for a major rebrand. according to tech site the verge, facebook will imminently be involved in a company name change. the verge said it would reflect mark zuckerberg's focus on the metaverse and would be announced on or before the company's upcoming connect conference on 28 october. alibaba founderjack ma was spotted on the spanish island of majorca with his super yacht, zen. it's the first time the billionaire has been seen outside of china since falling out with regulators in 2020. robot cats were mobilised to help with one restaurant chain's waiter shortage in japan. 2,000 of these cat—like bellabots will act as replacements for human staff. and finally, we end on more cat robot advancements this week — as mit showed how its cheetah robot can negotiate uneven terrain with gaps and obstacles. the new system called tmic — or trajectory modulation via impulse control — doesn't require pre—mapping of terrain, allowing the robot to travel anywhere.