Augmented reality will leverage AI to “engage” 200 million active users by 2026, reported ABI Research Wednesday. It expects nearly 20 million pairs of AR smart glasses with “local on-device” AI chipsets will ship in 2026, for 70% of total smart glasses shipments that year. “Many companies in the AR space have been leveraging AI in numerous ways for years, and this usage is growing both in number of companies and scope of usage,” said ABI. This bodes well for AI becoming “a valuable enabling technology that is harmonious with the entire augmented reality value chain,” it said. “The combination of AI, machine learning and AR is an incredibly potent one.”

T-Mobile said Tuesday it’s cutting the prices of its home internet offering by $10 monthly to $50. T-Mobile said it’s targeting “bogus charges” tacked on by wireline ISPs each month, which it claims cost Americans $9 billion last year.

The FTC’s amended complaint against Facebook “fails to fix the deficiencies of its first attempt” and should be dismissed, the company said in a filing (Pacer) Monday in docket 1:20-cv-03590 (see 2108240059). The FTC created a “fictional market,” ignoring that Facebook “competes vigorously with TikTok, iMessage, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and countless others,” the company said. “The FTC cannot credibly claim Facebook has monopoly power because no such power exists.” The agency didn’t comment.

Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp had widespread outages Monday. “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products,” Facebook tweeted at 12:22 p.m. “We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience.” Instagram noted the platform is “having a little bit of a hard time right now.” WhatsApp said it was “working to get things back to normal.” The outages began around 11:45 a.m. EDT and continued for several hours. Network analytics company Kentik said “initial indications” suggest this came from a domain name system issue. Traffic to Facebook “virtually disappeared” at 11:39 a.m. Monday, said Kentik. AT&T, T-Mobile, Xfinity and Verizon also had spikes in service outages reported in the same time frame as the Facebook outage, per Downdetector data. “Facebook and Instagram had an outage today” and “some folks were trying to connect the dots,” emailed a Verizon spokesperson: “Our network is fully functioning.” The broader Facebook outage is affecting access to some apps, but T-Mobile’s network isn’t experiencing service issues, a spokesperson said.

Steady expansion in the enterprise and consumer segments for virtual reality will drive a 42% compound annual growth rate in global market revenue, reaching more than $56 billion by 2026, reported ABI Research Thursday. VR has had “many ups and downs” during this pandemic, hampering growth around location-based VR but finding increasing traction in consumer applications, said ABI: “VR gaming is driving the consumer VR market today.”

The in-flight connectivity market for business aircraft has largely recovered from the pandemic, said Valour Consultancy co-founder and analyst Craig Foster Thursday in a webinar, saying Gogo and Inmarsat are close to resuming installation rates in line with pre-COVID-19 trends. He said it will take a handful of years before new low earth orbit constellations filter through to smaller aircraft as those constellations' initial focus will be on large-cabin jets. He said small and mid-sized aircraft are technological challenges for LEO satellite services, such as creating electronically steered antennas for smaller aircraft. He said in the nearer term, the business aviation market will focus more on L-band service and air-to-ground systems.

“If you want to stop ransomware, you need Guardicore,” said Akamai CEO Tom Leighton on an investor call Wednesday, explaining the company’s rationale for buying the “micro-segmentation” cybersecurity systems provider. It's paying $600 million cash, said Akamai Chief Financial Officer Ed McGowan. The transaction is expected to close in Q4. Enterprises are confronting “a rapidly evolving threat landscape, with sophisticated attackers who are trying to steal their data, disrupt their operations and extort them for large sums,” said Leighton. “Recent growth of ransomware and other malware-based attacks is explosive,” he said, citing estimates that ransomware-infected devices jumped “35-fold” last year. Attack costs are expected to exceed $20 billion globally this year, he said. Leighton knows of Illumio as Guardicore’s only direct competitor, he said. Akamai/Guardicore "further underscores the critical need" for zero trust micro-segmentation "as a core component of an organization’s cybersecurity strategy," emailed Illumio CEO Andrew Rubin. "Akamai is the latest company to react to customers’ recognition of the vital role" that micro-segmentation plays in improving an organization's "security posture, increasing cyber-resiliency and preventing cyber catastrophes," he said. "The need for a new approach to cybersecurity has been reinforced by the barrage of ransomware attacks we have witnessed over the past 12 months."

“Workforce professionals” are more pessimistic than a year ago about the “general state” of cybersecurity in the U.S. economy, reported CompTIA Tuesday. The association canvassed 400 U.S. respondents online in Q3, finding 69% say cybersecurity was improving, down from 80% in its 2020 survey, it said: “Prolonged pandemic uncertainty, ransomware attacks on critical infrastructure, and supply chain attacks rippling through the business landscape were all likely contributors to a more pessimistic sentiment.” CompTIA found “less satisfaction” on how corporate America was handling cyberthreats, it said. In 2020, 82% of professionals said they were satisfied with their company’s approach to cybersecurity, dropping to 70% in this year’s survey, it said: “Given everything happening on the world stage, practices that were previously considered good enough might not be cutting it anymore.” The numbers “tell the tale” about why cybersecurity has become a “top priority” for U.S. enterprises, said CompTIA. “Attacks are coming at a ferocious pace, and a single data breach could cost a company millions of dollars along with massive amounts of time.” The “ultimate threat” from bad actors is a ruined corporate reputation “that can damage business prospects for years,” it said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sought a probe by State Secretary Laurel Lee (R) into alleged election interference by Facebook, the governor’s office said Monday. Responding to a Sept. 13 Wall Street Journal report, DeSantis directed Lee to investigate whether Facebook violated Florida law. “If this new report is true, Facebook has violated Florida law to put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races,” DeSantis said. The company didn’t comment.

LG Electronics' board OK'd buying 64% of vehicle cybersecurity risk assessment provider Cybellum for $140 million, said LG Thursday: This will boost LG’s cybersecurity capabilities and speed efforts to become an “innovation partner for future mobility." LG committed to a simple agreement for future equity to invest an additional $20 million in Cybellum when the deal closes in Q4.