Technology

After a Guardian investigation found misleading and false medical answers in Google’s AI overviews, Google has disabled the overviews for certain medical queries, including questions about liver blood test ranges.

Apple announced that Google's Gemini models will power Apple Intelligence and a more personalized Siri, and said interactions will run on-device or through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute with encryption and deletion.

SK Hynix will invest 19 trillion won (about $12.9 billion) to build an advanced packaging and testing plant in Cheongju, with construction set to begin in April and completion targeted for the end of 2027. The company said the expansion aims to meet rising demand for high-bandwidth memory driven by artificial intelligence.

AI agent sprawl is emerging as a governance challenge for CIOs in 2026, and the article describes AI agent supervisors and cross‑functional centers of excellence as tools for continuous visibility, compliance monitoring and audit-ready records.

Meta says it blocked about 550,000 accounts in the first week enforcing Australia's law that bans users under 16 from social media; Instagram, Facebook and Threads made up the bulk of the removals.

The WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe SSD is offered in capacities up to 8TB, and the 1TB–4TB models are listed with transfer speeds up to 7,300 MB/s.

Instagram says it fixed a bug that allowed external parties to trigger password reset emails and denied a data breach; cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes reported scraped user data for millions was listed for sale.

A Libyan shopkeeper received Nokia phones ordered in 2010 that finally arrived in 2024 after being delayed by disruptions following the 2011 civil war; the unboxing was shared on social media.

At CES 2026 Roborock unveiled the Saros Rover, a wheel-leg robot vacuum demonstrated climbing stairs, and also showcased new autonomous lawn mowers while announcing a multi-year partnership with Real Madrid.

Anker introduced the Solix E10, a modular home backup system that integrates battery storage, solar input and a smart fuel generator; preorders begin Jan. 12 and official sales start Feb. 4.

The UK is bringing a provision of the Data Act into force this week that makes creating or requesting non-consensual intimate deepfake images a criminal offence, and the government says it will treat the offence as a priority under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom has opened a formal investigation into X over deepfakes generated by the Grok chatbot and is expected to set a timeline for that inquiry.

Anthropic released Claude Cowork as a research-preview feature in the Claude macOS app that lets Claude access a user folder to read, edit, or create files; it is currently available to Claude Max subscribers and Anthropic warned of safety risks, including possible file deletion and prompt injection attacks.

Indonesia and Malaysia announced temporary blocks on Grok after reports that the chatbot produced sexually explicit images of real people.

After the Gabriel House fire that killed 10 residents, the Assisted Living Residences Commission unanimously approved its final report. Gov. Maura Healey announced she will begin implementing most of the report's regulatory and administrative recommendations and the commission also urged legislative action.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren told the National Press Club that Democrats should curb tech-sector influence and pursue populist, affordability-focused policies after the 2024 defeat.

Starting January 13, The Sims 4 will add a free Coach Collection that includes nine Coach-inspired in-game items.

Meta says it removed nearly 550,000 accounts it believed belonged to under-16s around the time Australia’s Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 took effect; the company urged the government to engage with industry and proposed age verification tools.

Google plans to end Chrome support for macOS 12 Monterey when Chrome 151 ships, making Chrome 150 the last release that will run on macOS 12; Chrome 151 is expected around mid-2026 and will require macOS 13 (Ventura) or newer.

iOS 26.1 adds a Liquid Glass setting with two choices, Clear and Tinted; Tinted increases opacity and contrast for parts of the interface such as Notification Center and some search bars. The change is meant to give users more control over transparency without altering Light or Dark mode.

Project Rene is now described as a mobile-first, social multiplayer life-sim and is not The Sims 5; Maxis says it will coexist with The Sims 4 and that single-player foundations remain.

Delta Air Lines will resume flights to Greater Binghamton Airport in spring 2026 after a planned pause; the airport credited outreach by Gov. Kathy Hochul, Sen. Chuck Schumer and others for the reversal.

Alphabet briefly reached a $4 trillion market capitalization after shares rose on reports that Apple will use Google's Gemini to power new iPhone AI features; it is the fourth company to reach that level.

A Samsung-backed survey reported 90% of U.S. respondents use some form of AI on their phones but only 38% realize it. Samsung says it is developing 'ambient AI' that runs across phones, TVs and appliances and expects to reach about 800 million AI-enabled devices by the end of the year.

Europe and China are reported to be close to an agreement that would remove EU tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, and Geely's Polestar and Zeekr are expanding sales and presence across Europe.

Anthropic launched Claude for Healthcare and is adding beta integrations that let U.S. Claude Pro and Max subscribers connect phone and wearable metrics, including Apple Health, so the assistant can analyze those data. The company says users must opt in, can control permissions, and that health data will not be used to train its models.

The article says assembling external drives from an M.2 NVMe SSD and an external enclosure can be cheaper and more flexible than buying pre-built external SSDs. It notes some enclosures offer up to 10Gbps transfer speeds.

Apple announced a multi-year partnership to use Google's Gemini models and cloud technology for its future foundational models and to power an AI-enhanced Siri arriving this year.

Samsung has released a free Stranger Things theme and five wallpapers for Galaxy phones; the items are available in 186 countries through the Galaxy Store and require downloading or launching the Netflix app to claim them.

The UK will publish its first under-5 screen time guidance in April, focusing on reducing passive viewing after research linked heavy screen use in some two-year-olds to smaller vocabularies.

The author reinstalled Windows 8.1 from an archived ISO and found it installed in about five minutes; he reports the interface mixes Windows 7 visuals with the Metro UI, creating an incohesive experience and locking many Metro apps behind a Microsoft account.