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 Apple today released a firmware update for the AirPods Pro 3. The latest firmware has a version number of 8B34, up from the previous version 8B30.
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Owen Poole covers today's biggest tech stories. Apple partners with Google's Gemini 3 to power a "more personalized" Siri. Meta removes over half a million accounts for teens and children in Australia due to world-first social media ban. Countries consider banning X after Grok AI created nonconsensual explicit images.
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As we expected, Meta has begun laying off more than 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs division, which focused on virtual reality and metaverse products, Bloomberg reports. The company will refocus on developing wearables, like its recent batch of AI-powered Ray-Ban smart glasses, according to a memo from CTO Andrew Bosworth.
The news isn't too surprising. Reality Labs has lost more than $70 billion since the beginning of 2021, and while Meta has done a solid job of delivering desirable consumer VR headsets and smart glasses, that business hasn't been nearly profitable enough to justify the cost. And of course, Mark Zuckerberg's huge gamble on the metaverse, which involved renaming the company from Facebook to Meta in 2021, has gone nowhere.
According to Bloomberg, Meta's metaverse plans will now focus on mobile devices, which could mean a combination of its future wearables as well as existing mobile apps. "With the larger potential user base and the fastest growth rate today, we are shifting teams and resources almost exclusively to mobile to continue to accelerate adoption there," Bosworth wrote in a memo to staff this morning.
Meta isn't dumping its VR headset plans entirely, but according to Bosworth the VR divion will "operate as a leaner, flatter organization with a more focused road map to maximize long-term sustainability." Basically, don't expect a Quest 3 follow-up anytime soon.
This article originally a
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 Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, tvOS 26.3, and watchOS 26.3 updates to public beta testers, with the updates coming four weeks after Apple provided the first betas to testers.
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If you follow Anthropic, you're probably familiar with Claude Code. Since the fall of 2024, the company has been training its AI models to use and navigate computers like a human would, and the coding agent has been the most practical expression of that work, giving developers a way to automate rote programming tasks. Starting today, Anthropic is giving regular people a way to take advantage of those capabilities, with the release of a new preview feature called Claude Cowork.
The company is billing Cowork as "a simpler way for anyone — not just developers — to work with Claude." After you give the system access to a folder on your computer, it can read, edit or create new files in that folder on your behalf.
Anthropic gives a few different example use cases for Cowork. For instance, you could ask Claude to organize your downloads folder, telling it to rename the files contained within to something that's easier to parse at a glance. Another example: you could use Claude to turn screenshots of receipts and invoices into a spreadsheet for tracking expenses. Cowork can also navigate websites — provided you install Claude's Chrome plugin — and make can use Anthropic's Connectors framework to access third-party apps like Canva.
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 Apple today introduced a new Apple Creator Studio bundle that offers access to six creative apps, as well as exclusive AI features and content, as part of a single subscription. In the U.S., pricing is set at $12.99 per month or $129 per year.
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 Samsung has introduced a new batch of discounts across its most popular monitors and TVs this week, with notable markdowns on products like The Frame and the Smart Monitor series. These deals have all been applied automatically on Samsung's website, and many match all-time low prices on these products.
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 Apple today provided public beta testers with the second release of an upcoming macOS Tahoe 26.3 update for testing purposes. The public beta comes a day after Apple provided the second beta to developers.
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Did you have trouble reading your favorite subreddits today? You weren't alone.
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 Apple today announced that 2025 was a "record-breaking year" for many of its services, including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, and Apple Podcasts.
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 Apple emerged as the global smartphone market leader in 2025, capturing a 20% market share with 10% year-over-year shipment growth - the highest among the top five brands, according to data released today by Counterpoint Research.
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 OpenAI today announced the launch of ChatGPT Health, a dedicated section of ChatGPT where users can ask health-related questions completely separated from their main ChatGPT experience.
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If Windows 11 is on the table for you, today is your lucky day because you can get Windows 11 licenses for super cheap on the PCWorld Software Store right now. Seriously, both Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro are currently priced at $14.97 each. That's down from $139 (89% off) and $199 (92% off), respectively. Huge savings!
Casual users who don't need all the fancy features of the Pro version can get away with Windows 11 Home, although given that they're on sale for the same price, you might consider getting Windows 11 Pro for the heck of it. Windows 11 Pro unlocks advanced features like BitLocker encryption, Remote Desktop Server, Hyper-V virtualization, and Windows Sandbox. (See our breakdown of Windows 11 Pro versus Home.)
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How to activate your Windows 11 license
After you've made your order, you'll have to check your email inbox for the license key. Once you have that and your chosen Windows 11 copy is installed, here's how to activate t
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