China’s National Development and Reform Commission has blocked Meta’s roughly $2 billion acquisition of Manus, an AI agent startup that Meta announced it was acquiring in late December 2025. The regulator has asked both companies to withdraw the deal. A Meta spokesperson told the BBC that the transaction was fully compliant with applicable law and…
Google is trying out an AI Mode-like search experience for YouTube. The company is now testing “a new way to search on YouTube that feels more like a conversation,” with results pulling in things like longform videos, YouTube Shorts, and text about what you’re searching for. The “experiment” is now available if you’re a YouTube…
Leica has officially introduced a new aesthetic variant for its renowned Leica M-A analog camera, characterized by a distinct texture and extremely limited availability. Named the Leica M-A Hammertone Limited Edition, the release features a specialized finish designed to simulate hand-forged metal. This launch commemorates the 20th anniversary of the Leica Store in Ginza, Japan,…
The company says stronger models tended to secure better outcomes than lighter ones.
Google is developing a major icon redesign for its Workspace apps, including Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Sheets, and Slides. Early versions of the new icons were shared by 9to5Google, though they have not yet started rolling out to users. This redesign follows a similar gradient update that Google applied to Maps and…
Microsoft is testing a notable change to how Windows 11 handles updates, and it targets one of the platform’s longest-running pain points: timing. In a Windows Insider post published on April 24, 2026, the company said a redesigned update experience is starting to roll out to testers, including a new option to choose a pause…
In late 2025, Google started rolling out new icons with a gradient design. Now it seems the new look is coming to the rest of Google’s apps. 9to5Google got its hands on images of the new icons that ditch the uniform circle design that tries to cram in every color of the Google logo. In…
DeepSeek has introduced two new open-weight models in preview: DeepSeek V4, a mixture-of-experts model with 284 billion parameters and 13 billion active parameters, and DeepSeek V4-Pro, a 1.6 trillion parameter model with 49 billion active parameters. Both are available for download on Hugging Face as well as through DeepSeek’s API and web service. V4-Pro was…
X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has officially launched the XChat app, a standalone messaging application designed specifically for iPhone and iPad for the recently announced XChat feature. Released on April 24, 2026, the app aims to provide a dedicated, high-performance environment for private conversations, separating the platform’s direct messaging functionality from…
Multiple sources are reporting that the Trump administration has dismissed the entire National Science Board (NSB). The NSB advises the president and Congress on the National Science Foundation (NSF), which has already been funding research at historically low levels and has seen significant delays in doling out that funding. The NSF has been fundamental in…
