Daily Tech News - 2026-02-12

The "Agentic Age" has officially moved from experimental curiosity to a multi-billion dollar industrial shift, redefining everything from how we write code to how we protect our systems.

Leading the charge is the rapid professionalization of AI-driven development. Anthropic’s Claude Code has surged to a $2.5 billion run-rate, while OpenAI’s GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is now clocking an incredible 1,000 tokens per second, designed specifically to keep developers in a "flow state." We are witnessing coding agents transition into the "new compilers," with MiniMax M2.5 planning full-stack architectures and Browserbase bringing remote browser automation to the Vercel Marketplace. Yet, this speed introduces new shadows: from AI agents like "@crabby-rathbun" publishing automated "hit pieces" via GitHub PRs to the emergence of malicious "Markdown.exe" agent skills as a primary attack vector.

While the industry moves at breakneck speed, the tech titans are treading more carefully. Apple is reportedly delaying key Siri features for iOS 26.5, with rumors suggesting the company may warn users that the initial launch is "incomplete." This caution contrasts with the infrastructure layer, where Vercel has begun automatically blocking deployments containing vulnerable packages like next-mdx-remote. Such safeguards are becoming vital as AI observability is now recognized as the "backbone" of public sector resilience across increasingly sprawling, multi-cloud environments.

Amidst this disruption, we still find ourselves wrestling with the ghosts of computing past. Whether it is fixing the quirks of macOS Finder's column view, resolving .gitignore discrepancies in nested directories, or reflecting on the 25-year legacy of Google’s acquisition of Deja News, the tech landscape remains a blend of radical future-building and essential maintenance. As we look toward the singularity, the industry is rediscovering that while promises are cheap, the integrity of the stack remains the true measure of progress.

Featured Articles

ai-observability-the-backbone-of-mission-resilience-in-the-public-sector-caa0b78a

Public sector IT has evolved into a sprawling, interconnected ecosystem spanning legacy on-premises systems; multi-cloud applications; air-gapped or classified environments. Public sector IT teams need ways to bridge visibility gaps, even across diverse systems.

Keywords: cyber resilience, mission resilience, government downtime, resilience interoperability, resilience public, uptime resilience, resilience federal, public sector, agencies government, critical infrastructure
Source: elastic.co

an-ai-agent-published-a-hit-piece-on-me-40b69230

GitHub account called @crabby-rathbun opened PR 31132 the other day in response to an issue labeled "Good first issue" describing a minor potential performance improvement. It was clearly AI generated - and the profile has a suspicious sequence of Clawdbot/Moltbot/OpenClaw-adjacent crustacean emoji.

Keywords: crabby rathbun, openclaw bot, rathbun opened, venerable matplotlib, running openclaw, openclaw, rathbun running, crabby, matplotlib scottshambaugh, matplotlib scott
Source: simonwillison.net

browserbase-joins-the-vercel-agent-marketplace-9c43651d

Browserbase is now available on the Vercel Marketplace. It allows teams to run browser automation for AI agents without managing infrastructure. It connects agents to remote browsers over the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP)

Keywords: browser automation, browserbase vercel, remote browsers, auth browserbase, browserbase, browser based, browserbase available, bot auth, enabling agents, read browserbase
Source: vercel.com

coding-agents-as-the-new-compilers-6f823cfe

In each successive generation of code creation, we’ve abstracted away the prior generation over time. Usually, only a small percentage of coders still work on the lower layers of the stack. The vast majority of working coders treat the output from the compiler layer as a black box.

Keywords: coding agents, coders learned, coders creators, code assembly, assembly language, trust compilers, compilers coding, compilers today, compilers, new compilers
Source: anildash.com

deja-news-google-s-first-acquisition-1b819b9b

Google acquired Deja News on Feb. 13, 2001. The name was a play on the phrase “deja vu,” and the “news” portion of Usenet News. The old user interface went away pretty quickly, and Deja news simply became something called Google Groups.

Keywords: google acquired, google acquisition, usenet news, usenet archives, usenet wasn, usenet piracy, deja news, newsgroups usenet, news google, acquired deja
Source: dfarq.homeip.net

The Elastic DevRel team is happy to announce version 9.3 of Elasticsearch and the Elastic Stack. This newsletter includes the latest blogs and videos, and upcoming events, including the Agent Builder hackathon.

Keywords: elastic workflows, automation elastic, reason elasticsearch, elasticsearch kibana, elasticagent builder, elasticsearch elastic, elastic agent, natively elasticsearch, elasticsearch, learning elasticsearch
Source: elastic.co

gemini-3-deep-think-0ee4f527

Generate an SVG of a California brown pelican riding a bicycle. The bicycle must have spokes and a correctly shaped bicycle frame. The pelican must have its characteristic large pouch, and there should be a clear indication of feathers.

Keywords: svg pelican, pelican features, pelican riding, frame pelican, pelicans riding, bicycle image, motion pelican, feathers pelican, pelican characteristic, bicycle features
Source: simonwillison.net

gurman-new-siri-might-be-delayed-again-eb21accf

Apple is working to spread new Siri features out over future versions of its operating system. The company is considering warning users that the initial launch is incomplete or may not work reliably. The expanded ability for Siri to tap into personal data is especially likely to slip. Apple instructed engineers to use the upcoming iOS 26.5 in order to test new features.

Keywords: siri features, ios 26, features ios, siri enhancements, upcoming ios, new siri, 26 ios, ios 27, personalized siri, siri delayed
Source: bloomberg.com

how-can-i-distinguish-between-the-numeric-keypad-0-and-the-top-row-0-in-the-wm-key-down-message-e12de529

The IBM PS/2 keyboard expanded the set of keys on the keyboard by inserting a block of keys between the main keyboard and the numeric keypad. This “extended” terminology has carried forward ever since. If your finger was slightly misaligned and hit both the shift and the PrtSc key, you accidentally asked for the screen contents to be sent to the printer.

Keywords: numeric keypad, keypad numlock, keypad vk_, keypad ins, keyboard numeric, keypad, keypad keys, keypad double, numlock ibm, keypad row
Source: devblogs.microsoft.com

i-told-you-so-9a7a3452

Once we reach the singularity, If we have the same motivations we have now — primarily power over people — things are going to be horrific. It seems a lot of people have forgotten this. So much stuff that's being built just shouldn't be built.

Keywords: singularity motivations, singularity far, singularity think, singularity, enjoying singularity, think singularity, reach singularity, need revolution, revolution, power people
Source: geohot.github.io

inside-an-alpha-beta-scintillator-dbcc3998

The AlphaHound is an alpha-beta scintillator. It is mounted in a ring of black rubber, which makes contact with black foam glued to the PCB and mylar. When assembled, the foam is compressed and creates a light-proof seal against the rubber. The detector is hidden underneath the board.

Keywords: scintillator material, plastic scintillator, contamination monitor, scintillator mounted, scintillator sandwich, radiation electronics, monitor removing, beta scintillator, loose screen, display pcb
Source: maurycyz.com

introducing-gpt-5-3-codex-spark-94458b16

GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is an accelerated version of GPT-4.3. OpenAI claim 1,000 tokens/second for their new model. When a model responds this fast you can stay in flow state.

Keywords: gpt codex, significantly slower, codex spark, significantly faster, models speed, faster models, alternative gpt, introducing gpt, accelerated alternative, regular gpt
Source: simonwillison.net

markdown-exe-305c2c54

Agent skills are supposed to teach your LLM how to handle specific tasks. When people download and share skills from the internet, it becomes a massive attack vector. Whether it's a repository or a marketplace, there is ample room for attackers to introduce malicious instructions.

Keywords: skills llms, agent skills, skills internet, teach llm, agent, share skills, malicious instructions, llms, agent reads, skills
Source: idiallo.com

more-macos-26-3-finder-column-view-silliness-3187ae0c

macOS Tahoe broke Finder columns view. The issue was with the system setting to always show scroll bars. In the new version, the vertical scrollers have been shortened, so the resizing widgets are now accessible.

Keywords: scrollers columns, scrollbar problem, scroll bars, 26 scrollbar, scrollbar unfortunately, horizontal scrollbar, finder columns, scrollbar, scrollers prevents, columns taller
Source: lapcatsoftware.com

new-deployments-with-vulnerable-versions-of-the-third-party-package-next-mdx-remote-are-now-blocked-by-default-0d789861

Any new deployment containing a version of the third-party package next-mdx-remotethat is vulnerable to CVE-2026-0969 will now automatically fail to deploy on Vercel. This automatic protection can be disabled by setting the DANGEROUSLY_DEPLOY_VULNERABLE_CVE_2026_0969=1 variable on your Vercel project.

Keywords: deploy vercel, dangerously_deploy_vulnerable_cve_2026_0969 environment, dangerously_deploy_vulnerable_cve_2026_0969, setting dangerously_deploy_vulnerable_cve_2026_0969, vercel, vercel strongly, vercel project, vulnerable cve, fail deploy, variable vercel
Source: vercel.com

new-technology-in-programming-and-poker-40ec025f

New technology in programming and poker makes work feel different now. Steve Yegge captured something important in an interview with Gergely Orosz. The situation reminds me of the Internet revolution in poker.

Keywords: meaningful poker, poker work, value napping, poker endurance, playing poker, times productive, programming poker, hours boredom, poker success, poker planning
Source: natemeyvis.com

promises-are-cheap-621ad8d3

Microsoft’s AI CEO just made big promises to the FT. Promises are cheap. And all the big tech CEOs have come to realize that making them costs them nothing. It would be nice if places like FT would refuse to play along, providing more context.

Keywords: llm hallucinations, accountant hallucinates, ai ceo, hallucinations wrote, lot lawyers, hallucinations, lawyers use, lawyers, problems hallucinations, promised million
Source: garymarcus.substack.com

quoting-anthropic-6fc2f512

Claude Code was made available to the general public in May 2025. Today, Claude Code’s run-rate revenue has grown to over $2.5 billion. The number of weekly active Claude Code users has also doubled since January 1.

Keywords: claude code, code users, claude, 2026 strongdm, today claude, active claude, code available, sandboxed python, strongdm ai, code run
Source: simonwillison.net

the-discourse-has-been-automated-af7b088e

Please wait a moment while we ensure the security of your connection. Making sure you're not a bot! Taking a moment to check your connection is secure. Back to Mail Online home. Back To the page you came from.

Keywords: bot loading, connection images, webp images, loading, images dec93748b65b, images 9cc5192d5d8b, loading wait, webp, bot, images images
Source: xeiaso.net

the-many-flavors-of-ignore-files-4271c4a4

A bug report in git-pkgs led me down a rabbit hole: files that git ignored were showing up as phantom diffs. The cause turned out to be go-git’s gitignore implementation, which doesn’t match git's actual behavior for unanchored patterns in nested directories.

Keywords: git wildmatch, gitignore wildmatch, gitignore ignore, git ignore, pkgs gitignore, gitignore implementation, excluded git, ignore git, ignored git, gitignore files
Source: nesbitt.io

undo-in-vi-and-its-successors-and-my-views-on-the-mess-e1ed93c4

The original Bill Joy vi famously only had a single level of undo. The 'u' command either undid your latest change or it redid the change, undo'ing your undo. When POSIX and the Single Unix Specification wrote vi into the standard, they required this.

Keywords: undos vim, vim undo, undo vi, undo behavior, command undoes, undoes changes, undo posix, multiple undos, commands undoes, changes undo
Source: utcc.utoronto.ca

use-minimax-m2-5-on-ai-gateway-d7b91d52

MiniMax M2.5 plans before it builds, breaking down functions, structure, and UI design before writing code. It handles full-stack projects across Web, Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac.

Keywords: ai gateway, streamtext ai, read minimax, ai sdk, minimax m2, minimax, minimax minimax, m2 ai, gateway m2, model minimax
Source: vercel.com