Author: Frank Salvato

Audible has rolled out a major update to its audiobook app with a new “Read & Listen” immersion reading feature that lets users follow along with text while hearing the professional narration in real time as long as they own both the Kindle e-book and audiobook versions of a title; the feature highlights text in sync with the audio and is designed to improve focus and comprehension, initially launching in the United States with hundreds of thousands of supported titles and plans to expand to the UK, Australia, and Germany in the coming months. Sources https://www.theverge.com/entertainment/880719/audible-immersion-reading-read-and-listenhttps://www.audible.com/about/newsroom/audible-launches-immersion-reading-for-deeper-engagement-with-bookshttps://9to5mac.com/2026/02/18/amazon-adds-read-and-listen-mode-to-audible-app-for-immersion-reading-feature Key Takeaways • Audible’s…

Elbit Systems reported that in 2025 it more than doubled its annual sales of Laser Target Designator (LTD) systems, driven by rising global military demand for precision-guided targeting tools that meet NATO laser-coding standards and integrate with networked battlefield systems; the company highlighted that its plug-and-play LTD solutions are increasingly used both on land and airborne platforms to improve sensor-to-shooter cycles and coordinate real-time targeting data across forces, reflecting broader trends in modern warfare marked by drone proliferation and rapid engagement requirements. Full-path URLs for referenced information are provided below. Sources https://www.jpost.com/defense-and-tech/article-886677https://defence-blog.com/elbit-reports-record-demand-for-laser-targeting-systems/https://www.linkedin.com/posts/elbitsystems_elbit-systems-is-seeing-a-sharp-rise-in-global-activity-7429089751875493888-zx5V Key Takeaways • Elbit Systems more than doubled…

A leaked internal email from Ring founder Jamie Siminoff shows that the company’s new AI-driven “Search Party” feature, initially marketed as a tool to help find lost dogs through a Super Bowl advertisement, was always intended to evolve into a broader neighborhood surveillance capability that could help “zero out crime” and potentially assist with other public safety objectives, raising significant privacy and civil liberties concerns as critics warn the technology’s networked camera searches may be repurposed for law enforcement use and other surveillance beyond its heroic pet-finding premise. Sources https://www.theverge.com/tech/880906/ring-siminoff-email-leak-search-party-expansionhttps://www.404media.co/leaked-email-suggests-ring-plans-to-expand-search-party-surveillance-beyond-dogs/https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/ring-s-search-party-ai-targets-crime-zero-out-plan Key Takeaways • Internal communications from Ring indicate “Search Party”…

Meta is dramatically increasing its political activity by committing $65 million toward the 2026 midterm elections through pro-AI super political action committees (PACs) that will support both Republican and Democratic candidates deemed friendly to artificial intelligence development and opposed to stricter legislative limits on AI technology growth. The funds will help back a Republican-focused group called “Forge the Future Project” and a Democrat-focused group called “Making Our Tomorrow” as part of a broader effort to push back against AI regulatory proposals that could curb Meta’s AI ambitions and competitiveness, marking a significant escalation from its historically cautious approach to political…

WordPress has introduced a built-in AI Assistant that lets site owners use natural language to edit content, adjust layouts, generate and refine images, rewrite text, translate copy, and manage design elements without switching between tools or learning code, with the assistant integrated into the editor and Media Library and available as an opt-in feature on paid plans or enabled by default for sites built with WordPress’s AI website builder. Sources below offer additional context on how this new tool operates and what users can expect from its capabilities. Sources https://www.techeblog.com/wordpress-ai-assistant-features-price/https://wordpress.com/blog/2026/02/17/wordpress-ai-assistant/https://www.theverge.com/tech/880223/wordpress-launches-ai-assistant Key Takeaways • The AI Assistant is embedded inside the…

A recent hands-on look at pairing a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 with a lightweight travel keyboard highlights how some users are seriously experimenting with leaving traditional laptops at home for short-trip productivity, turning their foldable phones into minimalist “mobile workstations” that handle email, document editing, and light office tasks when paired with physical input accessories, though limitations in software multitasking and ergonomics still keep it from fully replacing a conventional laptop for many professionals. Sources https://www.theverge.com/tech/878485/samsung-galaxy-z-fold-7-travel-keyboard-logitech-laptop-replacementhttps://www.theverge.com/podcast/879965/foldable-phone-laptop-keyboard-sports-streaming-vergecasthttps://mezha.net/eng/bukvy/purse-computer-concept-transforms-foldable-phones-into-mobile-workstations/amp/ Key Takeaways • Combining a Galaxy Z Fold 7 with a compact travel keyboard can turn the foldable phone into a more laptop-like…

Former public radio anchor David Greene, best known for his years on Morning Edition and his current role on Left, Right & Center, has filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that the company’s NotebookLM artificial-intelligence product replicates his distinctive voice without his permission or compensation. Greene alleges the AI-generated male podcast voice used in NotebookLM’s Audio Overviews feature closely mimics his cadence, intonation and habitual speech patterns — to the point where friends and colleagues repeatedly asked if he had licensed it to Google. He described hearing the synthetic voice as “completely freaky” and “eerie,” and argues that the technology…

Google has released an emergency security update for its Chrome browser after confirming that a high-severity zero-day vulnerability tracked as CVE-2026-2441 was being actively exploited in the wild, prompting an urgent patch for users across desktop and related Chromium-based platforms. The flaw, described as a use-after-free condition in Chrome’s CSS processing engine that could allow remote code execution when users visit a malicious webpage, represents the first actively exploited zero-day patched by Google in 2026 and underscores persistent cyber threats facing widely-deployed software. Security advisories from multiple independent reporting outlets have urged immediate updating and confirmed that attackers were leveraging…

The Pentagon’s escalating dispute with Anthropic over how its AI model Claude can be used by the U.S. military has put the defense contractor Palantir Technologies at the center of a rift that could reshape defense AI procurement and strategic partnerships, as tensions between Pentagon officials and Anthropic executives have intensified following use of Claude in classified operations and disagreements over restrictions on military applications, particularly regarding surveillance and autonomous weapons, leading Pentagon leaders to review Anthropic’s contract and potentially reconsider its role within the Defense Department’s AI ecosystem. Sources https://www.semafor.com/article/02/17/2026/palantir-partnership-is-at-heart-of-anthropic-pentagon-rifthttps://www.reuters.com/technology/pentagon-threatens-cut-off-anthropic-ai-safeguards-dispute-axios-reports-2026-02-15https://www.fastcompany.com/91493997/palantir-caught-in-middle-anthropic-pentagon-feud Key Takeaways • The Pentagon’s conflict with Anthropic centers…

NASA has recently demonstrated a significant milestone in planetary robotics by allowing artificial intelligence to plan and execute driving maneuvers for its Perseverance Mars rover, overcoming the severe communication delays between Earth and Mars that have traditionally required human operators to chart the rover’s daily waypoints. In a controlled test conducted in late 2025 and reported in early 2026, Perseverance completed multiple AI-planned drives across the challenging terrain of Jezero Crater’s rim, marking the first time generative AI was used to autonomously analyze high-resolution imagery and terrain data to generate safe navigation routes without direct human intervention. The demonstration, led…