The Desk — Edition 74

Welcome to the 74th issue of The Desk — my weekly roundup of newly published content, project updates, and recommendations. Whether you’re following along for tutorials, blog posts, GitHub projects, or curated reads, there’s something for everyone building or exploring in tech, content, and open-source spaces.

New Blog Posts

This week’s posts content focused on search engine optimization (SEO) and WordPress:

Google Says What Content Gets Clicked in AI Overviews — Depth and Human Perspective Win

Google’s Liz Reid says AI Overviews reveal what users actually click on — deeper, richer content with unique human perspectives. Google now ranks down repetitive “AI slop” and upweights expertise, originality, and authentic craft.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

Google’s John Mueller Reiterates What the URL Removals Tool Actually Does

Google’s John Mueller reminds SEOs that the URL Removals Tool doesn’t permanently delete pages from Google’s index. Learn what the tool actually does, how to use it properly, and what to expect after a hack or content cleanup.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

WPBakery Plugin Vulnerability Could Let Insiders Slip in Malicious Code

A newly disclosed vulnerability in the WPBakery Page Builder plugin allows authenticated users to inject malicious code into WordPress sites. Learn what’s affected, why it matters, and how to secure your site from this stored XSS flaw.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

Google’s Mueller Sounds Alarm on SEO Blindspots in “Vibe-Coded” Launch

Google’s John Mueller reviewed a vibe-coded site launched on Product Hunt, revealing common SEO pitfalls in rapid web builds—from hidden content and invalid schema to overused meta tags. His advice highlights the trade-off between fast launches and long-term search visibility.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

Google Quietly Signals That NotebookLM Bypasses robots.txt

Google has quietly confirmed that its AI tool, NotebookLM, ignores robots.txt rules when fetching content on behalf of users. This shift raises major questions about web privacy, content control, and how publishers can protect their data from AI-driven content extraction.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

Severe WordPress Plugin Flaws Put 20,000+ Travel Websites at Risk

Two critical vulnerabilities in the WP Travel Engine plugin put over 20,000 WordPress travel sites at risk. Both allow unauthenticated attackers to take full control of websites. Immediate updates are strongly advised.

Bold OutlookBrandon Himpfen

Stay tuned as I continue publishing more posts each week across Bold Outlook, Solo Traveler and Travel Bloggers Network.

New Newsletter Issues

Published several new newsletter issues as part of This Week In:

Golang Weekly Issue 157

Welcome to the 157th issue of Golang Weekly, a weekly newsletter about the Go programming language.

Golang WeeklyThis Week In I/O

Ruby Weekly Issue 152

Welcome to the 152nd issue of Ruby Weekly, a free weekly e-mail round-up of Ruby news and articles.

Ruby WeeklyThis Week In I/O

React Weekly Issue 149

Welcome to the 149th issue of React Weekly, weekly roundup of the latest React and React Native links and tutorials.

React WeeklyThis Week In I/O

JavaScript Weekly Issue 150

Welcome to the 150th issue of JavaScript Weekly, a weekly newsletter of JavaScript articles, news and cool projects.

JS WeeklyThis Week In I/O

Node Weekly Issue 147

Node Weekly Issue 147th issue of Node Weekly, a free weekly e-mail round-up of Node.js news and articles.

Node WeeklyThis Week In I/O

Python Weekly Issue 144

Welcome to the 144th issue of Python Weekly, a weekly newsletter about the Python programming language.

Python WeeklyThis Week In I/O

New GitHub Repos

Here are a collection of brand new GitHub repos:

GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-vtol-drones: A curated list of awesome resources, research, and companies related to Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) drones.

A curated list of awesome resources, research, and companies related to Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) drones. - awesomelistsio/awesome-vtol-drones

GitHubawesomelistsio

GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-hugging-face: A curated list of awesome libraries, models, datasets, tutorials, and tools from and for the Hugging Face ecosystem.

A curated list of awesome libraries, models, datasets, tutorials, and tools from and for the Hugging Face ecosystem. - awesomelistsio/awesome-hugging-face

GitHubawesomelistsio

I regularly publish new GitHub repos, so please ensure to follow my GitHub and or my GitHub orgs for the latest.

Updated GitHub Repos

Here are notable updates to existing GitHub repositories:

GitHub - awesomelistsio/awesome-ghost: A curated list of awesome resources, themes, plugins, and tools for the Ghost blogging platform.

A curated list of awesome resources, themes, plugins, and tools for the Ghost blogging platform. - awesomelistsio/awesome-ghost

GitHubawesomelistsio

I’m constantly improving my GitHub repositories to make them more useful for both contributors and end users.

Recommended Reading

Here are a few standout articles and blog posts I recommend checking out this week:

Netflix, Amazon, and Apple are reportedly interested in buying Warner Bros.

The Warner Bros. bidding war is on.

The VergeStevie Bonifield

Microsoft reportedly ordered its Xbox division to boost profits to an unrealistic level

A target of 30 percent profit margins was introduced in 2023.

Yahoo!Matt Tate

Amazon services ‘recovering’ as Snapchat and banks among sites hit by outage

Platform outage checker Downdetector said the issues have impacted more than 1,000 different businesses.

BBC News

Snapchat makes its first open prompt AI Lens available for free in the US | TechCrunch

Snapchat is expanding access to its AI-powered “Imagine Lens,” allowing all users to generate and edit images with custom prompts for free.

TechCrunchSarah Perez

Researchers uncover remote code execution flaw in abandoned Rust code library

The high-severity defect affects a widely used — but largely hidden — archive tool that spans many forks.

CyberScoopMatt Kapko

Google Meet launches an AI-powered makeup feature | TechCrunch

Google Meet finally has a makeup filter for those days when you don’t feel like applying lipstick.

TechCrunchLauren Forristal

OpenAI unveiled ChatGPT Atlas, a browser with built-in AI.

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Atlas – its own web browser built on Chromium, centered around the ChatGPT chatbot.

UX newsValeriia Yerchenko

Google has a useful quantum algorithm that outperforms a supercomputer

An approach it calls “quantum echoes” takes 13,000 times longer on a supercomputer.

Ars TechnicaJohn Timmer

Coinbase Buys Startup Fundraising Firm Echo for $375M

Echo’s platform allows startups to raise funds directly from their communities, and will remain a standalone platform.

CoinDeskFrancisco Rodrigues

Sesame, the conversational AI startup from Oculus founders, raises $250M and launches beta | TechCrunch

Former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe’s new startup, Sesame, is building AI-powered smart glasses with natural, humanlike voice interaction. Backed by Sequoia and Spark, the company also launched an invite-only iOS beta to preview its conversational AI.

TechCrunchSarah Perez

Adobe launches a foundry service that builds custom generative AI models for enterprises | TechCrunch

Adobe will build custom AI models by training its Firefly model family on a brand’s intellectual property.

TechCrunchRebecca Szkutak

Google Play Store Adopts Material 3 Expressive Design for Enhanced UX

Google’s Play Store is adopting Material 3 Expressive design, featuring bolder colors, fluid animations, and adaptive layouts for more intuitive app discovery. This aligns with Android ecosystem updates, influencing apps and Wear OS, while responding to competitors like Samsung. It promises enhanced user engagement and developer opportunities in a competitive market.

WebProNewsMaya Perez

Meta AI’s app downloads and daily users spiked after launch of ‘Vibes’ AI video feed | TechCrunch

New data from Similarweb shows Meta AI’s mobile app is surging in popularity, jumping from 775,000 to 2.7 million daily active users in just four weeks. The app is now seeing roughly 300,000 new installs per day — up from under 200,000 previously.

TechCrunchSarah Perez

131 Chrome Extensions Caught Hijacking WhatsApp Web for Massive Spam Campaign

Researchers uncover 131 Chrome extensions automating WhatsApp spam, impacting 20,905 users in Brazil.

The Hacker NewsThe Hacker News

Foreign hackers breached a US nuclear weapons plant via SharePoint flaws

A foreign actor infiltrated the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Kansas City National Security Campus through vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s SharePoint browser-based app, raising questions about the need to solidify further federal IT/OT security protections.

CSO OnlineCynthia Brumfield

Blockchain.com Has Held Talks to Go Public Via SPAC Deal: Sources

The crypto trading platform and wallet provider is being advised by Cohen & Company Capital Markets, according to a person familiar wih the matter.

CoinDeskWill Canny

Crypto’s Half-finished Legislative Agenda Teeters as CEOs Set Meeting With Democrats

Some of the top digital assets execs are heading to a meeting this week with U.S. Senate Democrats to see about getting the market structure bill moving.

CoinDeskJesse Hamilton

Apple is still the best brand in the world, according to Interbrand’s report

The Best Global Brands shows which brands are going up, and which are going down…

Creative BloqRosie Hilder

Apple employees have ‘concerns’ over Siri performance in early iOS 26.4 builds: report - 9to5Mac

Early next year, Apple is set to debut its new AI-infused Siri as part of iOS 26.4 – after well…

9to5MacMichael Burkhardt

Alibaba Cloud claims to slash Nvidia GPU use by 82% with new pooling system

The new Aegaeon system can serve dozens of large language models using a fraction of the GPUs previously required, potentially reshaping AI workloads.

South China Morning PostVincent Chow

Stripe adds stablecoin support for subscription payments | The Paypers

Stripe has expanded its stablecoin payment functionality to support subscription-based services, allowing businesses to accept recurring payments in digital assets such as USDC.

The Paypers

Apple sued for using copyrighted material to train AI, report says

Two lawsuits allege that Apple trained its Apple Intelligence models using pirated works.

MashableMatt Binder

These are curated for developers, creators, travelers, and digital professionals — with an eye on quality and depth.

Thanks for reading The Desk — Edition 74! If you found something valuable, feel free to share it or subscribe to keep up with future updates.