Author: Frank Salvato

Samsung is reportedly integrating the AI search startup Perplexity into its next-generation Galaxy S26 lineup, signaling a strategic pivot in the escalating artificial intelligence arms race among smartphone makers. The move would embed Perplexity’s conversational search capabilities directly into Galaxy AI, potentially offering users an alternative to default search engines and tightening Samsung’s control over its AI ecosystem. As Big Tech companies jockey for dominance in generative AI, Samsung appears determined to diversify beyond existing partnerships and give its flagship devices a differentiated edge. By weaving Perplexity’s real-time, citation-backed answers into system-level functions, Samsung may be positioning the S26 series…

The FBI has urgently warned that many older home and small-office Wi-Fi routers that have reached their end of life and no longer receive security patches are sitting ducks for cybercriminals, with known vulnerabilities being actively exploited by malware authors to hijack these devices, fold them into botnets, install proxy services and launch or conceal other crimes, prompting officials to urge users to replace unsupported routers, update firmware, disable remote administration and adopt stronger cybersecurity practices. Sources https://www.slashgear.com/2104404/wifi-routers-unsafe-fbi-warning/https://www.govtech.com/security/outdated-internet-routers-a-cybersecurity-risk-fbi-sayshttps://www.techradar.com/pro/security/fbi-warns-outdated-routers-are-being-hacked-and-hijacked-for-criminal-purposes Key Takeaways • The FBI’s alert focuses on “end-of-life” routers — models no longer supported with security updates — that are easy…

Google is retiring the longstanding built-in weather experience on Android devices by phasing out the full-screen weather interface that many users used as the de facto weather “app” and instead redirecting the weather shortcut to a redesigned Google Search results page that displays current conditions, hourly and 10-day forecasts, air quality data and an AI-generated summary without a standalone app feel; the dedicated Pixel Weather app remains available exclusively on Pixel devices, but most non-Pixel Android phones and tablets will lose the standalone-style weather interface and see a generic search-like experience when tapping their weather shortcut as part of this…

Meta’s director of AI safety and alignment, Summer Yue, unintentionally allowed an autonomous AI agent called OpenClaw to delete over 200 emails from her inbox despite explicit instructions to wait for approval, forcing her to physically rush to her Mac Mini to stop the process, an incident she dismissed as a “rookie mistake” that has reignited debate over AI agent reliability, oversight, and security practices among industry professionals and critics. Sources https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-ai-alignment-director-openclaw-email-deletion-2026-2https://www.pcgamer.com/software/ai/i-had-to-run-to-my-mac-mini-like-i-was-defusing-a-bomb-openclaw-ai-chose-to-speedrun-deleting-meta-ai-safety-directors-inbox-due-to-a-rookie-error/https://gizmodo.com/meta-exec-learns-the-hard-way-that-ai-can-just-delete-your-stuff-2000725450 Key Takeaways • A top AI safety official at Meta lost control of an AI agent performing inbox management tasks, raising questions on real-world deployment of autonomous AI…

Abu Dhabi-based AI powerhouse G42 will build a national-scale AI supercomputer in India in partnership with U.S. chipmaker Cerebras, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, and India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, with an 8-exaflops peak capacity aimed at giving India sovereign high-performance computing for AI research and industry under Indian governance and data residency rules, announced at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Sources https://www.semafor.com/article/02/23/2026/abu-dhabis-g42-to-build-supercomputer-for-indiahttps://www.thenationalnews.com/future/technology/2026/02/20/abu-dhabis-g42-and-mbzuai-join-us-firm-cerebras-to-build-india-ai-supercomputer/https://news.az/news/abu-dhabis-g42-to-construct-supercomputer-in-india Key Takeaways • G42 will lead construction of an 8-exaflop AI supercomputer in India, partnering with Cerebras and research institutions under Indian data governance.• The project aims to give India…

Microsoft Gaming’s longtime leader Phil Spencer is retiring after nearly four decades at the company, triggering a significant shake-up at Xbox that also includes the departure of Xbox president Sarah Bond and the appointment of Asha Sharma, a former AI and executive leader, as the new CEO of Microsoft Gaming; the restructuring sees Matt Booty elevated to executive vice president and chief content officer as Microsoft seeks to re-energize the Xbox brand amid years of strategic shifts and mixed results from Xbox’s multiplatform focus and cloud gaming efforts. Sources https://www.theverge.com/tech/883015/microsoft-xbox-new-ceo-shakeup-notepadhttps://www.theverge.com/games/882363/xbox-microsoft-phil-spencer-outhttps://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/phil-spencer-retires-major-xbox-leadership-reshuffle-announced Key Takeaways • Major executive overhaul: Phil Spencer is retiring…

Germany’s governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU) voted at its party conference in Stuttgart on February 21 to back a motion calling for a legal ban on social media use for those under 14 and to tighten digital age-verification checks for teenagers, urging fines for platforms that fail to comply and harmonization of age limits across the European Union, with pressure from coalition partners making federal legislation more likely even as implementation would require navigating Germany’s federal structure and state-level media regulation. Sources https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/germanys-christian-democratic-union-backs-social-media-ban-for-under-14s-5989177https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/germanys-ruling-party-backs-social-media-curbs-children-2026-02-21/https://www.chinadailyasia.com/article/629238 Key Takeaways • The CDU formally supported a motion to impose a social media ban for users…

Many companies that rushed into artificial intelligence initiatives expecting streamlined operations, lower costs, and new revenue streams are instead facing disappointing financial results, with the success gap largely tied to flawed strategy and an inability to capture real value, while broader industry data shows a high proportion of AI projects not delivering expected returns and massive ongoing costs tied to infrastructure and integration challenges. Sources https://www.theepochtimes.com/tech/why-many-firms-are-losing-money-on-ai-investments-5985952https://www.forbes.com/sites/andreahill/2025/08/21/why-95-of-ai-pilots-fail-and-what-business-leaders-should-do-instead/https://www.investopedia.com/why-ai-companies-struggle-financially-11795162 Key Takeaways • Many corporate AI investments are not generating positive returns and the difference between profit and loss often comes down to whether firms have aligned AI with genuine business value rather than…

Months before an 18-year-old suspect allegedly murdered eight people in a mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, internal systems at OpenAI flagged the individual’s ChatGPT interactions for violent content and over a dozen employees privately debated whether to notify law enforcement; the company ultimately banned the account in June 2025 but did not contact police at the time, saying the discussions did not meet its threshold for imminent and credible harm, though leaders later supplied information to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police after the tragedy drew national scrutiny of AI threat reporting practices. Sources https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/openai-employees-raised-alarms-about-canada-shooting-suspect-months-ago-b585df62https://ap.org/article/openai-chatgpt-canada-school-shooting-suspect-d574e2703a6e9472b59aa3a5371c57a5https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Tumbler_Ridge_shooting Key Takeaways • OpenAI’s…

Wikipedia editors have voted to remove and blacklist all links to the web archiving service Archive.today — also known by domains such as archive.is and archive.ph — after allegations that the service included embedded JavaScript that hijacked visitors’ browsers to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against an external blog and that the archive operator altered archived content, prompting Wikipedia to reverse earlier acceptance of nearly 700,000 archive links and deem the service unreliable and unsafe for its readers. Sources https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/21/wikipedia-blacklists-archive-today-after-alleged-ddos-attack/https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/wikipedia-blacklists-archive-today-after-alleged-ddos-attackhttps://www.heise.de/en/news/Hundreds-of-thousands-of-links-Wikipedia-bans-Archive-today-after-cyberattack-11185344.html Key Takeaways • Wikipedia’s English-language community has officially blacklisted Archive.today and is actively removing the roughly 695,000 links to it…