Qualcomm is acquiring Arduino to help speed up developer access to AI
Chipmaker Qualcomm has announced that it is acquiring Arduino. Best known for its Arduino boards, the Italian firm is getting a new owner for an undisclosed sum of money.
Qualcomm says that its own products will be combined with Arduino’s ecosystem, and has announced the launch of the new Arduino UNO Q, powered by the Qualcomm Dragonwing platform. This is being promoted as a joining of forces, as well as a way of speeding up developers’ access to key technologies.
Waze is rolling out voice-controlled Conversational Reporting of hazards
Navigation tools such as Waze and Google Maps not only help you find a route from A to B, but also provide information about road closure, vehicle breakdowns, police in the area, and hazards on the road. With this last item being reliant on reports from road users, Waze has been investigating ways to make do so easier.
When you spot a hazard on the road and want to warn others, you have had to wait until you are able to stop to do so (safely, at least). Now Waze is rolling out a feature called Conversational Reporting which lets you use your voice – and a dash of AI – to let other road users know about what you have spotted.
Spotify lands in ChatGPT
Thanks to what will seem like a somewhat unlikely pairing to many, it is now possible to access Spotify in ChatGPT. With the two services having partnered, you can now use tracks and podcasts to achieve things with the AI chat bot.
There are various possibilities here – from asking ChatGPT to create new playlists based on the tracks you like to receive recommendations about podcasts you may enjoy. While the ability to use Spotify in conjunction with ChatGPT is free, there are more options available to Spotify Premium subscribers.
Meta is changing Facebook’s algorithms to improve the surfacing of Reels
Meta has announced an update to Facebook algorithms which may achieve something quite rare – actually surfacing content that people genuinely want to see. The change affects Reels specifically, and users are being given far greater control over what they see in their feeds.
As well as making it easier to indicate a preference for a particular type of video – or, indeed, express a dislike for others – the update makes it possible to prioritize displaying new content. This is not the end of the story; there are also new “friend bubbles” which Meta hopes will encourage users to engage in conversations about content on the platform.
Microsoft and Valve issue warning to gamers about Unity vulnerability
Both Microsoft and Valve have issued warnings about flaws in the Unity engine that could expose gamers to attack. A new version of Steam has been released to plug the security hole as well.
Tracked as CVE-2025-59489, the Unity Gaming Engine Editor vulnerability has a severity rating of 8.4. The nature of Unity is such that the flaw affects multiple platforms – Windows, Linux, macOS and Android. There is good news for some, however; Xbox consoles, Xbox Cloud Gaming, iOS and HoloLens all remain unaffected.
Get ready to see more targeted ads on Facebook
Advertising is how Meta makes money, hence Facebook users being bombarded with ads and “recommended content”. Starting today you may receive a notification that things are about to change. Unsurprisingly, they are not changing for the better.
Meta says that it is going to “start personalizing content and ad recommendations on our platforms based on people’s interactions with our generative AI features”. What does this mean? Targeted ads, essentially.
The Red Hat data breach is worse than first thought
The situation regarding Red Hat’s recent data breach is worsening – both for the company and for its customers. With GitLab instances belonging to the company having been breached by the Crimson Collective, hundreds of gigabytes of data were stolen.
Now the data breach has transformed into a demand for ransom – perhaps predictably. Interestingly, though, the extortion is not being perpetrated by the Crimson Collective, but by ShinyHunters.
Windows 11 installation no longer lets you skip creating a Microsoft Account
With just a week to go until Windows 10 reaches the end of mainstream support, attention is increasingly turning to Windows 11. And with the release of the latest Dev build of the operating system, Microsoft is making changes to the OOBE.
The Out Of Box Experience is what Microsoft calls what most people refer to as the installation and setup process. With the latest changes, Microsoft is closing loopholes used to create local accounts, thereby forcing the use of a Microsoft Account.
Meta could be forced to make massive changes to timelines in its social media apps
A ruling by a Dutch court could ultimately force Meta to make sweeping changes to timeline appearance in the likes of Facebook and Instagram. While it is possible to switch form an algorithm-controlled timeline to a chronological one, the court says that this should be made more accessible.
What could this mean? Right now, it is difficult to say for sure, but it could be the case that – in some jurisdictions, at least – Meta could be required to make a chronological timeline the default.
Oracle releases emergency patch to address Cl0p data theft attacks in E-Business Suite
Oracle has released an emergency patch and an urgent security warning about a 0-day vulnerability in Oracle E-Business Suite.
Tracked as CVE-2025-61882, the security flaw has a severity rating of 9.8 and is described as an “easily exploitable vulnerability”. Oracle warns that the vulnerability is “remotely exploitable without authentication”, going some way to explaining why it is seen as being so serious an issue.
Google unveils Jules Tools, its AI command line coding tool
Anyone who thought command line tools were in danger of being consigned to the history books, Google’s unveiling of Jules Tools put pay to that idea.
For anyone not familiar with Google’s offerings, Jules Tools is a command line interface for its Jules asynchronous coding agent. Google is hardly setting a trend here – there are command line interfaces available for other AIs – but with Jules itself only having launched in December, the speed is a little surprising.
Discord admits customer data theft after third-party security breach
The personal data of Discord users has been exposed after a third-party customer service provider suffered a data breach.
Hackers were able to obtain support tickets from an unnamed company used by Discord to provide support. From this, they were then able to gain access to data including names and government-issued IDs.
Gmail makes encrypted emails more useful for business users
Google has announced that it is now possible to send Gmail end-to-end encrypted emails to anyone. Until this change was introduced, E2E emailing was only supported between Gmail to Gmail communications.
But now email encryption is being opened up and made platform agnostic. While this means that encrypted emails can be sent to anyone, it is something that needs to be enabled, and there are a few things to keep in mind.
Perplexity releases AI web browser, Comet, for free; security warnings follow
Perplexity is the latest company to release an AI-powered web browser. Comet is available free of charge for Windows and macOS, and it is looking to compete with the likes of Opera’s Neon.
Comet is not brand new. It launches in July to a limited audience, but now its AI powers are being made available to everyone. But while there is much excitement from Perplexity about the launch, and excitement from users, there is also a warning from security experts.
Microsoft is giving its icons a sleek and smooth makeover
Microsoft has officially announced a subtle revamp of its Microsoft 365 icons. Taking something of a cue from Google, the redesign is subtle and sees a switch towards using gradients and flowing colors.
The update is the first for Office icons since 2018, and this latest change is a gentle revisiting and dialling up of the changes that were introduced then. This is not a rebrand or a major change, but a pleasing evolution.
Sofia Elizabella's Bio
Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson is a queer, transgender journalist based in Poland. She has been writing about technology for more than two decades, and after years working for magazines, her writing moved online. She is fueled by literature, music, nature, and vegetables. She is currently training to be an LGBTQ+ affirmative psychotherapist. You can find her on Bluesky and Mastodon. If you like what you read, you can Buy her a Coffee!
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