Wayne Williams

In a major coup for Google, YouTube has secured exclusive global rights to the Oscars and a wide range of Academy programming under a new multi year agreement that begins with the 101st ceremony in 2029. The deal moves the awards show and related content to YouTube worldwide, although the Academy’s existing domestic broadcast agreement will remain in place for the 100th ceremony.

Under the agreement, the Oscars will stream live -- and free -- on YouTube to viewers all around the world. In the US, the ceremony will also be available to YouTube TV subscribers. Coverage will include the red carpet, backstage access, and events tied to the Governors Ball.

Wacom has released a new Android update for its MovinkPad lineup that changes how creative apps work together on the device. The update adds ibisPaint X as a built in app, links it more closely with Wacom Canvas and Wacom Shelf, and includes a free 180-day ibisPaint Prime Membership.

The update applies to the Wacom MovinkPad series, which is built around standalone drawing without a PC. The lineup includes the MovinkPad 11 and the recently announced MovinkPad Pro 14, both of which combine Wacom’s pen technology with an Android based environment.

Google has announced the arrival of Gemini 3 Flash, its latest AI model built to respond faster than earlier systems, while still tackling complex prompts when needed. The model is being introduced across Google Search and the Gemini app, with the goal of making everyday AI interactions feel nippier, without stripping away the AI's more advanced capabilities.

Gemini 3 Flash is the newest member of the Gemini 3 model family. It follows Gemini 3 Pro and Gemini 3 Deep Think, but is designed for a different role. Instead of treating every prompt as a complex problem, Flash adjusts how much effort it applies based on the task in front of it.

If you’re in the market for a new smartphone to start the new year and don’t want to spend a fortune, Motorola has announced the moto g power 2026. The new device combines a large display, reinforced build, updated cameras, and latest Android software.

The phone is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 processor, paired with 8GB of RAM. Motorola also includes virtual memory expansion through RAM Boost, which allows the phone to allocate storage as temporary memory when required.

Cloudflare has released its 2025 Radar Year in Review, the sixth annual report examining broad trends in internet traffic, security, and technology adoption across its global network over the past year. Using aggregated data from web requests, bots, and connectivity signals, the report shows how automation, encryption changes, and attacks shaped online services worldwide.

Internet traffic continued to rise across the year, with Cloudflare reporting overall growth of 19 percent. Levels stayed relatively steady through the first six months or so before accelerating from late summer onwards. For website operators, this trend reflects a steady increase in demand, although it also drives higher infrastructure costs and greater exposure to outages or attacks.

The robots are coming, there’s no question about that, but many humanoid robotics startups backed by venture capital firms face deep problems related to cost, reliability, and general real-world usefulness, according to a new report from CB Insights.

Investors warn that enthusiasm driven by AI hype is outpacing commercial reality, creating concerns that parts of the sector are drifting toward speculation rather than reality.

Stardock has released an updated beta of Connection Explorer, the Windows app it first launched a month ago that lets users can see and understand all of the network activity on their PCs. The new update adds additional ways to view bandwidth usage and connection history, giving users a better understanding of where the data is going and -- even more importantly -- why.

Connection Explorer shows every network connection a PC makes in real time and turns background activity into something readable. It allows users to see which apps and processes are communicating online and where those connections terminate.

Kodi 21.3 Omega has just been released, bringing with it a range of fixes and improvements. It is the first update since January for the hugely popular home theater software, coming ahead of the launch of Kodi 22 Piers, which is expected to arrive early 2026.

For a lot of users, running Kodi on an Amazon Fire TV Stick (or Firestick as it’s better known) is the best way to enjoy the software and everything it has to offer, giving users access to a wide array of streaming services and media libraries.

The Kodi Foundation is still hard at work on Kodi 22 'Piers', with a second Alpha release expected soon. The team hasn’t forgotten Kodi 21 users however, and a new build for that branch has just arrived.

Kodi 21.2 'Omega' was released back in January, and now the Kodi Foundation has rolled out a new build, Kodi 21.3, with a raft of changes, fixes and improvements. This is what’s new:

Google is expanding the translation features in Search and its Translate app with new systems built on the Gemini AI model. The update introduces improved text translation and a beta version of live speech translation in headphones, giving users clearer and more natural results and bringing the experience closer to a real-world Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The new text translation system uses Gemini 3 to handle idioms, slang, and local expressions with more context awareness. This lets the app produce translations that are closer to natural speech rather than direct word swaps.

Companies are adopting AI quickly, but most still overlook the energy impact of the systems they use daily. New research suggests this gap is now large enough to affect electricity use in offices, data rooms and commercial buildings. Energy specialists say the problem could be turned into an opportunity -- if firms pay attention to how their AI tools work in practice.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation has published early findings from its AI Company Data Initiative, known as AICDI. The new study examines AI governance disclosures from 1,000 companies in 13 sectors. Built with UNESCO, it is described as the largest dataset that tracks how firms explain and oversee their use of AI.

Huawei has taken the wraps off its Mate X7 foldable phone at a new "Unfold the Moment" event in Dubai. The new device features a slimmer profile and a hinge system designed for repeated daily use. The Mate X7 comes in a nano fiber woven-style Brocade White finish, with vegan leather versions in Nebula Red and Black also available.

Huawei has made a number of improvements to its camera system, including the addition of new Ultra Lighting HDR Camera, an Ultra-Wide Camera and a Telephoto Macro Camera, as well as second generation True to Color Camera, which promises 43 percent better color accuracy. Video can be recorded at up to 17.5 EV HDR to capture brighter highlights and more shadow detail.

As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat them, join them. AI generated video is already absolutely everywhere, and you're about to start seeing a lot more of it -- this time featuring a host of well known Disney characters. The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI have agreed a new deal that brings characters from the House of Mouse’s many brands to Sora.

The partnership links Disney’s library with OpenAI’s video generation tools and gives fans new ways to create and watch short clips. If you've ever wondered how Lady and the Tramp would react to sharing a meal with Pumbaa, you'll soon be able to find out.

Generative AI is often praised for its ability to analyze data, summarize research and even propose scientific ideas, but new findings suggest its creative limits are more substantial than many of the exciting headlines imply.

Research led by Professor Amy Wenxuan Ding of emlyon business school and Professor Shibo Li of Indiana University found that while GenAI can imitate the process of science, it cannot yet produce the imaginative leaps that drive true discovery. In their study, which you can read here, a computer simulated experiment challenged ChatGPT-4 to solve a real genetics puzzle, asking it to propose hypotheses, design lab experiments and revise its thinking as results unfolded.

Two months after its invite-only debut, Opera’s experimental agentic browser, Opera Neon, is now available for anyone to download and try out. Neon is designed for people who want to work with emerging AI tools as soon as they become available.

The software has been in a closed "Founders phase" since early October, and the removal of the waitlist means anyone can now sign up to use it for $19.90 a month.