Marcin Frąckiewicz

Motorola Quietly Hikes Moto G Prices by Up to 50% as Memory Crunch Hits Budget Phones
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Motorola Quietly Hikes Moto G Prices by Up to 50% as Memory Crunch Hits Budget Phones

Motorola has raised U.S. prices for its 2026 Moto G Play, Moto G, and Moto G Power to $249.99, $299.99, and $399.99, up from $179.99, $199.99, and $299.99 at launch. The increases follow sharp rises in memory chip costs, with DRAM contract prices expected to jump over 50% this quarter. Best Buy continued listing the phones at original prices as of Thursday. Similar price hikes appeared in India this week.
April 9, 2026
AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Gets an $899 Price Tag Ahead of April 22 Launch
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AMD’s Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Gets an $899 Price Tag Ahead of April 22 Launch

AMD will launch the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 desktop processor at $899 on April 22, pricing it $200 above the previous 9950X3D and $300 above Intel’s Core Ultra 9 285K. The 16-core chip features 208MB total cache, a 200W TDP, and support for AM5 motherboards. AMD claims 5–13% faster performance in creator and data-science workloads versus its predecessor. Gaming benchmarks have not been released.
April 9, 2026
Google Adds Gemini Notebooks Synced With NotebookLM in Challenge to ChatGPT Projects
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Google Adds Gemini Notebooks Synced With NotebookLM in Challenge to ChatGPT Projects

Google began rolling out the “Notebooks” feature in Gemini on Wednesday for AI Ultra, Pro, and Plus subscribers on the web. The tool lets users group chats, files, and instructions by topic and syncs with NotebookLM. Free users, mobile access, and more European countries will follow later. Under-18, Workspace, and Education accounts are excluded for now.
April 9, 2026
TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro Lands in U.S. at $199 on T-Mobile, Betting on Paper-Like Screens
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TCL NXTPAPER 70 Pro Lands in U.S. at $199 on T-Mobile, Betting on Paper-Like Screens

TCL has launched its NXTPAPER 70 Pro smartphone in the U.S. for $199.99 through T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. The phone features a matte, low-glare display and runs Android 16 on a MediaTek Dimensity 7300 chip with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. Competing models from Samsung and Motorola are priced similarly. TCL’s own site listed the device at $299.99 and sold out.
April 9, 2026
YouTube Shorts Rolls Out AI Avatars, Letting Creators Clone Themselves Without Filming

YouTube Shorts Rolls Out AI Avatars, Letting Creators Clone Themselves Without Filming

YouTube has launched AI avatars for Shorts, letting creators generate digital versions of themselves using the YouTube app or YouTube Create. Avatar videos will be labeled as AI-generated with visible watermarks and digital tags like SynthID and C2PA. Creators must be at least 18 and can delete avatars at any time, but published Shorts remain online. The feature follows similar moves by TikTok and Meta.
April 9, 2026
Amazon Is Ending Support for Older Kindle Devices on May 20. What Owners Lose
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Amazon Is Ending Support for Older Kindle Devices on May 20. What Owners Lose

Amazon will cut off Kindle e-readers and Kindle Fire devices released in 2012 or earlier from the Kindle Store on May 20, blocking new book purchases and downloads. Devices already registered will keep existing titles, but cannot be re-registered if reset after the cutoff. The move affects about 3% of users. Amazon is offering discounts and credits to those upgrading by June 20.
April 9, 2026
Apple iOS 26.4.1 Update Fixes iCloud Sync Bug Affecting Passwords and iPhone Apps
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Apple iOS 26.4.1 Update Fixes iCloud Sync Bug Affecting Passwords and iPhone Apps

Apple released iOS 26.4.1 and iPadOS 26.4.1 on Wednesday to fix an iCloud sync bug that disrupted data updates in the Passwords app and other software. Developers confirmed the update resolves issues affecting CloudKit-based apps. Apple’s notes list only “bug fixes” and no security vulnerabilities. Stolen Device Protection now activates automatically for users upgrading from iOS 26.4.
April 9, 2026
Iran Says Lavan Oil Refinery Hit, Israel Denies Role as Ceasefire Faces Early Test
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Iran Says Lavan Oil Refinery Hit, Israel Denies Role as Ceasefire Faces Early Test

Iran reported an "enemy attack" on its Lavan Island oil refinery Wednesday, igniting a fire but causing no injuries, days after a U.S.-Iran ceasefire was announced. Israel denied involvement. Brent crude fell 16% to $91.80 as traders anticipated Hormuz reopening, despite ongoing strikes on energy sites in the region. Shipping firms said full operations could take weeks to restore, with around 1,000 vessels still stranded.
April 8, 2026
Anglo American Shares Surge 10% as Relief Rally Revives Copper Bet

Anglo American Shares Surge 10% as Relief Rally Revives Copper Bet

Anglo American shares jumped about 10% in London after a U.S.-Iran ceasefire deal triggered a relief rally and oil prices fell. The FTSE 100 hit a one-month high, while Anglo’s stock traded near 3,601 pence. The company is pushing ahead with asset sales and a planned Teck Resources tie-up, despite posting a $3.7 billion loss for 2025. Regulatory approval for the Teck deal is expected by year-end.
April 8, 2026
Shell Plc Flags $15 Billion Working-Capital Hit as Iran Conflict Cuts Gas Output, Lifts Oil Trading
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Shell Plc Flags $15 Billion Working-Capital Hit as Iran Conflict Cuts Gas Output, Lifts Oil Trading

Shell warned first-quarter gas output will fall short of guidance and expects working capital between negative $10 billion and negative $15 billion due to volatile prices. The Pearl gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar halted production after March attacks, with repairs expected to take up to a year. Shell raised refining margin guidance to $17 a barrel and said oil trading and fuel marketing have improved.
April 8, 2026
Rolls-Royce Shares Jump 10% as Ceasefire Rally Puts Buyback Back in Focus
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Rolls-Royce Shares Jump 10% as Ceasefire Rally Puts Buyback Back in Focus

Rolls-Royce Holdings shares surged 10% to 1,257.1 pence on Wednesday after a U.S.-Iran ceasefire lifted London markets and a filing showed ongoing share buybacks. Morgan Stanley purchased 736,316 shares for cancellation on April 7, bringing total repurchases to nearly 29 million. The FTSE 100 rose 2.9% by 1042 GMT as Brent crude fell 12.3% on hopes of resumed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
April 8, 2026
UK Mortgage Rates Stay High Despite Iran Ceasefire as Remortgage Pain Deepens
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UK Mortgage Rates Stay High Despite Iran Ceasefire as Remortgage Pain Deepens

Average UK two-year fixed mortgage rates rose to 5.90% in April from 4.83% in early March, according to Moneyfacts. Halifax reported house prices fell 0.5% in March to £299,677, with annual growth slowing to 0.8%. Lenders say the recent U.S.-Iran ceasefire has eased market pressure but is unlikely to bring quick relief for borrowers. Buy-to-let landlords also face new tax and rental regulations from April and May.
April 8, 2026
BP PLC AGM Clash Deepens as Glass Lewis Urges Vote Against Chair Over Climate Resolution
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BP PLC AGM Clash Deepens as Glass Lewis Urges Vote Against Chair Over Climate Resolution

Glass Lewis urged BP shareholders to vote against Chair Albert Manifold’s re-election after the board blocked a climate resolution from the April 23 AGM. Legal & General Investment Management also plans to oppose Manifold. ISS, another proxy adviser, criticized BP’s move to revoke earlier climate pledges. BP defended its actions, citing investor feedback and a push for standardized disclosures.
April 8, 2026
NYT Points to Adam Back as Satoshi Nakamoto, but Bitcoin Pioneer Denies Claim
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NYT Points to Adam Back as Satoshi Nakamoto, but Bitcoin Pioneer Denies Claim

The New York Times named British cryptographer Adam Back as the likely creator of bitcoin, a claim Back denied within hours. The report comes as Back’s BSTR vehicle seeks approval to merge with Cantor Equity Partners I and expand bitcoin holdings. Wallets linked to Satoshi Nakamoto hold about 1.096 million bitcoin, worth $78.6 billion at current prices. Stylometric analysis cited in the Times report was called inconclusive by its author.
April 8, 2026
Glencore plc Faces Eskom Power Deal Deadline in South Africa as Ferrochrome Jobs Hang in Balance

Glencore plc Faces Eskom Power Deal Deadline in South Africa as Ferrochrome Jobs Hang in Balance

Glencore and Merafe’s South African ferrochrome joint venture faces a Tuesday deadline to secure a discounted 62 c/kWh power deal with Eskom, after halting retrenchments for a week. Only one of three smelters has restarted since a temporary tariff cut in January; output dropped 63% in 2025. Eskom and the venture agree on the rate in principle, but key conditions and regulator approval remain unresolved.
April 7, 2026
Barclays PLC Buyback Tops £525 Million as Bank Crosses Halfway Mark
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Barclays PLC Buyback Tops £525 Million as Bank Crosses Halfway Mark

Barclays has repurchased £525 million of stock since February, passing the halfway point of its £1 billion buyback program, filings showed Tuesday. The bank canceled 125.1 million shares and said its share capital now stands at 13.72 billion shares. Barclays will report first-quarter results on April 28. The buyback is part of a broader plan to return over £15 billion to shareholders by 2028.
April 7, 2026
Lloyds Banking Group plc tests quantum computing to catch money mules
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Lloyds Banking Group plc tests quantum computing to catch money mules

Lloyds and IBM completed a nine-month quantum computing test that identified a deliberately embedded money mule network using anonymised transaction data on a 156-qubit IBM system. Lloyds called it the first-known quantum experiment targeting mule detection. UK regulators continue to press banks to improve anti-fraud controls. The technology remains experimental and is not yet ready for widespread use.
April 7, 2026
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