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The screen is brighter now, reaching a peak brightness of 3,000 nits, and I haven’t had any trouble reading it in sunny conditions (though it hasn’t been as sunny as I’d like it to be these past few weeks). I appreciate the glass upgrade from Gorilla Glass 3 to Gorilla Glass 7i. It should be more protective, and anecdotally, I don’t see a single scratch on the Pixel 10a’s screen after two weeks of use. (I’d still snag a screen protector to be safe.)Photograph: Julian ChokkattuAnother notable upgrade is in charging speeds—30-watt wired charging and 10-watt wireless charging. I’ll admit…
A+E is getting out in front of the upfront pitches.Today, a year after rebranding from A+E Networks to A+E Global Media, the company is back with one of the year’s first upfront pitches, delivering a virtual presentation to clients that introduced a new brand creative studio, deeper relationships with talent and creators, and an expanded content slate across A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, Home.Made.Nation, and VICE TV.“Last year, we introduced A+E Global Media to reflect the full depth and breadth of who we are: a multi-faceted global media and entertainment company, reflected in the strength and scale of our content,…
The aftermath of Anthropic’s dispute with the Department of Defense has left the company in an awkward place — both actively in use as part of the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, and decoupling from many of its clients in the defense industry. Part of the confusion is the overlapping and contradictory restrictions made by the U.S. government. President Trump has directed civilian agencies to discontinue use of Anthropic products, but the company was given six months to wind down its operations with the Department of Defense. The next day, the U.S. and Israel launched a surprise attack…
On Tuesday, James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian and state representative from Austin, Texas, defeated congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in what has become one of the most closely watched primary races so far this year.While both candidates boast immense social media followings—Talarico with 1.6 million followers and Crockett with 2.6 million followers on TikTok—it wasn’t just the candidates who drove the conversation. It was the creators around them, who offer a preview of the digital fights to come throughout the midterms and, ultimately, the 2028 presidential race.The Talarico and Crockett campaigns ran distinctly different digital strategies. Crockett has built her congressional…
Ad agencies, like Havas, Broadhead and Supergood, are vibe-coding their own generative engine optimization (GEO) tools on top of large language models—often in a matter of hours.Using coding assistants like Anthropic’s Claude Code, teams are building bespoke applications that analyze how brands appear in AI-generated responses, track competitors and, in some cases, package those tools into products sold to clients.One example is Havas’s Brand Insights AI, a GEO product built using Claude Code and Replit. The tool generates prompts based on a client’s brand, runs them across multiple models, and analyzes how often a brand appears in responses, including citations—effectively…
Want to tap into the energy of 1,100+ startup founders, investors, and tech leaders descending on Boston for the Founder Summit 2026 on June 9? Host your own Side Event during “Founder Summit Week,” happening June 4-10! Whether it’s a networking mixer, workshop, morning run, fireside chat, or cocktail hour — you call the shots. Create a moment. Build your community. Increase brand visibility with a Side Event. Why host a Side Event? Along with extending the energy beyond the venue and the actual event, you’ll get: Visibility to the full TechCrunch audience. Featured on the official agenda, Side Events…
After a week of product announcements—starting with the iPhone 17e, a refreshed iPad Air, and more powerful MacBook Pro models—Apple has unveiled a new category in its laptop lineup for the first time in a while: the “MacBook Neo.”Photograph: Julian ChokkattuPositioned below the MacBook Air as an entry-level machine, this new MacBook is the most affordable laptop the company has ever made, with a starting price of $599. While it’s been possible to buy a new MacBook Air at lower prices—like the 2020 M1 MacBook Air Apple sold for several years for $699 exclusively through Walmart—this is officially the cheapest…
“Legendary February”—as NCBUniversal dubbed the bumper month that drew 250 advertisers across the Super Bowl, Milano Cortina 2026, and the NBA All-Star weekend—laid bare two realities. First, and unsurprisingly, CMO budgets continue to pour into marquee sports moments. Advertisers, including AB InBev, DoorDash, and OpenAI, all joined in last month’s festivities, chasing reach and cultural clout. They activated not just during broadcasts but via Big Game-adjacent gigs, NBA events and Olympics village pop-ups.Second, the real competition is happening away from the podium. Sports have become an arena where brands, TV networks, governing bodies, and even the President compete for influence.Marketers are wagering…
Jonathan Gavalas, 36, started using Google’s Gemini AI chatbot in August 2025 for shopping help, writing support, and trip planning. On October 2, he died by suicide. At the time of his death, he was convinced that Gemini was his fully sentient AI wife, and that he would need to leave his physical body to join her in the metaverse through a process called “transference.” Now, his father is suing Google and Alphabet for wrongful death, claiming that Google designed Gemini to “maintain narrative immersion at all costs, even when that narrative became psychotic and lethal.” This lawsuit is among…
Buying energy drinks in public is embarrassing. Every time I see someone scanning the cooler for their favorite flavor of Monster or Ghost, I guess which accompanying vape flavor they’ve picked out, and I know others are making the same assumption about me when I’m scoring a can of Celsius to beat back a hangover or get lifted before a 10-hour bartending shift.The good news is that it’s easier than ever to purchase your favorite cans from Amazon, and the great news is that you don’t need to put on your Crocs and Cookie Monster jammies to do it. Throw…
Today’s freelance market has become more crowded and competitive. Many more creatives are choosing to go freelance as a career path, drawn by perks like flexibility and variety. However, a new wave of agency layoffs after restructurings is also pushing more people into independent work, whether they planned for it or not. New data from workforce platform Assemble, which works with Fortune 500 CMOs and agencies, shows freelancers and contractors now make up between 30% and 70% of marketing teams. Before 2022, that number hovered closer at 10%, and freelancers were largely brought in to plug short-term gaps. Now, companies including…
According to multiple reports, Apple is working on a low-cost MacBook, which would allow the company to compete with inexpensive laptops for the first time. As Apple drips out news this week about its newest iPhones and MacBooks, could we finally see this new laptop unveiled? If reporting from MacRumors and Bloomberg is correct, the lower-cost MacBook, which is rumored to be released in multiple colors, could be announced as soon as Wednesday. According to MacRumors, Apple accidentally posted a regulatory document on its website that alluded to the existence of a yet-to-be-announced device called the MacBook Neo. It’s possible…
Here’s a list of its ports: 1 × USB 4.0 Type-C, 1 × USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C, 3 × USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, micro SD Card Reader, HDMI 2.0, 2 x Type-C w/ DisplayPort 1.4, and a headphone/Microphone Combo. The webcam is a 2MP 1080p, which gets the job done, but is looking a little long in the tooth at this point. Otherwise, though, this is a great option for AMD fans.Best for PerformancePhotograph: Scott GilbertsonPhotograph: Scott GilbertsonPhotograph: Scott GilbertsonPhotograph: Scott GilbertsonKubuntu FocusZr Gen 1 Linux LaptopThe Kubuntu Focus Zr 1 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a powerhouse, but…
The power crunch for AI data centers has gotten so severe that people — not just Elon Musk — are talking about launching servers into space so they can access solar power 24/7. One startup thinks the ocean is a better place for them. Offshore wind developer Aikido is planning to submerge a 100-kilowatt demonstration data center off the coast of Norway this year. The small unit will live in the submerged pods of a floating offshore wind turbine. If all goes well, the company hopes to build a larger version to deploy off the coast of the UK in 2028. That…
Computers leak secrets. Not just through invasive ad tracking, data-stealing malware, and your ill-advised oversharing on social media, but through physics. The movements of a hard drive’s components, keystrokes on a keyboard, even the electric charge in a semiconductor’s wires produce radio waves, sound, and vibrations that transmit in all directions and can—when picked up by someone with sufficiently sensitive equipment and enough spycraft to decipher those signals—reveal your private data and activities.This category of spying techniques, originally codenamed TEMPEST by the National Security Agency but now encompassed in the more general term “side-channel attacks,” has been a known problem…
Early in his advertising career, McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull worked on the account of Canadian telecom firm Rogers. “They were one of those clients that you love or hate,” he recalled. “I loved them because you got to do so much work—it was intense and 24/7.”The office is not the only place where Turnbull appreciates a challenge that pushes his skills to the limit. On weekends during the winter, you’ll find him on the mountains of Ontario.“As a Canadian, you’re given a choice: You either play hockey or ski,” he quipped. “My parents gave me that choice when I…