YouTube Introduces New Parental Controls to Limit Shorts, Reduce Teens’ Screen Time

By Aditi Gupta | January 14, 2026

Key Highlights: Concerns about children’s online safety and the impact of doomscrolling have been rising globally, prompting media companies and social platforms to strengthen their safety protocols and introduce improved safeguards. YouTube is the latest to respond, announcing on Wednesday a new set of parental controls, potentially the strictest yet, to help parents regulate the screen time of children and teens spent watching YouTube Shorts. The update reflects wider scrutiny of short-form video, as, according to critics, short-form content encourages endless scrolling and makes it harder for younger users to manage screen time. YouTube’s changes are aimed at giving parents

OpenAI’s Rumored Audio AI Wearable Device Is Codenamed ‘Sweetpea’

By Rishaj Upadhyay | January 14, 2026

It was back in 2025 when everyone started talking about OpenAI’s mysterious AI wearable. The speculation was largely fueled by the fact that OpenAI acquired Jony Ive’s startup. The same Jony Ive who worked at Apple as design chief, and who made the iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch, and AirPods a reality. Well, the narrative around AI wearables has shifted quickly since then. Thanks to the partnership, people started expecting something genuinely different, and more serious. OpenAI, Jony Ive reportedly developing an AI-first audio device codenamed “Sweetpea” Last year, bits and pieces about the rumored AI hardware device project leaked, but

All Chrome AI Features in New Update AI Agent, Gemini, More

Google Looks to Revolutionize Chrome Browsing With Gemini-Powered “Auto Browse” Feature

By Rishaj Upadhyay | January 14, 2026

Key Highlights: AI companies are pushing agent-based browsers, with the aim of transforming web browsing like never before. Companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and others have already dropped their AI browsers. Well, it’s hard to tell whether Google will drop something similar. Instead, the company is looking to integrate its AI assistant, Gemini, to help users browse the internet more smartly. Google is testing a new Gemini-powered “Auto Browse” feature to automate Chrome browsing According to a report by TestingCatalog, Google is now testing an Auto Browse tool that recently appeared inside Gemini’s tools section, marked with a cursor icon. Since

Google Veo 3.1’s new feature lets you generate vertical AI videos using portrait images

By Rishaj Upadhyay | January 13, 2026

Key Highlights: Vertical videos, which first launched with Snapchat, came into the mainstream after TikTok introduced the For You feed. Now, most social media platforms have adopted this format. On Instagram, you have Reels. On YouTube, you have Shorts, and so on and so forth. Most platforms now drive traffic from short-form content, or rather, short-form video content, I would like to say. That’s also why you see more and more AI-generated videos on your feed these days. Google Veo 3.1’s new “Ingredients to Video” feature generates vertical videos using portrait images Google is quite aware of this. This is

Consumer Watchdog Questions Google’s New AI Shopping Framework

By Aditi Gupta | January 13, 2026

Key Highlights Consumer Watchdog Raises Alarm Over Google’s AI Shopping Plans A consumer watchdog has questioned Google’s new AI shopping framework, saying it could give companies more influence over pricing. These concerns emerged soon after Google introduced its Universal Commerce Protocol, an AI-powered shopping agent that interacts with retailers across Google Search and AI products, including Gemini. What Sparked the Warning Lindsay Owens, executive director of the think tank Groundwork Collaborative, drew worldwide attention on social media by warning that Google’s plans to personalize upselling could allow companies to charge users based on their shopping behavior and chat history. Big/bad

Apple Creator Studio Launch Signals New Competition for Adobe

By Aditi Gupta | January 13, 2026

Key Highlights Apple Launches Creator Studio, Bringing Its Creative Apps Together Apple has launched Creator Studio, bundling its creative apps into a single subscription. The move puts Apple more directly into the all-in-one creator software market, which has been dominated by Adobe. Until now, Apple’s tools like Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro have been used individually. The Creator Studio reframes them as part of a complete workflow rather than standalone products. What’s Included and Why It Matters for Everyday Creators Apple Creator Studio groups tools that many creators already use, but often separately. Final Cut Pro adds features like

Anthropic Launches Cowork, an Agentic AI Tool for Non-Technical Users

By Aditi Gupta | January 13, 2026

Key Highlights Anthropic Brings Agentic AI to the Desktop Anthropic is taking its AI assistant beyond traditional chat with the launch of Cowork, a research preview that brings agentic capabilities to the Claude Desktop app on macOS. The feature allows Claude to take on complex tasks that can run for extended periods, continuing to work even when users step away. Built on the same agentic architecture that powers Claude Code, Anthropic’s tool for developers is designed for a broader level of professional work. Combining these capabilities into the desktop app, Anthropic is targeting professionals who work with documents, files, research,

Slackbot enters AI agent era with a major update rolling out today

By Rishaj Upadhyay | January 13, 2026

Key Highlights: Slack has been a staple for many who work in a corporate or hybrid work setup. I personally use Slack to communicate with teams that I am working with. Since I am a longtime user of Slack, I know—and I’m guessing you know too—that the messaging platform has its minimalist Slackbot. All this time, it lived inside Slack, offering answers to users’ queries and helping them in the right direction. Slackbot enters AI era with the latest update rolling out today, says Salesforce However, it seems Salesforce, the company behind Slack, isn’t quite happy with the basic stuff

Meta Brings in Dina Powell McCormick as It Scales AI Infrastructure

By Aditi Gupta | January 12, 2026

Key Highlights Meta Brings in Dina Powell McCormick to Strengthen AI Infrastructure Strategy Meta Platforms Inc. is reinforcing its push into artificial intelligence infrastructure by bringing in a senior executive to work with governments and investors, as the company scales up spending on data centres, energy access, and long-term AI systems. Former Trump adviser Dina Powell McCormick will join Meta this week as president and vice chairman, according to a company blog post. In the newly created role, she will focus on AI-related infrastructure planning and capital partnerships, reporting directly to Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Why Meta Picked Powell McCormick

Apple unites with Google for the first time to fix its AI problem, using Gemini

By Rishaj Upadhyay | January 12, 2026

Google and Apple are one of the top rivals in the tech industry. In the past, both companies have fired shot at each other through their software, smartphones or ecosystems. However, there’s one department in which Google is absolutely dominating Apple. Well, I’m talking about AI here. Apple’s AI effort has been a flop all this while. The company’s latest iPhone come with some sprinkle of AI features, but they are nowhere when it comes to Gemini. Apple & Google partner to bring Gemini-powered Siri and more in the upcoming iPhones Apple once had some plans to revamp Siri with

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