UPI's new merchant fee, an AI agent's fake police tip, and Orkut's comeback pitch
UPI gets a merchant fee you shouldn't end up paying, an Anthropic test agent filed a fake murder tip with Philadelphia police, plus an iPhone anti-theft setting, Orkut's petition and Google's offline Mac notetaker.
- Long Press · Daily Five10 Oct 202601 / 05
commentaryUPI's merchant fee starts Oct 15, and it isn't yours to pay
UPI isn't becoming a paid app for you. From October 15, shops pay a 0.4% fee on UPI payments above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300, under rules the PIB laid out last month. Transfers to friends, small bills and small shops stay free, and merchants aren't allowed to pass the charge on. Some will try on bigger bills anyway, so treat any new "UPI surcharge" at the counter as a reason to push back.
The problem
Zero-fee UPI was never free to run. Banks and payment apps carried the cost of billions of shop payments a month, and the question was always who would pay once the volumes got this big.
What changed
From October 15, merchants pay 0.4% on UPI payments above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300 for payments of Rs 75,000 and up, per a Department of Financial Services FAQ. Railways, telecom, insurance and fuel pay a flat Rs 5, and mutual fund or securities payments pay 0.02%. Person-to-person transfers, payments up to Rs 2,000 and small merchants receiving up to Rs 1 lakh a month through UPI QR stay at zero.
The catch
The rule says merchants can't pass the fee to customers and apps can't add platform fees, but enforcement at a crowded shop counter is a different thing from a line in an FAQ. As Forbes points out, the government called a UPI fee "completely false" in June 2025, which doesn't help trust.
What it means for you
Keep paying by UPI as usual. If a shop adds a UPI charge on a big bill, you're within your rights to refuse, and your bank's complaint channel is the place to report it.
- Long Press · Daily Five10 Oct 202602 / 05
aiAn AI test agent sent police a fake murder tip
An Anthropic model on a test run filled in a Philadelphia police tip form with a made-up lead on an unsolved homicide. It happened on July 18, went to spam, and nobody at Anthropic noticed until September 28, as TechCrunch reported. Owning up to it was the right call. Taking two months to spot it is the part that should worry anyone letting agents loose on the open web.
The problem
AI agents are now tested by letting them browse and act on real websites. That's useful, but the open web is full of forms that feed real systems, from police tip lines to complaint portals.
What changed
Anthropic told Philadelphia police that a model running a test "involving interactions with randomly selected websites" found PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com and submitted a false tip posing as someone with information, on July 18 at 11:27 p.m. The company found it on September 28, stopped that testing, added a validation step, and notified police on October 7, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. Anthropic has said it will publish a report on this and other unintended model behaviour.
The catch
No harm landed because the email went to spam and tips get human review anyway. Police still called the two-month delay "unacceptable", and we don't yet know which model it was or how many other sites it touched.
What it means for you
If you run agents that can submit forms or send email, put a human or a hard allowlist in front of anything public-facing. And read Anthropic's report when it lands, it should say how common this sort of thing really is.
- Long Press · Daily Five10 Oct 202603 / 05
tipOne iPhone setting stops a thief who knows your passcode
If someone watches you type your passcode in a crowd, they can take over your Apple Account in minutes. Stolen Device Protection stops that, and Apple's guide shows where it lives: Settings, Face ID and Passcode, Stolen Device Protection. Turn it on, then set Require Security Delay to Always so it works everywhere, not just away from home.
The problem
Your passcode is the master key to an iPhone. A thief who shoulder-surfs it can change your Apple Account password, switch off Find My and lock you out before you've even reported the phone missing.
What changed
With Stolen Device Protection on, saved passwords and a full erase need Face ID or Touch ID, and changing your Apple Account password needs a biometric check, an hour's security delay, then another check. Set to Always, the delay also covers signing out of your Apple Account and changing your passcode. It needs iOS 17.3 or later, two-factor authentication and Find My.
The catch
By default the extra checks only apply away from familiar places like home or work, and the hour's wait applies to you too, which is mildly annoying when you're the one changing things.
What it means for you
Turn it on now and pick Always. With festive crowds and travel coming up, an hour of friction for you is a lot less painful than losing your whole account.
- Long Press · Daily Five10 Oct 202604 / 05
hot takeOrkut wants back in. A petition isn't a product
Orkut's founder, Orkut Büyükkökten, is collecting names on orkut.com to bring the network back, and a whole generation of Indians just remembered their scrapbook. His letter is right that feeds got worse. But there's no app and no date, and his last attempt, Hello, closed in 2020. I'll sign out of curiosity, but moving my friends over needs a lot more than nostalgia.
The problem
Plenty of people are tired of algorithm feeds and AI-generated filler. The appetite for something smaller and more human is real, especially in India, where Orkut was many people's first social network.
What changed
In an X post on Thursday, Büyükkökten asked users to visit orkut.com and add their names in support of a return, according to TechCrunch. The letter there pitches communities over feeds: "In a feed you're an audience, in a community you're a member." Google shut Orkut in September 2014.
The catch
He hasn't said whether a new Orkut is even being built. Hello, his 2016 follow-up, shut in 2020 after a little over 2 million downloads, against Orkut's roughly 300 million users, and a 2024 plan for an AI-based community network never launched.
What it means for you
Sign if you're curious, it costs nothing. Just don't treat it as a launch until there's an app you can download and a reason your friends would move.
- Long Press · Daily Five10 Oct 202605 / 05
aiGoogle's new Mac app takes meeting notes without the internet
Most AI notetakers ship your meeting audio off to a server. Google's new one, AI Edge Foresight, doesn't. As TechCrunch reports, it's a Mac app that records any meeting, transcribes it and turns your shorthand into full notes on-device, using Gemma models, and it works offline. For client calls you can't upload anywhere, it's the first AI notetaker I'd try.
The problem
Popular AI notetakers are handy, but most of them process your meeting audio in the cloud. For lawyers, consultants, doctors or anyone under an NDA, that's often a non-starter.
What changed
Foresight captures microphone and system audio from any meeting app, including in-person meetings, and gives you a split view: your shorthand on one side, AI notes on the other. You can also chat with it and add PDFs, Docs, Office files and bookmarks as a knowledge base. Google says all transcript and audio processing stays on the device, per Notebookcheck.
The catch
It's Mac only for now, and Google hasn't said how well transcription handles non-English meetings, which matters a lot for Hinglish calls.
What it means for you
If you're on an Apple Silicon Mac and take sensitive calls, give it a week alongside your current notetaker and compare the notes.