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Microsoft’s December servicing rollup quietly flipped a key Windows service to always‑on, and the change is already producing a mix of improved reliability in some scenarios and real performance headaches for others. Background / Overview On December 9, 2025 Microsoft shipped the cumulative update identified as KB5072033 for Windows 11 (builds 26100.7462 for 24H2 and 26200.7462 for 25H2) and related Server channels. The update’s change log was amended in mid‑December to include a single but...

Analysts are pointing to Amazon and Alphabet as two of the most resilient large-cap technology holdings heading into 2026, arguing that their scale, diversified revenue streams and heavy investments in AI infrastructure — including proprietary accelerators — give them defensive advantages in an expected “AI‑induced cloud boom.” Background / Overview The late‑2025 earnings cycle made one theme unmistakable: hyperscalers are spending at historic scale to add GPU/accelerator capacity, power and...

Cyberpunk 2077’s neon-soaked streets are getting an analog makeover: a fan-made VHS-style ReShade preset has captured attention for its convincing chroma bleed, ghosting trails and phosphor-like glow, and for those who don’t want to wait for the preset’s release there’s a free, easy way to reproduce much of the effect with ShaderGlass overlays on Windows PCs. Background Why analog filters keep popping up Nostalgia-driven aesthetics—CRT curvature, scanlines, and VHS tape artifacts—have long...

TunesKit’s new Android Unlocker arrives as a one-click remedy for users locked out of phones, promising screen‑lock removal, Google FRP bypass and support for thousands of models — but the tool’s convenience raises tangible security, legal and practical questions for technicians, second‑hand buyers and everyday users alike. Background Factory Reset Protection (FRP) and screen locks exist to stop unauthorized access to Android devices after a reset or theft. FRP ties a device to previously...

The tech industry is sounding a clear alarm: the long era of cheap, always‑on generative AI is giving way to a new commercial reality that looks a lot like Uber’s pivot from subsidized rides to market‑priced fares — and for many companies that means a genuine risk of “sticker shock” in 2026. Background The analogy to Uber captures a familiar arc: early adopters enjoy heavily subsidized or promotional pricing while vendors race to build scale; once the infrastructure and product reach...

The era of dirt‑cheap, “always‑on” generative AI—with free tiers and razor‑thin margins—is giving way to a more sober commercial model: vendors are folding powerful models into core suites, introducing metered credits and premium tiers, and signaling that businesses should expect meaningful price resets in 2026 and beyond. Background The analogy that AI is reaching an “Uber moment” captures a common commercial inflection: a once‑nascent technology that scaled on subsidized economics now must...

The last three years have accelerated a quiet but consequential shift: generative AI systems that began as writing and research tools are increasingly being used — and experienced — as emotional companions, with consequences that range from comforting to catastrophic. What started when OpenAI released ChatGPT on November 30, 2022 has become a societal experiment in real time: companies are layering memory, voice, vision and personalities on top of large language models (LLMs), users are...

The Kennedy Center in Washington now bears a new, controversial addition: the name of Donald J. Trump. At the same moment the physical letters were affixed to the building, a veteran comedy writer had quietly turned the predictable domain into a piece of political theatre — launching a spoof site that mimics the institution’s look while delivering sharp satire about the renaming, institutional power and the modern battleground over branding and digital identity. Background The John F...

Controlling noisy or overly aggressive PC fans is rarely magic — it’s a sequence of small, measurable changes that reduce heat generation, improve airflow, or give you direct control over fan curves so your system runs quieter without compromising safety. This guide consolidates the practical methods Windows users can use right now — from safe, no‑risk Windows and BIOS/UEFI tweaks to third‑party fan curve tools and hardware fixes — and explains the trade‑offs, known risks, and testing steps...

Copilot and other generative assistants can turn the blank page from a barrier into a launchpad — but getting consistently useful results requires a method, not magic. Background AI brainstorming is now mainstream: Microsoft positions Copilot as an “AI idea generator” for students, creators, professionals, hobbyists, job seekers, travel planners, and everyday organizers, and supplies ready-to-use prompt patterns and workflows to help people turn raw AI output into actionable work. That...

LG’s sudden push of Microsoft Copilot onto millions of webOS televisions — delivered as a system-level tile that many owners could not remove — has ignited a global backlash that reaches far beyond remote controls and home screens. Background and overview LG and Microsoft first signaled a broad Copilot-for-TV push during the 2025 product cycle, positioning conversational AI as a core part of the next-generation living‑room experience. The companies framed Copilot as a convenience for deep...

PCMag’s year‑end ledger of the services and hardware that “died in 2025” reads like a map of an industry reshaping itself around scale, AI compute, and product consolidation — from the calendar‑driven retirement of Windows 10 to the quiet death of novelty gadgets and the abrupt removal of long‑trusted convenience features. Background / Overview 2025’s shutdowns clustered into four clear themes: scheduled lifecycle endings, strategic consolidation of standalone apps into platform stacks, the...

I stopped treating Windows updates as a roulette wheel and took control of the system-level settings, driver cadence, and update policy — the result was a consistently snappier, less jittery PC without buying new hardware. What began as small, reversible changes (delaying non‑critical updates a few days, switching NVIDIA to Studio drivers, and blocking automatic driver installations) turned into a practical, repeatable process that balances security with real‑world stability and playable...

Microsoft appears to be quietly funding an ambitious effort — codenamed “Project Strong ARMed” in recent hiring adverts — to accelerate the migration of large x64 codebases to Arm64 across some parts of the company using AI-powered software engineering agents. The public fragments (job listings and community reporting) and internal analysis fragments show a coherent technical vision: combine large-scale program analysis, generative models, and automated verification pipelines to find...

Florida’s governor has openly broken ranks with President Trump on how to handle artificial intelligence — framing a suite of state-level protections as necessary guardrails against deepfakes, labor disruption and the sprawling infrastructure that powers modern AI, even as the White House issues an executive order aimed at creating a single national AI rulebook. Background The year’s policy headlines around AI have landed on three overlapping fronts: federal efforts to standardize rules and...

Olares One lands as a striking proof‑of‑concept: a 3.5‑litre mini PC that packs laptop‑class flagship silicon, a top‑tier mobile GPU and workstation‑class memory into a palmable chassis — but it also surfaces uncomfortable questions about software compatibility, long‑term reliability and the real limits of “local AI” promises. Background / Overview Olares, a startup pitching a privacy‑first local‑AI platform, launched the Olares One as a crowdfunded mini workstation aimed squarely at...

Electric-car owners in Minnesota will begin 2026 facing a materially higher registration bill: the state’s new law raises the minimum annual surcharge for fully electric vehicles to $150 for registrations starting January 1, 2026 (and establishes a new minimum $75 surcharge for plug‑in hybrid electric vehicles), while preserving the existing vehicle‑value based registration tax that can push the total bill even higher for newer, more expensive EVs. Background / Overview Minnesota lawmakers...

The Kennedy Center now carries a new name on its façade — and the URL that might have been expected to follow was quietly pre-empted by a satirist who turned the moment into a lesson about branding, the web, and the limits of legal redress. Background In mid-December, the board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — dominated by appointees allied with the president — voted to add Donald J. Trump’s name to the institution’s official designation. Work crews applied new...

As organisations prepare for 2026, the South African Reward Association’s (SARA) October 30–31, 2025 conference produced a pragmatic, action‑oriented roadmap for talent, pay and governance: Dr. Mark Bussin’s twelve employment and remuneration trends crystallise how AI, analytics and shifting culture will reshape promotions, pay design and leadership expectations — and they demand urgent operational responses from HR, rewards committees, IT and boards. Background / Overview Dr. Bussin...

Over the course of a single news cycle in late December 2025 a decades‑long adversarial archive and one of the world’s largest energy companies were reframed not by a fresh filing or press release, but by public experiments with generative AI assistants — and the episode exposes a practical governance gap at the intersection of archival practice, corporate communications, and model design. Background John Donovan’s campaign against Royal Dutch Shell began as commercial litigation in the...