JobHustler automates your job search across LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, Glassdoor, and Monster without browser extensions or platform credentials. It scans listings, filters for quality matches with a 70% fit score, and helps you act faster. Use built-in AI to tailor resumes and generate cover letters for each application, and get started on a free tier that never stops.
MachineGames' studio director Jerk Gustafsson has promised that it will return to the Wolfenstein franchise, though it may be "later" instead of "now."
There have been previous rumors that Guerrilla games was working on a new multiplayer game in the Horizon universe, but it was thought that the game would be an MMO. Insteadβor maybe in addition to the MMOβSony has just announced Horizon Hunters Gathering, a co-op PvE game with teams of three players. It seems like Hunters Gathering will largely follow a similar formula to the Monster Hunter series, where parties take on missions to hunt monsters. At launch, there will be three playable characters to choose from, each with their own weapons, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, and there will be two mission types to choose from during the first playtest, scheduled for late February. Machine Incursion sees players defend an area from a machine attack, replete with a tough boss fight at the end. Cauldron Descent is a dungeon crawling-style affair, where players mount an assault on a machine base, exploring a multi-stage dungeon and fighting enemies along the way and tackling environmental puzzles. Hunters Gathering will also have a campaign mode at launch, which can be played through single-player or in co-op mode.
While the Hunters Gathering announcement trailer details much of the gameplay, it does not confirm if players will stick with one class throughout various missions, but there is no mention of progression, so it seems as though players will choose a character at the start of each mission queue. Guerrilla Games also confirmed that more hunters will be added to the game at a later stage, adding credence to this theory. Horizon Hunters Gathering is set in the American West, 1,000 years into the future and after the collapse of civilization. The premise is that the hunters are the last line of defense against the machines that roam the wilds and threaten human tribes. The machine designs will feel familiar to anyone who's played the original single-player Horizon games, but the visual style is now much more stylized and cartoon-like. The game will launch on PC and PlayStation 5 and cross-play will be available at launch, although an exact launch date has not yet been announced.
Keychron has announced two new low-profile wireless keyboards, the K3 HE and K3 Ultra, both set to launch on February 12. The pair builds on the company's recent HE and Ultra designs, combining a slim form factor with gaming-focused features and wood accent details. Similar to the K2 HE, the upcoming K3 HE keyboard uses Lime low-profile hall effect magnetic switches, so users will be able to adjust actuation points, trigger and reset behavior, and configure multi-action or analog inputs. The Keychron K3 HE is also expected to support third-party low-profile Hall effect switches, including Gateron Magnetic Jade Pro and TTC KOM, avoiding a fully proprietary ecosystem. By contrast, the K3 Ultra sticks with traditional mechanical switches, using pre-lubed low-profile Milk POM switches with a high 8,000 Hz polling rate. This puts input latency as low as 0.125 ms, targeting competitive gaming scenarios where response time is a priority. The keyboard runs on ZMK firmware and is rated for up to 550 hours of battery life in 2.4 GHz wireless mode.
Both models emphasize portability and are expected to use an ABS bottom case with metal and wood frame similar to earlier HE Special Edition keyboards. The keyboards will be available in black and white versions. Keychron has not yet disclosed final pricing, though early access requires a $3 reservation fee.
A Redditor who enjoys experimenting with old hardware and ancient operating systems recently tried a small but clever experiment: installing an NVMe drive in a PCI-based machine. The idea was to force a modern(ish) SSD to operate under the constraints storage devices faced in the 1990s, requiring it to interact...
Nexafin automatically detects your recurring bills and shows what's due this week, what's overdue, and what's coming up. You can connect bank, credit, and investment accounts across 12,000+ institutions or import CSV/PDF statements if you prefer not to link. Enjoy a 30-day free trial.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder + Meetup In Bellabel Park is just as chaotic and trippy as the base game, but major additions to the multiplayer mode make it a must-have party game.
During the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday, it offered an update on its plans to merge traditional and AI search together and hinted that although search is not yet monetized, "it's an enormous market and opportunity."
Nvidiaβs RTX 60 series may have been pushed back to 2028 According to The Information (paywalled article), Nvidia has delayed its βKickerβ (RTX 50 SUPER) GPU lineup, citing memory shortages. As a knock-on effect, this change delays the next-generation of Nvidia GPUs, the RTX 60 series, until at least 2028. In December, Nvidia reportedly delayed [β¦]
EMEET today announced the launch of the EMEET S600L, a 4K webcam designed to deliver clear, consistent, and professional-quality video through the integration of intelligent imaging technology and a built-in ring light. The S600L is created for creators, streamers, and professionals seeking high-quality visuals without complex setups.
Powered by a 4K imaging system and EMEET's AI imaging capabilities, the S600L delivers sharp detail, balanced exposure, and natural color reproduction across various lighting environments. Intelligent image processing helps ensure visual clarity and stability, whether users are live streaming, recording content, or participating in virtual meetings.
Darmoshark has announced a new wireless gaming mouse designed specifically for users with big hands, with the mouse making its debut in a post on Bilibili. The Darmoshark M9 has a similar shape to the ever-popular Razer Viper V3 Pro, but it measures in at 136.5 Γ 68.1 Γ 43.5 mm, compared to the Viper V3 Pro's 127.1 Γ 63.9 Γ 39.9 mm. A few millimeters' difference may not seem like much, but it's a bigger difference across the board than the difference between the original Razer Viper Ultimate (126.8 Γ 57.6 Γ 37.8 mm) and the Viper Mini (118.3 mm Γ 53.5 Γ 38.3 mm), and the shape being what it is, it should provide a decent experience for users who would otherwise feel cramped on a standard-size gaming mouse. Darmoshark makes no hard claims, but it says that it "may well be the largest mouse to date."
The Darmoshark M9 doesn't skimp on the specs, either, featuring a PixArt PAW 3950 sensor, a Nordic 54L15 MCU, Omron Optical switches, and a 500 mAh battery, all at a claimed weight of 59 gβonly 5 g heavier than the Viper V3 Pro and roughly the same weight as the Logitech G Pro X Superlight 2. This hardware means it will have 8 kHz polling as well as features like a 20 FPS mode and adjustable lift-off. Like the aforementioned mice, it has a solid shell and two programmable side buttons. It seems as though the increased shell size has made it necessary to move the hump slightly to the back for more palm support without affecting click height too much, and the scroll wheel has a rubberized coating. The mouse is already available in China for RMB 400, which converts to roughly $58, although it's likely the price will increase if and when it eventually gets a global release.
As 2026 gets underway, it's clear that AI's momentum hasn't stalled in the least. If anything, it's picking up speed, especially with the recent surge of interest in AI-powered agents, often referred to as agentic AI, that are beginning to reshape how the technology is used.
Parano.ai delivers AI-assisted competitive intelligence that tracks competitorsβ marketing, product updates, pricing, reviews, hires, funding, and website changes in real time. It sends executive summaries, change-detection comparisons, and tailored alerts to your inbox, Slack, or Microsoft Teams.
Set your competitors, fine-tune signals with granular filters, and receive daily or weekly digests for faster decisions. Pricing is per competitor with unlimited seats.
The GeekBook X14 Pro is an ultra-lightweight 14-inch display laptop featuring Windows 11 Pro and a premium build with a stylish magnesium alloy outer. Inside, an impressive CPU and GPU offer a powerful combination, making it a great option for business and creative use.
Andreessen Horowitz VC Jennifer Liβ , who oversees some of the firm's fastest-growing AI companies, warns founders not to believe every ARR claim made on X.
It has been only a few days since Apple's new AirTag 2 hit the store shelves. Yet, iFixIt is now out with a teardown of the device, revealing interesting insights about the coin-like tracker. iFixIt: Apple AirTag 2 still does not sport "tamper proof" speakers iFixIt's teardown of the AirTag 2 has revealed a few interesting aspects about the new device: For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the new AirTag's key specs include: The new AirTag is available at the same $29 price point. You can also buy a bundle of 4 for $99.
AT&Tβs subpar service and customer service were quickly in the negative spotlight when a customer on Reddit explained his horrible experience with the U.S. carrier concerning an iPhone 17 ProΒ that was supposed to arrive brand new at the designated address. Unfortunately, not only was the box shipped with a broken factory seal, but the device also had a smudged display, clearly indicating it had been opened before. Naturally, the first instinct would have been to return the product, which would have been a simple process, right? Wrong, and after the customer endured the excruciating after-sales support, he was charged triple [β¦]
As Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Warzone starts Season 2, its devs joined us to talk how they're handling the challenges of live-service game development.
Capcom has released a free playable demo of Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection, the next and biggest entry in Monster Hunter's JRPG spin-off series for platforms. Here's what you can expect from the demo.
Corsair has been listed on Nasdaq since September 2020, when the company made an IPO at $17 per share. However, the company, which is a gaming staple, has now fallen to a measly sub-$5 range for the first time. Just days ahead of its full-year earnings and Q4 2025 results scheduled for February 12, Corsair is trading at $4.80 with a market capitalization of $504.63 million. During the first three months of its public listing, the stock reached an all-time high of $51.37, and the price has been in free fall since. This represents a 90% market value reduction over nearly five and a half years.
For the previous Q3 2025 report, the company reported a year-over-year revenue increase of 14% to $345.8 million, with projections for a full-year outlook being $1.425 billion to $1.475 billion, and adjusted operating income in the range of $76 million to $81 million. However, since the stock is now falling, we can expect that the earnings will possibly be at the lower end of the range. Interestingly, Corsair is one of the few publicly listed companies with revenues exceeding its market capitalization. This indicates that the company is capturing a significant revenue share among PC enthusiasts, but its operating costs are very high, and the business is net profit margin negative, which is a massive concern for investors using their hard-earned funds.
Wardogs is a new massively multiplayer tactical FPS that has been in development at Bulkhead for a number of years. It puts players in all-out warfare in a massive 256 kmΒ² map with 99 other players split into three teams. On February 5, 2026, the game studio released a new gameplay trailer and a Steam Store page for the upcoming FPS, revealing some previously unknown details about the upcoming shooter. One of the major reveals is that Wardogs will use Easy Anti-Cheat, which may spell bad news for Linux gamers. EAC does have a Linux mode that developers can enable, and Team17, the publisher behind the game, is known for being Linux-friendly, but there is currently no guarantee that Wardogs will be playable on devices like the Valve Steam Deck, the upcoming Steam Machine, or any other Linux system out there. Minimum hardware requirements are fairly low, calling for an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 or AMD Radeon RX 590, 16 GB of RAM, and either an Intel Core i5 8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3500, meaning it will likely be reasonably playable on a iGPU if playing at lower resolution and quality settings.
Aside from the confirmation of EAC, the Wardogs Steam page denies that the game is a battle royale or an extraction shooter, instead emphasizing that it's a "new tactical take on the all-out-warfare FPS genre that rewards decision-making, communication, and teamwork," all within a modern militaristic setting and a fully player-driven sandbox with destructible environments and building mechanics. The game will feature realistic graphics, vehicular combat, and it will give players the freedom to approach the game as they see fit. The upgrade system depends on purchasing gear, weapons, and vehicles from a store, and each player starts with $10,000, but earnings persist from match to match. The game format itself revolves around controlling a 4 kmΒ² zone located randomly on the mapβthe more players a team has in the control zone, the more points they rack up. Wardogs is slated to launch in 2026, but the game studio will conduct limited playtests ahead of launch.
Blizzard is officially dropping the "2" from Overwatch 2, signaling a renewed focus on evolving the storyline and enhancing gameplay rather than releasing sequels disconnected from earlier titles. The company believes that introducing a fully connected annual storyline will deepen player engagement over time.
Resolut streamlines accounts receivable so you get paid on time and protect cash flow. Connect QuickBooks, orchestrate email, SMS, and phone reminders, and escalate with legal voice when needed, all without harming client relationships. The platform offers a dynamic billing portal with multiple payment options, automatic cash application, and AI-driven credit risk assessment. Use autopilot or co-pilot modes to balance automation with control, cut DSO, and eliminate administrative burdens across the full AR cycle.
Right now, there's a big air of mystery around MachineGames, and what its next project will be. The developer is mostly known for its take on the Wolfenstein series; its last game, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, meant it took several years off from the Wolfenstein franchise to make a different kind of excellent Nazi-punching adventure. But now that its treasure-hunting adventure is out, with its own DLC, and will soon be available on the Nintendo Switch 2, the question once again becomes: what's next for MachineGames? Presumably, what's next is Wolfenstein 3, and in a recent interview with [β¦]
Tesla's CEO is highly optimistic about the prospect of computing in space, as Musk believes Earth's energy constraints hinder the advancement of AI. Tesla's CEO Claims Energy Is a Problem On Earth, But in Outer Space, Chips Will Be the Next Constraint As the world of AI infrastructure advances, many experts argue that the 'dot-com' moment for this buildout will come when hyperscalers realize there isn't enough energy on the grid to sustain datacenter development, which would ultimately lead to a compute glut. Energy is a massive constraint that the AI bandwagon currently witnesses, given that it is argued that [β¦]
One mechanic that Embark Studios uses to keep players engaged in ARC Raiders is the game's Expeditions, which are essentially a big reset for your Raider. Things like your Workshop, player level, skill points, blueprints, coins, quests, and stash upgrade progress all get reset, letting you start again with new rewards and buffs to make your next round of Topside visits all the more intriguing. What makes Expeditions interesting to complete (and what helps keep players logging onto ARC Raiders each day) is that you have a limited amount of time to prepare for them, with Expeditions running on a [β¦]
Nvidia's RTX 50 series Super refresh supposedly is design complete, but the GPU maker won't be releasing any new RTX GPUs in 2026, according to a report in The Information.
For many local businesses, performance looks healthier than it is.
Rank trackers still show top-three positions. Visibility reports appear steady. Yet calls and website visits from Google Business Profiles are falling β sometimes fast.
This gap is becoming a defining feature of local search today.
Rankings are holding. Visibility and performance arenβt.
The alligator has arrived in local SEO.
The visibility crisis behind stable rankings
Across multiple U.S. industries, traditional local 3-packs are being replaced β or at least supplemented β by AI-powered local packs. These layouts behave differently from the map results weβve optimized in the past.
Analysis from Sterling Sky, based on 179 Google Business Profiles, reveals a pattern thatβs hard to ignore. Clicks-to-call are dropping sharply for Jepto-managed law firms.
When AI-powered packs replace traditional listings, the landscape shifts in four critical ways:
Shrinking real estate: AI packs often surface only two businesses instead of three.
Missing call buttons: Many AI-generated summaries remove instant click-to-call options, adding friction to the customer journey.
Different businesses appear: The businesses shown in AI packs often donβt match those in the traditional 3-pack.
Accelerated monetization of local search: When paid ads are present, traditional 3-packs increasingly lose direct call and website buttons, reducing organic conversion opportunities.
A fifth issue compounds the problem:
Measurement blind spots: Most rank trackers donβt yet report on AI local packs. A business may rank first in a 3-pack that many users never see.
AI local packs surfaced only 32% as many unique businesses as traditional map packs in 2026, according to Sterling Sky. In 88% of the 322 markets analyzed, the total number of visible businesses declined.
At the same time, paid ads continue to take over space once reserved for organic results, signaling a clear shift toward a pay-to-play local landscape.
What Google Business Profile data shows
The same pattern appears, especially in the U.S., where Google is aggressively testing new local formats, according to GMBapi.com data. Traditional local 3-pack impressions are increasingly displaced by:
AI-powered local packs.
Paid placements inside traditional map packs: Sponsored listings now appear alongside or within the map pack, pushing organic results lower and stripping listings of call and website buttons. This breaks organic customer journeys.
Expanded Google Ads units: Including Local Services Ads that consume space once reserved for organic visibility.
Impression trends still fluctuate due to seasonality, market differences, and occasional API anomalies. But a much clearer signal emerges when you look at GBP actions rather than impressions.
Mentions inside AI-generated results are still counted as impressions β even when they no longer drive calls, clicks, or visits.
Some fluctuations are driven by external factors. For example, the June drop ties back to a known Google API issue. Mobile Maps impressions also appear heavily influenced by large advertisers ramping up Google Ads later in the year.
Thereβs no way to segment these impressions by Google Ads, organic results, or AI Mode.
Even there, however, user behaviour is changing. Interaction rates are declining, with fewer direct actions taken from local listings.
Year-on-year comparisons in the US suggest that while impression losses remain moderate and partially seasonal, GBP actions are disproportionately impacted.
As a counterfactual, data from the Dutch market β where SERP experimentation remains limited β shows far more stable action trends.
The pattern is clear. AI-driven SERP changes, expanding Google Ads, and the removal of call and website buttons from the Map Pack are shrinking organic real estate. Even when visibility looks intact, businesses have fewer chances to earn real user actions.
Local SEO is becoming an eligibility problem
Historically, local optimization centered on familiar ranking factors: proximity, relevance, prominence, reviews, citations, and engagement.
Today, another layer sits above all of them: eligibility.
Many businesses fail to appear in AI-powered local results not because they lack authority, but because Googleβs systems decide they arenβt an appropriate match for the specific query context. Research from Yext and insights from practitioners like Claudia Tomina highlight the importance of alignment across three core signals:
Business name
Primary category
Real-world services and positioning
When these fundamentals are misaligned, businesses can be excluded from entire result types β no matter how well optimized the Google Business Profile itself may be.
How to future-proof local visibility
Surviving todayβs zero-click reality means moving beyond reliance on a single, perfectly optimized Google Business Profile. Hereβs your new local SEO playbook.
The eligibility gatekeeper
Failure to appear in local packs is now driven more by perceived relevance and classification than by links or review volume.
Hyper-local entity authority
AI systems cross-reference Reddit, social platforms, forums, and local directories to judge whether a business is legitimate and active. Inconsistent signals across these ecosystems quietly erode visibility.
Visual trust signals
High-quality, frequently updated photos, and increasingly video, are no longer optional. Googleβs AI analyzes visual content to infer services, intent, and categorization.
Embrace the pay-to-play reality
Itβs a hard truth, but Google Ads β especially Local Services Ads β are now critical to retaining prominent call buttons that organic listings are losing. A hybrid strategy that blends local SEO with paid search isnβt optional. Itβs the baseline.
What this means for local search now
Local SEO is no longer a static directory exercise. Google Business Profiles still anchor local discoverability, but they now operate inside a much broader ecosystem shaped by AI validation, constant SERP experimentation, and Googleβs accelerating push to monetize local search.
Discovery no longer hinges on where your GBP ranks against nearby competitors. Search systems β including Googleβs AI-driven SERP features and large language models like ChatGPT and Gemini β are increasingly trying to understand what a business actually does, not just where itβs listed.
Success is no longer about being the most βoptimizedβ profile. Itβs about being widely verified, consistently active, and contextually relevant across the AI-visible ecosystem.
Our observations show little correlation between businesses that rank well in the traditional Map Pack and those favored by Googleβs AI-generated local answers that are beginning to replace it. That gap creates a real opportunity for businesses willing to adapt.
In practice, this means pairing local input with central oversight.
Authentic engagement across multiple platforms, locally differentiated content, and real community signals must coexist with brand governance, data consistency, and operational scale. For single-location businesses with deep community roots, this is an advantage. Being genuinely discussed, recommended, and referenced in your local area β online and offline β gets you halfway there.
For agencies and multi-location brands, the challenge is to balance control with local nuance and ensure trusted signals extend beyond Google (e.g., Apple Maps, Tripadvisor, Yelp, Reddit, and other relevant review ecosystems). The real test is producing locally relevant content and citations at scale without losing authenticity.
Rankings may look stable. But performance increasingly lives somewhere else.
The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) botnet known as AISURU/Kimwolf has been attributed to a record-setting attack that peaked at 31.4 Terabits per second (Tbps) and lasted only 35 seconds.
Cloudflare, which automatically detected and mitigated the activity, said it's part of a growing number of hyper-volumetric HTTP DDoS attacks mounted by the botnet in the fourth quarter of 2025. The
Accessing the Storage settings on Windows 11 now triggers a UAC prompt, giving admins an extra layer of security over system files and device security.
The NexPhone runs Windows 11, Android, and Linux. With a Q3 2026 launch and a $549 price tag, it's a bold attempt to revive the "PC in your pocket" dream.
During today's Nintendo Direct, SQUARE ENIX announced PARANORMASIGHT: The Mermaid's Curse, the second installment in the series, following the cult hit PARANORMASIGHT: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, is coming to Nintendo Switch and other major platforms on Feb. 19. The company also revealed that FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH, the acclaimed sequel and second game in the FINAL FANTASY VII remake series, is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC on June 3.
In addition to these exciting announcements, the Nintendo Direct also debuted a new trailer for the upcoming action-RPG The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, which is coming to Nintendo Switch 2 and other platforms on June 18.
Artificial Intelligence may be eating the world of software now, but gamers are suffering. According to The Information, NVIDIA has reportedly entirely postponed the launch of its GeForce RTX 50 "SUPER" refresh, as the company's executives are prioritizing AI accelerators over the gaming sector, which consumes precious cutting edge GDDR7 memory. The GeForce RTX 50 "SUPER" refresh was originally scheduled for an announcement at CES 2026, with shipping in Q1 or Q2 of 2026. However, the GDDR7 memory used in the SUPER lineup was a high-capacity 3 GB version, which NVIDIA managers in December deemed too important for gamers, postponing the refresh entirely.
The "SUPER" series was planned with denser GDDR7 memory modules, offering 3 GB of capacity per chip, increasing the memory configuration of the standard GeForce RTX 5070, RTX 5070 Ti, and RTX 5080. Initially, the RTX 5070 SUPER was planned with an upgrade to offer 18 GB, while the RTX 5070 Ti SUPER and RTX 5080 SUPER would each provide 24 GB of GDDR7 memory. As NVIDIA's AI GPU portfolio also uses the high-density GDDR7 memory, like the RTX PRO 6000 "Blackwell" and "Rubin CPX" the company has decided to instead prioritize this high-margin business, leaving gamers with inflated prices of the regular GeForce RTX 50-series.
Break out the cake and green sprinkles - GeForce NOW is turning six. Since launch, members have streamed over 1 billion hours, and the party's just getting started. Throughout February, members can look forward to new games, fresh ways to play across more devices and even more ways to bring RTX power to every screen in the house. There's plenty to celebrate: the February games list kicks off with 24 new games. Start with the 10 new games in the cloud this week, including the launch of Team Jade's Delta Force and the newest title launching in the PUBG universe, PUBG: BLINDSPOT.
Reporting for Duty
Delta Force, now boots on the ground and fully deployed on GeForce NOW, brings the tactical firstβperson shooter from Team Jade (TiMi Studio Group) to the cloud. The game features high-stakes extraction with an all-out warfare mode, giving players a playground of open environments, vehicles and gadgets to pull off coordinated assaults. Players join elite units tasked with tackling highβrisk missions across sprawling maps, from tight urban incursions to rugged openβterrain operations. Expect strategic objectives, combinedβarms combat with land, air and sea vehicles, and tense firefights where teamwork and planning are just as important as quick reflexes.
When Intel unveiled its "Panther Lake" Core Ultra Series 3 mobile processors built on the 18A node, the company announced that a separate version fine-tuned for handheld gaming consoles is in the works. Called Intel Core Ultra G3 "Panther Lake," the chip is now scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of 2026, according to Golden Pig Upgrade. The company plans to bring two SKUs to the masses, which will be called G3 and G3 Extreme, each carrying a 14-core CPU configuration consisting of two P-Cores, eight E-Cores, and four additional LPE-Cores. However, the real star of the show of this SoC will be the Arc integrated graphics, which will arrive with 12 Xe3 cores in the G3 Extreme, or 10 Xe3 cores in the regular G3.
For the G3 Extreme, the plan is to run the Arc B380 iGPU with 12 Xe3 cores at 2.3 GHz, which is just 200 MHz shy of the flagship Core Ultra X9 388H's Arc B390. Basically, G3 Extreme handhelds can expect similar gaming performance to what we observed in our review of the flagship SKU, just with two P-Cores less and a slightly lower GPU clock. For the regular G3, the CPU configuration retains its capability, but the GPU drops to a 10-Core Xe3 IP called Arc B360. This integrated graphics drops core counts and GPU boost frequency to 2.2 GHz, which will result in a significant reduction in both gaming performance and TDP. Intel still hasn't revealed plans about TDP configurations, so we have to wait a bit longer for that.
During the recent Cisco AI Summit, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan announced that the company has appointed a new "chief GPU architect." Tan did not disclose the executive's name at the event, but subsequent reports confirmed that former Qualcomm executive Eric Demmers will lead the new venture.
The original PowerShot 600 arrived in the summer of 1996. The pioneering digital camera featured a 1/3-inch CCD image sensor capable of generating photos with a maximum resolution of 832 x 608 pixels. It was paired with a 50mm, f/2.5 aperture lens and an optical viewfinder. The shooter packed 1MB...
Convly is a solution that allows users to manage Microsoft Teams messages directly from Slack. It lets them stay in Slack while handling Teams direct messages, group chats, and meeting conversations. Convly supports formatted text, message edits and deletions, replies, images, and file sharing. It is useful for companies that use Slack while working with clients or partners on Teams, for organizations where different departments rely on different collaboration tools, and in M&A contexts where multiple platforms coexist. By bridging Slack and Microsoft Teams, Convly provides a practical way to maintain consistent communication across two widely used collaboration platforms.
The Notta Memo is a compact AI voice recorder that attaches to the back of your mobile phone, recording audio and using AI to transcribe, summarise, and translate with the aid of the companion app, making it a far superior option than a notepad for meetings, lectures, and everyday note-taking.
Best Buy's Super Bowl TV sale is ending soon, and I'm rounding up my 13 favorite deals that I'm recommending to family and friends on best-rated 4K, QLED, and OLED TVs.
Get ready for some selfies that are out of this world. Crew-12 is expected to head to the International Space Station next week, while the highly anticipated Artemis II mission -- which will bring humans around the moon for the first time since the 1960s -- was delayed until March.
Launched last September, Vibes lets you create and share short-form AI-generated videos and access a dedicated feed that displays AI videos from others.
Today, The Verge's Tom Warren has published some updates on the Xbox schedule for this year. In 2026, the Xbox brand celebrates its 25th anniversary, and Microsoft is trying to launch games in four of its biggest franchises: Forza Horizon, Halo, Gears, and Fable. We already know the date of Playground's Forza Horizon 6, which will be released on May 19, 2026, as announced during the recent Xbox Developer Direct 2026. Warren adds that his sources indicate Halo Studios (formerly known as 343 Industries) is targeting a Summer release for Halo Campaign Evolved, the single-player remake of the 2001 game [β¦]
Google wowed tech enthusiasts back in late 2025 when it made the Quick Share function for Pixel 10 devices compatible with Apple's AirDrop, allowing seamless file transfers between Android and iOS and ecosystems. Now, as per the comments from a Google bigwig, that seamless interplay is coming to a lot more devices in 2026. Google bringing the seamless interplay between Quick Share and Apple's AirDrop to a lot more Android devices this year We noted back in November 2025 that Google reverse-engineered AirDrop without any apparent input from Apple, essentially finding a workaround for seamless file transfers between Pixel 10 [β¦]
Last week, as part of a flurry of showcases Blizzard Entertainment announced to start 2026, the studio hosted a World of Warcraft: State of Azeroth showcase, which dug into the roadmap the company has for the long-running MMORPG in 2026. Following that showcase, in an interview with The Game Business, game director Ion Hazzikostas and executive producer and vice president Holly Longdale went further into what they envision for the future of World of Warcraft, and the "bigger vision" they have for the franchise. It's clear that Blizzard has a lot coming for World of Warcraft. The game's next major [β¦]
Nvidia representative recommends GeForce graphics card owners to uninstall the Windows 11 KB5074109 update to solve framerate drops and gaming artifacts.
HP and Dell are reportedly qualifying CXMT memory chips for their products, while Asus and Acer are asking their partners to source locally-made memory modules. The ongoing memory chip shortage is forcing even big companies to look for alternative sources to Micron, Samsung, and SK hynix.
Google has released the February 2026 Discover core update, which focuses specifically on how content is surfaced in Google Discover.
βThis is a broad update to our systems that surface articles in Discover,β Google wrote.
Google said the update is rolling out first to English-language users in the U.S. and will expand to all countries and languages in the coming months. The rollout may take up to two weeks to complete, Google added.
What is expected. Google said the Discover core update will improve the βexperience in a few key ways,β including:
Showing users more locally relevant content from websites based in their country.
Reducing sensational content and clickbait.
Highlighting more in-depth, original, and timely content from sites with demonstrated expertise in a given area, based on Googleβs understanding of a siteβs content.
Because the update prioritizes locally relevant content, it may reduce traffic for non-U.S. websites that publish news for a U.S. audience. That impact may lessen or disappear as the update expands globally.
More details. Google added that many sites demonstrate deep knowledge across a wide range of subjects, and its systems are built to identify expertise on a topic-by-topic basis. As a result, any site can appear in Discover, whether it covers multiple areas or focuses deeply on a single topic. Google shared an example:
βA local news site with a dedicated gardening section could have established expertise in gardening, even though it covers other topics. In contrast, a movie review site that wrote a single article about gardening would likely not.β
Google said it will continue to βshow content thatβs personalized based on peopleβs creator and source preferences.β
During testing, Google found that βpeople find the Discover experience more useful and worthwhile with this update.β
Expect fluctuations. With this Discover core update, expect fluctuations in traffic from Google Discover.
βSome sites might see increases or decreases; many sites may see no change at all,β Google said.
Rollout. Google said it is βreleasing this update to English language users in the US, and will expand it to all countries and languages in the months ahead.Β β
Why we care. If you get traffic from Google Discover, you may notice changes in that traffic in the coming days. Google recommends that if you need guidance, Google has βgeneral guidance aboutΒ core updatesΒ applies, as does ourΒ Get on Discover help pageβ in those help documents.
ASROCK implements βcomprehensive internal reviewsβ in response to reports of CPU failures ASROCK has released an official statement in response to recent reports of AMD Ryzen 9000 CPU failures on their AM5 motherboards. The company claims that they have started a βcomprehensive internal reviews and rigorous verification processesβ. Additionally, they have been working in βseamless [β¦]
Each week, new games and apps integrating NVIDIA DLSS, NVIDIA Reflex, and advanced ray-traced effects are released or announced, delivering the definitive PC experience for GeForce RTX players.
This week, gamers can check out Nioh 3, Sea of Remnants' Closed Alpha, and Vampires: Bloodlord Rising, featuring DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, and Carmageddon: Rogue Shift and Nightmare Frontier, featuring DLSS Super Resolution.
Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $113.8 billion, an 18 percent increase from a year earlier, fueled by the performance of its AI systems. Net profit surged 30 percent to $34.5 billion, with Gemini at the center of that growth.
CapFrameX is a free Windows tool for capturing and analyzing PC gaming performance, with an emphasis on frame times, FPS behavior, and smoothness metrics like 1% and 0.1% lows.
Guerrilla Games has unveiled its new cooperative action game, Horizon Hunters Gathering, a spin-off tactical experience set in the world of Horizon Zero Dawn.
The 2026 Home Depot Presidents' Day sale is live, and I'm sharing today's top deals on appliances, tools, and furniture, along with everything I'm buying to refresh my home.
As eight of the world's best players head to Newcastle, here's how to watch PDC Premier League Darts Night 1 live streams online from anywhere in the world.
The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are all coming to Nintendo Switch 2 this year.
The administration's $12 billion stockpile of critical minerals is aimed at blunting China's influence. But it also revels the direction of the global economy.
As NVIDIA's cloud service GeForce NOW celebrates its sixth anniversary, with a new batch of games set to join the service, a new batch of games are also getting support for NVIDIA's DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation, including the critically acclaimed Masocore from Team Ninja that will arrive on PC and PS5 tomorrow, Nioh 3. While the full game won't be available until tomorrow, February 6, 2026, if you haven't already, you can download the Nioh 3 demo to get yourself prepared for the full release. The demo and the full game both support NVIDIA DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Generation. [β¦]
Today, Guerrilla Games has finally unveiled its upcoming online co-op action game: Horizon Hunters Gathering. Announced over four years ago, the game indeed features theΒ stylized, slightly cartoonish lookΒ players got a glimpse of in early 2023 with the footage leak.Β It's undoubtedly a big departure from the main series' trademark highly realistic visuals, and it remains to be seen whether it will resonate with fans. Visually, at least, the MMORPG Horizon Steel Frontiers, in development at NCSoft, certainly looks more similar to the main games. Anyway, first and foremost, Guerrilla's Game Director Arjan Bak reassured fans that they're not going to stop [β¦]
If the report is true, then we will have to wait a few more months before seeing the next-gen gaming handhelds powered by newer Intel chips. Intel Reportedly Delays Panther Lake for Gaming Handhelds to Q2 2026; Two SKUs with 12 and 10 Xe3 Cores Supposedly in the Making Not long ago, Intel's VP and GM, Robert Hallock, confirmed that dedicated Panther Lake SoCs for gaming handhelds will be released this year. While Robert didn't share any details on the launch, the prominent leaker "Golden Pig Upgrade" suggested the launch at the end of Q1 2026. The leaker said in [β¦]
Apple might release the iPhone 17e in a matter of days, if the latest rumors from the Cupertino giant's labyrinthine supply chain are anything to go by. Apple iPhone 17e reportedly launching on February 19 According to the rumors circulating within Apple's case and accessory manufacturing circles, the Cupertino giant might launch the iPhone 17e via a press release on Thursday, February 19. Do note that Apple typically launches new products on Mondays or Tuesdays, with Wednesdays also seeing occasional launches. As such, a Thursday launch is quite aberrant for Apple. It is for this reason that we would urge [β¦]
Samsungβs Heat Pass Block (HPB) is currently applied to the Exynos 2600Β and is an excellent implementation to help lower temperatures and improve thermal resistance by 16 percent. With reports doing the rounds that other chipset makers will also adopt this technology to their SoCs, the latest rumor now claims that Qualcomm will be implementing it in its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6Β later this year. Looking at the high clock speeds achieved by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, the thermal limitations of passive coolers like vapor chambers are already being reached, requiring more [β¦]
Today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase event had a lot of announcements that were exciting for players who don't have any other console or device to play games on besides a Nintendo Switch 2, because most of the biggest announcements were about games already available elsewhere coming to the Switch 2. Three of those bigger ports all came from Bethesda, as Bethesda Game Studios boss Todd Howard appeared to reveal that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered, and Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition are all coming to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026. Two out of three [β¦]
Most PPC teams still build campaigns the same way: pull a keyword list, set match types, and organize ad groups around search terms. Itβs muscle memory.
Search now behaves more like a conversation than a lookup. In AI Mode, users ask follow-up questions and refine what theyβre trying to solve. AI Overviews reason through an answer first, then determine which ads support that answer.
In Google Ads, the auction isnβt triggered by a keyword anymore β itβs triggered by inferred intent.
If youβre still structuring campaigns around exact and phrase match, youβre planning for a system that no longer exists. The new foundation is intent: not the words people type, but the goals behind them.
An intent-first approach gives you a more durable way to design campaigns, creative, and measurement as Google introduces new AI-driven formats.
Keywords arenβt dead, but theyβre no longer the blueprint.
The mechanics under the hood have changed
Hereβs whatβs actually happening when someone searches now.
Googleβs AI uses a technique called βquery fan out,β splitting a complex question into subtopics and running multiple concurrent searches to build a comprehensive response.
The auction happens before the user even finishes typing.
And crucially, the AI infers commercial intent from purely informational queries.
For instance, someone asks, βWhy is my pool green?β Theyβre not shopping. Theyβre troubleshooting.
But Googleβs reasoning layer detects a problem that products can solve and serves ads for pool-cleaning supplies alongside the explanation. While the user didnβt search for a product, the AI knew they would need one.
This auction logic is fundamentally different from what weβre accustomed to. Itβs not matching your keyword to the query. Itβs matching your offering to the userβs inferred need state, based on conversational context.Β
If your campaign structure still assumes people search in isolated, transactional moments, youβre missing the journey entirely.
An intent-first strategy doesnβt mean you stop doing keyword research. It means you stop treating keywords as the organizing principle.
Instead, you map campaigns to the why behind the search.
What problem is the user trying to solve?
What stage of decision-making are they in?
What job are they hiring your product to do?
The same intent can surface through dozens of different queries, and the same query can reflect multiple intents depending on context.
βBest CRMβ could mean either βI need feature comparisonsβ or βIβm ready to buy and want validation.β Googleβs AI now reads that difference, and your campaign structure should, too.
This is more of a mental model shift than a tactical one.
Youβre still building keyword lists, but youβre grouping them by intent state rather than match type.
Youβre still writing ad copy, but youβre speaking to user goals instead of echoing search terms back at them.
Once campaigns are organized around intent instead of keywords, the downstream implications show up quickly β in eligibility, landing pages, and how the system learns.
Campaign eligibility
If you want to show up inside AI Overviews or AI Mode, you need broad match keywords, Performance Max, or the newer AI Max for Search campaigns.
Exact and phrase match still work for brand defense and high-visibility placements above the AI summaries, but they wonβt get you into the conversational layer where exploration happens.
Landing page evolution
Itβs not enough to list product features anymore. If your page explains why and how someone should use your product (not just what it is), youβre more likely to win the auction.
Googleβs reasoning layer rewards contextual alignment. If the AI built an answer about solving a problem, and your page directly addresses that problem, youβre in.
Asset volume and training data
The algorithm prioritizes rich metadata, multiple high-quality images, and optimized shopping feeds with every relevant attribute filled in.
Using Customer Match lists to feed the system first-party data teaches the AI which user segments represent the highest value.
That training affects how aggressively it bids for similar users.
Even as intent-first campaigns unlock new reach, there are still blind spots in reporting, budget constraints, and performance expectations you need to plan around.
No reporting segmentation
Google doesnβt provide visibility into how ads perform specifically in AI Mode versus traditional search.
Youβre monitoring overall cost-per-conversion and hoping high-funnel clicks convert downstream, but you canβt isolate which placements are actually driving results.
The budget barrier
AI-powered campaigns like Performance Max and AI Max need meaningful conversion volume to scale effectively, often 30 conversions in 30 days at a minimum.
Smaller advertisers with limited budgets or longer sales cycles face what some call a βscissors gap,β in which they lack the data needed to train algorithms and compete in automated auctions.
Funnel position matters
AI Mode attracts exploratory, high-funnel behavior. Conversion rates wonβt match bottom-of-the-funnel branded searches. Thatβs expected if youβre planning for it.
It becomes a problem when youβre chasing immediate ROAS without adjusting how you define success for these placements.
Pick one campaign where you suspect intent is more complex than the keywords suggest. Map it to user goal states instead of search term buckets.
Test broad match in a limited way. Rewrite one landing page to answer the βwhyβ instead of just listing specs.
The shift to intent-first is not a tactic β itβs a lens. And itβs the most durable way to plan as Google keeps introducing new AI-driven formats.
Google Search is entering an βexpansionary moment,β fueled by longer queries, more follow-up questions, and rising use of voice and images. Thatβs according to Alphabetβs executives who spoke on last nightβs Q4 earnings call.
In other words: Google Search is shifting toward AI-driven experiences, with more conversations happening inside Googleβs own interfaces.
Why we care. AI in Google Search is no longer an experiment. Itβs a structural shift thatβs changing how people search and reshaping discovery, visibility, and traffic across the web.
By the numbers. Alphabetβs Q4 advertising revenue totaled $82.284 billion, up 13.5% from $72.461 billion 2024:
Google Search & other: $63.073 billion (up 16.7%)
YouTube: $11.383 billion (up 8.7%)
Google Network: $7.828 billion ( down 1.5%)
Alphabetβs 2025 fiscal year advertising revenue totaled $294.691 billion, up 11.4% from $264.590 billion in 2024:
Google Search & other: $224,532 billion (up 13.4%)
YouTube: $40.367 billion (up 11.7%)
Google Network: $29.792 billion ( down 1.9%)
AI Overviews and AI Mode are now core to Search. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said Google pushed aggressively on AI-powered search features in Q4, highlighting how central theyβve become to the product.
βWe shipped over 250 product launches, within AI mode and AI overviews just last quarter,β Pichai said.
This includes Google upgrading AI Overviews to its Gemini 3 model. He said the company has tightly linked AI Overviews with conversational search.
βWe have also made the search experience more cohesive, ensuring the transition from an AI Overview to a conversation in AI Mode is completely seamless,β Pichai said.
AI is driving more Google Search usage. Executives repeatedly described AI-driven search as additive, saying it boosts overall usage rather than replacing traditional queries.
βSearch saw more usage in Q4 than ever before, as AI continues to drive an expansionary moment,β Pichai said.
Engagement rises once users interact with AI-powered features, Google said.
βOnce people start using these new experiences, they use them more,β Pichai said.
Changing search behavior. Google shared new data points showing how AI Mode is changing search behavior β making queries longer, more conversational, and increasingly multimodal.
βQueries in AI Mode are three times longer than traditional searches,β Pichai said.
Sessions are also becoming more conversational.
βWe are also seeing sessions become more conversational, with a significant portion of queries in AI Mode, now leading to a follow-up question,β he said.
AI Mode is also expanding beyond text.
βNearly one in six AI mode queries are now non-text using voice or images,β Pichai said.
Google highlighted continued distribution of visual search capabilities, noting that:
βCircle to Search is now available on over 580 million Android devices,β Pichai said.
Gemini isnβt cannibalizing Search. As the Gemini app continues to grow, Google says it hasnβt seen signs that users are abandoning Search.
βWe havenβt seen any evidence of cannibalization,β Pichai said.
Instead, Google said users move fluidly between Search, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and the Gemini app.
βThe combination of all of that, I think, creates an expansionary moment,β Pichai said.
AI is no longer an experimental layer in search. Itβs actively mediating how customers discover, evaluate, and choose local businesses, increasingly without a traditional search interaction.Β
The real risk is data stagnation. As AI systems act on local data for users, brands that fail to adapt risk declining visibility, data inconsistencies, and loss of control over how locations are represented across AI surfaces.
Learn how AI is changing local search and what you can do to stay visible in this new landscape.Β
How AI search is different from traditional search
We are experiencing a platform shift where machine inference, not database retrieval, drives decisions. At the same time, AI is moving beyond screens into real-world execution.
AI now powers navigation systems, in-car assistants, logistics platforms, and autonomous decision-making.
In this environment, incorrect or fragmented location data does not just degrade search.
It leads to missed turns, failed deliveries, inaccurate recommendations, and lost revenue. Brands donβt simply lose visibility. They get bypassed.
Business implications in an AI-first, zero-click decision layerΒ
Local search has become an AI-first, zero-click decision layer.
Multi-location brands now win or lose based on whether AI systems can confidently recommend a location as the safest, most relevant answer.
That confidence is driven by structured data quality, Google Business Profile excellence, reviews, engagement, and real-world signals such as availability and proximity.
For 2026, the enterprise risk is not experimentation. Itβs inertia.
Brands that fail to industrialize and centralize local data, content, and reputation operations will see declining AI visibility, fragmented brand representation, and lost conversion opportunities without knowing why.
Paradigm shifts to understandΒ
Here are four key ways the growth in AI search is changing the local journey:
AI answers are the new front door: Local discovery increasingly starts and ends inside AI answers and Google surfaces, where users select a business directly.
Context beats rankings: AI weighs conversation history, user intent, location context, citations, and engagement signals, not just position.
Zero-click journeys dominate: Most local actions now happen on-SERP (GBP, AI Overviews, service features), making on-platform optimization mission-critical.
Local search in 2026 is about being chosen, not clicked: Enterprises that combine entity intelligence, operational rigor by centralizing data and creating consistency, and on-SERP conversion discipline will remain visible and preferred as AI becomes the primary decision-maker.
Businesses that donβt grasp these changes quickly wonβt fall behind quietly. Theyβll be algorithmically bypassed.
How AI composes local results (and why it matters)
AI systems build memory through entity and context graphs. Brands with clean, connected location, service, and review data become default answers.
Local queries increasingly fall into two intent categories: objective and subjective.Β
Objective queriesΒ focus on verifiable facts:
βIs the downtown branch open right now?β
βDo you offer same-day service?β
βIs this product in stock nearby?β
Subjective queriesΒ rely on interpretation and sentiment:
βBest Italian restaurant near meβ
βTop-rated bank in Denverβ
βMost family-friendly hotelβ
This distinction matters because AI systems treat risk differently depending on intent.
ForΒ objective queries, AI models prioritize first-party sources and structured data to reduce hallucination risk. These answers often drive direct actions like calls, visits, and bookings without a traditional website visit ever occurring.
ForΒ subjective queries, AI relies more heavily on reviews, third-party commentary, and editorial consensus. This data normally comes from various other channels, such as UGC sites.Β Β
Industry research has shown that for objective local queries, brand websites and location-level pages act as primary βtruth anchors.β
When an AI system needs to confirm hours, services, amenities, or availability, it prioritizes explicit, structured core data over inferred mentions.
Consider a simple example. If a user asks,Β βFind a coffee shop near me that serves oat milk and is open until 9,βΒ the AI must reason across location, inventory, and hours simultaneously.
If those facts are not clearly linked and machine-readable, the brand cannot be confidently recommended.
This is why freshness, relevance, and machine clarity, powered by entity-rich structured data, help AI systems interpret the right response.Β
Set yourself up for success
Ensure your data is fresh, relevant, and clear with these tips:
Build a centralized entity and context graph and syndicate it consistently across GBP, listings, schema, and content.
Industrialize local data and entities by developing one source of truth for locations, services, attributes, inventory β continuously audited and AI-normalized.
Make content AI-readable and hyper-local with structured FAQs, services, and how-to content by location, optimized for conversational and multimodal queries.
Treat GBP as a product surface with standardized photos, services, offers, and attributes β localized and continuously optimized.
Operationalize reviews and reputation by implementing always-on review generation, AI-assisted responses, and sentiment intelligence feeding CX and operations.
Adopt AI-first measurement and governance to track AI visibility, local answer share, and on-SERP conversions β not just rankings and traffic.
The evolution of local search from listings management to an enterprise local journey
Historically, local search was managed as a collection of disconnected tactics: listings accuracy, review monitoring, and periodic updates to location pages.
That operating model is increasingly misaligned with how local discovery now works.
Local discovery has evolved into an end-to-end enterprise journey β one that spans data integrity, experience delivery, governance, and measurement across AI-driven surfaces.
Listings, location pages, structured data, reviews, and operational workflows now work together to determine whether a brand is trusted, cited, and repeatedly surfaced by AI systems.
Introducing local 4.0
Local 4.0 is a practical operating model for AI-first local discovery at an enterprise scale. The focus of this framework is to ensure your brand is callable, verifiable, and safe for AI systems to recommend.Β
To understand why this matters, it helps to look at how local has evolved:
Local 1.0 β Listings and basic NAP consistency: The goal was presence β being indexed and included.
Local 2.0 β Map pack optimization and reviews: Visibility was driven by proximity, profile completeness, and reputation.
Local 3.0 β Location pages, content, and ROI: Local became a traffic and conversion driver tied to websites.
Local 4.0 β AI-mediated discovery and recommendation: Local becomes decision infrastructure, not a channel.
Local 4.0 is a new operating model for AI-first local discovery at enterprise scale. The focus is on understanding, verifying, and recommending based on consumer intent.Β Β
Understandable by AI systems (clean, structured, connected data).
Verifiable across platforms (consistent facts, citations, reviews).
Safe to recommend in real-world decision contexts.
In an AI-mediated environment, brands are no longer merely present. They are selected, reused, or ignored βoften without a click. This is the core transformation enterprise leaders must internalize as they plan for 2026.
Discovery in an AI-driven environment is fundamentally about trust. When data is inconsistent or noisy, AI systems treat it as a risk signal and deprioritize it.
Core elements include:
Consistency across websites, profiles, directories, and attributes.
Listings as verification infrastructure.
Location pages as primary AI data sources.
Structured data and indexing as the machine clarity layer.
Why βlegacyβ sources still matter
Listings act as verification infrastructure. Interestingly, research suggests that LLMs often cross-reference data against highly structured legacy directories (such as MapQuest or the Yellow Pages).
While human traffic to these sites has waned, AI systems utilize them as βtruth anchorsβ because their data is rigidly structured and verified.
If your hours are wrong on MapQuest, an AI agent may downgrade its confidence in your Google Business Profile, viewing the discrepancy as a risk.
Discovery is no longer about being crawled. Itβs about being trusted and reused. Governance matters because ownership, workflows, and data quality now directly affect brand risk.
AI systems increasingly reward data that is current, efficiently crawled, and easy to validate.
Stale content is no longer neutral. When an AI system encounters outdated information β such as incorrect hours, closed locations, or unavailable services β it may deprioritize or avoid that entity in future recommendations.
For enterprises, freshness must be operationalized, not managed manually. This requires tightly connecting the CMS with protocols like IndexNow, so updates are discovered and reflected by AI systems in near real time.
Beyond updates, enterprises must deliberately design for local-level engagement and signal velocity. Fresh, locally relevant content β such as events, offers, service updates, and community activity β should be surfaced on location pages, structured with schema, and distributed across platforms.
In an AI-first environment, freshness is trust, and trust determines whether a location is surfaced, reused, or skipped entirely.
Unlocking βtrappedβ data
A major challenge for enterprise brands is βtrappedβ data, which is vital information, often locked behind PDFs, menu images, or static event calendars.
For example, a restaurant group may upload a PDF of their monthly live music schedule. To a human, this is visible. To a search crawler, itβs often opaque. In an AI-first era, this data must be extracted and structured.
If an agent cannot read the text inside the PDF, it cannot answer the query:Β βFind a bar with live jazz tonight.β
Key focus areas include:
Continuous content freshness.
Efficient indexing and crawl pathways.
Dynamic local updates such as events, availability, and offerings.
At enterprise scale, manual workflows break. Freshness is no longer tactical. Itβs a competitive requirement.
AI does not select the best brand. It selects the location that best resolves intent.
Generic brand messaging consistently loses out to locally curated content. AI retrieval is context-driven and prioritizes specific attributes such as parking availability, accessibility, accepted insurance, or local services.
This exposes a structural problem for many enterprises: information is fragmented across systems and teams.
Solving AI-driven relevance requires organizing data as aΒ context graph. This means connecting services, attributes, FAQs, policies, and location details into a coherent, machine-readable system that maps to customer intent rather than departmental ownership.
Enterprises should also consider omnichannel marketing approaches to achieve consistency.Β Β Β
As AI-driven and zero-click journeys increase, traditional SEO metrics lose relevance. Attribution becomes fragmented across search, maps, AI interfaces, and third-party platforms.
Precision tracking gives way toΒ directional confidence.
Fragmentation is a material revenue risk. When local data is inconsistent or disconnected, AI systems have lower confidence in it and are less likely to reuse or recommend those locations.
Treating local data as a living, governed asset and establishing a single, authoritative source of truth early prevents incorrect information from propagating across AI-driven ecosystems and avoids the costly remediation required to fix issues after they scale.
AI-mediated discovery is now the default β and local 4.0 gives enterprises control, confidence, and competitiveness by aligning data, experience, and governance into the AI discovery flywheel.
This isnβt about chasing trends; itβs about ensuring your brand is accurately represented and confidently chosen wherever customers discover you next.
Local 4.0 is integral to the localized AI discovery flywheel
AI-mediated discovery is becoming the default interface between customers and local brands.
Local 4.0 provides a framework for control, confidence, and competitiveness in that environment. It aligns data, experience, and governance around how AI systems actually operate through reasoning, verification, and reuse.
This is not about chasing AI trends. Itβs about ensuring your brand is correctly represented and confidently recommended wherever customers discover you next.
Nvidia reportedly makes a 30% cut to its planned GPU supply in China A report on Board Channels has claimed that Nvidia is reducing its supply of GPUs by 30% in China. Currently, it is unknown how Nvidiaβs GPU supply is impacted in other regions. If this report is true, Nvidiaβs supply of GPUs may [β¦]
Microsoft recently shipped AI agents in OneDrive to general availability for AI-powered document search and analysis, but you'll need a Microsoft 365 Copilot license to access the tool.
Announcing North Series Momentum Editionβa performance-driven expression of North's transformative design, delivering Momentum-powered cooling straight out of the box.
With three Momentum fans featuring LCP blades and true FDB bearings, North Series Momentum Edition keeps high-performance components running smoothly, supported by the same iconic open front design and top mesh ventilation as the original. That performance foundation is paired with a blackened oak front and
dark alloy accents for a sleek aesthetic that integrates naturally into the gaming station.
Forge Nano, Inc., a technology company pioneering domestic battery and semiconductor innovations, today announced a breakthrough that fundamentally redefines the economics and architecture of advanced semiconductor manufacturing. The company has demonstrated high-speed, defect-free atomic layer deposition (ALD) coatings in semiconductor features at a 1000:1 aspect ratio. Conformality is maintained at production-scale while providing coverage on features 2 orders of magnitude greater than line-of-sight techniques.
This breakthrough removes the primary constraint that has limited 3D semiconductor scaling and enables architectures previously considered uneconomic or impossible. The demonstration was performed on production-representative wafers supplied by C2MI, a leading semiconductor process development and manufacturing innovation center in Canada, with conformality, defectivity and electrical performance independently validated through the partner's internal metrology and reliability testing.
The new Roblox feature is built on the same underlying technology as Roblox Cube, the company's 3D asset generator introduced last year. While the first iteration produced only static geometry, the updated engine links prompt-based generation to the platform's runtime physics, collision, and scripting layers, allowing newly created assets to...
That 8 million figure matters because it puts PS5 ahead of Nintendo's brand-new Switch 2 in the same calendar quarter. Nintendo's latest investor presentation shows Switch 2 hardware sell-in of 7.01 million units for its fiscal Q3 (Oct β Dec 2025). In other words: Sony's five-year-old console still managed to...
Vitalityfit is an independent comparison portal for over-the-counter medicines, cosmetics, and health products in Germany. It aggregates daily prices from over 50 verified online pharmacies and shops, allows you to order directly with merchants, and helps you save 20β30% on average. You can search by product, ingredient, or symptom, track multiple items with a wishlist, and browse guides to buy safely. Vitalityfit launched in 2019 and is free to use on the web and mobile apps (iOS and Android).
Runo is a running metronome that turns your target cadence into an audible beat so you can maintain pace without looking at your wrist. Set exact steps per minute from 120 to 220, layer the beat over music or podcasts, and review run history to track cadence trends. Runo syncs with Strava, connects to Bluetooth heart rate monitors, and includes an Apple Watch app with optional haptic cues. You can train with friends on leaderboards and build a consistent stride that improves efficiency and reduces injury risk.
The Shokz OpenRun are older now, but they remain some of the best bone conduction headphones you can buy if you're into running and exercise β and they're back down to a record-low price on Amazon.
The PS5 managed to outsell the Nintendo Switch 2 in the latter half of 2025 by 1 million units. The console sold 8 million units between October and December, which Sony partly attributes to Ghost of Yotei and other live service games.
The ransomware attack at Conduent allowed hackers to steal a "significant number of individualsβ personal information" from the govtech giant's systems. Conduent handles personal and health data of more than 100 million people across America.
Fundamental has built a new foundation model to solve an old problem: how to draw insights from the huge quantities of structured data produced by enterprises.
ElevenLabs CEO argued at Web Summit Qatar that voice is the next interface for AI, as OpenAI, Google, and Apple push conversational systems into wearables, new hardware, and everyday interactions.
After it was rumoured to appear during today's Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase, once the showcase started, it didn't take too long for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to appear, with a new trailer showcasing the second entry in the FFVII Remake Trilogy on Nintendo Switch 2, and a release date, with it arriving almost precisely as predicted: on June 3, 2026. Two weeks ago, the reliable insider NateTheHate pointed to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth arriving on Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series X/S sometime this year. Following that, yesterday, ahead of today's Partner Showcase, NateTheHate pointed to Rebirth appearing at today's [β¦]
NVIDIA's plans for this year's consumer GPU launches are unclear, but a new report says the RTX 50 SUPER series won't launch at all. NVIDIA's Consumer GPU Plans Are Currently Under Jeopardy, Driven by Memory Supply Constraints The DRAM supply shortage has forced GPU manufacturers to revise their roadmaps, leading to significant disruptions in many future launches. At this year's CES, we saw no talk about next-gen consumer GPUs at all, and the main reason is simply that getting the necessary chips has become difficult. Now, according to The Information, NVIDIA has "no plans" to launch a new GPU this [β¦]
Apple's upcoming low-cost MacBook is one of the year's most anticipated consumer devices. And, in what constitutes a nod to the ongoing memory crisis, the device will feature reduced RAM to preserve its low retail price. Apple's low-cost MacBook to retail at between $699 and $799 As per the reporting by Taiwan's Mirror Daily, Apple's upcoming low-cost MacBook is expected to sport the A18 Pro chip, the same SoC that powers the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, and remains comparable to the M1 chip in performance. Surprisingly, and in what likely constitutes a nod to the constrained memory supply, [β¦]
As part of the company's third-quarter financial results, which revealed that the PS5 has sold over 92.2 million units as of December 31, 2025, and that Ghost of Yotei's launch sales managed to surpass the sales of Ghost of Tsushima, we also got an update from Sony's chief financial officer Lin Tao about how the company is handling the ongoing memory shortage crisis. The answer, which will delight anyone who was perhaps planning to pick up a PS5 in 2026, is that Sony has defended itself against the shortages - for now. "As for securing a supply of memory, we [β¦]
NVIDIA's GeForce NOW cloud gaming service is turning six this month. As you might recall, it launched right as the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading globally in February 2020. The service has undoubtedly greatly improved over the last few years, convincing more publishers to bring their games to the cloud and also continuously improving the backend technology to raise the bar for cloud gaming, as they did a few months ago with the RTX Blackwell upgrade. NVIDIA took the opportunity to confirm that GFN users have streamed over one billion hours of gameplay to date. Given the ongoing memory shortage, it [β¦]
The inner display belonging to the iPhone FoldΒ is one of the most complex pieces present in Appleβs first foldable smartphone, with the technology giant previously reported to be experiencing technical problems in eliminating the crease, which is an area that was earlier said to have been addressedΒ by the company. As the firm explores Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) panels of varying thickness, a fresh report states that Apple is also mulling the use of a polyimide film (PI) placed on top of this glass to improve scratch resistance. Assuming this is what the Cupertino firm is planning, the iPhone Fold will be [β¦]
SpaceX is fast becoming a pivotal cornerstone of Elon Musk's almost unbounded space-related ambitions. Just last week, the mega-billionaire effected the $250 billion acquisition of xAI by SpaceX, bestowing a valuation of $1 trillion on SpaceX in the process and unlocking the preliminary stages of AI datacenters in space. Yet, Elon Musk's ambitions vis-Γ -vis SpaceX continue to grow, and might soon encompass a dedicated Starlink phone. SpaceX might launch a dedicated Starlink phone to corner the market for satellite-connected devices As per a report from Reuters, SpaceX is mulling the launch of a dedicated Starlink phone, quoting three different sources [β¦]
The company has started investigations to mitigate Ryzen 9000 CPU failures on AMD AM5 motherboards. ASRock Starts Internal Reviews and "Rigorous" Verifications for Ryzen 9000; BIOS Optimizations are Also Being Carried Out If you have been reading our reports on Ryzen 9000 series CPUs, you might be aware that most deaths happened on ASRock motherboards. While 800 series motherboards remain the number one killer of Ryzen 9000 CPUs, some reports have also surfaced on the 600 series motherboards. Ryzen 9000 CPU failures aren't uncommon, and it's not just limited to ASRock motherboards, but in comparison with other vendors, ASRock's AM5 [β¦]
Fractal Design's North cases kicked off the wood accent trend, and it's been one of our favorite cases since 2022. Now the company is updating the line, with an all-black North Momentum Edition that includes the company's new and improved fans, while the larger XL model now supports rear-connector motherboards.
This MSI Codex R2 gaming PC is on sale direct from MSI, costing just $959 for a rig with a 10-core Intel Core i5-14400F, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
For Tesla to reach its goal of producing a million Optimus robots a year, it will need mountains of critical materials and deep supply chain cooperation. The majority of that "Optimus Chain" is found in China, highlighting Tesla's future dependence on U.S.-China trade relations.
Right now, itβs hard to find a marketing conversation that doesnβt include two letters: AI.
SEOs, strategists, and marketing leaders everywhere are asking the same question in different ways:
How do we use AI to cut manpower, streamline work, move faster, and boost efficiency?
Much of that thinking makes sense. If you run a business, you canβt ignore a tool that turns hours of grunt work into minutes. Youβd be foolish to try.
But weβre spending too much time asking, βCan AI do this?β and not enough time asking, βShould AI do this?β
Once the initial excitement fades, some uncomfortable questions show up.
If every title tag, meta description, landing page, and blog post comes from AI, where does differentiation come from?
If every outreach email, proposal, and report is machine-generated, what happens to trust?
If AI agents start talking to other AI agents on our behalf, what happens to judgment, creativity, and the human side of business?
This isnβt anti-AI. I use AI. My team uses AI. You probably do, too.
This is about using AI well, using it intentionally, and not automating so much that you accidentally automate away the things that make you valuable.
What βautomating too muchβ looks like in SEO
The slippery part of automation? It rarely starts with big decisions. It starts with small ones that feel harmless.
First, you automate the boring admin. Then the repetitive writing. Then the analysis. Then client communication. Then, quietly, decision-making.
In SEO, βtoo muchβ often looks like this:
Meta titles and descriptions generated at scale, with barely any review.
Content briefs created by AI from SERP summaries, then passed straight to an AI writer for drafting.
On-page changes rolled out across templates because βthe model recommended it.β
Link building outreach written by AI, sent at volume, and ignored at volume.
Reporting that is technically accurate but disconnected from what the business actually cares about.
If this sounds harsh, thatβs because it happens fast.
The promise is always βweβll save time.β What usually happens is you save time and lose something else. Most often, you lose the sense that your marketing has a brain behind it.
The sameness problem: if everyone uses the same tools, who wins?
This is the question I keep coming back to.
If everyone uses AI to create everything, the web fills up with content that looks and sounds the same. It might be polished. It might even be technically βgood.β But it becomes interchangeable.
That creates two problems:
Users get bored. They read one page, then another, and itβs the same advice dressed up with slightly different words. You might win a click. Youβll struggle to build a relationship.
Search engines and language models still need ways to tell you apart. When content converges, the real differentiators become things like:
Brand recognition.
Original data or firsthand experience.
Clear expertise and accountability.
Signals that other people trust you.
Distinct angles and opinions.
The irony?
Heavy automation often strips those things out. It produces βfineβ content quickly, but it also produces content that could have come from anyone.
If your goal is authority, being indistinguishable isnβt neutral. Itβs a liability.
When AI starts quoting AI, reality gets blurry
This is where things start to get strange.
Weβre already heading into a world where AI tools summarize content, other tools re-summarize those summaries, and someone publishes the result as if itβs new insight. It becomes a loop.
If youβve ever asked a tool to write a blog post and it felt familiar but hard to place, thatβs usually why. It isnβt creating knowledge from scratch. Itβs remixing patterns.
Now imagine that happening at scale. Search engines crawl pages. Models summarize them. Businesses publish new pages based on those summaries. Agents use those pages to answer questions. Repeat.
Remove humans from the loop for too long, and you risk an internet that feels like itβs talking to itself. Plenty of words. Very little substance.
From an SEO perspective, thatβs a serious problem. When the web floods with similar information, value shifts away from βwho wrote the neatest explanationβ and toward βwho has something real to add.β
Thatβs why I keep coming back to the same point. The question isnβt βcan AI do this?β Itβs βshould we use AI here, or should a human own this?β
The creativity and judgment problem
Thereβs a quieter risk we donβt talk about enough.
If you let AI write every proposal, every contract, every strategy deck, and every content plan, you start outsourcing judgment.
You may still be the one who clicks βgenerateβ and βsend,β but the thinking has moved somewhere else.
Over time, you lose the habit of critical thinking. Not because you canβt think, but because you stop practicing. Itβs the same way GPS makes you worse at directions. You can still drive, but you stop building the skill.
In SEO, judgment is one of our most valuable assets. Knowing:
What to prioritize.
What to ignore.
When a dip is normal and when it is a warning sign.
When the data is lying because the tracking is broken.
AI can support decisions, but it canβt own them. If you automate that away, you risk becoming a delivery machine instead of a strategist. And authority doesnβt come from delivery.
The trust problem: clients do not just buy outputs
Hereβs a reality check agency owners feel in their bones.
Clients donβt stay because you can do the work. They stay because they:
Trust you.
Feel looked after.
Believe you have their best interests at heart.
Like working with you.
Itβs business, but itβs still human.
When you automate too much of the client experience, your service can start to feel cheap. Not in price, but in care.
If every email sounds generated, clients notice.
If every report is a generic summary with no opinion, clients notice.
If every deliverable looks like it came straight from a tool, clients start asking why they are paying you instead of the tool.
The same thing happens in-house. Stakeholders want confidence. They want interpretation. They want someone to say, βThis is what matters, and this is what we should do next.β
AI is excellent at producing outputs. It isnβt good at reassurance, context, or accountability. Those are human services, even when the work is digital.
The accuracy and responsibility problem
If you automate content production without proper oversight, eventually youβll publish something wrong.
Sometimes itβs small. A definition that is slightly off. A stat that is outdated. A recommendation that doesnβt fit the situation.
Sometimes itβs serious. Incorrect medical advice. Legal misinformation. Financial guidance that should never have gone live.
Even in low-risk niches, accuracy matters. When your content is wrong, trust erodes. When itβs wrong with confidence, trust disappears faster.
The more you scale AI output, the harder quality control becomes. That is where automation turns dangerous. You can produce content at speed, but you may not spot the decay until performance drops or, worse, a customer calls it out publicly.
Authority is fragile. It takes time to build and seconds to lose. Automation increases that risk because mistakes donβt stay small. They scale.
The confidentiality problem that nobody wants to admit
This is the part that often gets brushed aside in the rush to βimplement AI.β
SEO and marketing work regularly involves sensitive informationβsales data, customer feedback, conversion rates, pricing strategies, internal documents, and product roadmaps. Paste that into an AI tool without thinking, and you create risk.
Sometimes that risk is contractual. Sometimes itβs regulatory. Sometimes itβs reputational.
Even if your AI tools are configured securely, you still need an internal policy. Nothing fancy. Just clear rules on what can and canβt be shared, who can approve it, and how outputs are reviewed.
If youβre building authority as a brand, the last thing you want is to lose trust because you treated sensitive information casually in the name of efficiency.
The window of opportunity, and why it will not last forever
Right now, thereβs a window. Most businesses are still learning how to use AI well. That gives brands that move carefully a real edge.
That window wonβt stay open.
In a few years, the market will be flooded with AI-generated content and AI-assisted services. The tools will be cheaper and more accessible. The baseline will rise.
When that happens, βwe use AIβ wonβt be a differentiator anymore. Itβll sound like saying, βwe use email.β
The real differentiator will be how you use it.
Do you use AI to churn out more of the same?
Or do you use it to buy back time so you can create things others canβt?
Thatβs the opportunity. AI can strip out the grunt work and give you time back. What you do with that time is where authority is built.
Where SEO fits in: less doing, more directing
I suspect the SEO role is shifting.
Not away from execution entirely, but away from being valued purely for output. When a tool can generate a content draft, the value shifts to the person who can judge whether itβs the right draft β for the right audience, with the right angle, on the right page, at the right time.
In other words, the SEO becomes a director, not just a doer.
That looks like this:
Knowing which content is worth creatingβand which isnβt.
Understanding the user journey and where search fits into it.
Building content strategies anchored in real business value.
Designing workflows that protect quality while increasing speed.
Helping teams use AI responsibly without removing human judgment.
If youβre trying to build authority, this shift is good news. It rewards expertise and judgment. It rewards people who can see the bigger picture and make decisions that go beyond βmore content.β
The upside: take away the grunt work, keep the thinking
AI is excellent at certain jobs. And if weβre honest, a lot of SEO work is repetitive and draining. Thatβs where AI shines.
AI can help you:
Summarize and cluster keyword research faster.
Create first drafts of meta descriptions that a human then edits properly.
Turn messy notes into a structure you can actually work with.
Generate alternative title options quickly so you can choose the strongest one.
Create scripts for short videos or webinars from existing material.
Analyze patterns in performance data and flag areas worth investigating.
Speed up technical tasks like regex, formulas, documentation, and QA checklists.
This is the sweet spot. Use AI to reduce friction and strip out the boring work. Then spend your time on the things that actually create differentiation.
In my experience, the best use of AI in SEO isnβt replacing humans. Itβs giving humans more time to do the human parts properly.
Personalization: The dream and the risk
Thereβs a lot of talk about personalized results. A future where each person gets answers tailored to their preferences, context, history, and intent.
That future may arrive. In some ways, itβs already here. Search results and recommendations arenβt neutral. Theyβre shaped by behavior and patterns.
Personalization could be great for users. It also raises the bar for brands.
If every user sees a slightly different answer, it gets harder to compete with generic content. Generic content fades into the background because it isnβt specific enough to be chosen.
That brings us back to the same truth: unique value wins. Real expertise wins. Original experience wins. Trust wins.
Automation can help you scale personalization β but only if the thinking behind it is solid. Automate personalization badly, and all you get is faster irrelevance.
A practical way to decide what should be automated
So how do we move from βcan AI do this?β to βshould AI do this?β
The better approach is to decide what must stay human, what can be assisted, and what can be automated safely.
These are the questions I use when making that call:
What happens if this is wrong? If the cost of being wrong is high, a human needs to own it.
Is this customer-facing? The more visible it is, the more it should sound like you and reflect your judgment.
Does this require empathy or nuance? If yes, automate less.
Does this require your unique perspective? If yes, automate less.
Is this reversible? If itβs easy to undo, you can afford to experiment.
Does it involve sensitive information? If yes, tighten control.
Will automation make us look like everyone else? If yes, be cautious. You may be trading speed for differentiation.
These questions are simple, but they lead to far better decisions than, βthe tool can do it, so letβs do it.β
What I would and would not automate in SEO
To make this practical, hereβs where Iβd draw the line for most teams.
Iβd happily automate or heavily assist:
Early-stage research, like summarizing competitors, clustering topics, and extracting themes from customer feedback.
Drafting tasks that a human will edit, such as meta descriptions, outlines, and first drafts of support content.
Repetitive admin work, including documentation, tagging, and reporting templates.
Technical helper tasks, like formulas, regex, and scriptsβas long as a human reviews the output.
I would not fully automate:
Strategy: Deciding what matters and why.
Positioning: The angle that gives your brand a clear point of view.
Final customer-facing messaging: Especially anything that represents your voice and level of care.
Claims that require evidence: If you canβt prove it, donβt publish it.
Client relationships: The conversations, reassurance, and trust-building that keep people with you.
If you automate those, you may increase output, but youβll often decrease loyalty. And loyalty is a form of authority.
The real risk is not AI. It is thoughtlessness.
The biggest risk isnβt that AI will take your job. Itβs that you use it in a way that makes you replaceable.
If your brand turns into a machine that churns out generic output, it becomes hard to care.
Hard for search engines to prioritize.
Hard for language models to cite.
Hard for clients to justify paying for.
If you want to build authority, you have to protect what makes you different. Your judgment. Your experience. Your voice. Your evidence. Your relationships.
AI can help if you use it to create space for better thinking. It can hurt if you use it to avoid thinking altogether.
Human involvement
Itβs easy to get excited about AI doing everything. Saving on headcount. Producing output 24/7. Removing bottlenecks.
But the more important question is what you lose when you remove too much human involvement. Do you lose:
Differentiation?
Trust?
The ability to think critically?
The relationships that keep clients loyal?
For most of us, the goal isnβt more marketing. The goal is marketing that works β for people we actually want to work with β in a way we can be proud of.
So yes, ask, βCan AI do this?β Itβs a useful question.
Then ask, βShould AI do this?β Thatβs the one that protects your authority.
And if youβre unsure, start small. Automate the grunt work. Keep the thinking. Keep the voice. Keep the care.
Thatβs how you get the best of AI without automating away what makes you valuable.
As AI-driven bidding and automation transform paid media, first-party data has become the most powerful lever advertisers control.
In this conversation with Search Engine Land, Julie Warneke, founder and CEO of Found Search Marketing, explained why first-party data now underpins profitable advertising β no matter how Googleβs position on third-party cookies evolves.
What first-party data really is β and isnβt
First-party data is customer information that an advertiser owns directly, usually housed in a CRM. It includes:
Lead details.
Purchase history.
Revenue.
Customer value collected through websites, forms, or physical locations.
It doesnβt include platform-owned or browser-based data that advertisers canβt fully control.
Why first-party data matters more than ever
Digital advertising has moved from paying for impressions, to clicks, to actions β and now to outcomes. The real goal is no longer conversions alone, but profitable conversions, according to Warneke.
As AI systems process far more signals than humans can handle, advertisers who supply high-quality customer data gain a clear advantage.
CPCs may rise β but profitability can too
Rising cost-per-clicks are a fact of paid media. First-party data doesnβt always reduce CPCs, but it improves what matters more: conversion quality, revenue, and return on ad spend.
By optimizing for downstream business outcomes instead of surface-level metrics, advertisers can justify higher costs with stronger results.
How first-party data improves ROAS
When advertisers feed Google data tied to revenue and customer value, AI bidding systems can prioritize users who resemble high-value customers β often using signals far beyond demographics or geography.
The result is traffic that converts better, even if advertisers never see or control the underlying signals.
Performance Max leads the way
Among campaign types, Performance Max (PMax) currently benefits the most from first-party data activation.
PMax performs best when advertisers move away from manual optimizations and instead focus on supplying accurate, consistent data, then let the system learn, Warneke noted.
SMBs arenβt locked out β but they need the right setup
Small and mid-sized businesses arenβt disadvantaged by limited first-party data volume. Warneke shared examples of success with customer lists as small as 100 records.
The real hurdle for SMBs is infrastructure β specifically proper tracking, consent management, and reliable data pipelines.
The biggest mistakes advertisers are making
Two issues stand out:
Weak data capture: Many brands still depend on browser-side tracking, which increasingly fails β especially on iOS.
Broken feedback loops: Others upload CRM data sporadically instead of building continuous data flows that let AI systems learn and improve over time.
What marketers should do next
Warnekeβs advice: Step back and audit how data is captured, stored, and sent back to platforms, then improve it incrementally.
Thereβs no need to overhaul everything at once or risk the entire budget. Even testing with 5β7% of spend can create a learning roadmap that delivers long-term gains.
Bottom line
AI optimizes toward the signals it receives β good or bad. Advertisers who own and refine their first-party data can shape outcomes in their favor, while those who donβt risk being optimized into inefficiency.
This week didnβt produce one big headline. It produced many small signals β the kind that quietly shape what attacks will look like next.
Researchers tracked intrusions that start in ordinary places: developer workflows, remote tools, cloud access, identity paths, and even routine user actions. Nothing looked dramatic on the surface. Thatβs the point. Entry is becoming less visible while impact
Intelβs ARC B390 graphics chip delivers console-like performance in Alan Wake 2, despite using higher game settings Intelβs Panther Lake ARC B390 graphics chip has been benchmarked against Microsoftβs Xbox Series S in Alan Wake 2, with Digital Foundry reporting strong performance from Intelβs integrated graphics. At both 30W and 45W TDPs, Intelβs iGPU delivered [β¦]
Pearl Abyss has released Crimson Desert's 2nd gameplay overview video, this time covering the game's complex combat system and in-depth player progression system.
GL.iNet, a leading developer in OpenWrt-based networking and remote access solutions announces the launch of the Comet 5G (GL-RM10RC), the world's first remote KVM with 5G RedCap (Reduced Capacity). With its cellular connectivity through 5G RedCap, Comet 5G can still provide remote access when Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection is down.
Multi-network Failover
Comet 5G features a multi-network failover system, it automatically switches from Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6, then cellular, ensuring the device stays online when the primary connection method fails. This makes Comet 5G suitable for troubleshooting and maintenance in air-gapped environments or disaster recovery cases, where network conditions are restricted and unstable.
In the latest set of enablement patches, Intel has confirmed that the upcoming "Nova Lake-P" processors will utilize Xe3P-LPG to power their integrated graphics. In addition, "Nova Lake-P" processors will include multiple new IPs like the Xe3P-LPM for media processing, which includes decoding and encoding, and the Xe3P-LPD for display output processing. These new IPs will work in tandem to deliver the next generation of Intel graphics, which will be separated into two categories within the "Nova Lake" generation. Interestingly, we learned a while back that not every "Nova Lake" SKU will ship with the same GPU configuration. "Nova Lake-H" mobile variants are expected to support ray tracing with the Xe3P-LPG graphics, while "Nova Lake-S," "Nova Lake-HX," and "Nova Lake-UL" may not.
The company seems to be selectively enabling advanced GPU features across these SKUs rather than providing a uniform feature set, as Xe3P-boosted "Nova Lake-H" notebook chips will be succeeding "Panther Lake-H" with its Xe3 GPU IP, so the new P variant will bring more power to mobile gaming setups and be a true successor in late 2026 or early 2027. This type of segmentation is a common strategy to differentiate products using the same silicon, which will influence purchasing decisions for gamers, creators, and laptop buyers of the future "Nova Lake" systems. Additionally, bundling next-generation GPU graphics IP like the Xe3P-LPG will be of massive significance only to those users relying on integrated GPUs, while those purchasing systems with discrete GPUs will focus primarily on the CPU and display/media output side.
The discovery, made by software researcher NicolΓ‘sβ―Alvarez and shared with MacRumors, points to two chip identifiers: T6051 and T6052. Each is tied to platform codes H17C and H17D, which align with Apple's internal numbering for its M-series processors. Within this scheme, 17 denotes the M5 generation, and the trailing letters...
In its first hardware-related blog post since announcing the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller 2 in November, Valve confirmed that it has internally delayed the upcoming devices. The three products were set to debut sometime before the end of March, but Valve and its hardware partner, AMD, recently...
TSMC is now looking to expand its fab operations in Kumamoto, Japan, as the chip giant now plans to introduce 3nm production lines, a massive upgrade from the previous plans. TSMC's Japan & US Projects Will Be On Par In Terms of Process Technologies Being Produced Within the Same Timeline The Taiwan chip giant has realized that expanding production in Taiwan alone won't do the job, given the gigantic node demand from the AI sector. More specifically, it is the advanced processes that are in significant demand by HPC customers, which is why production lines responsible for nodes like 3nm [β¦]
Starfield was the first unfortunate victim of Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, as the open-world space role-playing game was the first title from the studio in years to not hit a PlayStation console. However, things have changed a lot since the game's release, and with Microsoft's multiplatform pivot, it's only a matter of time until every previous Xbox console exclusive hits PlayStation 5. Now, after a rumored internal delay into 2026, it seems like the wait for Starfield to land on Sony's current-generation console is reportedly close to an end. In a new report shared today, Polish publication PPE revealed that [β¦]
Despite no official driver that supports Intel MFG on the Alchemist series, this user was able to turn it on using a quick copy-and-paste method. YouTuber Enables Intel Multi-Frame Generation on Arc A380 Using Simple Driver Modification; Unlocks Triple-Digit Frame Rates in Cyberpunk 2077 Intel's new XeSS3 Multi-Frame Generation feature has been announced for all the Arc GPUs, including the first generation of Arc graphics. However, the official driver for the older hardware hasn't been rolled out yet. It's a similar story for the Arc B series, which will soon get the XeSS 3 MFG support, but right now, users [β¦]
After months of consistent decline, Intelβs consumer CPUs have enjoyed a small but significant spell of market share growth, at least according to the latest Steam Hardware Survey.
The upgraded launcher will be released as a mid-year update, featuring upgrades such as private DMs, player avatars and profiles, and even independent live chat. Beyond the social features, EGS will be made lighter and quicker, less reliant on Epic's backend to do everything, which should result in a better user experience.
Digital Foundry discovered that DLSS 4.5's upscaler alone can resolve noise generated by ray tracing effects without the help of in-game denoisers or DLSS Ray Reconstruction.
Valve is reportedly delaying the latest Steam hardware due to uncertainty with memory chip pricing, but it seems to still be on track to arrive during the first half of 2026.
Todayβs βAI everywhereβ reality is woven into everyday workflows across the enterprise, embedded in SaaS platforms, browsers, copilots, extensions, and a rapidly expanding universe of shadow tools that appear faster than security teams can track. Yet most organizations still rely on legacy controls that operate far away from where AI interactions actually occur. The result is a widening
The elusive Iranian threat group known as Infy (aka Prince of Persia) has evolved its tactics as part of efforts to hide its tracks, even as it readied new command-and-control (C2) infrastructure coinciding with the end of the widespread internet blackout the regime imposed at the start of January 2026.
"The threat actor stopped maintaining its C2 servers on January 8 for the first time since we
Best Buy has a 40% discount on the ASUS Vivobook 14, an efficient and dependable laptop for workplace productivity, featuring a Snapdragon X processor, 29 hours of battery life, 16GB of RAM, and more.
Satya Nadella announces that security boss Charlie Bell is moving to focus on engineering quality, and he'll be replaced by Microsoft veteran Hayete Gallot.
AutoFull, a leading brand in the esports peripheral equipment industry known for its professional-grade gaming furniture and player-driven design philosophy, has launched the new and upgraded AutoFull M6 Ultra 2.0 gaming chair, the latest evolution of its flagship ergonomic gaming throne designed for gamers, creators and hybrid workers seeking uncompromising comfort and performance. The AutoFull M6 Ultra 2.0 gaming chair is available now from AutoFull US website at $599.99 (RRP $899.99) and Β£599.99 (RRP Β£999) on the UK website.
The AutoFull M6 Ultra 2.0 builds on the success of the original M6 Ultra with next-generation comfort technology and extensive adjustability, positioning it as a premium solution for long gaming sessions, competitive esports, professional streaming and everyday work. Designed to transition seamlessly between gaming, work and leisure, the chair delivers precision support across the entire body while maintaining a luxurious, stable and durable construction.
ASRock is closely monitoring recent discussions regarding the performance and behavior of AMD Ryzen 9000 series processors on ASRock AMD platforms. In response to these reports, we have implemented comprehensive internal reviews and rigorous verification processes. We have been working in seamless coordination with AMD continuously to further validate system performance across a wide range of hardware configurations, while optimizing BIOS and enhancing overall system stability.
ASRock deeply values user feedback as a cornerstone of our continuous improvement. Customers experiencing technical difficulties or seeking further assistance are encouraged to contact the ASRock Technical Support Department. We remain committed to delivering high-performance products that meet the highest standards of quality and performance.
MelGeek has officially entered the gaming mouse market with the Horus Lightweight Esports Gaming Mouse, signaling a technically focused expansion following the brand's recent innovations in mechanical keyboard design.
Weighing approximately 49 grams, the mouse maintains structural rigidity without aggressive shell perforation. Its internal layout is tuned to a 50:50 balanced weight distribution, helping preserve sensor alignment during rapid hand movements.
ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced the ROG Strix Aiolos SSD Enclosure, a premium external SSD enclosure built for gamers and creators who demand top-tier performance, seamless device management. Engineered for next-generation NVMe M.2 storage, the ROG Strix Aiolos delivers lightning-fast transfer speeds, enhanced thermal efficiency, and an exclusive ROG SSD Dashboard, which provides real-time drive status updates. Designed for life on the move, it also incorporates a durable metal hook with a fabric tag to ensure convenient and secure portability.
Ultra-fast transfers and smarter storage management
The ROG Strix Aiolos delivers high-speed portable performance with USB-C 3.2 Gen 2x2 connectivity supporting transfer speeds of up to 20 Gbps, enabling users to move large media files or entire game libraries with ease. Its versatile dual M.2 interface, compatible with both NVMe PCIe (2242/2260/2280) and SATA SSDs, offers flexible upgrade and expansion options for a wide range of user needs. For effortless oversight, the enclosure features the exclusive ROG SSD Dashboard, which features a custom UI that provides users with a complete real-time overview of SSD status, performance, and other key metrics. Tailored for ROG enclosures, it makes storage management simple and intuitive.
ZOTAC GAMING, a global leader in PC gaming hardware, is launching the ZOTAC GAMING ALLOY microATX computer case in select Asia Pacific regions.
ALLOY is The Brand's first-ever Computer Case catered to DIY PC enthusiasts looking for a relatively compact microATX (mATX) form factor and optimized cooling performance. Designed to match the distinctly robust and elegant design language of current generation ZOTAC GAMING products, the ALLOY is made with today's flagship GPUs in mind, enabling enthusiasts to build high-end, high-performance gaming PCs with ease.
Alphacool International GmbH from Braunschweig is a pioneer in PC water cooling technology. With one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry and over 20 years of experience, Alphacool now expands its lineup with the Apex Thermal Putty X1. The Alphacool Apex Thermal Putty X1 is a high-performance alternative to conventional thermal pads. As a non-curing, electrically non-conductive silicone gel, it adapts perfectly to uneven surfaces and varying gap heights with minimal contact pressure. No need to choose pad thickness, no compromises, lower temperatures.
A key advantage of the Apex Thermal Putty lies in its optimal consistency for handling and shape stability. Under light pressure, the material adapts ideally to different gap heights while remaining dimensionally stable. This reliably compensates for unevenness and tolerances between the cooler and the component, ensuring optimal contact between the heat source and the heatsink at all times. This is especially important for modern graphics cards and other sensitive electronic components, as delicate parts such as memory chips or voltage regulators are effectively protected from damage.
The idea emerged from Levesque's own frustration while sourcing hard drives in bulk. Traditional online retailers emphasize total price, but that metric can obscure how much actual storage value a user receives.
picAId turns ordinary property photos into professional-looking images. Upload photos from your phone and get enhanced results that improve lighting, color, and clarity for MLS and marketing. Agents and sellers save time and avoid expensive shoots while maintaining consistent, polished visuals across listings.
Blizzard has announced that it's dropping the "2" in Overwatch 2, alongside major plans for the hero shooter, which begins next month with the game's first year-long narrative titled "The Reign of Talon".
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has told shareholders that Western sales for the Switch 2 were not as strong as they expected by the end of 2025, but sales in the West exceeded expectations.
The SkyPixel Awards 2025/6 have not yet closed, but already the quality of entries is stunning. Leading the pack is a beautiful image of children studying on a frozen lake and it's glorious
All the ways to watch Winter Olympics 2026 live streams for FREE, with Mikaela Shiffrin, Johannes Hosflot Klaebo and Eileen Gu eyeing gold at Milano Cortina.
All the ways to watch Winter Olympics Ice Hockey 2026 live streams for FREE, with Canada's Connor McDavid and USA's Matthew Tkachuk headlining the action.
Spotify users in the U.S. and the UK will soon be able to buy physical books in the app. There's also a new tool that syncs physical books to audiobooks.
Nintendo is wasting no time in 2026. Following the successful launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 and its launch window games, the Japanese company returned with its Partner Showcase format to highlight the third-party titles coming to both the new hardware and the original Switch. Here's everything announced during the event, including new looks at new and already announced games and third-party port announcements. Official Livestream You can watch the full 30-minutes long Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase stream directly below. Every February 2026 Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase Announcement Orbitals The Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase opened with a new look atΒ Orbitals, [β¦]
Exactly a week after dropping the first 'Features Overview' video dedicated to the open world and story of Crimson Desert, developer Pearl Abyss has released the second entry in the series. The new video dives deep into the action/adventure RPG's combat mechanics and character progression ahead of its March 19, 2026 launch date. The showcase reveals a combat system designed around fluidity, expressiveness, and player choice, combined with progression paths that, according to the developers, will reward exploration and experimentation. At the heart of Crimson Desert's combat are weapon variety and seamless skill chaining. Players can wield an arsenal of [β¦]
Smartphone chipset revenues for MediaTek crossed $10 billion for Q4 2025, with SoCs like the Dimensity 9500Β and Dimensity 8500 contributing to those figures as the Taiwanese firm targets a wider adoption of its premium silicon. However, with this segment accounting for a whopping 59 percent of the total quarterly revenue, MediaTek could face some trouble down the road, as previous estimates have stated that the company will face a decline in chipset shipments in 2026, thanks to rising DRAM and NAND flash costs, but will still hold the top position this year over its rivals. A closer look at the [β¦]
Sony has posted its own quarterly financial report, revealing that PS5 shipments have now reached 92.2 million units, up from 84.2 million units declared in the previous quarter. This means that Sony sold 8 million PlayStation 5 consoles in its fiscal Q3, a rather significant (-15.8%) decrease from Q3 2024. This is only slightly offset by marginally better PS5 shipments in Q1 and Q2 2025 compared to the previous year. Overall, in FY 2024, Sony had shipped 15.7 million units as of Q3, whereas this year, the total fiscal year sales to date amount to 14.4 million units, or -8.3%. [β¦]
Compared to your typical action role-playing game, Nioh 3 is way more complex. Each of the weapons available in the game has extensive movesets that require multiple button combinations to accommodate the huge Martial Arts loadout that has now become typical for the series. WhileΒ Nioh 3Β streamlines the complexityΒ of its predecessor's controls and button combinations, it adds unexpected mechanical challengesΒ that make it difficult to consistently unleash Martial Arts set to specific motion and button combinations. Complete The Shogun's Preparation: change this setting ASAP to improve combat flow and ultimately make fighting enemies more enjoyable. Change the Controls to Type B ASAP [β¦]
Take-Two says that GTA 6 is handcrafted and doesnβt use Generative AI In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Take-Two Interactiveβs CEO, Strauss Zelnick, has confirmed that Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) has not used generative AI at any point in its development. βTheir worlds are handcraftedβ, the CEO said regarding Rockstar Games. However, the CEO [β¦]
Valve discusses Steam Machine pricing and upgrade options As part of a new FAQ post on theirΒ Steam Machine gaming system, Valve has confirmed that their Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame hardware will launch in the first half of this year. Furthermore, Valve has confirmed that its Steam Machine is upgradable. Sadly, pricing remains [β¦]
BMW faced a wave of criticism in 2022 when heated seats were offered as part of its ConnectedDrive functions-on-demand program in markets like the United Kingdom, Germany, and South Korea. Owners could pay the equivalent of around $18 per month to access the feature β more than the $12 per...
Forever Voice lets you create a living autobiography in your real voice so loved ones can ask questions and hear your stories through natural conversation. You author and approve the content, grounding responses in your words, memories, and values. Built with privacy and consent in mind, it offers private, permission-based access, strong encryption, and control over who can listen. Forever Voice also works with Times of My Life to capture and preserve your legacy.
Just a few hours after AMD CEO Lisa Su publicly shared that they expected the Steam Machine to start shipping in early 2026, Valve posted an update revealing there will actually be a slight delay. In a blog post dedicated to launch timing and other FAQs for the whole family of upcoming Steam Hardware products, Valve admitted they've had to revisit the shipping schedule and pricing due to the ongoing memory and storage shortages that have hit the tech industry hard. They had hoped to be able to share both the launch and price details by now, but that just [β¦]
The M5Β was announced back in October 2025, but Apple is just getting warmed up because it has plans to launch the M5 Pro, M5 Max, and M5 Ultra in the first half of 2026. Though the first two higher-end chipsets have been reported to launch around the time the company releases its macOS 26.3, it is the iOS 26.3 Beta that contains evidence of these SoCs. However, the release candidate only mentions two of the three silicon, casting a shadow of doubt in our minds as we discuss the details below. The M5 Pro wasnβt mentioned in the iOS 26.3 [β¦]
Well, it appears the prospect of integrating Chinese memory into consumer products is becoming a reality, as major manufacturers are now exploring this route. HP, Dell, Acer & ASUS Are Currently Validating CXMT's DDR5 Modules, Rushing to Adopt Chinese Memory Memory shortages have grown massively in severity, and with that, OEMs on the client side have few options left to satisfy consumer demand. DRAM contract pricing is rising by triple-digit percentages each quarter, making it no longer feasible to buy DDR5/DDR4 modules in spot without passing the increased costs directly onto consumers. However, Nikkei Asia reports that major PC manufacturers [β¦]
A new, critical security vulnerability has been disclosed in the n8n workflow automation platform that, if successfully exploited, could result in the execution of arbitrary system commands.
The flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-25049 (CVSS score: 9.4), is the result of inadequate sanitization that bypasses safeguards put in place to address CVE-2025-68613 (CVSS score: 9.9), another critical defect that
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This is when AI exits your screen and comes into real life. The Weekend Club organizes six-person brunches where you meet five new friends each weekend. It uses a short personality quiz, personal details, and availability for AI to curate compatible groups. Then it sends venue info and one-liner intros every Friday so you can just show up.
Designed for expats, nomads, and locals, it skips swipes and post-event messaging to keep connections real. Rate your table after brunch to refine future matches and explore new spots as the club expands across cities worldwide.
Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of an active web traffic hijacking campaign that has targeted NGINX installations and management panels like Baota (BT) in an attempt to route it through the attacker's infrastructure.
Datadog Security Labs said it observed threat actors associated with the recent React2Shell (CVE-2025-55182, CVSS score: 10.0) exploitation using malicious NGINX
When Valve announced the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and updated Steam Controller late in 2025, it did not reveal pricing, but the gaming giant said that the hardware would launch in early 2026. That launch window is still on the cards, but according to a recent announcement by Valve, it is still unable to announce pricing or specific launch dates for any of the hardware. As the announcement explains, "the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame)."
The Steam hardware is hardly the only hardware launch said to be affected by the current memory crisis, with even laptops and potentially the upcoming console generation rumored to see delays as a result of the RAM shortage caused by the AI boom. For Valve's part, the company promises that the actual release dates have not been affected, but it just needs to find a concrete launch price that makes sense. That could mean that the Steam Machine will launch at higher prices than the $700-800 initially predicted by many. Valve has previously said that the Steam Machine would be priced more like a PC than a console, meaning the prospective price increase will still likely be in line with what you'd expect from a similarly equipped PC. Valve also demystified some other aspects of the upcoming Steam hardware, confirming once again that the Steam Machine is able to reach 4K 60 FPS with FSR enabled, although the team admits that some games may need to be upscaled from 1080p with VRR enabled in order to guarantee a smooth gameplay experience. Valve also confirmed that it plans to make CAD files and specs available for the Steam Machine's faceplate so that gamers and third-party manufacturers can build accessories for the PC. Both the SSD and memory will also be upgradeable and easily accessible.
Really want a Dyson vacuum but hesitating because of their sky-high prices? Dysonβs current back-to-school sale slashes prices on some of our top-rated models like the V15 Detect and PencilVac, with prices from just AU$499.
The package, available for free until Thursday morning, includes Alone in the Dark 1, 2, and 3 β all emulated through DOSBox. Like most titles sold on GOG, the DRM-free downloads come with digital manuals, soundtracks, and other supplementary materials. Because the trilogy is part of GOG's preservation program, the...
Calorie Smart AI is a nutrition and fitness tracker that helps you take control of your health. Log meals with your voice, recognize food with your camera, and track calories and macros to reach your targets faster. Keep workouts and progress in one place so you can stay consistent and achieve your goals.
Apple launched its Private Cloud Compute framework with much fanfare back in 2024, placing privacy front and center in its overarching AI strategy. However, this critical differentiating factor - one that clinched plaudits from consumers - is now seemingly under existential threat, as per the latest comments emerging from Google's earnings call today. The scope of Apple's Private Cloud Compute framework appears to be shrinking as Google becomes the iPhone maker's "preferred cloud provider" We already know that Apple is gearing up to launch a revamped version of Siri, likely with the upcoming iOS 26.4 update, bringing the much-delayedΒ in-app actions, [β¦]
With a parks-first CEO taking over, Disney appears poised to lean harder into immersive experiences that connect Disney+, theme parks, and fandom in new ways.
Having raised a β¬30 million Series A round led by CapitalG, business identity verification startup Duna is now among the most well-capitalized European startups founded by Stripe alumni.
News recently broke that Borderlands 4 may not ever launch on the Nintendo Switch 2, but, as 2K recently announced via the official Borderlands account on X, the looter shooter is officially verified for the Steam Deck. While Borderlands 4 has been playable on the Steam Deck basically since launch, the numerous performance issues it exhibits led us to recommend against playing it on Valve's handheld in our in-depth handheld performance review. There were signs that Gearbox was preparing Borderlands 4 for Steam Deck Verified status, specifically the updated menu screens that came to the game around a month ahead of the announcement.
Importantly, Valve's requirements for Steam Deck verification include functional controller input, seamless compatibility with the Steam Deck hardware and software with no compatibility warnings, support for the default Steam Deck Display resolutions, with good default settings, and full support for Proton. Notably, performance doesn't really enter into the equation, and that has become the main focus of many online users, who pointed out on sites like X and Reddit pointing out that the game still doesn't run well on the Steam Deck, even after numerous performance patches nearly six months after the initial launch. Most users who have tested the game say that they still struggle to maintain a solid 30 FPS in the looter shooter on the Steam Deck's iGPU.
Despite the success of the first game in the series, Overwatch 2 has had a rough time of it, with reviews on Steam rating the game "Mostly Negative," with 34% of its reviews being of a positive nature. It seems as though Blizzard is trying to change this. In one of the multiple developer-led showcases scheduled for early February, Blizzard announced that Overwatch 2 is becoming just "Overwatch," and, more importantly, receiving a number of changes that aim to make gameplay more dynamic and attract more players to the game. The change also marks a number of changes to Overwatch's structure, which will see the game feature an annual story in a system that will officially go into effect with the new Season 1 on February 10. The story will be told across six seasons throughout the year, after which a new story will kick off with a new Season 1 in the following year. The first season in the revamp is called "Reign of Talon," and the plot kicked off with an animated cinematic at the start of the Overwatch spotlight on YouTube, but the rest will be told through various in-game events, animated hero trailers, short stories, and comics released throughout the year.
Blizzard also announced 10 new characters and an all-new class system. The first five characters will launch on February with the start of Season 1, and the rest of the line-up will follow throughout the year. It seems as though the heroes released throughout the year will all somehow be related to the plot being told in that particular year and also enter the game when each respective season launches. The five heroes coming in Season 1 include Domina, a new tank, Emre, a damage hero, Mizuki, a new support, Anran, another damage who will be available to trial from February 5-10, and Jetpack Cat, a stray cat serving aerial support that will be able to move allies around the battlefield from the air. The new update also sees Overwatch's class system get an overhaul, with the main tank, damage, and support roles now divided into three or four subclasses eachβinitiator, bruiser, and stalwart fall under the tank class; specialist, flanker, recon, and sharpshooter fall under damage, and medic, tactician, and survivor fall under support. Each role also comes with its own set of buffs and perks to consider. Blizzard also revealed that it would be reworking some classic Overwatch heroes later in 2026, although it did not reveal which heroes would be getting reworked.
Built a cool product but can't get traffic? Meet Citedy, the AI-powered competitive intelligence platform that uses analysis to hunt down your competitors, find their weak spots, and automatically generate SEO-optimized articles that leverage their search traffic and chat mentions. Citedy automates competitive warfare by analyzing your competitors' content strategies and creating articles designed to outrank them. It's SEO and content marketing on autopilot, tailored for startups that need to compete with giants.
A map-based tool for solar engineers to streamline site assessment. You can view solar potential, transmission lines, and site constraints in one place instead of juggling multiple data sources, with AI-assisted analysis to speed up your workflow.
Should a linked web page go offline, the new feature will then redirect readers to the archived versions, so that there is no drop in service. The tool also archives a user's own posts, helping to ensure their longevity.
Intelβs Robert Hallock is letting you know how to get the most out of your Intel CPU As part of a newly released video in their βThe Blueprintβ series, Intelβs Robert Hallock has decided to dive deep into the world of Intel CPU overclocking. Specifically, he has explained how overclocking works for Intelβs Core Ultra [β¦]
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended December 28, 2025.
"We are pleased to deliver strong quarterly results, with record total company revenues," said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm Incorporated. "Our momentum across personal, industrial and physical AI is growing, as evidenced by recent product announcements at CES and customer traction. While our near-term handsets outlook is impacted by industry-wide memory supply constraints, we are encouraged by end-consumer demand for premium and high tier smartphones, and remain on track to achieve our fiscal 2029 revenue goals."
Today (Feb. 4, 2026) Arm (NASDAQ: ARM) published a letter to its shareholders containing the company's results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 ended December 31, 2025. The infographic below provides the key highlights:
Here are what the results mean and how they were achieved:
Royalty revenue grew 27% year-over-year to a record $737 million, driven by growth across Arm's target end markets, including AI and general-purpose data center, smartphones, physical AI and edge AI.
License and other revenue of $505 million increased 25% year-over-year, as more leading companies sign high-value licenses for next-generation Arm technologies.
Demand for Arm Compute Subsystems (CSS) continues to exceed expectations as adoption grows in light of increasingly complex chip designs. This represents a significant tailwind to royalty growth, as Arm expands both the value delivered and economics captured per chip.
During the quarter, Arm signed two CSS licenses for use in both edge AI tablets and smartphones, bringing the total number of CSS licenses to 21 across 12 companies.
Additionally, five customers are now shipping Arm CSS-based chips, including two shipping its second-generation platform, while the top four Android smartphone vendors are all shipping Arm CSS-powered devices.
Despite previously taking a very pro-generative AI stance, advocating for AI protagonists in games, Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, recently commented in an interview with Gameindustry.biz that generative AI was not used in the development of Grand Theft Auto VI. The CEO is quoted as saying "Specifically with regards to GTA 6, Generative AI has zero part in what Rockstar Games is building. Their worlds are handcrafted. That's what differentiates them. They're built from the ground up, building by building, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood. They're not procedurally generated, they shouldn't be. That's what makes great entertainment." He also clarifies that he doesn't think that AI can or will be able to build "great entertainment properties" by themselves, suggesting that Take-Two might think twice about putting AI assets into its games.
He does also mention, however, that he is enthusiastic about AI, and that Take-Two's "products have always been built with machine learning and artificial intelligence," and that "right now we have hundreds of pilots and implementations across our company and within our studios. And we're already seeing instances where generative AI tools are driving costs and time efficiencies." Notably, this isn't the first time we've seen similar rhetoric or AI applied similarly in game studios, despite game workers generally opposing the idea of generative AI in gaming. Embark, the studio behind Arc Raiders, used generative AI to speed up the work on voice acting, while Ubisoft is exploring AI-generated teammates, and EA has announced a pivot to generative AI tools across multiple applications.
PostWizard is your AI-powered marketing assistant designed to turn ideas into viral-ready tweets and threads in seconds. Connect your account to generate high-quality content, create AI images, and schedule posts directly via the official X API. Whether youβre a solo creator or an agency managing multiple brands, PostWizard helps you boost your reach and engagement without the high cost of a social media manager. Stop staring at a blank cursor and start scaling organically, save hours of manual work, and never run out of ideas again.
Valve's new console is on track, according to AMD, and it should start shipping early this year. AMD Says Valve is on "Track" and Will Start Shipping Steam Machine in Early 2026; Also Confirms Microsoft's Next-Gen Xbox is on Track for 2027 Launch AMD itself has confirmed that Valve's next-gen gaming console will start shipping this year. In the Q4 2025 Earnings Call, AMD's CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, stated that Valve is on track to start shipping the Steam Machine in early 2026. We know from earlier reports that Valve is reportedly launching the Steam Machine in 2026, and while [β¦]
Ray Kurzweilβs 1991 AI predictions feel strikingly familiar today, revealing how progress advanced faster than our understanding of intelligence and purpose.
Andreessen Horowitz just raisedΒ a whoppingΒ β newΒ $15 billionΒ in fundingβ .Β And aΒ $1.7 billionΒ chunkΒ of that is going toΒ itsΒ β infrastructureΒ teamβ ,Β the one responsible for some of its biggest, most prominentΒ AI investments includingΒ Black Forrest Labs, Cursor, OpenAI,Β β ElevenLabsβ , Ideogram,Β β Falβ Β and dozens of others.Β Β A16zΒ β general partnerΒ with the infra team Jennifer Liβ Β (who oversees suchΒ investmentsΒ asΒ ElevenLabsΒ β just valued atΒ $11 billion);Β IdeagramΒ and Fal, has a clear thesis on whereΒ the team is looking [β¦]
NVIDIA is investigating widespread PC gaming issues that appear to be linked to a January Windows update. Users report performance drops and graphical problems, with uninstalling KB5074109 offering temporary relief.
We recently caught up with Epic Games Store VP and GM Steve Allison to learn about how the platform is going in a world increasingly dominated by Steam.
Tenstorrent, a startup focused on designing high-performance AI accelerators and led by the renowned computer architect Jim Keller as CEO, has announced significant hardware updates to its existing Blackhole P150 accelerators, which include the P150a and P150b models. In the latest documentation change, the company notes that its Blackhole P150 accelerators will now work with about 14.3% fewer cores than originally advertised. In the official documents, the P150 accelerators are now shipping with 120 working "Tensix" cores instead of the previously advertised 140 cores. The reason for this change is unknown, as the company provided a vague explanation: "To present a unified interface to metal and other system software, firmware v19.5.0 and later will change the core count on all existing cards to 120. Typical workloads show a non-material (~1-2%) performance difference."
The Blackhole P150 accelerators featured 140 "Tensix" cores and 32 GB of GDDR6 memory, operating at up to 300 W in an actively cooled form factor designed for desktop workstations, and the P150a model includes four passive QSFP-DD 800G ports. However, as the number of cores is reduced by approximately 14%, TeraFLOPS take a nosedive as well. In the older documents for the 140-core SKUs, the BLOCKFP8 8-bit floating point performance was listed at 774 TeraFLOPS, while the new 120-core version reduces that number to 664 TeraFLOPS at the same precision level. Why this sudden change is happening is still a mystery. However, the HPC community with a lot of knowledge in the industry suggests a few reasons.
Clayton described Lin as one of the world's most prolific online narcotics traffickers. For at least four years, the Taiwan-born man managed a massive volume of e-commerce transactions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. Lin launched the Incognito Market website in October 2020, exploiting the Tor browser's anonymous network in...
Once confined to laboratory experiments and speculative research, the technology now stands at the forefront of interplanetary innovation and represents the most credible path to cutting travel times from months to mere weeks.
Last week, Blizzard Entertainment announced a flurry of showcase events, one for each of its major titles: World of Warcraft, Overwatch 2, Hearthstone, and Diablo IV. The World of Warcraft showcase happened at the end of last week, with Blizzard digging into its World of Warcraft roadmap for 2026. Today, it followed up with the Overwatch Spotlight, announcing what to expect for the coming year, and a significant change to the game going forward: it's no longer called Overwatch 2, and will instead just be called 'Overwatch' once again. Towards the end of the 35-minute spotlight, Overwatch game director Aaron [β¦]
After weeks of vacillation on the part of the tech-focused rumor mill between a February or March/April 2026 launch for the Pixel 10a, Google has just released official teasers of its new budget smartphone, announcing that the device will launch on February 18, 2026. Google releases official teasers for the Pixel 10a Google has just announced that pre-orders for the upcoming Pixel 10a will go live on February 18. Even so, in-store availability is not expected until March 05. As we noted in a dedicated post, Evan Blass, a known tipster, recently posted a screenshot of the Pixel 10a's certification [β¦]
The memory shortage has become so severe that consumers are now looking to Chinese suppliers like CXMT and YMTC as their 'saviour', hoping to get cheap DDR5/DDR4 modules, but that might never be the case. The retail situation in the RAM market is worsening by the day, with price hikes across the board, especially for higher-capacity modules. Mainly driven by DRAM shortages, it has become tough for gamers to access any memory, and given that the supply situation isn't looking to improve anytime soon, many of us have set our hopes on Chinese memory manufacturers coming to the rescue. Consumers [β¦]
The Asus Vivobook 14 with a Snapdragon X chip, 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage is currently on sale at Best Buy for just $379.99. This saves you $370 off its $749.99 original price, giving you a discount of nearly 50%.
Microsoft on Wednesday said it built a lightweight scanner that it said can detect backdoors in open-weight large language models (LLMs) and improve the overall trust in artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
The tech giant's AI Security team said the scanner leverages three observable signals that can be used to reliably flag the presence of backdoors while maintaining a low false positive
Threat hunters have disclosed details of a new, stealthy malware campaign dubbed DEAD#VAX that employs a mix of "disciplined tradecraft and clever abuse of legitimate system features" to bypass traditional detection mechanisms and deploy a remote access trojan (RAT) known as AsyncRAT.
"The attack leverages IPFS-hosted VHD files, extreme script obfuscation, runtime decryption, and in-memory
The best-selling Ring Battery Doorbell has changed how I monitor my home, and over 10,000 people have bought it this month β it can be yours for just $59.99.
Nvidia recommends uninstalling Windows 11 Update KB5074109 if users face issues Last monthβs Update KB5074109 for Windows 11 is still causing issues, to the point that Nvidia representatives have had to weigh in on their official support forums (via Windows Latest). In response to one use, Manuel@NVIDIA recommended uninstalling the update after users reported issues [β¦]
As Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 fans gear up for Season 2, Treyarch drops details on the new battle pass, revealing operator skins for the new villain, Victoria Atwood, along with new weapon blueprints.
Silicon Motion Technology Corporation (NasdaqGS: SIMO) ("Silicon Motion," the "Company," "we" or similar terms) today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2025. For the fourth quarter of 2025, net sales (GAAP) increased sequentially to $278.5 million from $242.0 million in the third quarter of 2025. Net income (GAAP) also increased sequentially to $47.7 million, or $1.41 per diluted American depositary share ("ADS") (GAAP), from net income (GAAP) of $39.1 million, or $1.16 per diluted ADS (GAAP), in the third quarter of 2025.
For the fourth quarter of 2025, net income (non-GAAP) increased sequentially to $42.7 million, or $1.26 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), from net income (non-GAAP) of $33.8 million, or $1.00 per diluted ADS (non-GAAP), in the third quarter of 2025. All financial numbers are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise noted.
Saber Interactive and Focus Entertainment premiered a Gameplay Overview Trailer for 80s action-horror-inspired game John Carpenter's Toxic Commando. This new IP from the creators of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, World War Z and SnowRunner shows what it is made of - from story and missions to weapons and classes. Zombie addicts and fans of 80s silly gory action horror can finally gear up ahead of John Carpenter's Toxic Commando releasing March 12 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Get ready for non-stop zombie destruction
The trailer introduces the highly trained team of mercenaries you'll be cleaning the zombie mess as in this 4-player co-op action survival shooter, taking on multiple missions through a semi-open world infested with Sabers hellish Swarm technology, sending endless, simultaneous waves of mutated monstrosities straight at your face.
As February has just started, Valve finished processing data for the January edition of the Steam Hardware and Software Survey. One of the few interesting takeaways is that for the first time in months, Intel's share of consumer CPU usage has seen an uptick, instead of the slow decline it has been experiencing. According to the January update, Intel's CPU share among Steam platform users has grown to 56.64%, representing a small but pleasant increase of 0.25% over the December data. On the other hand, AMD recorded a slight decrease of 0.19%, now standing at 43.34% of the market. This means that Intel's market share has increased for the first time in months, as data from September reported a market share of 58.61%, then October showed 57.82%, 57.30% in November, and 56.39% in December. The chain of declining share has finally stopped, suggesting that Intel could have a chance to rebound in the consumer market section.
On the contrary, AMD's CPU market share has been rising for months, moving up from 41.31% in September to 43.53% in December, with a small correction now standing at 43.34%. This indicates that many new CPU purchasing decisions were made in favor of AMD, driven by the massive popularity of its Ryzen 9000X3D series, which has been well-received by PC enthusiasts. In contrast, Intel's latest "Arrow Lake" launch has faced some initial challenges with less-than-expected gaming performance, but besides discounts and firmware updates improving the situation, the community is now anticipating the launch of the "Arrow Lake Refresh" scheduled for March or April, which is expected to address these issues by shipping with higher out-of-the-box frequencies and additional tuning.
After years of rumors and speculation, Google confirmed in 2025 that it plans to "fuse" Android and ChromeOS into a single desktop platform. The new system, known internally as Aluminium OS, is reportedly already under active development. What remains unclear is the fate of ChromeOS, the operating system that has...
Nioh 3 features deeper, more flexible combat, a semi-open-world structure, and seamless switching between Samurai and Ninja styles, earning praise as the most complete and accessible entry in the series-and one of the stronger modern Soulslike experiences for fans of demanding action RPGs.
The mission will mark NASA's first crewed test of laser communications in lunar orbit. O2O will use infrared light instead of radio frequencies to transmit voice, mission data, and high-resolution video back to Earth. While the technology has been tested on seven prior uncrewed missions, Artemisβ―II is the first to...
Lucid Engine helps brands measure and grow visibility across AI search engines. It tracks citations and recommendations on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, benchmarks competitors, and alerts you when rankings shift. The platform reveals which sources and sentiments drive answers and builds a prioritized backlog to close content gaps so you capture more recommendations. Monitor changes over time with live tracking, geo comparisons, and model release overlays to protect demand.
After accurately predicting a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase for this week, reliable insider NateTheHate has another prediction, this time to do with the arrival of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on Nintendo Switch 2, but more importantly, about how Square Enix will start its marketing campaign for Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 3, which, according to NateTheHate, will not be a PlayStation exclusive title at launch, and will instead be multiplatform from day-one. During the latest episode of the NateTheHate podcast, when discussing predictions for tomorrow's Partner Direct Showcase, on the topic of what Square Enix might bring to the table, [β¦]
We've known that a new Mass Effect (which we'll call Mass Effect 5 in this story for the sake of simplicity) was coming ever since late 2020. At that year's edition of The Game Awards, developer BioWare shared a brief trailer showing an aged Liara T'soni and subtly hinting at a direct sequel to the original trilogy, skipping the latest franchise installment, 2017's Andromeda. More than five years later, we've still got very little to go on. Another brief teaser was published on N7 Day 2023, but BioWare was still very much focused on releasing Dragon Age: The Veilguard first. [β¦]
With the understanding across the tech industry being that "no one can escape memory shortages," with price increases for devices already directly impacted by the shortages and rising cost of RAM, the question of popular consoles, like the Nintendo Switch 2, getting a price increase seems inevitable and more like a question of 'when,' instead of 'if.' So far, Nintendo has been cautious on the topic of price increases for the Nintendo Switch 2. When tariffs were the major factor potentially impacting the price of the console, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa made it clear that the price of the console [β¦]
Mint Mobile's incredible coupon code for discounted three-month plans ends tonight, so be quick if you're interested in seriously cheap unlimited plans.
Bridgerton season 4 part 2 first teaser confirms the long-awaited bathtub scene from original books β but Iβm still not over Benedict and Sophieβs biggest issue.
Nord Security has quadrupled its patent count since 2023, signaling a massive shift towards post-quantum encryption and AI-driven threat detection to future-proof its privacy tools.
Switzerland wants to expand its surveillance law and require VPNs, messaging apps, social media platforms, and other online services to collect data to help identify their users.
The prolific cybercrime group ShinyHunters took responsibility for hacking Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, and published the stolen data on its extortion website.
Borderlands 4 can't seem to escape its reputation for poor performance and demanding hardware requirements. Although the game was meant to launch on the relatively low-power Nintendo Switch 2 shortly after it launched on PC and console, the handheld port of the game was delayed, with the development team declaring that it needed more time to "deliver the best game possible" for fans of the series. Now, as of February 3, the development of Borderlands 4 for the Switch 2 has officially been put on hold. This is according to a new announcement by 2K Interactive in a recent earnings call. The gaming giant instead says that it wants to focus on optimizing Borderlands 4 for the devices on which it is already available. It's unclear whether the development will be picked up again at a later stage or if the port is effectively cancelled.
The full statement by 2K reads: "We made the difficult decision to pause development on that SKU. Our focus continues to be delivering quality post-launch content for players on the ongoing improvements to optimize the game. We're continuing to collaborate closely with our friends at Nintendo. We have PGA Tour 2K25 coming out and WWE 2K26, and we're incredibly excited about bringing more of our titles to that platform in the future." No official explanation was provided for the halt in development, but speculation has gone two ways. While some think 2K put the Switch 2 port on hold over performance concernsβGearbox's Randy Pitchford previously promised that the game would run at 30 FPS "with some dips" on the Switch 2, which didn't give gamers much hope for performanceβwhile others suspect that sales numbers simply didn't justify the increased development costs for the Switch 2. The fact that the Switch 2 version had already been indefinitely delayed lends credence to the theory that performance concerns and optimization difficulties could have had something to do with the cancellation.
Reddit user golfwang999 revealed the end of the PlayStation 3's Netflix app in a post on the site. The message, which is shown on what looks like an era-appropriate Philips CRT TV, confirms the app's imminent demise and advises users to visit Netflix's list of supported devices.
Q4 revenue grew 34 percent year over year to $10.27 billion, while GAAP profits rose 44 percent to $5.57 billion. Gross margin improved from 51 percent to 54 percent, and operating income increased to $1.75 billion from $871 million. Diluted earnings per share (EPS) reached $0.92, up from $0.29 in Q4 2024.
WinRAR 7.20 delivers faster handling of large archives, especially when deleting files or opening ZIPs with massive file counts. The update also enhances automation with smarter archive naming masks, expanded command-line switches, and faster extraction for TAR-based formats.
DMARCTrust monitors DMARC reports to show who sends emails as your domain and whether SPF and DKIM pass. It aggregates data from Gmail, Microsoft, Yahoo, and dozens of providers into a clear dashboard and alerts you to DNS record changes and authentication failures. Set it up in minutes with a unique reporting address and 2FA-secured access. Choose US or EU data hosting, track pass rates over time, and keep non-technical teams informed while protecting deliverability.
Build a Rocket Boy, the studio behind the biggest flop and the worst-reviewed game of 2025, MindsEye, is still chipping away at fixing and improving the game that was the butt of its fair share of jokes last year. The game's latest update, Update 7, is "a big step forward" for both the game and the studio, according to Mark Gerhard, chief executive and chief technical officer at Build a Rocket Boy. The new update focuses on improvements to "campaign flow, making objectives easier to follow, and continuing to refine AI behavior," the patch notes on the game's official website [β¦]
CNET has now published the results of an interesting test where it pitted the battery life of 35 smartphones against each other and, unsurprisingly, the Apple iPhone 17 lineup has emerged as the victor of this relatively exhaustive test. Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max is at the top of the smartphone battery life leaderboard, the base iPhone 17 wins second place, along with the OnePlus 15 CNET ran two battery life tests on a total of 35 smartphones: a three-hour test where a video was streamed over WiFi with the screen at full brightness, and a 45-minute endurance test spanning [β¦]
Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick was asked by GamesIndustry.biz whether developer Rockstar Games had used AI to build Grand Theft Auto 6, and the answer was negative: the state of Leonida, a fictionalized version of Florida, has been entirely handcrafted. That said, Zelnick mentioned that GenAI-powered tools are being used all across Take-Two's studios to "drive costs and time efficiencies". On the topic of AI, I've been enthusiastic since the very beginning. This company's products have always been built with machine learning and artificial intelligence. We've actually always been a leader in the space, and right now we have hundreds of [β¦]
Dispatch was one of the more beloved indie games from 2025, selling over 3 million copies to close out the year and getting several nominations from the DICE Awards and The Game Awards. It was even one of Wccftech's picks for the Best Adventure Games of 2025 and one of our picks for the Best Games of 2025 overall. Everything was coming up roses, and with a Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 port coming in January 2026, it seemed like developer AdHoc Studio was about to add another million copies sold to its tally. That was until it actually [β¦]
AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su, during the company's latest Q4 2025 earnings call, seemingly confirmed that the release for the new Valve Steam Machine is "on track" to launch during early 2026.
Google Ads introduced multi-party approval, a security feature that requires a second administrator to approve high-risk account actions. These actions include adding or removing users and changing user roles.
Why we care. As ad accounts grow in size and value, access control becomes a serious risk. One unauthorized, malicious, or accidental change can disrupt campaigns, permissions, or billing in minutes. Multi-party approval reduces that risk by requiring a second admin to approve high-impact actions. It adds strong protection without slowing daily work. For agencies and large teams, it prevents costly mistakes and significantly improves account security.
How it works. When an admin initiates a sensitive change, Google Ads automatically creates an approval request. Other eligible admins receive an in-product notification. One of them must approve or deny the request within 20 days. If no one responds, the request expires, and the change is blocked.
Status tracking. Each request is clearly labeled as Complete, Denied, or Expired. This makes it easy to see what was approved and what didnβt go through.
Where to find it. You can view and manage approval requests from Access and security within the Admin menu.
The bigger picture. The update reflects growing concern around account security, especially for agencies and large advertisers managing multiple users, partners, and permissions. With advertisers recently reporting costly hacks, this is a welcome update.
In 2015, PPC was a game of direct control. You told Google exactly which keywords to target, set manual bids at the keyword level, and capped spend with a daily budget.Β If you were good with spreadsheets and understood match types, you could build and manage 30,000-keyword accounts all day long.
Those days are gone.
In 2026, platform automation is no longer a helpful assistant. Itβs the primary driver of performance. Fighting that reality is a losing battle.Β
Automation has leveled the playing field and, in many cases, given PPC marketers back their time. But staying effective now requires a different skill set: understanding how automated systems learn and how your data shapes their decisions.
This article breaks down how signals actually work inside Google Ads, how to identify and protect high-quality signals, and how to prevent automation from drifting into the wrong pockets of performance.
Automation runs on signals, not settings
Googleβs automation isnβt a black box where you drop in a budget and hope for the best. Itβs a learning system that gets smarter based on the signals you provide.Β
Feed it strong, accurate signals, and it will outperform any manual approach.
Feed it poor or misleading data, and it will efficiently automate failure.
Thatβs the real dividing line in modern PPC. AI and automation run on signals. If a system can observe, measure, or infer something, it can use it to guide bidding and targeting.
Googleβs official documentation still frames βaudience signalsβ primarily as the segments advertisers manually add to products like Performance Max or Demand Gen.Β
That definition isnβt wrong, but itβs incomplete. It reflects a legacy, surface-level view of inputs and not how automation actually learns at scale.
In practice, every element inside a Google Ads account functions as a signal.Β
Structure, assets, budgets, pacing, conversion quality, landing page behavior, feed health, and real-time query patterns all shape how the AI interprets intent and decides where your money goes.Β
Nothing is neutral. Everything contributes to the modelβs understanding of who you want, who you donβt, and what outcomes you value.
So when we talk about βsignals,β weβre not just talking about first-party data or demographic targeting.Β
Weβre talking about the full ecosystem of behavioral, structural, and quality indicators that guide the algorithmβs decision-making.
Hereβs what actually matters:
Conversion actions and values: These are 100% necessary. They tell Google Ads what defines success for your specific business and which outcomes carry the most weight for your bottom line.
Keyword signals: These indicate search intent. Based on research shared by Brad Geddes at a recent Paid Search Association webinar, even βlow-volumeβ keywords serve as vital signals. They help the system understand the semantic neighborhood of your target audience.
Ad creative signals: This goes beyond RSA word choice. I believe the platform now analyzes the environment within your images. If you show a luxury kitchen, the algorithm identifies those visual cues to find high-end customers. I base this hypothesis on my experience running a YouTube channel. Iβve watched how the algorithm serves content based on visual environments, not just metadata.
Landing page signals: Beyond copy, elements like color palettes, imagery, and engagement metrics signal how well your destination aligns with the userβs initial intent. This creates a feedback loop that tells Google whether the promise of the ad was kept.
Bid strategies and budgets: Your bidding strategy is another core signal for the AI. It tells the system whether youβre prioritizing efficiency, volume, or raw profit. Your budget signals your level of market commitment. It tells the system how much permission it has to explore and test.
In 2026, weβve moved beyond the daily cap mindset. With the expansion of campaign total budgets to Search and Shopping, we are now signaling a total commitment window to Google.
In the announcement, UK retailer Escentual.com used this approach to signal a fixed promotional budget, resulting in a 16% traffic lift because the AI was given permission to pace spend based on real-time demand rather than arbitrary 24-hour cycles.
All of these elements function as signals because they actively shape the ad accountβs learning environment.
Anything the ad platform can observe, measure, or infer becomes part of how it predicts intent, evaluates quality, and allocates budget.Β
If a component influences who sees your ads, how they behave, or what outcomes the algorithm optimizes toward, it functions as a signal.
The auction-time reality: Finding the pockets
To understand why signal quality has become critical, you need to understand whatβs actually happening every time someone searches.
Googleβs auction-time bidding doesnβt set one bid for βmobile users in New York.βΒ
It calculates a unique bid for every single auction based on billions of signal combinations at that precise millisecond. This considers the user, not simply the keyword.
We are no longer looking for βblack-and-whiteβ performance.
We are finding pockets of performance and users who are predicted to take the outcomes we define as our goals in the platform.
The AI evaluates the specific intersection of a user on iOS 17, using Chrome, in London, at 8 p.m., who previously visited your pricing page.Β
Because the bidding algorithm cross-references these attributes, it generates a precise bid. This level of granularity is impossible for humans to replicate.Β
But this is also the βgarbage in, garbage outβ reality. Without quality signals, the system is forced to guess.
The signal hierarchy: What Google actually listens to
If every element in a Google Ads account functions as a signal, we also have to acknowledge that not all signals carry equal weight.
Some signals shape the core of the modelβs learning. Others simply refine it.
Based on my experience managing accounts spending six and seven figures monthly, this is the hierarchy that actually matters.
Conversion signals reign supreme
Your tracking is the most important data point. The algorithm needs a baseline of 30 to 50 conversions per month to recognize patterns. For B2B advertisers, this often requires shifting from high-funnel form fills to down-funnel CRM data.
As Andrea Cruz noted in her deep dive on Performance Max for B2B, optimizing for a βqualified leadβ or βappointment bookedβ is the only way to ensure the AI doesnβt just chase cheap, irrelevant clicks.
Enhanced conversions and first-party data
We are witnessing a βdeath by a thousand cuts,β where browser restrictions from Safari and Firefox, coupled with aggressive global regulations, have dismantled the third-party cookie.Β
Without enhanced conversions or server-side tracking, you are essentially flying blind, because the invisible trackers of the past are being replaced by a model where data must be earned through transparent value exchanges.
First-party audience signals
Your customer lists tell Google, βHere is who converted. Now go find more people like this.βΒ
Quality trumps quantity here. A stale or tiny list wonβt be as effective as a list that is updated in real time.
Custom segments provide context
Using keywords and URLs to build segments creates a digital footprint of your ideal customer.Β
This is especially critical in niche industries where Googleβs prebuilt audiences are too broad or too generic.
These segments help the system understand the neighborhood your best prospects live in online.
To simplify this hierarchy, Iβve mapped out the most common signals used in 2026 by their actual weight in the bidding engine:
Signal category
Specific input (The βwhatβ)
Weight/impact
Why it matters in 2026
Primary (Truth)
Offline conversion imports (CRM)
Critical
Trains the AI on profit, not just βleads.β
Primary (Truth)
Value-based bidding (tROAS)
Critical
Signals which products actually drive margin.
Secondary (Context)
First-party customer match lists
High
Provides a βSeed Audienceβ for the AI to model.
Secondary (Context)
Visual environment (images/video)
High
AI scans images to infer user βlifestyleβ and price tier.
Tertiary (Intent)
Low-volume/long-tail keywords
Medium
Defines the βsemantic neighborhoodβ of the search.
Tertiary (Intent)
Landing page color and speed
Medium
Signals trust and relevance feedback loops.
Pollutant (Noise)
βSoftβ conversions (scrolls/clicks)
Negative
Dilutes intent. Trains AI to find βcheap clickers.β
Signal pollution occurs when low-quality, conflicting, or misleading signals contaminate the data Googleβs AI uses to learn.Β
Itβs what happens when the system receives signals that donβt accurately represent your ideal client, your real conversion quality, or the true intent you want to attract in your ad campaigns.
Signal pollution doesnβt just βconfuseβ the bidding algorithm. It actively trains it in the wrong direction.Β
It dilutes your high-value signals, expands your reach into low-intent audiences, and forces the model to optimize toward outcomes you donβt actually want.
Common sources include:
Bad conversion data, including junk leads, unqualified form fills, and misfires.
Overly broad structures that blend high- and low-intent traffic.
Creative that attracts the wrong people.
Landing page behavior that signals low relevance or low trust.
Budget or pacing patterns that imply youβre willing to pay for volume over quality.
Feed issues that distort product relevance.
Audience segments that donβt match your real buyer.
These sources create the initial pollution. But when marketers try to compensate for underperformance by feeding the machine more data, the root cause never gets addressed.Β
Thatβs when soft conversions like scrolls or downloads get added as primary signals, and none of them correlate to revenue.
Like humans, algorithms focus on the metrics they are fed.
If you mix soft signals with high-intent revenue data, you dilute the profile of your ideal customer.Β
You end up winning thousands of cheap, low-value auctions that look great in a report but fail to move the needle on the P&L.Β
Your job is to be the gatekeeper, ensuring only the most profitable signals reach the bidding engine.
When signal pollution takes hold, the algorithm doesnβt just underperform. The ads start drifting toward the wrong users, and performance begins to decline.Β
Before you can build a strong signal strategy, you have to understand how to spot that drift early and correct it before it compounds.
How to detect and correct algorithm drift
Algorithm drift happens when Googleβs automation starts optimizing toward the wrong outcomes because the signals itβs receiving no longer match your real advertising goals.Β
Drift doesnβt show up as a dramatic crash. It shows up as a slow shift in who you reach, what queries you win, and which conversions the system prioritizes. It looks like a gradual deterioration of lead quality.
To stay in control, you need a simple way to spot drift early and correct it before the machine locks in the wrong pattern.
Early warning signs of drift include:
A sudden rise in cheap conversions that donβt correlate with revenue.
A shift in search terms toward lower-intent or irrelevant queries.
A drop in average order value or lead quality.
A spike in new-user volume with no matching lift in sales.
A campaign that looks healthy in-platform but feels wrong in the CRM or P&L.
These are all indicators that the system is optimizing toward the wrong signals.
To correct drift without resetting learning:
Tighten your conversion signals: Remove soft conversions, misfires, or anything that doesnβt map to revenue. The machine canβt unlearn bad data, but you can stop feeding it.
Reinforce the right audience patterns: Β Upload fresh customer lists, refresh custom segments, and remove stale data. Drift often comes from outdated or diluted audience signals.
Adjust structure to isolate intent: Β If a campaign blends high- and low-intent traffic, split it. Give the ad platform a cleaner environment to relearn the right patterns.
Refresh creative to repel the wrong users: Creative is a signal. If the wrong people are clicking, your ads are attracting them. Update imagery, language, and value props to realign intent.
Let the system stabilize before making another change: After a correction, give the campaign 5-10 days to settle. Overcorrecting creates more drift.
Your job isnβt to fight automation in Google Ads, itβs to guide it.Β
Drift happens when the machine is left unsupervised with weak or conflicting signals. Strong signal hygiene keeps the system aligned with your real business outcomes.
Once you can detect drift and correct it quickly, youβre finally in a position to build a signal strategy that compounds over time instead of constantly resetting.
The next step is structuring your ad account so every signal reinforces the outcomes you actually want.
Building a strategy that actually works in 2026 with signals
If you want to build a signal strategy that becomes a competitive advantage, you have to start with the foundations.
For lead gen
Implement offline conversion imports. The difference between optimizing for a βform fillβ and a β$50K closed dealβ is the difference between wasting budget and growing a business.Β
When βjourney-aware biddingβ eventually rolls out, it will be a game-changer because we can feed more data about the individual steps of a sale.
For ecommerce
Use value-based bidding. Donβt just count conversions. Differentiate between a customer buying a $20 accessory and one buying a $500 hero product.
Segment your data
Donβt just dump everyone into one list. A list of 5,000 recent purchasers is worth far more than 50,000 people who visited your homepage two years ago.Β
Stale data hurts performance by teaching the algorithm to find people who matched your business 18 months ago, not today.
Separate brand and nonbrand campaigns
Brand traffic carries radically different intent and conversion rates than nonbrand.Β
Mixing these campaigns forces the algorithm to average two incompatible behaviors, which muddies your signals and inflates your ROAS expectations.Β
Brand should be isolated so it doesnβt subsidize poor nonbrand performance or distort bidding decisions in the ad platform.
Donβt mix high-ticket and low-ticket products under one ROAS target
A $600 product and a $20 product do not behave the same in auction-time bidding.Β
When you put them in the same campaign with a single 4x ROAS target, the algorithm will get confused.Β
This trains the system away from your hero products and toward low-value volume.
Centralize campaigns for data density, but only when the data belongs together
Googleβs automation performs best when it has enough data to be consistent and high-quality data to recognize patterns. That means fewer, stronger campaigns are better as long as the signals inside them are aligned.Β
Centralize campaigns when products share similar price points, margins, audiences, and intent. Decentralize campaigns when mixing them would pollute the signal pool.
The competitive advantage of 2026
When everyone has access to the same automation, the only real advantage left is the quality of the signals you feed it.Β
Your job is to protect those signals, diagnose pollution early, and correct drift before the system locks onto the wrong patterns.
Once you build a deliberate signal strategy, Googleβs automation stops being a constraint and becomes leverage. You stay in the loop, and the machine does the heavy lifting.
Anthropic is drawing the line against advertising in AI chatbots. Claude will remain ad-free, the company said, even as rival AI platforms experiment with sponsored messages and branded placements inside conversations.
Ads inside AI chats would erode trust, warp incentives, and clash with how people actually use assistants like Claude (for work, problem-solving, and sensitive topics), Anthropic said in a new blog post.
Why we care. Anthropicβs position removes Claude, and its user base of 30 million, from the AI advertising equation. Brands shouldnβt expect sponsored links, conversations, or responses inside Claude. Meanwhile, ChatGPT is about to give brands the opportunity to reach an estimated 800 million weekly users.
Whatβs happening. AI conversations are fundamentally different from search results or social feeds, where users expect a mix of organic and paid content, Anthropic said:
Many Claude interactions involve personal issues, complex technical work, or high-stakes thinking. Dropping ads into those moments would feel intrusive and could quietly influence responses in ways users canβt easily detect.
Ad incentives tend to expand over time, gradually optimizing for engagement rather than genuine usefulness.
Incentives matter. This is a business-model decision, not just a product preference, Anthropic said:
An ad-free assistant can focus entirely on what helps the user β even if that means a short exchange or no follow-up at all.
An ad-supported model, by contrast, creates pressure to surface monetizable moments or keep users engaged longer than necessary.
Once ads enter the system, users may start questioning whether recommendations are driven by help or by commerce.
Anthropic isnβt rejecting commerce. Claude will still help users research, compare, and buy products when they ask. The company is also exploring βagentic commerce,β where the AI completes tasks like bookings or purchases on a userβs behalf.
Commerce should be triggered by the user, not by advertisers, Anthropic said.
The same rule applies to third-party integrations like Figma or Asana. These tools will remain user-directed, not sponsored.
Super Bowl ad. Anthropic is making the argument publicly and aggressively. In a Super Bowl debut, the company mocked intrusive AI advertising by inserting fake product pitches into personal conversations. The ad closed with a clear message: βAds are coming to AI. But not to Claude.β
The campaign appears to be a direct shot at OpenAI, which has announced plans to introduce ads into ChatGPT.
ββ¦I wonder why Anthropic would go for something so clearly dishonest. Our most important principle for ads says that we wonβt do exactly this; we would obviously never run ads in the way Anthropic depicts them. We are not stupid and we know our users would reject that.
βI guess itβs on brand for Anthropic doublespeak to use a deceptive ad to critique theoretical deceptive ads that arenβt real, but a Super Bowl ad is not where I would expect it.
βAnthropic serves an expensive product to rich people. We are glad they do that and we are doing that too, but we also feel strongly that we need to bring AI to billions of people who canβt pay for subscriptions.
βWe will continue to work hard to make even more intelligence available for lower and lower prices to our users.β
The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of states plan to appeal a federal judgeβs remedies ruling in the Google search antitrust case.
The appeal challenges a decision that found Google illegally monopolized search but stopped short of imposing major structural changes, such as forcing a divestiture of Chrome or banning default search deals outright.
Mehta ruled in August 2024 that Google unlawfully maintained its search monopoly through default search agreements with Apple, Samsung, and other device makers. Those deals cost Google more than $20 billion a year and blocked rivals from key distribution channels.
Why we care. The appeal means we still donβt know how much Google will keep controlling where search gets placed. And that control basically decides who wins traffic. If stricter fixes happen, it could change default search settings, open the door to rival search engines, and shift how people use search across devices.
Yes, but. The DOJ and states havenβt detailed their legal arguments. Court filings didnβt specify which parts of the ruling they will challenge, though attention is expected to focus on Chrome and Googleβs default search deal with Apple.
What to watch. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is expected to hear the case later this year. For now, itβs business as usual for Google β though its most important contracts now face annual review, and the risk of tougher remedies remains firmly on the table.
What theyβre saying. David Segal, Yelpβs vice president of public policy, welcomed the appeal. In a statement shared with Search Engine Land, Yelp said the trial courtβs remedies do not go far enough to restore real competition in search:
βUnfortunately, the measures put forth in the trial courtβs remedy decision are unlikely to restore competition β for instance, it allows for Google to continue to pay third parties for default placement in browsers and devices, which was the primary mechanism by which Google unlawfully foreclosed competition to begin with.
βInternet users, online advertisers and others who rely on and seek to compete in the industry deserve a level playing field with more, higher quality, and fairer search options β and the need for a more competitive space is all the more clear as Google seeks to leverage its vast power over the web, especially search indexing and ranking, to come to dominate the GenAI space.β
If your CPCs keep climbing, the cause may not be your bid strategy, your budget, or even your competitors.
You might be suffering from low ad quality.Β
Letβs break down the most foundational β and most misunderstood β metric in your Google Ads account. If you want to stop overpaying Google and start winning auctions on merit, you need to understand how the 1-to-10 Quality Score actually works.
The difference between Quality Score, Ad Strength, and Optimization Score
Before we dive in, letβs clear up the confusion. Google shows a lot of βscoresβ and βdiagnostics,β and you can safely ignore most of them. Quality Score is the exception.
Ad strength is an ad-level diagnostic. It checks whether your responsive ad follows best practices, like having enough headlines and descriptions. It has zero impact on auction performance.
Optimization score is a sales metric. It measures how many Google recommendations youβve reviewed. It does not reflect real campaign performance.
Quality Score is different. Itβs foundational. This keyword-level diagnostic summarizes the quality of your ads. Along with your bid, it determines Ad Rank. Ad Rank determines whether your ad appears at all, where it appears on the SERP, and how much you pay per click.
The formula is simple: Ad Rank = price Γ quality. The 1β10 score you see is only a summary, but it reflects the real-time quality calculation Google runs on every single search.
Setting up your dashboard: How to find your Quality Score
You canβt fix what you canβt see. To get started, go to your Keywords report in Google Ads and add these four columns:
Quality Score
Exp. CTR
Ad Relevance
Landing Page Exp.
When you analyze Quality Score, donβt judge keywords in isolation. Youβll drive yourself crazy. Look for patterns at the ad group level instead.
If most keywords have a Quality Score of 7 or higher, youβre in good shape. If most are at 5 or below, thatβs your cue to roll up your sleeves and improve ad quality.
The three core components of Quality Score and how to fix them
1. Ad Relevance: The βmessage matchβ
This is the only part of Quality Score fully within your control. It asks one simple question:
Does the keyword match the ad and the landing page?
If your ad relevance is generally βBelow average,β the fastest fix is Dynamic Keyword Insertion. It automatically inserts your keywords into the ad text. If you prefer a manual approach, make sure the keywords in the ad group actually appear in both the ad copy and the landing page.
2. Landing Page Experience: The βDeliveryβ
When Google sends users to your site, do they find what theyβre looking for? Or do they bounce after two seconds and head back to Google for a better result?
If your landing page experience score is low, start with the PageSpeed Insights tool. A βBelow averageβ rating often points to slow load times, a poor mobile experience, generic content, weak navigation, or all of the above.
3. Expected CTR: The βPopularity Contestβ
Google only makes money when users click, so it favors ads people are most likely to click.
If your expected CTR is lagging, start with competitive research:
Check Auction Insights to see who youβre competing against.
A βBelow averageβ expected CTR means their ads are earning higher click-through rates than yours.
If your ads are great but CTR is still low, review the Search terms report. You may be showing for irrelevant queries, which explains why users arenβt clicking on an otherwise awesome ad.
Whatβs a realistic Quality Score goal?
Iβll be honest: chasing a 10/10 Quality Score everywhere is a waste of time. Itβs unrealistic and usually unnecessary.
Instead, do a quick check-up every few months. Find one or two ad groups with lower Quality Scores, identify the most βBelow Averageβ component, and fix that first.
Improving ad quality takes more effort than raising budgets or bids. But it pays off with more clicks at the same β or even lower β cost.
This article is part of our ongoing Search Engine Land series, Everything you need to know about Google Ads in less than 3 minutes. In each edition, Jyll highlights a different Google Ads feature, and what you need to know to get the best results from it β all in a quick 3-minute read.
Threat actors affiliated with China have been attributed to a fresh set of cyber espionage campaigns targeting government and law enforcement agencies across Southeast Asia throughout 2025.
Check Point Research is tracking the previously undocumented activity cluster under the moniker Amaranth-Dragon, which it said shares links to the APT 41 ecosystem. Targeted countries include Cambodia,
Every year, CES showcases the limitless potential of our industry, but this year, we moved away from proof-of-concepts and towards real-world applications.
Microsoft's experimental Edge Canary build has some changes for the Read Aloud function. Instead of reading the text on the page, it now launches Copilot Vision instead.
In France, one of the internet's oldest privacy tools may soon become the focus of a national policy debate. Weeks after lawmakers approved a bill to block social media access for anyone under 15, the French government signaled that virtual private networks could be next on its regulatory agenda.
Adobe recently announced that Adobe Animate would soon enter its "end-of-life" phase, meaning customers would eventually lose access to both the software and any project files stored in the cloud. The announcement triggered a massive backlash, with many users pointing to the tool's continued and widespread popularity across a range...
The new High Bandwidth Drive concept represents a shift in how data moves between platters and the interface. Instead of the standard one-head-per-surface design that reads or writes sequentially, the new approach allows multiple read/write heads to operate in parallel across several tracks.
Resonant is an AI-native email platform that writes genuinely personalized outreach using each contactβs social profiles, company news, browsing, and purchase data. Connect your CRM or upload a CSV, set a goal, and Resonant researches LinkedIn, Twitter, and your data to craft context-rich emails that sound handwritten. Review, edit, and send at scale while tracking opens, clicks, and replies. Teams across e-commerce, B2B sales, SaaS, recruiting, and media use it to boost reply rates, revenue, and retention.
Samsungβs Galaxy S26 Ultra recently made its single-core and multi-core run on Geekbench 6, and just like its predecessors, the flagship features an overclocked version of Qualcommβs Snapdragon SoC. This time, it was the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, whose performance cores were running at 4.74GHz instead of the default 4.61GHz. Despite this small frequency bump, our single-core and multi-core results are shown to be higher, which obviously makes us question a few things, starting with whether thereβs any advantage to Samsung shipping its premium devices with a slightly faster chipset. An active cooling solution coupled with the diminishing returns [β¦]
With barely three weeks left until Samsung removes the wraps from this year's Galaxy S26 series, the South Korean tech behemoth is now entering its most aggressive marketing phase to build up excitement and buzz around the upcoming smartphones. To that end, Samsung has just dropped three short teaser videos that hint at the Galaxy S26 series' massively improved neural framing, low-light photography, and zoom capabilities. Samsung is teasing massive photography-related improvements for the upcoming Galaxy S26 series Last week, Samsung teased the Privacy Display feature of the upcoming Galaxy S26 series. The feature usesΒ Flex Magic Pixel OLED technology that [β¦]
After rumours appeared last week pointing to a Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase happening this week, specifically on Thursday, February 5, 2026, we now know those rumours and reports were correct. Confirmed first through the Nintendo Today! mobile app, Nintendo will host a Partner Showcase Direct event tomorrow, February 5, at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BT. This will be the third Nintendo Direct event of 2026 so far, after the Super Mario Galaxy Movie Direct and a Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream Direct last month. It's also the first Partner Showcase event Nintendo has hosted since July 2025. [β¦]
Excellent deals do exist, but they are rarer than a 32 GB DDR5 kit selling for less than $300. User Manages to Snag GeForce RTX 5090 for Just $899, While Another Receives RTX 5080 for Just $562 We rarely see GPUs available at their official MSRP, let alone below it. It took a long time for the GPU market to stabilize, but the worsening DRAM supply just spiked prices higher than they had been. Occassionally, we see users snagging GPUs at lower prices on deals, but two users were extremely lucky to grab them for almost half their prices. The [β¦]
I am not going to lie: I love Team NINJA. If you have been checking out my coverage over the past few years, you likely know this already. Ever since first picking up the PlayStation port of Dead or Alive, I was hooked. There is a specific feel to their combat that no other developer quite replicates. That admiration for the studio founded by the legendary Tomonobu Itagaki, who sadly passed away last October, only deepened as they pioneered the genres I love most: the high-octane character action of Ninja Gaiden and the punishing Masocore depth of Nioh. Even when [β¦]
Samsung's Exynos 2600 chip is certainly shaping up to be one of the highest performing mobile-focused chips of 2026, especially in the graphics department, where its Xclipse 960 GPU is emerging as an absolute beast of a performer. Now, that same GPU has pushed the Exynos 2600 to the top of the Basemark Ray Tracing leaderboard. The Exynos 2600 SoC's Xclipse 960 GPU propels it to the top of the Basemark Ray Tracing leaderboard For the benefit of those who might not be aware, the Exynos 2600 is Samsung'sΒ first chip that leverages its 2nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process, which is a [β¦]
Google may finally be starting to address a popular SEO and AI visibility βtacticβ: self-promotional βbest ofβ listicles. Thatβs according to new research by Lily Ray, vice president, SEO strategy and research at Amsive.
Across several SaaS brands hit hard in January, a pattern emerged. Many relied heavily on review-style content that ranked their own product as the No. 1 βbestβ in its category, often updated with the current year to trigger recency signals.
Whatβs happening. After the December 2025 core update, Google search results showed increased volatility throughout January, according to Barry Schwartz. Google hasnβt announced or confirmed any updates this year, but the timing aligns with steep visibility losses at several well-known SaaS and B2B brands. According to Ray:
In multiple cases, organic visibility dropped 30% to 50% within weeks. The losses were not domain-wide. They were concentrated in blog, guide, and tutorial subfolders.
Those sections often contained dozens or hundreds of self-promotional listicles targeting βbestβ queries. In most cases, the publisher ranked itself first. Many of the articles were lightly refreshed with β2026β in the title, with little evidence of meaningful updates.
βPresumably, these drops in Google organic results will also impact visibility across other LLMs that leverage Googleβs search results, which extends beyond Googleβs ecosystem of AI search products like Gemini and AI Mode [and AI Overviews], but isΒ also likely to include ChatGPT,β Ray wrote.
Why we care. Self-promotional listicles have been a shortcut for influencing rankings and AI-generated answers. If Google is now reevaluating how it treats this content, any strategies built around βbestβ queries are in danger of imploding.
The gray area. Ranking yourself as the βbestβ without independent testing, clear methodology, or third-party validation has been considered (by most) to be a sketchy SEO tactic. It isnβt explicitly banned, but it definitely conflicts with Googleβs guidance on reviews and trust.
Google has repeatedly said that high-quality reviews should show first-hand experience, originality, and evidence of evaluation. Self-promotional listicles often fall short, especially when bias is not disclosed.
Yes, but. Self-promotional listicles likely werenβt the only factor impacting organic visibility. Many affected sites also showed signs of rapid content scaling, automation, aggressive year-based refreshes, and other tactics tied to algorithmic risk.
That said, the consistency of self-ranking βbestβ content among the hardest-hit sites suggests this signal could now carry more weight, especially when used at scale.
What to watch. Whether self-promotional listicles earn citations and organic visibility. Google rarely applies changes evenly or instantly.
If this volatility reflects updates to Googleβs reviews system, the direction is clear. Content designed primarily to influence rankings, rather than to provide credible and independent evaluation, is becoming a liability.
For brands chasing visibility in search and AI, the lesson is familiar: SEO shortcuts work until they donβt.
Now you have to win twice: the ranking and the citation.
Google searches for almost anything today, and thereβs a good chance youβll see an AI Overview before the organic results, sometimes even before the ads.Β
That summary frames the query, shortlists sources, and shapes which brands get considered.
AI Overviews now appear for about 21% of all keywords, according to Ahrefs. And 99.9% are triggered by informational intent.
Search rankings still matter. But AI summaries increasingly determine who wins early consideration.
Hereβs what weβre seeing: brands arenβt losing visibility because they dropped from position three to seven. Theyβre losing it because they were never cited in the AI answer at all.
This article draws on research conducted by Search Influence and the online and professional education association UPCEA, which examined how people use AI-assisted search and how organizations are adapting. (Disclosure: I am the CEO at Search Influence)Β
Key takeaways
AI citations are becoming a trust signal: Being cited by AI influences credibility and early consideration β before users ever compare sources directly.
AI visibility is cumulative: AI systems pull from your website, YouTube, LinkedIn, and third-party publishers to assemble answers. Your URL isnβt the only thing that matters.
Authority doesnβt guarantee inclusion: Even established brands get sidelined when their content doesnβt match how users ask questions.
Most organizations know AI search matters but lack a plan: The gap isnβt awareness β itβs ownership, prioritization, and repeatable process.
Content structure affects whether you get cited: Pages built for retrieval, comparison, and decision-making outperform narrative or brand-led content.
Examining both sides of the search equation
To understand whatβs happening, we need to look at two sides of the same equation β how people are searching today and how organizations are responding (or arenβt).
How AI tools are used alongside traditional search.
Which sources people trust during early research.
While the study focused on professional and continuing education, these behaviors mirror what weβre seeing across industries: more AI-assisted discovery, earlier opinion formation, and trust signals shifting.
A separate snap poll of 30 UPCEA member institutions in October 2025 looked at the other side:
AI search strategy adoption.
Barriers slowing progress.
How visibility in AI-generated results gets tracked.
Together, these datasets show a widening gap between how people search and how organizations have adapted.
So what does the data actually tell us?
The search patterns worth paying attention to
The research highlights several search behaviors that consistently influence how people discover and evaluate options today.
AI tools and AI summaries are influencing trust early
The data makes one thing clear: AI-driven search has moved from the margins into the mainstream.
50% of prospective students use AI tools at least weekly.
79% read Googleβs AI Overviews when they appear.
1 in 3 trust AI tools as a source for program research.
56% are more likely to trust a brand cited by AI.
Trust is forming earlier now, often before users compare sources directly.
If youβve been putting off your AI search strategy because βpeople donβt trust AI,β the data says otherwise. AI citations are becoming a credibility signal β a trust shortcut before deeper research begins.
Search behavior is diversified
Search doesnβt happen in one place or follow one clean path anymore.
84% of prospective students use traditional search engines during research.
61% use YouTube.
50% use AI tools.
These behaviors arenβt sequential. Users move between surfaces, carrying context with them.
What they see in an AI summary influences how they read a search result. A YouTube video can establish trust before a website ever earns a click.
This is where many strategies fall out of sync. Teams optimize one channel at a time β usually their website β and treat everything else as optional.
But AI search engines pull from everywhere your brand has a presence:
Your website.
Your YouTube channel.
Your LinkedIn content.
Third-party and publisher sites.
Your AI credibility is cumulative. Itβs built anywhere your brand shows up, not just where you own the URL.
Search engines and brand-owned websites still matter
The rise of AI search doesnβt mean the end of traditional search. It raises the bar for it.
Even as AI summaries reshape early trust, people still rely heavily on first-party sources and organic results when they evaluate options:
63% rely on brand-owned websites during research.
77% trust university-owned websites more than other sources.
82% are more likely to consider options that appear on the first page of search results.
AI engines prioritize content that search engines can already crawl, interpret, and trust.
If your core content isnβt clearly structured, accessible, and eligible to rank in traditional search, itβs far less likely to be pulled into AI-generated answers.
When teams do take action, their priorities cluster around two themes:
59% focus on the accuracy of AI-generated information about their offerings.
48% focus on improving visibility and competitive positioning.
Those goals are linked. Clear, structured information makes it easier for AI systems to represent a brand. Visibility follows clarity. When that clarity is missing, AI fills in the blanks using third-party sources and competitor content.
Tracking AI visibility remains inconsistent
AI visibility tracking varies widely:
57% know their institution appears in AI-generated answers.
27% have seen their brand referenced occasionally but donβt actively monitor it.
13% are unsure whether they appear in AI-generated responses at all.
Among teams that do track AI visibility:
64% use dedicated tools or formal tracking methods.
29% rely on informal checks or donβt track consistently.
This creates a familiar blind spot. Teams feel the impact of AI search anecdotally but lack consistent visibility into where, how, and why their brand appears.
Universities bring everything search engines are supposed to reward:
High domain authority.
Deep, long-standing content libraries.
Strong brand recognition.
Yet in AI-generated answers, those advantages often donβt translate. When AI systems generate answers, they cite content that already matches the way users ask questions. That often means:
Comparisons.
βTop tools,β βtop programs,β or βtop optionsβ lists.
Third-party explainers written about brands.
Those formats are dominated by aggregators and publishers β not the institutions themselves.
AI doesnβt look for the biggest brand. It looks for the best answer. Higher education shows what happens when brands rely on authority alone and why every industry needs to rethink how it publishes.
So what do you do about it?
1. Get your foundations in order before chasing AI visibility
The most common question right now: βHow do we show up in AI results?β
In many cases, I think the honest answer is to fix whatβs already broken.
AI systems rely on the same signals that traditional search does: crawlability, structure, clarity. If your pages are blocked, poorly organized, or weighed down by technical debt, they wonβt surface cleanly anywhere.
Weβve seen teams invest energy in AI conversations while core pages still struggle with:
Indexing issues.
Bloated or unclear page structures.
Content written for storytelling, not retrieval.
Start with your traditional SEO foundation. AI systems can only work with whatβs structurally sound.
2. Optimize content for retrieval, not just reading
AI search engines favor content that can be lifted cleanly and reused without interpretation. The job of content shifts from βtelling a complete storyβ to βdelivering clear, extractable answers.β
Many brand pages technically contain the right information, but itβs buried in long-form prose or brand language that requires context to understand.
Content that performs well in AI answers tends to:
Lead with direct answers, not setup.
Use headings that map to search intent.
Separate ideas into self-contained sections.
Avoid forcing readers (or machines) to infer meaning.
This isnβt about shortening content. Itβs about sharpening it. When intent is obvious, AI knows exactly what to pull and when to cite you.
3. Compete on format, not just authority
If AI keeps citing comparisons, lists, and explainers β and it does β brands probably need to own those formats themselves.
AI systems pull from content that already reflects how people evaluate options. When those pages donβt exist on your site, AI cites the aggregators and publishers instead.
To compete, brands need to publish:
Comparison pages that reflect real decision criteria.
βBest for Xβ content tied to specific use cases.
Standalone explainers that help buyers choose.
Put simply: publish what AI actually wants to cite.
In some cases, being cited from a third-party platform matters more than where your site ranks.
Weβve seen AI Overviews where a brandβs YouTube video is cited alongside their webpage and third-party sources β all shaping the same answer. That blended source set is becoming the norm.
If your content strategy only prioritizes on-site publishing, youβre narrowing your chances of earning AI visibility.
Google has updated two of its help documents to explain the limits of Googlebot when it crawls. Specifically, how much Googlebot can consume by filetype and format.
The limits. The limits, some of which were documented already and are not new, include:
15MB for web pages: Google wrote, βBy default, Googleβs crawlers and fetchers only crawl the first 15MB of a file.β
64MB for PDF files: Google wrote, βWhen crawling for Google Search, Googlebot crawls the first 2MB of a supported file type, and the first 64MB of a PDF file.β
2MB for supported files types: Google wrote, βWhen crawling for Google Search, Googlebot crawls the first 2MB of a supported file type, and the first 64MB of a PDF file.β
Note, these limits are pretty large and the vast majority of websites do not need to be concerned with these limits.
Full text. Here is what Google posted fully in its help documents:
βBy default, Googleβs crawlers and fetchers only crawl the first 15MB of a file. Any content beyond this limit is ignored. Individual projects may set different limits for their crawlers and fetchers, and also for different file types. For example, a Google crawler may set a larger file size limit for a PDF than for HTML.β
βWhen crawling for Google Search, Googlebot crawls the first 2MB of a supported file type, and the first 64MB of a PDF file. From a rendering perspective, each resource referenced in the HTML (such as CSS and JavaScript) is fetched separately, and each resource fetch is bound by the same file size limit that applies to other files (except PDF files). Once the cutoff limit is reached, Googlebot stops the fetch and only sends the already downloaded part of the file for indexing consideration. The file size limit is applied on the uncompressed data. Other Google crawlers, for example Googlebot Video and Googlebot Image, may have different limits.β
Why we care. It is important to know of these limits but again, most sites will likely never even come close to these limits. That being said these are the document limits of Googlebotβs crawling.
Buoys, ships, and some autonomous rovers have recently added some detail, but itβs nothing like what we get from satellites today. Itβs frustrating to everyone from fishermen to the Coast Guard, meteorologists to offshore wind developers.
Spotify is revamping its lyrics feature, adding offline access for Premium users, global lyric translations, and a more prominent placement in the Now Playing view.
With its pivot to HAMR, Western Digital aims to deliver 100TB+ HDDs Western Digital has promised to launch 100TB HDDs by 2029, delivering a 2.5x increase in storage density over the next three years. This year, Western Digital will launch 40TB HDDs. This drive is their ePMR 40TB UltraSMR HDD, which enters volume production later [β¦]
Microsoft is reportedly walking back on Windows AI integrations If you ask any heavy Windows user about their opinions on Copilot and AI, you will likely hear nothing but complaints. For too long, Microsoft has used Windows as an AI testing ground, with users serving as guinea pigs. AI is being forced on users, even [β¦]
Microsoft has moved its 3D Viewer app onto the deprecated list, and it's expected to disappear from the Microsoft Store in July 2026. I have some suggestions as to what you can use instead.
Xbox consoles are already capable emulation machines through Dev Mode, and a recent community poll suggests Nintendo Switch emulation using Ryujinx could be the next ambitious step.
Zelnick was responding to a question about Google's Project Genie AI tool. Announced last week, the experimental system transforms simple text instructions into short, explorable video environments β interactive worlds, essentially.
The new standard stems from growing safety concerns. While retractable or hidden handles improve airflow and aesthetics, they can become a deadly obstacle in emergencies.
Steven Allison, the Epic Games Store's vice president and general manager, conceded that the launcher boots and responds to user input more sluggishly than Steam. To address complaints that have persisted for years, the company is completely rebuilding the client's backend. "We're ripping the guts out of the Epic Games...
Test Your Idea scans 11 live data sources and tells you what's wrong with your startup before you write a single line of code. You're about to spend six months building something, but will anyone pay for it?
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This is one of the cheapest OLED Android gaming handhelds on the market, powered by the Snapdragon 865 processor. MANGMI Launches Pocket Max OLED Gaming Handheld at Just $199 as Super Early Bird Price Popular handheld maker, MANGMI, has announced its latest Android gaming handheld called Pocket Max, bringing the power of the Snapdragon 865 processor and Adreno 650 GPU for a smooth gaming experience. It's the second Android handheld device from the company that delivers significantly superior specs out of the box, including the internal hardware and screen, which makes Pocket Max a powerful Android handheld for enthusiasts. While [β¦]
GMKtecβs mini PC delivers impressive performance and 1080p gaming in a compact size, though itβs pricey next to a larger system and not as upgradeable.
Chinaβs two largest memory manufacturers, CXMT and YMTC, are said to each be embarking on an unprecedented expansion spree as they see an opportunity to close the gap with the big-three incumbents.
This 27-inch Acer Nitro XV27U gaming monitor has just hit a record low price on Amazon, scoring you an IPS display with a super-fast 300Hz refresh rate for just $199.99, saving you $100.
One of the biggest reasons new advertisers end up in underperforming Performance Max campaigns is simple: they followed Googleβs advice.
Google Ads reps are often well-meaning and, in many cases, genuinely helpful at a surface level.Β
But itβs critical for advertisers β especially new ones β to understand who those reps work for, how theyβre incentivized, and what their recommendations are actually optimized for.
Before defaulting to Googleβs newest recommendation, itβs worth taking a step back to understand why the βshiny new toyβ isnβt always the right move β and how advertisers can better advocate for strategies that serve their business, not just the platform.
Google reps are not strategic consultants
Google Ads reps play a specific role, and that role is frequently misunderstood.
They do not:
Manage your account long term.
Know your margins, cash flow, or true break-even ROAS.
Understand your internal goals, inventory constraints, or seasonality.
Get penalized when your ads lose money.
Their responsibility is not to build a sustainable acquisition strategy for your business. Instead, their primary objectives are to:
Increase platform and feature adoption.
Drive spend into newer campaign types.
Push automation, broad targeting, and machine learning.
That distinction matters.
Performance Max is Googleβs flagship campaign type. It uses more inventory, more placements, and more automation across the entire Google ecosystem.Β
From Googleβs perspective, itβs efficient, scalable, and profitable. From a new advertiserβs perspective, however, itβs often premature and misaligned with early-stage needs.
Performance Max benefits Google before it benefits you
Performance Max often benefits Google before it benefits the advertiser.Β
Because it automatically spends across Search, Shopping, Display, YouTube, Discover, and Gmail, Google is given near-total discretion over where your budget is allocated. In exchange, advertisers receive limited visibility into whatβs actually driving results.
For Google, this model is ideal. It monetizes more surfaces, accelerates adoption of automated bidding and targeting, and increases overall ad spend across the board. For advertisers β particularly those with new or low-data accounts β the reality looks different.
New accounts often end up paying for upper-funnel impressions before meaningful conversion data is available.Β
Budgets are diluted across lower-intent placements, CPCs can spike unpredictably, and when performance declines, thereβs very little insight into what to fix or optimize.Β
Youβre often left guessing whether the issue is creative, targeting, bidding, tracking, or placement.
This misalignment is exactly why Google reps so often recommend Performance Max even when an account lacks the data foundation required for it to succeed.
βBest practiceβ doesnβt mean best strategy for your business
What Google defines as βbest practiceβ does not automatically translate into the best strategy for your business.
Google reps operate from generalized, platform-wide guidance rather than a custom account strategy.Β
Their recommendations are typically driven by aggregated averages, internal adoption goals, and the products Google is actively promoting next β not by the unique realities of your business.
They are not built around your specific business model, your customer acquisition cost tolerance, your testing and learning roadmap, or your need for early clarity and control.Β
As a result, strategies that may work well at scale for mature, data-rich accounts often fail to deliver the same results for new or growing advertisers.
Whatβs optimal for Google at scale isnβt always optimal for an advertiser who is still validating demand, pricing, and profitability.
Smart advertisers earn automation β they donβt start with it
Smart advertisers understand that automation is something you earn, not something you start with.
Even today, Google Shopping Ads remain one of the most effective tools for new ad accounts because they are controlled, intent-driven, and rooted in real purchase behavior.
Shopping campaigns rely far less on historical conversion volume and far more on product feed relevance, pricing, and search intent.
That makes them uniquely well-suited for advertisers who are still learning what works, what converts, and what deserves more budget.
To understand how this difference plays out in practice, consider what happened to a small chocolatier that came to me after implementing Performance Max based on guidance from their dedicated Google Ads rep.
A real-world example: When Performance Max goes wrong
The challenge was straightforward: The retailerβs Google Ads account was new, and Performance Max was positioned as the golden ticket to quickly building nationwide demand.
The result was disastrous.
Over $3,000 was spent with a return of just one purchase.
Traffic to the website and YouTube channel remained low despite the spend.
CPCs climbed as high as $50 per click.
ROAS was effectively nonexistent.Β
To make matters worse, conversion tracking had not been set up correctly, causing Google to report inflated and inaccurate sales numbers that didnβt align with Shopify at all.
Understandably, the retailer lost confidence β not just in Performance Max, but in paid advertising as a whole. Before walking away entirely, they reached out to me.
Recognizing that this was a new account with no reliable data, I immediately reverse-engineered the setup into a standard Google Shopping campaign.Β
We properly connected Google Ads and Google Merchant Center to Shopify to ensure clean, accurate tracking.
From there, the campaign was segmented by product groups, allowing for intentional bidding and clearer performance signals.
Within two weeks, real sales started coming through.
By the end of the month, the brand had acquired 56 new customers at a $53 cost per lead, with an average order value ranging from $115 to $200.Β
More importantly, the account now had clean data, clear winners, and a foundation that could actually support automation in the future.
By starting with Shopping campaigns, advertisers can validate products, pricing, and conversion tracking while building clean, reliable data at the product and SKU level.
This early-stage performance proves demand, highlights top-performing items, and trains Googleβs algorithm with meaningful purchase behavior.
Shopping Ads also offer a higher level of control and transparency than Performance Max.Β
Advertisers can segment by product category, brand, margin, or performance tier, apply negative keywords, and intentionally allocate budget to whatβs actually profitable.Β
When something underperforms, itβs clear why β and when something works, itβs easy to scale.
This level of insight is invaluable early on, when every dollar spent should be contributing to learning, not just impressions.
The case for a hybrid approach
Standard Shopping consistently outperforms Performance Max for accounts that require granular control over product groups and bidding β especially when margins vary significantly across SKUs and precise budget allocation matters.Β
It allows advertisers to double down on proven winners with exact targeting, intentional bids, and full visibility into performance.
That said, once a Shopping campaign has been running long enough to establish clear performance patterns, a hybrid approach can be extremely effective.
Performance Max can play a complementary role for discovery, particularly for advertisers managing broad product catalogs or limited optimization bandwidth.Β
Used selectively, it can help test new products, reach new audiences, and expand beyond existing demand β without sacrificing the stability of core revenue drivers.
While Performance Max reduces transparency and control, pairing it with Standard Shopping for established performers creates a balanced strategy that prioritizes profitability while still allowing room for scalable growth.
Google reps are trained to recommend what benefits the platform first, not whatβs safest or most efficient for a new advertiser learning their market.Β
While Performance Max can be powerful, it only works well when itβs fueled by strong, reliable data β something most new accounts simply donβt have yet.
Advertisers who prioritize predictable performance, cleaner insights, and sustainable growth are better served by starting with Google Shopping Ads, where intent is high, control is stronger, and optimization is transparent.Β
By using Shopping campaigns to validate products, understand true acquisition costs, and build confidence in what actually converts, businesses create a solid foundation for automation.
From there, Performance Max can be layered in deliberately and profitably β used as a tool to scale proven success rather than a shortcut that drains budget.Β
That approach isnβt anti-Google. Itβs disciplined, strategic advertising designed to protect spend and drive long-term results.
An innovative approach to discovering, analyzing, and governing identity usage beyond traditional IAM controls.
The Challenge: Identity Lives Outside the Identity Stack
Identity and access management tools were built to govern users and directories.
Modern enterprises run on applications. Over time, identity logic has moved into application code, APIs, service accounts, and custom authentication
This new Channel 4 documentary dives into the shocking details behind the pop star's controversial 2005 trial. Here's how to watch Michael Jackson: The Trial for FREE.
CIPA data for 2025 indicates a huge growth in the compact camera market, with a disproportionate rise in value, suggesting premium models lead the way.
Borderlands 4 may never arrive on Nintendoβs Switch 2 Borderlands 4 was originally due to launch on Switch 2 on October 3rd, with Gearbox confirming a last-minute delay one week before its planned launch. Now, four months later, Take-Two Interactive, the gameβs publisher, has confirmed that they have chosen to βpause developmentβ of the gameβs [β¦]
Microsoft is expanding People Skills on the Microsoft 365 profile card in Microsoft Teams, making it easier to understand and organize your colleagues.
Amazon has a big discount on the Razer Basilisk V3 Pro gaming mouse, a superb option we loved in 2022 for its extremely responsive sensors and design that still holds up today.
Texas Instruments (Nasdaq: TXN), a global semiconductor company that designs, manufactures and sells analog and embedded processing chips, and Silicon Labs (Nasdaq: SLAB), a leader in secure, intelligent wireless technology, today announced they have signed a definitive agreement under which Texas Instruments will acquire Silicon Labs for $231.00 per share in an all-cash transaction, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $7.5 billion.
The acquisition will create a global leader in embedded wireless connectivity solutions by combining Silicon Labs' strong portfolio and expertise in mixed signal solutions with Texas Instruments' leading analog and embedded processing portfolio and internally owned technology and manufacturing capabilities. The combined company will accelerate growth by better serving existing and new customers through enhanced innovation and market access.
AMD posted its record fourth quarter revenue of $10.3 billion in 2025, and during the earnings call, the company issued some guidance on the upcoming product portfolio. During the call, AMD confirmed that Valve's Steam Machine is on track and shipping early this year, while its custom SoC division that designs processors for PlayStation and Xbox consoles will deliver an RDNA 5-based SoC for the next-generation Xbox console. While the Steam Machine specifications are confirmed, Xbox "Magnus" SoC is still largely a collection of rumored specifications. The "Magnus" SoC is rumored to feature the largest APU ever designed for a consumer console, with a 408 mmΒ² chiplet design. Of this, 144 mmΒ² is dedicated to the SoC built on TSMC's N3P node, while the GPU occupies 264 mmΒ². The AMD chip is expected to include up to 11 CPU coresβthree Zen 6 and eight Zen 6cβalongside a substantial GPU setup with 68 RDNA 5 compute units, four shader engines, and at least 24 MB of L2 cache. Memory might expand to 48 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus. A dedicated NPU is rumored to offer significant on-device AI performance, with reports suggesting up to 110 TOPS.
Dr. Lisa SuFor 2026, we expect semi-custom SoC annual revenue to decline by a significant double-digit percentage as we enter the seventh year of what has been a very strong console cycle. From a product standpoint, Valve is on track to begin shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year, and development of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox featuring an AMD semi-custom SoC is progressing well to support a launch in 2027.
At its Innovation Day 2026, Western Digital today unveiled a new customer-centric storage roadmap that reinvents the hard drive for AI needs, reinforcing its position as a strategic storage infrastructure partner for the AI-driven data economy. The announcements reflect how WD's fundamental business transformation has enabled a new generation of storage technologies spanning scalable capacity, breakthrough performance optimizations, power efficiency innovations and an intelligent platform API with cost-effective economics.
As AI generates massive amounts of data, it has spurred intense demand for data storage. To meet the moment, WD has focused deeply on customer needs, particularly capacity with proven reliability and economics, performance, power efficiency, and faster qualifications without customer business disruptions. During its Innovation Day, WD showcased technologies that address these essential customer requirements and will deliver them at scale.
Following a reported 5 β 10% increase in pricing last month, AMD board partners are expected to introduce a second hike this month or in March. It's unclear how large this new increase will be, but any price hike by AIB partners will make RX 9000-series graphics cards even more expensive.
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Liv is a comprehensive wellness platform that integrates mental health support, fitness tracking, and daily management tools specifically designed for ADHD executive function challenges. It currently connects with Google Calendar, Google Tasks, Fitbit API, and offers in-the-moment AI coaching support. The mission is to create accessible mental health and wellness tools informed by lived experiences with combined-type ADHD, bridging the gap between clinical understanding and daily reality for neurodivergent individuals.
Nioh 3 features a vast weapon selection, with many options within the different weapon types for Samurai and Ninja Style sporting a set passive skill, alongside randomly assigned skills that can be used to define your character build. Among these weapon choices are Crucible weapons. These remarkable weapons are difficult to come by while playing the game normally, but there's an easy way to farm them in the early game. Become the Master of Weapons: here's where you can farm Crucible Weapons, and why you should to unlock the full combat potential of Takechiyo. How to Farm Crucible Weapons Farming [β¦]
Nioh 3 is the first new entry in the hardcore action role-playing game series by Team NINJA in over 6 years, and a lot has changed since the second entry. While the basic combat mechanics and loot system are rooted in the franchise's history, the third entry introduces many changes and additions that can leave even veterans a little confused. In thisΒ Complete Walkthrough and Guides Hub, you will find everything you need not only to successfully complete your journey through time but also to have tons of fun while doing so, starting from the Warring States period, which can be [β¦]
The updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models that areΒ rumored to launch in MarchΒ with Appleβs new M5 Pro and M5 Max chipsets are expected to retain the same thermal solution as the previous models. Despite these SoCs being highly efficient, they do tend to get exceptionally hot. While the technology giant might not be too keen to introduce a revamped heatpipe layout or switch to a vapor chamber, a fresh rumor claims that TSMCβs 2.5D packaging will be utilized instead of the companyβs Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) technology, helping improve heat dissipation and lower resistance. There are other advantages too, which [β¦]
Yesterday, Epic published the Epic Games Store year-in-review post, revealing new records for sales of third-party games (+57% over last year), total PC users (over 317 million), and monthly active users (MAUs; 78 million in December 2025, when the giveaway of Hogwarts Legacy added around six million users). That said, while playtime spent with third-party games increased by 4%, total engagement across all Epic Games Store titles dropped by 14%, signaling a decrease in first-party engagement of games like Fortnite and Rocket League. Website GamesIndustry.biz was able to interview Epic Games Store General Manager Steve Allison, who admitted that the [β¦]
HetCCL, a proposed computing library, could make Nvidia and AMD AI accelerators play nicely with one another in the same cluster by bridging the two companies' hardware over RDMA.
Many incident response failures do not come from a lack of tools, intelligence, or technical skills. They come from what happens immediately after detection, when pressure is high, and information is incomplete.
I have seen IR teams recover from sophisticated intrusions with limited telemetry. I have also seen teams lose control of investigations they should have been able to handle. The
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Learn how Google's NAI framework uses AI to make technology more adaptive, inclusive and helpful for everyone. 
Google Cloud built an industry-first AI tool to help U.S. Ski and Snowboard athletes. 
Learn more about Googleβs new ad that will run during footballβs Big Game on February 8. 
Google AI announcements from January 
