Since the 18th of December, with the nationwide shutdown of the Internet, in addition to losing access to many important and necessary services, we have also been in the dark regarding the news of the technology world. It is not possible to go back to those days, but now with the re-access to the global communication network, we are going to have a brief look at the most important foreign news in the period when we did not have access to the Internet.
While we are in the most unprecedented communication darkness, the world of technology continues to move forward. Several smartphones and gadgets arrived, Apple, Google, Meta, Asus, Sony and TikTok were in the headlines, and of course, artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT and Claude made news again.
Sony’s TV business merges with TCL
Sony has announced that it will spin off its TV hardware business and merge it into a joint venture with TCL. The two companies have already signed a non-binding agreement that will include a 51 percent stake for TCL and a 49 percent stake for Sony in the new business. Sony and TCL plan to finalize their binding agreement by the end of March and launch this new company from April 2027. Of course, legal institutions should probably approve this cooperation.
The new company is expected to retain the Sony and Bravia brands for future products and will be responsible for global operations from product development and design to manufacturing, sales and logistics. In this collaboration, we will witness the integration of Sony’s audio and video technologies with TCL’s technologies.
Poco M8 5G and M8 Pro 5G arrived
Poco M8 was introduced with a 3rd generation Snapdragon 6 chip, 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 2.2 internal memory. This phone has a 6.77-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, maximum brightness of 3200 nits, 12-bit color depth, and FHD+ resolution. The Poco M8 5G has a 50-megapixel main camera and a 2-megapixel depth sensor and a 20-megapixel selfie shooter. This phone comes with a 5520mAh battery with a base price of $229 for the 8GB + 256GB model.
Poco M8 Pro 5G is equipped with Snapdragon 7s 4th generation processor, 6.83-inch AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, maximum brightness of 3200 nits, Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The main camera of this phone is 50 megapixels, but there is also an ultra-wide 8 megapixel camera next to it. There is a 32 megapixel camera in the selfie section. The Poco M8 Pro 5G comes with a 6500 mAh battery with a base price of $299 for the 12GB + 512GB model.
Apple chose Gemini to give Siri a big upgrade
Google and Apple announced in a joint news that the iPhone maker plans to use Google’s artificial intelligence for its Foundation Models. These models will power Apple’s upcoming Intelligence capabilities, including a more personalized version of Siri, which is due to arrive in the near future.
Of course, Apple Intelligence will still run on Apple devices and the secure Private Cloud Compute service. Cupertino hopes to use Gemini and Google’s artificial intelligence to create new experiences for their users.
Pavel Dorf: You’d be a fool to think WhatsApp is safe
Recently, a group of international plaintiffs from Australia, Brazil, Mexico, India and South Africa sued Meta, alleging that the company made false claims about WhatsApp’s privacy and security. In this complaint, it is said that WhatsApp stores and analyzes practically all private communications of users and can access all of them. Of course, Meta’s spokesperson called this complaint meaningless and said that any claim about WhatsApp messages not being encrypted is wrong and absurd.
In response to this report, “Pavel Dorf”, the CEO of Telegram, wrote in a post on X: “You have to be stupid to believe that WhatsApp is safe in 2026. “When we investigated the implementation of WhatsApp’s encryption system, we found several avenues for attack.” “Elon Musk” also announced by republishing Dorf’s post that the words of the CEO of Telegram are true.
The deal to buy TikTok by America is finally finalized
TikTok has announced that it has finally finalized a deal that will create a joint venture to own the social networking platform. This deal will allow Tik Tok to continue its existence in the United States. The TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will start operations with an 80.1% stake for US and other global investors, and a 19.9% stake for ByteDance.
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Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX Abu Dhabi will each have a 15% stake. A White House official also confirmed that the US and Chinese governments have agreed to the deal. The new business is managed by a seven-person board of directors, mostly Americans. Adam Presser, the former general manager of Tik Tok, has been selected as the CEO of this company. According to the agreements, the business will be responsible for the protection of US users’ data, content management and algorithm security. Oracle, as a “trusted security partner” in this business, undertakes the task of reviewing and verifying TikTok’s source code.
The second generation of Apple Airtag was introduced
Five years after the introduction of the first AirTag, Apple has unveiled the second generation of this smart tracker that uses a new version of the Ultra Wideband chip to be able to track objects at a distance of 50% more than the previous model with a feature called Precision Finding. The new AirTag also has an upgraded Bluetooth chip and a speaker with 50% more volume.
The external design of AirTag has not changed, but the weight of the device has increased slightly. The product also uses a coin cell battery that lasts for over a year and is IP67 rated for water resistance. The second generation AirTag is sold at the same price of $29 single and $99 for a pack of four.
higher than Nvidia; Silver became the second most valuable asset in the world
In just three months, silver jumped four places from the sixth place to the second most valuable asset in terms of market value. This precious metal is now lower than gold and higher than Nvidia. The market value of silver in October 2025 had reached about 2.999 trillion dollars. But in January, the market went up to 4.890 trillion dollars.
A lack of retail supply has apparently pushed up silver prices and even delayed the minting of new coins in the US. In addition, industrial demand in various fields from clean energy to technology has made this precious metal play a more important role in the global economy. Now the key question is whether the flow of silver mining can meet this growing demand or not.
Apple became the king of the mobile market in 2025 over Samsung
According to Counterpoint’s report, Apple, with a 20% share of the global mobile market, will be ranked first overall in 2025 and will experience 10% annual growth. The iPhone 16 models performed well in Japan, India and Southeast Asia, and the iPhone 17 series also faced an increase in demand.
Samsung had an annual growth of 5% and ranked second with a share of 19%. The sales of Galaxy Z Fold 7 were better than the previous generations and improved the conditions of the company’s premium phones. Xiaomi ranked third with a market share of 13%, and Vivo and Oppo took the next positions with a share of 8% each.
The PC market will grow in 2025
According to new data from IDC, computer sales in the fourth quarter of 2025 increased by 10% compared to the same period last year and reached 76.4 million units. Although the end-of-year holiday season typically boosts demand, the memory shortage has caused consumers and brands to start buying the devices they need early, as prices are expected to rise further in 2026, IDC said.
IDC predicts that we will see more extreme fluctuations in the PC market in 2026. Manufacturers are likely to prioritize mid-range and premium systems to offset the effect of rising memory prices.
Apple goes to war with Adobe with Creator Studio
Apple has introduced a new software suite called Creator Studio, which brings together its most popular creative programs in a subscription package. The release date of Apple Creator Studio has been announced on February 8 and provides access to Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Motion, Compressor and MainStage.
Apple’s Creator Studio software suite comes with a one-month free trial subscription, and from the second month the subscription costs $12.99 per month or $129 per year. Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro are available on Mac and iPad, and Motion, Compressor, and MainStage are available exclusively for Mac. Apple says Creator Studio subscribers will also have access to smart features and premium content in the free Keynote, Pages, and Numbers apps.
Ads come to ChatGPT
OpenAI said in a statement that starting in the coming weeks, it will show ads to users in the United States in chats that are relevant in terms of content (such as product introductions and purchase links). These ads will appear for free and ChatGPT Go accounts. Advertisements are clearly labeled and displayed in a separate section at the bottom of the chat screen.
The creator of ChatGPT says it keeps users’ chats private from advertisers and never sells users’ data to them. Advertisers also cannot influence the AI responses, and the responses will still be in their most useful form. ChatGPT Plus, Pro or Enterprise service subscribers and people under 18 years of age will not see ads.
Dimension 9500s and Mediatek 8500 chips were introduced
Dimension 9500s octa-core chip with a special architecture where “all cores are big” is manufactured with 3nm process. This chip uses the main Cortex-X925 Ultra core with a frequency of 3.73 GHz, three premium Cortex-X4 cores and four powerful Cortex-A720 cores. In the graphics department, we are on the Immortalis-G925 side, and the image processor is Imagiq, which benefits from 30fps real-time motion tracking, full-focus 8K 60 video recording with Dolby Vision HDR, and noise reduction. Dimension 9500s supports up to 320MP camera, WQHD+ display and 180Hz refresh rate. This chip is also compatible with LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4 memory, Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.
On the other hand, Dimension 8500 also uses the architecture of “all large cores” but it is manufactured with a 4nm process. This chip has eight Cortex-A725 cores with a frequency of 3.4 GHz and its graphics is Mali-G720. 4-channel LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4 memory, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, a maximum 320 megapixel camera, WQHD+ display, 144 Hz refresh rate and 4K 60fps video recording are other features of Dimension 8500.
The new Raspberry Pi board comes with 8GB of RAM to run artificial intelligence
The new Raspberry Pi board with the ability to run artificial intelligence models offline on Raspberry Pi 5 was introduced. The AI Hat+ 2 board, priced at $130, uses 8GB of RAM and the Hailo 10H chip with 40 TOPS of artificial intelligence power. With the help of this board, the Raspberry Pi 5 can run artificial intelligence processes with more freedom to leave the main processor of the device free for other tasks.
With its 8GB of RAM, the AI HAT+ 2 board can run small AI models such as Llama 3.2 and DeepSeek-R1-Distill, as well as a suite of Qwen models. The ability to train and fine-tune AI models is also available in this device.
Honor Magic 8 Pro Air was introduced
Honor’s newest ultra-thin mobile phone has arrived with an appearance whose back cover is somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone Air. This phone has a 6.31-inch LTPO AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1216 x 2640 pixels, a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 6,000 nits. The thickness of this device with 9500 chip is only 6.1 mm and its weight is 155 grams.
On the back of the Magic 8 Pro Air, there is a 23mm 50MP main camera with a 1.3-inch sensor with f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization. The second camera is 74mm 64MP with 1/1.2 inch sensor, f/2.6 aperture, 3.2x optical zoom and optical image stabilization. The third camera is 16 mm 50 megapixels with macro shooting capability. This phone has a 50 megapixel selfie camera, IP68/69 standard and a 5500 mAh battery. The price of the basic model with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory is $717, and for the model of 16 GB of RAM + 1 TB of internal memory, it reaches $860.
The second American Sphere goes to Maryland
Sphere Entertainment, which built the giant spherical screen in Las Vegas, USA, plans to build another Sphere in Maryland. The exact location of this project and the time of its operation have not yet been determined. Of course, this spherical display will not be the second Sphere in the world, because this company had previously planned to build a similar example in Abu Dhabi. But it is the second in America.
The Maryland ball will be smaller than the Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi balls and will have only 6,000 seats instead of 17,000 seats. Inside this Mini-Sphere is a display with a resolution of 16000 x 16000 pixels. Also, there will be surround sound technology, haptic seats and 4D environmental effects.
Redmi 11 Air was introduced with a 7000 mAh battery
Redmagic 11 Air comes with a 6.85-inch display with a resolution of 1216 x 2688 pixels, a refresh rate of 144 Hz, an optical fingerprint sensor and a 16-megapixel selfie camera placed under the display. The beating heart of this phone is Snapdragon 8 Elite and it uses up to 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512 GB of UFS 4.1 internal memory.
RedMagic 11 Air with a 7000 mAh battery is only 7.85 mm thick and weighs 207 grams. This phone has a fan with a maximum speed of 24,000 revolutions per minute, and with the IP54 standard, it can withstand a level of splashing water and dust. Redmagic 11 Air uses a 50-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The price of the base model with 12 GB of RAM + 256 GB of internal storage is $502.
ChatGPT restricts access to teenagers by age detection
OpenAI has added age estimation functionality to ChatGPT to identify and protect underage users. ChatGPT’s age estimation model works by evaluating account-level behavior and signals. Some of its parameters include the age announced by the user himself, the age of the account, the level of user activity and the pattern of using the user account over time. The age estimation feature is available worldwide.
If a user is found to be under 18 years of age, they will be restricted from accessing the following content: nude violence, viral challenges that can be dangerous for teenagers, sexual and romantic or violent role-playing, showing self-harming practices, and content that includes excessive beauty standards and unhealthy diets or instills shame about one’s body. Users who are mistakenly identified as underage must verify their age by submitting a selfie.
NexPhone Android mobile phone is made with the ability to run Windows and Linux
Nex Computer, which makes hardware to turn phones into laptops, is working on a new mobile phone called the NexPhone. This mid-range device is designed to play the role of a computer with Linux or Windows operating system and a phone with Android operating system.
When the phone is connected to the monitor with a cable, you can use the dual boot of Linux and Windows 11. When the cable is disconnected from the device, you will be faced with an attractive user interface similar to Windows Phone. Information about the release time and price of this product has not been announced.
Apple is again the most valuable brand in the world
Apple topped the Brand Finance Global 500 ranking for the third year in a row to be recognized as the world’s most valuable brand in 2026. The value of this brand is now estimated at 607 billion dollars. In second place is Microsoft with 565 billion dollars and then Google with 433 billion dollars. The value of the Apple brand was estimated at 574 billion dollars last year.
The Nvidia brand is the fifth most valuable company in the world in terms of market capitalization, behind only Amazon. Tiktok, Walmart, Samsung, Facebook and State Grid Corporation of China are also in the next ranks respectively. The interesting thing is that 7 of the top 10 brands are American, 2 are Chinese and only one is Korean.
Blue Origin offers a 6 terabit satellite internet network
Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, unveiled the new TeraWave network. This network provides up to 6 terabytes of bandwidth for downloading and uploading worldwide. Of course, apparently normal users will not be able to connect to this network and only business and enterprise customers can use TeraWave.
The new Blue Origin network will have 5408 satellites that are optically connected and can be placed in different orbits. Most of these satellites will be in low earth orbit and will connect to customers on the ground through normal wireless communications at speeds of up to 144 Gbps, but 128 satellites will also be placed in intermediate orbit and provide two-way communications with 6 terabit bandwidth. Blue Origin accepts a maximum of 100,000 customers for this network and is not supposed to host millions of users like the Leo Internet satellite network.
Apple’s artificial intelligence department, led by Craig Federighi, is driving Siri
According to the report of The Information website, Apple, under the guidance of “Craig Federighi”, its chief software manager, has changed the structure of the company’s artificial intelligence strategy to follow the evolution of Siri by relying on external models. The company has made big changes in its AI department over the past year, and all of these changes have happened under the leadership of Craig Federighi.
Of course, this report also raises concerns about Federigi’s leadership in the field of artificial intelligence. Some Apple employees who have worked closely with him say Federigi’s decisions are heavily driven by financial considerations, and he appears hesitant to invest in projects that don’t have clear results. But all in all, it seems that Apple, with Federigi’s management, is finally going to end the delays in the release of the new version of Siri and provide users with the company’s new artificial intelligence assistant.
Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook are testing paid subscriptions
Meta is preparing to launch a premium subscription service on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook to provide users with additional AI capabilities. These features are supposed to improve the productivity and level of creativity of users and provide more controls on how to share content and create communication.
The core Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook services will remain free, and this new subscription will be separate from the Meta Verified service. Meta has announced that this feature will be released in the coming months, and for each app it will provide a set of features specific to that program. The price of premium subscriptions is not yet known.
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