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 Get ready for an onslaught of Apple news! Ahead of a "special Apple experience" for the media on Wednesday, there will be several days of announcements coming from the company with Tim Cook confirming that things will kick off on Monday.
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OpenAI has reached an agreement with the Defense Department to deploy its models in the agency's network, company chief Sam Altman has revealed on X. In his post, he said two of OpenAI's most important safety principles are "prohibitions on domestic mass surveillance and human responsibility for the use of force, including for autonomous weapon systems." Altman claimed the company put those principles in its agreement with the agency, which he called by the government's preferred name of Department of War (DoW), and that it had agreed to honor them.
The agency has closed the deal with OpenAI, shortly after President Donald Trump ordered all government agencies to stop using Claude and any other Anthropic services. If you'll recall, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously threatened to label Anthropic "supply chain risk" if it continues refusing to remove the guardrails on its AI, which are preventing the technology to be used for mass surveillance against Americans and in fully autonomous weapons.
It's unclear why the government agreed to team up with OpenAI if its models also have the same guardrails, but Altman said it's asking the government to offer the same terms to all the AI companies it works with. Jeremy Lewin, the Senior Official Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance, Humanitarian Affairs, and Religious Freedom, said on X that DoW "references certain existing legal authorities and includes certain mutually agreed upon safety mechanisms" in its contracts. Both OpenAI and xAI, which had also previously signed a
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 MWC 2026 officially gets underway on March 2 and will continue through March 5, but the announcements are already coming ahead of its start. We can always count on the annual tech event to bring tons of new phones, laptops and tablets, and we're expecting to see some robots and other gadgets too — plus plenty of AI news, of course. In addition to the announcements, MWC is our chance to get hands-on time with some of the most interesting new devices, like the Xiaomi 17 Ultra.
We'll be updating this story as the week goes on to keep you in the loop on everything that caught our attention, so keep checking back here for the latest MWC news.
Xiaomi x LeicaXiaomi kicked off MWC this year by announcing the global launch of its 17 Ultra smartphone, which debuted first in China back in December. It's unclear if the phone will ever come to the US, but it's now rolling out in Europe. Xiaomi teamed up again with Leica to make a photography-focused smartphone, and the 17 Ultra sports a 1-inch 50-megapixel camera sensor with a f/1.67 lens, a telephoto setup with a 200MP 1/1.4-inch sensor, and a 50MP ultrawide camera. There's also a manual zoom ring around the camera.
Check out our hands on for our first impressions of what it's like shooting with the
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If you have a question about women's health, Oura's new AI model can answer it. This is what you need to know about privacy and access.
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 China's biggest phone makers continue to relentlessly forge ahead with high-spec phones that you may never see in the US. With the Xiaomi 17 Ultra this year, the company has continued its pattern from previous iterations by focusing on powerful camera sensors, huge batteries and… being selective about global availability.
Xiaomi's 17 series is launching across multiple European territories months after its Asia debut, but at the time of writing, no word yet on US availability. Another logistical point of interest? When we last checked out Xiaomi's devices, it was the 15 series, and the company has decided to skip 16 and leap straight to 17, conveniently matching Apple's latest number.
Storied camera brand Leica has been involved with Xiaomi's phones for a few years and its newest flagship doesn't disappoint in that regard, because this is another Xiaomi device dedicated to photography.
Image by Mat Smith for Engadget
The 17 Ultra has a huge 1-inch 50-megapixel main camera sensor with a f/1.67 lens, and a telephoto setup with a 200MP 1/1.4-inch sensor and going up to 4.3x optical zoom. Xiaomi claims it's capable of up to 17x "optical-level zoom," but quality doesn't measure up to, say, the Oppo Find X9, with its dedicated telescopic lens add-on. There's also a 50MP ultrawide camera to round things out.
The main camera
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Whether you call it the Leica Leitzphone or the Xiaomi 17 Ultra Leica phone, this dream camera phone is my latest obsession.
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At the outbreak of a new war, Altman is closer than ever to the Pentagon.
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America's journey back to the moon has run into a few missteps. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman is banking on a new approach.
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These are the best yoga poses to help you improve your sleep.
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Plus: The top US cyber agency falls into shambles, AI models develop an upsetting penchant for nuclear weapons, and more.
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You'll never have to think about setting your home's temperature again with the best smart thermostats from Nest, Honeywell and Ecobee.
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With Splendid Spoon, you get premade smoothies, soups, bowls and oats that are vegan, gluten-free and easy to prepare in minutes. This is what two meal kit testers thought after trying the service.
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What is an augmented reality play in a real theater, with virtual actors and a real audience? In this case, haunting and something more than what I can do at home -- for now.
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Commentary: I don't want Galaxy AI to handle tasks that I actually like doing.
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If your wine rack is anywhere near your oven, it's time you find it a new home.
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These are the best baby monitors to keep an eye on your babies and toddlers.
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Surveillance technology intended to protect endangered species is weaponized against locals, with repercussions that range from harassment to physical violence.
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The deal came hours after President Trump had ordered federal agencies to stop using artificial intelligence technology made by Anthropic, an OpenAI rival.
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 Starting on Monday, we're going to get our first major product announcements of 2026. Apple CEO Tim Cook teased a "big week ahead" with an "Apple Launch" hashtag, plus Apple has media events scheduled in New York, Shanghai, and London on Wednesday, March 4. We're expecting the iPhone 17e, an all-new low-cost MacBook, and minor refreshes to the Mac and iPad lines.
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That's up from 700 million users in September last year and more than doubled from where it was last year.
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With the likes of The Last of Us and Fallout out of the way for a bit, Amazon has seized its opportunity to put the spotlight on the next big video game adaptation, its currently-in-production God of War show. Today we got our first look at Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson as Kratos and Atreus.
The image released by Amazon shows the eponymous God of War standing next to a tree as he watches his son — who notably looks a bit younger than the video game version of 11-year-old Atreus we first met in 2018's God of War — take aim with his bow. Exactly what they're hunting is unclear, but we know that the developing relationship between father and son that was such a big part of the PS4 game is also going to be at the heart of the show.
Whether Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios have nailed the looks of its central characters is a matter of opinion. Personally I think Hurst's Kratos in particular looks a little bit off here, but there's every chance it all comes together later in production. Or when we first hear him angrily exclaim "boy!"
The Sons of Anarchy star was cast as Kratos back in January, and earlier this week we learned that Deadpool's
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NEW RESOURCES Radio Prague International: New online database maps Prague's art monuments and architecture. "The freely accessible website, called Art Monuments / Architectural Manual, brings together hundreds of buildings and landmarks across […]
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The Pokemon Company announced its first mainline games exclusively for the Switch 2, coming in 2027.
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NASA is now looking at an April launch at the earliest for Artemis II, its first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years.
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Anthropic says it would be "legally unsound" for the Pentagon to blacklist its technology after talks over military use of its artificial intelligence models broke down.
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Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are officially merging. The studio paid Netflix the $2.8 billion termination fee it was owed for breaking its original deal to buy Warner Bros. earlier today, and the historic film studio has now formally accepted Paramount's offer.
Along with the deal, which values Warner Bros. Discovery at $31 per share, Paramount is making several commitments to assuage the fears of regulators and the entertainment community. Those include a guarantee that the new company will produce 30 theatrical films annually, that theatrical releases will have a minimum 45-day window in theaters before they're brought to video on demand (something Netflix ultimately also agreed to) and that deal itself will close by Q3 2026.
This turnaround in Paramount's fortunes has happened quickly. Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Paramount's offer was superior to Netflix's on Thursday, and not long after the
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NASA wants its Space Launch System rocket to stop requiring yearslong launch delays.
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Commentary: The features unveiled at Samsung's Unpacked event could make social media even more treacherous, especially for young adults.
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Paramount Skydance's sprawling media empire will get a major boost if the deal is approved.
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Proposals before the FCC involve mirrors that could bathe entire cities in sunlight and, from SpaceX, a million satellites to serve as data centers.
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This week, we're diving into the big changes at Xbox and what it all means for Microsoft's gaming future. Phil Spencer, the longtime face of Xbox, announced he's retiring last week. He'll be replaced by Microsoft's former CoreAI CEO Asha Sharma, instead of his longtime deputy Sarah Bond, who plans to leave the company. Will this change actually help the beleaguered Xbox division, or is it another example of Microsoft shoving AI into everything?
Also, Samsung held its latest Unpacked event this week to announce its new Galaxy S26 family. They look pretty much the same as last year, but the Ultra model includes a unique privacy feature that can instantly make the screen unreadable to bystanders. It's one of those features we expect to see in every phone eventually.
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You can now have conversations with the Luna Ring about your health and even ask it questions, but there is a catch.
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Perplexity Computer launches with 19 specialized AI models working in parallel to build apps, dashboards, research, and more from a single prompt.
The post Perplexity Wants to Replace Your Computer With 19 AIs appeared first on eWEEK.
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The AI assistant is meant to help employees, but it will also track their manners during customer interactions.
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Keep your web browsing activity hidden, mask your torrenting activity and unblock geo-protected streaming content with the best VPNs for Mac.
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 Samsung this week debuted pre-orders for its newest line of Galaxy products, including the S26 smartphones and Galaxy Buds4. You can find a few early launch discounts on some of these products, plus discounts on Samsung's most popular monitors and TVs, with notable markdowns on products like The Frame TVs.
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 Tecno just unveiled a rather intriguing modular smartphone concept design at MWC 2026. The standout feature here is likely the size. Most modular smartphone concepts start bulky and only get bulkier once attaching accessories. Tecno's base smartphone is just 4.9mm thin, which is significantly thinner than a pencil and the iPhone Air.
Of course, the size increases with each attached module. However, snapping on the power bank module makes the thickness comparable to a standard modern smartphone. Another key feature here is how these various modular components stick together. Tecno has developed new interconnection technology that uses both magnets and pin connectors. This should make it easy to both attach and remove components.
The company says this phone has been designed to grow with the user through hardware expansion. To that end, Tecno has developed 10 modules. There are various camera lenses and something that looks like a dedicated gaming controller.
Tecno
While the magnets are for attaching, the pin connectors assist with power delivery. Data transmission between the phone and the modules is handled wirelessly, with the ability to switch between Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and mmWave depending on
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 Apple is expected to unveil up to five new products next week, including a lower-cost MacBook, and a few more details about the laptop surfaced today.
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If you struggle to fall asleep at night, you might want to try adding these nutritionist-approved foods to your plate during the day.
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The KM Reality Award recognizes an organization in which knowledge management is a positive reality, not just rhetoric. The award recipient has demonstrated leadership in the implementation of knowledge management practices and processes, realizing measurable business benefits
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While it's not universally the case, many businesses actively using Macs for work may not be paying enough attention to ensuring those devices are secured, according to cloud security provider Qualys, which estimates that just over half of Macs remain unprotected by recent security patches.
To read this article in full, please click here
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