fact or fiction

Is it fact or merely fiction? Fact or Fiction explores the myths and beliefs we hold about cyber safety, artificial intelligence, dystopian futures and our everyday gadgets.

WorkBuddy’s “Human‑Wave” Trap: Is Its Open Platform Empowerment or a Cop‑Out?
On September 2, Tencent’s WorkBuddy threw open its Agent foundation to more than 100 partners. Hardware makers like Plaud and Rokid jumped in. Enterprise apps like Tongdaxin and GF Securities followed. Nine co‑branded devices launched the same day. The press release spoke of an “operating system for the Agent era.” The message was clear: Tencent is going all in on AI.
By Jin14 days ago in 01
Is DeepSeek Harness the Beginning of the End for Workbuddy and Trae Solo?
Open Xiaohongshu and search for “DeepSeek Harness.” The top comment under almost every tutorial post reads the same: “I got stuck on the first step – what is Node.js?”
By Jin14 days ago in 01
Why Your Apps Keep Breaking
On the morning of September 3, 2026, users checking their Taobao order histories saw a spinning wheel. The error message read: "Network crashed."
By Jin15 days ago in 01
A Telepathic People Facing an Artificial World
Heed my words. We come from the place on the other side of the mirror. Your dreams are where we meet. One world to the next, ours to yours and yours to ours. We are frightened. Most of us would not even mention this to you.
By Chase McQuade16 days ago in 01
Your Next Phone Just Got Pricier. Here’s Why.
September 1: Three Brands Raise Prices On the morning of September 1, the Huawei Mate 80 Pro Max 1TB listing jumped from 8,999 yuan to 9,999 yuan.
By Jin16 days ago in 01
The Non-Ban
Behind CXMT's Lawsuit Against the Pentagon: How 18 Months on a Blacklist Reshaped a Chinese Chipmaker's Global Ambitions On August 28, 2026, CXMT filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, naming Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as a defendant. The sole demand: removal from the Section 1260H "Chinese military companies" list.
By Jin18 days ago in 01
The Day You Stopped Buying Blindly
When "Buying Blindly" Becomes History Changxin Technology's first‑half 2026 income statement carried a number that made the sell‑side research team pause for five seconds during the conference call: revenue of RMB 150.31 billion, net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 77.61 billion. In the same period last year, it lost RMB 2.33 billion. The swing: roughly RMB 80 billion.
By Jin18 days ago in 01
I Bought a NAS for My Writing. Here’s Why It Changed Everything.
It was two in the morning. The coffee had gone cold, and the cursor was still blinking on the screen. A twenty-thousand-word manuscript had nearly vanished into thin air when my computer suddenly blue-screened—though Word's auto-recovery saved it, the feeling of my heart stopping for that split second has never left me.
By Jin21 days ago in 01
Who's Actually Paying $230 a Gig for Internet?
Satellite Data at 28,000 Yuan a Year: Who Uses It, Who Pays, Who Profits On August 21, 2026, a modified off‑road vehicle pulled over on an unnamed dirt road near Mangya, Qinghai. The owner opened the trunk, took out a parabolic antenna, aimed it at the sky, connected to Wi‑Fi, and his phone displayed "China Satcom satellite network connected." Three minutes later, he placed a WeChat video call — in an area with no terrestrial coverage, that call costs 27,999 yuan per year.
By Jin22 days ago in 01
Trust No One, Not Even ‘localhost’
1. Event Summary In August 2026, Qi An Xin Threat Intelligence Center disclosed a remote code execution vulnerability in DeepSeek Harness (DSH), tracked as QVD‑2026‑57410 . The CVSS 3.0 score is 9.8 (Critical) , with low attack complexity, no required privileges, and no user interaction.
By Jin22 days ago in 01
The 5‑Hour Wall Is Back — And GPT‑5.6 Sol Is Eating Your Quota
On August 25, 2026, OpenAI reinstated the 5‑hour rolling usage limit for ChatGPT Plus subscribers using Codex and ChatGPT Work. The previous suspension of this limit, which had taken effect on July 12, lasted 44 days.
By Jin22 days ago in 01
$96 Billion in Three Months
NVIDIA’s Q2 FY2027: The Numbers and What They Mean In the quarter ending July 26, 2026, NVIDIA reported $96.22 billion in revenue – double its year‑ago figure and $4 billion above the $92.17 billion analysts had expected.
By Jin22 days ago in 01