This is the news from Saturday 24 October. Read the latest news
Daily news
Arc shuts down, Google’s Universal Cart goes live and more
Today in 30 seconds
- Arc browser shuts down on 22 December, and users move to Dia
- Google’s Universal Cart is now live in US Search and Gemini
- Google tests AI-written summaries in AI Overview source cards
- Google Business Home puts your Profile, Ads and YouTube in one place
- Claude wrote crash-free proofs for 123 open-source libraries
- Anthropic and OpenAI give Agent Skills and Open Responses to the Linux Foundation
- OpenAI’s Decisions API picks an option in under 200 milliseconds
- Canva Craft is Canva’s first image generation model
- Shopify’s Polaris 2.0 is stable, but your app must opt in
- YouTube moves Subscriptions to the top and adds custom feeds
- Nvidia’s 64GB DGX Spark goes on sale from US$4,999
Good morning. Today a browser says goodbye, Google puts a shopping cart right in Search, and AI tools get a little more open. Coffee first, then let’s go.
Arc browser shuts down on 22 December, and users move to Dia
The Browser Company announced on 22 October that Arc will stop working on Mac and Windows on 22 December. New Arc accounts are already closed. Arc Search on iOS and Android loses its AI features, sign-in and tab sync on 23 November.
The company wants Arc users to move to Dia, its AI-first browser. Passwords, bookmarks, extensions and history move across. Spaces become Profiles, vertical tabs stay as an option, and AI in Dia is optional. After 22 December, accounts close and personal data is deleted within 30 days.
Why it matters If you or your team use Arc, plan the move before 23 November, when sync stops. I’d also export your bookmarks to a file first. A backup costs one minute.
Google’s Universal Cart is now live in US Search and Gemini
Google’s Universal Cart, first shown at Google I/O in May, is now showing in Google Search and Gemini in the US. A cart icon sits at the top right of the results page. Product listings get “Add to cart” buttons, and checkout runs through Google Pay.
Glenn Gabe found you may need to pick a size or other option, then add the item again. The cart has its own “My orders” tab.
Why it matters Shoppers can now fill a cart without visiting your store first. Your product data in Merchant Center becomes your shop window. Keep prices, stock, sizes and photos correct, or you lose the sale before it starts.
Google tests AI-written summaries in AI Overview source cards
Google appears to be testing AI-generated summaries inside the citation cards next to AI Overviews. Brodie Clark spotted it, and Barry Schwartz saw it on some of his searches too. The text in the card is not copied from your page. It is a summary built around the search.
Google has not commented yet.
Why it matters The line under your link may soon be written by Google’s AI, not by you. Clear opening paragraphs give it better material to work with. Use data-nosnippet on text you never want quoted. My guide on how AI search finds your site explains the rest.
Google Business Home puts your Profile, Ads and YouTube in one place
Google is opening a closed beta of Google Business Home. It brings your Business Profile, Merchant Center, YouTube and Ads accounts together in one place. Google calls it “a growth partner built with Gemini models”.
It is only for some business types in the US and the UK for now. Screens include Creative Lab, Posts, Reviews, Performance, Locations and a Brand Kit. Google says it will later suggest next steps, like a seasonal offer when demand jumps.
Why it matters Local businesses may soon run most of their Google marketing from one screen. Not in the US or UK? Keep your Business Profile complete now, so you are ready when it arrives.
Claude wrote crash-free proofs for 123 open-source libraries
Anthropic shared research on 22 October with Theorem. Claude wrote formal proofs for 123 open-source libraries, including zlib, libexpat and cpp-httplib. The proofs show the compiled code won’t crash on any input under 64 MB. Claude found and patched hundreds of bugs along the way.
Some proofs are on GitHub, plus a Claude skill to help you start verifying your own code. Anthropic is clear that “formally verified” does not mean “bug-free”.
Why it matters Libraries like zlib sit under almost every web server. Fewer crashes in them means fewer emergency patches for the rest of us. After this week of PHP news, I like that very much.
Anthropic and OpenAI give Agent Skills and Open Responses to the Linux Foundation
The Agentic AI Foundation, part of the Linux Foundation, added four open projects on 22 October. Anthropic gave Agent Skills, a format for packing instructions and scripts that agents load when needed. OpenAI gave Open Responses, a shared API format based on its Responses API.
Hugging Face added OpenEnv for training environments, and Alibaba added OpenSandbox for running agent code safely. They join MCP and AGENTS.md, which the foundation already looks after.
Why it matters Write a skill or an API call once, and it should work with more AI tools. Fewer locked doors means less rework when you switch providers.
OpenAI’s Decisions API picks an option in under 200 milliseconds
OpenAI made its Decisions API available to all customers on 22 October. You give it a set of options, and it picks one fast with a confidence score. It is built on the ChatGPT Luna model, tuned for speed and low cost.
OpenAI says replies now take about 100 to 180 milliseconds, down from one to three seconds. Box, Datadog, Ramp and Speak tested it early. No prices were given.
Why it matters Quick yes or no choices, like “is this a support or sales email”, become cheap enough to run on every message. I’d test it on form spam and ticket sorting first.
Canva Craft is Canva’s first image generation model
Canva released Canva Craft on 22 October. It plans the layout, scale and text of an image first, then draws it at up to 2K in 30 shapes. It was trained on designs made by people, not photos, so it aims for clean, readable text.
All users can try it in the Dream Lab tab, and it is in the Canva API. You can turn its images into layered designs you can edit. Two faster versions are on the way.
Why it matters Social posts and banners with text that is spelled right, in a tool many small businesses already pay for. Keep your Brand Kit up to date so the results look like you.
Shopify’s Polaris 2.0 is stable, but your app must opt in
Shopify made Polaris web components 2.0 stable on 22 October. It matches the redesigned Shopify admin, with a new frame, navigation and look. It is the first major release under the CDN’s new version numbers.
Polaris 2.0 does not reach your app by itself. Change your script tag to polaris-2.js. The old polaris.js stays on version 1.1 for good. React Router apps need @shopify/shopify-app-react-router 2.1.0 or newer.
Why it matters Apps that skip the update will look out of place in the new admin. Pin to polaris-2.0.js if you want to test each 2.x release before it goes live.
YouTube moves Subscriptions to the top and adds custom feeds
YouTube is redesigning Home in its Android and iOS apps. The Subscriptions tab leaves the bottom bar after nearly ten years. “Subs” now sits in a top bar, next to new Live, Music, and Movies and TV feeds.
New custom feeds let you describe what you want, like a topic or a mood, and YouTube builds the feed. Free users can save 3 and Premium members 8. It starts in English for signed-in US viewers.
Why it matters If YouTube brings you customers, fewer people may see your new videos through Subscriptions. Strong titles and clear topics matter more when an AI builds the feed.
Nvidia’s 64GB DGX Spark goes on sale from US$4,999
Nvidia’s cheaper DGX Spark went on sale on 23 October, from US$4,999 in the US. It has the same GB10 Grace Blackwell chip as the 128GB model, with half the memory. One unit runs AI models of up to 100 billion parameters.
Connect two with a cable and they share 128GB for models up to 200 billion parameters. It is sold through Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP and MSI.
Why it matters A desk-sized box that runs big open models keeps your data off the cloud. It is still a lot of money. For most small teams, a cloud GPU by the hour is cheaper to start with.
Quick hits
- PHP warns of a new, unlikely RCE risk. Keep
session.upload_progress.enabled=0until the next release. The Hacker News - Google Meet speech translation now covers 63 languages and detects who speaks which. Google Workspace Updates
- Sundar Pichai says Google’s near-future vision for Search and Gemini “is one box”. Search Engine Journal
- Google AdSense dropped its placement and sticky player rules for video inventory. Search Engine Roundtable
- Google AI Mode lost its “Export to Docs” button. The Gemini app still has it. Android Authority
- Gemini Personal Intelligence can now use your Maps searches and saved places, if you opt in. 9to5Google
- GitHub pull requests now remember your whitespace setting and give new files the full width. GitHub Changelog
- Kindle Unlimited is now Kindle+, with thousands more audiobooks at the same price. Engadget
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