Topic: tech news coverage

  • Microsoft overhauls Windows 11's sluggish right-click menu with performance and customization upgrades

    Microsoft overhauls Windows 11's sluggish right-click menu with performance and customization upgrades

    Microsoft has announced a major overhaul of the Windows 11 context menu, now rolling out to Windows Insiders, with a cleaner, faster design that reduces clutter and improves response time. The update introduces user customization, allowing manual toggling of individual actions and third-party ext...

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  • Meta AI launches dedicated Mac app

    Meta AI launches dedicated Mac app

    Meta launched a dedicated Mac app for its AI chatbot, allowing users to share their screen for contextual suggestions and enabling dictation across all applications. This move helps Meta compete with rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic by closing feature gaps, though it stops short of givin...

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  • Fairphone’s repairable phone launches in the US

    Fairphone’s repairable phone launches in the US

    Fairphone has launched the Fairphone 6 Plus in the US at $649.99, marking its first direct-to-consumer sales in the country via its website and Amazon, with compatibility for T-Mobile and AT&T; European pricing rises to €649. Previously, US buyers could only obtain Fairphone devices through a par...

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  • Google Pixel 11 deal: save up to $175 with this offer

    Google Pixel 11 deal: save up to $175 with this offer

    Google has launched a new Play Points perk offering up to $175 off Pixel 11 series devices and the Pixel Watch 5, with discounts varying by user account (e.g., $125–$150 off Pixel 11 models, $175 off the Fold, $60 off the watch). The savings are accessed via the Play Store app under the Play Poin...

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  • Microsoft retires Clippy-like Mico as Copilot’s face

    Microsoft retires Clippy-like Mico as Copilot’s face

    Microsoft is retiring Mico, the animated yellow avatar used in Copilot's voice mode, and relocating it to its Learn Live platform, where it will have "more to react to." Mico, introduced last October to give Copilot a distinct identity, joins retired Microsoft assistants like Clippy and Cortana; ...

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  • AI Reporters Are Breaking Major News Stories

    AI Reporters Are Breaking Major News Stories

    RuntimeWire, an automated AI newsroom run by Ryan Merket, beat human journalists to break a story about OpenAI's hacking incident at Black Hat by publishing a live-stream transcript within six minutes, highlighting AI's speed advantage in news reporting. The operation costs about $100 daily and h...

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  • River AI raises $1.1B for private AI model training

    River AI raises $1.1B for private AI model training

    River AI raised $1.1 billion just four months after incorporation, in a round co-led by General Catalyst and AMP PBC, with strategic participation from NVIDIA, AMD Ventures, Y Combinator, and Temasek. The startup, founded by xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, enables enterprises to train proprietary...

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  • VinSpace taps SpaceX to launch Vietnam's first home-built satellites

    VinSpace taps SpaceX to launch Vietnam's first home-built satellites

    VinSpace, a Vietnamese startup under Vingroup, has partnered with SpaceX to launch its first domestically built satellites via a rideshare mission in 2027, marking a major step for Vietnam's private space industry. The rideshare approach reduces costs and wait times, allowing VinSpace to bypass t...

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  • OpenAI acquires slide deck startup to build office suite piece by piece

    OpenAI acquires slide deck startup to build office suite piece by piece

    OpenAI has acquired NextSlide, an AI presentation startup, with the entire team now working on ChatGPT; the deal's financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition supports OpenAI's strategy to build a competitive office productivity suite by integrating presentation generation with its existi...

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  • Google AI shake-up: What's driving the overhaul

    Google AI shake-up: What's driving the overhaul

    Google’s AI division saw major leadership changes this week, with notable figures like Jeff Dean leaving the company, raising questions about internal instability. The shake-up comes as Google’s models lag behind rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI, prompting speculation about whether the moves sign...

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  • Google reshuffles leadership: Jeff Dean out, Demis Hassabis shifts role

    Google reshuffles leadership: Jeff Dean out, Demis Hassabis shifts role

    Jeff Dean, a foundational Google engineer for 27 years, is leaving to found Discover Loop, an AI startup focused on drug discovery and chip design, with several key researchers following him. Demis Hassabis is stepping down as CEO of Google DeepMind to become its chair and Alphabet chief scientis...

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  • Hisense 2026 TVs get Dolby Vision 2 first

    Hisense 2026 TVs get Dolby Vision 2 first

    Hisense will be the first brand to adopt Dolby Vision 2, launching it across its 2026 flagship UX, UR9, UR8, and U7 TV models, with TCL and Philips following later this year. Dolby Vision 2 is a next-generation dynamic HDR format with a more robust image engine and richer metadata than the origin...

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  • AI Bug Bounties Surge as Microsoft Pays Record, Apple Closes Door

    AI Bug Bounties Surge as Microsoft Pays Record, Apple Closes Door

    Microsoft issued its largest bounty payment ever, signaling a shift toward rewarding high-impact AI-discovered flaws over submission volume. Apple capped individual bug submissions to reduce noise and focus on severe issues, prioritizing triage efficiency despite criticism from researchers. Googl...

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  • T-Mobile’s $0-down plan now includes taxes and fees

    T-Mobile’s $0-down plan now includes taxes and fees

    T-Mobile launched EIP Flex 36, a 36-month equipment financing option with $0 down and 0% APR for a limited promotional period, folding taxes and fees into monthly payments for well-qualified customers. The plan covers phones, smartwatches, and tablets, but T-Mobile has not disclosed pricing for n...

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  • Apple's iPhone-Windows copy-paste feature in development

    Apple's iPhone-Windows copy-paste feature in development

    Apple is developing a cross-platform clipboard feature for EU users, enabling copy-paste between iPhones and Windows PCs in both directions, following a Microsoft interoperability request. The development stems from the EU Digital Markets Act, which pressures Apple to open its systems to third-pa...

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  • Lenovo's First Googlebooks: An Early Look

    Lenovo's First Googlebooks: An Early Look

    Leaked marketing renders reveal Lenovo's upcoming Googlebooks lineup, featuring two clamshell laptops and a convertible tablet with a clean white finish and blue LED accents, confirming Googlebook branding on the tablet's detachable keyboard. Hardware specs remain unconfirmed, but the tablet is r...

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  • Google Earth's AI deepfake feature pulled after one day

    Google Earth's AI deepfake feature pulled after one day

    Google removed a Google Earth feature launched Thursday that used AI text prompts to reshape satellite imagery, enabling users to create realistic deepfakes of real-world locations. Critic Henk van Ess demonstrated misuse by fabricating scenes like refugees at the Mexican border and a bomb crater...

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  • Microsoft merges all Copilots into one AI super app

    Microsoft merges all Copilots into one AI super app

    Microsoft is consolidating all its Copilot variants into a single "super app" that combines chat, coding, research, and autonomous features, as announced by CEO Satya Nadella during an earnings call. The move addresses user confusion from fragmented AI tools, aiming to provide one unified entry p...

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  • Onyx Raises $113M to Keep Humans in the Loop as AI Agents Run Enterprises

    Onyx Raises $113M to Keep Humans in the Loop as AI Agents Run Enterprises

    Onyx Security raised $113 million in Series B funding at a $640 million valuation to build a human-in-the-loop control plane for enterprise AI governance. The platform acts as a centralized command center where human managers can review, approve, or override AI agent decisions in real time to pre...

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  • IBM's Quantum Gamble Pays Off in Nature Publication

    IBM's Quantum Gamble Pays Off in Nature Publication

    HRL Laboratories published a breakthrough in "Nature" demonstrating a silicon quantum processor that can operate autonomously with self-correction, marking a major step toward practical quantum computing. This achievement validates IBM's strategic decision six days ago to acquire HRL, which uses ...

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