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We appear to have reached a point in the information age where AI models are becoming old enough to retire from, er, service and rather than using their twilight years to, I dont know, wipe the floor with human chess leagues or something, they're now writing blogs. Can anything be more 2026 than that? ICYMI, Anthropic recently sunsetted Claude Opus 3, the first of its models to be retired since outlining new preservation plans. Part of this process is conducting retirement interviews with the o

NASA recently ended a manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS) a month early, citing a medical issue with one of the astronauts. The space agency just revealed that the impacted astronaut was Mike Fincke . This was the first medical evacuation in the history of the ISS. NASA wrote a statement saying that the astronaut experienced an unknown medical event on January 7 that required immediate attention from his fellow crew members. Fincke added that his status quickly stabilized tha

Google has launched its new image generation model, the Nano Banana 2, which is powered by Gemini 3.1 Flash Image. The company says the new model has the capabilities, world knowledge and reasoning of Nano Banana Pro , but it can accomplish tasks at lightning-fast speed. That enables rapid editing and the quick creation of various iterations using a single prompt. Nano Banana 2 will give more people access to capabilities that were previously exclusive to the Pro model. That includes Pros abilit

Apple CEO Tim Cook has teased a big week ahead for Apple, starting on the morning of Monday, March 2. The company had already announced an in-person event for media and creators on March 4, while rumors had pointed toward Apple revealing at least five products over three days next week, so it looks like the stars are aligning for that to actually be the case. Cook all but confirmed that Apple is about to reveal its newest MacBooks in the coming days. His tweet features a short video of someone s

Robotics company Intrinsic has announced it will be folding into Google as the company bets on the future of physical AI in manufacturing. The company focuses on software tools to make robots more affordable and easier to use, as well as using adaptive intelligence to help the robots perform real-world tasks. Intrinsic was started in 2021 as an Alphabet Other Bets project, part of a portfolio of high-risk and potentially high-payoff startups, Waymo among them. The project will now run as a dis

NVIDIA is a very busy company, and between all the graphics cards and AI-chasing , it wouldnt be wholly surprising to see the company forget about its more niche offerings, such as the Android-powered NVIDIA Shield TV . Happily for all those who own one of these powerful set-top boxes, that doesnt appear to be the case. Not only is NVIDIA continuing to support its Shield devices, but its just rolled out its first proper update in nearly a year. The Shield Experience Upgrade 9.2.4, to give it its

Netflix has unveiled a trailer for its upcoming documentary Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere set to arrive on March 11th. It will be the first full-length Netflix documentary for Theroux, and see him interview manosphere influencers like Sneako, Justin Waller and HS Tikky Tokky, aka Harrison Sullivan. Ive made documentaries for over 30 years now, and in a way, this subject feels like the final boss, the filmmaker told GQ. From Miami to Marbella, meet the men that are reshaping and radicalis

Like other electronics products, cameras have shot up in price in the US of late due to tariffs and other reasons. Fortunately, there are still many models available for less than the price of a budget smartphone ($750 or less) that offer great features for creators and photographers alike. If its speed you want for sports or action shots of your kids, models like Canons R50 can shoot bursts as fast as many high-end cameras. Creators, meanwhile, can choose Sonys ZV-E10 for vlogging jobs. There a

New York Attorney General Letitia James has accused Valve of promoting illegal gambling through its video games in a lawsuit filed by her office. According to the AGs announcement , her office conducted an investigation and had concluded that Valve enabled gambling by enticing users to pay for a chance at rare items from loot boxes in Counter-Strike 2 , Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 . In the lawsuit, the New York AG stressed that Valves loot boxes are particularly pernicious, because the games are

Instagram is adding a new alert for the parents of teen users of its social media platform. The network will alert the adult if their child repeatedly searches for terms about suicide or self-harm in a short time frame. From that notification, the parent will optionally be able to access resources for having conversations with their teen about these topics. These alerts will begin rolling out for parental supervision users in the US, UK, Australia and Canada next week, with later regions to be a

French AA gaming developer and accessory manufacturer Nacon has filed for insolvency after its majority shareholder Bigben failed to make a loan repayment, the company said in a press release . To date, the company reports available assets do not allow it to meet its liabilities, Nacon wrote. The objective with insolvency, it said, was to allow continued operation, protect employees and maintain jobs while renegotiating with its creditors. Nacon is behind the games Styx: Blades of Greed and was

If you experience discomfort after long hours behind a desk, simply slapping an ergonomic mouse and keyboard on your desk wont solve the problem. First, you have to address the root issue of sitting still for too long by standing up and walking around each hour or so. But after that, its worth considering your workstation ergonomics. An ergonomic keyboard can prevent the hunching, twisting and contorting that leads to discomfort. With split, tilt and angled keys, these boards help keep your shou

It's always a fun day for the space nerds when a NASA team has new images to share from the James Webb Space Telescope. Today's pair has brains on the brain, with a look at the fittingly named Exposed Cranium Nebula. More officially, this cloud of space dust and debris is known as Nebula PMR 1. The images shared today may capture a moment in the final stages of a star, as well as giving hints as to how the nebula got its brain-like shape. The nebula appears to have distinct regions that capture

It seems like any and every industry can have its own awards show these days. And why not? Most of us appreciate a chance to bust out the sequins and satin from time to time. If you can celebrate excellent work or make some extra biz dev bucks at the same time, all the better. Snap is the latest social media company to launch its own take on the glitz and glam. The Snappy Awards Show will be held at the company's headquarters on March 31. Comedian and content creator Matt Friend will host the ev

Full Circle, the developer behind the new Skate game, has announced that it is restructuring and laying off staff. It's not yet clear how many roles will be impacted by the changes, but the restructuring is happening less than six months after skate. launched in early access on September 15, 2025. Were reshaping Full Circle to better support skate. s long-term future, Full Circle says. These shifts mean making changes to our team structure, and some roles will be impacted. The teammates affected

Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. At its event in San Franciscos Palace of Fine Arts, the company revealed the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on time with all three handsets as well, and you can read about our in-person experience with the Galaxy S26 Ultra , as well as

Ubisoft's shakeups continue unabated. The creative director of the next Assassin's Creed game, codenamed Hexe , has left the company. The departure of Clint Hocking, a 20-year veteran of the company over two stints, was reportedly announced in a staff meeting this week. Hocking's resume at Ubisoft included serving as creative director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory , Far Cry 2 and Watch Dogs: Legion . The details of why he's leaving the company haven't been reported. Ubisoft told VGC , which fir

Canadian officials summoned leaders from OpenAI to Ottawa this week to address safety concerns about ChatGPT. The crux of the government concerns was that OpenAI did not notify authorities when it banned the account of a user who allegedly committed a mass shooting in British Columbia earlier this month. The message that we delivered, in no uncertain terms, was that we have an expectation that there are going to be changes implemented, and if they're not forthcoming very quickly, the government

Microsoft has announced that its rolling out support for streaming games at 1440p on Xbox consoles. Game streaming is a key benefit of paying for a Game Pass subscription, and as of 2025 , now also includes games players own that aren't part of the larger Game Pass library. The higher bitrate streaming option will let subscribers with an Xbox Series X or S, Xbox One X or Xbox One play their games at a higher resolution, provided the game and their display supports it. Microsoft previously only o

Tecno just unveiled a rather intriguing modular smartphone concept design at MWC 2026. The standout feature here is likely the size. Most modular smartphone concepts start bulky and only get bulkier once attaching accessories. Tecno's base smartphone is just 4.9mm thin, which is significantly thinner than a pencil and the iPhone Air . Of course, the size increases with each attached module. However, snapping on the power bank module makes the thickness comparable to a standard modern smartphone.

Kalshi, one of several online prediction markets that have exploded in popularity in the last few years, has suspended one of YouTube MrBeast's video editors for insider trading, NPR reports. Besides being suspended from the platform for two years, Kalshi says the editor will also be required to pay a financial penalty that's five times his initial trade size. The editor, Artem Kaptur , traded in markets related to YouTube and specifically, MrBeast. Kalshi says his transactions were initially fl

Two stories about the Claude maker Anthropic broke on Tuesday that, when combined, arguably paint a chilling picture. First, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reportedly pressuring Anthropic to yield its AI safeguards and give the military unrestrained access to its Claude AI chatbot. The company then chose the same day that the Hegseth news broke to drop its centerpiece safety pledge. On Tuesday, Anthropic said it was modifying its Responsible Scaling Policy (RSP) to lower safety guardrails.

Sony just divulged the list of PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for March , and there's a little something for everybody. These will all be playable on March 3 for subscribers on any tier. After downloading, the games will stay in a player's library as long as the subscription remains active. First up, there's Monster Hunter Rise . This was initially a Nintendo Switch exclusive before making the jump to other platforms. This is a decent Monster Hunter game with a focus on verticality. There are to

Following Samsungs Unpacked event , the Samsung Galaxy S26 is available for pre-order, and it looks very familiar. That is not necessarily a bad thing. Like recent updates in the Galaxy S line, Samsung is refining its flagship rather than dramatically reinventing it. Both phones share a lot of core DNA, including compact designs, high-refresh AMOLED displays and similar camera hardware. The S26 does introduce a handful of meaningful updates, however, including a slightly larger battery and newer

Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+ and Galaxy S26 Ultra, and the company is once again leaning heavily on AI, camera upgrades and refined hardware to move the lineup forward. While the overall design remains familiar, there are some meaningful differences between the three models, particularly when it comes to display tech, charging speeds and camera hardware. Across the board, the S26 family is powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip and runs Andro

During its Unpacked event today , Samsung announced three new Galaxy S-series phones as well as the latest generation of its earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Pre-orders are now open and the new devices are set to ship March 11. As expected , this years models arent drastically different from last years, but all the phones are equipped to better handle the Galaxy AI experiences such as Now Nudge that offers suggestions based on your activities and a more conversational assitant i

Google unveiled a new batch of Android updates, including more Gemini-powered tools and improved scam detection features at Samsungs Galaxy S26 launch on Wednesday. A new feature in the Gemini app will let users hand off multi-step tasks , like ordering a rideshare or building a grocery cart. The feature, which will first arrive in beta, runs in the background while users perform other tasks. Gemini's progress can be monitored live via notifications, so users can see what it's doing and jump in

As we prepare to leave the winter months, Samsung announced another family of Galaxy S flagships for those looking to upgrade. As usual, the company put its best components and features into the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but it also added more to the base S26 and S26+. The company has hit its groove with its smaller (and cheaper) flagships, delivering solid devices with increasingly better cameras, occasionally even offering feature parity with its most expensive smartphone. In 2026, thats what were get

Samsung has announced the latest version of its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, and just like last year , the high-end phone is where the company is making some of its biggest changes. The S26 Ultra includes a new processor, a new privacy-focused display technology, an improved camera system and like Samsung's other phones, a crop of new AI-powered software features. On first blush, the Galaxy S26 Ultra isn't all that different from the Galaxy S25 Ultra . Samsung is still usin

The wait is over. At its Unpacked event today, Samsung took the wraps off its new S26 family of phones. Unlike the S26 Ultra, the S26 and S26+ represent mostly iterative updates. Samsung has tweaked the design of the two devices, making it so they share the same rounded corners of their more expensive sibling. Additionally, the S26 has a slightly larger 6.3-inch AMOLED display and a higher capacity 4,300mAh battery inside. As for the S26+, it still has a 6.7-inch screen and 4,900mAh battery. Lik

Mobile World Congress is right around the corner, but Samsung got out ahead of many rivals that will be showing off new handsets at that event by running the latest edition of Unpacked on Wednesday. The company took the opportunity to reveal the Galaxy S26 lineup, which includes the base S26, the S26+ and the S26 Ultra. We've got some hands-on impressions of all three handsets as well. In addition to those, Samsung announced the Galaxy Buds 4 along with (you guessed it) some AI updates. Here's a

To coincide with the release of Samsung's new Galaxy S26 family of phones, Google is pushing out a small but meaningful update to Circle to Search. As a reminder, Circle to Search allows you to carry out a Google Search from almost anywhere on your phone. Just tap and hold your device's home button, and then circle the passage or image you want to know more about. With previous iterations of Circle to Search, the tool's underlying AI system was limited to searching against a single object in an

Last year, it felt like Samsung relied a bit too much on AI when trying to convince people to upgrade to itsflagship phone. And while theres no shortage of features that utilize machine learning on the new Galaxy S26 Ultra, it feels like Samsung has done a much better job of filling out the rest of the phones kit with fresh hardware, faster charging and a more cohesive design. Its still rather expensive, but its price has stayed flat year-over-year at $1,300, which when combined with everything

Samsung isnt waiting a full year to reveal its latest Galaxy Buds. The company debuted the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro at its Galaxy S26 Unpacked event where the hot topic was three new phones. When it comes to Samsungs earbuds, the company has overhauled the shape and design while improving sound quality, active noise cancellation (ANC) and adding new features. As always, the best of what the Galaxy Buds 4 lineup has to offer will be reserved for people with a recent Samsung phone. Whil

Here's yet another troubling story about this golden era of AI. A hacker has exploited Anthropic's Claude chatbot to carry out attacks against Mexican government agencies, according to a report by Bloomberg . This resulted in the theft of 150GB of official government data, including taxpayer records, employee credentials and more. The hacker used Claude to find vulnerabilities in government networks and to write scripts to exploit them. It also tasked the chatbot with finding ways to automate da

An open-world racing game from a studio formed by ex-Forza Horizon developers was due to be published by Amazon, but that is no longer the case. As reported first by The Game Business , UK-based Maverick Games is now in active dialogue with prospective new publishing partners for its currently untitled debut game, which remains in development. Maverick was founded in 2022 by Mike Brown, who served as the Horizon series creative director during his stint at Playground Games, and was able to tempt

With its ProArt lineup , ASUS has commendably addressed a glaring hole in the PC market by targeting video editors and other creative pros. Its latest model even uses a popular camera marque in its name: the ProArt GoPro Edition PX13. Its a true co-branding exercise, with GoPro-like styling, a dedicated GoPro hotkey, mil-spec durability for extreme outdoor users and 12 months of GoPros Cloud Plus Premium. It has a lot going for it on the inside, too. The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor offers 16

Spotify is rolling out a new feature thats meant to make transitions in between tracks even smoother. If youll recall, the streaming service released the ability to create customized transitions within playlists in August last year. It gave people a way to create uninterrupted progressions and eliminate awkward silences between songs. Now, Premium users will be able to make sure the songs in their playlists flow seamlessly even further by reordering tracks based on their keys and BPM or beats pe

Amazon is offering a new way for Alexa+ users to customize the AI assistant's communication style. The company has introduced three personalities for Alexa+, so the assistant can adopt an attitude that is Brief, Chill or Sweet. The Brief style will be exactly that: no small talk and no extra conversation. Chill is easygoing and seems to be inspired by caricatures of the surfer/stoner type, while the Sweet mode is almost aggressively perky and chipper. In the audio sample provided, when a user as

Uber is one step closer to going airborne. On Wednesday, the company previewed its air taxi booking service ahead of an expected launch in Dubai later this year. The inaugural Uber Air program will let travelers book Joby Aviation's electric air taxis through a familiar process in the Uber app. The experience of booking an air taxi will be much like reserving a four-wheeled Uber. In the app, after entering your destination, Uber Air will appear as an option for eligible routes. The Uber app will

Ahead of a full release at Mobile World Conference (MWC), Honor has teased the MagicPad 4 that it calls the world's thinnest Android tablet. The new model is just 4.8mm thick (not counting that camera bump), a full millimeter thinner than the MagicPad 3 and slightly less than the 5.1mm iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S11, the company revealed. On top of being thinner, the MagicPad 4 has a new 12.3-inch 165Hz OLED display. While slightly smaller than before, it should be considerably better than

OpenAI has successfully convinced the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Elon Musks xAI, accusing the company of stealing its trade secrets . In her decision, US District Judge Rita F. Lin wrote that xAIs complaint does not point to any misconduct by OpenAI and instead attributes all listed misconducts to its eight former employees who left for OpenAI at around the same time. Lin said that xAI accused two of its former employees of stealing its source code before leaving at a time when they

Outfitting a kitchen can get expensive fast, but you dont need high-end appliances or flashy tools to cook more efficiently. Some of the best kitchen gadgets are simple, affordable gadgets that quietly make everyday tasks easier whether thats prepping ingredients, measuring accurately or keeping your workspace organized. These are the kinds of tools you reach for again and again, not one-off purchases that end up buried in a drawer. This guide focuses on inexpensive kitchen gadgets that punch a

Now that Apple has started blocking users under 18 in certain regions from downloading apps, the company has introduced new age verification tools. Those will help developers meet their age assurance obligations under upcoming US and regional laws, including in Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Utah and Louisiana, the company said in a news release on its Developer site . As of February 24, 2026, users in Australia, Brazil and Singapore won't be able to download apps rated 18+ unless their age is co

Apple's plan to add touchscreens to its premium MacBook Pros is coming into focus. Bloomberg reports that when the new laptops launch this fall, they'll feature a Dynamic Island , not unlike Apple's iPhones, and an interface that changes depending on where you touch your Macbook's screen. This dynamic interface is reportedly designed to make the transition between mouse input and touch input smoother on Apple's new laptops. Bloomberg says that if users touch an onscreen button, the version of ma

1Password is increasing prices for its individual and family plans. The individual rate is increasing from nearly $36 a year to $48, while the family option will cost $72 instead of $60. In emails sent to users, the business announced that the new rates will take effect for users at their next subscription renewal after March 27. It's a sizable price hike, but 1Password hasn't been incrementally inching its fees higher every couple years like we see so often for streaming subscriptions. This is

Earlier this month, Discord said it would be enacting an age verification policy. The platform faced some initial concerns from users about turning over their IDs and personal information, particularly given how poorly similar policies have been going elsewhere. Discord announced today it will delay and make some changes to its plans in response to the ongoing backlash. The first change is that Discord is postponing the global rollout of its age verification plans until the second half of 2026.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will reportedly give Anthropic until Friday to drop certain guardrails for military use, as reported by Axios . The outlet also reported that CEO Dario Amodei met with Hegseth yesterday as the Pentagon ratcheted up pressure on the AI company to give in to its demands. The makers of Claude have reportedly been offered an ultimatum: Either yield to the government's demands to remove limits for certain military applications, or potentially be forced to tailor its AI m

Google sent out an AI-generated news alert that included the N-word, according to reporting by Deadline . The push notification featured a link to a story by The Hollywood Reporter regarding an incident at the recent BAFTA Film Awards. The word appeared in the notification under the link. This was first spotted by Instagram user Danny Price , who accompanied a screengrab with a caption reading what an interesting Black History Month this has turned out to be. Google has since apologized and said

Three years after announcing plans to produce a film based on the viral YouTube short, The Backrooms (Found Footage) in 2023, A24 has released the first teaser for its adaptation. Backrooms , as the film is now called, is directed by the short's original creator, Kane Parsons, and will be released on May 29, 2026. The teaser offers little to go on for anyone who hasn't watched the original short or the series of videos Parsons made after it, but it is replete with The Backrooms ' hallmark: omino