Author: Frank Salvato
Amazon has announced it will close all of its physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh grocery and convenience stores by early February 2026, a strategic move toward expanding online same-day grocery delivery and growing its Whole Foods Market footprint, with some locations being converted into Whole Foods stores and new store formats planned; the company stated the Amazon Go and Fresh retail experiments didn’t achieve a sustainable economic model for large-scale expansion and emphasized investment in delivery services and new retail concepts. Sources: https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/27/amazon-is-closing-its-physical-amazon-go-and-amazon-fresh-stores/https://www.wsaz.com/2026/01/27/amazon-close-all-amazon-go-amazon-fresh-stores/https://www.geekwire.com/2026/amazon-closing-all-amazon-fresh-and-go-stores-to-focus-on-whole-foods-and-grocery-delivery/ Key Takeaways • Amazon is winding down its brick-and-mortar Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh operations, stating…
Tech industry leaders at major AI firms have publicly and internally condemned recent violence tied to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol actions in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot U.S. citizens during immigration enforcement operations, even as they balance those criticisms with praise for President Trump’s response. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman both expressed concern about what they described as excessive use of force by federal immigration authorities following the Minneapolis shootings — including the death of ICU nurse Alex Pretti at the hands of Border Patrol agents — and underscored the…
Ring, the Amazon-owned smart security camera maker, has rolled out a new feature called Ring Verify designed to help anyone check whether a video captured by a Ring device has been altered in any way. The verification system embeds a digital security seal into every Ring video downloaded or shared from the company’s cloud starting December 2025; if that seal remains intact, it means the footage has not been changed since it left Ring’s cloud storage, and if it’s broken—even by minor edits like trimming or brightness adjustments—that indicates the video has been modified. This technology gives homeowners and recipients…
Meta Platforms is planning to pilot premium subscription offerings for its major social platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, that would allow users to pay for enhanced functionality, expanded AI-driven tools, increased productivity features, and additional user controls while keeping the core services free for all users. According to reports, Meta will test a variety of subscription bundles distinct to each app, aiming to monetize features such as advanced creative tools, exclusive audience management options, and potentially AI-assisted enhancements via its recent Manus AI acquisition, though pricing and exact feature sets have not been finalized as the company gathers user…
Microsoft is now actively investigating reports that its January 2026 Patch Tuesday security update (specifically the cumulative update KB5074109) is causing serious problems for Windows 11 users, including systems that fail to boot entirely with an “UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME” error, requiring manual recovery steps to restore functionality. Reports indicate that the affected update, released January 13, 2026, has introduced multiple bugs beyond boot failures — such as shutdown and hibernation issues, broken app behavior, and system instability — prompting Microsoft to issue emergency out-of-band patches and recommend uninstalling the problematic update while a permanent fix is developed. Despite fixes for some errors,…
A new alert spreading across Chrome and Safari browsers signals a growing wave of malicious website activity that can trick users into thinking their device is hacked, potentially leading to account theft or malware exposure, according to a January 25, 2026 report; this comes amid longstanding warnings from law enforcement and security researchers about browser-based scams and unsafe online tools that exploit unsuspecting users through deceptive pop-ups, fake warnings, and compromised extensions. Independent cybersecurity advisories have documented that these “you’re being hacked” messages often originate from shady sites hosting malware or phishing schemes rather than legitimate system alerts, and experts…
A massive unsecured database containing roughly 149 million unique login credentials—including Gmail, Facebook, Instagram, Yahoo, Netflix, Binance, and government-associated accounts—was publicly accessible online before being taken offline after discovery by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler; the exposed dataset, likely collected by infostealer malware that silently harvested passwords from infected devices, lacked any encryption or access protections, fueling heightened risk of credential stuffing, identity theft, and fraud and prompting urgent calls for stronger personal cybersecurity hygiene such as unique passwords and two-factor authentication. Sources: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-149-million-passwords-exposed-infostealer-database/https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/149m-infostealer-data-exposed/https://www.wired.com/story/149-million-stolen-usernames-passwords Key Takeaways In-Depth In late January 2026, cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler uncovered one of the most concerning…
OpenAI has released a policy roadmap aimed squarely at shaping the 2026 U.S. midterm elections, urging candidates to move past abstract debates about artificial intelligence and adopt concrete proposals that affect voters directly, including free access to baseline AI tools, national tracking of productivity gains, stronger protections for children online, and corporate structures that emphasize public benefit alongside profit. The initiative reflects a broader recognition that AI is no longer a niche technology issue but a political and economic force with real-world consequences, from rising energy demand tied to data centers to concerns about election integrity and information manipulation. As…
OpenAI announced a new commitment on January 21, 2026, that its sprawling “Stargate” AI data center network in the United States will “pay its own way” on energy to ensure that its operations do not drive up electricity prices for local consumers. The company’s published Stargate Community plan states that each data center will work with local utilities and regulators to tailor energy solutions — whether via dedicated power generation, grid upgrades, or funded transmission capacity — with the explicit aim of preventing increased energy costs for households and small businesses. OpenAI’s pledge follows similar moves by Microsoft and is…
Anthropic, the U.S.-based AI research company behind the Claude language model, recently published a significantly expanded “constitution” designed to shape Claude’s behavior by embedding ethical principles and safety constraints directly into the system’s core training framework. This detailed foundational document outlines priorities such as broad safety, ethical behavior, compliance with internal guidelines, and genuine helpfulness, and it explicitly prohibits actions that could “kill or disempower” humanity as Claude’s capabilities grow more powerful. Rather than a simple list of rules, the updated constitution seeks to teach Claude why certain behaviors are desirable, aiming to make the AI more situationally aware and…