug 17): Epic’s first new Showroom category since the death of Workshop certifies hardware instead of software, badge on the box and all. Made for iPhone, but for blood pressure cuffs, and rough news for anyone selling the RPM stack sitting in between. UGM Hot Takes 2026 (Aug 20): Everyone else covered the AI announcements, so I went after Savvy deleting the payment gateway, Rangers as Boost with the timer removed, and a down-market lineup with too many entries. Plus the Health Grid tidbits I cannot help myself on. MyChart Central Grows Up (Aug 24): Device data and Emmie turn Epic’s identity hub into a full consumer platform, which is both a logical answer to ChatGPT and a bit of a mistake. It also happens to be the best scraping target Epic has ever shipped. Industry Analysis: The Wrong Yardstick (Aug 12): Vertical software keeps getting judged against Superhuman and Notion, which is the wrong bar entirely. Your user is comparing your product to a whiteboard and forty phone calls before lunch. Primitives vs. Abstractions (Aug 27): Developers want building blocks, systems of record prefer to hand out business logic, and both sides have a real case. There’s no test from the outside that separates the engineering reason from the competitive one, which is why this keeps ending up in court. Cross-industry Comparisons: The Two Kinds of Platform Power (Aug 18): Attention power and record power are different problems that keep getting handed the same regulatory toolkit. Congress’s latest swing at Big Tech shows both what’s possible and where it falls apart. The Dogs of (Platform) War (Aug 21): A CourtListener alert turned up a property management fight with healthcare’s exact shape and none of the Cures Act. Shell prospects, ghost accounts, a notetaker bot that came back to haunt someone, and a lawyer arguing both sides of the same theory in two states. Fractals All the Way Down (Aug 31): Yardi dominates property management right up until you zoom into one segment, where AppFolio owns it outright and Yardi doesn’t appear at all. Where you draw the line around a B2B software market is about to decide an awful lot of cases. Other News: If Judy Had the Courage (Aug 13): A short eulogy for the era when software was allowed to look insane: WinAMP, bold colors, and everything the grey chatbot era has taken from us. External Media: Portland Monthly Health Tech Meetup: Erin O’Brien channeled my own feelings - maybe it’s just because it’s August and beautiful, but the monthly edition of the PDX Health community meetup was a ripper. Make sure to reach out if interested to join for the next one. STAT’s Coverage of Epic This Month: Brittany Trang of STAT did a fantastic job of breaking the FTC investigation that’s been lurking, as well as UGM related coverage, so I had to give her her wish of a meme. Fall Conferences: I’m pumped to be kicking off my fall conference season in NYC at Nabla Accelerate next month, which Chrissy provided the link to apply for. Here’s the rest of my schedule in case you want to meet up: Commonwell (Redwood Shores, CA): Oct 13-14 Open@Epic (Madison, WI): Oct 21-22 eHealthExchange (Austin, TX): Oct 27 Sequoia Project (Austin, TX): Oct 28-29 HLTH (Vegas): Nov 15-18 RSNA (Chicago): Nov 29-Dec 3 Posts I Liked: HTI-6 Should Unbundle API Certification: Josh Mandel makes the case that HTI-6 should split (g)(10) into separate authorization and data certifications, so a PACS or a genomics platform can certify only the role it actually performs. Imaging is the urgent example, but the structure solves a much bigger problem. On implementing ePrior Auth with Epic: Scott Rossignol’s field notes from a live ePrior Auth build on Epic, including the two app registrations nobody warns you about and the CPT mapping problem waiting at the end. CMS-0057 implementations are going to be such a beast. Healthcare point solutions are starting to look a lot like streaming services: Spencer Dorn runs the cable-to-streaming arc against health IT and lands squarely on the bundling half of the cycle. Bundling can be good! It can also be bad! Life is nuanced. Health API Guy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
The Next Wave of Business Growth Won’t Come From AI Software Alone. It Will Reshape Real-World Operations
The early AI era is over. The established AI “brain” is about to get a “body.”
Corpay (CPAY) Simplifies Its Business As Profits Take A Hit
On August 5, Corpay (NYSE:CPAY) delivered two headlines in one breath. The corporate payments company reported second-quarter results that beat its own targets, and it agreed to sell a UK fleet software business it no longer sees as core. Revenue climbed 21% to $1,338.8 million and adjusted earnings per share jumped 36% to $7.00, yet […]
Mental health conditions after trauma linked to higher cardiovascular risk
Research Highlights: A large study in Denmark suggests that people who were diagnosed with a variety of psychiatric disorders after traumatic events were more likely to have increased future cardiovascular risks, such as non-fatal heart attack and...
What's the longevity of the Crouse Health Harborview Aquarium?
The Crouse Health Harborview Aquarium has been said to open sometime in the Fall season, with soft openings set for October.
New iPhone Ultra details arrive for specs, multitasking, launch timing, more
A new Tom’s Guide interview with Mark Gurman has fresh details on what to expect from iPhone Ultra’s specs, software, launch timing, and more.
Online entertainment sites in the context of U.S.-Israel business and technology
How American market scale and Israeli expertise in cybersecurity, AI, fintech and software are shaping the technology behind digital entertainment.
Rocket boosts bid to woo UWM brokers with new program, referral bonus
UWM pushed back on Rocket’s effort, saying its rival's new program relies on cash incentives rather than technology and service.
Google's answer to Canva is an AI tool where you prompt instead of design
With Google Pics, Google is pushing deeper into the creative software market dominated by Canva and Adobe, but with a distinctly AI-first approach.
Microsoft 365 outage drags on, but things are improving
Microsoft 365 and Outlook are still seeing service degradations on Tuesday, the company's status page indicates.
Sonos Ace Ultra, Beam Ultra, Sonos Fabric, and a New App: Everything Sonos Just Announced
Sonos is cramming AI into its software because it’s “very hot these days.” The new features, which include agentic automation, are opt-in.
'Sonos 27' Brings A Refreshed UI To The App And Lets AI Agents Control Your System
Sonos is embracing AI in its next major software update.
Sonos introduces new headphones, soundbar, and software in its biggest announcement in years
Here’s hoping it goes better than the last major app update.
Protecting Your Health Starts Long Before a Disaster
"The best emergency kit reflects your real life."
Recently patched PaperCut zero-days used in data theft attacks
Two security vulnerabilities in the PaperCut NG and MF print management software, patched last week after being exploited as zero-days, are now being abused in data theft attacks.
Radiology experts call for stricter rules around self-interpretation of imaging orders
Neiman Health Policy Institute researchers make their case in a new analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Microsoft acknowledges widespread Exchange Online problems
Initially reported as an Outlook problem, Microsoft says its Exchange Online service has been disrupted.
Apple Releases New iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS 27, and tvOS 27 Public Betas
Apple today released the sixth public betas of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, tvOS 27, and macOS Golden Gate, allowing anyone with a compatible device to download and test the new software. The sixth betas come a week after Apple seeded the fifth betas and a few hours after the eighth developer betas. You can get started by signing up on Apple's beta website and then opting in to the public beta by opening up the Settings app on your device, selecting General, and choosing Software Update.
TAVR and PCI: When heart patients need both, does the order matter?
Many patients who need TAVR also present with coronary artery disease. According to new data presented at ESC Congress 2026, performing TAVR first is noninferior to performing PCI first.
Ground breaks on $50 million sports and entertainment complex in Amherst
Located near ice rinks, softball diamonds and a golf course, the privately funded project is seen as the next step in making Maple Avenue a sports hub.
Microsoft Outlook and OpenAI's ChatGPT Work are experiencing user outages
OpenAI's ChatGPT Work offering was down for some users on Monday, and Microsoft said it was having issues with Exchange Online.
Microsoft tests fix for latest hours-long Outlook outage
Microsoft says it's testing a fix for the widespread Outlook issues that have led to email delays and failures.
Microsoft warns of TerminalFix attacks deploying reverse tunnels
A new ClickFix variant dubbed TerminalFix uses fake Cloudflare CAPTCHA prompts on compromised websites to trick victims into running malicious PowerShell commands in Windows Terminal.
Microsoft Outlook outage reported by thousands of users
Is Microsoft Outlook down? Here's what we know about the possible outage.
Take-Two Stock Drops Amid GTA 6 Leaks - Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ:TTWO)
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (NASDAQ:TTWO) shares are falling Monday, potentially facing selling pressure tied to a string of leaks surrounding "Grand Theft Auto VI" ahead of the game's Nov. 19 release.
Microsoft Outlook Hit by Exchange Online Service Outage
Outlook users are facing a frustrating start to the work week thanks to an issue with Microsoft Exchange Online.
Apple Releases macOS Golden Gate Beta 8
Apple today provided developers with the eighth beta of macOS Golden Gate, with the update coming a week after Apple seeded the seventh beta. Developers can download macOS Golden Gate by going to System Settings > General > Software Update. Beta Updates will need to be enabled, and a free developer account is required. macOS Golden Gate includes multiple design improvements.
Apple Seeds Eighth iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 Betas to Developers
Apple today seeded the eighth betas of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 to developers for testing purposes, with the update coming one week after Apple released the seventh betas. Registered developers can download the betas from the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad by going to the General section and selecting Software Update. iOS 27 introduces Apple's smarter version of Siri, Siri AI.
Run NVIDIA BioNeMo NIM Microservices for Protein Structure Prediction in Claude Science
Agentic AI is changing how research is done. AI scientists can read papers, propose hypotheses, call models, and determine which experiments to prioritize next. First proving their value in software…
Fans Think Ubisoft Leaked The Date Of The Next Nintendo Direct
If true, I guess we already know one game we'll be seeing
Microsoft Outlook Down for Thousands of Users, Downdetector Reports
Reports indicate a Microsoft Outlook outage affecting thousands. Find out more about the issues users are facing with Outlook.
Xbox CEO Reacts To The Irony Of Rising Console Prices Being An Issue That Microsoft Itself Contributed To
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma believes it is "wonderful" that GPUs have use beyond gaming.
US Consumers are Spending on Youth Team Sports Equipment Amid Rising Costs, According to Circana
Top growing categories include baseball and softball, lacrosse, and football
Garmin Cirqa review: A fine but utterly inessential smart band
Garmin's Cirqa band lacks the software and AI insights to make it a true Whoop rival.
Signs pointing to possible Nintendo Direct next week
We don’t have any sort of confirmation at this point, but a Nintendo Direct could very well be happening next Thursday, September 10. Much has been made of a social media post going around regarding Just Dance: Decade of Hits. Essentially, some content surrounding the game leaked. Ubisoft made a post on social media to respond to the situation and...
OpenClaw that Sam Altman spent billions on and claims to have beaten GTA 6 gets 'largest update in its history'
OpenClaw has rolled out OpenClaw 2.0, marking the most extensive software upgrade in the open-source artificial intelligence (AI) agent platform’s history since its debut last year. Announcing the release, the development team playfully referenced Rockstar Games’ upcoming November title launch with the social post, “HA!
Microsoft says Windows 11 KB5120998 update resets mouse settings
Microsoft has confirmed that mouse settings are being reverted on Windows 11 systems after installing the KB5120998 August 2026 non-security preview update.
Galaxy S24’s new software update goes global
It is the last day of the month, and Samsung is rushing to roll out this month's security update for several Galaxy smartphones and tablets. After releasing the
Microsoft asks users to ignore 'Antivirus is turned off' errors
Microsoft asked customers this week to ignore incorrect alerts that Defender Antivirus has been turned off after installing the latest Defender updates.
A course correction Canada would concur with
I’ve always harbored a soft spot for Canada. My father was stationed there twice, once in the 1960s as the Atomic Energy Commission’s American liaison with the Canadian nuclear reactor program in Chalk River, Ontario and again in the 1970s as the State Department’s scientific attache at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. I had the […]
Microsoft Is Slowly Healing Windows 11, With OneDrive Finally Allowing Users To Fully Opt Out Of The Service, Getting Rid Of The Incessant Reminder
Microsoft is making it easier to opt out of OneDrive on Windows 11 by removing persistent backup prompts and improving user control
Over 4,400 human brains found intact in skeletons: scientists finally know why - Futura-Sciences
For decades, archaeologists have puzzled over a strange phenomenon: skeletons stripped bare by time, with only one soft and unlikely survivor remaining, the brain. Now, a team of researchers says it has finally uncovered the chemistry behind this mystery. It appears that the answer does not come from a rare...
St. Charles Park District: Building confidence, one Science experiment at a time
Column: Making soft, stretchy slime or dabbling in crafting Halloween-themed science experiences, there’s always a secret ingredient that instructor Lisa Lombardi brings to the table: Positivity, writes Melissa Rubalcaba Riske for the St. Charles Park District
Microsoft Admits Windows 11 KB5120998 Update Breaks Mouse Cursors, With Wallpapers Turning Black Until You Uninstall It
Microsoft is investigating issues with Windows 11 KB5120998 update causing mouse cursor and wallpaper bugs, prompting users to uninstall the update.
TerminalFix Uses Fake Cloudflare CAPTCHAs to Deploy Reverse-Tunnel Backdoor
Microsoft says TerminalFix uses fake Cloudflare CAPTCHAs to trigger PowerShell and deploy a reverse-tunnel backdoor for internal network access.
Windows 11 is warning people that Defender Antivirus has been turned off, but don't worry, says Microsoft
It might be a false alarm.
Xbox CEO says next-gen Project Helix will be a “family of devices,” hinting at another Xbox Series S|X-style lineup
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma says the next-generation Project Helix will launch as a “family of devices,” suggesting a tiered lineup similar to the Xbox Series S and X. Microsoft has confirmed AMD-powered hardware supporting Xbox and PC games but has yet to disclose pricing, release timing, or disc-drive options.
Xbox Series X25 Anniversary Console: $899.99, Nov 13
Microsoft opens Xbox Series X25 preorders at $899.99, shipping Nov 13, 2026, with a 5-brand accessory collection from Razer, 8BitDo and more.
Rumor: Sony Reportedly Reconsidering Delaying Digital-Only Plans Due to Xbox Pushing for "100% Physical" Strategy for Xbox
Sony is reportedly thinking of delaying its digital-only plans, as Microsoft is said to be pushing for 100% physical regarding Project Helix.
"We're aware," Microsoft on Windows 11 KB5120998 breaking the mouse cursor
Windows 11's biggest update KB 5120998 is breaking mouse cursors, Microsoft admits the issue, and confirms it's investigating.
Xbox Not Ready To Say If The Elder Scrolls 6 Will Be Exclusive
Microsoft's gaming division was tight-lipped at Gamescom
LinkedIn Is No Longer a Business Network—It’s a Platform for Influencers Now
The Microsoft-owned platform has changed dramatically over the past few years. LinkedIn in late 2026 just feels different.
‘Force Restart’—Microsoft Changes Windows Update Next Month
Your Windows PC will force restart for the next two months — here's why.
Heartflow tech limits unnecessary catheterizations in patients with suspected CAD
AI-powered software from Heartflow can provide cath labs with a lot of value, according to new late-breaking data presented at ESC Congress 2026.
PaperCut releases second emergency patch for exploited flaws
PaperCut has released a second emergency security update for two actively exploited vulnerabilities in its PaperCut NG and MF print management software after researchers discovered multiple ways to bypass the initial fixes.
Local nurses protest against company that works with ICE
National Nurses United organized a protest against Palantir, a software company associated with immigration enforcement
nside the AUSL’s Explosive Growth
Jon Patricof on Athletes Unlimited's all in bet on softball ahead of the Olympics.
Navy Medicine Advances Operational Health IT for Distributed Maritime Operations
CHESAPEAKE, Va. —Navy Medicine leaders, Fleet representatives, and operational health IT experts convened to accelerate the fielding of medical information capabilities designed to support patient movement, medical logistics and force readiness across distributed maritime operations, August 24-28. Hosted by The Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) in Chesapeake, Virginia, the five-day Operational Health Information Technology Fielding Summit served to build upon work that began in 2024 and 2025, to refine Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS) software delivery, implementation, and training.
No significant sex-based differences in timing of care for M-TEER patients
Previous studies over the years have suggested women with severe mitral regurgitation face longer delays in care than men. This latest analysis suggests multidisciplinary care teams are helping put an end to that trend.
Windows 11 Gets Major Taskbar and Start Menu Customization in New Feature Update
Microsoft has begun rolling out a new feature update KB5120998 for Windows 11, introducing significant visual changes to the user experience. Among the notable additions is the long-awaited expanded taskbar customization, allowing users to position the taskbar at the top, left, or right side of...
Microsoft finalizes Windows 11 version 26H2 for general availability: Next version of Windows 11 enters final preview phase before rollout begins
Microsoft has announced that Windows 11 version 26H2 is now available to test in the Windows Insider Release Preview Channel, which means general availability is imminent.
Elden Ring Update Patch Notes Reveal Biggest Changes in Years
FromSoftware has delivered a surprise Elden Ring update, revealing the biggest changes its critically acclaimed action-RPG has gotten in years.
Microsoft rolls out Windows 11 26H2 as a release preview, shares how to download
Microsoft has published its latest build, 26300.9278, today, and with this, it has released Windows 11 version 26H2 to Release Preview.
When AI takes over coding, everyone gets promoted to manager
Leaders no longer need a team to ship software — but they still have to manage one.