The Weekend Download, Edition 3

Happy Halloween

Welcome to the third edition of The Weekend Download, Rev-IQ's Saturday round-up of the most remarkable things that happened in technology this week. Five stories, a number, one from home and something to make you smile, each with one line on why it matters if you run, build or back a technology business.

It's Halloween, so naturally this week brought back a ghost: a product idea Apple's founder dismissed 16 years ago. We also have AI worlds that talk back, a quantum deal, and 110 robots who can dance better than most of us.

The five

1. Apple puts a touchscreen on a Mac, 16 years after Steve Jobs said no

In 2010, Steve Jobs told an Apple audience that touchscreen laptops were "ergonomically terrible" and that after a while "your arm wants to fall off" (Fortune India). This week, under new CEO John Ternus, Apple unveiled its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, built on a new OLED display with the touch sensor integrated into the panel. Ternus says the keyboard and trackpad still come first, but "there are times when it's comfortable and handy to have touch". The 14-inch model starts at US$2,899 (ExtremeTech).

Why it matters: a firm "no" is often really "not yet". Apple waited until the technology meant touch didn't make the product heavier, thicker or worse.

2. Google DeepMind's Genie 4 builds worlds that talk back

Google DeepMind released a research preview of Genie 4, a "world model" that generates explorable, photorealistic scenes in real time, now with its own sound, music and characters who speak and react (Google DeepMind). Users can type mid-scene to change the weather, move the camera or add a person, and scenes now stay consistent for up to two minutes, double the previous limit (TechCrunch). It's going to trusted testers first, and Google is candid that details still drift over longer sessions.

Why it matters: simulation is getting cheap enough to test robots, products and training scenarios before building anything real.

3. Intel agrees to buy Classiq in the biggest quantum deal yet

Intel has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tel Aviv-based Classiq, whose software lets developers build quantum applications without being experts in quantum circuit design (Business Wire). Intel didn't disclose a price, but the deal has been reported at about US$2.3 billion, which would make it the largest quantum computing acquisition to date (Futurum). Classiq's software will keep working across rival hardware, and the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

Why it matters: the layer that makes hard technology easy to use is often worth more than people expect, and buyers will pay for it.

4. AI is now the second-biggest line item, and the CFOs have noticed

At CNBC's Technology Executive Council Summit, WGSN's chief technology officer Kiran Patel said AI "was sort of like the rounding error in the technology budget. Now it's the second-largest line item after talent" (CNBC). Spending hasn't slowed, he said, but it's now "under the microscope", and CFOs are asking whether it delivers the intended outcomes and, if not, whether to replace the vendor. Pearson's CTO said his focus is shifting "less on the input and more on the output".

Why it matters: if you sell AI, your customers' finance teams are about to ask what it delivered, so have the answer before they ask.

5. A semiconductor that sidesteps a solar trade-off

Researchers led by the University of Oxford, with Wuhan University, found that bismuth sulfide absorbs light strongly while losing its electrical charges more slowly, avoiding a trade-off that limits how efficiently solar materials turn sunlight into electricity (University of Oxford). At room temperature, the team estimates charge loss is cut by about 75% compared with conventional materials that absorb as strongly. It's a physical mechanism published in Nature, not a finished solar cell yet.

Why it matters: breakthroughs often come from questioning a trade-off everyone has accepted as fixed.

Number of the week: 40%

That's the share of pull requests on GitHub, the proposed code changes developers submit for review, that now start with an AI agent's first draft, up from 17% in March (GitHub). That was 110 million agent-started pull requests in September alone, about six times March's volume. GitHub also found that by September, 90% of agent pull requests merged within two weeks, against about 86% for the rest (Developer Tech).

Why it matters: in software teams, the first move is increasingly directing an agent, which makes review, not writing, the skill that sets the pace.

One from home

Sydney's MP Space, founded in 2024 by former Tesla battery engineers Jay Manley and Sam Paterson, has raised $23 million in a seed round led by Blackbird, with Seraphim Space making its first-ever investment in an Australian company (MP Space). The company makes batteries and power systems for satellites, its hardware has been designed into more than 500 spacecraft, and its batteries launched for the first time this month on a SpaceX mission (Payload). The goal is to make "5,000 space widgets per year" in Sydney by the end of next year.

Why it matters: lessons learned in one industry, here electric cars and home batteries, can become a real edge in another.

Just for fun

In Jinan, China, 110 humanoid robots set a Guinness World Records title for the most humanoid robots dancing at the same time, jumping and changing formation for a routine of more than five minutes (Interesting Engineering). At one point they arranged themselves into the number 2026. According to their maker, AGIBOT, all 110 were standard production models, not specially modified for the night.

For perspective, the record for the most robots of any kind dancing at once still belongs to the 1,372 that performed in Rome in 2018 (Colombia One). We'd watch either at a Halloween party.

Until next week

That's the week that was. If something here caught your eye, tell us on LinkedIn. And if your next deal is heading to Finance before Christmas, our guide to building a business case the buyer's CFO will sign is a good read with your coffee. Everything else lives at rev-iq.ai/insights.

Have a great weekend.

Rev-IQ Advisory

The Weekend Download is general information only, not financial or investment advice. Every story links to its original source. Archived as published on LinkedIn, with minor edits for the web.