Touchscreen MacBook Pro date, ChatGPT tracking fix and Pele

ChatGPT traffic drop in GA4 was a tracking bug, now fixed

Many sites saw ChatGPT visits fall in Google Analytics in October. Search Engine Journal reported on 17 October that it was a bug. Some links in ChatGPT answers stopped carrying the utm_source=chatgpt.com tag between 8 and 15 October.

Graphite’s Ethan Smith saw about a 45% drop in ChatGPT sessions across the sites it tracks. The missing visits likely showed up as Direct traffic. Adobe’s Cedric Huesler says OpenAI confirmed the bug on 14 October and started a fix on 15 October. After that, tagged clicks came back to about 95 to 100% of the week before.

Why it matters If your AI traffic looked like it crashed, it probably didn’t. Mark 8 to 15 October as a tracking gap in your reports, and don’t change your content because of it. OpenAI’s own release notes don’t mention the bug.

My guide on how AI search finds your site covers what you can control on your side.

Read the full story on Search Engine Journal

DeepSeek opens a web Search and Fetch API for AI agents

DeepSeek now offers two web tools for developers. The Search API returns up to 50 structured web results per request. The Fetch API reads one web page and returns it as Markdown.

Each costs US$0.75 per 1,000 successful requests. You only pay when you get a usable result, so failures and empty results are free. Each tool allows 5 requests per second per account. Calls made through Claude Code, Codex or DeepSeek’s own agent tool are free until 1 November 2026, Beijing time.

Why it matters Cheap search and fetch tools mean more AI agents will read the web, including your site. A page that reads well as plain Markdown is easier for them to use. If APIs are new to you, start with my plain English guide, what is an API.

Read the full story on DeepSeek API Docs

OpenAI will build a humanoid robot, with a demo planned for 2027

Sam Altman says OpenAI will build a humanoid robot, Engadget reported on 17 October. Asked on a podcast if OpenAI would build one, he said “We will.” He told Fortune to expect “a cool demo in 2027”.

Altman says the robot’s “brain” matters more than its body. He also doesn’t expect robots “walking the streets for a few years longer”. OpenAI’s careers page lists 27 robotics jobs. There is no price, design or release date yet.

Why it matters Nothing changes for your website today. But the same models that answer questions will soon drive machines. That is worth watching, and it is fun to think about.

Read the full story on Engadget

Obsidian’s Pele renders Mermaid diagrams up to 500 times faster

Obsidian released Pele, a free library that turns Mermaid diagram code into SVG. It was built by Steph Ango (kepano) for Obsidian, and it uses the MIT licence. It was one of the most popular posts on Hacker News this weekend.

Pele says it is about 230 kB gzipped, against 1.6 MB for Mermaid.js. It has no dependencies, and a render takes 0.05 to 0.3 ms. It supports every diagram type in Mermaid 12.1.0. You style it with CSS variables, and colour changes apply without a re-render. On small screens it changes the layout instead of shrinking the diagram.

Why it matters If your docs or blog show flowcharts, Pele can cut a big script from your pages. Install it with npm install pele. Test your own diagrams first, because speed claims come from the maker.

Read the full story on Pele

Cloudflare Workers let you test Cron Triggers locally

Cloudflare added Cron Triggers to Local Explorer on 17 October. You can now run a Worker’s scheduled() handler by hand while you develop. Start wrangler dev, cf dev or the Cloudflare Vite plugin, then open /cdn-cgi/local/explorer.

You can run the cron times from your config, or try new ones, and see the result. AI agents and scripts can do the same with a POST request. Nothing you try changes your config or your live triggers. Local development still won’t run schedules by itself.

Why it matters Nightly jobs like cache clears, feed imports and reports are hard to test. Now you can test them before you deploy, not at 2 am. New to Cloudflare? Start with my Cloudflare 101 guide.

Read the full story on the Cloudflare changelog

Vercel AI Gateway logs now show coding sessions and cache hits

Vercel added a Sessions view to AI Gateway logs on 17 October. It groups requests into sessions and shows which tool ran them, such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor. Each session shows cost, models, providers and how much was cached.

Session affinity sends each turn to the provider that handled the last one. That provider already has most of the prompt cached, so you pay less. It is on by default for text and chat. You can group requests yourself with a sessionId or an x-session-id header.

Why it matters AI coding bills grow fast. Look at your cache hit rate first, because a low one means you pay full price for the same prompt again and again.

Read the full story on the Vercel changelog

iOS 27 CarPlay: which iPhones get the new features

Engadget listed the new CarPlay features in iOS 27 on 18 October, and which iPhones get them. You can watch video on the car screen while parked. It switches to audio only when you drive, and car makers must add support.

There is also a mini-player with a progress bar, new wallpapers and a steadier wireless link. Maps apps can share routes and EV charging stops with the car. The new Siri needs an iPhone 15 Pro, or an iPhone 16 or later. An iPhone 14 gets the rest, but not the new Siri. In the EU, the new Siri isn’t available at all.

Why it matters If CarPlay feels the same after updating, your iPhone is probably the reason. iOS 27 runs on the iPhone 11 and later.

Read the full story on Engadget