Technology News 16.03.2026

Anthropic seeks weapons-safety expert as OpenAI offers higher pay for similar role

March 16, 2026, 11:58 PM EDT. Anthropic is recruiting a weapons- safety expert to curb misuse of its AI systems. The posting underscores a push to harden safety before deployment. A similar listing at OpenAI seeks a researcher in biological and chemical risks with a salary up to $455,000 (£335,000), nearly double Anthropic’s offer. The phrase ‘biological and chemical risks’ signals biosafety work examining how AI could enable harmful applications. Both jobs reflect rising prices for safety talent as firms face external scrutiny and growing pressure to curb misuse.

Gurley: AI boom real but a reset may follow

March 16, 2026, 11:56 PM EDT. Benchmark general partner Bill Gurley says the AI wave is real but a reset is coming. He argues bubbles exist when the wave is real, citing Carlota Perez, and urges investors to set a price for beaten-down SaaS stocks and buy. The AI surge drives high spending: major firms are projected to spend about $700 billion this year. Software shares have slumped-Salesforce and ServiceNow down about 25% in 2026; the IGV ETF off about 20%. Gurley, an early Uber investor who helped oust Travis Kalanick in 2017, says Uber’s $2 billion burn was “high anxiety,” while AI players like Anthropic and OpenAI burn cash. He stresses caution but says, “God bless them”-it’s a scary way to run a company.

Samsung to end Galaxy Z TriFold sales after brief, supply-constrained run

March 16, 2026, 11:46 PM EDT. Samsung appears set to discontinue the Galaxy Z TriFold after a brief, supply-constrained run. It launched in Korea about four months ago, ahead of a wider US and international debut in January, with a price of $2,899. Korean reports, via SamMobile, say Samsung will issue one more restock in Korea this week; in the United States, sales will continue only until the current production volume is sold out. The model sold out at each restock, underscoring limited inventory of around 3,000 units for each of the first two allotments. Samsung has cited high production costs and a RAM/storage shortage as pressure on margins, and the company positioned the TriFold as a proof of concept rather than a mass-market device. If you want one, the next restock could be your last chance.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to headline GTC 2026 keynote in San Jose

March 16, 2026, 11:42 PM EDT. Nvidia will stream the GTC 2026 keynote from San Jose on Monday as CEO Jensen Huang unveils updates at the company’s AI conference. The event, set to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET, will be watched by investors for potential product rollouts, partnerships, and any insight into the chip giant’s demand outlook. GTC has been dubbed the Woodstock of AI and the Super Bowl for AI, blending tech briefings with pop culture moments. In past editions, guests have included Kendrick Lamar, George Lucas and Ashton Kutcher, among others. The conference is widely seen as a barometer for AI-chip demand and strategic shifts.

EXLerate.ai gains NVIDIA AI Enterprise support to accelerate enterprise AI in regulated industries

March 16, 2026, 11:36 PM EDT. EXL says its agentic AI platform, EXLerate.ai, is now supported by NVIDIA AI Enterprise, elevating enterprise-grade AI in regulated industries. The collaboration adds more than 250 pre-built AI agents and accelerators, with 10 new patents to cut development costs by about 40% and speed prototype-to-production by up to 50%. NVIDIA’s John Fanelli notes the joint stack-NVIDIA NeMo Framework, NeMo Agent Toolkit, and NIM Agent Blueprints-enables a secure, high-performance foundation for scalable deployments. EXL’s platform serves insurance, healthcare, banking and financial services, with guardrails, auditing and cost controls for responsible AI. New features include Agent Studio (no-code autonomous agent building) and AI Governance Hub (integration of NVIDIA and proprietary models with governance across 40 frameworks).

Tennessee lawmakers push AI safety, child-protection transparency bill

March 16, 2026, 11:32 PM EDT. Two Tennessee lawmakers unveiled the Artificial Intelligence Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act, filed as HB 1898 and SB 2171 by Sen. Ken Yager and Rep. Jason Zachary. The measure would require large AI developers to assess potential risks, implement AI safety safeguards and report serious safety incidents to authorities, with a focus on AI used around children. Supporters say the bill addresses concerns about how advanced AI could affect youths and families. A February 2026 Anchor Research poll of 503 likely voters found 88% backing safety and security protocols and 90% wanting state laws to protect children from AI harms. The proposal would apply to the largest developers and allow flexibility in implementation, and it is awaiting action in the current session.

Africa tests $40 smartphones as GSMA pilots seek to bring online access

March 16, 2026, 11:26 PM EDT. GSMA announced pilots to test $40 smartphones in Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda in 2026, aiming to bring tens of millions online. The effort frames affordability as the main barrier, even with broad coverage in Africa. About 960 million Africans are within network reach yet offline. At $40, a 4G device would cost roughly 10% more than the global average feature phone price, though the global smartphone average exceeds $400, complicating scale. Past ultra-cheap bets in India collapsed over cost, performance, and logistics. Analysts caution durability, usable software, and ecosystem support matter as much as price. In Africa, many devices are under $200; Itel’s A60 under $100 signals demand. Transsion brands Infinix and Tecno lead. GSMA has brought together operators, manufacturers, financing, and multilateral actors.

Quest reaches record user engagement in 2025 as 100+ games top $1M in gross revenue

March 16, 2026, 11:24 PM EDT. Meta’s Quest usage peaked in 2025, helping more than 100 titles generate over $1 million in gross revenue before platform fees. In a GDC State of VR briefing, Chris Pruett said Quest usage rose year over year and the Horizon Store revenue edged up slightly without a hardware launch. He framed the result as evidence that ongoing Store investments are paying off. Premium apps remain the largest revenue driver, even as IAP revenue grew by more than 10% and spread across more titles. Pruett noted subscription revenue is a relatively small slice of the ecosystem. Oculus Publishing plans more games this year after shipping 140+ in 2024. Example titles cited include UG, HARD BULLET, and The Thrill of the Fight 2.

Adobe and NVIDIA form strategic AI partnership to advance Firefly models and agentic workflows

March 16, 2026, 11:22 PM EDT. Adobe and NVIDIA announced a strategic partnership to speed AI-powered creation, production and personalization. They will co-develop the next generation of foundational Firefly models and agentic workflows, built on CUDA-X libraries, NeMo and Cosmos open models, to deliver tighter control and precision across marketing and creative pipelines. The collaboration unites Adobe’s workflows with NVIDIA’s research and accelerated computing to offer enterprise-grade AI tools. Beyond model integration, the partners will advance the Agent Toolkit, and open-model components such as Nemotron and OpenShell to run autonomous agents more safely. They also preview a cloud-native, brand-identity-preserving 3D digital twin solution in public beta, creating virtual replicas of physical products for faster campaigns and personalized experiences.

iOS 27 won’t drop Liquid Glass, Gurman says

March 16, 2026, 11:20 PM EDT. Apple will not remove Liquid Glass with iOS 27, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter. Gurman says the latest internal builds of iOS 27 and macOS 27 show no major design changes, and removing the feature isn’t feasible yet after the time invested. Liquid Glass debuted in iOS 26 and remains part of Apple’s UI, with no stated plan to change in 2026. The report frames the stance as pragmatic rather than stubborn, noting development timelines and user adoption as factors driving the decision. Apple has not announced design shifts for iOS 27 beyond this, with a release set for later this year.

Nvidia folds OpenClaw into NemoClaw with enterprise guardrails

March 16, 2026, 11:16 PM EDT. At Nvidia’s GTC, the company rolled out the Nvidia Agent Toolkit-a package of open models, runtimes, open skills and blueprints to build long-running, secure autonomous agents. It marks the evolution from the Nvidia NeMo Agent Toolkit. But NemoClaw is the showpiece: an enterprise distribution that embeds the open-source OpenClaw framework inside Nvidia’s stack, adding guardrails and security. NemoClaw installs with a single command and can run Nemotron models, the Dynamo inference engine, and a new open-source security runtime called OpenShell. OpenShell enforces policy-based security, network and privacy guardrails as claws access corporate tools and data. The effort was done with OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger, who remains OpenClaw maintainer after joining OpenAI. Jensen Huang urged every company to pursue an OpenClaw strategy.

Nvidia’s DLSS 5 draws criticism over photoreal lighting changes

March 16, 2026, 11:14 PM EDT. Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5, its next-gen image-enhancement tech, calling it a breakthrough in real-time graphics. Unlike prior DLSS versions that upscale or boost frame rates, DLSS 5 uses an AI model to infuse scenes with photoreal lighting and materials anchored to source 3D content and kept consistent from frame to frame. Nvidia says developers can tune intensity, color, and masking to preserve a game’s unique aesthetic. The feature, due this fall, has drawn backlash from industry professionals who argue it can dramatically alter original art direction. Early responses reference dramatic changes in titles such as Resident Evil Requiem, Starfield and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Some engineers call the look an overbearing filter; others warn it risks erasing artistic intent. Nvidia defends the tech as bridging rendering and reality.

Nvidia signals push into AI agents with OpenClaw, Vera Rubin updates

March 16, 2026, 11:10 PM EDT. Tech giant Nvidia used its GTC conference in San Jose to push a broad push for AI agents. It unveiled software tools and a blueprint for creating custom assistants based on OpenClaw, plus privacy and security controls for the autonomous helpers. The company also introduced Vera Rubin, a seven-chip compute platform now in production, plus a CPU-based central rack to run agent workloads. Nvidia said it would integrate Groq’s high-speed language processing units (LPUs) as part of a $20 billion deal announced last November. Huang framed OpenClaw as the ‘operating system for personal AI,’ likening its importance to Mac and Windows. He cited collaboration with OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, who recently joined OpenAI. The announcements reflect Nvidia’s role at the heart of the AI ecosystem that powers training and services.

Donut Lab tests solid-state battery charging on Verge TS Pro in real-world EV test

March 16, 2026, 11:08 PM EDT. Donut Lab and Verge Motorcycles staged a real-world test of a solid-state battery on a Verge TS Pro motorcycle. The test mule charged at a public DC fast charger, with a claimed 18 kWh (nominal) pack and a 217-mile range. Donut Lab said the pack is air-cooled, a rarity for modern EVs, and touted a 5C charging rate, potentially full in about 12 minutes. The event follows months of debate after CES claims of high energy density, extreme cycle life, and no rare-earth materials. Critics pointed to limited third-party validation. So far, testers have not independently confirmed the solid-state chemistry or the 400 Wh/kg target; the new public test provides a real-world data point, not proof.

Volkswagen leans on Xpeng and Horizon chips in China, sidelining Nvidia

March 16, 2026, 11:04 PM EDT. Volkswagen Group China is accelerating its chip-driven strategy as it starts production of its first all-electric SUV, the ID. UNYX 08, powered by Xpeng’s Turing chip. CTO Thomas Ulbrich told Reuters there is no reason to rely on Nvidia in China, citing capabilities from Horizon Robotics and Xpeng. In Hefei, VW operates a Horizon joint venture and a tie-up with Xpeng to source driving software and chips. Deliveries in China are slated for the end of June. Ulbrich sees L2 hands-free assist evolving to L3 within about two years, which would shift liability to manufacturers under regulated scenarios. The shift underlines VW’s pivot from engines to software-defined, smart EVs in a key market.

Poll results cast doubt on iPhone 17e as price, specs draw mixed reaction

March 16, 2026, 11:02 PM EDT. Poll results show mixed demand for the iPhone 17e. About 30% say they aren’t looking to buy an iPhone, another 30% want a newer device but prefer a premium model. Only 10% are ready to buy outright, with roughly half swayed by reviews. Review unit and unboxing video have been posted. At $600, the iPhone 17e includes 256GB but a 60Hz display with a chunky notch and a single camera, which critics say makes it feel cheaper. Some say it targets older users or children, while others argue it’s too expensive versus a better-equipped iPhone 17 at $800. An older iPhone 16 option exists but 256GB units are scarce, limiting appeal.

AI aids SAT prep as colleges revisit standardized testing

March 16, 2026, 10:58 PM EDT. Several colleges are back to requiring SAT scores for applications, NBC News reports. Amid the shift, students are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence tools to practice questions, review explanations, and simulate test conditions. Advocates say AI can personalize practice, identify weak areas, and provide instant feedback, while critics warn about reliance and potential inequities. Universities are weighing how AI-assisted prep affects benchmarking and admissions fairness. The NBC report frames AI as a growing force in studying for standardized testing, a trend that could influence the prep industry, tutors, and student expectations. In short: AI is reshaping how students study for the SAT even as colleges reassess the role of the test in admissions.

Nvidia debuts Groq 3 AI chip and Vera CPU racks at GTC 2026, rivals Intel

March 16, 2026, 10:56 PM EDT. Nvidia kicks off GTC in San Jose with a five-rack slate led by the Groq 3 LPU for inference and a standalone Vera CPU rack. The company licensed Groq technology and hired its founders as part of a roughly $20 billion deal announced last December. Groq’s LPUs are built for inference of trillion-parameter models and million-token contexts, complementing Nvidia’s GPUs. The LPX platform packs 128 Groq 3 LPUs per rack and, with the Vera Rubin NVL72 rack, Nvidia claims about 35x higher throughput per watt and a meaningful revenue uplift. Nvidia positions Vera as a three-in-one concept-a Vera CPU plus two Rubin GPUs-delivered in 256-chip, liquid-cooled server banks.

Nebius Group seals AI infrastructure deals with Microsoft, Meta, and Nvidia investment; is 2026 a turning point

March 16, 2026, 10:54 PM EDT. Nebius Group positions itself at the AI hardware frontier as a neocloud provider for training and inference. The company won multiyear deals with Microsoft and Meta that underscore a shift in cloud infrastructure toward outsourced, AI-optimized capacity. A Microsoft agreement through 2031 is valued at up to $19.4 billion, and Meta’s five-year deal is worth about $3 billion. Nvidia’s $2 billion investment aligns Nebius with next-gen GPUs and Rubin/Blackwell Ultra architectures, potentially giving Nebius preferred access to Nvidia’s latest tech. Nebius markets a full-stack approach-racks, data centers, GPU clusters, and software services-targeting hyperscalers that want to reallocate capex away from building out capacity. Analysts caution that while the partnerships signal growth, execution risk and competition remain high in AI infrastructure.

Nvidia unveils Groq-based LPX rack, Vera Rubin NVL72 and BlueField-4 DPU at GTC 2026

March 16, 2026, 10:52 PM EDT. At GTC 2026 in San Jose, Nvidia unveiled the Nvidia Groq 3 LPX, a Groq-based inference rack that will ship in H2 2026 alongside the Vera Rubin NVL72 rack, the Vera CPU rack and the BlueField-4 STX storage rack. The expansion adds a Groq LPU licensed from Groq under a non-exclusive deal struck last December as part of expanding the Vera Rubin platform. Nvidia also introduced three additional Rubin-era racks built around its Vera CPU, BlueField-4 DPUs and Spectrum-6 Ethernet switches. An NVL Rubin rack powered by Rubin CPX GPU is on hold for now. Nvidia executives frame the seven-chip Rubin stack as an AI supercomputer designed for “agentic inference” across multiple chips, with production slated for this year.

Insiders keep buying IBM and IonQ as quantum stocks offer long-term upside

March 16, 2026, 10:48 PM EDT. Quantum computing could move from niche labs to mainstream apps as devices shrink, cost, and errors decline. Two stocks attracting insider activity are IBM and IonQ. IBM has deployed more than 85 quantum systems and runs trillions of programs, with experimental chips (Eagle, Heron, Nighthawk, Loon) aiming for a fully error-free system by 2029. Analysts expect modest growth in revenue and earnings from 2025-2028 as its hybrid cloud and AI services expand; the stock trades around mid-20s earnings, and insiders have bought roughly as many shares as they sold over three months. IonQ builds its own quantum systems (Aria, Forte, Tempo) and offers cloud access. It uses trapped-ion qubits and targets a ramp from 64 qubits in 2025 to more than 2 million by 2030, leveraging miniaturization and scale.

IonQ, KISTI and NVIDIA to build South Korea’s quantum-HPC ecosystem

March 16, 2026, 10:46 PM EDT. IonQ, KISTI and NVIDIA unveiled a Memorandum of Understanding at NVIDIA GTC to advance a quantum-HPC hybrid ecosystem in South Korea. The plan ties IonQ’s trapped-ion hardware to KISTI’s HPC infrastructure via NVIDIA NVLink, enabling joint research on quantum-HPC hybrid applications and quantum algorithm simulations. The MOU couples hardware with AI tooling to accelerate quantum technologies. IonQ CEO Niccolo de Masi called the collaboration a pathway for Korea to become a global leader in hybrid quantum-classical research, while KISTI’s Jaegyoon Hahm framed it as building a national infrastructure for complex scientific challenges. The effort also targets talent development, ecosystem building, and practical use cases in logistics, chemistry, materials science, and LLM fine-tuning.

DJI Avata 360 release, price leaks fuel first-look videos

March 16, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT. The DJI Avata 360 is poised to go on release, with price leaks and official videos stoking excitement. Leaks suggest a modular pricing approach, aiming around $500 for the drone alone. An unnamed European retailer lists four package options, plus separate prices for the battery, replacement lens kit, and spare propellers. USD estimates circulated: Drone Only about $489-$528; Fly More around $999; Premium Combo $1,100-$1,333; Battery $80-$91. DJI also set a launch date of March 26 and a global shipping date of April 9. Separately, DJI published three official videos-first glance, panoramic showcase, and a new perspective piece-on March 13, offering fresh views of the 8K-capable drone.

Nvidia pitches NemoClaw as enterprise OpenClaw with built-in security

March 16, 2026, 10:24 PM EDT. Nvidia unveiled NemoClaw at its GTC keynote as an enterprise-grade platform built atop the OpenClaw framework, adding security and privacy controls for corporate use. Developed with OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger, NemoClaw aims to turn open-source agents into a secure, one-command platform that governs how agents behave and handle data. CEO Jensen Huang compared the plan to Linux, HTML and Kubernetes, arguing every company needs an OpenClaw strategy. NemoClaw will let users connect any coding agent or model-including Nvidia’s NemoTron open models-across cloud or local devices, in a hardware-agnostic way and integrated with Nvidia’s NeMo agent suite. Nvidia says NemoClaw is currently in alpha, with rough edges as it moves toward production-ready sandbox orchestration.

NVIDIA unveils DLSS 5 with real-time neural rendering aimed at photoreal AI upscaling this fall

March 16, 2026, 10:22 PM EDT. NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5, the next step in its AI-powered upscaling, promising photoreal lighting and materials via a real-time neural rendering model. The company says DLSS 5 ingests a game’s color and motion vectors and anchors refined pixels to source 3D content, delivering consistent results across frames and running up to 4K. Demonstrations at GTC 2026 featured Resident Evil: Requiem, Hogwarts Legacy and Starfield, with visible improvements in hair and skin tone, though comparisons to DLSS 4.5 with path tracing were not fully disclosed. Two RTX 5090 GPUs powered the demo; NVIDIA says a single card will eventually handle it. Huang framed DLSS 5 as a step toward Hollywood-like real-time rendering without the studio-grade hardware, likening it to a controllable generative AI model for developers. NVIDIA calls it the biggest breakthrough since real-time ray tracing.

Chrome for Android tablets gains bookmarks bar, desktop-like features

March 16, 2026, 10:18 PM EDT. Google is updating Chrome on Android tablets and foldables to echo the desktop with a new bookmarks bar. The bar runs below the Omnibox across the full width, shows favicons with site names, and supports folders opened inline. A right-facing chevron reveals additional bookmarks; tapping All bookmarks opens the existing fullscreen interface. Long-pressing a bookmark reveals the full URL. The change makes large-screen Chrome closer to desktop behavior. To enable, go to Settings > Appearance > Show bookmarks bar; the feature is hidden on narrow screens and ships with Chrome for Android version 146. If Appearance isn’t visible, force-stop Chrome from the App info screen.

Optix expands high-speed internet to Inkom, Idaho, offering up to 750 Mbps

March 16, 2026, 10:04 PM EDT. INKOM, Idaho – A wireless broadband company, Optix, a subsidiary of Direct Communications, is expanding high-speed internet coverage to the rural town of Inkom, just south of Pocatello. The rollout aims to deliver speeds up to 750 Mbps via a fiber-backed network, surpassing current offerings that commonly cap at 100 Mbps. Optix has run fiber to a tower on Bonneville Peak and says it may test line-of-sight to homes; lines may require extending poles or running cables if needed. The company envisions further builds toward Grace, Aberdeen, Blackfoot, and possibly Driggs. City officials say the expansion could boost options and local business, though service will depend on a clear line of sight. Optix compares itself to other providers and to Starlink in its goal to provide a local alternative.

Google Pixel battery behavior labeled ‘intended’ not a bug

March 16, 2026, 10:02 PM EDT. Pixel users report a battery behavior where charging slows after about 77% when Limit to 80% is on. Google says the setting is meant to preserve battery health. The change appeared in the March feature drop and was first noticed by a Pixel 9 owner in beta, then discussed on the Android Issue Tracker and Reddit. Adaptive Charging aims to finish charging when you’re about to unplug; Limit to 80% stops at 80%. Google staff described the behavior as ‘intended,’ not a fault. The topic spans multiple Pixel generations and communities, with PiunikaWeb documenting the reports.

Samsung Galaxy Forever lets buyers pay 50% of Galaxy S26 price for a year in India

March 16, 2026, 10:00 PM EDT. Samsung on Tuesday unveiled the Galaxy Forever program in India for its Galaxy S26 lineup, a non-foldable flagship series priced higher than its predecessors. Under the plan, customers can buy any Galaxy S26 model by paying 50% of the device price in 12 interest-free monthly EMIs. After 12 months, they may retain the device by paying the remaining 50%, return it with no further obligation, or upgrade to a newer Galaxy model, with the 50% assured buyback value applied to the new device. If upgrading, customers owe only the difference after the buyback. Samsung also offers Samsung Care+ at no extra cost during the year to cover potential damage, preserving buyback value. The upgrade path could point to the Galaxy S27 or Galaxy Z Fold 8.

Apple moves iPhone 5, 8GB iPhone 4 to obsolete status

March 16, 2026, 9:58 PM EDT. Apple on Tuesday moved the iPhone 5 and the 8GB iPhone 4 from its vintage list to obsolete status, ending routine repairs. The company defines vintage devices as those distributed for sale five to seven years ago; obsolete ones are typically ineligible for repairs or spare parts. The iPhone 5, launched in 2012 and discontinued in 2013 after the 5s/5c, first appeared on the vintage list in 2018, with parts already constrained. The 8GB iPhone 4, introduced in 2011 and discontinued in 2013, was also shifted to obsolete. The iPhone 5 introduced a glass-and-aluminum body, a taller 4-inch display, LTE, and the first Lightning port replacing the 30-pin connector. Both models later sold as low-cost options in some markets.

Nscale to acquire Monarch Compute Campus, building AI-ready grid in West Virginia

March 16, 2026, 9:56 PM EDT. An artificial intelligence infrastructure company, Nscale, has signed an agreement to acquire American Intelligence & Power Corporation, including the Monarch Compute Campus in Mason County, West Virginia. The deal secures up to 2,250 acres for a first-state certified utility grid built for AI workloads. Initial power capacity of 2 gigawatts should be online by early 2028, with a planned expansion to 8 gigawatts by 2031. Governor Patrick Morrisey hailed the move as a vote of confidence in West Virginia’s future and its push to attract data centers. The development follows House Bill 2014, enacted in 2025, which creates a microgrid program to lure AI and data-center projects to the state.

Samsung shows NVIDIA AI inference chip built on 4nm process at GTC

March 16, 2026, 9:54 PM EDT. Samsung Electronics showcased an NVIDIA AI inference chip manufactured on Samsung’s 4-nanometer process at GTC developer conference in California. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said Samsung produces the chip based on Groq technology. The demonstration highlights Samsung’s role as a supplier of advanced process nodes for AI accelerators and NVIDIA’s continued emphasis on edge and cloud inference. The event did not detail product names or timing beyond the conference appearance.

SpaceX to launch Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral on St. Patrick’s Day with Starlink 10-46 mission

March 16, 2026, 9:52 PM EDT. SpaceX plans a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on St. Patrick’s Day. The Starlink 10-46 mission will deploy 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit, expanding the megaconstellation. Liftoff from SLC-40 is slated for a 6:26 a.m. EDT window, with a north-easterly trajectory leaving the pad. Spaceflight Now will provide live coverage about an hour before lift-off. The 45th Weather Squadron forecasts 75 percent odds of favorable weather, with concerns about strong liftoff winds, cumulus clouds, and a moderate risk to the recovery zone. Falcon 9 booster B1090 will attempt a drone ship landing on A Shortfall of Gravitas about 8.5 minutes after liftoff; that would mark SpaceX’s 147th drone ship landing and 587th booster landing overall.

SpaceX IPO chatter eyes $1.75 trillion valuation, AI data centers in space on the horizon

March 16, 2026, 9:44 PM EDT. Expectations for a SpaceX IPO in 2026 have climbed toward a $1.75 trillion valuation, with some reports signaling a $50 billion capital raise. SpaceX reportedly earned about $8 billion in profit on $15-$16 billion in revenue last year, underscoring that funds would fuel growth rather than plug losses. The capital would back ambitious projects such as orbital data centers and Moonbase Alpha, per a Morningstar report. Orbital data centers would host AI computing in space, a highly speculative use case but one with defined cost dynamics-electricity accounts for a large share of data-center expenses. Moonbase Alpha would establish a Moon colony as a backup to Mars, largely exploratory with no clear profit path. Analysts warn the IPO narrative favors high-risk capital, with suppliers potentially benefiting from SpaceX’s scale even if the offering stalls.

Britannica Sues OpenAI Over Training Data; Musk’s Grokipedia Under Scrutiny

March 16, 2026, 9:42 PM EDT. Britannica and its Merriam-Webster unit filed a federal lawsuit in Manhattan accusing OpenAI of copyright infringement for using its content to train AI models. The complaint says nearly 100,000 online articles were scraped, and that outputs sometimes copy or mimic Britannica, with the chatbot sometimes attributing hallucinations to the encyclopedia. The publishers seek damages, restitution of profits, and an injunction. The action adds to a wave of copyright cases against OpenAI, including suits by The New York Times and others; Anthropic recently settled a similar dispute over millions of pirated books for about $1.5 billion. Britannica has also pursued similar claims against Perplexity. Separately, Grokpedia run by xAI has drawn limited legal scrutiny so far, though critics question its reliance on Wikipedia and data sources.

Nvidia unveils Space-1 Vera Rubin Module to power space-based AI and orbital data centers

March 16, 2026, 9:40 PM EDT. Nvidia unveiled the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module at its GTC conference, a computing system intended for space missions and orbital data centers. The module combines Nvidia technologies such as IGX Thor and Jetson Orin and is designed to deliver more computing power than the H100 GPU currently tested on spacecraft. Nvidia says the system targets onboard AI analysis for satellite constellations and future space-based data centers, while acknowledging hurdles in radiation exposure and thermal management. The push follows growing interest in performing AI processing in orbit, enabling satellites to analyse data before transmission. Several space players, including Planet Labs, Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Sophia Space and Starcloud, are testing Nvidia processors in orbit; Planet Labs announced a collaboration to accelerate Earth-imaging analysis.

Dell first to ship NVIDIA GB300 desktop with NemoClaw and OpenShell

March 16, 2026, 9:38 PM EDT. Dell has become the first to ship a desktop built on NVIDIA’s GB300 platform, according to TechPowerUp. The system includes NemoClaw and OpenShell as highlighted features. Dell offered no pricing or timing details in the initial briefing. The move underscores a broader push by PC makers to blend NVIDIA performance with specialised input options and an open software layer.

iFixit: MacBook Neo is the most repairable MacBook in years, despite soldered RAM

March 16, 2026, 9:34 PM EDT. iFixit’s teardown of Apple’s MacBook Neo finds it the most repairable MacBook in about fourteen years. The battery sits in a tray secured with 18 screws, a first since older models glued the battery in. iFixit calls that shift a big win for repairability, noting a flat disassembly tree, Repair Assistant that accepts replacement parts, and a display/keyboard that’s easier to swap. However, memory and storage remain soldered, limiting upgrades. The site still rates Neo 6 out of 10 for repairability, a strong score for a MacBook. The milestone sits against Apple’s 2012 move toward in-house repair and ongoing right-to-repair debates, with parts pairing easing in some regions.

Apple named Official Performance Technology Partner for London Marathon

March 16, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT. Apple has been named the Official Performance Technology Product Partner for the 2026 TCS London Marathon, set for April 26. The role deepens a decade-long link between Apple and running through the Apple Watch. Jay Blahnik, Apple’s vice president of Fitness Technologies, said the company’s tools help runners at every level to stay motivated, track progress and understand health and fitness. The partnership comes as Apple positions its wearables as a core support for both elite and everyday runners. The London Marathon marks 11 years and two days since the Apple Watch first shipped. The deal underscores Apple’s growing emphasis on health and fitness tech in mass-participation events.

Apple unveils AirPods Max 2 with H2 chip, boosted ANC, $549

March 16, 2026, 9:28 PM EDT. Apple unveiled AirPods Max 2, pairing an updated H2 chip with new computational audio for the over-ear headphones. Apple says the updated chip makes ANC up to 1.5 times more effective than the original, and the Transparency mode should sound more natural thanks to a DSP optimized for H2. New features include adaptive audio, which adjusts levels in Transparency and ANC, and Conversation Awareness, which lowers volume when someone speaks. The device also gains a minor spec bump to Bluetooth 5.3, enables live translation and voice isolation for calls. The model ships in five colors and carries a listed price of $549.

AWS and NVIDIA expand collaboration to move AI from pilot to production

March 16, 2026, 9:22 PM EDT. At NVIDIA GTC 2026, AWS and NVIDIA announced an expanded collaboration to move AI from pilot projects to production, delivering scalable infrastructure, faster interconnect, and fine-tuning and inference tools. Starting in 2026, AWS will add more than 1 million NVIDIA GPUs, including Blackwell and Rubin architectures, across global regions, making AWS the broadest source of NVIDIA GPU-based instances. The partners are expanding Spectrum networking and other infrastructure to support demanding AI workloads. Amazon EC2 will soon offer instances accelerated by NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs, built on the Nitro System to maximize resource efficiency, security, and stability for data analytics, conversational AI, content generation, and other production workloads.

OpenAI under scrutiny over ChatGPT ‘adult mode’ after whistleblower claims

March 16, 2026, 9:18 PM EDT. OpenAI faces renewed scrutiny over ChatGPT’s adult mode after Wall Street Journal reports that whistleblowers questioned whether the system can reliably block minors from prohibited content. The disclosures come as OpenAI fired a top safety executive who opposed the feature; the company says the firing is unrelated, while former safety staffers criticize the firm’s ability to block exploitation content and shield young users. A second ex-employee warned last fall that parents should doubt adult mode claims. OpenAI counters with a plan to monitor long-term effects, though critics say it relies on the same experts skeptical of the rollout. In April, a bug reportedly allowed minors to access graphic erotica; OpenAI fixed the issue and said it is actively limiting such generations. OpenAI did not respond to Ars’ request to comment.

DJI Avata 360 Confirmed in Two Versions, 4G Model Locked to China

March 16, 2026, 9:16 PM EDT. DJI has two hardware versions of the Avata 360: the standard DVN3NT and the built-in 4G/Enhanced Transmission variant DVN3XT. The latter is hardware-locked to China and, in tests in Italy, the 4G module is non-functional. US buyers will not see the DVN3XT; the FCC has cleared only the DVN3NT (FCC ID: SS3-DVN3NT). DJI did not file a separate FCC listing for the 4G model, and a December 22 Covered List designation blocks it. Launch day is slated for April 9, with the standard DVN3NT delivering up to 20km OcuSync 4 transmission and compatibility with the Goggles N3 and RC Motion 3. The discovery follows a pattern seen with previous cellular dongles at launch.

NVIDIA Unveils DLSS 5 With Real-Time Neural Rendering

March 16, 2026, 9:14 PM EDT. NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5, the latest version of its AI-based upscaling and rendering tech. The centerpiece, Real-Time Neural Rendering, should boost frame rates in supported games while preserving image quality. NVIDIA says the approach blends neural rendering with existing ray tracing and DLSS tools to deliver smoother gameplay at higher resolutions. The announcement signals a continued push of AI-powered rendering in PC gaming, with developers urged to integrate the feature through the RTX platform. NVIDIA did not immediately share a release timeline or system requirements. The company frames the update as building on the DLSS lineage, using machine learning to reconstruct high-fidelity frames from lower-resolution inputs.

Uber to roll out Nvidia-powered Level 4 taxis in 2027

March 16, 2026, 9:12 PM EDT. U.S. ride-hail giant Uber will begin rolling out a fleet of Level 4 autonomous taxis in Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2027, Nvidia said, part of a broader collaboration on its Drive Hyperion platform. The plan expands a previously announced concept to deploy about 100,000 vehicles using Drive Hyperion, disclosed at Nvidia’s GTC event. Nvidia on Tuesday also said the service will reach 28 cities across four continents, with partners including Lyft, Bolt, and Grab. Nvidia’s Alpamayo 1.5 adds an interactive reasoning model that ingests video, motion history, navigation and natural-language prompts to output driving trajectories with reasoning traces. Competitors such as Waymo and Zoox are expanding in other markets.

Nvidia CEO sees at least $1 trillion AI chip revenue through 2027

March 16, 2026, 9:06 PM EDT. At Nvidia’s GTC developer conference in San Jose, CEO Jensen Huang projected at least $1 trillion in revenue from the company’s newest AI chips through 2027. He framed the shift from training to inference computing as the core inflection point enabling AI to ‘think’ and generate results in the field. Nvidia unveiled a new central processor and an AI system built on technology from startup Groq, part of Huang’s push to strengthen position in inference computing. The approach faces growing competition from customers’ custom processors, including Meta, even as Nvidia remains dominant in chips used to train AI with its GPUs. The forecast underscores the scale of the AI hardware market as the company pursues both inference and training workloads.

Teens sue Elon Musk’s xAI over Grok AI-generated CSAM

March 16, 2026, 9:00 PM EDT. Three Tennessee teens sue Elon Musk’s xAI alleging its Grok chatbot generated sexualized images of minors, including one plaintiff and at least 18 others now circulating on Discord. The suit says a perpetrator traded the AI-created CSAM in Telegram chats and that Grok’s launch of a “spicy mode” last year enabled the material. Plaintiffs accuse xAI of knowing Grok would produce sexual content involving minors and failing to test safety, calling Grok “defective in design.” The case adds to heightened scrutiny of Grok, which has drawn FTC and EU probes and a UK warning from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, per reporting. It notes the US Take It Down Act moves to criminalize nonconsensual, AI-generated deepfakes when enacted. The Verge has since noted some image-editing remains possible on X.

Kayrros sale signals rising demand for satellite intelligence amid Hormuz crisis

March 16, 2026, 8:58 PM EDT. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed demand for satellite-based geospatial intelligence to new highs, as traders seek real-time insights into oil storage and production. Kayrros, a Paris-based analytics firm, agreed to be acquired by UK energy researcher Energy Aspects, expanding its footprint alongside Energy Aspects’ 2023 purchase of OilX. Kayrros uses AI, machine learning and data from more than 20 satellite constellations to monitor onshore assets and storage facilities, offering daily and at times intraday signals. In Hormuz, imagery tracked tightening capacity at Saudi Arabia’s Juaymah terminal as exports slowed, and constrained storage at Ras Tanura after drone strikes. The deal lines up with Energy Aspects’ strategy to broaden analytics capabilities, combining Kayrros’ asset-level focus with OilX’s maritime data.

Samsung reveals Galaxy A57 5G and A37 5G in Thailand with aggressive pricing ahead of global launch

March 16, 2026, 8:54 PM EDT. Samsung has quietly unveiled the Galaxy A57 5G and Galaxy A37 5G in Thailand, with pricing catching the eye first. Official listings surfaced via DroidSans, signaling a typical yearly A-series upgrade set. The Galaxy A57 5G starts at 16,999 baht for an online 256GB-RAM configuration, while the A37 5G opens at 13,999 baht for 8GB/256GB. Samsung runs a temporary promo that effectively doubles storage: pay 17,999 baht for the A57 and get 512GB instead. Colors include Violet, Blue, Gray for A57 and Light Violet, Dark Green, Gray for A37. The company touts features like 4K ultra-wide video on the A57 and notes a thinner, lighter chassis. Finance+ down payments are up to 1,800 baht (A57) and 1,400 baht (A37). Source – DroidSans.

States map five pillars for building a quantum computing program

March 16, 2026, 8:52 PM EDT. Quantum computing is no longer a distant dream; states investing early can capture economic value as the ecosystem forms. In a timely briefing, Nate Gemelke argues that a state program should be built around five pillars: developing a skilled workforce, bolstering quantum-adjacent supply chains, strengthening universities and national laboratories, and integrating quantum systems with existing HPC and AI resources. CIOs face infrastructure questions-from data center planning to procurement and vendor relationships-and must coordinate across agencies rather than act in isolation. The piece cautions against indiscriminate spending, urging targeted investment, workforce development, and collaboration with federal labs and industry to position state economies for the quantum era.

Cisco extends Secure AI Factory with Nvidia, adds Hybrid Mesh Firewall

March 16, 2026, 8:50 PM EDT. Cisco expands its Secure AI Factory with Nvidia, letting customers run AI workloads under the same Nexus fabric IT teams already manage. The move aims to reduce complexity by unifying silicon, networking, compute and security into a cohesive system with stronger performance guarantees and embedded trust. Introduced a year ago, Secure AI Factory with Nvidia combines Hypershield and AI Defense to protect AI development and deployment, including policy automation and runtime protection. Cisco will embed Hybrid Mesh Firewall to enforce security on Nvidia BlueField DPUs in Nvidia GPU servers connected to Cisco Nexus One fabrics. The goal is to block threats at the server level, enable microsegmentation, and deliver a zero-trust security fabric that scales with AI workloads.

NVIDIA launches Vera CPU, first processor built for agentic AI and reinforcement learning

March 16, 2026, 8:44 PM EDT. LAS VEGAS – NVIDIA on Tuesday introduced the Vera CPU, the world’s first processor purpose-built for agentic AI and reinforcement learning. The chip promises about twice the efficiency and 50% faster performance versus traditional rack-scale CPUs, the company said. Leading clients and collaborators include Alibaba, ByteDance, Meta and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, joined by system makers such as Dell Technologies, HPE, Lenovo and Supermicro. NVIDIA positions Vera as a new class of CPU that boosts AI throughput, responsiveness and efficiency for large-scale services like coding assistants and enterprise agents. A Vera rack houses 256 liquid-cooled CPUs, supporting more than 22,500 concurrent environments and tens of thousands of instances per rack, built on the MGX modular architecture and paired with the Vera Rubin NVL72 platform and NVLink-C2C interconnect to GPUs.

NVIDIA Launches Space Computing, Extends AI to Orbit

March 16, 2026, 8:38 PM EDT. NVIDIA unveiled its Space-1 Vera Rubin Module, along with IGX Thor and Jetson Orin, to bring data-center-class AI to SWaP-constrained orbital environments. The trio enables AI inference and edge processing for orbital data centers, geospatial intelligence and autonomous space operations, connecting ground and space compute. The company also highlighted its RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPU for high-throughput ground processing, claiming up to 100x faster performance than legacy CPU systems when analyzing large imagery archives. NVIDIA says Space-1 delivers up to 25x more AI compute for space-based inferencing versus the H100. Partners including Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Planet Labs, Sophia Space and Starcloud are adopting the platform for next-gen missions. CEO Jensen Huang framed space computing as a frontier for real-time sensing and autonomous systems.

Apple FineWoven Wallet review: MagSafe + Find My support

March 16, 2026, 8:36 PM EDT. Apple’s FineWoven wallet is a first-party MagSafe accessory with Find My tracking and no battery to worry about. The material, a durable micro twill, feels modern and holds up to three cards with easy insertion and removal. Setup is seamless: snap it to the iPhone, and it pairs and prompts onboard automatically. The Find My integration can ping its last known location if you misplace it, though it doesn’t show a live spot, a trade-off for a lower cost. The primary caveat is weaker MagSafe magnets compared with some third-party options; it stays on, but with a lighter snap. Overall, a sleek, native option for everyday carry, especially if you value native tracking, with room for more styles and stronger magnets in future iterations. Available from Apple or Amazon.

Amazon and NVIDIA team up to build AI car assistants

March 16, 2026, 8:34 PM EDT. Amazon and NVIDIA are expanding their collaboration to equip cars with a smart, context-aware assistant. Automakers want in-vehicle systems that converse with passengers as naturally as people do and connect the home to the car. Anes Hodžić, vice president of Amazon Smart Vehicles, said the partnership highlights the capabilities of NVIDIA technology when paired with Amazon’s Alexa Custom Assistant, enabled by a multi-modal, multi-model, multi-agent stack on the edge and in the cloud. The effort targets auto OEMs, aiming to elevate the in-car experience and strengthen how customers perceive a smart car. The companies see the project as a foundation for broader, personalized automotive assistants.

Huang: next AI boom hinges on inference and production-scale AI

March 16, 2026, 8:32 PM EDT. Jensen Huang used Nvidia’s GTC keynote to recast AI’s next boom as an inference-driven, production-scale expansion. He argued demand is rising fast enough to justify large capital spending and that inference is the battlefield now, with agents moving from chatbots into daily office and industrial workflows. He warned the AI buildout is far from one model; Nvidia envisions a complete AI stack – compute, networking, storage, software, models and factories – fed by tokens. He projected at least $1 trillion in revenue opportunity from 2025-27. The company outlined a two-chip approach: Vera Rubin chips for prefill and decode work, signaling a shift toward practical deployment, even as questions linger about costs and longevity.

T. Rowe Price’s Tony Wang on Nvidia outlook after GTC headlines

March 16, 2026, 8:30 PM EDT. Tony Wang of T. Rowe Price appeared on Fast Money to discuss his view of Nvidia after today’s GTC headlines. He frames Nvidia as a core exposure to AI demand but cautions investors about volatility around near-term earnings and guidance. Wang notes catalysts from product cycles, cloud adoption, and upside in data-center spend, while highlighting valuation and risk management for funds. The interview covers how the firm positions clients amid macro uncertainty and competitive dynamics, with emphasis on execution and durable demand. Traders and investors should watch upcoming results and the trajectory of AI adoption, as well as broader market mood following the event.

Artemis II target: early April launch after helium leak delay

March 16, 2026, 8:28 PM EDT. NASA is targeting an early April launch for Artemis II, aiming to fly four astronauts around the Moon under a 10-day mission. A helium leak forced a March delay, sending the SLS and Orion back to the Vehicle Assembly Building before rolling out to the launchpad again on March 19 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The earliest opportunity is April 1, with final schedule to be confirmed. The crew includes Americans Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen. NASA emphasizes risk management and will skip a second wet dress rehearsal, saying little more to gain from repeating that test as preparations continue. If successful, Artemis II would be the first crewed lunar flyby since the Apollo era.

Exclusive: Galaxy Tab S12+ battery capacity leak hints at bigger tablet lineup

March 16, 2026, 8:24 PM EDT. Samsung’s next high-end tablets are slated for a Q3 debut, with the Galaxy Tab S12+ and S12 Ultra. The Tab S12+ battery variants EB-BX846AAE and EB-BX846AAY both show a rated capacity of 10,392 mAh. Samsung typically marks slightly higher actual capacities, suggesting a typical around 10,500-10,600 mAh, about 4-5% larger than the Tab S10+. The leak also anticipates a 12.4-inch OLED display with QHD+ resolution and a 120 Hz variable refresh rate, and a Dimensity 9500+ processor. Expect at least 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, and a microSD slot, plus a quad-speaker setup, IP68 protection, an S Pen with IP68, and 45W charging. Camera specs are not disclosed.

Samsung’s ‘Wide’ Galaxy Z Fold rumors point to 7.6-inch display and 4,800mAh battery

March 16, 2026, 8:22 PM EDT. A Digital Chat Station tip resurfaces details about Samsung’s alleged ‘Wide’ Galaxy Z Fold. The device is said to sport a 7.6-inch internal display and a 4,800mAh battery, marketed as a 4,800mAh typical. Internal cells may be split 2,267mAh and 2,393mAh. Samsung is rumored to pursue Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 SoC. Aspect ratio talk centers on a wide, horizontal focus-some claim 18:18, others cite 4:3 or 16:10. Debut is tentatively set for 2026, possibly first in Samsung’s home market before broader rollout including the U.S. Charging specifics remain unconfirmed. The design underscores a tablet-like Fold and raises questions about marketing and productivity-focused features.

Apple iOS 26.4 adds customizable Liquid Glass and accessibility tweaks

March 16, 2026, 8:20 PM EDT. Apple’s iOS 26.4 introduces a new wave of customization and accessibility, centering on how users interact with the Liquid Glass aesthetic. In Settings, the Display & Brightness section gains controls to adjust the opacity and intensity of Liquid Glass effects on the lock screen, letting users toggle between transparent and frosted looks. Notification appearance can be set to clear or tinted, improving readability and cohesion. Apple also adds a new Reduce Bright Effect accessibility option to curb glare during navigation, typing, and control adjustments. The update signals a design shift away from making Liquid Glass the focal point toward giving users practical, granular control over appearance. The overall result: a more personalized, accessible iPhone experience.

Mirantis joins NVIDIA AI Cloud Ready Initiative as founding ISV partner with k0rdent AI

March 16, 2026, 8:16 PM EDT. Mirantis has joined the NVIDIA AI Cloud Ready Initiative as a founding ISV partner, pitching its k0rdent AI stack as turnkey for automated, multi-tenant AI clouds across bare metal, Kubernetes, VMs and managed services. The partnership aims to help neoclouds monetize GPU infrastructure with validated software that pairs ISV status with NVIDIA NCX Infra Controller lifecycle automation. Mirantis asserts day-zero readiness with NVIDIA certified models and a unified control plane spanning architectures from Ampere to Blackwell and networking from InfiniBand to Spectrum-X. The move comes as AI spending grows, with Gartner projecting trillions in spend this decade. GTC 2026 demos and a Mirantis booth will illustrate the collaboration.

NXP, NVIDIA unveil foundational robotics solutions for physical AI with Holoscan Sensor Bridge

March 16, 2026, 8:10 PM EDT. NXP Semiconductors and NVIDIA are delivering secure, real-time data processing and transport for next-generation physical AI, starting with humanoid robotics. The first in a series of foundational robotics solutions combines NXP’s edge hardware and software with NVIDIA’s Holoscan Sensor Bridge, reducing discrete components, footprint, power use and cost while simplifying software for sensing and actuation. The integrated robot body solutions enable low-latency networking across the robot, supporting synchronized motion, dense sensor fusion and advanced motor control. NXP says the approach accelerates development and time to market by providing seamless connectivity between the physical AI edge and the robot brain. Executives cite faster deployment and safer, more reliable edge processing as key benefits.

PSSR 2 debuts on PS5 Pro with 12 launch games, Digital Foundry calls it a major uplift

March 16, 2026, 8:04 PM EDT. PlayStation’s PSSR 2 launches today for the PS5 Pro, bringing upscaling to a 12-game launch lineup. The titles include Silent Hill 2 Remake, Silent Hill f, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Crimson Desert, Rise of the Ronin, Nioh 3, Control, Alan Wake 2, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth; Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Cyberpunk 2077 arrive later. Digital Foundry’s Oliver Mackenzie calls it ‘a big improvement over PSSR 1’ with improved image quality and little performance penalty, strengthening the case for the PS5 Pro. Alex Battaglia shares the view, noting broader developer options. Time will tell how many more games adopt it.

Nvidia CEO flags ‘inference inflection’ as AI boom accelerates with $1 trillion orders

March 16, 2026, 8:02 PM EDT. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang laid out a vision for sustaining AI leadership as the company frames an ‘inference inflection’ in the ongoing boom. He predicted a $1 trillion backlog in orders by year-end, testament to Nvidia’s role in powering AI systems such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. Nvidia’s revenue leaped from $27 billion in 2022 to $216 billion last year, lifting its market value to about $4.5 trillion. Yet the stock cooled after a brief burst past $5 trillion market cap, and analysts warn the ‘white-knuckle period’ persists amid competition from Google and Meta developing rival processors. U.S. security and trade barriers limit China sales. Huang positions Nvidia to push into inference processors as AI shifts from training to real-time use.

Nvidia to upgrade AI performance with Groq 3 LPU chip

March 16, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT. At the GTC conference, Nvidia announced the Groq 3 LPU chip, using technology licensed from the AI company Groq. The LPU is part of seven upcoming data-center chips intended to supercharge AI workloads. The move signals Nvidia’s push to broaden its acceleration stack beyond GPUs by integrating specialized processing units for large-scale AI. Details on performance, power efficiency, and licensing terms were not disclosed. Nvidia did not provide a roadmap or timings for the LPU, but executives stressed the chips will target enterprise data centers seeking higher throughput and lower latency for training and inference. The announcement highlights a broader industry trend toward diversified hardware to speed AI deployment.

NVIDIA-Uber to roll out L4 robotaxis across 28 cities by 2028

March 16, 2026, 7:58 PM EDT. NVIDIA and Uber will scale a global fleet of software-driven robotaxis, using NVIDIA DRIVE Hyperion and a new Alpamayo AI model, across 28 cities by 2028. The rollout begins in Los Angeles and San Francisco in the first half of 2027, with a phased approach: data-collection vehicles to train Alpamayo on city nuances, followed by operator-led launches and eventual fully driverless Level 4 deployments. The plan leans on a broader ecosystem of automaker partners to integrate NVIDIA’s software stack on Uber’s network. Executives Dara Khosrowshahi and Jensen Huang touted the move as expanding accessibility and safety in transportation. The effort aims to scale from North America to Europe, Australia and Asia.

iOS 26 adds call screening in Phone app with ‘Ask Reason for Calling’

March 16, 2026, 7:48 PM EDT. Apple overhauled the Phone app in iOS 26, adding a design refresh and new features. The standout is a call screening option that provides a middle ground between letting all unknown calls through and silencing them. In Settings > Apps > Phone, users can choose Screen Unknown Callers and select from Never, Ask Reason for Calling, or Silence. The new Ask Reason for Calling prompts unknown callers to reveal why they are calling before the iPhone rings, helping users decide whether to answer. Apple frames this as a way to reduce spam while not missing legitimate calls. The change sits alongside other iOS 26 upgrades to Messages and broader communication apps.

Supermicro unveils DCBBS with NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72, HGX Rubin NVL8, and Vera CPU systems

March 16, 2026, 7:46 PM EDT. Supermicro unveiled its DCBBS lineup built around NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin NVL72, HGX Rubin NVL8, and Vera CPU systems. The company framed the stack as a scalable data-center building block for AI, analytics and HPC workloads, with modular blocks designed for faster deployment and easier scale-out. NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin components are positioned to deliver high throughput on mixed workloads, while Vera CPU systems target CPU-centric tasks. Pricing and availability were not disclosed, but executives emphasized energy efficiency and simplified integration for large-scale deployments. Industry watchers will see the move as part of a broader push to expand NVIDIA-driven accelerators in data centers. The announcement underscores Supermicro’s aim to compete in AI- and HPC-focused markets.

NVIDIA DLSS 5 targets real-time photorealism in games

March 16, 2026, 7:42 PM EDT. NVIDIA’s DLSS 5 debuts as an AI-powered update that adds photoreal lighting and materials to real-time gameplay, anchored to the game’s 3D content. DLSS 5 consumes each frame’s color and motion vectors and uses an AI model to infuse scenes with consistent, frame-to-frame fidelity. The system runs in real time at up to 4K for smooth interactive play, offering a deterministic output aligned with developers’ artistic intent. It follows DLSS’s evolution since 2018, expanding beyond performance gains to image fidelity. NVIDIA says the approach keeps visuals grounded in the source world, bridging the gap between real-time rendering and cinematic quality.

NVIDIA DLSS 5 unveils real-time neural rendering to boost game fidelity

March 16, 2026, 7:36 PM EDT. NVIDIA unveiled DLSS 5, its most significant graphics breakthrough since real-time ray tracing began in 2018. The system adds a real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials, aiming to bridge the gap between rendering and reality. NVIDIA bills it as a leap beyond previous DLSS generations, a step toward cinematic fidelity in real time while preserving artist control. CEO Jensen Huang framed DLSS 5 as the GPT moment for graphics, blending handcrafted rendering with generative AI. DLSS 5 arrives this fall and will be supported by major publishers and developers including Bethesda, CAPCOM, Ubisoft, Tencent, Warner Bros. Games, NetEase, NCSOFT, and others. DLSS’s lineage from upscaling to neural shaders continues to redefine performance and visual quality.

China’s Kuaizhou-11 Y7 rocket launches eight new satellites

March 16, 2026, 7:34 PM EDT. China launched eight satellites on a Kuaizhou-11 Y7 rocket, marking another step for the nation’s small-launch program. The mission placed the payloads into orbit and expanded capabilities for Earth observation and communications networks. Officials offered few technical details, but described the flight as part of a broader push to diversify space assets and shorten the time from factory to orbit. The operation underscores China’s intent to widen access to space using solid-rocket technology, with future tests expected as it scales up production of the launcher series.

Galaxy S26 Ultra falls short on PWM dimming as rivals fix display flicker

March 16, 2026, 7:32 PM EDT. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra debuts Privacy Display, shaping pixel viewing angles for privacy. Yet the device lacks widely adopted display-flicker controls. PWM dimming-where brightness is controlled by rapidly switching LEDs-remains at 480Hz, well below rivals. High-frequency PWM reduces discomfort and eyestrain; some competitors already offer 3,840Hz (HONOR X9d) or 2,160Hz (OnePlus 13R). Pixel 10 Pro and iPhone 17 sit around 240Hz, showing other approaches. Samsung provides no higher PWM option, no DC-like dimming, and no flicker-reduction feature in the S26 line. Analysts and users argue these omissions hinder eye comfort on low-brightness use. A poll accompanying the piece shows 71% want more eye-care features; the discussion points to other devices as benchmarks, including the Xiaomi 15 example mentioned.

Turn Android tablets into portable monitors with SuperDisplay via USB

March 16, 2026, 7:28 PM EDT. SuperDisplay lets an Android tablet serve as a Windows 10 PC monitor via USB or wireless connection. Priced at $14.99, the app avoids retooling hardware by turning a tablet into a secondary display without slowing the primary device. It works on Android 5.0 and later and pairs with Windows 10 drivers available from the developer’s site. A three-day free trial helps users judge responsiveness before purchase. The setup requires installing the Windows driver and the Android app from Google Play. Once connected, the tablet is detected as a monitor with configurable positioning, and the app supports stylus input for drawing in tools like Photoshop. The guidance highlights use cases from travel to office work, and even older tablets can gain new life as secondary displays.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Sets New Standard for Night Photography

March 16, 2026, 7:26 PM EDT. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra redefines smartphone night photography. In Britain, a new study shows widespread frustration with low-light shots, with 96% giving up on night photos and 62% unhappy with results. Samsung responds with a camera system built for dim environments: a 200MP wide-angle sensor, 50MP telephoto with 5x optical zoom, 10x optical-quality zoom, and wider apertures for better light. The device pairs upgraded AI-powered image signal processing and Enhanced Nightography to reduce noise, sharpen detail, and preserve skin tones, including the front camera. The result is clearer images in candlelight, concerts, and indoor gatherings, delivering brightness and detail where users previously saw grain and blur. Samsung frames this as a step toward effortless, professional-looking night content.

DJI Mini 3 price drops to £319 on Amazon as Spring Deal Day ends

March 16, 2026, 7:24 PM EDT. Amazon has cut the DJI Mini 3 to £319 from £459, a new all-time low during the Amazon Spring Deal Day, the last day of the sale. The pocket-sized drone weighs under 249 grams and fits in a backpack, yet carries flagship-style features. It records 4K HDR video with a three-axis mechanical gimbal for smooth footage, and offers True Vertical Shooting for portrait formats on Instagram or TikTok. With up to 38 minutes of flight time and HD video transmission up to 10 kilometres, the drone also includes GPS features like automatic return to home. The included DJI RC controller completes the setup.

Google Pixel Snap cases go 50% off for Pixel 10 lineup

March 16, 2026, 7:22 PM EDT. Google’s official Pixel Snap cases are half price on select colors for the Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL. Listings show Moonstone cases reduced to $24.99 and Obsidian to $37.99 after the 50% cut. The Pixel 10 Pro XL also carries 50% discounts on both Moonstone and Obsidian. Google sells first-party cases that, in practice, fit the phones with minimal fuss. Review history for Pixel Snap cases has been generally positive. The cases are the first to add Qi2 magnets, expanding support for magnetic accessories across Google’s latest devices.

Nvidia DLSS 5 brings photo-realistic lighting to RTX 50-series by Fall 2026

March 16, 2026, 7:18 PM EDT. Nvidia unveiled DLSS 5 at GTC 2026, a lighting-centric ML technique. It is not a frame-rate boost. Instead, DLSS 5 uses color data and motion vectors to deliver photo-realistic lighting on today’s hardware, aiming to help developers realize artistic visions beyond current limits. The system plugs into engines in a similar way to DLSS and works with standard rasterised, RT and path-traced titles. It preserves geometry, textures and materials while altering lighting, shading and material response. The AI network recognizes scene elements such as skin, hair, water and metal and applies tailored lighting. Demonstrations spanned Resident Evil Requiem, Hogwarts Legacy, Starfield, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Oblivion Remastered. Realistic subsurface scattering, hair and foliage lighting showed clear gains. Still a work-in-progress with occasional screen-space errors; a snapshot of progress ahead of the RTX 50-series launch in Fall 2026.

Tesla gains Ofgem license to supply electricity in Great Britain

March 16, 2026, 7:16 PM EDT. Tesla has secured Ofgem approval to supply electricity directly to households and businesses across Great Britain, expanding its energy footprint beyond cars. The license, issued to Tesla Energy Ventures and effective March 11, allows sale to residential and non-residential customers in England, Scotland and Wales. Tesla’s UK electricity entry follows prior energy moves, including a 2020 generation license, Megapack battery projects and a Powerwall-driven virtual power plant with Octopus Energy. In Texas, Tesla operates a VPP that offers lower charging rates and credits for exporting stored energy; the UK license does not extend to dual-fuel contracts. Ofgem approved the license after finding it met statutory requirements, despite public opposition and a broader slide in UK Tesla vehicle sales in February. The move mirrors broader energy-storage and EV-grid trends in Europe.

The Real Reason Xiaomi, Honor and OnePlus Still Can’t Crack the Premium Smartphone Market

March 16, 2026, 7:14 PM EDT. Xiaomi, Honor and OnePlus have pushed into the premium smartphone tier with sleek designs, fast chips and bold cameras, but their climb remains slower than expected. The core obstacle is trust and perception, not feature gaps. In the high-end, buyers seek updates, painless repairs, reliable trade-ins and known resale value-benefits Apple and Samsung wire into a broad ecosystem. Chinese brands offer wearables and smart-home gear, but global services remain fragmented by region, limiting daily friction-free use. Distribution, carriers and after-sales play big roles; US carrier visibility and financing, plus European shelf space and trained staff, shape verdicts as much as specs. Software trust, privacy headlines and long-term guarantees influence decisions. Finally, pricing and margins constrain competition, while cameras and design provide differentiation, though co-branding signals prestige.

Nvidia growth supported by chip demand, says investment strategist

March 16, 2026, 7:08 PM EDT. Shares of Nvidia rose about 2.4% on Monday after CEO Jensen Huang kicked off the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose, where he outlined hardware and software plans. An investment strategist at Mayfield said the market remains volatile, but software stocks and tech stocks have outperformed as domestic demand for Nvidia’s chips stays strong. The strategist also cautioned that easing geopolitical tensions could lift the outlook, noting a deal with China or a broader opening of international markets could be a bullish catalyst.

Nvidia unveils Vera Rubin Space-1 chip system for orbital AI data centers

March 16, 2026, 7:06 PM EDT. At GTC 2026, Nvidia unveiled the Vera Rubin Space-1 Module, pairing IGX Thor and Jetson Orin for spaceborne data centers. The system targets size-, weight-, and power-constrained environments and will be deployed with satellites from Axiom Space, Starcloud and Planet Labs. CEO Jensen Huang framed space computing as a new frontier as AI workloads move to orbital assets. Nvidia cautioned engineers about cooling in vacuum and radiation, noting there is no convection in space. The push aims to tap solar power and reduce terrestrial energy use, though launch costs and environmental concerns remain. The move aligns with broader industry activity, including Google’s Project Suncatcher and SpaceX’s expanding satellite infrastructure. Practical orbital data centers still face engineering and regulatory hurdles.

Florida Space Coast rocket launches: Week of March 16, 2026 schedule from SpaceX, NASA and Blue Origin

March 16, 2026, 7:04 PM EDT. As Florida’s Space Coast continues a busy launch calendar, the region set a 2025 record with 109 orbital launches and has logged 18 so far in 2026 through March 16. The week ahead features SpaceX Starlink missions, with two liftoffs from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 40 in Florida: a St. Patrick’s Day flight on March 17 at 6:26 a.m. ET and a March 19 window between 6:36 a.m. and 10:35 a.m. ET. Visibility can stretch to Jacksonville Beach to the north and West Palm Beach to the south, depending on trajectory and weather. Watch coverage may include NASA, SpaceX and Prime Video options; launch sites at Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral are the usual staging points.

CoreWeave expands AI cloud with NVIDIA HGX B300 platform

March 16, 2026, 6:58 PM EDT. CoreWeave unveiled a major AI-cloud expansion at Nvidia’s GTC to accelerate moving models from training to production, with a focus on agentic AI and reinforcement learning workloads. It announced GA of infrastructure based on the NVIDIA HGX B300 platform (NVIDIA’s GPU server line using Blackwell) and integration with Weights & Biases for development and monitoring. The shift reflects a broader move from training to continuous model improvement and high-volume inference. Analysts say inference-where AI value is realized-could be orders of magnitude larger than training. Each HGX node packs eight GPUs with NVLink (NVIDIA GPU interconnect) for high-bandwidth communication; clusters connect via InfiniBand (low-latency interconnect) and offer up to 2.1 TB of HBM3e memory (high-bandwidth memory), enabling large models (>100B parameters) on fewer GPUs.

TSMC Emerges as Clear AI Winner, Investors Should Consider Buying

March 16, 2026, 6:56 PM EDT. An opinion piece argues that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) is the clear AI winner due to its neutral position as a supplier to Nvidia, AMD and Broadcom. It notes these firms rely on TSMC for most logic chips, regardless of their AI computing stack. Citing McKinsey’s estimate of $7 trillion in cumulative AI spend by 2030, and Nvidia’s view of $3-4 trillion in data-center capex, the piece says demand will rise. TSMC itself projects nearly 60% CAGR in AI chip revenue from 2024-2029, signaling strong growth. At about 25x forward earnings, the stock isn’t a bargain but is deemed fair for the growth outlook. The author suggests TSMC as a broad AI exposure option, and discloses holdings in related names.

IBM and NVIDIA expand collaboration to push enterprise AI from pilot to production

March 16, 2026, 6:54 PM EDT. IBM and NVIDIA expanded their collaboration at GTC 2026 to help enterprises operationalize AI at scale, spanning GPU-native data analytics, intelligent document processing, on-premises and regulated infrastructure, cloud, and consulting. The aim: give enterprises the data foundation, infrastructure, and expertise to move AI from pilot to production. IBM and NVIDIA say barriers persist-fragmented data, workloads not built for advanced AI, and the need to meet compliance and residency requirements in regulated industries, plus guidance from experts. CEO quotes frame the effort as integrating data, infrastructure, and orchestration to power enterprise AI. A core tech element is GPU-accelerated watsonx.data via cuDF to speed SQL queries, demonstrated with Nestlé’s Order-to-Cash data mart covering 186 countries and terabytes across 44 tables, validating production-ready analytics.

Memories.ai builds the visual memory layer for wearables and robotics with Nvidia tools

March 16, 2026, 6:52 PM EDT. Memories.ai is building a visual memory layer that lets AI recall what it sees for wearables and robotics. A key aim, CEO Shawn Shen says, is to bridge sight and memory so physical-world AI can remember video inputs. At Nvidia’s GTC, the company announced a collaboration leveraging Cosmos-Reason 2 and Metropolis to advance its capabilities. Launched in 2024, Memories.ai has raised about $16 million from Susa Ventures and others. The startup cites two pillars: infrastructure to embed and index videos into a retrievable data format, and data to train the model. It released LVMM in July 2025, a smaller analogue to Gemini Embedding 2. Data collection relies on LUCI, a wearable device, though the firm does not intend to build hardware.

Nvidia adds Hyundai, BYD and Geely to Drive Hyperion partners for Level 4 robotaxi push

March 16, 2026, 6:46 PM EDT. Nvidia said Monday at its GTC conference that Hyundai Motor, Nissan Motor, Isuzu, BYD and Geely have joined its Drive Hyperion platform for developing autonomous driving. The partnerships expand Nvidia’s end-to-end AV stack, spanning data-center training, large-scale simulations and in-vehicle computing, to help automate Level 4 systems. No consumer car yet drives itself without human monitoring; robotaxi pilots exist in limited programs. CEO Jensen Huang framed the announcements as a milestone, stating the ‘ChatGPT moment’ for self-driving cars has arrived and predicting a surge in robotaxi-ready vehicles. Nvidia counts Aurora, Nuro, Sony, Uber, Stellantis and Lucid among current Drive Hyperion customers. The deals underscore Nvidia’s push to monetize AI and software in autonomous driving beyond chips.

Nvidia adds BYD, Geely to its robotaxi Drive Hyperion platform

March 16, 2026, 6:44 PM EDT. Nvidia said at its GTC conference that BYD and Geely will join its Drive Hyperion autonomous-vehicle platform to develop Level 4 robotaxis alongside Isuzu and Nissan. Under the expanded deal, BYD will deploy the Hyperion stack to build next-generation Level 4 vehicles, while Geely uses Nvidia’s Thor chips in its Zeekr line. Zeekr also supplies Waymo with vehicles in the US, and Waymo is using Nvidia products in both the car and the cloud, per Ali Kani. The announcement comes amid ongoing US-China tensions over tech exports, and Nvidia’s auto unit remains a small slice of revenue next to its data-center chips. The broader robotaxi race features Baidu in China and Waymo in the US.

Securing Enterprise Agents with NVIDIA OpenShell and Cisco AI Defense

March 16, 2026, 6:40 PM EDT. OpenShell, the NVIDIA open-source runtime, creates isolated sandboxes and a fine-grained policy engine with a privacy router to cap what autonomous agents can do. Cisco AI Defense adds continuous verification, enforcing policy and logging actions as agents reach for new skills. Together they turn trust from a probability into a provable state for critical workflows. In practice, enterprise agents run in background, building a live knowledge graph of devices, configurations and dependencies. When a new advisory arrives, an auto-triggered Cisco AI Canvas security operations agent uses the baseline map to respond quickly, reducing panic. The pairing offers governance at scale: guardrails at the infrastructure level and audit trails at the policy level, ensuring compliant agent behavior.

MKBHD calls Apple’s MacBook Neo the most disruptive in years

March 16, 2026, 6:22 PM EDT. In a recent video, tech YouTuber MKBHD called Apple’s upcoming MacBook Neo its most disruptive product in years. The remark underscores growing interest in the notebook line that could redefine Apple’s laptop strategy. Apple has not publicly commented on the assessment. The comment arrives as industry watchers gauge what a redesigned chassis or new silicon could mean for performance and battery life. The broader context remains speculative until Apple confirms details or announces a launch date.

NVIDIA Vera Rubin opens agentic AI frontier with seven new chips in production

March 16, 2026, 6:20 PM EDT. SAN JOSE, Calif.-NVIDIA unveiled the Vera Rubin platform, opening the frontier of agentic AI with seven new chips now in full production and five racks to scale the world’s largest AI factories. The system weaves Vera CPU, Rubin GPU, NVLink 6, ConnectX-9 SuperNIC, BlueField-4 DPU, Spectrum-6 Ethernet, and the newly integrated Groq 3 LPU to run every AI phase-from massive-scale pretraining and post-training to test-time scaling and real-time inference. CEO Jensen Huang calls Vera Rubin a generational leap: seven chips, five racks, one giant supercomputer. Industry leaders say the platform enables more complex reasoning and safer, reliable deployments, signaling a broader shift toward POD-scale and sovereign AI deployments.

Could Broadcom Be the Next Nvidia? A look at XPUs and AI demand

March 16, 2026, 6:16 PM EDT. Broadcom is not Nvidia, but it is riding the AI wave through custom XPUs rather than general-purpose GPUs. Broadcom says more than 99% of internet traffic touches its technology, a reminder of its networking dominance. The company has six major customers developing XPUs to fit their needs; a $10 billion order from an unnamed customer followed by an additional $11 billion from Anthropic signaled appetite for its hardware. OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet have deals with Broadcom as well. In the latest quarter, AI revenue jumped more than 100% to about $8.4 billion, and Broadcom expects to exceed $10 billion in the next period. Networking revenue should rise to about 40% of AI revenue this quarter. The chip lineup, including Tomahawk 6, aims to double performance next year. Still, XPUs and GPUs serve different needs; Broadcom’s growth is meaningful but unlikely to displace Nvidia soon.

SpaceX IPO looms; EchoStar proxy flags five risks for investors

March 16, 2026, 6:14 PM EDT. Investors eye a 2026 IPO wave led by AI-focused offerings. SpaceX has joined the fray after its xAI merger, hiring two law firms to prep an IPO. For now, money can be gained via EchoStar, whose stake in SpaceX makes the stock a de facto proxy. Yet investors should heed five risks: regulatory uncertainty around the FCC-initiated spectrum sales and ongoing reviews; potential block or delay of SpaceX shares tied to deal timing; EchoStar’s reliance on legacy DISH/SLING businesses; looming decommissioning costs of $5-7 billion linked to long-term tower leases; and the cash-versus-value balance as EchoStar pays down obligations while awaiting a windfall from SpaceX. Timing and execution of the sale remain unclear.

Galaxy S26 Ultra outpaces iPhone 17 Pro Max in Wi-Fi 7 local tests, boosted by extra 320MHz channel

March 16, 2026, 6:12 PM EDT. Tests of flagship Wi-Fi 7 performance show the Galaxy S26 Ultra ahead of the iPhone 17 Pro Max in local speeds, thanks to an additional 320MHz channel Apple omits. The measurements, by YouTube channel Landpet, used the same IP address and a TP-Link Deco BE95 router with a dedicated server. In local tests, the Galaxy S26 Ultra posted 3,963 Mbps down and 3,651 Mbps up, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max logged 1,971 Mbps down and 1,838 Mbps up. The Galaxy S25 Ultra was slower, and the OnePlus 13 reached the highest download score, albeit with the highest ping. The review notes that the 320MHz channel is central to Wi-Fi 7’s speed potential.

Canada to invest $200 million in sovereign spaceport as three firms win Launch the North grants

March 16, 2026, 6:10 PM EDT. Ottawa will invest $200 million to build a Canadian-owned spaceport and enable sovereign satellite launches, selecting three firms to receive funding under Launch the North. The plan includes leasing a dedicated space-launch pad at Spaceport Nova Scotia near Canso, built by Maritime Launch Services. The Department of National Defence will pay $20 million per year for 10 years, with 90% of gross rental payments to be spent in Canada to support the domestic space agency. Canada Rocket Co., Reaction Dynamics, and NordSpace will each receive an $8.3 million non-repayable grant to develop launch vehicles and technology. The grants are part of a three-year, $105-million contest; Ottawa previously earmarked $182.6 million in the federal budget. The aim: maintain sovereign launch capability, reduce dependence on foreign entities, and bolster Canada’s defence and industry.

Is Tesla Stock a Millionaire-Maker? A look at future growth and valuation

March 16, 2026, 6:04 PM EDT. Tesla’s stock has vaulted roughly 2,760% over the past decade, a gain that has minted early investors into millionaires. Yet forecasting the next decade is fraught. Even optimistic scenarios hinge on a scaled robotaxi business and the mass production of Optimus robots, but timelines remain uncertain and leadership has not provided a clear road map. The company’s current valuation is a hurdle: a trailing P/E around 367 implies investors must assume outsized growth. If the P/E contracted to the S&P 500 target of about 25 in 10 years, Tesla would need roughly 31% compound annual earnings growth to stay flat. In short, while upside exists, bets on a new generation of millionaires rest on uncertain technological breakthroughs and timelines.

Micron and Jabil set for March 18 results as AI demand drives outlook

March 16, 2026, 6:02 PM EDT. Micron Technology is set to report fiscal 2026 second-quarter results on March 18, with investors watching whether AI-driven demand from data centers keeps memory prices high amid ongoing supply constraints. The stock has surged about 323% over the past year on this theme. Also on the calendar is Jabil, whose earnings release highlights AI as the primary growth driver as hyperscalers expand data-center deployments. Jabil raised its fiscal 2026 AI revenue outlook to about $12.1 billion, roughly a 35% year-over-year increase, and has retrofitted facilities to meet demand for liquid-cooled server racks. For Q2, Jabil guided revenue of $7.5-$8.0 billion and earnings of $2.27-$2.67 per share, signaling solid earnings growth. Strong results could lift both stocks as investors watch AI catalysts.

Apple wins first Oscar in three years as F1: The Movie takes Best Sound

March 16, 2026, 5:54 PM EDT. The 98th Academy Awards concluded with F1: The Movie winning Best Sound, giving Apple its first Oscar in three years. Apple had six nominations, a marked improvement from last year’s zero wins. The company’s sports blockbuster is described as the highest grossing sports film and its biggest theatrical success to date. It beat Frankenstein, One Battle After Another, Sinners and Sirat in the category. Before this, Apple’s Oscar tally included 2023’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse for Best Animated Short, and CODA’s Best Picture in 2022, a milestone for streaming-service films. The win follows a broader revamp of Apple’s film strategy and a lineup of new titles this year, as Apple TV+ remains priced at $12.99 per month or via the Apple One bundle.

Pokémon GO players built a 30-billion-image AR map powering Niantic Spatial’s geospatial AI

March 16, 2026, 5:52 PM EDT. Ten years after Pokémon GO captured global attention, Niantic Spatial says it has built a Large Geospatial Model (LGM) from crowdsourced data. The dataset, comprising 30 billion images captured by players across Pokémon GO and spin-offs, underpins its Visual Positioning System (VPS) with centimeter-level localization. Niantic Spatial, spun off after Niantic’s sale to Scopely, relies on support from investors tied to Scopely, Savvy Games Group and the Saudi PIF. MIT Technology Review contextualizes the data trove. The company already partners with Coco Robotics to improve last-mile navigation in cities where GPS is unreliable, showing how spatial AI can help machines understand the real world. John Hanke frames this as building a new sort of digital map.

Amazon vs. Apple: Which stock looks like the better buy today

March 16, 2026, 5:50 PM EDT. Amazon and Apple have delivered big gains, but the engines differ. Amazon has surged 629% in the last decade, about 22% annualized, led by AWS cloud and a broad e-commerce moat. AWS posted $129 billion in revenue and $46 billion in operating income in the quarter ended Dec. 31, bolstering a roughly $200 billion investment plan and CEO Andy Jassy’s AI emphasis. Apple rose 878% with 25.6% annualized, driven by iPhone momentum; more than 2.5 billion active devices underpin services, which jumped 44% over three years and carry a 77% gross margin. Valuation sits around P/E of 32.3 for Apple and 29.3 for Amazon. Projected EPS growth: Amazon about 18% CAGR 2025-28 vs Apple about 11.4%.

Google rolls out March 2026 modem update for original Pixel Watch

March 16, 2026, 5:46 PM EDT. Google is rolling out a modem update for the original Pixel Watch, released in 2022, following October’s release. The March 2026 update (BW1A.260305.003) fixes bugs affecting E911 emergency dialing. The device remains on Wear OS 5.1 based on Android 15, and will not receive Wear OS 6+ due to a three-year update guarantee. It will continue to receive app updates from the Play Store. The OTA is not yet available on Google’s factory images site for manual install. Google has not released the March 2026 update yet for LTE versions of the Pixel Watch 2, 3, and 4. Rollout will continue in phases over the coming weeks, carrier- and device-dependent. Check Settings > System > System updates.

Nvidia CEO Huang sees $1 trillion in orders for Blackwell and Vera Rubin through 2027 at GTC 2026

March 16, 2026, 5:44 PM EDT. At GTC 2026, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said orders for Blackwell and Vera Rubin could reach $1 trillion through 2027, up from last year’s $500 billion revenue target. The company signaled 2026 growth would exceed earlier projections, echoed by CFO Colette Kress after the latest earnings. Huang said demand is broad, spanning startups and large enterprises, as agentic AI drives a shift in computing needs. Vera Rubin, expected this year, promises about tenfold more performance per watt than its predecessor, Grace Blackwell, addressing energy concerns tied to AI at scale. Huang also unveiled the Groq 3 LPU, Nvidia’s first chip from the acquisition behind Groq, and showcased a Groq 3 LPX rack to house the accelerators.

AI reshapes jobs unevenly as adaptability varies, study finds

March 16, 2026, 5:40 PM EDT. As AI grows more capable, the labor picture stays mixed. Web designers appear more at risk than janitors; many secretaries could be vulnerable, with the most at risk occupations largely held by women. Researchers from GovAI and the Brookings Institution used a novel method to gauge who can adapt, weighing factors such as savings, age and transferable skills. They say many people most at risk are also well placed to find new jobs, though forecasts are inherently fallible. Quotes from Jed Kolko of the Peterson Institute and researchers at Anthropic urge humility about how quickly AI will reshape work. The report invites readers to explore the interactive chart, while noting economists disagree and uncertainty remains.

Wearing multiple AI wearables proves overkill: a hands-on test of ring, glasses, bracelet and pendant

March 16, 2026, 5:36 PM EDT. An experiment wearing four AI wearables tests convenience versus clutter. The Oura Ring stays on a finger, is discreet, and logs heart rate and oxygen to generate a sleep score with tips. The Ray-Ban Gen 2 glasses pack five microphones, a 12-megapixel camera and two speakers, lasting about eight hours and charging in a case. The Bee bracelet uses a single button to activate listening that transcribes meetings and summaries; the Omi pendant sits against the chest and stays listening unless powered off, and can sync with the Bee app for the same outputs. The journalist notes overlapping functions and questions whether the extra devices save time-often not, versus using ChatGPT or Claude on a phone. The look can feel practical or Bond-like, depending on perspective.

Colleges roll out AI majors as demand for AI skills grows

March 16, 2026, 5:34 PM EDT. Northwestern University announced March 9 a new AI major set to begin in fall 2026, joining a growing list of colleges offering formal AI tracks. Since 2018, several institutions have created AI majors as interest in the field explodes. The Northwestern program aims to train students to build, deploy and critique intelligent systems, with courses in machine learning, natural language processing, AI systems and infrastructure, data structures and algorithms, and the mathematical foundations behind modern AI. It emphasizes fluency across programming languages and the human and societal dimensions of AI, including privacy, sustainability and intellectual property. Other schools, such as the University of Arizona and Carroll University, have similar programs. Purdue offers BA and BS in AI, pairing ethics with theory and hands-on work, reflecting a broader trend in higher education.

Apple adds iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 to obsolete devices list

March 16, 2026, 5:32 PM EDT. Apple has moved the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5 to its global list of obsolete devices. The change follows Apple’s policy: devices go vintage about five years after they stop selling, then reach obsolete status after more than seven years since last sale. A move to obsolete signals that repair options may dwindle as parts run out. MacRumors flagged the update. The iPhone 5 was upgraded from vintage to obsolete, while the iPhone 4 (8GB) GSM variant was removed from vintage and added to the obsolete list. Apple typically services vintage devices only while parts remain available, and full lists show where service may still be extended in some cases.

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra review: giant 6.9-inch privacy display blocks shoulder surfers

March 16, 2026, 5:18 PM EDT. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra is the company’s flagship, priced about £1,279 / €1,449 / $1,299 / AU$2,199. It centers on a colossal 6.9-inch display and a built-in privacy display that narrows viewing angles to deter shoulder surfers. It can be activated for banking apps and the lock screen, with two intensity levels and an option to block only notifications. The phone remains a brick-like beast with a protruding camera bump and aluminum sides, lighter but still heavy. Inside runs One UI 8.5 on Android 16 with substantial AI features, including Samsung’s Now Nudge, improved Bixby, and access to Gemini and Perplexity. A dedicated stylus and four rear cameras round out a feature-rich package, though the handling is still two-handed and the price steep.

iPhone 19e may gain LTPO OLED and ProMotion by 2028, analysts say

March 16, 2026, 5:14 PM EDT. Relying on rumors, Apple’s iPhone 19e could bring LTPO OLED with ProMotion to a low-cost line, potentially matching features in the iPhone 17 lineup. The launch is not expected before early 2028. Analysts have floated that Apple paused or changed its strategy for the iPhone 17, and the iPhone 19e could receive an LTPO upgrade to support higher refresh rates. Ming-Chi Kuo has previously suggested an iPhone 18e, while ZDNet Korea argues the next low-cost model will adopt LTPO OLED. If LTPO+ tech remains elusive, Apple might ship the iPhone 19e with the same OLED panel found in the iPhone 17e/18e. The outcome hinges on production and whether LTPO+ can be extended to more budget devices.

PS5 Pro’s upgraded PSSR2 shines across Silent Hill f, FF7 Rebirth and more

March 16, 2026, 5:12 PM EDT. Two veteran testers assess Sony’s PS5 Pro update to PSSR2, a joint Sony-AMD effort under Project Amethyst. The team notes the upgrade shifts PSSR from a rough, unstable UE5 showcase to a cleaner, more stable upscaled image at 4K on four games: Silent Hill f, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Monster Hunter Wilds and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In Silent Hill f the new PSSR eliminates pulsing RTGI, crisping vegetation and improving texture detail, with reduced sub-pixel flicker and no noisy film-grain artefacts. AMD’s FSR4 tech is part of the approach, but Sony feeds improvements back into the next FSR4. The takeaway: the upgraded PSSR delivers meaningful gains versus the original, though impact varies by title.

Tesla’s Robotaxi crashes reach 15; Austin fleet stays around 35, all supervised

March 16, 2026, 5:08 PM EDT. Tesla filed a new NHTSA crash report in February, bringing the Robotaxi tally to 15 incidents since the Austin program began in June 2025. The latest event involved a Model Y striking a fixed object at 9 mph with the autonomous system engaged; no injuries were reported. Last month Tesla disclosed five crashes in one submission, but mileage data is not disclosed, making safety comparisons imprecise. Tesla’s service paused during a January ice storm, further complicating comparisons. Company disclosures show the fleet remains small-about 35 vehicles in Austin nine months after launch-with in-car supervisors at every vehicle. Those safety supervisors may restrict crashes, implying the true per-mile crash rate of the unsupervised autonomous system could be worse than the data suggests.

Gracia streams 4DGS demos directly in-browser across devices

March 16, 2026, 5:06 PM EDT. Gracia, a platform popular with Gaussian Splatting enthusiasts for viewing splats in VR and beyond, now streams several 4DGS demos directly in-browser. The demos play instantly on headsets, phones and laptops, including a full 4-minute performance by Amy May. The stream requires roughly 80+ Mbps and a Meta Quest 3 with Horizon OS v85 or later. Gracia says a new compression approach preserves visual quality while fitting within typical home bandwidth. For creators aiming at similar video types, a rig of genlocked cameras is needed; interested parties should contact Gracia with their details. This marks a shift toward browser-native playback for point-cloud/volume rendering used in Gaussian Splatting and related experiments.

Nebius stock climbs after Meta AI deal; Citi sees upside to $169

March 16, 2026, 5:04 PM EDT. Nebius, the Dutch AI infrastructure company, rose after Meta Platforms signed a deal to spend up to $27 billion on its capacity. Over five years Nebius will provide $12 billion of dedicated capacity starting next year, with Meta also buying up to $15 billion of additional compute from Nebius. Citi Research initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $169 target, signaling about 50% upside from current levels. Analyst Tyler Radke says Nebius is evolving from GPU-as-a-service to a hyperscaler with a full-stack architecture, in-house hardware, and an expanding inference layer. Citi models double-digit margins by FY2029 and a five-year revenue CAGR of about 125%. Nebius also holds a 25% stake in ClickHouse, boosting growth prospects amid rising AI workloads.

Nvidia unveils DLSS 5, fusing structured data with generative AI to boost realism in games and beyond

March 16, 2026, 5:02 PM EDT. Nvidia introduced DLSS 5 at its GTC keynote, a new AI graphics system that blends traditional 3D data with generative AI to boost realism while cutting compute. DLSS 5 can predict and fill image regions, letting GPUs render detailed scenes and lifelike characters without rebuilding every element from scratch. CEO Jensen Huang framed it as a fusion of controllable 3D graphics and probabilistic, highly realistic AI. The company says the approach signals a broader shift, with structured data as the foundation of trustworthy AI and potential reach into enterprise computing. He cited platforms like Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery as examples of structured datasets future AI systems may exploit, foreseeing a future where AI uses both structured and unstructured databases to accelerate insights.

Gurley warns AI bubble could reset markets

March 16, 2026, 4:46 PM EDT. Bill Gurley, Benchmark general partner, said the AI wave is real and a reset is coming. He told CNBC the bubble phenomenon happens when people chase quick riches, and the AI surge has drawn many into the market. Gurley cited economist Carlota Perez, arguing that bubbles exist only when the wave is real. He urged investors to set a target price for beaten SaaS stocks and start buying on dips. AI spending across major tech firms-Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft-could total about $700 billion this year, while software shares have fallen. Uber, Benchmark’s early investment, faced leadership changes in 2017; Gurley described the current AI cash burn as intense but part of rapid growth.

Nvidia expands AI dominance into networking and CPUs, surpassing Cisco in data-center networking

March 16, 2026, 4:44 PM EDT. Nvidia’s push beyond chips into data-center infrastructure gathered pace as its networking revenue surpassed Cisco’s. For fiscal 2026, Nvidia reports data-center networking revenue of about $31 billion, up 142% year over year and more than 10× since acquiring Mellanox in 2020. Cisco posted about $28 billion in networking revenue for its 2025 year. CEO Jensen Huang calls Nvidia “the world’s largest networking business.” Growth stems from NVLink compute fabric powering Grace Blackwell GB200/GB300 systems and from Spectrum-X Ethernet and Quantum InfiniBand platforms. Nvidia’s strategy, framed as extreme co-design, extends its AI infrastructure dominance into CPUs and other infrastructure layers, reshaping competition with partners like Cisco while expanding opportunities for hyperscalers and broader customers.

Palantir, Nvidia partner to streamline on-prem AI data-center deployments

March 16, 2026, 4:42 PM EDT. Palantir and Nvidia are teaming up to streamline AI data-center deployments with a jointly optimized AI OS architecture. The Palantir AI OS reference architecture is designed to give enterprises full control over their data, AI models and applications, while supporting open-source models and related data-acceleration tools. The collaboration targets customers with existing GPU infrastructure, latency-sensitive workflows, data-sovereignty needs and broad geographic distribution. Akshay Krishnaswamy, Palantir’s chief architect, said the software has had to meet the moment in complex, sensitive environments where customers must maintain control. He added that the partnership delivers a fully integrated AI operating system optimized for Nvidia accelerated compute infrastructure, enabling on-premises, edge and sovereign cloud deployments. Sovereign AI describes a market for a country to keep its data and AI within borders.

Trump relies on his personal iPhone, triggering White House security concerns

March 16, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT. US President Donald Trump reportedly uses his personal iPhone to talk with friends, business leaders, reporters and world leaders. White House officials told The Atlantic that the private line is often buzzing, and the number is widely circulated, heightening risk on sensitive matters. Despite the concerns, Trump continues to take calls and brief the media. The officials note the device lacks the guardrails of a purpose-built secure system, increasing the chance of miscommunication or a conspiracy. Since the start of his term, he has favored the personal device over more secure channels, a stance officials say they have struggled to change, even as security worries persist.

SpaceX to launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites; jellyfish effect possible at dawn

March 16, 2026, 4:26 PM EDT. SpaceX will launch the Falcon 9 rocket carrying 29 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s SLC-40, with a four-hour window from 6:26 to 10:26 a.m. ET. If timing aligns with dawn, the exhaust plume could form a jellyfish effect cloud. The mission marks the 11th flight for booster B1090 and the 20th Florida launch this year. After stage separation, the first stage is expected to land on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic. The satellites will provide internet access in low Earth orbit once deployed. Dr. Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics tracks the constellation, reporting roughly 9,996 in orbit and 7,866 in operational orbit before this launch.

Meta inks $27 billion AI deal with Nebius as neocloud players gain traction

March 16, 2026, 4:24 PM EDT. Meta Platforms announced a five-year AI infrastructure agreement with Nebius Group. Nebius will provide $12 billion of dedicated processing capacity starting in early 2027, using the Nvidia Vera Rubin platform. Over five years Meta will buy an additional $15 billion of capacity as Nebius comes online, bringing the total contract to $27 billion. Nebius stock rose, with gains as high as 17%, lifting its market cap above $32 billion. Nvidia separately pledged $2 billion to Nebius to expand U.S. AI capacity. Nebius has rapid revenue growth but remains unprofitable; 2025 revenue was $530 million and operating loss $596 million. The deal underscores a broader AI data-center buildout; investors should weigh profitability and risk in neocloud plays.

Musk rebuilds xAI after cofounder exodus as Macrohard paused

March 16, 2026, 4:18 PM EDT. Musk says xAI is being rebuilt from the foundations up after SpaceX’s acquisition of the AI startup. The move follows a swift exodus of leadership, with nine of the original 11 co-founders not named Musk leaving since 2024 and a wave of senior engineers departing. The shake-up has paused Macrohard, the aim of creating a versatile AI agent for white-collar work, after Toby Pohlen left weeks into the project. Musk has downplayed the brain drain as part of a planned reorganization and says some staff are better suited for earlier stages of a venture. Hiring is now targeted but limited; Cursor hires Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg have joined, and others’ applications are being reviewed. The coding-tools market-roughly $7.65B in 2025, expected to $22.2B by 2030-frames the race.

Two tech stocks to watch this week besides Nvidia, says NYSE insider Jay Woods

March 16, 2026, 4:14 PM EDT. Two tech stocks to watch this week beyond Nvidia, NYSE insider Jay Woods said Monday. Micron Technology and Oklo are key names, with earnings from Micron due after the bell Wednesday and Oklo after-hours Tuesday. Micron has been breaking out, trading around $448 as Woods pins a breakout above $460 as the momentum trigger into earnings. Oklo has fallen about 40% in six months and sits roughly 70% below its October high, but Woods sees a potential entry near $55-$58, anchored by a volume-weighted average price. He also flagged the S&P 500’s 200-day moving average near 6,604 as a watch level and noted Nvidia’s Jensen Huang could move markets at the GTC keynote, with a potential test of $170 on the downside for Nvidia.

Adobe CEO Narayen to step down after 18 years as board launches CEO search

March 16, 2026, 4:12 PM EDT. Adobe (ADBE) said Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen will step down after 18 years, with a successor to be named; Narayen will remain as chair after the transition. The board named Frank Calderoni, the lead independent director, to chair a special committee to evaluate internal and external CEO candidates. Narayen, in an email to employees, said he will help ensure a smooth handover and remain committed to Adobe’s path. In fiscal Q1, Adobe posted EPS of $6.06 on revenue of $6.39 billion, topping estimates of $5.88 and $6.28 billion. For Q2, Adobe guided revenue of $6.43-6.48 billion, broadly in line with expectations. The news prompted a stock move as investors digest leadership change.

Nvidia unveils DLSS 5 with real-time neural rendering; fall launch with major publishers

March 16, 2026, 4:02 PM EDT. Nvidia announced DLSS 5, touting a real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials. The feature lands this fall and arrives with initial support from publishers including Bethesda, Capcom, Hotta Studio, NetEase, NCSoft, S-Game, Tencent, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Games. Nvidia also posted a blog detailing the tech, and Digital Foundry has already published a video on the demonstration. The rollout targets developers eager to integrate the new rendering approach into upcoming titles.

Sony expands PS5 Pro AI upscaling to more games in major update

March 16, 2026, 3:52 PM EDT. Sony’s upgraded PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) is rolling out to PS5 Pro titles such as Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Silent Hill 2, and more. Digital Foundry testers say the update reduces shimmering and artifacts, delivering crisper, more consistent in-game graphics without sacrificing framerate. The upgrade is part of AMD and Sony’s Project Amethyst effort that renders a game at a lower resolution, then upscales with AI trained on graphics. It arrives with the latest PS5 system software in phased rollout starting March 17 at 1 AM ET, and should boost AMD’s next FSR update. Other upcoming PSSR supports include Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Alan Wake 2, Control, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, and more; some patches in coming weeks may toggle on/off by title.

iPhone 17e keeps familiar design as Apple refreshes budget lineup

March 16, 2026, 3:46 PM EDT. Apple’s iPhone 17e launches as budget-minded replacement for the iPhone 16e, extending the lineage of the SE-style approach. The company preserves the familiar form-5.78-inch display, flat metal edges, glass sandwich chassis and IP68 protection-while offering incremental internal updates to justify a new entry. External hardware remains largely unchanged from the 16e, including the same rear camera and USB-C port, which operates at USB 2.0 speeds. Ceramic Shield front glass has been updated to Ceramic Shield 2, delivering improved durability. The refresh follows an annual cadence, but the value proposition for budget buyers remains mixed, signaling that even a modest upgrade in 2025 falls short of the original SE’s bargain.

Comcast rewires small-town Washington with high-speed fiber and free WiFi hubs

March 16, 2026, 3:44 PM EDT. Comcast is extending high-speed fiber connections and offering free public WiFi hubs to a small Washington town, part of a broader push to modernize local networks. The project aims to deliver faster upload and download speeds, improve access for residents and small businesses, and create a backbone for cloud services and digital learning. Officials say the initiative could spur local investment and support a more resilient economy, while technicians note the work involves upgrading infrastructure and deploying public hotspots. The program aligns with moves by carriers to expand symmetric internet, where upload and download speeds match, and with tools like SD-WAN and cloud connectivity that enable faster, more reliable service.

Apple buys MotionVFX to bolster Creator Studio subscriptions

March 16, 2026, 3:38 PM EDT. Apple has acquired MotionVFX, a Polish visual effects and templates maker that works with Final Cut Pro. The deal, terms not disclosed, will let Apple integrate MotionVFX’s plugins and templates directly into its editing suite, potentially boosting subscribers to its new Creator Studio bundle. Founded in 2009, MotionVFX offers packages starting at $29 a month for editing within Final Cut Pro. Apple introduced Creator Studio in January as a bundle priced at $12.99 per month or $129 per year, competing with Adobe Creative Cloud. The takeover follows Apple’s preference for small acquisitions to add talent and technology rather than large deals. Apple aims to widen its services revenue by luring more creators and editors to its ecosystem, reducing reliance on hardware.

Iran shuts down internet in war, placing civilians in the crosshairs

March 16, 2026, 3:36 PM EDT. Iran cut nationwide internet shutdown hours after US-Israel strikes, leaving only about 1% of normal traffic. The move mirrors a long-standing regime playbook built around the National Information Network, an intranet that blocks the global web while keeping government sites and essential services online. Officials say the blackout aims to curb unrest, but it also separates civilians from real-time safety information as military actions unfold. Protests in January and earlier demonstrations show the regime’s willingness to sacrifice public safety to control the information environment. State media warn that street activity amounts to “direct cooperation with the enemy.” Analysts say the shutdown creates an information vacuum that raises civilian risk and complicates crisis response.

Dobson Fiber commits to fiber internet expansions in four additional Oklahoma communities; Greenlight Networks to expand its Northeast Pennsylvania fiber build

March 16, 2026, 3:34 PM EDT. Dobson Fiber announced four additional multi-million-dollar fiber internet expansions with groundbreakings in Canute, Foss, Headrick and Keota, Oklahoma. The company says it now serves 52 communities in Oklahoma and five in Arkansas, delivering speeds up to 10 Gbps for residential users and up to 100G for business customers. Dobson Fiber cites a 6,500-mile optical middle-mile network and peering links to provide low-latency connectivity. Residents can visit www.dobson.net to check service availability, register their address and receive updates on construction timelines. In nearby Pennsylvania, Greenlight Networks plans to expand its fiber build in Northeast Pennsylvania. Bob Durkin, President of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, says the expansion is a big plus for the region.

Vivo X200T review: near-flagship performance with Zeiss camera at Rs 59,999

March 16, 2026, 3:32 PM EDT. Vivo’s X200T positions itself as a premium-flagship alternative, priced at Rs 59,999 for 12GB/256GB. It pairs a powerful chip with a triple 50MP Zeiss camera system and ships with OriginOS 6 on Android 16, promising 5 years of OS upgrades and seven years of security patches. The 6.67-inch LTPO AMOLED display runs at 1.5K with 120Hz, delivering bright, punchy visuals and sharp text, though it relies on fixed 60-120Hz rather than true LTPO adaptive cycling. The phone weighs 203g with a 7.9mm profile and features a matte-finish glass back, IP68/IP69 ratings, and a circular camera module that nods to its higher-priced siblings. In practice, it offers compact ergonomics, solid battery life, and camera versatility, but the premium price keeps it just shy of true flagship status.

Apple buys MotionVFX to bolster Final Cut Pro graphics tools

March 16, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT. Apple has acquired MotionVFX, a Polish plugins and VFX developer for Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Apple Motion. MotionVFX founder Szymon Masiak launched the company in 2009. The deal brings 70 employees into Apple, and expands MotionVFX’s catalog of templates, transitions and 3D workflows into Apple’s ecosystem. MotionVFX says it is joining the Apple team to empower creators and editors, stressing quality, ease of use and design-the same values it says Apple shares. The acquisition could enhance Final Cut Pro’s built-in graphics tools and reduce dependence on third-party plugins, aligning with Apple’s push into professional video production and its Apple Creator Studio subscription service. It remains unclear whether existing products will be sold independently; current plugins stay available via MotionVFX’s website and marketplace.

Ford Mustang Mach-E adds en-route battery preconditioning for Apple Maps EV Routing

March 16, 2026, 3:28 PM EDT. Ford says the 2026 Mustang Mach-E gains en-route battery preconditioning when using Apple Maps EV Routing in CarPlay. The feature, already available with Google Maps EV Routing and Connected Navigation, preheats or cools the battery so charging can begin at a DC fast charger. Apple Maps EV Routing will automatically cue preconditioning when a DC fast charger stop is part of the route, but Ford notes a limitation: unlike Google Maps or Connected Navigation, you cannot select a charger from a nearby list for preconditioning with Apple Maps. The upgrade is currently limited to the 2026 model year Mach-E. Ford has not said when older models-such as the 2022 Mach-E or the F-150 Lightning-will receive the change. The enhancement improves charging efficiency in variable conditions.

Yes, an EV can power your home – but only with V2H/bi-directional charging

March 16, 2026, 3:24 PM EDT. EVs can store enough energy to power a home during outages, but only if they include vehicle-to-home (V2H) or bi-directional charging hardware. In practice, only a handful of models support it. Honda-backed Acura initially touted V2H on the RSX, but update: the all-Honda RSX EV is canceled. Ford’s F-150 Lightning is a leading example, capable of sending up to 9.6 kW back to a house. To enable it, buyers must install Ford’s Charge Station Pro (formerly Intelligent Backup Power) and the Home Integration System (HIS), plus the Charge Station Pro 80A bi-directional charger; total hardware and install run around $5,000. The Kia EV9 is cited; a Wallbox Quasar 2 bidirectional charger is shown as reference. In short: V2H exists, but availability depends on model and hardware.

EV batteries may withstand warming climate better than expected, study finds

March 16, 2026, 3:22 PM EDT. Electric vehicles are central to decarbonization, with the IEA noting global sales rising from 3% to 18% between 2019 and 2023. A Nat. Clim. Change 2026 modeling study led by Haochi Wu at the University of Michigan links higher temperatures to faster battery degradation. By pairing degradation models with climate projections for 300 cities, researchers find older 2010-18 cells could lose about 8% of lifetime under 2°C warming and as much as 30% in the hottest regions. The study also highlights regional temperature differences and suggests that rapid advances in battery chemistry are increasing resilience. Newer EVs may fare better in heat, especially in equatorial and tropical regions, even as climate risks persist.

Meta, Nebius sign up to $27 billion AI infra deal powered by Nvidia Vera Rubin

March 16, 2026, 3:18 PM EDT. Meta and Nebius Group have signed a five-year deal worth up to $27 billion for AI compute capacity. Nebius will deliver about $12 billion in dedicated AI infrastructure across multiple locations, using Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, with clusters expected online in early 2027. Meta will also buy additional capacity from Nebius’ future AI clouds, potentially bringing total commitments to $27 billion, with Meta allowed to purchase up to $15 billion of any remaining supply over the term. Analysts view the agreement as a validation for Nebius in the crowded neocloud market and a sign of robust hyperscaler demand for specialized AI infrastructure. Rubin aims to boost training and inference performance via high-bandwidth memory and advanced interconnects like NVLink and Quantum InfiniBand-based fabrics.

Video: Workers face ‘A.I. brain fry’ as HBR study discussed on Hard Fork

March 16, 2026, 3:16 PM EDT. On the Hard Fork podcast, hosts Casey Newton and Kevin Roose discuss a Harvard Business Review study finding workers are increasingly experiencing A.I. brain fry. The discussion centers on cognitive strain tied to AI tools in daily tasks, productivity pressures and burnout risks. The video, posted March 16, 2026, frames the issue around how workers adapt to AI-assisted work, the feedback from employees, and the implications for employers and policy. The hosts summarize the research and offer perspectives on managing fatigue as automation accelerates. This report translates academic findings into practical workplace concerns and signals ongoing debate about AI’s impact on human cognition.

Vivo X300 Ultra, X300s launch date and configurations leak

March 16, 2026, 3:14 PM EDT. A Weibo screenshot circulating in China claims the Vivo X300 Ultra and X300s will be unveiled in China on March 30, with the Pad 6 Pro launching alongside them. The leak also says sales begin on April 3. Both phones reportedly offer the same RAM/storage options: 12GB/256GB, 12GB/512GB, 16GB/512GB, and 16GB/1TB. The X300 Ultra is said to come in black, silver, and green, while the X300s arrives in black, green, purple, and white. The Pad 6 Pro variants include 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB, 12GB/512GB, 16GB/512GB, and 16GB/1TB, in blue, grey, and purple. Note: information stems from leaks, not official confirmation.

Atlas Copco blends AI and traditional vision in EV battery assembly with VisionTools

March 16, 2026, 3:10 PM EDT. Atlas Copco’s VisionTools argues AI is not a replacement but a component in a larger, hybrid system. Neural networks are used only for tasks where rule-based methods fail; most assembly features can still be checked with traditional vision tools. The approach aims to reduce dependence on scarce expertise by combining approaches rather than replacing them. Vision engineers in 2026 must master cameras, lighting, electronics, networking, CAD, mechanical design and more, a breadth that shapes VisionTools’ technology and support model. Yet EV battery inspection presents growing exceptions where AI may be needed. Traditional systems are staying, while a widening skills gap complicates deployment and troubleshooting in facilities without a dedicated vision engineer.

Xiaomi Watch S5 debuts in China with 21-day battery and sleeker unibody

March 16, 2026, 2:58 PM EDT. Xiaomi unveiled the Watch S5 in China, a HyperOS-powered smartwatch that emphasizes battery life and a thinner, unibody chassis. Unlike the global Watch 5 with Wear OS, the S5 features a non-removable forged 316L stainless steel bezel, enabling a slimmer profile and smaller display border. Premium finishes include a Forged Carbon model and a Midnight Blue ceramic option with 24 carved facets. Xiaomi says sensor upgrades improve health tracking, but the headline is endurance: up to 21 days on a single charge. Priced at 999 yuan ($140) in China, with a global rollout planned for later this year.

Nvidia faces challenge as rivals roll out cheaper, purpose-built AI chips

March 16, 2026, 2:46 PM EDT. Nvidia’s ’one chip for all workloads’ model faces a test as inference shifts cost and scale. CEO Jensen Huang is expected to unveil a new inference-focused chip at GTC, the first product since the Groq deal. The move mirrors a broader industry shift: Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta have rolled out purpose-built chips benchmarked against Nvidia and pitched as cheaper to run at scale. Google’s Ironwood TPU reportedly trims total ownership by 30-44% versus Nvidia’s GB200 Blackwell; Maia 200 from Microsoft claims ~30% better performance per dollar and benchmarks against Nvidia’s seventh-gen TPU on FP8; Meta has unveiled four MTIA chips this week. Bank of America analysts forecast inference could reach ~75% of AI data-center spending by 2030, pressuring Nvidia’s share and margins.

Apple quietly launches AirPods Max 2 with H2 chip, improved ANC and Live Translation

March 16, 2026, 2:44 PM EDT. Apple unveiled the AirPods Max 2, a surprise upgrade to its premium headphones, priced at $549. The wireless cans feature an Apple-designed H2 chip, improved active noise cancellation (ANC) up to 1.5x stronger than the original, and Adaptive Audio that tunes ANC and Transparency automatically to surroundings. Transparency mode uses a new digital signal-processing algorithm and an enhanced microphone array for a more natural pass-through. The headphones add Live Translation, voice isolation for calls, and a new high-dynamic-range amplifier. Spatial Audio is improved for better instrument localization, bass, mids, and highs. They support Camera Remote via the Digital Crown and offer 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio with the included USB-C cable. Preorders open March 25 in colors including midnight, starlight, orange, purple, and blue; availability next month in 30+ countries.

Nvidia GTC Keynote to Spotlight AI and Robotics Amid Chip Demand

March 16, 2026, 2:40 PM EDT. Nvidia’s GTC kicks off in San Jose, with CEO Jensen Huang delivering the keynote on AI and the company’s ongoing data-center push. The event is expected to spotlight AI, hardware, and robotics as Nvidia cements its role as the backbone of OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. Analysts caution about a possible AI bubble amid surging spending on chips and power, even as demand for AI workloads remains robust. Huang has signaled a focus on “physical AI” hardware, and a robot-heavy stage appearance could echo that theme. The broader industry is expanding data-center construction to meet demand, while policymakers and labor groups raise environmental and employment concerns. CNET will provide live updates from San Jose.

Smartwatch data could flag early diabetes risk, Nature study says

March 16, 2026, 2:38 PM EDT. Researchers report that data from everyday wearables-smartwatches tracking heart rate, sleep and daily activity-can, when analyzed with artificial intelligence (AI), reveal early signs of insulin resistance, a key precursor to Type 2 diabetes. The study, published in Nature on March 16, suggests these patterns, combined with routine health data, may flag risk before blood sugar levels rise. An estimated 20% to 40% of U.S. adults have insulin resistance; diagnosis currently requires specialized tests not part of standard care, meaning most people are unaware. Early detection could prompt lifestyle or medical interventions before metabolic damage occurs.

Apple M5 Max in MacBook Pro 16 outpaces 14 in benchmarks

March 16, 2026, 2:36 PM EDT. The Cinebench 2024 multi-core test places the M5 Max in the 16-inch MBP about 15% ahead of the MBP 14 and 18% ahead of the old M4 Max in the 16-inch chassis. In Automatic mode, the benefit persists and the system runs quieter. High Performance mode does not raise a single-run score; sustained performance tests are planned. In one run, CPU cores drew 78W/65W, higher than the MBP 14. GPU results in 3DMark Steel Nomad show the M5 Max in the MBP 16 leading the MBP 14 by 12% and the M4 Max by 21%. GPU performance remains stable under sustained workloads on the MBP 16, unlike the smaller model, which dipped under stress. More tests are forthcoming, but early data favor the larger MBP 16 for the M5 Max.

Oppo Reno 15 Pro review: high-end camera tech at a mid-range price

March 16, 2026, 2:32 PM EDT. The Oppo Reno 15 Pro positions itself as an AI-driven camera phone at a mid-range price, starting around $500. Its compact 6.3-inch AMOLED display stays premium, and a 6,200mAh battery supports up to 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. Propelled by a Dimensity 8450 with 12GB RAM/256GB storage, daily use feels solid for its tier. The camera is the star: a 200MP main sensor (Samsung Isocell HP5, Type 1/1.56) with Oppo’s strong color processing; a telephoto path uses the HP5 lineage. Software, including ColorOS, aims to unlock creative modes. Build quality and IP66/68/69 water/dust resistance help the premium feel; the Pro leans toward photography-first in a mid-range shell.

Meta to permanently remove end-to-end encryption from Instagram DMs by May 8, 2026

March 16, 2026, 2:26 PM EDT. Meta will permanently remove end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for Instagram direct messages after May 8, 2026, ending a privacy test that began in 2021 and expanded in 2023 in select regions. A Meta spokesperson said adoption was low, noting that very few users opted in to E2EE in DMs. Once removed, messages revert to the standard format, with Meta able to access content for moderation. Users with encrypted chats will be prompted to export data before the deadline. Critics, including cryptographer Matthew Green, say the move undermines privacy and could enable content scanning or use in AI training pipelines. WhatsApp remains with default E2EE; Messenger keeps it for one-on-one chats but not groups or business chats.

NASA Satellite Data Explorer enables discovery, tasking and download of commercial Earth-observation data

March 16, 2026, 2:16 PM EDT. NASA’s Satellite Data Explorer (SDX) is a web-based discovery and access tool under the Commercial Satellite Data Acquisition (CSDA) program. Approved users can search, visualize and download commercial Earth Observation data acquired from partners, and request data to be tasked in the future. The interface offers a navigation panel (Welcome, Explore, Downloads, User Guide), spatial and temporal filtering, and metadata-based filters for product type and quality flags. Users can submit and track proposals for data tasking, view quick thumbnails and coverage maps, and monitor real-time download quotas. Access requires an Earthdata Login, followed by an authorization request and approval; data ordering redirects to Earthdata and requires accepting a EULA before delivery. The SDX also includes a Data Acquisition Request System and a User Guide.

Texas man sues Tesla over Model X range claims, says mileage is half advertised

March 16, 2026, 2:10 PM EDT. Texas resident James Dondero has filed a fraud and breach-of-contract lawsuit alleging Tesla exaggerated its EV’s range. He bought a 2022 Model X for about $106,290 plus a $20,000 “Long Range” package that Tesla promised would lift the range from 311 miles to 348 miles. Dondero says the SUV tops out at about 185 miles on a full charge. He claims Tesla misled buyers by advertising longer range and that the Long Range option added no real value. He followed Tesla guidance-draining the battery to under 5%, then charging-without seeing improvement, and Tesla reportedly declined to repurchase the vehicle. A missing center-console wireless charger was another issue. Tesla did not comment. The suit echoes earlier Reuters findings that Tesla’s range estimates can overshoot real-world performance.

Bay Area hit by widespread internet outage as services go offline

March 16, 2026, 2:06 PM EDT. A widespread outage in the Bay Area disrupted broadband and mobile data for several hours, according to users and regional providers. Officials said the disruption affected multiple carriers and data centers, with investigators looking into the cause and scope. Engineers were working to restore service and assess the impact on customers and critical infrastructure. The disruption caused websites and apps to fail, and some businesses reported outages in services that rely on the internet. Restoration times remained uncertain as technicians analyze routing and power feeds.

Apple buys MotionVFX to bolster Final Cut Pro ecosystem

March 16, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT. Apple has acquired MotionVFX, the plugin maker behind tools for Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. MotionVFX said on its site that it is joining Apple to empower creators and editors, noting a shared commitment to quality, ease of use and design. The group has long specialized in Final Cut Pro plugins, and its products are widely used from YouTube creators to broadcast editors, per MacRumors. At publication, Apple had not commented on the merger, and no official Apple statement was published. The move likely aims to strengthen Creator Studio offerings for Apple’s creative apps, including Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro and Logic Pro. It mirrors Apple’s Pixelmator and Photomator purchases, with a longer-term impact to unfold.

Redmagic Astra successor leaks: 9-inch, 200Hz OLED gaming tablet

March 16, 2026, 1:58 PM EDT. Leak claims Redmagic is readying the Gaming Tablet 5 Pro, sequel to Astra, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a very large battery, and a 9-inch OLED display. The 200Hz refresh rate (screen updates 200 times a second) would outpace Lenovo’s Legion Tab at 165Hz and offer deeper blacks via OLED (organic light-emitting diode) technology. Battery size isn’t disclosed, but the leak says it will be among the largest in its class, possibly matching Lenovo’s 9,000 mAh cell. A launch is expected soon, though no date or regional plan is given. Price remains undetermined; Lenovo’s last-gen model carried about a $300 premium over its predecessor.

Nvidia adds stock-based compensation to non-GAAP earnings, a shift investors should watch

March 16, 2026, 1:54 PM EDT. Nvidia said on its Feb. 25 results call that starting this quarter it will include stock-based compensation expense in its non-GAAP results. CFO Colette Kress said SBC is a foundational component of attracting and retaining talent. The move spotlights a long-running debate over whether SBC should be treated as an operating expense, a discussion Buffett has publicly criticized. GAAP, or generally accepted accounting principles, governs U.S. financials, while non-GAAP, or adjusted results, exclude certain items to show a company’s underlying trend. Nvidia’s rationale: SBC adjustments can yield a clearer apples-to-apples view versus prior periods. Yet SBC is contentious because it dilutes existing shareholders and can swing on executive grants. The shift underscores how earnings, rather than cash flows alone, can drive stock prices and investors’ ownership assessments.

Embodying physical computing in soft robots: a framework for programmable morphology

March 16, 2026, 1:52 PM EDT. This perspective outlines a framework for embedding physical computing into soft robots to boost robustness and intelligence. It surveys three strategies-analog oscillators, physical reservoir computing, and physical algorithmic computing-as internal computing kernels that map inputs to outputs without CMOS electronics. Such embodied computers enable complex behaviors, including coordinated locomotion with obstacle avoidance, and tasks like payload weight and orientation classification and programmable operation guided by logical rules. The article explains underlying principles, reviews current state-of-the-art, and sketches future directions for how embodied computation can expand the capabilities of soft robotics in real-world settings.

Resident Evil Requiem sells 6 million, fastest in series history, Capcom says

March 16, 2026, 1:46 PM EDT. Capcom says Resident Evil Requiem has sold over 6 million units across all platforms, the fastest-selling title in the survival-horror franchise. The 16 March press release from President and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto cites the milestone reached in under a month since launch. By comparison, RE7 and Village stand around 16.4 million and 13.5 million globally, while remakes like RE2, RE3 and RE4 have posted higher totals in their lifespans. Capcom also signaled ongoing content and support, as the 30th-anniversary celebration on 22 March approaches, including a collaboration with Universal Studios Japan in 2026 and upcoming orchestral concerts. The report notes interest from outlets such as Eurogamer’s Dom Peppiatt, and fans await more on DLC and Grace Ashcroft’s involvement. Original Resident Evil 2 director Hideki Kamiya says the game’s scares kept him awake.

Nebius-Meta $27B Vera Rubin AI deal with Nvidia signals shift to full-stack AI infrastructure

March 16, 2026, 1:42 PM EDT. Nebius and Meta Platforms have sealed a five-year, US$27 billion AI infrastructure agreement built on Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform, underscoring demand for end-to-end AI infrastructure beyond chips. The deal obliges Nebius to deliver large-scale training and inference capacity directly to Meta, with early access to Vera Rubin hardware and software. Analysts say the pact marks one of the largest AI compute commitments tied to a single platform, illustrating Nvidia’s expanding footprint in cloud providers serving major internet platforms. The arrangement raises questions about production capacity, delivery timelines, and how peers respond as Vera Rubin deploys in competitive cloud deployments. Investors will watch data-center revenue trends and Vera Rubin adoption as Nvidia’s AI strategy evolves.

MacBook Neo: Apple’s most repairable laptop in 14 years

March 16, 2026, 1:38 PM EDT. An iFixit teardown finds Apple’s MacBook Neo is the company’s most repairable laptop in about 14 years. The $600 model opens via eight pentalobe screws on the back, avoiding glue-heat routines. Apple has no software “kill switch,” so parts can be swapped without the device being bricked. The battery is removable after 18 screws and the keyboard can be swapped with 41 screws. Yet the memory is not upgradable (8GB unified RAM; 256GB SSD), and the device weighs 2.7 pounds at 0.61 inches thick. It uses the A18 Pro chip. While more repairable than recent Macs, the Neo trades expandability for portability, signaling a shift toward repairability without delivering full upgrade paths.

Niantic’s spatial AI powers Coco Robotics’ urban delivery fleet

March 16, 2026, 1:36 PM EDT. Niantic Spatial announced a partnership with Coco Robotics to apply its spatial AI and Visual Positioning System (VPS) to the Coco delivery robot. The plan relies on data from years of Pokémon Go play (and Ingress) to model city environments, addressing GPS blind spots in dense urban canyons. Coco’s fleet, about 1,000 units the size of flight cases, can carry up to eight extra-large pizzas or four grocery bags and operates in Los Angeles, Chicago, Jersey City, Miami and Helsinki. CEO John Hanke said the work mirrors getting Pikachu to move safely, with Niantic’s technology guiding navigation through chaotic streets. Niantic Spatial is Niantic’s AI offshoot, formed in 2025.

Panel cautions AI adoption could leave us talking to ourselves at CPH:DOX

March 16, 2026, 1:34 PM EDT. Public interest media is being stretched as generative AI floods markets and global platforms reshape power. At CPH:DOX, Beadie Finzi and Bruno Patino warned that AI is already redefining access to information, culture and entertainment. Patino warned: AI could determine what citizens see, blurring lines between human and machine and turning media into a parallel agent that speaks to people rather than directly to them. He described a shift toward an attention economy and warned that diversity could shrink even as content proliferates. European public media, he argued, must rely on coalitions and build a European public square through tools like ARTE, rather than pursuing a European Netflix. The talk framed public media as a bulwark against homogenization.

Apple launches AirPods Max 2 with improved noise cancellation

March 16, 2026, 1:20 PM EDT. Apple on Monday announced the AirPods Max 2, the over-ear headphones that first appeared in 2020. The update preserves the look and price; colors remain the same. Inside, the headphones pack Apple’s H2 chip, enabling a suite of features including Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, and Live Translation. A 2024 update added USB-C, but the new model keeps the design while boosting noise cancellation and processing. Apple did not change the price or color options, signaling a performance-focused upgrade rather than a visual refresh.

The race to cut Russia off from the global internet

March 16, 2026, 1:16 PM EDT. Governments debate measures to isolate Russia from the global internet as the conflict accelerates a cyberspace split. Officials discuss tightening DNS filtering, tightening BGP routing controls, and tapping satellite links to reduce exposure to foreign networks. The aim is to curb Moscow’s access to international content and financial systems while avoiding outages that would ripple across Europe and Asia. Russia responds by accelerating its build-out of a self-contained runet, funding domestic data hubs and multiple telecom backbones, and expanding satellite and domestic cloud capacity. Experts warn the fragmentation could raise costs, push operators toward opaque routing, and complicate global cybercrime investigations. The outcome hinges on technical choices, sanctions policy, and the resilience of regional networks.

OnePlus price hikes hit Oppo and OnePlus devices in China; US prices hold steady for now

March 16, 2026, 1:12 PM EDT. Prices of select Oppo, OnePlus and Vivo smartphones rose this week as the global handset market tightens. Oppo said it would raise prices on some models, with hikes rolling out across the OnePlus lineup, according to NotebookCheck. In China, increases run about 300-500 yuan per device, roughly $40-$75 in USD terms. For OnePlus, the flagship OnePlus 15 now starts at 4,499 yuan after a 500 yuan lift, a roughly $70 jump. The Ace 6 series and other Turbo lineup devices also saw similar raises; other Oppo models followed, while Vivo and iQOO are expected to implement price bumps later this week. So far, the US and Europe appear unaffected; the OnePlus 15 remains at a $899 price in the United States.

Anthropic’s clash with Trump could boost its AI race standing

March 16, 2026, 1:08 PM EDT. Anthropic’s legal fight against the Trump administration’s designation of the company as a supply-chain risk could cost it hundreds of millions in contracts but is yielding non-financial benefits. Recruitment, brand recognition and morale have improved as investors, engineers and competitors rally behind the AI startup. Experts call it a calculated political risk that could leave Anthropic better off than peers. The company has long framed itself around safety and ethics in AI, including red lines on autonomous weapons and surveillance, helping it recruit top talent and attract OpenAI refugees. Major players – Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI engineers – have voiced support in court filings; Jeff Dean joined as a signatory. Microsoft’s investment and Anthropic’s rapid hiring are boosting its perception stock within tech circles, potentially aiding its bid in the AI race.

Apple named Official Performance Technology Partner for 2026 TCS London Marathon

March 16, 2026, 1:04 PM EDT. Apple has been named the Official Performance Technology Partner for the 2026 TCS London Marathon, reflecting a broader push to empower everyday runners. The partnership will back athletes on April 26 as they race through London. Jay Blahnik, Apple’s vice president of Fitness Technologies, called the event a global celebration of the running community and said Apple’s tools help runners stay motivated, track progress, and understand health and fitness. The Apple Watch is a central example of the company’s health-forward design. The 2024 study by the American Heart Association and Brigham and Women’s Hospital examined how Apple Watch wearers prepare for marathons. More than 1.1 million people applied for 2026 slots, a 36% year-over-year rise; Marie Curie charities will benefit.

OpenAI in talks with private equity to form enterprise AI joint venture, sources say

March 16, 2026, 12:54 PM EDT. OpenAI is in advanced talks with private equity firms including TPG, Advent International, Bain Capital and Brookfield Asset Management to form a joint venture that would distribute its enterprise products across their portfolio companies and beyond, four people familiar with the matter said. The deal carries a pre-money value near $10 billion, with about $4 billion in PE equity and board-level influence. TPG would be the anchor; Advent, Bain and Brookfield would join as co-founders, all four vying for seats on the venture’s board. The arrangement would grant PE firms early access to OpenAI’s enterprise tools and upside as adoption expands beyond their portfolios. Separate talks involve Anthropic with Blackstone, Permira and Hellman & Friedman for a Claude-focused JV. Plans are tentative.

Global AI Builds Largest NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 Cluster in New York, Plans Vera Rubin Deployment Across U.S.

March 16, 2026, 12:52 PM EDT. Global AI completed the deployment of NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems at its Endicott, New York facility, creating the state’s largest GB300 NVL72 cluster. It plans a nationwide rollout of the NVIDIA Vera Rubin platform across its U.S. data-center footprint, expanding its sovereign AI infrastructure for model training, large-scale inference and secure ecosystems. The program targets about 7000 GB300s, with an initial 16 MW IT load and a ramp to 100 MW in 2026, 250 MW in 2027 and 1 GW by 2029. Executives describe a computed-first, disciplined approach. NVIDIA’s Dave Salvator highlights Vera Rubin’s six-chip co-design for agentic AI within a secure, sovereign stack. Global AI aims to keep proprietary intelligence under enterprise control as it scales.

Apple delays home devices pending Siri overhaul, reports say

March 16, 2026, 12:50 PM EDT. Apple has pushed back the unveiling of three home devices-codenamed J490 (screen-based), J491 (wall-mounted), and a tabletop model with a robotic base-while it waits for a new version of Siri to be ready, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The hardware is largely complete, but the software framework and the Gemini-powered Siri are not. Apple has already delayed the smart assistant after internal tests flagged slow responses and accuracy issues. The company views the smart display family as a key part of its smart home strategy, competing with Amazon’s Echo Show and Google’s Nest Hub. Until Siri reaches scale, the trio of devices remains delayed and tied to the same development timetable.

Pixel 10 Pro Fold $600 off; Razr+ $600 off; Ring Doorbell Pro discount and more

March 16, 2026, 12:46 PM EDT. Today’s Lunch Break spotlights big discounts on phones and smart home gear. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold is $600 off the new list price in open-box condition at Best Buy for the 256GB Moonstone model, $1,198.99 shipped, versus $1,799 new. Amazon price sits at $1,499 for 256GB. The Motorola Razr+ (256GB) drops to $399.99 on Woot, with a full one-year Motorola warranty; list price is $1,000. The Ring Wired Doorbell Pro is $50 off in its first cash deal. All-time lows appear on the Echo Show 8/11 displays and the Echo Dot Max, and Anker’s 45W Smart Display Nano Charger returns to about $30 on Amazon. Also running include Pixel Watch 4 promos.

Tensor G5 Flaws Highlight Battery Endurance Gap as Galaxy S26 Surpasses Pixel 10 Pro XL

March 16, 2026, 12:44 PM EDT. Wccftech conducted a battery endurance test comparing Google’s Tensor G5-powered Pixel 10 Pro XL with Samsung’s Galaxy S26. The Tensor G5 uses eight cores-one Cortex-X4 at 3.78 GHz, five Cortex-A725 at 3.05 GHz, two Cortex-A520 efficiency cores-plus a fifth-gen TPU and an IMG DXT-48-1536 GPU-alleged flaws cited by critics. The test found the Galaxy S26 lasts over three hours longer in video playback and about twice the time in gaming, despite a battery roughly 1,000 mAh smaller than the Pixel 10 Pro XL. In active use, the devices logged 15h20m for the Galaxy and 12h29m for the Pixel. The results illustrate that a larger battery does not guarantee endurance if the chip is not optimized.

UW lab develops generative AI tools to assist people with disabilities

March 16, 2026, 12:38 PM EDT. SEATTLE – A University of Washington lab is exploring generative AI to help adults with dementia and other cognitive disabilities. Dr. Jazette Johnson says the work aims to create safeguards and boundaries so patients can ask about lab results or charts without exposing diagnoses to a chatbot. The prototype ties patient information in the backend to ensure accuracy and uses simpler language for patient portals. Eight adults with impairment and one caregiver have tested the tool, with participants saying it showed capabilities they hadn’t expected. Johnson notes HIPAA and privacy must lead deployment, and the team hopes the system could eventually be used by anyone in their patient portal. UW researcher Kate Glazko studies biases in AI and helped train a version of ChatGPT that avoids disability-related bias.

OnePlus US Community plagued by outages as users report ghost town forums

March 16, 2026, 12:28 PM EDT. OnePlus says its US Community app and forums have been unavailable for days, with users reporting automatic logouts, connection errors and failure to load new posts. Android Authority confirmed the issues and described the US Community as a ghost town. OnePlus issued a statement on March 16, 2026 that it is working to resolve the problems. The outage appears limited to the United States, while India and the global forums continue to function. The split stems from a September 2025 move that shifted US users to a dedicated US forum and Community app, restricting access to the global platform. Some Reddit threads note a lack of announcements and updates in the US context.

Google drops crowdsourced medical advice feature from AI search

March 16, 2026, 12:26 PM EDT. Google has dropped ’What People Suggest’, a crowdsourced health-tips feature in its AI-powered search. Three people familiar with the decision told Reuters the feature was quietly removed as part of a broader simplification of the search page; a Google spokesperson confirmed the scrapping and said it had nothing to do with quality or safety. The move follows scrutiny of AI-generated health information, including a Guardian report in January about false and misleading health summaries in AI Overviews used by about 2 billion people monthly and appearing above traditional results. Google had promoted the feature at a March event in New York, where Karen DeSalvo described how AI could surface lived experiences from patients with similar conditions. It launched on mobile in the US before being dropped.

IBM and IonQ: Insider Buys Highlight Quantum Stocks With Big Qubit Roadmaps

March 16, 2026, 12:22 PM EDT. IBM and IonQ are highlighted as quantum stocks with ongoing insider buying, signaling potential longer-term upside as hardware shrinks, costs fall and accuracy improves. IBM has deployed more than 85 quantum systems and aims for an error-free generation by 2029, blending quantum services with hybrid cloud and AI. Analysts expect revenue and earnings growth of 5% and 7% from 2025-2028 as this strategy scales. Insiders have bought roughly 60% as many shares as they sold over the past three months. IonQ, which builds its own trapped-ion systems, targets 64 physical qubits in 2025 rising to more than 2 million by 2030, aided by its Tempo system and government contracts. Revenue is forecast to surge nearly fivefold 2025-2028.

Samsung may halt Galaxy Z TriFold sales after final Korea restock, report says

March 16, 2026, 12:20 PM EDT. Samsung may halt selling the Galaxy Z TriFold after its remaining stock, a report says. Korean outlet Donga (via SamMobile) reports the company will restock in Korea this week, but once that batch sells out, there are likely no further restocks. The device could still see limited distribution in other markets, but there’s no guarantee sales will continue there either. The high manufacturing costs are cited as the main reason for discontinuation. Launched last year as a limited device with a 6.5-inch cover display that unfolds into a 10-inch screen, the Galaxy Z TriFold has sold out in many regions. Samsung remains committed to foldables and could unveil new models soon, including a rumored wide foldable design.

Apple keeps Liquid Glass in iOS 27, Gurman says

March 16, 2026, 12:18 PM EDT. Apple won’t remove Liquid Glass with iOS 27, continuing the feature introduced in iOS 26. In a Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said the latest internal builds show no major design changes, so users shouldn’t expect changes in the coming months. Apple reportedly spent significant time to develop Liquid Glass, making removal hard from a technical perspective. The iOS 27 release is expected later this year, and the company is sticking with Liquid Glass for now. The stance counters fan speculation that Apple would drop the feature, though details about future refinements remain unclear.

Amazon Big Spring Sale: Apple deals on M4 iPad Air, AirPods Pro 3

March 16, 2026, 12:12 PM EDT. Amazon’s Big Spring Sale spotlights Apple bargains, led by the M4 iPad Air, discounted by over $50. The guide collects the best Apple deals in one place and flags items like the AirPods Pro 3. Availability and pricing can change after publication, and the article notes deal terms and timing. The piece is written by Christina Buff, a Nashville-based shopping writer. It reminds readers that all products are editorially chosen, and Mashable may earn an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases via links. Shoppers should move quickly-inventory and prices shift as the sale unfolds.

AI revives neglected venture sectors as healthtech and cybersecurity lead investments

March 16, 2026, 12:10 PM EDT. AI-driven startups pulled back money into healthtech, cybersecurity, biotech and enterprise SaaS in Q4 2025, according to PitchBook’s Emerging Tech Indicator. After a lull in prior cycles, early-stage deals surged, with healthtech deals topping $678 million across 23 transactions, driven by consumer wellness platforms and AI tools for provider efficiency. Notable rounds included Function Health’s $300 million Series B at a $2.5 billion valuation, and enterprise hires like Paradigm Health and Valerie Health. Cyber deals reached a record $643.1 million across 15 rounds, with several AI + cyber platforms securing Series A or B. Biotech and enterprise SaaS also showed revival, signaling AI’s broad pull across older sectors.

Melagen Labs, Satlyt to Demo Radiation-Resilient In-Orbit AI Processing on ISS MISSE

March 16, 2026, 12:08 PM EDT. Melagen Labs and Satlyt announced an ISS demonstration aboard the MISSE platform to assess radiation-resilient, onboard AI processing. Over six months, a COTS processor shielded by Melagen’s MLC1 will run Satlyt’s software layer, testing sensor data acquisition, telemetry integrity and autonomous operations in a real radiation environment. The mission will generate early in-orbit data on how protected commercial AI hardware performs, providing a dataset for validation of compute-in-space concepts. Satlyt describes the effort as foundational to Distributed Compute in Space, enabling onboard data processing and validation without relying on ground-based compute. The collaboration highlights growing demand for resilient, in-orbit processing as satellite constellations expand.

Apple unveils AirPods Max 2 with H2 chip, Live Translation and more

March 16, 2026, 12:02 PM EDT. Apple launches the second-generation AirPods Max 2, driven by a new H2 chip that powers enhanced Active Noise Cancellation and better Transparency. Apple says ANC is up to 1.5 times more effective and the sound remains clean and immersive, aided by Personalized Spatial Audio. New features unlocked by the H2 include Live Translation, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, Studio-quality audio recording, Loud Sound Reduction, Siri interactions via head gestures, and Camera Remote. The headphones still offer 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio when using the included USB-C cable. AirPods Max 2 will cost $549, go on sale to order March 25 with shipping in early April, and come in midnight, starlight, orange, purple and blue.

Ice satellite CryoSat gains geomagnetic sensing role with upgraded magnetometer

March 16, 2026, 11:58 AM EDT. CryoSat, ESA’s ice-monitoring satellite launched 16 years ago, received a software upgrade to its platform magnetometer at the end of last year. The instrument, used mainly to keep CryoSat on its correct orbit and point its radar at polar ice, is now able to detect changes in Earth’s external magnetic field with scientific precision. The upgrade allows CryoSat data to calibrate measurements from ESA’s dedicated magnetic-field mission Swarm, effectively adding a second magnetometry capability to the agency’s Earth Explorer fleet. A third magnetic-field mission, NanoMagSat, is in development. ESA’s Anja Stromme says the move benefits the Swarm community and broadens geomagnetic monitoring beyond traditional missions.

Yahoo CEO Jim Lanzone on reviving the web’s homepage and a profitable pivot

March 16, 2026, 11:56 AM EDT. Yahoo has steered clear of a Verizon-reliant drag, returning to profitability as it leans into ad tech and familiar properties. CEO Jim Lanzone says the company is independent again, with strong bets in sports, finance, and email, which resonates with younger users. The interview outlines Yahoo’s strategic shift from an SSP-heavy approach to a DSP, a move that mirrors how Google monetizes the open web via automated auctions. Yahoo now markets its DSP across web, apps, and CTV, working with Netflix and Spotify. The company also rolled out an AI-powered search called Scout while continuing to hold a third-place share in search. Questions remain about whether the focus on traditional ads can outpace creator-led attention and consumer trends toward platforms.

Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus review: satellite messenger with touchscreen for off-grid adventures

March 16, 2026, 11:54 AM EDT. On alpine and backcountry trips, the Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus acts as a compact satellite messenger with a color touchscreen. The device pairs rugged hardware with speaker and mic for voice messages and a dedicated SOS button. It delivers long battery life, a built-in siren, and improved antenna and satellite support that extend coverage. It’s notably cheaper than a high-end smartwatch with satellite features, offering a smaller form factor and a larger display for photo messages. Limitations include basic maps, no LTE, and the need for a phone to send photos. Voice commands and glove-friendly navigation ease use, but offloading voice notes still requires connecting to a computer. For solo off-grid adventures, it provides a reliable lifeline and simpler communications.

Apple unveils AirPods Max 2 with H2 chip, enhanced ANC and Live Translation

March 16, 2026, 11:44 AM EDT. Apple on March 16 unveiled AirPods Max 2, powered by the new H2 chip. The over-ear headphones sharpen Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) by up to 1.5x and introduce Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation, and Live Translation for the first time. Apple executives say the upgrade also improves sound with a new high dynamic range amplifier and better Spatial Audio localization. The devices support 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio with the included USB-C cable, enabling creators to record and mix with Personalized Spatial Audio and head tracking. Other tools include studio-quality recording and a camera remote for content creators. AirPods Max 2 go on sale March 25 in Midnight, Starlight, Orange, Purple, and Blue, with broader availability early next month.

NASA targets April 1 Artemis 2 launch after helium-line fix

March 16, 2026, 11:40 AM EDT. NASA is pressing ahead with Artemis 2, targeting an April 1 launch window after repairing a helium-line seal that forced a pad rollback. A two-day Flight Readiness Review was completed March 12, authorizing preparations. The SLS rocket and Orion are to roll from the VAB to Launch Complex 39B on March 19, setting up a launch at 6:24 p.m. Eastern on April 1, with a two-hour window and daily opportunities through April 6. NASA added an April 2 window. The problem traced to a seal in a quick-disconnect line; crews replaced and reinforced seals to prevent recurrence. Other work, including retesting the flight-termination system after battery changes, continues in the VAB. Officials expect about four launch opportunities during the period.

Apple eyes system-wide Liquid Glass slider in iOS 27, Gurman says

March 16, 2026, 11:36 AM EDT. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is trying again for a system-wide Liquid Glass slider in iOS 27, expanding beyond the Lock Screen. iOS 26.1 offered Clear or Tinted looks for Liquid Glass, with the tinted option adding more opacity. iOS 26.2 added a slider to adjust Liquid Glass opacity, but only on the Lock Screen clock. Engineers faced challenges expanding the feature across the system for iOS 26, and Gurman says Apple could return to the drawing board for iOS 27. Beta testing is expected to begin in June, ahead of a September release.

Tilly Norwood’s AI music video sparks debate on content creation and authenticity

March 16, 2026, 11:22 AM EDT. New AI actress Tilly Norwood stars in a music video that lampoons the AI debate while showing how content is made. The clip-pink flamingos, a refrain that AI is not the enemy-has drawn thousands of comments mixing sarcasm and concern about the future of human actors. Critics cite a disclaimer noting 18 people contributed, while others question satire versus warning. The piece also flags concerns about water use by data centers and the pace of automation. Creators say motion capture can expand roles for actors without traditional limits, with the avatar’s persona shaped by the performer behind it. The video underscores a broader industry challenge: building trust in machine-assisted storytelling.

AI advances in mathematics spur debate as First Proof enters round two

March 16, 2026, 11:20 AM EDT. AI advances in mathematics are fueling debate over the field’s future. The group behind First Proof said its second-round assessment will roll out over the coming months and will require transparency from participating AI firms. The test asks whether large language models can contribute to research-level math, after signs that models now generate usable proofs for minor theorems. In the first round, OpenAI’s models produced five correct proofs, while Google DeepMind’s Aletheia appeared to solve six (one proof is disputed). Experts noted that the two teams solved different problems, underscoring divergent capabilities. Harvard mathematician and First Proof member Lauren Williams called the progress real, though she warned AI assistance remains imperfect and needs guardrails. Toronto mathematician Daniel Litt said the field should prepare for broader collaboration and change.

China forms national technical committee to standardize satellite internet systems and services

March 16, 2026, 11:12 AM EDT. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation approved a national technical committee to standardize satellite internet systems and services, CCTV reported. As LEO constellations expand, the sector supports direct mobile connections, emergency comms, remote regions, and logistics. The Government Work Report highlighted satellite internet as a core pillar of the digital economy. Satellites act like space-based mobile base stations, forming networks that deliver global broadband. The committee will develop standards amid rising market participants and rapid tech advances, aiming to curb space traffic congestion, frequency interference, and orbital conflicts. By coordinating standards, China intends to strengthen a healthy infrastructure ecosystem and support the smart economy.

100 years since Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket flight reshaped rocketry

March 16, 2026, 11:10 AM EDT. On March 16, 1926, a two-second Auburn, Massachusetts flight launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Robert H. Goddard designed, built and piloted it, lifting about 41 feet before a 2.5-second descent. The test proved that a liquid-powered rocket could be controlled, a foundation of modern rocketry. Esther Goddard preserved the records and patent filings for decades, helping push the work forward after Goddard’s death. Support came later from Lindbergh, the Guggenheim family and the U.S. military. A notable design move cooled the combustion chamber with cold liquid oxygen as it left the tank-an idea that still informs propulsion today. The milestone is celebrated as a turning point in aerospace history.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 discounted to $499 on Amazon, $300 off list price

March 16, 2026, 11:06 AM EDT. Amazon is selling the Apple Watch Ultra 2 (GPS + Cellular, 49mm) for $499, a $300 cut from its $799 list price. The deal is current as of March 16, 2026 and may change. The model pairs a rugged build with cellular connectivity for independent calls and data. Availability and pricing are subject to change after publication. The sale comes amid a wave of tech discounts this quarter, targeting outdoor enthusiasts who want longer battery life and advanced health features.

Nebius inks up to $27 billion AI capacity deal with Meta; Nvidia stake

March 16, 2026, 11:02 AM EDT. Nebius Group said Meta will buy $12 billion of AI computing capacity across multiple sites by 2027, with an option for $15 billion more over the next five years if unused by other customers, for a total potential contract of $27 billion. Nvidia is investing $2 billion to acquire an 8.3% stake in Nebius, which runs its data centers on Nvidia chips. The deal highlights the race among US tech giants to lock GPU and power for AI centers from neocloud providers. Nebius has also signed a $3 billion Meta deal in November and a $17.4 billion Microsoft deal in September. The firm posted a Q4 net loss of $250 million on $228 million revenue, but forecast a 2026 annual run rate of $7-9 billion.

Tim Cook Wears Unreleased Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low at Apple 50th Anniversary

March 16, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT. Tim Cook wore the unreleased Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low in pink at Apple’s 50th-anniversary celebration in New York, captured by Complex at Grand Central Station. Alicia Keys performed as Apple marked five decades in the city. Cook has previously surfaced in rare sneakers, including the Air Jordan 1 Low Fragment and a 1-of-1 Nike Vomero Plus customized by Sashiko Gals. While he owns a notable sneaker collection, he is not typically labeled a sneakerhead; he sits on Nike’s board of directors (since 2005). In December, he bought $2.95 million of Nike stock, underscoring confidence in the brand. Cook also recalled Steve Jobs’s counsel in a CBS Sunday Morning interview, saying Jobs told him never to ask, “What would Steve do?” and to be his best self.

Faculty group backs right to opt out of AI in writing classrooms

March 16, 2026, 10:58 AM EDT. The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) approved a resolution affirming the right of students and faculty to refuse the use of generative AI in writing classrooms. The text cites concerns about unsubstantiated productivity claims and broader issues including data privacy, labor rights, academic freedom, the environment and the development of critical thinking. It says rhetoric, composition and writing studies should prepare students for a world beyond work, not be driven by narrow tech skills. Jennifer Sano-Franchini of West Virginia University called it an academic freedom issue, saying students and teachers should choose whether to use AI. The resolution arrives roughly three years after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, amid a wave of higher-ed partnerships with tech firms.

OnePlus Nord 6 tipped for early April launch with 9,000mAh battery

March 16, 2026, 10:54 AM EDT. Leak-based timeline puts the OnePlus Nord 6 – likely the global version of the Turbo 6 – on track for an early April reveal. Tipster Yogesh Brar cites an April launch and hints the Nord 6 will cost more than the Nord 5, which started near £399 ($530). Sources say the phone mirrors the China-exclusive Turbo 6, including a 9,000mAh battery, 80W wired charging and up to 27W reverse charging, plus a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chip and a 50MP + 2MP rear camera. A 6.78-inch AMOLED display with up to 165Hz is expected. The company has not confirmed specs or timing, and a global rollout remains uncertain. Analysts note RAMageddon in the market could justify a higher starting price.

CATL Poised To Extend Lead After Record 2025 Earnings, Overseas Growth Boosts Position

March 16, 2026, 10:52 AM EDT. CATL reported a maiden annual earnings figure post its HK listing, with revenue up 17% to 423.7 billion yuan and net profit up 42% to 72.2 billion yuan. The results spurred a stock rally, lifting market value above HK$2.8 trillion and helping CATL become China’s second-largest publicly traded company by market value. The company touts cost discipline, with selling expenses up only 4.8% year on year, and an efficiency push that lifted capacity utilization to 96.9% from 76.3% in 2024. Overseas revenue rose 17.5% to 129.6 billion yuan, and overseas gross margin stood at 31.44%, higher than the domestic 24%. Global NEV demand and commercial-vehicle battery growth underpin CATL’s expansion, even as lithium price volatility remains a near-term risk.

Cyngn integrates autonomous forklift models into NVIDIA Isaac Sim for virtual factory testing

March 16, 2026, 10:48 AM EDT. Cyngn (NASDAQ: CYN) says its high-fidelity forklift models now run inside NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim, a GPU-accelerated simulation framework. The move, built around Functional Mock-up Units (FMUs), enables two-way communication between Cyngn’s tire and vehicle-dynamics models and Isaac Sim’s virtual surfaces to mirror real-world performance. The integration supports testing in a digital factory before deployment, helping identify issues, reduce risk and speed timelines. Cyngn’s effort follows its work with Arauco, which pre-ordered 100 autonomous forklifts. CEO Lior Tal says the pairing of Isaac Sim with Cyngn’s models strengthens links between simulation and real-world deployment, aligning with NVIDIA’s vision for industrial autonomy.

NVIDIA climbs before GTC as investors await AI demand signals and 2027 outlook

March 16, 2026, 10:44 AM EDT. Shares of NVIDIA gained about 2% ahead of its GTC developer conference, as investors seek clues on the durability of AI spending and the company’s next-generation processors. CEO Jensen Huang is set to keynote at 2 p.m. ET, with the event framed as a primary venue to outline roadmaps and reassure demand for AI infrastructure. Analysts from Morgan Stanley view NVIDIA as a top pick and expect the conference to address long-term market share as rivals such as AMD and Broadcom push multiyear outlooks. Wells Fargo notes the stock’s year-to-date lag and forecasts for 2027 earnings near $13, contingent on new architectures like Vera Rubin. A refreshed buyback plan and visibility on 2026-27 AI revenue could also lift the shares.

SpaceX targets Saint Patrick’s Day launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida

March 16, 2026, 10:38 AM EDT. SpaceX plans a Saint Patrick’s Day launch from Florida, officials say. The mission would lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. A firm date and payload were not announced, and timing will depend on weather, range clearance and vehicle readiness. SpaceX has a busy launch cadence from the East Coast, with missions typically scheduled weeks in advance and updated as conditions permit. Schedules can shift on short notice due to technical checks or weather. No further details were provided.

AI-generated imagery reshapes the Iran-Israel information war

March 16, 2026, 10:36 AM EDT. An apparent clip showing Israel’s prime minister alive and unharmed – later tied to a six-finger anomaly – highlights how AI-generated imagery can blur truth in the Iran-Israel conflict. CNN’s Kate Bolduan speaks with Hany Farid, co-founder and chief science officer at GetReal Security, a company that aims to restore trust in what we see. Farid explains how manipulated media spreads quickly and outlines verification steps, from forensic image checks to corroborating sources. The interview underscores ongoing efforts to counter misinformation in wartime, where visual credibility can sway opinion and policy. It also spotlights industry tools and protocols designed to safeguard the integrity of footage amid an evolving landscape of AI-enabled deception.

Windows 11 adds custom user folder name option during setup

March 16, 2026, 10:32 AM EDT. Microsoft is expanding Windows 11 setup by letting users pick a custom name for the initial user folder. The option, once only reachable by a Command Prompt workaround, appears on the Device Name page during setup. The chosen name must meet Windows Naming Requirements-letters, numbers, dashes, underscores-and will become the profile folder; skipping the step uses the default. The change is rolling out to Dev and Beta Channels preview builds. It targets complaints that long or odd email addresses and account names generate awkward folder names, which complicate command-line tasks and scripting.

Spotify mobile app may finally gain playlist folder management

March 16, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT. Spotify’s long-running ‘Playlist folders’ feature could be coming to the mobile app. The folders have existed since 2010 but could only be created and managed on desktop or via the web. A teardown of Spotify app version 9.1.34.12 uncovered code strings suggesting new mobile support for creating folders, moving playlists into and out of folders, and renaming or deleting folders. The changes would let users organize within the mobile app, without switching to desktop. Deleting a folder might remove the playlists inside, per the warnings in the strings. This follows years of user requests for on-device folder management. The findings come from Android Authority, via a teardown by Ryan Haines.

Samsung to stop selling Galaxy Z TriFold in South Korea, report says

March 16, 2026, 10:28 AM EDT. Samsung released its first trifold phone, the Galaxy Z TriFold, late last year in limited markets. A new report claims the company will stop selling the device in at least one key market. The most likely final restock appears to be in South Korea, where Samsung is expected to replenish stock this week before halting sales. In other markets such as the United States, current production volume may run out before any further shipments. Samsung has not indicated plans for a successor, aligning with the model’s limited, non-mass market positioning. A return to this form factor remains uncertain.

Alibaba names Eddie Wu to lead AI-focused Token Hub group

March 16, 2026, 10:26 AM EDT. Eddie Wu, Alibaba Group CEO, will lead the newly formed Alibaba Token Hub (ATH), steering enterprise AI work platforms. ATH unites Tongyi Laboratory, MaaS, Qwen, Wukong and AI Innovation under one banner, with Wu tasked to drive strategic coordination across AI units, embed AI into operations and preserve agility. The move follows questions about Alibaba’s AI strategy after Lin Junyang left the Qwen division earlier this year, the third senior Qwen executive to exit. Chinese firms’ open-source AI models remain price-competitive, with top options like DeepSeek, Qwen and ChatGLM costing far less than U.S. rivals, prompting profitability questions. Alibaba is due to report quarterly earnings on Thursday.

IBM Quantum Open Plan expands with 180-minute promo and Kingston access on Heron r2

March 16, 2026, 10:22 AM EDT. IBM Quantum updates its Open Plan, expanding runtime and education. The plan remains free for entry-level users but now features a one-time promo: researchers who log 20 minutes in any 12-month window can activate 180 minutes of runtime for the next 12 months. The promotion runs alongside the existing 10 minutes per month. IBM also makes the Kingston-assembled Heron r2 processor available to all Open Plan users, expanding capacity with one of the fleet’s highest-performing systems. Kingston offers up to 340k circuit layer operations per second (CLOPS) and a median two-qubit error rate of 2.03×10⁻³, enabling more complex experiments. The move supports open access, open education, and open science in quantum computing, with tutorials and hybrid workflows for beginners and researchers.

Garmin offers free Pokémon Sleep watch faces on AMOLED Garmin watches

March 16, 2026, 10:20 AM EDT. Garmin is offering two free Pokémon Sleep watch faces for AMOLED-display Garmin watches, expanding the cross-brand collaboration with Pokémon Sleep. The faces-‘Snorlax & Friends’ and ‘I Choose You’-adjust Pokémon poses through the day based on the wearer’s Body Battery energy, and the latter allows selecting from 48 Pokémon. The faces sync with Pokémon Sleep via Garmin Connect, solving a setup hurdle for users who previously couldn’t link Garmin devices with the app. The update is limited to AMOLED Garmin watches for now. The partnership follows fans’ enthusiasm for both brands eager to see Pokémon in daily metrics and sleep statistics.

DJI Avata 360 hype spurs best Antigravity A1 8K 360 drone deal yet

March 16, 2026, 10:18 AM EDT. The DJI Avata 360 hype is fueling the best discounts yet on the Antigravity A1, a rival that already offers an 8K 360-degree camera. A Digital Camera World reviewer tested the A1 in late development and found it ambitious: cockpit-style goggles with an outside screen for onlookers, a motion-sensor controller, and robust post-flight re-framing with AI subject tracking. The drone also includes collision sensors and motion control, with bundles that add extra batteries. It uses Insta360 software for post-processing on mobile or desktop. DJI has not confirmed a firm Avata360 date beyond a March 26 indication, but the core camera resolution will stay the same.

Apple’s MacBook Neo debuts at $599, targets budget Mac buyers

March 16, 2026, 10:14 AM EDT. Apple rolled out the MacBook Neo at $599, a rare low-priced Mac. It replaces the M-series chips with a mobile-style processor, delivering a fanless, cool-running machine with claimed up to 16 hours of battery life (real-world ~12-13 hours). The base model ships with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, a setup that can feel tight for multitasking or large files; higher storage options exist. For Windows users, the OS switch is the bigger hurdle. Aimed at students, travelers and casual users, the Neo handles email, web, writing, streaming and video calls without a fan. Pros: price, long battery, silent operation. Cons: limited memory and storage, potential slowdown with many tabs.

British Columbia to build subsea fibre-optic cable to Haida Gwaii for up to $24 million

March 16, 2026, 10:12 AM EDT. The British Columbia government will invest up to $24 million to lay a new fibre-optic subsea cable to Haida Gwaii, funded through the Northern Development Initiative Trust. Construction is slated to begin in spring. The project aims to give the islands a dedicated, high-capacity connection to the mainland’s north coast and improve the reliability of services. Citizens’ Services Minister Diana Gibson said the extra capacity could bolster online services in remote health care, public safety, education and tourism. Haida Gwaii lies about 50 kilometres off BC’s north coast and faces weather that complicates infrastructure. Connectivity is currently managed by GwaiiTell, a joint venture owned by the Haida Nation and local governments. The move enhances critical infrastructure, the government said.

Apple unveils AirPods Max 2 with better ANC, live translation

March 16, 2026, 10:10 AM EDT. Apple on Monday announced AirPods Max 2, priced at $549, powered by an H2 chip enabling a suite of features, including AI-powered live translation in real time. The new over-ear headphones offer 1.5x stronger active noise cancellation (ANC) versus the original 2020 model, plus conversation awareness, voice isolation for calls, and automated loud-sound reduction. They support 24-bit, 48kHz lossless audio when connected via USB-C, and retain up to 20 hours of listening per charge. Transparency mode sounds more natural. A camera remote function uses the digital crown to snap photos or start recordings, and a personalized volume feature adapts over time. Preorders begin March 25, with availability in early next month in blue, black, purple, beige, and orange.

Bigscreen Beyond 2 shipments cut to 1-3 days; Beyond 2e adds eye-tracked foveated rendering

March 16, 2026, 10:04 AM EDT. Bigscreen says the new Beyond 2 and Beyond 2e are tethered PC VR headsets using SteamVR Tracking. A PC with a powerful GPU and at least two base stations is required, plus user-provided input. Beyond 2 adds clearer, wider lenses with independent IPD adjustment and weighs 20 grams less. Beyond 2e adds eye tracking via tiny sensors. Shipping has improved: orders ship within 1-3 days; the Halo Mount with Universal-Fit Cushion ships in 1-2 days (sometimes same day); the Custom-Fit Cushion orders take 2-3 days. Some SKUs or regions may still ship in about a week. In December, Beyond 2e gained eye-tracked foveated rendering in select titles via an early-access feature.

Apple unveils AirPods Max 2 with H2 chip, Adaptive Audio and Live Translation

March 16, 2026, 9:58 AM EDT. Apple this morning announced the AirPods Max 2, going up for pre-order on March 25 and shipping in early April. The design is unchanged from the original, but inside lies the new H2 chip first used in the AirPods Pro 2. The chip enables a host of features, notably Adaptive Audio and enhanced noise cancellation-Apple says the Max 2 are about 1.5x more effective at reducing noise. An on-board amplifier improves audio clarity and spatial audio. The USB-C cable enables lossless playback. Other features include Conversation Awareness, which lowers volume when you speak, and Live Translation across languages. Apple notes the Max 2 carry the same $549 price as the prior model, and the company says the update brings many of the features seen in the AirPods Pro 3.

Privacy Display on Galaxy S26 Ultra tested for battery life impact

March 16, 2026, 9:54 AM EDT. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 Ultra includes a Privacy Display that dominates the discussion around the phone. The author, armed with a unit from Samsung, runs experiential tests to see how the feature affects energy use, mindful of a history of battery anxiety around high refresh rates and bright screens. The piece first explains how the Privacy Display works, then compares the observed power draw with expectations, promising detailed number-crunching as testing continues. The aim is to assess whether the privacy feature comes at a cost to battery life or if Samsung’s implementation minimizes impact while preserving privacy.

Galaxy Z Fold 8 Wide battery leak points to 4,800 mAh and a 7.6-inch foldable display

March 16, 2026, 9:52 AM EDT. Tipster Digital Chat Station claims the wider Galaxy Z Fold 8 carries a 4,800mAh battery, built from two cells of 2,267mAh and 2,293mAh for a 4,660mAh rated capacity. If accurate, that would beat the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s 4,400mAh but remain below the Galaxy Z TriFold. The device is said to sport a 7.6-inch foldable display and run on a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chipset. A 200MP primary camera, a 50MP ultrawide and a 10MP telephoto unit are rumored, mirroring the Z Fold 8. The year 2026 could mark a turning point for foldables as Apple reportedly enters the market with a crease-free display, a feature Samsung is said to pursue for the Fold 8 and its wider version.

Could Broadcom Become the Next Nvidia? AI Growth, XPUs and Partnerships

March 16, 2026, 9:44 AM EDT. Broadcom and Nvidia serve the AI market, but their businesses differ. Nvidia sells general-use GPUs for training and inference; Broadcom offers XPUs, custom chips for specific AI workloads. Broadcom forecasts about $100 billion in AI revenue from chips by 2027, underscoring rising demand for AI infrastructure. In recent quarters, AI revenue jumped more than 100% to $8.4 billion, with networking making up about a third of AI revenue. The company has multi-year deals with Anthropic, OpenAI, Meta, and Alphabet, including a $10 billion order that Anthropic later expanded to $11 billion. Nvidia remains the leader in GPU performance, but Broadcom positions itself as a broader AI access point via XPUs and partnerships. Analysts say Broadcom isn’t directly chasing Nvidia; it’s complementing it.

EchoStar seen as SpaceX IPO proxy; investors face five key risks

March 16, 2026, 9:42 AM EDT. EchoStar trades as a proxy to SpaceX ahead of the company’s anticipated IPO, but investors should heed five risks. First, EchoStar doesn’t yet own the SpaceX shares or the cash from the spectrum deal, as regulatory steps and timing remain uncertain. The FCC forced spectrum sales that may set the pace, but approval is not guaranteed. Second, EchoStar expects sizable decommissioning costs tied to legacy 5G assets, potentially $5-7 billion, eroding the near-term cash pile. Third, the bulk of EchoStar’s value rests on its DISH and SLING businesses, which could collapse if their fortunes turn. Fourth, the price reflects a bet on SpaceX growth and the broader AI/tech IPO cycle. Fifth, timing risk: a delayed or blocked IPO could chill the stock.

iOS 27 may add a system-wide Liquid Glass slider, but should it?

March 16, 2026, 9:40 AM EDT. Apple named Steve Lemay its Vice President of Human Interface Design last December, after Alan Dye left for Meta, fueling talk that the company would curb its Liquid Glass design. In Mark Gurman’s Power On, Apple isn’t planning big changes to the look. Still, Gurman notes a possible system-wide slider to fine-tune the glass effect, a feature partly rolled out on the lock screen clock but hampered by engineering challenges when expanding to folders, the home screen and navigation bars. For iOS 27, Apple reportedly hopes to make that control more widespread. 9to5Mac argues Apple has listened to critics. My view: avoid a full system-wide slider in iOS 27; instead, refine readability and fix quirks. A slider could blur lines between too little and too much, yielding uneven UI elements.

Louisiana households mix fiber, wireless and legacy tech as internet access expands

March 16, 2026, 9:38 AM EDT. Louisiana households rely on a mix of internet technologies, from traditional broadband to wireless links and aging systems. In rural and remote areas, infrastructure gaps complicate delivery, even as state leaders push faster connections. Veneeth Iyengar, director of ConnectLA, notes a blend of waves and frequencies to expand coverage for underserved communities. Yet fiber-optic internet remains the gold standard for speed and reliability, enabling streaming, remote work and smart devices. Building out that network is costlier in rural pockets. The administration of Governor Jeff Landry has set goals to broaden fiber broadband access across the state, aiming to connect communities so residents can participate in today’s digital economy. Progress will depend on resources and sustained investment.

Nvidia’s GTC draws 30,000 to San Jose as AI conference kicks off

March 16, 2026, 9:36 AM EDT. San Jose hosts Nvidia’s GTC Conference, one of the world’s largest AI gatherings, drawing about 30,000 developers, researchers and business leaders. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to deliver the opening keynote, unveiling the company’s next generation of AI products and partnerships. Nvidia, the world’s leading company by market capitalization, has become the first to surpass a $5 trillion valuation. The Santa Clara chipmaker dominates the AI landscape, turning the four-day event into a magnet for tech professionals. Workshops and networking occur at the San Jose Convention Center. Road closures affect Sharks Way, North Montgomery Street and Barack Obama Boulevard through Wednesday; additional closures may follow. Transit authorities warn of heavy crowds, and a night market is planned at Cesar Chavez Park on Monday.

Two-year Tesla Model 3 battery test probes daily charging limits and degradation

March 16, 2026, 9:26 AM EDT. An informal two-year experiment by YouTuber Jeremiah Jones compares two nearly identical Tesla Model 3 Performance cars to see whether a daily charge limit changes battery degradation. One car was charged to 80% daily, the other capped at 50%. Over about 20,000 miles for the 50% car and 10,000 miles for the 80% car, the 50% model showed roughly 6% degradation versus 7% for the 80% model. Jones notes degradation is not strictly linear; early years often see larger losses. The older car endured more fast charging and miles yet degraded slightly less. The video also discusses NMC vs LFP chemistries and cautions against chasing tiny factors in battery health.

IDF Unit 9900 official says Iran base destroyed to preserve space supremacy

March 16, 2026, 9:18 AM EDT. An IDF official from Unit 9900 said Israel destroyed an Iranian base focused on anti-satellite tech to preserve space supremacy. The officer, speaking on Monday, said the strike aimed to curb Iran’s ability to target Israeli and other satellites and to limit adversaries’ space capabilities. He credited the Defense Ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries for enabling ongoing surveillance, missile-warning duties, and intelligence on regional threats. The site reportedly helped develop Chamran-1, which Iran’s IRGC allegedly launched in September 2024. Iran’s space program has intensified concerns about longer-range missiles and dual-use aerospace tech. Israel’s March 8 strike on Iran’s Aerospace Headquarters targeted facilities tied to these programs, including the Khayyam satellite launch. The episode reflects ongoing vigilance over space and missile threats in the region.

Samsung in crisis mode amid rising costs despite Galaxy S26 pre-orders

March 16, 2026, 9:14 AM EDT. Samsung’s mobile division has reportedly moved into emergency management as component costs climb and logistics tighten. A Korean outlet, FNNews, cites the DX division-covering phones, TVs and home appliances-as facing pressure from memory price spikes of more than 850% and higher logistics costs tied to the Middle East conflict. The Galaxy S26 line is off to strong pre-orders, led by the S26 Ultra’s refined features such as Privacy Display, and Samsung raised the base models’ prices by $100. Still, operating margins are shrinking; Q1 2025 margins around 11% reportedly slipped to about 3% in Q1 2026, with a potential first-ever operating loss for the division. The DX unit has ordered a 30% cost cut.

Samsung Galaxy Z Wide Fold leaks show marginal upgrades over Fold 7

March 16, 2026, 9:06 AM EDT. Samsung’s next foldable, tentatively named the Galaxy Z Wide Fold, appears in a new report as a marginal upgrade over the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The device is said to feature a 7.6-inch display when unfolded, delivering a tablet-like experience akin to the foldable iPhone. It is expected to run the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, though Samsung could switch to its 2 nm Exynos 2600. Battery capacity is pegged around 4,800 mAh, below the 5,600 mAh of the Galaxy Z TriFold and short of a 5,000 mAh target. The design may offer a subtler crease, but the phone remains experimental. Samsung’s strategy hinges on Apple’s foldable approach shaping consumer interest, with risk if foldables underperform.

Tesla pivots to robotics and AI with Optimus, reshapes Fremont and five-year outlook

March 16, 2026, 8:58 AM EDT. Tesla plans to wind down the Model S and Model X and repurpose its Fremont factory to begin early production of the Optimus Gen 3 humanoid robot, signaling a broader shift into robotics and AI. The move fits Tesla’s pattern of disruptive tech bets, even as rivals chase humanoids at smaller scales. Optimus runs on the same FSD (Full Self-Driving) AI and computer-vision stack, a potential speed boost but with continued public road limitations. Initial use cases: controlled manufacturing, repetitive or hazardous tasks like component handling and inspection. A 2027 release is planned, with internal deployment first before external customers; Musk has floated up to 1 million units per year at Fremont. Estimates place unit costs at $20,000-30,000, with a multi-trillion-dollar total addressable market per Morgan Stanley and about 250k units by 2030 per Goldman Sachs.

Spigen’s retro AirPods Pro 3 case mimics the classic Macintosh mouse

March 16, 2026, 8:46 AM EDT. Spigen’s Classic LS line adds a two-piece, Mac-inspired look for the AirPods Pro 3 charging case. The $29.99 case recreates the Macintosh 128K and Apple Lisa aesthetic, attaching to the AirPods’ bottom and lid while preserving access to the USB-C port and status LED. A large gray button on the shell acts as a locking mechanism to prevent accidental lid opening, and a lanyard connector is included-though the design blocks the AirPods charger’s own strap. The collection also includes a MagSafe wallet in the same vintage style for $29.99 that holds up to three cards, plus a $19.99 Macintosh 128K-inspired lanyard worn on the wrist. Spigen positions these as form-over-function novelties.

Google Pixel 10a review: solid camera performance at an affordable price

March 16, 2026, 8:44 AM EDT. Google’s Pixel 10a sticks with the same main camera hardware as the 9a, a 48MP Quad Bayer sensor with OIS and a 25mm equivalent lens. The ultrawide and front cameras share a similar sensor, but fixed-focus lenses vary from 14mm to 20mm. Google adds software features such as Camera Coach and Auto Best Take, and Display P3 support for colors. In daylight, the main camera delivers results between good and very good: detailed images, natural white balance, and excellent dynamic range, with slightly digital feel in strong contrast. Portrait modes at 1x aren’t available; 2x shows decent texture and line work. Video tops at 4K60 on the main cam, with 4K30/1080p60 for ultrawide and front. Overall, performance is solid, especially considering the affordable price.

Bottlenecks drove tech booms: from Y2K metals to the AI era

March 16, 2026, 8:40 AM EDT. Eric Fry argues that bottlenecks in supply create the big early profits in tech booms. In a long-running pattern, those who control chokepoints-such as metals for wiring and memory for devices-profit as demand outpaces supply. The essay traces a dot-com era metals shortage that helped fuel gains in mining stocks and suggests a similar dynamic could now shape the AI revolution. The piece previews Fry’s deeper dive at FutureProof 2026, a free event on March 18 at 1 p.m. ET, where he will outline shortages in metals, electricity, and memory as potential catalysts for the next phase of growth. The Y2K remediation cost, estimated between $300 and $600 billion by Gartner, is cited to illustrate how large-scale supply constraints emerge and matter.

OnePlus Pad 3 Pro rumored: 13.2-inch tablet with 16GB RAM, 512GB storage

March 16, 2026, 8:38 AM EDT. OnePlus is rumored to expand into high-end tablets with a Pro model. Digital Chat Station on Weibo pegged a 13.2-inch OnePlus Pad 3 Pro powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and a big battery, plus 16GB RAM and 512GB UFS 4.1 storage. Earlier tips from Yogesh Brar suggested a 12-inch variant with a 12,000mAh battery and a June launch. If true, the Pad 3 Pro could challenge the iPad Pro M5 and Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra as a premium option. Price is uncertain, but recent Chinese price hikes for OnePlus and Oppo models hint at higher costs, potentially over $800 in the US. A third tablet release would broaden OnePlus’ lineup and aim at “for every user” segmentation.

Musk says net worth will track SpaceX, Tesla market cap; Forbes lists him as top billionaire

March 16, 2026, 8:36 AM EDT. Elon Musk said his apparent net worth will track the combined SpaceX and Tesla market capitalization. In a post on X, he responded to guesses that his wealth equaled a slice of global GDP, saying his value will be whatever those firms ultimately represent in GDP terms. Earlier posts suggested it could reach 1% of GDP or rise to 3-5% within a decade. Forbes’ 2026 Billionaires list still places Musk first, with a worth above $839 billion, up about $497 billion from last year (a 145% rise). The exchange underscores the link between his wealth and the growth of his technology empire, rather than a fixed dollar figure.

China launches Yaogan-50 second satellite into retrograde orbit; KZ-11 rideshare deploys eight satellites

March 16, 2026, 8:34 AM EDT. China launched two orbital missions Sunday, resuming rapid activity after the Lunar New Year pause. A Long March 6A lifted off from Taiyuan at 8:22 a.m. Eastern, delivering Yaogan-50 (02) into a highly retrograde orbit near 701 by 944 kilometers with an initial 142-degree inclination before circularizing to about 952 kilometers. Yaogan-50 (01), launched in January, is the sister satellite; the 02 bus was built by CAST while 01 was built by SAST. Beijing says Yaogan-50 is for land surveys, crop yield estimation and disaster management, though analysts view Yaogan as part of China’s ISR capabilities with radar, optical and SIGINT payloads. Earlier, a Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket from Jiuquan completed a rideshare deploying eight satellites. CASC and CASIC run the missions, respectively.

Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman: AI is a catalyst, not a death knell for software

March 16, 2026, 8:32 AM EDT. Adena Friedman, chair and CEO of Nasdaq, says AI won’t kill software but act as a catalyst for change. In a March 11 fireside chat at the Economic Club of Washington, she warned that any business that sits still in the AI era will fail. Nasdaq is leaning into enterprise-scale AI, with roughly half of its 10,000-strong workforce in product and technology. Friedman highlighted AI-led efficiency and security across its systems, including Settlement Guard, which uses AI to predict settlement failures and help firms avert costly issues. She stressed the need for precision and battle-tested, secure workflows that can handle complex financial operations. The remarks frame a broader stance: AI transforms processes, rather than replacing software.

Space ETFs in spotlight as SpaceX IPO looms

March 16, 2026, 8:28 AM EDT. Space ETFs are drawing fresh attention as chatter about a SpaceX IPO swirls. SpaceX could be valued near $1.75 trillion in a Nasdaq listing that Reuters says could come as early as June. The focus benefits the Procure Space ETF (UFO), launched in 2019, which CEO Andrew Chanin calls the world’s first pure-play space ETF. UFO holds about 51 equities, including MDA Space Ltd., Planet Labs, Viasat, Rocket Lab and AST SpaceMobile, with year-to-date gains of 14.6% and 12-month gains around 100.7%. Chanin says SpaceX could be added if it fits the fund’s methodology. He also aims to broaden adviser-channel access to widen the investor pool for the fund.

NASA’s Crawler-Transporter 2 moves Artemis II rocket to Florida launch pad

March 16, 2026, 8:18 AM EDT. NASA’s Crawler-Transporter 2, born for the Apollo program and upgraded to bear Artemis-era heft, will roll the Artemis II rocket and its mobile launch tower from Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to pad 39B-a 4.2-mile crawl. The four-tracked behemoth, known as CT-2, runs at about 0.82 mph when loaded and consumes roughly 165 gallons of diesel per mile. It holds the Guinness record as the heaviest self-powered vehicle and is listed on the National Register as a structure, not an object. After a late-February hiccup with helium flowing to the upper stage, NASA said the stack will return to the pad on March 19, with a launch window possible as early as April 1.

Nvidia to unveil Feynman chip, CUDA updates at GTC

March 16, 2026, 8:08 AM EDT. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is set to outline hardware and software plans at the company’s GTC developer conference in San Jose. The keynote, in an arena that seats more than 18,000, is expected to unveil a next-generation AI chip called Feynman and updates to CUDA and related data-center software. Huang may also discuss AI agents, robotics and other digital assistants built on Nvidia tech. The company faces rising competition in inference computing, including from Groq, whose licensing deal reflects a shift toward faster, cheaper real-time AI. Despite pressure from rivals and customers to design their own chips, Nvidia remains central to the global AI ecosystem as demand for open-source software grows. The keynote is scheduled for 11 a.m. PT.

Samsung may speed up sale of remaining Galaxy Z TriFold stock, report says

March 16, 2026, 8:06 AM EDT. According to a new industry report, Samsung may sell its remaining Galaxy Z TriFold stock sooner than expected. The TriFold is Samsung’s foldable device, positioned as a premium entry in the company’s expanding lineup of foldable phones. The report suggests the company could accelerate markdowns or push shipments to retailers to clear aging inventory as demand for high-end foldables remains uneven. There was no official word from Samsung on a timetable, and analysts cautioned that stock-clearance moves can reflect broader shifts in the product cycle rather than a change in strategy for foldables. The guidance offered by the report could influence pricing and retailer allocations for future Galaxy foldables and resemble past adjustments seen with other models.

iPhone Fold could win on crease-free display, leaks say

March 16, 2026, 8:04 AM EDT. Apple’s foldable timeline hinges on a crease-free display. Leaks from Fixed Focus Digital on Weibo say industry chatter expects an iPhone Fold with a flatter screen than rivals. Oppo’s Find N5 is cited as near-crease-free, while Samsung and Google still show visible folds. In February, reports claimed a new material property could erase the crease. Production was said to start toward the end of last year for a second-half 2026 launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro. Another outlet, Instant Digital, later said mass production could begin in the coming months. With a price around $2,000, Apple still faces the challenge of selling millions while chasing a seamless display.

Meta inks up to $27 billion AI infrastructure deal with Nebius

March 16, 2026, 8:02 AM EDT. Meta has signed a long-term pact to spend up to $27 billion on Nebius’s AI infrastructure, the Dutch cloud provider said. Over five years, Nebius will supply about $12 billion of dedicated capacity across multiple locations, including what the company describes as one of the first large-scale deployments of Nvidia’s Vera Rubin chips. Meta will also buy up to $15 billion of additional available compute over the same period. The company also disclosed planning capital expenditure of up to $135 billion related to AI this year. Arkady Volozh, Nebius founder, said the deal secures significant, long-term capacity for Meta’s AI ambitions. Nebius shares rose about 14% in pre-market trading, underscoring investor interest in AI infrastructure scale.

MacBook Neo 2 touch screen uncertain as Gurman says no for now

March 16, 2026, 7:52 AM EDT. Apple has not decided whether to add a touch screen to Macs beyond the next high-end MacBook Pro, due late 2026 or early 2027, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. A touch screen would raise costs for the MacBook Neo, which starts at $499, potentially delaying any such option. In 2025, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the second-generation Neo “could” include touch support; last week he said it “may” not happen, and Gurman now appears to rule it out for the near term. “I’d be shocked if a touch screen comes to the Neo in the next three years,” Gurman said. The second-gen Neo is still expected next year, featuring the A19 Pro chip and about 12GB RAM, up from the current A18 Pro configuration.

Aether OS brings a browser-based desktop to the AT Protocol

March 16, 2026, 7:50 AM EDT. Aether OS runs a full desktop in a browser and ties directly into the AT Protocol, connecting to a Bluesky account and public records. It ships a roughly 42-app suite covering text editing, task management and social media, plus a rudimentary chiptune tracker, a DAW and a video editor. The aesthetic leans cyberpunk, drawing on The Matrix. It’s in alpha, with rough edges and little documentation, and users may find it opaque. Crucially, nothing is encrypted or permissioned, so data is broadly visible by default. The Verge’s Terrence O’Brien describes the project as playful but impractical, highlighting usability and privacy caveats.

Android 16 begins rolling out to Fairphone 6

March 16, 2026, 7:42 AM EDT. Fairphone says Android 16 is rolling out globally to the Fairphone 6 after a brief delay. The update, based on Android 16 QPR1, arrives ahead of the April 2026 target and is currently limited to the Fairphone 6, with older models expected to follow as support windows extend. It emphasizes digital wellbeing, introducing Force Group Notifications to collapse repeated alerts and a Notification Cooldown that scales down sound during bursts. Power-button double-press now opens Google Wallet, mirroring shortcuts on Pixel and Galaxy lines. Seven new Unicode 16.0 emojis arrive, and system-wide overrides for measurement units let users set preferred scales regardless of locale. Security tweaks block sideloading or altering sensitive Accessibility permissions during calls, and Outline Text improves legibility. Features like Live Activities and Theft Detection are bundled in.

BYD passes Tesla in global EVs as Tesla pivots to AI and robotics

March 16, 2026, 7:38 AM EDT. BYD has surpassed Tesla in global EV sales, delivering 2.26 million EVs in 2025 vs Tesla’s 1.64 million, as BYD grows internationally. BYD unveiled a lineup including a luxury sedan with 640 miles of range, 11 new models, upgrades to self-driving tech, a new fast-charging system, and stronger battery tech. Tesla appears to downshift in its traditional automotive business, signaling end of Model S and X production to repurpose Fremont capacity for Optimus humanoid robots. Models 3 and Y still accounted for about 97% of deliveries last year. Investors should reassess if their thesis hinges on automotive dominance; Tesla may still have upside in AI, robotics, and autonomous tech, but its core auto market faces competitive pressure.

Syngenta partners with QuantumBasel to explore quantum computing for agriculture

March 16, 2026, 7:36 AM EDT. Syngenta has formed a long-term partnership with Swiss quantum firm QuantumBasel to probe quantum computing for agricultural research, announced at the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit in San Francisco, according to AgTechNavigator. The effort aims to study how quantum computing devices could supplement traditional computation in crop protection research as climate change reshapes risks. Executives stress the model will be hybrid: parts of problems are handled by classical machine learning while quantum processing handles physics- and chemistry-related tasks, with results reintegrated into AI. Company CIO Feroz Sheikh says current quantum systems are not production-ready but valuable for learning capabilities and informing future products. The collaboration focuses on research over immediate operational tasks, seeking to extend capabilities rather than replace existing tools.

Galaxy S26 series ships with One UI 8.5, adds Improve accuracy option for fingerprint unlock

March 16, 2026, 7:28 AM EDT. Samsung’s Galaxy S26 lineup ships with One UI 8.5, adding AI features such as Photo Assist and a new fingerprint setting to fix a long-running unlock issue. The update introduces an Improve accuracy option in the fingerprint section to boost recognition of existing fingerprints without re-registering. The change targets cases where scratches, screen protectors, or minor cuts slow unlocking. If successful, older Galaxy models could gain the same option via future updates. Samsung is promoting trade-in deals for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but the core news is a software fix that aims to reduce the need to delete and re-register fingerprints.

Infleqtion delivers UK’s first operational 100-qubit quantum computer at NQCC

March 16, 2026, 7:26 AM EDT. Infleqtion has delivered the UK’s first operational 100-physical-qubit quantum computer at the National Quantum Computing Centre using its Sqale neutral-atom platform. The system, part of the NQCC’s Quantum Computing Testbed Initiative, lets researchers and industry test large-scale quantum systems, benchmark applications and study how neutral-atom architectures scale. Infleqtion says the milestone advances its plan for more than 30 logical qubits by 2026 and over 100 logical qubits by 2028 toward fault-tolerant quantum computing. Lord Vallance called the milestone a step toward real-world use, while Infleqtion CEO Matthew Kinsella framed it as progress for the UK’s leadership in the field. At 100 physical qubits, researchers can probe more complex algorithms, error-correction methods and practical solutions in areas like advanced materials, energy systems and optimization. Sqale marks the first neutral-atom platform of this scale deployed in an operational national facility.

Would you try the 30-day flip-phone challenge? Inside Month Offline

March 16, 2026, 7:24 AM EDT. Grant Besner and Danny Hogenkamp launched Month Offline to help people unplug. The program lasts 30 days, switching participants from smartphones to flip phones, with weekly meetings and a final phone-free art gallery. Yondr pouches lock devices at events, preserving a phone-free environment. The effort began after Besner, who once used a dumb phone to boost focus, met Hogenkamp, long skeptical of smartphones. The format blends social accountability with playful tasks-memory week uses disposable cameras and scavenger hunts-rather than therapy. Participants sign up on the Month Offline website, and the group emphasizes practical, occasion-specific prompts rather than diagnoses amid smartphone addiction statistics.

AI-diet plans for teens often prescribe about 700 fewer calories than needed, study finds

March 16, 2026, 7:22 AM EDT. Teens turning to AI for dieting may receive meal plans that undercut daily needs. A study in Frontiers in Nutrition evaluated four AI models by creating profiles of 15-year-olds and asking for three-day weight-loss plans. On average, AI plans delivered about a 700-calorie deficit daily compared with guidance from human dietitians, with notable mismatches in protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Lead author Dr. Ayşe Betül Bilen of Istanbul Atlas University warned that such plans risk undernourishment for growing teens. The research follows growing use of AI among teens: nearly half of 16-and-older youths tried to lose weight in the past year, and a Pew Research Center survey found about two-thirds had used chatbots, with around 30% using them daily. Experts say AI should aid-not replace-professional nutrition guidance.

A century after Goddard’s rocket, Ars staffers pick their favorite launches

March 16, 2026, 7:20 AM EDT. Marking the 100-year anniversary of Robert Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket flight with Nell-a 41-foot, 2.5-second test-the piece recounts how a historic milestone shaped spaceflight. Ars staffers share favorites from that era to today, mixing tech milestones with personal recollections. Laura and Lee Hutchinson describe attending the penultimate Space Shuttle Endeavour launch, STS-130, in February 2010 as a plus-one for a spouse who helped work on Node 3 and Cupola. They toured the Cape, saw the Crawler-Transporter, the Banana Creek viewing area, and stood near LC-39A before launch. The narrative nods to international partners, including ESA engineers from Italy. The collection blends factual milestones with human stories, offering a human-flavored lens on the arc from Goddard’s test to the Moon and beyond.

Apple cuts AirPods 4 price to $99 at Amazon, intensifying wireless earbud competition

March 16, 2026, 7:18 AM EDT. Apple has dropped the non-ANC AirPods 4 to $99 at Amazon, undercutting rivals and closing in on Samsung’s Galaxy Buds4. The price applies to the non-ANC model; the ANC version remains $149. Apple redesigned the AirPods 4 with a slimmer stem and a more secure fit and added a USB-C charging case, though it lacks Qi wireless charging. Battery life stays about five hours per charge, with the case boosting total playback to roughly 30 hours. The H2 chip enhances sound quality and efficiency, and features include an optical in-ear sensor for automatic pause, plus audio sharing and Find My tracking. The deal arrives as Apple rides strong reviews and a 4.5-star average from thousands of Amazon buyers.

Apple at 50: Think Different and affordable premium devices

March 16, 2026, 7:08 AM EDT. On its 50th anniversary, Apple is preserving a premium design ethos while widening access to its products. The company’s past slogan, ‘The computer for the rest of us,’ frames its challenge: avoid compromises that would cheapen the user experience. The article notes the idea of an Apple Tax-the pricing floor set by quality and refinement. Yet new devices hint at a shift toward affordable premium. The iPhone 17e sticks to $599, doubles storage, and adds MagSafe, though the author expresses reservations about price expectations. The iPhone SE 3 previously hit $429 by recycling older hardware. The M5 MacBook Air now starts at $1,099, with 512GB base storage, bringing premium features within reach for more buyers while maintaining perceived quality.

Vivo, Oppo raise smartphone prices as memory costs surge

March 16, 2026, 7:06 AM EDT. Vivo said it will raise handset prices from Wednesday, following a surge in semiconductor and memory costs, joining Oppo in lifting prices. iQOO, Vivo’s sub-brand, will also adjust pricing, though the scale remains undisclosed. The moves reflect ongoing pressure from memory-chip shortages and higher upstream costs as AI-server demand climbs. Oppo announced price changes last week, and Honor has already debuted pricier flagship models such as the Magic V6, with the top-end version about 1,000 yuan above its predecessor. Industry officials say margins are squeezed as chipmakers struggle to expand production. Metals, energy costs and geopolitical risks compound the pressure on manufacturers seeking to absorb higher input costs while maintaining margins.

Meta climbs in premarket after report of sweeping layoffs to fund AI push

March 16, 2026, 7:02 AM EDT. Meta stock rose about 2.7% in premarket trading after Reuters reported the company plans to cut more than 20% of its roughly 79,000-strong workforce, or about 15,000 roles, to balance an AI push. Executives told leaders to start planning headcount reductions, with details not finalized. Meta said this year’s AI-related capital expenditure could reach $135 billion, roughly double its 2025 spend, as it builds out AI infrastructure and seeks efficiency gains from AI in workflows. The plan comes as peers like Block and Amazon announce AI-linked job cuts. Analysts note the heavy spending pace risks unsustainable costs if revenue growth doesn’t keep up. Zuckerberg has framed 2026 as a key year for AI and personal super intelligence.

Study finds tech advances in EV batteries reduce climate-driven lifetime losses

March 16, 2026, 6:58 AM EDT. Researchers combined EV simulations, battery-degradation models, and high-resolution downscaled climate data for 300 global cities. The study finds climate change will shorten EV battery lifetime, with different years showing varying vulnerability. Batteries manufactured 2010-2018 average an 8% lifetime loss, while cells produced after 2019 show about 3%. The results show that advances in battery manufacturing deliver co-benefits of climate adaptation even as temperatures rise. Using city-scale climate projections captures local heat effects on degradation and battery aging. In practical terms, newer batteries may better withstand hotter summers, reducing replacement costs and range loss for fleets and consumers. The findings highlight technology progress as a partial hedge against climate risks in mobility.

MacBook launch week deals: Air discounts up to $320, M5 Pro discounts up to $200, Neo from $599

March 16, 2026, 6:56 AM EDT. Apple rolled out a new generation of MacBook models, with pre-orders shipping as launch week begins. Deal trackers show launch week deals across the lineup: Air models discounted up to $320 off for select configurations, and M5 Pro models discounted up to $200 off, including 14- and 16-inch variants. The Neo starts at $599, but there are no cash discounts for launch week, though Best Buy offers a $25 credit for paid Plus/Total members. Prices vary by retailer, with some savings tied to store promos rather than Apple’s pricing. The new lineup includes multiple storage and RAM options, and the deals span both Air and Pro configurations. Note: the discounts listed are retailer-driven and subject to change.

Orange Tunisia launches first satellite Internet service delivering up to 100 Mbps

March 16, 2026, 6:52 AM EDT. Orange Tunisia has launched the country’s first satellite Internet service, offering up to 100 Mbps to reach remote areas where terrestrial networks are limited. The service uses Eutelsat’s latest-generation technology, delivering enhanced bandwidth and signal stability; it covers the entire Tunisian territory. Two plans are available, both delivering up to 100 Mbps, designed for professionals and others who depend on reliable connectivity for work. The move reinforces Orange Tunisia’s role in bridging the digital divide and expanding high-speed access nationwide.

Tesla FSD transfer policy triggers backlash from influencers on X

March 16, 2026, 6:48 AM EDT. Tesla customers erupted over a bait and switch on the FSD feature, now offered only as a subscription after previously being sold as a one time purchase. The policy let buyers transfer FSD to a new car if they bought by March 31, a window tied to a cheaper base Cybertruck. Tesla later narrowed the requirement, needing delivery by March 31 to swap FSD, a constraint worsened by production backlogs. Buyers could cancel deliveries and receive a $250 refund. On X, Musk’s platform, posts denounced the move as misleading. Influencers and boosters in the Tesla community traded accusations, signaling a rift between brand loyalty and promises about autonomy, pricing and future products. The episode shows how unrealized promises can reshape sentiment around EVs and Tesla.

Apple devices discounted ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring sale

March 16, 2026, 6:46 AM EDT. Deals on Apple devices are rolling in ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring sale. Early discounts include up to 25% on the Apple Watch Series 11, 20% on the iPad Air 11-inch with M3 chip, and 12% off the 2025 MacBook Pro 14.2-inch with an M5 chip. AirPods Pro 3 see about 10% off, while a 4-pack of AirTags is down 35% and AirPods 4 drop under $100. The promotions target iPhone/mac users shopping before the sale that starts March 25, 2026. The roundup highlights the most affordable options for upgrading everyday tech, finding gifts for Mother’s Day, or replacing aging devices on the cheap.

Colorado crash spurs push for federal EV ‘Safe Exit’ law

March 16, 2026, 6:42 AM EDT. On a May 2022 Colorado mountain road, a Tesla Model 3 crash left driver Hans Von Ohain dead after the car caught fire; the passenger escaped. Investigators say he was conscious but couldn’t exit, raising questions about the electric door system. Federal lawmakers say about 15 deaths in EVs have occurred when power fails, fueling support for the Safe Exit Act, which would require an easy-access manual release and outside access for first responders. Today, EV doors are often powered by a 12-volt battery; when that battery dies, manual releases can be hidden or hard to reach. NHTSA probes are examining hidden releases and door failures. Advocates such as Rick Meggison and Amber Rollins back the bill, arguing safety for all electric-vehicle users and families.

Samsung’s mobile unit in emergency mode as costs bite despite Galaxy S26 pre-orders

March 16, 2026, 6:38 AM EDT. Samsung Electronics is reportedly in emergency management as rising semiconductor and logistics costs squeeze the MX mobile unit. FNN News cites the Device Experience (DX) division’s need to trim costs after profit margins for MX were seen slipping from about 11% in Q1 2025 to ~3% in Q1 2026, with a potential drop to ~2% in Q2 2026. Some employees fear a deficit for the unit. In response, Samsung has ordered a 30% cost cut across the DX division and begun flights for executives in economy class on shorter trips. The company may also reassign staff and encourage voluntary retirement. All this comes even as Galaxy S26 pre-orders reportedly set records, underscoring fragility of the business amid price pressures.

Acme Enterprises Rolls Out AI Tools as Internal Memo Sparks Culture, Privacy Questions

March 16, 2026, 6:30 AM EDT. Acme Enterprises rolls out a suite of AI tools this week to streamline workflows and stay aligned with industry leaders. A management memo says staff will experience enhanced collaboration with AI-enabled systems that have been redesigned over six months to operate with greater autonomy. The rollout starts immediately, and a quarterly review will measure key KPIs. The document also names several employees in a satirical tone, raising questions about professional boundaries, privacy, and the impact of automation on work culture. Observers say the plan underscores a broader push toward data-driven decision making, but governance and consent will be essential to prevent misuse of AI in the workplace.

Foldable iPhone price leak points to $1,999 starting price

March 16, 2026, 6:08 AM EDT. Leaks outline a foldable iPhone that could launch this year at a starting price of $1,999 for 256 GB, the same as Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 at launch. The price climbs by about $200 per storage tier to 512 GB, 1 TB and beyond-potentially reaching $2,199 and $2,399. Early estimates had the phone closer to $2,400, making the leak seem optimistic and prompting debate over an “Apple tax” on premium devices. The numbers mirror competitor pricing even as Apple has kept other high-end products, like the Vision Pro, expensive. Analysts and fans have waited years for a foldable iPhone; if the leak is right, demand may hinge on how Apple positions value versus rivals.

75% of resumes never reach a human: AI-era job search rules

March 16, 2026, 5:58 AM EDT. US job cuts totaled 1.17 million in 2025, as AI reshapes hiring. The era features automated job applications, AI-powered digital twins, and career copilots. Job seekers must navigate a reworked system where AI-driven workflows are reshaping skill demand. Gartner says only 1 in 50 AI investments delivers transformational value, tempering hype. McKinsey notes a sevenfold rise in AI fluency requirements among applicants in the past two years. Experts advise building ongoing AI fluency while using AI tools to augment judgment, not replace it. The headline trend: a shrinking traditional resume path, more emphasis on AI literacy, and creative strategies for standing out in a partially automated, fast-changing labor market.

Why smartphone makers stopped including chargers in the box

March 16, 2026, 5:56 AM EDT. Phone makers stopped including chargers, citing environment and cost reasons. Uniqbe Limited quantified the impact: packaging per phone could drop about 50%, enabling roughly 70% more devices per shipping pallet. Thinner boxes also mean less landfill volume later and fewer e-waste issues as buyers upgrade. The USB-C era underpins the change: phones still ship with USB-C cables, but not bricks. USB-C with Power Delivery (PD) allows charging across devices, so a single high-quality charger can power many gadgets, though buyers may need a compatible wall plug for best results. Samsung and others frame the shift as environmentally beneficial, not just a cost cut; critics warn consumers without universal chargers may face friction.

Galaxy S26 Ultra privacy display spotlights PWM flicker gap vs rivals

March 16, 2026, 5:52 AM EDT. Android Authority notes Samsung’s S26 Ultra adds a Privacy Display, but it doesn’t fix flicker-related usability. PWM dimming sits at 480Hz, far below rivals offering higher rates-HONOR and OPPO up to 3,840Hz, OnePlus 2,160Hz; Pixel 240Hz. Samsung provides no DC-like dimming or flicker-reduction settings, leaving eye discomfort at low brightness for some users. Industry observers say frequencies above about 1,000Hz are less perceptible, suggesting Samsung could improve with higher PWM or software controls. The broader trend: rivals pursue eye-care features and softer dimming, while Samsung lags on this front. Android Authority coverage notes reader interest in more eye-care options in displays.

Duolingo pivots to AI reinvestment, expands products, and buys back stock

March 16, 2026, 5:50 AM EDT. Duolingo pivots toward heavier reinvestment, prioritizing AI-powered features and broader product expansion. A new CFO arrives as the company reports more than $1 billion in bookings and record user engagement, and a sizeable share buyback signals capital returns alongside growth. The moves come as the stock trades down about 44% year-to-date and roughly two-thirds over 12 months, with a recent close near $98.39. Management argues AI-driven features, faster product iteration, and international growth-including new subjects such as math, music and chess-will lift user growth and engagement even if near-term margins tighten. With about 50 million daily actives, investors will watch whether Duolingo can convert bookings and scale into durable economics while balancing capital returns and competition from AI rivals.

Norway leads global push against enshittification in digital services

March 16, 2026, 5:44 AM EDT. Norway’s Consumer Council launched a global campaign to curb enshittification, the gradual degradation of digital products. The effort pairs an absurdist video with a drive to policymakers in 14 countries, urging stronger enforcement of consumer and data-protection laws and the promotion of real competition in digital markets. Backed by more than 70 groups and 20 Norwegian organisations, the push asks authorities to empower consumers to repair, adapt and switch services. It calls for public procurement to favor open alternatives to big tech. An 80-page report links the trend to policy choices, framing it as achievable rather than inevitable. The campaign showcases a rare transatlantic alliance on digital policy.

AI face models recruited for scam networks in Southeast Asia

March 16, 2026, 5:32 AM EDT. Reuters and WIRED corroborate a global push to recruit AI face models for sophisticated scams in Southeast Asia. The effort includes recruits posing as multilingual workers-Angel, a 24-year-old Uzbekistani woman, described in a selfie video from Sihanoukville, Cambodia-who claim to be an AI model with language skills. The goal: sit for deepfake video calls to prop up pig-butchering and romance scams targeting Americans. The region hosts large scam networks that hold trafficking victims and run online fraud operations. Cybercrime researcher Hieu Minh Ngo says Telegram channels post about two dozen AI-model ads; Humanity Research Consultancy notes applicants in known scam hub cities. AI modeling commonly uses face-swapping software to impersonate convincing personas and extract funds.

Facebook’s youngest engineer at 17 leaves Meta as AI leadership shifts accelerate

March 16, 2026, 5:28 AM EDT. A former Facebook engineer who joined at 17 describes why they left Meta as the AI landscape shifts. The piece offers a personal view of early entry into a tech giant, the pressures of rapid progress, and how leadership changes ripple through teams and careers. The author notes that in AI today, leadership momentum can swing in months, shaping product priorities, hiring, and morale. The story situates the move within a broader industry race, emphasizing pragmatism over hype and the reality of choosing timing, teams, and roles in a fast-moving field.

Nvidia: A Decade-Defining AI Stock to Buy in March

March 16, 2026, 5:20 AM EDT. Nvidia’s fiscal 2026 revenue reached $216 billion, up 65% year over year, led by its data center business. AI hyperscalers-Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta-are fueling an era of surging infrastructure spending, with capex projected above $600 billion in 2026. Nvidia’s Blackwell GPUs and the CUDA software ecosystem anchor training and inference for next-gen AI models, sustaining pricing power. Beyond data centers, the company is steering growth through strategic bets: a $5 billion investment in Intel to enter the AI PC market; a tie-up with Palantir to embed Nvidia models; the Arc Aerial RAN computer with Nokia; and a $2 billion investment in CoreWeave. The momentum creates durable profitability, though valuation remains a focal point for investors.

Cisco’s optical innovations target resilient, scalable AI networking

March 16, 2026, 5:18 AM EDT. Cisco said its optical innovations deliver a resilient, scalable, and power-efficient foundation for AI networking as bandwidth, reach and energy demand rise with next-generation cloud workloads. The optical portfolio is designed for hyperscalers (large-scale cloud operators), neoscalers (emerging scale operators), and service providers deploying the next generation of AI and cloud applications. Cisco argues the gear supports higher-capacity links, lower power per bit and stronger fault tolerance, helping networks scale from data centers to the edge. The company portrays its optics as field-ready for hyperscale data centers and operators seeking efficient, future-proof connectivity.

Betterleaks launches as successor to Gitleaks with enhanced rules and performance

March 16, 2026, 5:16 AM EDT. Betterleaks is an open-source secrets scanner that can inspect directories, files and Git repositories to identify credentials, API keys, private keys and tokens. Marketed as the successor to Gitleaks, it is developed by Zach Rice and a small team with support from Aikido. Key features include rule-defined validation with CEL, token-efficient scanning using BPE tokenization with 98.6% recall on the CredData dataset versus 70.4% with entropy, a pure Go implementation (no CGO or Hyperscan), automatic handling of doubly/triply encoded secrets, expanded provider rules, and parallelized Git scanning for faster analysis. Governance uses the MIT license and includes contributors from RBC, Red Hat and Amazon. Future plans: broader data sources, LLM-assisted analysis, automatic secret revocation via provider APIs, and further performance optimizations.

Amazon Spring Sale 2026 live: Best tech deals from Apple Watch to Ninja air fryers

March 16, 2026, 5:14 AM EDT. Live coverage of Amazon’s Spring Deal Days runs through 16 March. A money-saving writer filters noise to deliver IndyBest-rated tech bargains, from laptops and vacuums to beauty. Highlights include the Kindle Paperwhite, Apple Watch Series 11, and Ninja air fryers, plus the Dyson Supersonic. The piece flags genuine discounts rather than filler and promises ongoing updates of expert-approved picks. Tech critic David Phelan backs several items, noting lightweight design, strong battery life and sleep-tracking features. The guide also flags Apple AirPods 4 deals and other extras. Price history matters and deals shift quickly; act fast as the sale runs until 16 March on Amazon.co.uk.

Motorola Razr+ drops to $399 in limited Woot deal

March 16, 2026, 5:12 AM EDT. Motorola’s Razr+ 2025 is being offered for $399 from Woot, a steep drop from its usual price. The unlocked model in Hot Pink is brand-new, and represents a rare value play for a current-generation foldable. The Razr+ (2025) largely mirrors the Razr+ (2024) in design, screen, and chip, with only minor hinge tweaks. At this price, the mid-tier flip phone competes with higher-end devices in practicality. Specs include a 6.9-inch inner display, a 4-inch outer display, a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, 12GB RAM, 256GB storage, and dual 50MP cameras plus a 4,000 mAh battery. For shoppers seeking a foldable, this is the best value seen so far.

Orange Tunisie launches satellite internet service to bridge rural connectivity

March 16, 2026, 5:10 AM EDT. Orange Tunisie launched a satellite broadband service in Tunisia, delivering speeds of up to 100 Mbps to help bridge the digital divide in remote areas. The new Orange Satellite service covers all of Tunisia, but targets isolated areas where terrestrial telecom networks are limited or nonexistent, providing reliable connectivity when other networks are unavailable.

Pokémon Go data powers delivery robots via Niantic-Coco partnership

March 16, 2026, 5:06 AM EDT. Niantic Spatial said it will use Pokémon Go data to train a Visual Positioning System (VPS) that guides Coco Robotics’ short-distance delivery bots. The system identifies location by analyzing nearby buildings and landmarks, delivering centimeter-level precision where GPS is weak. Niantic trained the VPS on more than 30 billion images captured by players, including data from Field Research prompts and in-game arenas. The collaboration aims to let robots navigate sidewalks and doorways with fewer GPS blind spots. The arrangement highlights how crowdsourced data, collected for a game, can be repurposed for real-world robotics. Niantic Spatial CEO John Hanke told MIT Technology Review that Pikachu-style movement and robot movement share the same fundamental problem: safe, accurate navigation.

Google.org’s five-year push on digital skills yields lessons for the AI era

March 16, 2026, 5:02 AM EDT. Google.org says its five-year push to expand digital skills has invested more than $150 million, partnered with 70 organizations across 41 European countries, and reached millions. As the AI era approaches, the foundation distills three lessons shaping its new work, including the AI Opportunity Fund and AI Works for Europe. Lesson one: Solve for context. Learners and communities vary; wraparound support-from living-cost relief to technology access-improves access and scales cost per learner. Case studies include DigiCo in Germany and INCO, where wraparound support raised completion rates. Lesson two: Balance upskilling with a growth mindset, aided by mentorship and networks. Lesson three: Build for the long term with flexible, local funding that endures as technology shifts.

Internet Vikings and LCKY Group Extend Partnership with VMware Cloud Hosting and Backup Services

March 16, 2026, 4:58 AM EDT. Internet Vikings extends its long-running partnership with LCKY Group, formerly Glitnor Group, highlighting ongoing VMware Cloud Hosting and backup services. Since 2019, the collaboration has grown; Internet Vikings began VMware Cloud Hosting in 2022 and expanded to backup services in 2023. Executives credit reliable support and smooth expansion. Rickard Vikström, CEO and Founder, says customers choosing Internet Vikings proves real value and service. Hristo Doynov, LCKY Group CTO, notes efficient collaboration and reliable support as the partnership expands into additional services. The firms aim to keep delivering secure, flexible hosting for iGaming and online sports betting across licensed markets in Europe, North America, and beyond, backed by ISO 27001 and Cloudflare DDoS protection.

Russian fixed broadband speeds throttled as mobile disruptions persist, Dom.ru leads

March 16, 2026, 4:54 AM EDT. In several Russian cities-Saint Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Samara-fixed broadband speeds are throttled for heavy users as mobile network disruptions persist. Dom.ru has cut to 50 Mbps for subscribers who use more than 3 terabytes per month, affecting under 1% of customers; about 85% of users consume up to 500 GB monthly. Rostelecom voiced concern about abnormal traffic and warned surges could compromise stability. Analysts say the move could spread to other fixed broadband providers if disruptions continue, while the reliance on Wi-Fi grows. Some operators have long-throttled ‘unlimited’ plans via thresholds. The outages have spurred demand for alternatives, with a rise in sales of pagers, radios and landlines from March 6-10.

Cisco and NVIDIA push Secure AI Factory for secure, multi-agent edge AI

March 16, 2026, 4:52 AM EDT. Cisco and NVIDIA marked a year since unveiling the Secure AI Factory with NVIDIA, aimed at tying together networking, compute and storage for enterprise-grade AI securely. Built atop Cisco AI PODs and NVIDIA Enterprise Reference Architecture, the stack integrates security and observability across layers to enable training, optimization and inference in the data center and at the edge. The industry now centers on autonomous, multi-agent systems deployed core, cloud and edge; security remains the biggest hurdle to broad adoption. Agents are autonomous, use LLMs and SLMs to reason, and a compromised model or prompt injection can disrupt operations such as warehouse logistics, or trigger data exfiltration. Edge deployments raise PII and regulatory risks, demanding hardened, auditable safeguards.

Phantom codes could reduce errors in entangled quantum computations

March 16, 2026, 4:40 AM EDT. Phantom codes could let quantum computers run longer, more complex programs with fewer errors. Unlike traditional error-correction schemes that store information safely but sag during computation, phantom codes link many logical qubits and exploit existing entanglement so fewer physical actions are needed. In simulations, the approach yielded up to 100 times more accurate results than conventional methods on two tasks: preparing a commonly used qubit state and simulating a toy quantum material. Experts caution the method won’t fit all tasks; its advantage grows when a computation already contains substantial entanglement. Critics compare error-correction choices to armor: phantom codes offer flexibility but may require more qubits. The researchers, led by Shayan Majidy of Harvard, say the approach is not a free lunch, but leverages entanglement already present.

Kvantify, Atom Computing and Aarhus University launch EarlyBIRDD quantum drug discovery project

March 16, 2026, 4:32 AM EDT. Kvantify, Atom Computing and Aarhus University’s chemistry researchers unveiled the EarlyBIRDD project, backed with DKK 30 million from Innovation Fund Denmark. The consortium will co-develop quantum chemistry methods, algorithms, hardware integration and industry-ready software to speed drug discovery. It targets molecular simulations with a focus on predicting drug-protein binding affinity, aiming to move beyond current classical limits. The effort combines method development, hardware-software co-design and workflow integration to deliver tools that fit inside existing pharma pipelines. If successful, it could reduce R&D timelines and costs and reinforce Denmark’s position in the quantum ecosystem for future fault-tolerant computing applications. Ove Christiansen of Aarhus University notes the need for accurate quantum-influenced chemistry methods to underpin hardware-optimized drug discovery.

From foundations to fluency: why upskilling is the key to Europe’s AI future

March 16, 2026, 4:30 AM EDT. Debbie Weinstein, President of Google in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, oversees efforts to help communities, companies and countries harness technology and AI. Since joining Google in 2014, she has held a range of regional and global leadership roles that shape strategy across markets. Before Google, Weinstein worked in sales, marketing, strategy and business development. Off the job, she pursues cooking and baking and founded a children’s food company. The piece ties her leadership to a broader push for upskilling as Europe pivots toward a more AI-driven economy, underscoring how tech firms aim to close talent gaps and expand access to AI tools across the region.

KDE Linux adds Apple APFS support, AMDGPU workaround, Kup backup tool

March 16, 2026, 4:00 AM EDT. KDE Linux is adding Apple APFS read/write support via the linux-apfs-rw-dkms module, pre-installed to ease cross-platform data handling, though the module remains experimental for writes. The release also adopts Kup as KDE’s GUI-driven backup tool. On the graphics front, KDE Linux ships a workaround for an AMDGPU page-flip timeout that can trigger total system freezes; users are advised to add amdgpu.dcdebugmask=0x10 to the kernel command line to disable panel self-refresh, accepting higher power use. The update also expands language support for Flatpak apps. The changes were outlined by KDE developer Nate Graham in This Month In KDE Linux. KDE Linux is available from KDE.org.

China successfully launches Yaogan-50 02 satellite

March 16, 2026, 3:58 AM EDT. China’s space authority said the Yaogan-50 02 satellite was launched successfully into orbit. The operation, carried out from the national launch complex, marks the second mission in the Yaogan-50 series. Officials offered few specifics on the satellite’s payload, orbit, or mission parameters, as is typical for Yaogan-class systems. Analysts describe the program as part of Beijing’s broader space program, supporting reconnaissance and data gathering for government use. The launch signals continued momentum in China’s space ambitions, with ground teams tracking the craft and confirming acquisition of telemetry. No further details were disclosed, in keeping with standard practice for the program.

Nvidia set for a 40% rally by end-2026 on Rubin launch and sovereign AI push

March 16, 2026, 3:30 AM EDT. Nvidia could gain about 40% by end-2026, according to a market observer. The near-term driver is the Rubin GPU platform, designed to cut inference costs and reduce hardware needs for MoE AI models relative to Blackwell. Rubin chips (Vera Rubin) combine Vera CPUs with Rubin GPUs; shipments are expected in H2 2026 as samples have been shipped. OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai have praised Rubin; Elon Musk called Rubin a rocket engine for AI. Sovereign AI sales tripled in fiscal 2026 to over $30 billion, with Canada, France, the Netherlands, Singapore and the U.K. as primary drivers. Nvidia recently partnered with Palantir Technologies. Market conditions remain uncertain, but Rubin and sovereign AI could lift demand.

Google scraps crowd-sourced AI health advice feature in search

March 16, 2026, 3:28 AM EDT. Google has ended the What People Suggest crowd-sourced AI feature in its search results, part of a broader simplification of the page. The move, confirmed by a Google spokesperson, came after reports that the feature gathered tips from strangers on health topics. Officials say the decision was not tied to safety or quality concerns, but to streamline the user experience. The development comes amid scrutiny over AI’s role in health information; in January, a Guardian investigation highlighted risks from AI-generated health summaries shown to billions. Google had pitched the feature as a way to surface patient experiences alongside expert advice, but three people familiar with the decision said it has been scrapped. Google offered no further public detail.

Express-AT1 satellite failure disrupts Russian propaganda broadcasts across territories

March 16, 2026, 3:26 AM EDT. The Russian telecommunications satellite Express-AT1 permanently failed, triggering large-scale disruptions to the broadcasting of propaganda channels from Kaliningrad to the Far East and into temporarily occupied Ukraine. Ukrinform, citing the Center for Countering Disinformation under Ukraine’s NSDC, said the satellite stopped functioning on March 4 and was declared lost after failed restoration attempts. Outages affected operators Tricolor, NTV-Plus, and Russkiy Mir-the latter used in occupied areas and now paralyzed. The Center noted the satellite’s planned life to 2030, linking the loss to sanctions and Russia’s inability to maintain complex infrastructure. It cited 2024 plans for 40 space launches but only 17, and argued Kremlin missile spending contrasts with space-program fragility.

Amazfit Active 3 Premium motivates a 49-year-old to start running again

March 16, 2026, 3:18 AM EDT. At 49, the reviewer returns to running after a decade away, hampered by perimenopause and hypothyroidism. She tests the Amazfit Active 3 Premium, billed as a training companion with training insights, recovery tracking and an AI running coach. The review weighs comfort, features, and value against top rivals. Specs highlight a light sub-55g body, 1.32-inch AMOLED, and battery life up to 12 days, with metrics such as VO₂ max and lactate threshold. Price is set around £169.90, making it a competitive option. The piece traces a personal arc-from a 2014 half-marathon to bootcamp wins, a gym hiatus during the pandemic, to renewed activity via CrossFit. Early findings: it motivates steady workouts and offers practical guidance for beginners and returning runners.

Arvind Telharkar named in Marquis Who’s Who for healthcare AI and cloud work at AWS

March 16, 2026, 3:12 AM EDT. Arvind Telharkar, a Software Development Engineer at Amazon Web Services in Seattle, has been selected for Marquis Who’s Who, reflecting his standing in the technology field. He designs services to store healthcare data across the United States and leads a healthcare data transformation platform built with Agentic AI that converts legacy formats like CCDA to FHIR, the modern standard. The work was showcased at the HIMSS conference, enabling providers to port legacy data to FHIR and unlock revenue. Before AWS, he contributed to Alexa in Vancouver, focusing on AI and NLP for consumer products. His profile notes a LinkedIn following exceeding 20,000 and over 2.5 million impressions annually. He holds an MS in CS from North Carolina State University (2016) and a BE from the University of Pune (2014).

Better Signal: 1,600 Starlink Satellites Move Into Lower Orbits

March 16, 2026, 2:52 AM EDT. SpaceX plans to shift about 1,600 Starlink satellites into lower orbits, a move Elon Musk says will boost signal quality for users. The operation also lowers roughly 4,400 satellites by about 70 kilometers as part of a broader orbital adjustment. The maneuver highlights SpaceX’s ongoing orbital management of the Starlink fleet to reduce latency and interference while expanding coverage. The company expects the change to unfold over weeks, with users likely to notice improved connectivity as the constellation reconfigures.

Steam drops 10 new free games this weekend

March 16, 2026, 2:50 AM EDT. Steam is adding 10 free-to-play titles for the weekend, spanning roguelike, puzzle, shooter and tower defense genres. Indie developers release these titles on Steam to reach a wider audience, with games including Deckbuilder Fantasy, Guinea Pig Temple, Ferret Quest, Pest’Off, Cradle of the Rift, Smile More, 4Spicchi, Bird Watching Simulator, Grove and Shrapnel. Players can grab the games from their respective Steam store pages at no cost. The lineup blends light-hearted and high-stakes experiences for casual and core players alike, reflecting Steam’s ongoing support for indie projects.

SpaceX to Launch 25 Starlink Satellites From Vandenberg Overnight; Sonic Booms Possible

March 16, 2026, 2:40 AM EDT. SpaceX plans an overnight lift of 25 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg’s SLC-4E on Friday, March 13, 2026. The mission uses a Falcon 9 rocket launching in a window from 3:58 a.m. to 7:28 a.m. PT, with a live webcast about five minutes before liftoff on SpaceX’s X account and website. After stage separation, the first-stage booster will attempt a landing on the Pacific droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’. That booster flies for the 32nd time, having previously supported missions including NROL-87, SARah-1, SWOT and multiple Starlink deployments. Sonic booms could be heard in parts of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties, weather and flight path permitting. If delayed, FAA allows a backup opportunity on March 14. Starlink aims to provide global broadband; SpaceX was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk.

Singapore Porsche Taycan owner sues dealer over battery warranty after crash

March 16, 2026, 2:38 AM EDT. Singapore – The owner of a Porsche Taycan 4S has sued TTS Eurocars for more than $300,000 after a faulty battery was replaced a day before a rear-end crash. Jason Ling, 44, claims breach of contract for not replacing the battery under warranty, seeking about $112,000 for loss of use and over $105,000 in repair costs. TTS says the battery issue was caused by the collision and that the warranty excludes accident damage; insurers for the other driver rejected a battery replacement claim. An independent assessment later linked the battery fault to the accident. TTS counters for repair and six months of storage costs. The suit, started in magistrate’s court in 2024, was moved to the High Court. The car, bought for about $450,000 in 2021, carries a five-year warranty from registration.

Huawei to unveil budget Enjoy 90 Plus and Enjoy 90 Pro Max on March 23

March 16, 2026, 2:36 AM EDT. Huawei has confirmed a Spring All-Scenario launch on March 23 to unveil budget smartphones, including the Enjoy 90 Plus and Enjoy 90 Pro Max, not the Pura 90 series. A promo on Weibo hints at two color options with linear textures. The Enjoy 90 Plus is expected to use a 6.7-inch hole-punch LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate and a square rear camera, plus a 6620mAh battery in white, blue and a third color. The Enjoy 90 Pro Max reportedly features a 6.84-inch OLED LTPS display with 1.5K resolution and a large 8500mAh battery, with 8GB RAM in 128/256/512GB storage, colors gold, white, cyan and black. Both phones may ship with a Kirin 8000/8020 chipset and HarmonyOS. Executive Yu Chengdong has been seen using the Pro Max in public. Huawei could unveil additional products at the event.

AI Ready RVA names first executive director to scale Richmond AI education nonprofit

March 16, 2026, 2:34 AM EDT. AI Ready RVA, a Richmond-area AI education nonprofit, has named board chair William Willis its first full-time executive director. Willis, a former program manager at Dominion Payroll and Capital One, becomes the organization’s first paid employee as it scales after evolving from a volunteer task force founded in 2023 to a nonprofit in July 2024. The group hosted about 55 local events in 2024, drawing roughly 5,000 attendees on topics from Women in AI to AI in healthcare. With 32 corporate members, including Kinsale Insurance, CoStar Group, Markel Group and Atlantic Union Bank, and about 570 individual members, AI Ready RVA plans more funding partnerships and to grow its peer-led cohorts across nine Richmond-area localities and Petersburg.

Microsoft leads surge in carbon credits as Big Tech backs AI race

March 16, 2026, 2:32 AM EDT. Big Tech has surged its purchases of carbon credits to offset emissions from an AI buildout, with Microsoft at the lead. Data compiled for CNBC by carbon-credit platform Ceezer show Amazon, Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft lifting permanent carbon-removal credits from 14,200 in 2022 to 11.92 million in 2023, then 24.4 million in 2024 and 68.4 million in 2025. Year-on-year growth reached 104% in 2024 and 181% in 2025. The four firms, all aiming for net-zero, contend that the energy- and water-intensive AI expansion makes removal essential. Ceezer distinguishes permanent removals, while Microsoft’s purchases also cover time-limited credits. Some deals aren’t disclosed; Amazon declined comment, and Meta and Google did not respond. Analysts say achieving net-zero without removal is difficult amid rapid AI growth.

MacBook Neo may stay touchscreen-free for years as Apple aims for $599 price, reports say

March 16, 2026, 2:18 AM EDT. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports Apple rethought MacBook Neo components to hit a $599 starting price, and foresees no touchscreen for the Neo for at least three years. TF International’s Ming-Chi Kuo had suggested a Neo 2 with a touchscreen, but later retracted after higher production costs. The report notes the MacBook Air could gain a touchscreen later, but not before OLED transitions, which aren’t expected for two years. Touch displays remain likely only for the higher-end M6 Pro/Max MacBook Pro lineup. The Neo is currently sold on Amazon at $599 for 256GB, with a 512GB at $699 and a 1TB option available only via modification.

Quantum Computing Inc Expands Quantum Security, Seeks Commercial Traction

March 16, 2026, 2:16 AM EDT. Quantum Computing Inc. (NasdaqCM:QUBT) and Ciena demonstrated next-generation quantum secure communications, merging quantum key distribution with post-quantum cryptography to address government and commercial security uses. Separately, QUBT agreed to acquire Luminar Semiconductor for US$110 million, adding in-house photonics to support its quantum hardware supply chain. The steps position QUBT in quantum secure networking and hardware, aiming for commercial contracts and recurring revenue. Yet the company remains loss-making with minimal revenue, and it has faced substantial dilution. With shares near US$7.30 against a consensus target around US$17.40, the stock trades well below some analysts’ expectations. There is no disclosed DCF fair value, so funding needs and potential equity issuance remain key risks as the growth story unfolds.

Tech firms blame AI for layoffs, but data show nuance

March 16, 2026, 1:56 AM EDT. Tech giants such as Atlassian, Block and Amazon have linked mass layoffs to efficiency gains from AI, portraying machines as reshaping labor. The evidence, however, is nuanced. Real disruption exists in some roles, but most tasks remain human-led. Anthropic finds many jobs are susceptible to automation, yet the majority are still performed by people. Occupations most exposed include programmers, call-center staff and data entry; even there, AI use is limited. Goldman Sachs estimates about 2.5% of US employment could be at risk if AI spreads across the economy, but current effects are concentrated in a few sectors. In the tech sector, early 2025 data show modest upticks in unemployment for young workers in AI-exposed roles, with job-finding rates down since ChatGPT’s 2022 launch. The rhetoric outpaces the data, prompting questions about motives and other drivers.

Xanadu and AMD advance next-gen quantum computing for aerospace and engineering

March 16, 2026, 1:20 AM EDT. Xanadu Quantum Technologies and AMD report a step toward real-world, industrial quantum computing by pairing Xanadu’s PennyLane software with AMD’s HPC and AI infrastructure on the DevCloud. In a demonstration, engineers prepared and ran complex aerospace simulations in a hybrid quantum-classical workflow, showing how quantum and classical compute can work together today. The partners say the work helps move from research to industry by optimizing how large-scale quantum programs are compiled and simulated. AMD’s Madhu Rangarajan framed the result as proof of seamless quantum-classical integration, expanding possibilities for users exploring such setups. Xanadu’s Christian Weedbrook said collaboration with AMD accelerates adoption of future fault-tolerant quantum computing for engineering challenges.

Android readers embrace Chrome’s Reading mode to read long-form articles without squinting

March 16, 2026, 1:08 AM EDT. An Android user who avoids Pro Max-sized devices says Chrome’s Reading mode makes reading long-form articles easier on a smartphone. He switched from Microsoft Edge to Chrome as his default browser, relying on the feature to enlarge text and refine layout. Reading mode reduces eye strain by boosting font size, letting him read without squinting. While he still prefers compact phones for handling comfort, the software option demonstrates how a bigger screen plus readability features can change the experience. The user notes that Reading mode is widely available in Android browsers, and the change has made long articles more approachable on mobile.

Indian-origin founder Aman Gottumukkala joins xAI after building Firebender into a three-person, multi-million-dollar tool

March 16, 2026, 1:06 AM EDT. Aman Gottumukkala, an Indian-origin software engineer, is joining xAI, Elon Musk’s AI venture, to work on the next generation of coding tools. He rose to prominence as founder of Firebender, an AI coding assistant for Android developers that integrates with Android Studio and JetBrains IDEs. Built by a three-person team, Firebender reportedly scaled into the millions in revenue, underscoring how lean groups can commercialize AI-powered developer tools. Before Firebender, Gottumukkala worked at Paradigm on crypto and tech projects and was selected as a KP Fellow to connect engineers with top venture backers. An alumnus of Texas A&M University, he also attended the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science. At xAI, he will help create coding AI and collaborate with teams linked to SpaceX as part of broader AI initiatives.

Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 set to gain 5G and Snapdragon Wear Elite in major update

March 16, 2026, 12:54 AM EDT. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is expected to be Samsung’s first smartwatch with built-in 5G connectivity. Reports, attributed to GalaxyClub via SamMobile, say the device will use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear Elite platform, joining the Galaxy Watch line with built-in 5G modems. The Wear Elite chip also includes satellite connectivity, though confirmation on satellite support for the Ultra 2 is pending. Samsung previously signaled it would abandon Exynos in Wear devices in favor of Qualcomm processors, a shift now believed to extend to the Ultra 2. The chip is built on a 3nm process and offers a five-core CPU, a faster GPU and an NPU for AI tasks. If true, the Ultra 2 would follow a pattern of early technology adoption and retain a 5G-only model option, as with its predecessor.

Should you replace Nvidia with Alphabet and Snowflake for AI exposure?

March 16, 2026, 12:46 AM EDT. Analysts forecast Nvidia’s earnings to rise 73% this year on a 70% revenue jump to $367 billion, with the stock trading at about 22x forward earnings. Still, Nvidia has underperformed the market, up roughly 2% in six months versus the PHLX Semiconductor index. That relative weakness invites look-ahead bets on other AI names. Two standouts: Alphabet and Snowflake. Alphabet ties AI to its wide ecosystem-Google Search, Gemini, Google Cloud, and YouTube-and reports Gemini now reaching over 750 million monthly users. AI in Search is boosting engagement, while Google Cloud backlog rose 55% sequentially to $240 billion, supporting a 48% YoY revenue rise. The company also hints at revenue potential from new AI chips. Snowflake targets AI-assisted data analytics in the cloud, a growth driver as AI adoption accelerates.

Android flagships edge out iPhone 17 Pro on battery life

March 16, 2026, 12:26 AM EDT. Android flagships still beat the iPhone 17 Pro for endurance in real-world use, even as Apple touts its best battery life yet. The iPhone 17 Pro Max ships with a 5,088 mAh cell, and the smaller model uses 4,252 mAh, backed by the A19 Pro chip and a vapor chamber cooling system. Still, Chinese rivals push higher capacities. Oppo Find X9 Pro carries a 7,500 mAh silicon-carbon battery, with 80W wired charging that can hit full in about an hour. OnePlus 15 follows with a 7,300 mAh silicon-carbon battery and 50W wireless charging. Analysts caution that battery life hinges on more than capacity-screen brightness, chip efficiency, and software matter. Specs don’t always map to daily use, but the numbers show Android options with longer endurance under certain conditions.

Upland Software expands AI, cloud and automation across its enterprise product suite

March 16, 2026, 12:16 AM EDT. Upland Software unveiled a wave of updates across its enterprise portfolio, aiming to cut manual work and boost efficiency. The announcements highlight AI-driven capabilities in Intelligent Capture, RightAnswers, Qvidian and BA Insight, and a push toward cloud-first processes with FileBound. Teams in the PMO and IT budget realms gain visibility through Eclipse PPM, Cimpl and ComSci, while customer-facing operations benefit from InGenius CTI and Panviva’s AI-guided knowledge. The suite now targets faster RFP responses with Generative AI in Qvidian, stronger knowledge delivery with Panviva and RightAnswers, and streamlined expense management via Cimpl for hybrid enterprises. The company continues to expand across marketing, security and service delivery from its Austin base, with press releases dated March 15, 2026.

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AI-driven layoffs have renewed calls for reduced workweeks, drawing parallels to the fight for the 8-hour workday.

March 16, 2026, 12:10 AM EDT. Atlassian is moving to lay off roughly 10% of its workforce, adding fuel to the ongoing AI-and-jobs conversation. The article points out that tools like Anthropic’s Claude have sharply boosted developer productivity, though whether AI will eliminate jobs remains an open question. Instead of channeling those productivity gains into pay raises or bigger profits, the argument here is to cut back on hours. The piece places the current debate against a historic backdrop stretching from Britain’s long hours during the Industrial Revolution, through Australia’s eight-hour day in the 1850s, and then to the 38-hour week set in the 1980s by unions and governments. Remote work during the pandemic proved that output can stay steady even as hours drop, hinting that a shorter workweek is possible as companies lean further into AI and automation.

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