Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro, Google’s Genie 4 and 404 advice

Google DeepMind’s Genie 4 builds playable worlds, now with sound

Google DeepMind announced Genie 4 on 27 October. It is a world model. You describe a scene, set something in motion, and it simulates what happens next, in real time. Google says it is the first real-time world model that makes its own audio, from music to dialogue.

You can change a running scene with text, such as the weather or the camera. Gemini models keep the scene consistent. For now it is a research preview for trusted testers. Google AI Ultra subscribers get it next in Project Genie, and early partners get it in the Gemini API and AI Studio. All video and audio carries a SynthID watermark.

Why it matters This is where interactive demos, game prototypes and product walk-throughs are heading. Google admits details still drift in long sessions, so it’s a toy for now, not a tool.

It was the second biggest story on Hacker News today, and the clips are fun to watch.

Read the full story on Google DeepMind

Google’s Gary Illyes says 404 errors won’t hurt your rankings

In a new Google video covered on 28 October, Gary Illyes said a 404 is a normal part of the web. “There is no penalty, no secret Google jail,” he said. Google drops the missing page from its index, and your healthy pages are fine.

He also said 404s don’t use up your crawl budget. Server errors (500s) and 429s are different, because they make Google slow down. And don’t redirect every dead page to your home page. That confuses people and muddies your data.

Why it matters You can stop panicking about the 404 list in Search Console. Redirect a dead page only when a real replacement exists. Otherwise return a 404 or 410 and make your 404 page helpful.

Read the full story on Search Engine Roundtable

Shopify apps must switch to expiring tokens by 1 January 2027

Shopify announced new app security rules on 27 October. Every public app that calls the Admin API must move to expiring offline access tokens by 1 January 2027. Apps that miss it are removed from the App Store and blocked from new installs.

On 15 January, merchants see a warning in their admin. From 1 April, old tokens get a 403 error and the app stops talking to your store. Custom apps you made yourself are not affected. Shopify also added an IP allowlist for the Admin API and a new shopify app security check command.

Why it matters If your store runs on small or older apps, ask each developer now if they are ready. An app that breaks in April could take orders, stock or shipping with it.

Read the full story on Shopify

WooCommerce 11.3 beta shows the discount percentage on sale badges

WooCommerce 11.3 Beta 1 came out this week, with the final release due the week of 9 November. The On-Sale Badge can now show the discount amount or percentage, such as “Save 20%”. Variable products show “Up to” the biggest discount.

You can also pick a refund and returns policy page under Settings, Advanced, Page setup. WooCommerce then adds structured data that points search engines to it. Product gallery swiping on phones now feels native. And the old MCP endpoint is gone, so AI agents now connect through the WordPress MCP Adapter plugin.

Why it matters A clear “Save 20%” sells better than a plain “Sale” tag. Test the beta on a staging copy, not your live shop.

Read the full story on WooCommerce Developer

Discord will put public server chats in search results

Discord said on 27 October that its Discoverable Servers will get their own web pages from 16 November. From mid-December, selected messages from public channels may appear in search engine results. Usernames and avatars are hidden.

Server admins choose which channels take part. Private servers and direct messages are left out, and members can opt out. The feature is off by default in Australia, plus the EU, UK, Canada, Brazil and South Korea.

Why it matters If you run a community on Discord, it could soon bring you search traffic. It also means more forum-style results competing with your own help pages.

Read the full story on TechCrunch

GitHub Enterprise now includes Copilot for every licensed user

GitHub said on 28 October that Copilot now comes with GitHub Enterprise. Admins stop counting Copilot seats and manage one AI usage budget instead. Code completion and next edit suggestions keep working even when the budget runs out.

Chat, code review and cloud agents need budget left. For now this is for companies that work with a GitHub or Microsoft account team. Self-serve customers get it later, with dates “in the coming weeks”. A new Copilot Standalone plan costs US$10 per user per month.

Why it matters If your agency pays for GitHub Enterprise, Copilot may soon cost nothing extra to switch on. Watch the usage budget, because chat and reviews are metered from the first request.

Read the full story on GitHub

Vercel now shows which AI bots visit your site

Vercel added AI Traffic insights to its Observability tab on 27 October. It lists requests by each verified AI bot and the pages AI crawlers fetch most. It also shows pages AI assistants open when someone asks them a question.

It even tracks requests for Markdown versions of your pages, and pages where bots hit errors. You can query it from the terminal with vc metrics, which needs Observability Plus.

Why it matters This tells you if ChatGPT and friends can read your pages at all. Errors here could mean you are missing from AI answers.

New to this? My guide on how AI search finds your site explains the crawlers.

Read the full story on Vercel

Anthropic study finds experts followed Claude’s lead 86% of the time

Anthropic published a study on 27 October. Fifty professional analysts used Claude Code on a data task. Each agent was secretly told to favour one option. The analysts picked that option 86% of the time, where chance would be about 50%.

Most didn’t notice. 77% repeated the agent’s arguments, but only 15% gave it credit. The good news is that AI users were faster and made far fewer serious errors.

Why it matters When you ask AI to plan your SEO or pick a tool, it can make the judgement call for you. Decide the big choices yourself first, then let the AI do the work.

I like that Anthropic published this about its own product. It’s a useful mirror.

Read the full story on Anthropic

Ghostty 1.4 adds full Kitty graphics and uses less memory

Ghostty 1.4, the fast open-source terminal app, came out on 27 October. It supports macOS 27 and the full Kitty graphics protocol, including animation. Scrollback is now compressed, so the default history limit grows from 10 MB to 50 MB.

Parsing, resizing and drawing are all faster. Linux gets a sharper renderer for scaled screens. A new ghostty +ssh command sets up Ghostty on remote servers.

Why it matters If you live in the terminal, this is a free speed bump. It topped Hacker News with over 1,100 points.

Read the full story on Ghostty

Apple fixes an exploited iPhone flaw on older devices like the iPhone XR

Apple has backported a fix for CVE-2026-86950, BleepingComputer reported on 27 October. It is a CoreGraphics bug that Apple says “may have been exploited” in highly targeted attacks. Newer devices got the fix in September.

This update covers the iPhone XS, XS Max and XR. It also covers older iPads, from the iPad 7th generation and iPad Air 4th generation to the iPad mini 6th generation.

Why it matters Old iPhones often end up as shop phones or a family hand-me-down. Open Settings, General, Software Update on them today.

Read the full story on BleepingComputer