Author: Frank Salvato

A coalition of major music publishers, including Universal Music Group, Concord Music Group and ABKCO Music, has filed a new federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accusing AI company Anthropic of illegally downloading more than 20,000 copyrighted musical works — including sheet music, lyrics and compositions — via torrent and other pirate sources to train its Claude models and otherwise exploit the copyrighted material without authorization, seeking over $3 billion in statutory damages and alleging both copyright infringement and Digital Millennium Copyright Act violations in what could become one of the largest non-class…

Tech industry leaders Dario Amodei of Anthropic and Sam Altman of OpenAI publicly condemned recent violence involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minneapolis following the fatal border enforcement shooting of two U.S. citizens, while simultaneously offering measured praise for President Donald Trump’s leadership and response; Amodei highlighted concerns about democratic values and affirmed no direct contracts with ICE during media remarks, and Altman in an internal Slack message described the enforcement actions as “going too far” yet called Trump “a very strong leader” whose engagement could help unify the country amid rising employee activism urging CEOs to demand…

Instagram is reportedly developing a feature that would allow users to remove themselves from someone else’s “Close Friends” list, a permission the platform has lacked since introducing the Close Friends tool in 2018. Close Friends lets a user share Stories, Reels, and posts with a select group, but until now there was no way for the people added to that list to opt out. According to a prototype spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, Meta may implement a user control that lets someone leave another person’s Close Friends list at will, though doing so would prevent them from seeing that…

Poland’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has revealed that suspected Russian government–linked hackers penetrated multiple segments of the nation’s energy infrastructure late last year, taking advantage of glaring cybersecurity weaknesses such as default usernames and passwords and the absence of multi-factor authentication, according to a newly released technical report. The attackers infiltrated systems at wind and solar farms and one heat-and-power plant, using wiper-type malware aimed at erasing critical control and monitoring systems. Although the assault did not cause a nationwide blackout or disrupt electricity delivery, some industrial control devices and communication systems were rendered inoperable. Cybersecurity firms ESET and…

SpaceX has filed a sweeping proposal with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission seeking permission to deploy as many as 1 million solar-powered satellites into low Earth orbit to serve as artificial intelligence (AI) data centers powered directly by solar energy—a plan it describes as a way to meet surging AI computing demand, tap near-constant solar power, and even frame as a step toward humanity harnessing the Sun’s full energy potential. According to multiple reports, the filing pitches this massive orbital network as offering cost and energy efficiencies compared with traditional ground-based data centers while relying on SpaceX’s advancing Starship launch…

Apple has acquired Israeli artificial intelligence startup Q.ai in a deal reported to be worth nearly $2 billion, marking one of the company’s largest purchases ever as it intensifies competition in the AI-driven hardware and wearable space. The startup, founded in 2022, specializes in advanced imaging, machine learning, facial micro-movement detection, and audio interpretation technologies that could enable devices to understand whispered or “silent speech” and enhance performance in noisy environments. Q.ai’s founders and approximately 100 employees, including CEO Aviad Maizels—who previously sold another startup to Apple—are expected to join Apple’s hardware and AI teams to help integrate these capabilities…

A Waymo autonomous robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, on January 23 during normal school drop-off hours, leaving the child with minor injuries and prompting a formal safety investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The incident occurred as other children and double-parked vehicles were present, with Waymo reporting that its system detected the child emerging from behind a parked SUV and braked sharply, slowing from about 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made; the child was reportedly able to walk to…

Israel’s Water Authority announced that the Soreq B desalination plant in the central region at Rishon Lezion has officially entered full operational status, capable of producing 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water annually, significantly bolstering the nation’s potable water supply; with six desalination facilities now contributing roughly 800 million cubic meters, desalination is projected to meet 70-80 percent of the country’s drinking water needs while additional “manufactured” water from recycled sewage and brackish sources bring total non-natural supply to around 1.5 billion cubic meters, with a seventh plant in Western Galilee expected online in 2027. Sources https://www.timesofisrael.com/desalination-plant-in-central-region-goes-into-full-operation/https://www.gov.il/en/pages/project-desalination-sorek-bhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Israel Key Takeaways…

Microsoft’s January 2026 security update for Windows 11, identified as KB5074109 and pushed on Patch Tuesday, has been tied to a wave of serious problems on physical PCs running versions 24H2 and 25H2, including black screens and “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” errors that leave machines unable to boot without manual intervention, prompting Microsoft to investigate the issue after receiving limited reports and to advise affected users to use recovery tools or uninstall the update while it works on a permanent fix. Sources https://www.theverge.com/news/869199/microsoft-windows-11-unmountable-boot-volume-issue-january-2026-updatehttps://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/how-to-fix-boot-issues-after-installing-the-january-2026-update-for-windows-11https://www.tomshardware.com/software/windows/some-pcs-cant-boot-after-latest-windows-11-security-update-no-fix-in-sight-mostly-affects-24h2-and-25h2-versions Key Takeaways In-Depth The fallout from Microsoft’s January 2026 Windows 11 security update has escalated into a significant concern for…

Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems has secured a follow-on contract valued at $228 million to supply its Iron Fist active protection system (APS) for integration on U.S. Army Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles, extending an existing partnership under General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems and continuing efforts to modernize the Bradley fleet’s defensive capabilities, with the hard-kill system designed to detect and intercept a range of battlefield threats including anti-tank missiles, rockets, unmanned aerial systems, and kinetic projectiles while enhancing survivability and reinforcing U.S.–Israeli defense cooperation. Sources https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-884593https://www.elbitsystems.com/news/elbit-systems-awarded-228-million-follow-contract-provide-iron-fist-aps-us-army-bradley-ifvhttps://thedefensepost.com/2026/01/26/us-bradley-iron-fist/amp/ Key Takeaways • The U.S. Army awarded Elbit Systems a $228 million follow-on…