Asus ROG’s innovative Raikiri II controller and its trailblazing TMR triggers have finally given me the edge I need in my favorite games.

Soulja Boy teamed up with Bland AI to launch a phone-based voice clone fans can call, showcasing a playful but revealing example of how AI is reshaping celebrity interaction

There's very little to complain about when it comes to Boox's newest color 10-inch e-notebook, but the Note Air5 C fails to offer anything different from its predecessors.

Nvidia plans to introduce AI-integrated chips into consumer laptops, combining CPU and GPU, while facing software compatibility and pricing challenges.

Leveraging the expertise and experience of the team, and rigorous testing methodology to identify the very best computing products and services

UBI Research has published a breakdown estimate of how much a big micro-LED TV costs to make, and it tells you why it's not going mainstream

A tinkerer accidentally accessed thousands of DJI Romo vacuums, exposing live video, floor plans, and raising serious IoT privacy concerns.

In a one-two punch of centibillion-dollar offers, the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is over. David Ellison-owned Paramount will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix has lost.

Jack Dorsey has long been an open admirer of Elon Musk. Now, it seems, he may have been taking notes.

Google's Gary Illyes clarifies why resource hints do not influence Googlebot's crawling behavior, and notes that HTML validity is not a ranking factor.

The post Google Explains Why Its Crawler Ignores Your Resource Hints appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Lack of support for an independent WordPress plugin and theme repository leads Joost de Valk to step away.

The post Joost de Valk Exits Federated WordPress Repository Project appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

A shopping test in the Meta-owned app is being criticized for displaying products influencers don’t endorse and tags that could compete with pre-existing brand deals.

 

The new process is being tested in the U.S. and Canada, and allows users to activate direct messaging by typing in a post. 

 

The new options are aligned with the more compact formatting style popularized across other apps.

 

With Nano Banana 2, the company merged the capabilities of Nano Banana and Nano Banana Pro, combining all the tools into a single app.

The new filings are part of a larger effort to protect users by taking stronger legal measures against scam activity.

The new safety measure will roll out on the Meta-owned app the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia over the coming weeks.

 

AMD releases its Radeon Software Adrenalin 26.2.2 driver for Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon AMD has officially released AMD Software 26.2.2 GPU driver, adding “new game support” for Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon. Alongside this new game support comes with some bug fixes for Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs. Full release notes are below. AMD […]

The post Radeon’s Ready for Requiem with AMD Software 26.2.2 appeared first on OC3D.

RedOctane, a relatively new game studio started by rhythm game veterans with the mission to "to bring rhythm gaming back with more power, more precision, and a deeper connection than ever before," has officially announced its first game, Stage Tour, which is slated to release on Steam and begin alpha testing in "summer 2026," or sometime around June or July. Console support is also planned, but there have been no concrete announcements of specific platforms or release dates. Stage Tour will feature instrument designs from Gibson—specifically the Gibson, Epiphone, and Kramer brands—with whom the studio says it has a multi-year partnership to license and feature designs.

Stage Tour follows the typical note highway rhythm game style that was popularized by games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. The game studio says that Stage Tour is being developed as a "love letter to rhythm gaming," and that it is meant to "feel familiar and authentic," while also evolving the genre in what it calls "the right way," by using modern technology. The announcement itself doesn't make mention of custom peripherals beyond calling out plastic instruments, but there is a FAQ page that confirms that players will be able to buy the game bundled with a Gibson Kramer guitar controller, which has been a popular design in the rhythm game space—it's unclear if the Kramer's hardware will be updated for the game's launch. RedOctane is also actively recruiting for music to add to the game, although it has not revealed what music will feature in Stage Tour, aside from a mention of a "variety of music around the Rock and Metal genres."

Riot Games, the developer behind massive games like League of Legends and Valorant, recently suffered a round of layoffs after the middling console launch of 2XKO, its new 2v2 fighting game. Now, just over two weeks later, the studio has confirmed to Game Developer that it has laid off "around 12" more employees, this time in its publishing division. This round of layoffs doesn't only affect a single team after an ailing launch though, with the publication reporting that three teams have been affected by the layoffs.

Riot Games has been owned by Tencent since 2015, and it was recently revealed that Tencent shuttered a newly formed studio, TiMi Montreal, which was working on AAA, open-world, cross-platform games, but had yet to release or even announce any of those games. Tencent's other hulking Chinese rival, NetEase, also recently implemented a round of layoffs at another studio that had yet to announce or release any games, and it seems like that studio may not be in it for the long haul, if the employees posting about those layoffs are to be believed.

Windrose, formerly Crosswind, is an upcoming PvE co-op pirate survival crafting game that recently made waves during the Steam Next Fest, attracting over 22,000 concurrent players during its demo period. The Discord server for the game also ballooned to well over 20,000 members, and the hype for the game's expected release date reveal was so intense that the development team felt the need to temper expectations when it released the Raging Seas trailer for IGN Fan Fest. In the announcement following the trailer release, the developer behind the game explained that the game's potential scope made it impossible to announce a realistic launch date at the time, adding that "the full EA version of the game could be several times bigger in content and scale than the demo. Like x10 islands, x10 points of interest, more ships, enemies, crafting and building, etc."

In short, the developer asked fans to "let us cook more," explaining that the priority needs to be delivering a quality experience and shipping the game "on time and in best condition possible." The message goes on to promise fans that a release date will be revealed as soon as the development team is confident that it can deliver on all of its goals without having to delay the game. Windrose combines crafting mechanics, adventures on the high seas, and Souls-like combat in an ambitious new project. The demo offered players access to three islands, a ship and crew, early quests and boarding, and a limited selection of weapons, enemies, and survival mechanics. Obviously, the game has a pretty vast scope, and it's being developed by an indie team, so it makes sense that the developers would ask players to be patient for the release date and other information.

A Guru3D forums user named "The Creator" recently shared a beta DLL file for an unannounced update to AMD's FSR upscaler. It didn't take long for users on Guru3D and Reddit to circulate mirrors and begin publishing side-by-side comparisons. The early verdict: noticeably less blur than the public release at...

Read Entire Article

Rated Ninja is an AI shopping assistant that helps you quickly find the best products across categories like kitchen gear, desk accessories, pet supplies, and fitness. Ask for what you need and receive concise, curated shortlists of top picks. Use it to compare options, narrow choices, and shop with confidence, whether you're searching for a tea kettle, cat tree, or espresso machine.

View startup

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said Thursday that he "cannot in good conscience accede" to the Pentagon's demands to give the military unrestricted access to its AI systems.

PayPal may not be in talks to be acquired, sources have told Semafor, after a previous news report that Stripe was sniffing around.

Marathon, the new first-person extraction shooter from Bungie is days away from launching at the time of this writing. It'll be out on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 5, 2026, but you can play it right now if you want to on its Server Slam Test. So far, the test seems to be going well, at least by its player numbers. On Steam, the test has so far peaked at 143,621 concurrent players, and while we'll see how players feel about the game when the test is done, one thing that's already been called out is that, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/marathon-was-censoring-arc-raiders-in-its-chat/

Copilot Tasks is a new AI feature that breaks down your task, creates a step by step process to complete that task on your behalf, and checks in when it needs your go‑ahead.

Microsoft is expanding its Cloud PC portfolio with new dedicated hardware from ASUS and Dell, bringing Windows 365 devices to 58 countries.

Razer, the global leading lifestyle brand for gamers, today announced the Razer Laptop Sleeve 16" with Wireless Charging for Devices, a new addition to its lifestyle accessories lineup that blends premium protection with built-in wireless power. Designed for gamers, creators, and professionals who move between setups throughout the day, the sleeve reduces the need to carry additional cables or chargers while keeping essential devices powered and protected wherever the day leads.

At the core of the Laptop Sleeve 16" are integrated wireless charging pads housed in the sleeve's cover flap. Featuring two MagSafe-compatible charging zones, the sleeve connects to an external power source via USB-C to charge multiple devices (such as a smartphone and wireless earbuds) simultaneously. Magnetic alignment helps keep devices securely in place for consistent and efficient power delivery.

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) announces financial results for its fiscal 2026 fourth quarter and full year ended January 30, 2026. The company also provides guidance for its fiscal 2027 first quarter and full year.

Full-Year Summary

• Record full-year revenue of $113.5 billion, up 19% year-over-year
• Record full-year diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $8.68, up 36% year over year, and record full-year non-GAAP diluted EPS of $10.30, up 27%
• Record full-year cash flow from operations of $11.2 billion
• Announcing a cash dividend increase of 20% and $10 billion increase in share repurchase authorization
• FY27 guidance: Full-year revenue growth of 23% at the midpoint, diluted EPS growth of 33% at the midpoint, and non-GAAP diluted EPS growth of 25% at the midpoint

The head of Intel Foundry, Kevin O'Buckley, is leaving the company to join Qualcomm. He will take on the role of Executive Vice President of Global Operations and Supply Chain at Qualcomm, effective March 2, 2026. At Qualcomm, O'Buckley will oversee global semiconductor operations, including manufacturing engineering, foundry and supplier partnerships, supply chain, and procurement. He joins after less than two years leading Intel Foundry, where he served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Foundry Services. Previous to joining Intel, O'Buckley was working at IBM, GlobalFoundries, and Marvell. At Qualcomm, he will be responsible for scaling manufacturing partnerships and overseeing how the chip designs transition into volume production.

Intel Foundry will now be led by Naga Chandrasekaran, who steps into an expanded role overseeing both technology development and manufacturing operations. As Chief Technology and Operations Officer and head of Intel Foundry, Chandrasekaran will supervise next-generation process node development, advanced packaging, test technologies, and day-to-day execution across Intel's global fabrication and assembly network. Chandrasekaran previously led front-end process technology development and manufacturing, already overseeing both the Technology Development (TD) organization and the Foundry Manufacturing and Supply Chain (FMSC) group since mid-2024. Navid Shahriari will continue to manage packaging development and operations within Intel Foundry.

Symnote is a simple symptom diary for iPhone that helps you log how you feel, track conditions and triggers, and keep health notes in one calm place. It stores data on your device and requires no account, so you stay in control. You can use clear timelines and entries to see changes over time and walk into appointments prepared.

View startup

I put Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra's new Super Steady Horizontal Lock video mode to the test and color me impressed.

Sandisk introduces three portable SSD models with varying speeds, durability, and security features to meet modern creative and everyday storage needs.

The deal paves the way for Form Energy to raise a new funding round before potentially going public next year.

An older-generation flagship doesn’t diminish its prowess in any way, especially when it’s the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Sure, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has effectively succeeded it, but we can all agree that if this device were available at an exceptional price, lots of customers would flock towards it. On Amazon, this hope has now turned into a reality because the Renewed Premium version of the iPhone 16 Pro Max now starts from just $825.97. And before you ask, yes, it is the unlocked version and is available in capacities of 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The iPhone 16 Pro Max’s A18 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/renewed-premium-iphone-16-pro-max-now-start-from-825-97-on-amazon/

Microsoft has just rolled out its Agility SDK 1.619 with major DX12 improvements such as Shader Model 6.9 & DXR 1.2. Microsoft Agility SDK Adds Shader Model 6.9, DXR 1.2, & Various DX12 Improvements: NVIDIA RTX, AMD Radeon & Intel Arc GPUs Ready In the latest Agility SDK 1.619 release, Microsoft is making three updates: Shader Model 6.9, DXR 1.2, and DX12-related improvements. The features are listed below: The biggest part of this Agility SDK release is the introduction of Shader Model 6.9, which adds four new features: Long Vector, 16-bit float Specials, 16-bit / 64-bit shader op & wave […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/microsoft-shader-model-6-9-dxr-1-2-dx12-enhancements-agility-sdk-1-619/

The memory industry has gone wild in recent times, and consumers are struggling to get their hands on modules, yet one buyer managed to get pretty lucky with his RAM purchase. Amazon Warehouse Negligence Sent a User RAM Kits Worth Ten Times More Than the Original Order Well, the retail market has pretty surprising stories for us sometimes, and most of them involve either hitting a jackpot with the refund process or relying on Amazon FBA sellers for purchases. This time, a Redditor ordered a single Corsair Vengeance 32 GB DDR5 memory module for $300, but the package he received […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/this-person-paid-300-for-a-ram-kit-and-ended-up-with-a-box-full-of-modules/

Naga Chandrasekaran promoted to Chief Technology and Operations Officer as well as the general manager of Intel Foundry responsible for development of advanced process technologies and day-to-day operations.

SK hynix and SanDisk announce speedy HBF flash chip standard

GeForce Game Ready Driver 595.59 is said to disable one of the fans on Nvidia RTX 30-series and newer GPUs, even without third-party apps like MSI Afterburner.

From analysis paralysis to a new role, see how one Googler used 3 AI tools to navigate a career lattice.

Nvidia stops downloads of its newest “Game Ready” due to fan control issues Nvidia has confirmed that it has temporarily removed downloads for its GeForce “Game Ready” and “Studio” 595.59 WHQL drivers. This removal is due to the discovery of a bug that is affecting some of the driver’s users. Users are reporting a loss […]

The post Nvidia unreleases its GeForce 595.59 “Game Ready” driver over fan control issues appeared first on OC3D.

Reddit reacts to the new Windows 11 Start menu, calling it too big, too automated, and lacking customization options.

I need my photos to work everywhere, not just in iCloud. The Pix-Star LUX is the best OneDrive-ready frame I’ve found, and it’s $20 off with no monthly fees.

Running With Scissors, the (in)famous creator of the POSTAL series, which has amassed millions of fans over nearly three decades, announces its first-ever spinoff title. Flesh & Wire, a dark and violent return to POSTAL's original theme and setting, will arrive on PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and GOG in 2027, as revealed in the IGN Fan Fest showcase.

Join forces with Angel, a seemingly normal college student suddenly swept up in a fever dream of conspiracy, blood, and vengeance. Along with her loyal sphinx cat Solomon, Angel runs afoul of the law, military, and an ominous cult. Discover the truth about her connection to the events of the first POSTAL game - and seek revenge on the series' protagonist, a man dubbed the Postal Dude.

The build-up for Bungie's new survival extraction shooter, Marathon, may be coming to its peak ahead of the upcoming server slam event and imminent launch in the following week. The new game has built up so much hype ahead of the play test that Marathon has officially blown past all of its similar competition in the Steam bestsellers chart. At the time of writing, Marathon sits in third place in Steam's official chart, which ranks game sales based on revenue earned. To reach that, it had to climb 58 places in the last week alone, surpassing both Arc Raiders and the ever-popular Warframe.

SteamDB reports that Marathon is the 35th most wishlisted game, which may not sound like a lot, but it also reveals that over 10,000 people have added Marathon to their wishlists in the last seven days. If Marathon continues on its trajectory, it will have come a long way since its early 2025 lukewarm reception, which resulted in a delay from its original September release date to March 5. Players will be able to test Marathon in an upcoming server slam event on February 26-March 2.

NVIDIA has officially pulled its latest GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver from the downloads page as user reports of stability issues continue to pile up. Reportedly, users are experiencing fan detection issues on their GPU coolers, with only a single fan working. Some issues like clock stability have also occurred. On NVIDIA's official GeForce Forums, users have been complaining about driver stability, and the company has advised users to roll back the driver version to the previously stable 591.86 WHQL driver if they are experiencing any symptoms. The GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver was launched as an optimization package to get Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon games running smoothly, which turned into a disaster that the community has reported.

NVIDIAFebruary 26th, 11am PT Update: We have discovered a bug in the Game Ready and Studio 595.59 WHQL drivers and have removed the downloads temporarily while our team investigates. For users that have already installed this driver, and are experiencing issues with fan control, please roll back to 591.86 WHQL. NVIDIA app users can reinstall their previous driver by clicking the three dots in the Drivers tab.

Microsoft today released DirectX Shader Model 6.9 alongside a host of new Direct3D 12 enhancements. The company had been previewing SM 6.9 since 2025, which now attains general release. Microsoft released the update as part of Agility SDK 1.619 and the complementary DirectX Shader Compiler (DXC) version 1.9.2602.16. The company also released Agility SDK 1.719-preview, which introduces a fresh set of experimental features. At the heart of the Agility SDK 1.619 release is Shader Model 6.9, bringing powerful new processing tools to graphics developers. A standout new feature is "Long Vector" support, allowing developers to load, store, and seamlessly perform element-wise operations on HLSL vectors up to 1024 elements in length. The update also extends specialized HLSL functions, such as IsNan, IsInf, and the newly added IsNorma, to fully support 16-bit floats. Lastly, previously optional hardware capabilities, like 16-bit and 64-bit shader operations, are now strictly required.

Besides Shader Model upgrades, some key DirectX ray tracing (DXR) 1.2 features are officially exiting preview, such as OMM and SER. Opacity Micromaps (OMMs) enable hardware to handle complex alpha-tested geometry far more efficiently, bypassing costly shader invocations. The feature was announced way back in 2022 with NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture. Meanwhile, Shader Execution Reordering (SER) empowers applications to dynamically sort rays for highly optimized parallel execution. Microsoft has directly addressed developer feedback by integrating several targeted quality-of-life updates. Highlights include Revised Resource View Creation API, as well as new CPU Timeline Query Resolves that eliminate unnecessary GPU overhead. The table below compares hardware support for Shader Model 6.9 across the three GPU brands.

During this week's State of the Union address, Trump said he negotiated with leading artificial intelligence companies to establish a "Ratepayer Protection Pledge" aimed at shielding American households from rising electricity costs. The president did not identify the participating companies by name, but sources close to the administration say that...

Read Entire Article

Amazon recently emailed some of its users to explain that its list feature is about to undergo a significant change. The message, sent to users with a publicly shared list and a delivery address on file, stated that purchases from third-party sellers will no longer be restricted.

Read Entire Article

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new botnet loader called Aeternum C2 that uses a blockchain-based command-and-control (C2) infrastructure to make it resilient to takedown efforts. "Instead of relying on traditional servers or domains for command-and-control, Aeternum stores its instructions on the public Polygon blockchain," Qrator Labs said in a report shared with The

With the Australian Grand Prix around the corner, Apple TV is readying its formal launch of broadcasting Formula 1 in the US, with multi-camera angles, and Eddy Cue teasing "this will be the highest quality."

Discord isn't pulling out of its age verification plans, so here's how to delete your account and messages.

Samsung has spoken about its vision for an AI OS that can help you out without even being asked.

AMD Ryzen 5 prices doubled to $400 in February 2026 amid memory shortages, wafer constraints, and thinning retail inventory.

Showcasing Gemini 3.1 Pro's most impressive features

The Galaxy S26 Edge was a no-show at Galaxy Unpacked, but there are a few very good reasons, and reasons for hope about an edgy future.

An AI assistant can quickly turn into a malicious insider, so be careful with permissions.

Mark Zuckerberg was at Prada's fashion week event in Milan, leaving everyone to wonder if we're getting Meta AI glasses under the Prada brand.

The company's modular computer tiles offer a new vision for space data centers.

IDC says phone makers will ship only 1.12 billion smartphones as compared to 1.26 billion last year.

Mistral AI lands a partnership with Accenture, the consultant that has also recently announced partnerships with rivals OpenAI and Anthropic.

It's pretty safe to say that the video game industry has been in a weird place for several years now, but for Christofer Sundberg, who has been at this for a long time, the state of the video game industry is in an unprecedentedly poor place. Founder of Avalanche Studios and creator of Just Cause, Sundberg is getting ready to release his next major game with his new studio he founded in 2020, Liquid Swords, which'll release Samson: A Tyndalston Story this coming April 8, 2026. Ahead of Sundberg and Liquid Swords showing off their new title and announcing its […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/just-cause-samson-creator-has-never-experienced-such-a-desperate-cowardly-confused-state-of-video-game-business/

Samson: A Tyndalston Story, the debut project from Liquid Swords, the team founded by Avalanche Studios (that's the Just Cause and Mad Max people, not the Hogwarts Legacy studio Avalanche Software) founder, Christofer Sundberg, finally has a release date. It'll arrive on PC first on April 8, 2026. After being founded in 2020, the studio is now only weeks away from releasing its debut title, six years later. The game stars Samson McCray, a classic tough guy and driver who returns to his home town of Tyndalston with a heavy debt to pay on his shoulders. He'll have to take […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samson-a-tyndalston-story-release-date-liquid-swords/

Back in 2020, Christofer Sundberg, founder of Avalanche Studios, revealed what he would be doing with the next chapter of his career after selling Avalanche with the announcement of Liquid Swords. Six years later, the studio is weeks away from its debut game, Samson: A Tyndalston Story. It's not too dissimilar to the kinds of games that Sundberg's Avalanche was known for. Like Just Cause and Mad Max, they both star a certain flavour of tough guy. The latter was also cited in a preview presentation I attended last week, with the emphasis on car combat in Samson connecting it […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samson-a-tyndalston-story-interview-former-mad-max-and-just-cause-devs-sink-into-new-aa-brawler-thats-not-gta/

All the way back in 2020, Christofer Sundberg, the founder of Avalanche Studios, established a new video game studio after taking some time off once he left Avalanche after it was acquired in 2018. That studio was (is) Liquid Swords, a new studio that, six years since its founding, is inching towards releasing its debut project: Samson: A Tyndalston Story. Last week, ahead of Liquid Swords announcing Samson's April 8, 2026, release date, I got to spend some time hearing from Sundberg and the development team about Samson before going hands-on with the game myself. I also got to ask […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/samson-a-tyndalston-story-hands-on-preview-intensity-over-scale/

The beginning of a new calendar year in the video game industry has, unfortunately, once again been marked by mass layoffs and studio shutdowns. And while last year was kicked off by a brand new free-to-play game becoming a smash success, this year is marked by the exact opposite. Highguard, the latest free-to-play game on the market from former Apex Legends developers at Wildlight Entertainment, is the first major misfire of 2026. After it was debuted at The Game Awards 2025, a lot was said online about a game that no one had played, while Wildlight kept its head down, […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/highguard-devs-chalk-up-games-failure-to-leadership-hubris-recreate-smash-success-apex-legends/

NVIDIA's latest GPU driver update, which focused on optimizations for Resident Evil Requiem, has been pulled back after Team Green found a bug that had bothered several gamers. NVIDIA's Latest GPU Driver Update Brought In Black Screens, Performance Loss & Several Troubles For Gamers NVIDIA's consumer GPU segment hasn't been seeing the best of times lately, given the ongoing memory shortages. On the software front, the company might have pulled off a blunder. With the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver v595.59 released today, the primary focus has been on the latest Resident Evil release, including support for DLSS 4 MFG […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/nvidia-new-gpu-driver-is-a-disaster-it-has-now-been-pulled-back/

A team of researchers discovered that they can break cryptographic client isolation on a number of wireless routers by taking advantage of how Wi-Fi networks work.

Rediscover Berlin's Gemäldegalerie through 1,100+ gigapixel works and AI storytelling.

Google is partnering with the Massachusetts AI Hub to provide every Baystater with no-cost access to Google’s AI training.

Early access to AMD Radeon Software's "Vanguard" driver testing program has reportedly revealed a new Radeon FSR 4.1 DLL file, which is the next update for AMD's FSR 4 technology. According to the latest leak, AMD is preparing the FSR 4.1 update, which should bring some visual or performance enhancements, or both. Some Reddit PC enthusiasts are applying workarounds to run the file on RDNA 3 hardware, even though AMD officially doesn't support FSR 4 on the RDNA 3 generation due to some missing instructions on the older microarchitecture. Running these files can produce visible quality gains but are experimental, varying widely by title and system setup. Even when a leaked DLL carries a digital signature, running unofficial binaries can trigger instability, break driver integrity checks, or conflict with future official updates.

However, the enthusiast community has run the experiment and confirms that early side-by-side comparisons show small improvements in fine detail and edge definition when the leaked FSR 4.1 binary is forced into titles that previously used FSR 4.0.3. Testers describe sharper foliage and fabric textures and less ghosting. Other users report inconsistent results and artifacts, suggesting that the update is still a work in progress. We could have expected the update to land alongside AMD Software Adrenalin 26.2.2 WHQL drivers that launched today, as the DLL file was found in the beta test of the 26.2.2 driver, but since the update is still experimental, maybe the next Adrenalin update will bring the FSR 4.1 update as an official package.

Quantic Dream today opens a new chapter as Spellcasters Chronicles enters Early Access on Steam, now available to players worldwide. Spellcasters Chronicles is a free-to-play, 3v3 team-based action strategy game built around aerial combat and strategic deckbuilding. Players wield the power to soar across the battlefield, cast devastating spells, and summon powerful creatures and Titans to shift the tide of the battle.

The game's Early Access represents an open Workshop, a collaborative space where players are invited to actively shape the evolution of the game alongside the development team as a living, evolving experience shaped by community feedback. Unlike previous Closed Beta tests focused on performance work and technical stability, this phase shifts the focus toward gameplay depth, balance iteration, progression systems, and long-term feature development.

Aside from its recent side-quests, like the new K2 HE Concrete and Resin Editions, Keychron has been updating its Q- and V-series mechanical keyboards with the new Ultra designs, featuring new ZMK firmware and Silk POM switches, and the latest installments in that series are the V10 Ultra and the V0 Ultra, which have just been released with those same enhancements. The Keychron V10 Ultra, an Alice layout mechanical keyboard, retails at $124.99, while the V0 Ultra, a standalone wireless mechanical num pad, is launching at $69.99. Being part of the V-series means that both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra are made of ABS plastic, and, being part of the Ultra family means they will both feature 8K polling—although the usefulness of this is debatable on a mechanical keyboard. The V0 Ultra is a standard num pad with a row of four macro or navigation keys above the 10-key portion and a column of five macro keys to the left of it. It also has a programmable knob in the top left corner.

The Keychron V10 Ultra 8K features a 75% Alice layout, which is meant to improve ergonomics by allowing users to angle their hands inwards, opening up the chest and shoulders, and it has an additional column of macro keys and a programmable knob along the left edge of the keyboard. Both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra have south-facing per-key RGB backlighting, and the V10 Ultra has a claimed 660 hours of battery life from a 4,000 mAh battery on 2.4 GHz with the backlighting disabled. The V0 Ultra packs a smaller 1,800 mAh battery but still claims up to 360 hours of battery life with the backlighting disabled. Both the V10 Ultra and V0 Ultra feature double-shot PBT keycaps in the OSA profile, and they are available with Keychron Silk POM Red linear, Brown tactile, and Banana tactile switch options. Both keyboards are also hot-swappable with any Cherry MX-style switches. Both of the new releases also use poron gasket mounts, which help reduce negative auditory feedback and soften the typing feel. Both the keyboard and the num pad also offer Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C wired, and 2.4 GHz connectivity.

AMD today released the latest version of AMD Software Adrenalin drivers for AMD Radeon GPUs and integrated graphics solutions. Version 26.2.2 WHQL comes with optimization for "Resident Evil: Requiem" and "Marathon." The drivers fix an intermittent application crash or driver timeout when playing "Roblox Player" in the Car Zone Racing and Drifting, when task-switching on machines with Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs. A texture flickering or corruption issue noticed on Windows applications with Instant Replay and Record Desktop enabled on machines with RX 7000 series GPUs has also been fixed. Grab the drivers from the link below.

DOWNLOAD: AMD Software Adrenalin 26.2.2 WHQL

Tech-savvy fans quickly spotted the change on social platforms, including Bluesky Social PBC, where a user named Cevian shared archived evidence of the earlier policy version. According to the company's website, the revision dates to January 14, 2026. The deleted section – Section 1, Subsection XVIII – had previously stated...

Read Entire Article

A newly published study highlights how a quick and simple blood test may help physicians provide a more accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Led by Jordi A. Matias-Guiu, a neurologist at Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid, the study reevaluates the significance of a well-known biomarker in detecting neurodegenerative conditions...

Read Entire Article

Manifest routes your AI requests to the most cost-effective model while keeping scoring on your machine. It intercepts each query, evaluates it locally in under 2 ms, and sends it to the right model to reduce costs and avoid overusing large models. You can track spending with a dashboard for costs, tokens, and alerts. Manifest exports telemetry via OpenTelemetry, offers a native OpenClaw plugin for quick installation, and is fully open source, allowing you to inspect, extend, or self-host.

View startup

The Amazfit Active 3 Premium is here, and it looks as though you get a lot for your money once again.

Zyxel fixes a handful of worrying router flaws, including a critical RCE issue.

Ninja's three-in-one machine is one of the most versatile coffee makers I've ever used, and this is your chance to get one at a great price.

Security? Speed? Style? What are you really paying for when you pick up a VPN subscription?

A group of privacy advocates and open-source leaders has signed an open letter urging Google to reverse its plans for mandatory developer verification, arguing the changes pose a physical threat to activists and developers.

10 for the price of 1: Redditor buys 32GB DDR5 RAM kit for $300, ends up with 320GB of memory.

La Liga's aggressive anti-piracy blocking has led to a series of overblocking incidents when football matches are aired. Spaniards have been turning to VPNs to navigate recurring outages, but questions remain about the approach remain.

Sony has officially announced the next batch of PlayStation Plus games for March 2026, which includes Monster Hunter Rise, PGA Tour 2K25, The Elder Scrolls Online Collection: Gold Road, and Slime Rancher 2.

Apple's March event takes place next week with new products, which means it's a great time to find deals on existing models — here are today's 12 best deals.

Although Microsoft commits to not bricking printers using legacy drivers, it still wants you to upgrade to the IPP Class Driver.

Final Fantasy 14's in-house band, The Primals, are heading to the UK for Download Festival 2026 — and I promise I've not just made that up.

New research reveals a growing appetite for "AI immortality” among younger generations – even as experts warn the technology can’t truly recreate a human mind.

Users who are part of the test can type "DM me" or "Message me" in a post or reply to automatically generate a hyperlink that invites others to start a private conversation with them.

Don't have the PC to play CAPCOM's new Resident Evil Requiem game, but you'd really love to experience it anyway? If you have a solid Internet connection (and live in a supported region of the world), NVIDIA can give you the chance through its GeForce NOW cloud platform, and they're also bundling the game with new 12-month Ultimate memberships. For the record, a year-long GeForce NOW Ultimate subscription sets you back $199.99, but the game itself is $70, which you'd be saving if you were planning on buying it anyway. With GeForce NOW Ultimate, you'd have access to nearly all […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/get-resident-evil-requiem-free-12-month-geforce-now-ultimate/

New alternatives, “understand” and “ask” buttons in Google Translate help you navigate the complexities of natural language.

Google DeepMind is rolling out Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image), its latest image generation model, combining Nano Banana Pro’s intelligence and production controls with Gemini Flash’s speed.

What’s new. Nano Banana 2 introduces:

• Advanced world knowledge: Powered by Gemini’s real-time web grounding to render specific subjects more accurately and generate infographics or data visualizations.
• Precision text rendering and translation: Cleaner, legible in-image text, including localization.
• Stronger instruction adherence: Better handling of complex, multi-layered prompts.
• Subject consistency: Maintains up to five characters and 14 objects in a single workflow.
• Production-ready outputs: Supports aspect ratios and resolutions from 512px to 4K.
• Enhanced visual fidelity: Sharper detail, richer textures, and more dynamic lighting.

The rollout. Nano Banana 2 is launching across Google’s ecosystem, including Google Ads, Gemini app, Search AI Mode and Lens, and more.

Why we care. Nano Banana 2 helps you produce high-quality, production-ready images faster and at scale, cutting creative time and cost. With stronger text rendering, better subject consistency, 4K-ready outputs, and direct integration into Google Ads and Gemini, you can generate, launch, test, and iterate campaign assets in minutes instead of days.

Bottom line. With Nano Banana 2, you get speed, reasoning, and production-ready visuals in one default model.

Google’s announcement. Nano Banana 2: Combining Pro capabilities with lightning-fast speed

ChatGPT’s emerging ad ecosystem is gaining momentum with more brands appearing, clearer trigger patterns, and evolving ad placements, according to AI ad intelligence firm Adthena.

What’s happening. After identifying the first advertisers inside ChatGPT last week, Adthena now reports a clear ramp-up in advertiser participation and ad delivery behavior.

Advertisers spotted so far:

• Best Buy
• AT&T
• Pottery Barn
• Enterprise
• Qualcomm
• Expedia

How ads are triggering. Based on a sample of 1,500+ prompts analyzed over the past week:

• Most ads appear on the first prompt.
• Some only trigger on the third or fourth repetition of the same query.
• High-intent modifiers like “best” and “new” appear to carry significant weight.

Example prompts include:

• “I am going to buy a new phone. What is the best phone?”
• “I need a new phone.”
• “I need to buy a new desk, what’s best?”

Between the lines. Keyword triggers appear relatively simple, focused on strong commercial intent rather than nuanced emotional language. In one example, Best Buy secured two ad placements in a single response for iPhone-related queries, signaling early experimentation with positioning and share of voice.

Why we care. As ChatGPT advertising scales, understanding trigger behavior — even at a basic keyword level — will be critical if you’re testing this new platform.

Spotted. Adthena CMO Ashley Fletcher shared the results of the competing ChatGPT ads, posting screenshots on LinkedIn.

If you head to Tools → Planning in Google Ads, chances are you’re clicking into Keyword Planner. Most advertisers stop there. 

But two other planners sit in the same menu — often overlooked — that can directly influence how you forecast budgets, model performance shifts, and scale campaigns. Performance Planner and Reach Planner offer deeper insight into how spend changes affect your key metrics across channels.

Here’s a practical breakdown of how each tool works and when to use them to forecast growth more accurately.

Why Performance Planner matters for scaling search and display

Performance Planner helps you model how metrics could change if you adjust ad spend across Search or Display.

Instead of reacting to performance, you can forecast how budget shifts may influence conversions, CPA, and overall spend before you make changes.

Performance Planner can be especially useful if you’re looking to forecast data or scale an account. It provides projections for existing campaigns based on prospective budget changes.

These forecasts are typically refreshed daily and are based on the last 7-10 days of data.

A more recent addition to the Performance Planner home screen is Suggested plans. Google indicates the potential impact of raising specific budgets or bids without requiring you to build a full plan.

How to create a new performance plan

To create a new plan, click Create new plan at the bottom of the page.

From there, a pop-up screen allows you to set the timeframe, dates, and channel. If multiple channels are represented in your account, you’ll see more than one option. 

You can also select key metrics, including specific conversion goals, as well as a CPA, conversion, or ad spend target. Finally, choose the campaigns you want included in the plan.

Only eligible campaigns will appear. Google may propose a $0 budget for certain campaigns if it determines they aren’t efficient enough to justify continued spend.

Before building a plan, it’s important to understand which campaigns qualify.

Campaign eligibility and limitations to know

Eligibility criteria vary based on the channel a campaign runs on. Here are some of the requirements for Search and Shopping campaigns.

Search campaigns

• Bid strategy: Uses manual cost-per-click (CPC), enhanced CPC, max clicks, max conversions, max conversion value, target return on ad spend (ROAS), target cost-per-action (CPA) bidding strategies, or target impression share bidding strategies. Have not changed bid strategies in the last 7 days.
• Run time: Have been running for at least 72 hours.
• Recent clicks: Have received at least 3 clicks in the last 7 days.
• Conversion minimum: Have received at least 3 conversions in the last 7 days.
• Budget: Have a Search lost IS (budget) of less than 5% over the last 10 days (target impression share campaigns only).

Shopping campaigns (Standard)

• Bid strategy: Campaign isn’t part of a portfolio bid strategy.
• Run time: Have been active each day with a minimum spend of $10 USD or more in the last 10 days.
• Impression minimum: Have received at least 100 impressions in the last 7 days.
• Conversion minimum: Have received at least 10 conversions and/or conversion values in the last 10 days.
• Budget: Campaign doesn’t have a status of “Limited by Budget.” Target ROAS standard shopping campaigns (only) have a Search lost IS (budget) of less than 5% over the last 10 days. A campaign with a shared budget is eligible only if all campaigns in the shared budget use a single Merchant Center account.

This is an example of what a Performance Planner plan looks like.

Performance Planner is especially effective for advertisers with existing campaigns who want KPI projections. If you’d like to learn more, visit Google’s support documentation.

---

Why Reach Planner is different from Performance Planner

As a complement to Performance Planner, Reach Planner is designed to estimate reach, views, and conversions across video campaigns. 

It’s updated weekly based on “Google’s Unique Reach Methodology.” This means Google uses modeled third-party data to estimate the potential reach and scale of video campaigns.

Reach Planner is useful for account managers forecasting how a video campaign may perform at scale. It projects three primary metrics: unique reach, views, and conversions. 

These forecasts can help determine how to allocate YouTube ad spend across campaigns. Reach Planner also provides detailed reach, demographic, and device insights when planning new video initiatives.

Your customers search everywhere. Make sure your brand shows up.

The SEO toolkit you know, plus the AI visibility data you need.

Start Free Trial

Get started with

How to build a Reach Planner forecast

As with the other planners, you’ll find Reach Planner under Tools → Planning. If you’re unable to access it, you may need to contact your Google account manager.

When creating a new campaign plan, you’ll be asked to select your location, currency, and whether you want to build a plan for YouTube or YouTube and Linear TV. 

Next, select your dates, demographics, sublocations, audiences, devices, and frequency caps.

You can choose In-Market, Affinity, Remarketing, Custom, and Lookalike segments while building your plan.

The next step is selecting the type of YouTube campaign you want to include.

A newer Reach Planner feature provides forecasts for a mix of video campaign types, called advanced plans.

This is an example of what a completed plan may look like after selections are made:

Reach Planner is extremely useful and often underutilized when planning current or future video ad spend.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can complete the Reach Planner learning modules on Skillshop.

When to use each planner in your workflow

The Performance Planner and Reach Planner are powerful, often underutilized tools in Google Ads for account managers managing budgets and scaling performance.

Performance Planner forecasts the impact of budget changes across Search and Display, while Reach Planner provides audience and performance projections for YouTube video campaigns.

Used together, they help advertisers move beyond basic keyword planning and make more data-driven decisions about budget allocation and growth.

Intel’s newest driver is a must for Resident Evil Requiem! Intel has just released its ARC Graphics 32.0.101.8531 driver for Windows, giving ARC GPU users access to a variety of new optimisations that promise significant performance gains in specific PC games. This driver’s highlights include significant performance gains for Resident Evil Requiem, which releases tomorrow, […]

The post New Intel ARC Driver delivers up to 40% FPS Gains in Resident Evil Requiem appeared first on OC3D.

Blizzard Entertainment has announced that entries are open for the BlizzCon 2026 Community Night contests. Here are the details of how you can join these contests and potentially win huge cash prizes

Countless Army, the indie gem from Dos Estrellas has finally launched on Xbox and it is inviting players to tackle the other side of the tower defense genre. Send hordes of undead minions to topple towers and don’t let puny defenses stop you on your path to victory.

Despite recent concerns about driver updates, Lenovo's Legion Go has been a staple in the handheld gaming space since it launched, thanks to a large 8.8-inch display and the detachable controllers. Still, that large display can't compete with devices like the 11-inch OneXPlayer 2-in-1 devices as a portable general computing device. A new foldable Legion Go concept, leaked by Windows Latest, may be in development to potentially address users who want a handheld that can pull double duty as a handheld gaming device and a laptop. According to the leak, the Legion Go Fold will use a foldable POLED display that unfolds from a 7.7-inch form factor to 11.6-inches. The controllers will also allegedly connect wirelessly, enabling the display to be used in 7.7-inch mode in landscape mode or in either portrait or landscape mode while attached to the controllers in 11.7-inch mode—such a portrait mode display could conceivably be split to function somewhat like a Nintendo DS. Of course, there will also be a detachable keyboard accessory to use the Legion Go Fold as a mini laptop in 11.7-inch mode.

The specifications for the Legion Go Fold will also be nothing to sneeze at, featuring an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V, 32 GB of memory, and a 48 Wh battery. Lenovo will also keep the vertical FPS mode from the Legion Go and Legion Go 2 for the Legion Go Fold Concept. While the Legion Go Fold may launch as nothing more than a concept, Lenovo is one of a few laptop makers that brings these foldable compute concepts to market, with recent examples of this including the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable. So it's not entirely impossible that Lenovo will bring something like a Legion Go Fold to market at some point. That said, it would be a niche within a niche, so it doesn't seem entirely likely that we will see a commercial version of the foldable handheld at any point soon. Regardless, Lenovo will allegedly show off the concept at MWC 2026 on March 2, 2026.

Awekeys, one of very few companies making metal keycaps for mechanical keyboards, has just announced the Awekeys Air as its latest addition to the line-up. The Awekeys Air keycaps are low-profile keycaps designed for slim mechanical keyboards, like the Iqunix Magi65 Pro, NuPhy Air series, and even split ergonomic keyboards, like the ZSA Voyager and MoErgo Go60. The Awekeys Air series is available for both cross stems—for Choc V2 and Gateron switches—and Choc V1 stems, which are common on niche low-profile split keyboards, and Early Bird Kickstarter pricing starts at $109 for a 68-key DIY kit, $139 for a 95-key 80% Base kit, and $159 for a 113-key 100% kit. These prices are only for the Ivory White and Obsidian Black, with the Titanium Black and Satin Copper coming in slightly more expensive and the limited edition Satin Silver and Satin Gold costing as much as $249 for the 80% Base kit. These prices will also increase when the keycaps hit retail. The Kickstarter campaign lists MSRP of the Ivory White and Obsidian Black 100% kit colorways as $249, but keyboards and accessories often cost less than anticipated when moving from a Kickstarter to regular retail.

The Awekeys Air keycaps come in six different colors—Titanium Black, Ivory White, Obsidian Black, Satin Copper, Satin Silver, and Satin Gold—and Awekeys is offering a hand-finished brush finish on the Gold, Silver, Copper, and Titanium colorways. The keycaps themselves are made from a recycled alloy called cupronickel, which is predominantly copper and nickel, which resists corrosion, offers some anti-microbial benefits, and is considered low allergy risk—although you may want to avoid it if you have a known nickel allergy. The keycaps are also available with legends or as blanks, and the profile has a uniform height with spherical tops and a total height of 5 mm.

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), a global technology leader that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, today announced it has begun shipping the industry's first 2 nm custom compute SoC built on its 3.5D eXtreme Dimension System in Package (XDSiP) platform. A proven modular, multi-dimensional stacked die platform, 3.5D XDSiP combines 2.5D techniques and 3D-IC integration using Face-to-Face (F2F) technology.

3.5D XDSiP is foundational to next-generation XPUs. With 3.5D XDSiP, consumer AI customers can deliver the most advanced XPU with unparalleled signal density, superior power efficiency and low latency to meet the massive computational demands of gigawatt-scale AI clusters. Broadcom's XDSiP platform allows compute, memory and network I/O to scale independently in a compact form factor, enabling high-efficiency, low-power computing at scale.

NVIDIA today released its latest GeForce 595.59 WHQL Game Ready driver, adding day-one support for Resident Evil Requiem and Marathon. The update also addresses several gaming-related issues, particularly affecting GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs. Fixes include intermittent black bar flickering in The Ascent, green artifacts in Total War: Three Kingdoms, and crash issues in Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age following recent driver updates. NVIDIA also resolved image corruption problems in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and a significant performance drop in Act 4 Part 1 of Quantum Break.

On the general fixes side, the 595.59 driver resolves an AV1 decode crash affecting certain workflows in Blackmagic Design applications when handling multiple OBUs (Open Bitstream Unit) within a single packet.

Update 20:38 UTC: NVIDIA has pulled its GeForce 595.59 WHQL driver after users reported stability problems, including faulty fan detection leaving GPU coolers running on a single fan and clock speed issues. The company is pointing affected users back to the previous 591.86 WHQL release for now.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 595.59 WHQL

Researchers and developers working with large language models say these structural quirks introduce subtle but significant errors. An AI that reads lines strictly from left to right may stumble over multi-column scientific papers or misinterpret footers as part of the main text. These parsing issues can cascade into so-called "hallucinations,"...

Read Entire Article

The company has specifically declined requests that would allow its models to be used in areas such as mass domestic surveillance or lethal autonomous weapons systems – applications in which systems could operate without meaningful human oversight when making final targeting decisions.

Read Entire Article

The initiative is intended to demonstrate compliance with the European Union's Digital Markets Act, a sweeping set of competition rules that took effect last year. Regulators in Brussels allege that Google's search engine gives undue prominence to its own travel and hospitality services, limiting user exposure to competing vertical search...

Read Entire Article

DemoPolish takes your rough screen recordings and turns them into clean, narrated demo videos. Upload a walkthrough of your product, and it rephrases your narration into a clear, concise script and records a professional AI voiceover. The whole process takes under 60 seconds with no video editing, no re-recording, and no timeline to learn.

It's built for founders who keep re-recording the same demo because the explanation came out wrong. Instead of spending an hour getting one good take, you record once — messy is fine — and let DemoPolish handle the rest. Upload, polish, download.

View startup

Throb is a platform for the queer community to meet, chat, and organize with privacy at the core. Share expiring, screenshot-protected photos in private albums, express yourself with detailed kink profiles and preferences, and control your visibility with incognito browsing and status settings. Stay safe with real-time location sharing when meeting up, and keep the conversation going with read receipts, expiring photos, and group chats for friends and communities you care about.

View startup

A previously undocumented threat activity cluster has been attributed to an ongoing malicious campaign targeting education and healthcare sectors in the U.S. since at least December 2025. The campaign is being tracked by Cisco Talos under the moniker UAT-10027. The end goal of the attacks is to deliver a never-before-seen backdoor codenamed Dohdoor. "Dohdoor utilizes the DNS-over-HTTPS (DoH)

Nothing here looks dramatic at first glance. That’s the point. Many of this week’s threats begin with something ordinary, like an ad, a meeting invite, or a software update. Behind the scenes, the tactics are sharper. Access happens faster. Control is established sooner. Cleanup becomes harder. Here is a quick look at the signals worth paying attention to. AI-powered command

Bigfoot is coming to the world of Fallout 76 as a new legendary enemy.

Here’s how to watch the animated kids TV show Knee High Spies online and for free from any country in the world.

Agentic AI roll-outs aren't going well for businesses - but consumer attitudes may surprise you.

A decade-old threat actor is up to some new shenanigans, but Google is having none of it.

The 18.5-inch Kaigerr AX18 laptop includes 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Windows 11 Pro for $460 — down from a supposed $1500 asking price.

A weirder entry to the portable TV trend, but one that makes sense if it reaches its final form

Spotify upgraded one my favorite features, and it saves you bags of time trying to reorder songs to match BPM and key.

Machine Games has reportedly released a casting call for an unannounced project, and it sounds like it could be attached to the studio's next Wolfenstein game.

Tim Cook’s “big week ahead” tease hints that Apple will drop several new iPads, Macs – possibly a low-cost MacBook – and a new iPhone 17e before its March 4 showcase.

The 16-inch Exsurf high-performance business laptop includes 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB NVMe SSD, and Windows 11 Pro for $630.

Zombie firms fail not from weak demand, but slow, fragmented execution across commercial systems.

Walmart is celebrating Pokémon's 30th anniversary with exclusive offers and products that a super-fan would love — shop my 12 top picks from $14.99.

As AI gets integrated, attacks speed up and grow in severity, so buisnesses should shape up.

Read AI is launching Ada, which can reply with your availability and extract answers from the company knowledge base and the web.

Bumble and other popular dating apps, like Match Group's Tinder and Hinge, have all embraced AI-powered features.

The suit said Walmart would mislead drivers about their possible tips and would reduce their base pay, among other things.

The proceeds will support Einride’s technology roadmap, global expansion, and autonomous deployments in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. 

The U.S. government and its allies said hackers have been exploiting the newly identified bug in Cisco networking gear around the world for years, and urged organizations to patch.

A group of well-known open source programmers and a VC have launched the Open Source Endowment. They hope this new method will provide funding for good.

Google is making Nano Banana 2 a default model in Gemini app and in AI mode.

Tal Dilian and three other Intellexa executives were tried for their role in a scandal dubbed "Greek Watergate," which dates back to 2022.

X has launched an expanded set of aspect ratio support for both image and video ads, so advertisers can now reuse assets they've created for other platforms.

Over the past few years, plenty of PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 exclusive games have made their way to PC, including tentpole franchises like The Last of Us, Marvel's Spider-Man, Horizon, and God of War. However, there is a chance that in the future, only PlayStation live service games will launch on PC. Noted journalist Jason Schreier has suggested that traditional single-player experiences may remain console exclusives for the foreseeable future. Speaking on the latest episode of the Triple Click podcast, the Bloomberg journalist commented on SIE’s strategy moving forward: "I think for them, their strategy is like, live service […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/playstation-backing-away-exclusives-on-pc/

After the massive flop that was 2024's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the whole industry could feel that Warner Bros' games division was not in a good place. So when we learned that Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and San Diego Studio had all been shut down just two months into 2025, it was upsetting, especially in the case of Monolith, but we couldn't exactly call it surprising, even if Hogwarts Legacy continued to sell like gangbusters. What followed was a major reorganization of how Warner Bros. would approach games, focusing in on four verticals: Harry Potter, Game of […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/warner-bros-games-ceo-teases-return-to-biggest-franchises-in-2027-2028/

The fastest gaming CPU can deliver much higher FPS than any Intel CPU in the latest Resident Evil title, but percentile FPS show a different story. AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D Pushes Resident Evil Requiem Past 300 FPS With RTX 5090, Beating Core i9 14900KS by Over 100 FPS Resident Evil Requiem launches tomorrow, and fans can't wait to see how the game runs on their current hardware. We have also published our optimization guide for the game, which will help you achieve the best performance with your current hardware. That said, while the developers recommend just an RTX 2060 or […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/early-resident-evil-requiem-testing-show-nearly-50-average-fps-difference/

Remedy has delivered a new update for Alan Wake Remastered on PC, and it is arguably one of the most significant updates the game has received in a long time, because this update finally adds HDR to the PC version. The addition of HDR is the big highlight, but it's not the only one in terms of visuals and some much-needed quality of life updates. For speedrunners and anyone who simply loves the game and is playing it again for the umpteenth time, you can now skip the intro cutscene to get into the game faster. Not that Alan Wake […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/alan-wake-remastered-pc-update-adds-hdr/

A new AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme GPU update for the Asus ROG Ally has alleviated some concern about its deprecation, although some questions remain about its longevity.

Corsair's Sabre v2 Pro Wireless CF is an ultra-lightweight wireless mouse made of carbon fiber. It works well and comes with a fancy carrying case, but it also costs $200.

Jensen Huang expects the supply of gaming hardware to be insufficient in the next two quarters and has limited visibility beyond that.

Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image) delivers Pro-level intelligence and fidelity for all image applications.

Our latest image generation model offers advanced world knowledge, production-ready specs, subject consistency and more, all at Flash speed.

A look ahead at Google Newfront 2026, and how Gemini models bring more value for programmatic advertisers and biddable tools.

The last year has had many of us trying to understand how to report on AI visibility and understand what it takes to be seen and cited by AI.

But Rand Fishkin’s latest study on AI response variability has emphasized that LLM outputs aren’t as stable and predictable as search rankings, making this KPI an inconsistent piece of the puzzle.

The study found there’s less than a 1 in 100 chance that ChatGPT or Google AI will return the same list of brands across two responses. They analyzed thousands of prompts across multiple LLMs to highlight just how varied they are.

This has left some of the SEO community questioning the value of rank tracking at scale. But, rank tracking is far from useless. It’s just misapplied.

AI response tracking is an unstable performance KPI in its current state, but it becomes extremely powerful when used as an analysis tool to inform content strategy.

Let’s take a look at why you should still be investing in prompt tracking and how it can be used to inform your content strategy.

Why AI visibility tracking is unstable (for now)

LLMs aren’t deterministic ranking engines. They’re probabilistic language models that can gather and synthesize information from their own training data or live searches. These models use context windows and understanding of intent to serve different answers at any moment.

We’ve seen that responses change based on the prompts, and we know that the same question can be written in so many different ways, which opens the door for your CMO to question why you’re not showing up for a specific prompt when they just saw your brand mentioned or cited.

Tracking visibility remains an area of uncertainty until there’s greater clarity on user prompting. But it’s still valuable.

If prompt response tracking isn’t a stable KPI, then what is it? It’s pattern analysis, something SEOs are very familiar with.

Instead of only focusing on whether or not you are cited or listed, you should be trying to understand:

• How is the prompt response structured?
• What concepts repeatedly appear?
• What key phrases or terms are showing up?
• What level of nuance is typically included?

This requires a mental shift.

Dig deeper: 7 hard truths about measuring AI visibility and GEO performance

Traditional SEO vs. AI pattern analysis

In traditional SEO, we reverse engineer what’s already ranking. With AI search, we can apply the same thinking by reverse engineering the patterns we see in results. 

Traditional SEO	AI pattern analysis
Measures rankings	Understanding concept synthesis
Content gap analysis	Topic associations
Fixed results (SERPs)	Dynamic responses
Determined signals	Probability-based responses

Analyzing prompt response patterns can help us understand how models synthesize concepts, and not just from the technical level, but at the content level. 

To define a pattern, you’re not looking for exact response consistency. You’re understanding the structure, themes, and recurring topics. 

Each LLM model formats its outputs differently, but patterns can still emerge in the structures, despite differences in retrieval methods and how each one functions.

I define a pattern by:

• It appears in 75% or more of outputs.
• Appears in two different AI models (Like GPT vs. Gemini).
• Similarities across multiple iterations of the same prompt.

The 75% goal felt consistent enough for my sample sizes to highlight a strong pattern versus just randomness. How you define this is truly up to you. There’s no statistical significance in this number.

You can adjust this based on your content and space, but for me, this has been the best way to spot consistency over noise. 

So, say the theme of “pricing transparency” appears in 9 out of 12 responses and across two AI models, that’s not randomness. That’s semantic relevance, and that’s insight. 

The framework

To test this out for yourself, you need a framework that breaks down what you’re looking for. 

You can break it out into three types of patterns:

• Structural patterns.
• Conceptual patterns.
• Entity patterns.

Structural patterns

This is where you focus on how the response is organized. You’re looking for:

• Header/section frequency.
• List formatting consistency.
• Order or steps.
• Pro/con framing. 
• Comparison tables.
• Decision frameworks.

These signals can help show how models organize topics. 

For example, if the outputs for your prompt show:

• Definition > Criteria > Tools > Implementation.

That’s a structural pattern. You can leverage this to understand what might be helpful to your user, but AI isn’t always right. This is just another tool to identify patterns and decide how it applies to your content.

Conceptual patterns

These will vary based on your topic focus, but think about the concepts you are targeting. These can be harder to plan for and sometimes take a bit of analysis to start seeing the patterns. 

For me, I’m focused on “Best domain registrars” as an example, and I’m looking for:

• Pricing transparency (renewal and purchase).
• Customer service mentions.
• Addon inclusions (WHOIS privacy, free emails, free anything).
• Security features.
• Bundling options.
• Transfers.

So if I start seeing that renewal prices are commonly discussed across models and variations of this prompt, that signals to me that I need to pay attention to how I frame and discuss it in my articles and product pages. 

These conceptual patterns help you understand what these models are associated with decision-making. 

Entity patterns

This is where you can view the tools, brands, and other mentions that appear in responses, regardless of their order. 

This might look like:

• Brand mentions.
• Tool mentions.
• Feature to brand association.
• Category positioning.
• Cited sources.

In practice, you’d pay attention to how certain features appear with specific brands, or which sites are commonly cited. This helps you evaluate your positioning and identify opportunities with affiliate partners or third-party sites, including which sites you work with and how your brand is positioned on them.

Dig deeper: LLM consistency and recommendation share: The new SEO KPI

---

Building your system

You don’t have to invest in prompt-tracking tools to do this, though they make it easier. I handle it manually. It’s not perfect, but it works.

If you can’t involve multiple team members, adapt the structure to fit your resources. You may need to track over a longer period or lower your pattern threshold. Instead of 75% consistency, you might set it at 60%.

Step 1: Select and cluster your prompts

Identify three priority topics you want to track. For each of those topics, come up with 3-5 versions of prompts that would align with that topic.

For example, one of my priority topics is finding a domain registrar, so this cluster for me includes:

• How do I register a domain name?
• How can I get a domain name?
• Where can I buy a domain?

Step 2: Set up your tracking sheet

You’ll need a place to track the responses, like an old-fashioned spreadsheet with the following columns:

Prompt

LLM

Web Search? Y/N

Date

Response

Sources (If Applicable)

Is My Brand Mentioned?

In the LLM column, note the platform and model to help control for when new versions are released.

This is just to start gathering your data. When you know what patterns to look for, add those to the sheet. Consider using Claude or ChatGPT to help with the analysis, so you don’t have to do everything manually.

Step 3: Create a tracking plan and start tracking

To do this effectively, you need to define:

• Which models you want to track.
• Whether search mode is on or off, or left to the model to decide.
• How many times you want to run each prompt on each model.
• What frequency you want to track.

It’s also helpful to involve other team members, if possible, and use private modes to minimize context influence.

Once a week, a handful of my team members run each prompt through ChatGPT, AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Perplexity. Each person tests every prompt across each model, giving me 3-5 responses per prompt, per model, per week.

Step 4: Analyze

Once you’ve gathered 20–30 responses per prompt, start analyzing. You can use the tool of your choice to streamline this process.

From there, identify recurring patterns and map them to relevant pages on your site. Where can you address these themes? Are you answering the right questions, and does your content reflect the patterns you’ve uncovered?

This is ongoing work. Track consistently and review patterns quarterly to identify shifts. Over time, this becomes your optimization framework.

Dig deeper: How to create answer-first content that AI models actually cite

Where AI pattern analysis can mislead you

AI is based on probability, and it won’t always be right. This isn’t the only way of optimizing for AI, but it can be part of your playbook.

You still run the risk of bias in the training data, inconsistency in whether search or training data was used, and variations in the new “models” launched across the different LLMs.

You shouldn’t be blindly aligning with the AI outputs, but you can use your best judgment and understanding of your target audience to understand if it’s the context you want to use for your optimization.

How to connect this to performance

Now this is the tricky part. We’ve learned just how random AI responses can be, but there are still a few signals you can measure to see how this impacts your content.

• “Traditional” metrics: Are you seeing more clicks? Better positions in GSC or keyword tracking tools? What about conversions?
• AI traffic: If you’re able to pull your AI traffic data from Adobe, GA4, or any other analytics tools, you can track to see if there’s any movement on the pages you update.
• AI tracking tools: And while yes, there’s a lot of variability in this as a KPI, if you’re using AI visibility tools, they will give you an indication of whether your methods are working. You can leverage the same manual tracking outlined here to see if you start noticing your brand emerge as a pattern.

Start studying AI outputs

There are still many unknowns with LLMs, and it feels like they’re changing every day. 

But one thing remains consistent: these tools provide answers. If there’s any level of understanding you can get on those answers, you can try to use it. 

The patterns in the responses can reveal how topics are understood and how brands are discussed, and give you an idea of how to adapt your content strategy.

Google’s AI Overviews now appear across search results with varying frequency. However, in certain categories, they dominate entirely. According to Adthena:

• Finance queries see AI Overviews on 79% of longer searches with five or more words. 
• Retail shows 84% visibility for comparison and product discovery queries in the 9-10 word range. 
• Healthcare also triggers high AI Overview penetration even when users are searching short medical questions of 1-3 words.

You know organic traffic faces headwinds. What you might underestimate is how severe the downstream impact on paid search can be. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

AI Overviews’ impact on paid search

AI Overviews are systematically changing paid search, affecting everything from click volume to auction dynamics and conversion behavior. They are accelerating structural trends that are already reshaping search, including SERP saturation, automated bidding, Performance Max adoption, and broad match expansion. 

What makes AI Overviews significant is the speed of the rollout. In many verticals, Google had compressed what would have normally been a multi-year transition into mere months. Understanding the impact on your own paid search efforts requires examining how AI answers have reshaped each component of your campaign performance.

AI Overviews drive lower response rates

So, how much have response rates been impacted by AI Overviews? Recent data from Seer Interactive reveals the scale of the decline. Paid CTR on queries featuring AI Overviews plummeted by 68%, dropping from 19.7% to 6.34% between June 2024 and September 2025.

At the same time, we saw organic CTR fall 61% on the same queries, but the steeper paid decline suggests AI Overviews reshape where paid ads appear and who clicks them, not simply their overall presence.

The trend accelerated sharply in July 2025 when paid CTR collapsed from approximately 11% to 3% in a single month. One month. This happened as Google expanded AI Overviews more aggressively into commercial and navigational queries, demonstrating AI Overviews’ direct impact on paid search response rates.

What we’re finding is that these declines are the most severe for non-branded informational queries. But it’s not all bad news. Branded search and high-intent transactional queries are showing greater resilience, with many advertisers seeing minimal impact on their core conversion-driving terms.

AI Overviews contribute to higher CPCs through inventory compression

We’re also finding a direct correlation between AI Overviews and the cost of paid search campaigns. That’s because the response rate decline is directly driving cost-per-click (CPC) inflation through supply and demand mechanics.

Google Search spending grew 9% year-over-year in Q1 2025, but click growth was only 4%. That 5% gap represents more dollars chasing fewer clicks across many industries. 

AI Overviews amplify this CPC inflation through several mechanisms. Some of that has to do with ad positioning. Research on ad positioning shows that ads that appear above an AI Overview still perform reasonably well. But the ads below are seeing a dramatic reduction in impression share and CTR. 

At the same time, double-serving policies are concentrating impression share among larger advertisers, which is forcing smaller ones to bid more aggressively. Automated bidding systems optimize toward conversion predictions rather than cost efficiency, which means campaigns are paying premium CPCs as the click inventory shrinks.

AI Overviews collapse the consideration phase

We’re also seeing a dip in the consideration phase of the buyer’s journey. Customer journeys that used to take up to a few days, AI Overviews can now compress into minutes by handling the research and comparison activities that traditionally occurred across multiple search sessions.

For example, think back to how in, say, 2023 a search for [best project management software for remote teams] would have triggered a multi-day sequence for users who would first, perhaps, click through to organic results, then read some comparison articles, then perhaps visit some vendor websites, and, finally, after maybe 7-14 days, they might finally convert. 

Today, when you search for [best project management software for remote teams], you could convert in a single session. An AI Overview can give users everything they need at once: a comparison table with features, pricing, and use cases, then refined recommendations for two or three options. People could decide in hours instead of weeks.

This compression reshapes campaign performance in three ways: 

• Smaller retargeting pools: Retargeting pools shrink dramatically because fewer clicks during research means there are fewer users entering remarketing audiences. While Google has lowered audience minimums from 1,000 to 100 users, the shift is meant to help boost small business campaigns, but it still means that a campaign that historically would have built up a 10,000-user pool from informational traffic might now capture only 3,000 users.
• Less brand awareness: Brand awareness suffers when users never visit your site during research, entering the purchase decision having consumed AI-generated comparisons rather than experiencing your messaging directly.
• AI Overviews mentions are a must: AI citation creates a winner-take-all dynamic. Being mentioned in AI Overviews becomes a primary determinant of visibility. Brands that appear in the AI answer capture disproportionate traffic, while those excluded lose ground entirely.

AI Overviews create a quality-over-quantity trade-off

The journey compression caused by AI Overviews is producing a counterintuitive economic outcome. As click volume declines, conversion rates improve.

A benchmark analysis of 16,446 campaigns confirms the pattern. While overall click volume declined across nearly all query types in 2025, 65% of industries actually saw improved conversion rates.

For many of those industries, the jump was substantial. For example, education and instruction saw conversion rates jump 43.87% year-over-year, while sports and recreation climbed 42.43%. 

So why is this happening?

The improved conversion rates are reflective of AI Overviews pre-qualifying users by answering their basic questions before they click ads. This filters out a lot of the users who are simply seeking general information without any intention to convert and leaving only high-intent prospects.

These improved conversion rates could also potentially partially offset CPC inflation in many scenarios. For example, let’s say a business software campaign is generating 1,000 clicks at $2.00 CPC. The campaign generated a 5% conversion rate, resulting in 50 conversions at a $40 CPA. 

Then, let’s say, Google rolled out AI Overviews for their keywords, and it compressed the customer journey. The same campaign might then generate fewer clicks, say 700, at $2.90 CPC and a higher 7% conversion rate, producing 49 conversions at $41.43 CPA. The effective cost increase is only 3.6% despite 45% CPC inflation and 30% volume decline.

---

4 strategic pivots for the AI search era

Paid search still offers opportunities for advertisers who adapt quickly. Let’s look at four strategies you can incorporate into your own campaigns that align with the new realities of AI-mediated search.

1. Monitor informational intent performance and optimize accordingly

Since AI Overviews are fundamentally changing the economics of informational queries, they require extra scrutiny from you. Implement systematic monitoring rather than blanket exclusions of informational keywords to identify which keywords still deliver value and which have become budget drains.

Begin by understanding which informational keywords still hold value. Informational keywords like “what is,” “how to,” and “guide to” are being cannibalized by AI Overviews at substantial rates. In finance, AI Overviews appear on 79% of longer queries, while in retail they show up on 84% of comparison searches.

However, transactional keywords like “buy,” “best,” “compare,” and “near me” maintain higher CTRs because AI typically doesn’t complete transactions. The user needs to click away from AI Overviews to complete their transaction.

We’re still seeing 69% of transactional searches in AI Mode result in clicks to websites. Branded search remains largely intact, with AI Overviews primarily affecting non-branded informational queries.

To identify which informational keywords still perform, follow these steps:

• Start by pulling 90 days of Google Ads query data. 
• Next, you’ll want to flag queries that contain informational trigger words. 
• Then, cross-reference that data with Google Search Console, since GSC now tags these in performance reports, to identify which queries trigger AI Overviews. 
• Finally, you can calculate CTR and conversion rate for informational versus transactional queries to establish your baselines.

For the informational queries that show less than 1% CTR and less than 50% of your average conversion rate, you have three options: 

• Test whether you can improve performance by focusing on creative optimization for unique offers rather than information. 
• Reduce your bids on those queries to maintain presence at a lower cost while continuing to monitor for changes.
• Shift your budget toward transactional and navigational keywords that are performing better, while maintaining minimal informational presence to bolster brand visibility.

Note: An important exception applies for brands that are consistently being cited in AI Overviews. Since cited brands are seeing a 91% paid CTR lift, this suggests that these informational keywords could become strategic assets. 

If your brand appears in AI Overviews for informational queries like “best accounting software for freelancers,” it may warrant maintaining or increasing bids on those terms. You’ll also want to scrutinize for any uncited queries more aggressively to see if you’re missing any opportunities.

2. Prioritize feed quality

Yes, generative AI can summarize and compare, but it can’t invent price, inventory, or availability from thin air. This creates a structural advantage if you have robust product feeds in Google Shopping, Hotel Ads, and local inventory.

Google’s AI Mode shopping experience, powered by the Shopping Graph with 50 billion product listings refreshed hourly, relies entirely on structured product data from Merchant Center feeds. When users search, for example, for “breathable bamboo crib sheets under $40,” the AI can only surface products whose feeds include that level of attribute specificity. 

Shopping ads now appear directly within AI Overviews for queries with commercial intent, powered by existing Shopping and Performance Max campaigns.

Feed optimization requires four priorities: 

• Attribute enrichment must include contextual details like “waterproof for rainy commutes” or “red couch for small apartment” that match natural language queries. 
• Real-time accuracy matters as Google updates listings hourly and outdated data filters products out of AI Mode entirely. 
• Structured data completeness determines visibility. Google’s AI prioritizes products with rich, complete attribute data over listings with minimal information. 
• Rich media assets have become table stakes. Google’s AI prioritizes listings with five or more product images and video content, with virtual try-on features integrated across Search, Shopping, and Images, driving visual discovery.

3. Craft creative that differentiates

Since users have already learned about the features and benefits they were querying in AI Overviews before clicking, your ad must answer why they should choose you and why they should choose you now.

Lead with unique value propositions instead of generic benefits. For example:

• “Project Management Software for Teams” is generic and would convert less often than a specific offering like “14-Day Free Trial + Free Migration from Asana/Monday.”
• An overly-general value prop like “Tax Preparation Services” would be expected to underperform something much more specific and unique like “Same-Day CPA Review | $50 Off Filing This Week.”

You’ll also want to leverage ad extensions aggressively. Research shows that ads can appear above or below AI Overviews depending on query type and industry. When AI Overviews pushes everything down the page, extensions are your way to stay visible. 

Ads that use all available sitelinks, callouts, and structured snippets can occupy 2-3 times the SERP real estate of basic ads. Taking up that extra space is critical as ads now appear within AI Overviews themselves for commercial intent queries.

You can use responsive search ads to test value proposition hypotheses at scale. Start by loading Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) with diverse headlines that test:

• Urgency (i.e., “Limited Availability”).
• Risk reversal (i.e., “No Credit Card Required”).
• Social proof (i.e., “4.9 Stars, 5,000+ Reviews”).
• Differentiation (i.e., “Only Platform with Native Zapier Integration”). 

Then let Google’s machine learning identify which messages resonate with high-intent users who’ve already completed their research.

If your brand is cited in AI Overviews for specific use cases, reference those directly. For example, if AI Overview consistently recommends your accounting software for “freelancers,” you’ll want to include “Built for Freelancers” in headlines to align with the recommendation users just consumed.

4. Embrace audience data

These days, it’s all about the data. As keyword-based targeting becomes less reliable in an AI-dominated search environment, first-party audience data is becoming more and more your sustainable competitive advantage. When AI answers queries without regard to keyword precision, your existing customer relationships represent what AI can’t disintermediate.

What we mean is that you know your audience already. Take advantage of that.

Customer Match lists allow you to upload email lists, phone numbers, and CRM data, with Google lowering the minimum from 1,000 to 100 users in 2025. Remember, users who’ve already engaged with your brand will convert at significantly higher rates than cold traffic and search with intent to re-engage rather than research.

It’s also important to build granular website visitor segments based on the behaviors that signal purchase intent. You want to represent all prospects who have moved beyond research: 

• Product page viewers who didn’t convert.
• Abandoned cart users.
• Visitors to pricing and comparison tools.
• Users with 10+ minute sessions.

Target these audiences with messaging that assumes they’ve already completed their evaluation through AI-powered search.

Use similar audiences and lookalikes to help Google’s AI identify users who match your highest-value customer profiles. Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns work best when fed customer lists and purchase history, which allows for identifying intent patterns beyond keywords.

In the AI Overview environment, shift your budget from old-school, keyword-heavy Search campaigns to audience-driven Performance Max and Demand Gen formats that prioritize first-party data. Build email capture mechanisms through gated content and progressive profiling. Then, integrate your CRM with Google Ads to activate customer data for targeting and bidding. 

A good place to start is by reallocating an underperforming informational query budget to audience-based campaigns, and then scaling based on results.

First-party data provides higher signal quality than behavioral targeting alone, which gives advertisers with robust data infrastructure measurable advantages in conversion rates and customer acquisition costs.

Adaptation is the key to today’s search success

AI Overviews are changing paid search. There’s no doubt about it. And the data shows the real pressure paid search is facing.

But there’s good news: you can still succeed if you adapt your strategy to match how search works now — not how it worked two years ago.

• Start by monitoring which of your informational queries are still working, rather than excluding them all.
• Then, prioritize feed quality for Shopping campaigns.
• Make sure you write ads that differentiate rather than inform.
• And definitely build first-party audience lists before your competitors do.

ChatGPT ecommerce traffic converted 31% higher than non-branded organic search across 94 ecommerce sites in 2025, but it still drove a small share of revenue. That’s based on a 12-month GA4 analysis by Visibility Labs covering January through December 2025.

Why we care. This data shows that AI referral traffic converts at a higher rate than traditional non-branded search traffic, but the volume remains small. This signals emerging value, not a replacement channel.

Higher conversion rate. ChatGPT traffic converted at 1.81% vs. 1.39% for non-branded organic (31% higher). It outperformed organic in 10 of 12 months.

• Visibility Labs attributes the higher rate to intent compression. Users often refine product needs in ChatGPT before clicking. By the time they reach a product page, they may be closer to purchase than a typical search visitor still comparing options.

Key findings. ChatGPT’s conversion advantage is clear, but growth is slowing and volume remains small.

• Massive traffic growth: ChatGPT visits grew 1,079%, from 1,544 in January to 18,202 in December. Non-branded organic grew 17% over the same period.
• Lower AOV: Average order value was $204 for ChatGPT vs. $238 for organic, a 14.3% gap.
• Higher revenue per session: Despite lower AOV, ChatGPT generated $3.65 per session vs. $3.30 for organic (10.3% higher).
• Small revenue share: ChatGPT drove $474,000 in revenue vs. $32.1 million from non-branded organic — 1.48% of organic revenue, rising to 2.2% in the second half of 2025.
• Growth tied to product updates: Visibility Labs links the first-half spike to shopping carousel features introduced in April 2025. Growth began flattening around August.
• Still dwarfed by organic: Non-branded organic traffic was 70x larger than ChatGPT overall, narrowing to 47x in Q4. Early 2025 volatility included months with just 15 to 37 ChatGPT-attributed conversions, limiting statistical confidence until midyear.

The attribution gap. GA4 referral data likely understates ChatGPT’s influence. According to Visibility Labs:

• Many users get product recommendations from ChatGPT, then search for the brand or product on Google before purchasing. Those conversions are typically attributed to branded organic search.
• Set up post-purchase surveys to better capture AI-influenced revenue.

About the data. Visibility Labs analyzed 12 months of GA4 data (January to December 2025) from 94 seven- and eight-figure ecommerce brands, comparing 9.46 million non-branded organic sessions to 135,000 ChatGPT referral sessions. The study excluded homepage and blog traffic to focus on commercial-intent visits more likely to evaluate and purchase products.

The report. ChatGPT Traffic Converts 31% Better than Non-Branded Organic Search (94 eCommerce Sites Analyzed)

AMD’s RDNA 5 flagship could be a $2K gaming MONSTER If AMD’s next-generation Radeon flagship is as powerful as leakers claim, it will be an incredible gaming GPU. AMD’s RDNA 4 Radeon RX 9070 XT features 64 Compute Units (CUs) and 4,096 Stream Multiprocessors. If the rumours surrounding this GPU are to be believed, AMD’s […]

The post AMD’s RDNA 5 flagship (AT0) could be Radeon’s first $2K GPU appeared first on OC3D.

Valve's Steam Deck handheld is facing shortages triggered by a component crisis, leaving its upcoming Steam Machine PC in an ominous position on pricing.

Microsoft is retiring the Teams Designer bot and banners, consolidating creative features under Copilot for a unified AI experience.

GeForce NOW's anniversary celebration reaches a chilling crescendo as Capcom's Resident Evil: Requiem creeps into the cloud - and the horrors look better than ever on a GeForce NOW Ultimate membership. To mark the occasion, a special launch bundle rises from the shadows, pairing the game with a yearlong Ultimate membership for a limited time. It's not a celebration party without treats. GeForce NOW is also offering members a new reward to use in Delta Force. Suit up and grab it alongside 11 new games joining the cloud this week.

The Nightmare Returns in the Cloud
A new era of survival horror dawns with Resident Evil: Requiem, the iconic Capcom series' most immersive entry yet. Follow FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and veteran agent Leon S. Kennedy as their stories and playstyles intertwine in a chilling, emotional fight for survival. Return to Raccoon City, the ruined heart of a 1998 bioweapon disaster now buried in government secrecy. Grace investigates her mother's mysterious death while Leon, hardened by years of battling outbreaks, uncovers a new bioterror threat spreading through the Midwest. Classic Resident Evil survival horror returns with tense combat and clever puzzles - now enhanced with seamless switching between first‑ and third‑person views for a more personal nightmare.

TCL CSOT, a global leader in advanced display technologies and a subsidiary of TCL Technology (000100.SZ), is setting the tone for the industry ahead of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2026. Under the theme "Super Pixel Beyond Limits", TCL CSOT will debut its groundbreaking Super Pixel technology on the global stage, alongside a spectrum of future-shaping products including advanced FMM OLED, inkjet-printed OLED (IJP OLED) and MLED applications. Guided by its core APEX philosophy, the company is delivering immersive, sustainable, next‑generation experiences across smartphones, tablets, notebooks, monitors, and beyond.

Introducing Super Pixel: Seeing Beyond Limits
At the forefront of TCL CSOT's showcase is Super Pixel technology, an innovation poised to redefine next-generation display performance. It delivers a powerful trifecta of benefits:

• High Clarity: Achieves sharpness comparable to WQHD SPR. By increasing sub‑pixel quantity by approximately 1.8%, it renders images that are more accurate, clear, and finely detailed.
• Smart Power Use: Optimized data processing reduces power consumption by up to 25% while maintaining image quality.
• Rapid Refresh: Leveraging a Real RGB pixel layout, Super Pixel requires less bandwidth than SPR, enabling refresh rates up to 40% higher.

JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the publication of its highly anticipated JESD220H and JESD223G: Universal Flash Storage 5.0 and UFS Host Controller Interface (UFSHCI) 5.0. Designed for mobile applications, automotive and computing systems that demand high performance with low power consumption, UFS 5.0 will deliver faster data access and improved performance compared to its predecessor while maintaining compatibility with UFS 4.x hardware.

UFS offers high-performance, embedded storage with low power consumption, making it ideal for use in applications where power efficiency is essential. This includes computing and mobile systems like smartphones and wearables, as well as an expanding role in generative AI, automotive applications, edge computing and gaming consoles. Its high-speed serial interface and optimized protocol enable significant throughput for power-efficient system performance.

Phanteks today announces the 360M25-LCD AIO, a high-performance 360 mm liquid CPU cooler featuring an ultra-large 6-inch high-resolution IPS LCD as its centerpiece, combining powerful cooling performance with advanced hardware-level system customization. Built for high-end Intel and AMD platforms, the 360M25-LCD AIO features a pure copper cold plate and a 360 mm radiator paired with three M25 Gen 2 D-RGB fans, delivering strong airflow, efficient heat dissipation, and low noise under demanding workloads.

The 6-inch high-resolution (1480x720) IPS LCD offers sharp visuals with a smooth 60 Hz refresh rate and wide viewing angles while maintaining ample clearance for motherboard components and tall RGB RAM modules up to 51 mm in height. Multiple orientation options allow seamless integration across different system layouts. Customization is powered by the NEXLINQ App for Windows, enabling users to personalize the LCD with real-time system telemetry, temperatures, clock speeds, media, animations, and custom graphics. The display operates directly on the hardware, minimizing CPU overhead while ensuring smooth performance.

Supermicro, Inc., a Total IT Solution Provider for AI, Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, is announcing the launch of the industry's first and highest-density blade server platform powered by the latest AMD EPYC 4005 series processors. Designed with a flexible, density-optimized blade architecture, Supermicro's new MicroBlade platform is designed for longevity and versatility. By including the latest AMD EPYC 4005 series processors, along with previous versions, the system provides seamless scalability and long-term investment protection, allowing organizations to expand and upgrade as compute requirements evolve.

"Our flexible blade architecture enables customers to mix different node types with different CPUs within a single enclosure and can incorporate up to 320 server nodes in a standard 48U rack," said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. "Supermicro continues to lead the industry in delivering advanced, energy-efficient platforms to market that maximize scalability, lower total cost of ownership, and protecting data center investments for the long term."

Over the past few months, RAM chips used in new PCs have nearly doubled in price. According to HP Inc. CFO Karen Parkhill, memory's share of the PC bill of materials has risen from 15 percent to 18 percent, and now to roughly 35 percent. And that may be only...

Read Entire Article

The complaint centers on three of the company's best-known titles: Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2. Each game lets players purchase digital loot boxes with real money for the chance to receive randomized items.

Read Entire Article

Redditor AccomplishedFan8690 wrote in the /pcmasterrace subreddit that he paid $300 for a 32GB RAM kit online. Given that the average price for these Corsair kits is around $400, that's already a good deal.

Read Entire Article

The HP OmniBook 7 Aero is light, surprisingly powerful, and comes at a good price for all that’s on offer.

Free-to-play open world anime game Neverness to Everness finally has a release date.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series has landed with a series of mostly small upgrades, but it lacks these features.

Looking for Quordle clues? We can help. Plus get the answers to Quordle today and past solutions.

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

Looking for NYT Strands answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, including the spangram.

Despite some technical hiccups, Tales of Berseria Remastered is an upgrade worthy of its sea legs.

I tested Huawei's latest running watch against my favorite Garmin, and it stacks up pretty well.

Huawei's been hard at work and honestly, the FreeBuds Pro 5 offer a formidable feature set — and yes, they also sound good.

All TechRadar pages tagged 'Collections'

Here’s how I’m combining contracts, voucher codes and trade-ins to save at least £500

Our research finds missing websites, absent privacy policies, and a lack of accountability across the Play Store.

Feature-packed web hosting with no frustrating limits or restrictions.

AI is reshaping security faster than culture, controls, and training can keep up.

Marc Benioff says we're in another 'SaaSpocalypse', but companies that can change direction to accommodate agentic AI will be fine.

It's no secret that Jonathan Bailey has returned for Bridgerton season 4 part 2 — but how many Bridgertons benefit from it as a result certainly is.

Looks aside, there's plenty that joins these two fourth-gen. Samsung earbuds — but plenty separates them as well.

007 First Light's gameplay director, Andreas Krogh, has revealed what games inspired IO Interactive's action-adventure James Bond game.

Save $139 on this Ryzen 5 7600X processor, ASRock B650 motherboard, and 16GB DDR5 combo right now, plus get a free 240mm MSI liquid cooler.

YouTube fixed a bug that meant only non-English comments on live streams would send and be delivered, but its work isn't over yet.

The latest round of layoffs marks eBay’s third workforce reduction in the past three years.

Register now to secure discounts of up to $680 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass. Offer ends tomorrow, February 27, at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Jest, a marketplace for messaging games, emerged from stealth with $7 million in seed funding.

On June 9, over 1,000 founders, investors, and decision-makers will gather for TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026. This isn’t just foot traffic. It’s a full day of concentrated deal flow.

Figma is integrating OpenAI's coding assistant Codex a week after it announced a similar integration with Anthropic's Claude Code.

Trace is launching with $3 million in seed funding, including investment from Y Combinator, Zeno Ventures, Transpose Platform Management, Goodwater Capital, Formosa Capital, and WeFunder.

NVIDIA's plans for Groq's LPU units are a topic of debate in the industry, and when Jensen was asked about them during the Q4 2026 earnings call, he hinted at rather interesting stuff. NVIDIA's Groq LPUs Will Solidify the Company's Position In Latency-Sensitive Workloads NVIDIA's acquisition spree has been aggressive this year. Still, one of the major partnerships that the company entered into was with Groq, a non-licensing agreement worth up to $20 billion, which is Team Green's biggest investment. The announcement did slip in on Christmas Eve, and NVIDIA never really followed up on actual plans. Interestingly, NVIDIA's CEO […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/nvidia-says-groq-acquisition-will-play-a-role-similar-to-mellanox/

Apple is gearing up for one of its most launch-heavy windows of the year next week, when it might launch its much-anticipated low-cost MacBook as well as the iPhone 17e along with the M5 Pro/M5 Max MacBook Pro, Apple Studio Displays, and possibly an iPad or two. Apple's Tim Cook starts building up the buzz for early March Apple's Tim Cook has just posted a brief message on X that reads: "A big week ahead. It all starts Monday Morning!" As we noted recently, Apple is expected to launch its much-anticipated low-cost MacBook next week, replete with a new manufacturing process for its aluminum shell, the A18 […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/tim-cook-confirms-next-week-is-apples-big-week/

For the past six years, Samsung has retained the battery capacity of its Galaxy S lineup at 5,000mAh, meaning that users would only experience minor increments in runtimes regardless of which company flagship they purchased. Fortunately, this practice could be a thing of the past, as a rumor claims that the Korean giant is finally jumping onto the silicon-carbon bandwagon like a multitude of Chinese smartphone makers. As for why silicon-carbon batteries didn’t debut with the Galaxy S26 series, Samsung’s executive says these cells have to pass ‘very rigorous validation standards.’ The advantages of silicon-carbon technology are apparent, which is […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/new-samsung-galaxy-s-series-to-feature-silicon-carbon-batteries/

Yesterday, we learned that Clint Hocking, the creative director on Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Far Cry 2, Watch Dogs: Legion, and most recently, the creative director behind the upcoming Assassin's Creed Hexe, had left Ubisoft. The newly named head of content for Assassin's Creed and former Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag creative director, Jean Guesdon, is stepping in to fill his role on the project, which, according to a reliable Ubisoft insider, is showing a lot of promise within Ubisoft. So much so that it's even the project that "everyone" across the company is looking to work on "because of […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/assassins-creed-hexe-reportedly-one-project-everyone-at-ubisoft-wants-to-work-on/

AMD's RDNA 5 GPU, codenamed AT0, might see a gaming "Radeon" release, albeit in limited quantities, if current rumors hold. AMD Might Make a Radeon Gaming Graphics Card With Its Top RDNA 5 "AT0" GPU, But Will Be A Limited Release AMD's RDNA 5 GPUs are slated for a 2027 release, and while there have been rumors surrounding the various configurations, it's evident that the information available isn't conclusive to tell what the lineup will end up looking like. With that said, a new statement has been made for the next-gen Radeon Gaming lineup by Kepler_L2 at Anandtech forums. In […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/amd-top-rdna-5-at0-gpu-might-release-for-gamers-but-in-limited-quantities/

We test several different fans to figure out which impellers are sellers and which spinners are sinners.

AI-powered creatives are essential for staying relevant in today’s complex search landscape, but above all they must meet your brand standards. That’s why we’re expandin…

Google is expanding beta access to text guidelines for all advertisers globally in AI Max, giving brands more control over how AI-generated ad copy aligns with their standards.

What’s happening. Text guidelines are now available worldwide across AI Max for Search and Performance Max campaigns, with full language and vertical support.

• The feature lets you shape AI-generated creative using natural-language instructions — such as excluding certain terms or avoiding specific phrases — to ensure messaging stays on-brand.

Why we care. As AI-powered creative becomes central to your performance marketing, brand safety and tone control are top concerns. Text customization helps you match ads to user intent, and the new guidelines layer ensures they don’t drift from your brand positioning. You can guide AI with guardrails like “don’t imply our products are cheap” or “avoid language like ‘only for,’” helping you maintain consistency at scale. Early adopters like BYD have seen higher leads at lower costs, showing that combining AI speed with human-guided safeguards can directly improve your campaign results.

Bottom line. Keeping AI-generated ads aligned with your brand voice is likely high on your task list, so Google’s expanded text guidelines meet that need, giving you practical, easy-to-use tools to stay in control while leveraging AI at scale.

AMD FSR 4.1 update reportedly leaks through Radeon Driver Preview It looks like AMD is getting ready to upgrade its FSR 4 upscaler. An alleged AMD Software 26.2.2 driver preview that includes FSR 4.1 has reportedly been released via AMD’s Invite-Only Vanguard program. Through his driver update, a leaker has released the files for AMD’s […]

The post AMD FSR 4.1 Upscaler leaks – Image Quality Gains Revealed appeared first on OC3D.

The Dell 14 Premium is $820 off, offering 32GB of RAM and a 3.2K OLED display. It's an XPS 14 in everything but name and a better value than the newer base models.

Firefox version 148 adds an AI "killswitch" to remove artificial intelligence implementations from affecting your browsing experience.

Best Buy is offering gamers a chance to own one of the greatest gaming headsets we've ever covered, the Turtle Beach Stealth Pro, with a generous 24% discount.

NVIDIA CFO Colette Kress confirmed that the gaming sector may struggle during the company's latest Q4 earnings call. In a short but very important note, she stated, "Looking ahead, while end demand for our products remains strong and channel inventory levels are healthy, we expect supply constraints to be the headwind to Gaming in Q1 and beyond." This sentence is rather vague but conveys the message that supply constraints will definitely impact the GeForce RTX 50 series lineup in the current quarter and possibly beyond. NVIDIA's current product inventory is in good shape, meaning that both silicon from TSMC and secured GDDR7 memory are sufficient for the time being, but once the inventory levels start to deplete, availability will become a problem.

Team Green has massive capacity secured at TSMC's facilities for manufacturing "Blackwell" GPUs, meaning that no production issues stem from that end. However, memory makers, with whom NVIDIA collaborates, are supply constrained in delivering their GDDR7 memory solutions, leaving NVIDIA with little to work with outside its high-margin server sector. As NVIDIA supplies its AIC partners with both memory and GPU dies, having no memory modules to bundle with the GPUs becomes a supply bottleneck, leaving the company waiting for weeks without a fresh inventory of memory modules. Hence, NVIDIA now expects that demand will continue to be strong among gamers, but the situation may be getting slightly worse as inventory levels start to deplete.

Intel has released its latest 101.8531 Non-WHQL Arc GPU graphics drivers, offering day-one game support for titles like Marathon, Resident Evil Requiem, and the World of Warcraft: Midnight DLC expansion pack. Intel notes that with this driver version, users of Intel Arc "Battlemage" and Arc "Alchemist" integrated and discrete GPUs will experience support and some performance improvements across other games, which are now being further optimized. For example, for "Panther Lake," this beta driver delivers a 35% FPS increase in Witcher 3 at 1080p with high settings, while Arc "Alchemist" sees a Resident Evil Requiem FPS boost of up to 40% on average at 1080p with ultra settings. Interestingly, Intel is optimizing new games for its older products, which is a promising sign for anyone considering purchasing the newer "Panther Lake" chips for gaming. With Intel planning to launch Core Ultra G3 SoCs for handhelds in a few months, consistent driver optimization is quite noteworthy.

DOWNLOAD: Intel Arc Graphics Driver 101.8531 Beta.

TrendForce's latest findings reveal that the expansion of AI applications from LLM training to inference has prompted CSPs to broaden data center build-outs beyond AI servers to include general-purpose servers. This shift has extended memory procurement beyond HBM3e, LPDDR5X, and high-capacity RDIMMs to RDIMMs across multiple densities. Aggressive additional orders have driven a sharp increase in conventional DRAM contract prices, lifting total DRAM industry revenue to $53.58 billion in 4Q25, up 29.4% QoQ.

Across segments, buyers have struggled to secure sufficient supply amid a widening supply-demand gap. This has significantly strengthened suppliers' pricing power. Conventional DRAM contract prices rose 45-50% QoQ, while blended contract prices for conventional DRAM and HBM increased 50-55%, marking an accelerated upswing across all product categories.

Microsoft recently issued a correction to its Windows Roadmap regarding ongoing support for legacy printer drivers. While the company still plans to change how the operating system interfaces with printers, the Redmond giant changed its wording to emphasize that it is no longer ending support for legacy V3 and V4...

Read Entire Article

The feature set, now entering beta, allows Gemini to coordinate complex tasks directly on Android devices. That means taking cues from conversations, parsing the context of a screen, and performing real-world actions – such as placing food orders or booking rides – within third-party apps. It's the same territory Apple...

Read Entire Article

The CEO was speaking at the ExCeL London international exhibition and convention centre about the wonders of AI. Much of his keynote speech revolved around Copilot, of course.

Read Entire Article

Blueberry is an AI-native workspace for building web apps on macOS that unifies a terminal, code editor, and preview browser with pinned apps like GitHub and Figma. It gives your AI full context across files, terminal output, and the live preview via its built-in MCP server. Use a command bar to launch anything, save per-project setups, and access your workspace from any device on your local network. Enter Flow Mode, arrange tiling layouts, and control music to stay focused while you build.

View startup

Introduction: Steal It Today, Break It in a Decade Digital evolution is unstoppable, and though the pace may vary, things tend to fall into place sooner rather than later. That, of course, applies to adversaries as well. The rise of ransomware and cyber extortion generated funding for a complex and highly professional criminal ecosystem. The era of the cloud brought general availability of

While the apps are among the 87 most popular free VPNs in Russia, users aren't limited to the country. RKS Global researchers tells TechRadar the potential risk.

Minisforum's UM750L Slim mini PC delivers fast everyday performance in a compact, space-saving design, and you can save 20% off the regular price.

Maximum-severity Cisco flaw is being actively abused, and FCEB agencies were given just a few days to patch.

Home to Ted Lasso, Slow Horses, the MLS and MLB and, in the US, F1, here's how to watch Apple TV from anywhere with a VPN.

Alex Hutchinson, creative director of Assassin's Creed 3 and Far Cry 4, has discussed what went wrong with the launch of Skull and Bones, suggesting it was down to a lack of experience from the development team.

A new leak suggests Apple’s rumored affordable MacBook might feel very similar to the 2017 MacBook Air, on paper at least.

Spotify has partnered with Liquid Death for the first Bluetooth speaker urn, and it's the whackiest device I've seen this year so far.

'Rising size of game assets and AI models has outpaced GPU memory capacity, until now': Micron reveals faster new video RAM.

Anthropic has been given until Friday to allow the Pentagon to use its Claude model for "all lawful purposes," or risk losing its $200 million DoD contract.

We're visiting CP+ 2026 in Japan – the world's biggest photography show – checking out the latest camera gear from Canon, Sony, Sigma and more

Lucena got the idea for Mappa after trying to build a marketing team but continually feeling like she had made the wrong hires.

Samsung's new privacy screen feature on Galaxy S26 Ultra was the most notable feature of the event.

The Meta-owned social platform says that while it already blocks users from searching for suicide and self-harm content, these new alerts are designed to make sure parents are aware if their teen is repeatedly trying to search for this content so that they can support them.

Researchers compared two ways to improve rankings in LLMs: Shadow Model and Query-based solutions.

The post How Researchers Reverse-Engineered LLMs For A Ranking Experiment appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

As PC technology moves at a rapid speed and computer games continue to push the barriers of visual fidelity, it's becoming more difficult for default graphic settings on PC games to find a happy medium between stunning graphics and smooth gameplay, even when playing these games on decently powerful PCs. Resident Evil Requiem, as a modern AAA PC release, shouldn't be any different. However, Capcom had promised that Requiem was built to run smoothly across a wide range of PC builds, and doesn’t expect to see a repeat of the performance issues seen with Monster Hunter Wilds — a reassuring […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/how-to/resident-evil-requiem-pc-performance-analysis-tuning-guide/

Apple appears all set for one of its most launch-heavy windows of the year in early March, when it might launch its much-anticipated low-cost MacBook as well as the iPhone 17e along with the M5 Pro/M5 Max MacBook Pro, and Apple Studio Displays. Now, however, a new price-related tidbit has substantially doused the enthusiasm surrounding Apple's low-cost MacBook. Apple's low-cost MacBook might not be a bargain DigiTimes recently reported that Apple's upcoming low-cost MacBook is already contending with a number of price-related pressures: Apple's low-cost MacBook was previously expected to debut between $599 and $699 price points. However, given these […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/apples-low-cost-macbook-might-cost-as-much-as-749/

The sudden leadership change at the helm of Microsoft Gaming and Xbox, with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving their roles, has inevitably dominated the gaming industry conversation over the past few days. While Phil Spencer's retirement was in the air (despite Microsoft denying it just a few months ago) after a long tenure, it was believed that Sarah Bond, who had been president of Xbox since October 2023, would be the natural successor. Bond has instead left the company, and a subsequent report by The Verge revealed that she was the main driver behind the controversial 'This Is an […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/xbox-best-path-spun-off-free-microsoft-says-analyst/

OLED TVs offer outstanding image quality, but their price drives away the majority of buyers. A tier below this category are mini-LED TVs, which don’t offer the same deep blacks and high contrast as OLED, but represent a substantial upgrade over standard LED technology. Hisense, a notable name in consumer electronics, has two 55-inch TVs up for grabs, and thanks to Amazon’s latest discounts, the price has dipped to $449.99. Fortunately, superior picture quality isn’t the only advantage of getting the 55U65QF or 55U75QG, as you’ll find out soon. The latest 4K mini-LED TVs from Hisense cater to both media […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/hisense-55-inch-mini-led-tv-u6-and-u7-models-start-from-449-99-on-amazon/

An unreleased AMD Adrenalin driver reportedly contains the upcoming FSR 4.1 DLL file, which can work on RDNA 3 GPUs with Proton FP8 emulation. User Obtains FSR 4.1 DLL from "Vangaurd" Adrenalin 26.3.1 Drivers; Works on RDNA 3 GPUs Using Linux Once again, we see newer upscaling technologies being implemented on older hardware. This time, it's not the FSR 4.0.3, but the leaked FSR 4.1, which is reportedly from a test build called "Vanguard" Adrenalin 26.3.1 driver, available through AMD's invite-only beta channel. Someone on Guru3D forums just obtained the FSR 4.1 DLL file from the upcoming Adrenalin driver and […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/fsr-4-1-dll-for-rdna-4-leaks-out/

The ROG Rapture GT-BE19000Ai delivers on performance and expandability, but the price is a bitter pill to swallow.

Sources told Reuters that some U.S. chipmaking firms are running low on scandium — a crucial rare earth material for making 5G chips — as they suffer delays from acquiring export licenses from Beijing.

A 41% saving on this Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 gaming PC isn't one to miss. It includes an Intel Core Ultra 285K CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GPU, 32GB of DDR5-5600 RAM, and a 1TB NVMe SSD, all for just $2,199.99, saving you a massive $1,570 on the list price.

Newegg has two combo offerings featuring an identical motherboard and Patriot Viper Venom RAM

Building upon his Social Truth post from last month, President Trump has formally asked the big tech players to build their own power plants. Data centers have been eating at the national grid, causing electricity prices to rise across the board — for the average household. The "ratepayer protection pledge" will combat this by ensuring companies generate their own energy.

Interim CEO Bruce Broussard told investors the company has responded by securing long-term supply agreements for the year and has "qualified new suppliers".

Remember when it was easy to rank partial-match domains and headings to commercially intended search queries?

When paired with the right methodologies and conversion-optimized widgets, you could silently earn tens of thousands of dollars in affiliate revenue per month with minimal maintenance.

It was possible to get by with just updating articles for relevancy and freshness signals, for example.

Pressure-testing Google’s spam update

Before the experiment, I had spent several months scaling an affiliate initiative in a much more above-board way for a longstanding website in a YMYL category.

We had success with hiring subject matter experts (SMEs) to write helpful, educational content that actually informed readers.

While the new content primarily targeted commercially intended keywords, that wasn’t the website’s sole purpose for existing. There were also thousands of pages of user-generated content (UGC) that inspired the new content, and visitors would navigate from them to convert, as well.

We had brand trust, original research, expert insights, and everything else you’d expect from a reputable publisher.

It was a perfect mix: verticalized legacy UGC with thousands of earned backlinks and a commercial lever that served a preexisting demand while adhering to industry best practices. It was a truly helpful experience.

The experiment: Scaling AI without trust

If the first model was built on trust and earned authority, this one would remove those signals entirely. 

During that time, influencers on LinkedIn were doing the same thing. Except they were using AI to generate thousands of pages by scraping and rewriting content, or by programmatically aggregating public data.

That’s when I searched in my couch pillows for a few dollars and bought three domains that partially matched the following queries: “best welding schools,” “best plumbing schools,” and “best electrical schools.”

The goal? Intentionally test a set of low-trust, high-scale tactics that are commonly promoted online and see how long they would persist.

I then used AI to make the websites pretty, fetched public data with a vibe-coded Python API call, and used ChatGPT to template all of the subheadings and paragraph text you would typically see ranking across the web. 

Within a few hours, with the help of liquid content, I published thousands of bottom-funnel pages across three websites. I was able to inject public data, target superlatives by program type and state, and include a directory with individual, templated pages per school.

I even leveraged aggressive internal linking practices that prioritized crawl coverage over user intent.

The setup violated almost every long-term trust signal — which made it a useful test of how the system would react.

All three sites shared the same traits:

• Zero brand signals.
• Programmatic AI-generated content.
• Public data aggregation.
• Aggressive internal linking.
• No original research or authorship signals.

Dig deeper: What 4 AI search experiments reveal about attribution and buying decisions

Confirmed: The data shows Google’s spam updates work

The websites worked briefly. Indexation was fast, pages surfaced for long-tail queries, and impressions climbed faster than expected.

Within their first couple of months, all three websites were generating about 200 in-market clicks each.

But as you can see, they flatlined hard during the first December spam update since their inception. In fact, clicks dropped to 0.

I tried turnkey data updates and adding a few performance-boosting plugins, but they never recovered.

In isolation, I’m not certain that any single one of these tactics caused the failure more than another. In combination, these tactics produced a site whose only defensible value was ranking in and of itself. Once that signal stopped being useful, nothing remained

The insight isn’t that the websites failed — it’s that Google tolerated them just long enough to learn from them.

Does affiliate content marketing still work?

Yes, affiliate content marketing still works as a monetization layer, but not as a growth engine.

There are plenty of websites that provide a helpful user experience while adhering to best practices and generating affiliate revenue.

As to how, refer to Google’s documentation on creating helpful, reliable, people-first content, where you can learn more about evaluating whether your website is publishing “content that’s created primarily for people, and not to manipulate search engine rankings.”

• “If the ‘why’ is that you’re primarily making content to attract search engine visits, that’s not aligned with what our systems seek to reward. If you use automation, including AI-generation, to produce content for the primary purpose of manipulating search rankings, that’s a violation of our spam policies.”

However, even when following best practices, the rise of AIO, the great decoupling, and dozens of other factors have made affiliate marketing less successful than it once was.

Fortunately, there’s an alternative. 

Dig deeper: Inside Google’s secret search systems: 1,200 experiments, AI agents, and entities

---

Where is content heading in 2026?

The real takeaway isn’t that Google cracked down on spam, or that affiliate content marketing stopped working. It’s that businesses built on a single, cheaply replicable distribution channel are exposed the moment that channel changes.

The next era of content will increasingly disadvantage businesses that treat search as their sole distribution channel.

Instead of focusing on easily replicable topics, many industry practitioners are shifting toward verticalized research and benchmarks that spark real conversations within communities. 

Content is no longer a series of pages intended to rank. Rather, it’s a combination of discovery, discourse, and thought leadership that spans many channels.

Discovery, discourse, and thought leadership

Hypothetical: You’re a SaaS business in the financial technology space that provides businesses with enhanced financial forecasting.

Instead of publishing landing pages that target “best financial forecasting software” or “most affordable financial forecasting software” (the SaaS equivalent of bottom-funnel ranking pages), consider doing deep dives with industry leaders who have something valuable to add to the conversation.

Rely on their insights to identify the largest gaps in financial forecasting in 2026 and validate: Does my product truly solve this? If it does, you may have found a perfect wedge into the community.

If not, there’s your roadmap.

Use these problem-and-solution insights to develop landing pages with interactive assessments paired with benchmarking reports informed by industry-leading organizations.

The “why” is that the content exists to help organizations contextualize both where they are and where they want to be.

While these assessments or studies may not rank in the first position in Google for high-volume search queries, you can instead leverage owned channels, partner distribution, paid media, and more to put them in front of your ideal clients.

These insights serve as a launching pad for communicating learnings from real conversations that aren’t easily replicated. By doing so across many different channels, you effectively enhance your ability to be everywhere.

If you execute well and provide true value, not only do you contribute to a community, but you may unlock the growth you’ve been after all along.

Companies like Stripe and its “Developer Coefficient” and HubSpot and its “State of Marketing” are doing this exact thing.

Dig deeper: 3 GEO experiments you should try this year

Content in 2026: Fewer pages, deeper moats

This model looks very different from scaling thousands of programmatic pages. It also comes with tradeoffs:

• Slower feedback loops.
• Less attributable ROI.
• Fewer “quick wins.”
• More dependence on distribution and partnerships.

In 2026, content is about fewer pages, deeper insight, a stronger point of view, and assets that are harder to replicate.

The spam update didn’t kill my niche websites for Christmas, but it exposed how thin the margin is for anything built without trust.

Search marketing isn’t about avoiding content penalties — it’s about building things that can’t be easily copied with AI.

Google’s AI Overviews have moved beyond the experimental phase and are now a permanent part of search. To assess their impact, Adthena analyzed data across six major industries from late December 2025 to January 2026, tracking performance metrics from hundreds of thousands of advertisers, including more than 5 million ads.

While aggregate data suggests stability, a deeper look reveals a different picture. For advertisers, these automated summaries are no longer just a visibility concern; they directly threaten PPC revenue.

What AI Overviews mean for paid search revenue

Generative summaries fundamentally change the math of a successful campaign. When an AI Overview pushes paid ads below the fold, it triggers a chain reaction that impacts your profitability:

• Lower CTR = fewer clicks: Reduced visibility leads to fewer visits to your landing pages, shrinking your traffic pipeline.
• Fewer clicks = fewer conversions: A smaller traffic pool inevitably leads to a drop in total lead or sale volume.
• Higher CPC = reduced profitability: In sectors where AI summaries trigger on high-competition terms, the cost to stay relevant rises, squeezing margins and lowering your return on ad spend (ROAS).

AI Overviews impact across six industries

Adthena tracked AI Overview frequency, content themes, and CPC/CTR performance across desktop and mobile. The findings show a fragmented landscape: impact varies by industry, device, query type, and content intent.

Content themes: The battle for mid-funnel intent

Adthena’s analysis shows that Google is increasingly moving into comparison and instructional spaces, directly challenging high-converting paid search territory.

• The comparison conflict: In Telecom, Technology, and Retail, AI Overviews are dominated by comparison content. When Google provides a side-by-side analysis, it satisfies the research phase and may stop users from clicking your ad to learn more.
• The informational buffer: Conversely, Healthcare (74% News) and Financial Services (54% FAQ) see informational themes. These act as intent filters, potentially protecting ad spend by satisfying low-intent users before they reach a paid link.
• The opportunity gap: Problem solving content remains virtually untouched at 0-2%. This is a safe harbour for advertisers: troubleshooting queries are still largely free from AI interference.

CPC trends: The premium for visibility

Tracking CPC fluctuations identifies where advertisers are paying a visibility tax to stay competitive.

• Technology: Queries featuring an AI Overviews consistently show higher CPCs than those without, a clear signal that AI Overview presence is pushing up the cost of visibility.
• Automotive & Retail: Automotive and retail show nearly identical cost levels regardless of AI Overviews presence.
• Financial Services: CPC increases may look modest here, but in a sector where CPCs are already high, the hit to campaign profitability is harder than the numbers suggest.

Device splits expose desktop saturation

Segmenting by device reveals a striking divergence, but the picture is more nuanced than it first appears.

• Desktop dominance: Technology and Education queries on desktop are heavily saturated by AI Overviews, meaning ads in these sectors almost always compete with an Overview.
• Mobile opportunity: Mobile AI Overviews have a lower frequency across almost all industries. But the limited screen real estate on mobile means that when an Overview does appear, it displaces ads more aggressively than on desktop, where multiple ads often remain visible below the summary.

CTR trends provide evidence of traffic erosion

Analyzing CTRs over time exposes the persistent performance gaps between influenced and standard search results.

• Persistent gaps: Telecom and Technology show consistently lower CTRs when an AI Overview is present, representing a direct drain on your traffic pipeline.
• Consumer resilience: Financial services and retail show narrower gaps, suggesting users in these sectors still prioritize ads over AI Overviews.
• Late month volatility: Sudden spikes in healthcare illustrate how quickly performance shifts as Google iterates on its AI rollout. 

Distribution data reveals the zero click reality

This final layer of data exposes the winner-takes-all scenario that average metrics often hide.

• The baseline gap: Without AI Overviews, CTR holds up well across industries – Retail in particular. Where AI Overviews are absent, CTR holds up well across industries. Where they’re frequent, it doesn’t always and the gap between the two tells the real story.
• High AI Overviews frequency, low CTR: When AI Overviews appear on nearly every query, CTR hits its floor across industries—including Technology. The higher the frequency, the less traffic ads reliably capture.
• Resilience in Automotive: Automotive shows a healthier spread across mid-range frequency buckets, suggesting users are more likely to bypass the summary to find verified brand information.

Three immediate steps to adapt your paid search strategy

To safeguard your margins, start here:

1. Monitor Click Through Rates (CTR) and Cost Per Click (CPC) changes: While not the full picture, shifts in CTR or CPC can act as early indicators of AI Overviews impact.
2. Segment performance by device: Break out desktop and mobile reporting to uncover device-specific trends that combined data can hide.
3. Use Adthena’s free Market Share reports: Understand how often AI Overviews appear in your category and where visibility is most at risk.

Gaining visibility with Adthena’s AI Overview solution

Understanding AI Overview impact requires continuous, query-level intelligence. Adthena’s AI Overview solution indexes search results multiple times per hour, giving advertisers accurate visibility into:

• AI Overviews frequency patterns by query, industry, and device.
• Content themes and citation sources.
• Performance metrics including impact on CPC and CTR.
• Ad position vs AI Overviews.

With these insights, you’ll know exactly where AI Overviews are disrupting your revenue and what to do about it before your performance is impacted.

Coming soon: Adthena’s AI Overviews solution will also include visibility into ads appearing within AI Overviews themselves, so you’ll have a complete picture of how your spend is performing across the entire SERP.

The SERP has changed: Adapt or fall behind

Google’s AI Overviews aren’t going away, but their impact isn’t universal or inevitable. The advertisers who win won’t spend more; they’ll know exactly where AI Overviews appear, what content they surface, and how their audience responds. 

Precision wins. Assumptions don’t.

Book a demo to see exactly how AI Overviews are impacting your campaigns.

High Bandwidth Flash aims to deliver HBM-like speeds with much higher capacities SK Hynix and SanDisk held a “HBF Spec. Standardization Consortium Kick-Off” event to found a “dedicated workstream under OCP (Open Compute Project)” and standardise their new memory type. HBF memory, High Bandwidth Flash, aims to transform the world of AI inference by bridging […]

The post SK Hynix and SanDisk team up to standardise HBF (High Bandwidth Flash) memory appeared first on OC3D.

Windows Central readers are divided over Asha Sharma’s “return to Xbox” comments, with debate centered on exclusives, multiplatform strategy, and the future of Xbox hardware. While some want a renewed focus on console-only titles, others believe it may be too late to reverse course.

In the face of all the turmoil, Asha Sharma recently met with none other than Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson.

Amazon has revealed UK-only discounts on multiple configurations for the Microsoft Surface 7 and Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch laptops, and we've rounded up all the best deals in one place.

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of high-performance PCI Express (PCIe ) switching and storage expansion solutions, is proud to announce the launch of HighPoint's External CopprLink PCIe Architecture. Anchored by the PCI-SIG CopprLink standard, this groundbreaking architecture establishes a new benchmark for disaggregated AI, HPC, and professional media workflows, delivering a massive 64 GB/s of native throughput with unprecedented interoperability.

A Vendor-Neutral Foundation for PCIe 5.0 and PCIe 6.0 Technology Interoperability
As AI and data-intensive workloads continue to outpace the thermal and power thresholds of conventional server chassis, the need for a standardized external expansion framework has become mission-critical. HighPoint's new connectivity fabric is built upon the PCI-SIG CopprLink (CDFP) specification (SFF-TA-1032) to facilitate a truly vendor-neutral hardware environment. By adhering to this open industry standard, HighPoint ensures that today's PCIe 5.0 technology investments are fully forward-compatible with the emerging PCIe 6.0 specification, providing a sustainable, long-term ROI for data centers and enterprise IT architects.

A recently released preview build of OptiScaler, a popular third-party upscaling tool, is the first publicly available method for implementing FSR 4 in games that only use the Vulkan graphics API. While the update, labeled "0.9.0-pre10," is not yet available on the app's official GitHub repository, users can download it...

Read Entire Article

Each AI model was fed detailed scenario prompts spanning border conflicts, resource shortages, and existential threats to state survival. They were provided with an "escalation ladder," a spectrum of tactical options that ranged from conventional diplomacy to all-out nuclear confrontation.

Read Entire Article

Recly.io is an interactive demo platform that helps you showcase your product through guided, click-through experiences instead of static screenshots or traditional screen recordings. Most demo tools today feel either too expensive, too complex, or heavily designed for enterprise workflows. For indie developers, early-stage startups, and small SaaS teams, this often means paying for features they do not need or struggling with tools that feel unnecessarily heavy. Recly.io strives to make interactive demos available to bootstrapped founders at an affordable price.

View startup

A "coordinated developer-targeting campaign" is using malicious repositories disguised as legitimate Next.js projects and technical assessments to trick victims into executing them and establish persistent access to compromised machines. "The activity aligns with a broader cluster of threats that use job-themed lures to blend into routine developer workflows and increase the likelihood of code

Cybersecurity researchers have disclosed details of a new malicious package discovered on the NuGet Gallery, impersonating a library from financial services firm Stripe in an attempt to target the financial sector. The package, codenamed StripeApi.Net, attempts to masquerade as Stripe.net, a legitimate library from Stripe that has over 75 million downloads. It was uploaded by a user named

Google has launched a new Gemini Enterprise app for on-the-go access to the agentic AI platform it announced in October.

The new De'Longhi Eletta Ultra can make 50 hot and cold drinks, split into 'curated' menus to help you find something you'll enjoy.

Amazon ends partnership with ex-Forza Horizon devs Maverick Games — but thankfully, its open-world driving project hasn't been canceled yet.

Work doesn't always need to be a world of survival horror.

Only want to spend a little to get seriously improved audio from your phone? This could be the bijou beauty you need

Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Hexe creative director Clint Hocking is departing the studio. The studio has confirmed Jean Guesdon, the creative director on Black Flag and Origins, will now lead Assassin's Creed Hexe.

Resident Evil Requiem is good on Switch 2, but I'd recommend other platforms instead.

Claude Cowork will give you daily summaries, complete regular research and organize your folders autonomously.

Here's how to watch India vs Zimbabwe T20 World Cup streams as defending champions India battles for survival in the tournament.

Can four women spies change the course of a brutal war? Here’s how you can watch The Gray House online and from anywhere.

Google is preparing to test search result changes in the EU that would show rival vertical search services alongside its own results

The post Google To Test Search Changes In EU After DMA Charges, Per Report appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Few games are expected to see some major improvements in performance across various Intel Arc GPU lineups. Intel Rolls Out Arc Graphics Driver 32.0.101.8531, Reportedly Delivering Significant Performance Enhancements in Various Titles Intel has released its latest Arc Graphics Driver 32.0.101.8531 for its Arc graphics products, improving performance and delivering various bug fixes, as well as adding support for a couple of new games. The new driver is reportedly improving performance in some games drastically when compared to the previous driver, 8509 (Intel also added XeSS 3 MFG support to Arc A and B-Series GPUs with this driver). In the […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/intel-claims-up-to-35-fps-boost-in-witcher-3-on-core-ultra-series-3-using-latest-driver-8531/

Samsung is at the forefront of display innovations, and even though the company receives countless criticisms for being highly conservative with its flagship smartphone releases, no other firm can compete with the Korean giant on the aforementioned front. When the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy screen kept showing up in leaks, we assumed that it was just a hardware feature baked into the software that covered the entire panel and offered nothing more. However, with Samsung opening up pre-orders, we learn that there’s way more to this technology. The customization bit of the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s privacy screen proves that hardware-level […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/galaxy-s26-ultra-privacy-display-everything-you-should-know/

MSI launches the Pro B550M-B and B550M-A Pro motherboards for previous-generation Ryzen processors that reside on the AM4 socket.

We tested CPU scaling in Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem with some fascinating results. However, we weren’t able to get through a full suite of CPUs due to Capcom’s use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper in Resident Evil 9.

A researcher made three different AI LLMs the heads of state of nuclear-powered nations and made them face off with each other using historical scenarios. Out of the total of 21 matches, 20 ended with a tactical nuke detonation while three resulted in a full-on strategic nuclear exchange, essentially ending the world.

A Reddit user's order for a pack of 32GB Corsair DDR5 RAM turns into a box of 10, totalling 320GB of memory.

As sales of gaming GPUs drop quarter-over-quarter, Nvidia enjoys record results amid massive AI craze and lack of rivals for the Blackwell platform.

In January's Steam Hardware Survey, adoption of 8 GB GPUs was at almost 30% despite marking a 3.11% decline, while 16 GB GPUs were up an impressive 5.85%. Unfortunately, it seems like Valve misreported those numbers as the latest Steam Client Beta update includes a patch node admitting so.

Nvidia expects “supply constraints” for GeForce in 2026 During its Q4 2026 earnings call, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress confirmed that its gaming products are facing “supply constraints” and that these “constraints” will be a headwind for Nvidia through Q1 and beyond. Right now, many Nvidia GPU models are already in short supply. Nvidia’s RTX 5090 […]

The post Expect Nvidia’s RTX GPUs to be in short supply in 2026 appeared first on OC3D.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today introduced its latest Galaxy Buds4 Pro and Galaxy Buds4, redefining what premium earbuds can deliver in both superior Hi-fi audio and everyday wearability. Built to sound as good as they feel, the Galaxy Buds4 series pairs exceptional sound quality with a more refined, computationally designed fit, bringing Samsung's most advanced audio and wearability innovations together in one seamless experience. For the first time, Buds4 Pro features a Super Wide Woofer, combined with enhanced Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and an enhanced Adaptive Equalizer (EQ), to supply full-spectrum sound true to the original recording—while intelligently adapting to real-world conditions. Thoughtful design updates, intuitive hands-free controls, and deeper AI integration further underscore Samsung's commitment to earbuds designed for how people listen, move, and live throughout the day.

"Samsung understands that a truly premium audio experience combines technical sound quality with how that sound feels throughout a user's day," said Ikhyun Cho, Corporate VP of Mobile Enhancement R&D Team, Mobile eXperience. "With the Galaxy Buds4 series, our design philosophy was uncompromising, providing all-day comfort without sacrificing audio performance, because these are what consumers value most. We engineered our most powerful Hi-fi audio and our most secure, ergonomic fit to enhance one another, delivering the best and most satisfying listening experience we've ever created."

Nvidia reported $68.1 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter and $1.62 earnings per share, beating analyst estimates of $66.1 billion and $1.54, respectively.

Read Entire Article

Gixo creates finished long-form content, slide decks, briefs, and legal documents in one system. It structures writing, applies consistent design, and produces export-ready outputs you can present or publish immediately. Write once and publish everywhere with precise multilingual translation and built-in typography, then export to PDF, HTML, TXT, JSON, and image assets.

View startup

Launch of O2 Satellite looks to help cut down areas of poor or no signal across the UK.

You heard me... there's a post-credits scene at the end of Bridgerton season 4 part 2. It might be the most important in the entire series, but Netflix fans are already being caught out.

It seems like Wolfenstein 3 is finally happening. It's been over eight years since the release of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, and fans were almost losing hope that the third chapter of William "B.J." Blazkowicz's story would actually happen. Developer MachineGames had started teasing it very early, just a few months after the launch of the second entry, but then they went quiet about it for a long time. With Arkane Lyon's help, the Swedish studio would instead release two spin-offs, Wolfenstein: Youngblood and the VR-only Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, in 2019. Both of them failed critically and commercially, though, and […]

Read full article at https://wccftech.com/wolfenstein-3-reportedly-started-casting/

Automate your strength training with Texas Method

Discussion | Link

Bring your automations to life

Discussion | Link

Rank and get cited using your expertise

Discussion | Link

Control your Homey smart home from the Mac menu bar

Discussion | Link

cc: ada@read.ai. and let your digital twin handle the rest

Discussion | Link

Padel tactics learning app

Discussion | Link

Find healthier groceries while you shop online

Discussion | Link

Data APIs for AI agents & developers — free to start

Discussion | Link

The next generation of AI image creation is here

Discussion | Link

Voice that types, edits, sees and takes action in every app.

Discussion | Link