Tech Roundup: Apple MacBook Neo, Microsoft Windows 11 Quality Fixes & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• Apple introduces iPhone 17e with MagSafe and a starting storage of 256GB; new iPad Air with M4 chip, 12GB RAM, N1 wireless networking chip with Wi-Fi 7 support and custom C1X modem in cellular models; M5 Pro and M5 Max chips with a new Apple-designed Fusion Architecture; 14" and 16" MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max; Apple M5 MacBook Air in 13" and 15" sizes with 512GB base storage; a new 5K Studio Display XDR with a 120Hz refresh rate; and MacBook Neo with a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, an A18 Pro chip, side-firing speakers, a 1080p webcam, two USB-C ports, and Touch ID.
• Samsung debuts the Digital Home Key, a feature inside of the Samsung Wallet that lets users unlock any compatible smart door with their phone.
• Anthropic launches a tool to bring a user's preferences and context from other AI platforms to Claude with one copy-paste command, as it witnesses a massive surge in users amid ongoing stalemate with the U.S. government over the use of its AI models in classified networks.
• At issue in the defense contract is the AI's role in national security and concerns about how increasingly capable machines could be used in high-stakes situations involving mass government surveillance and lethal autonomous weapons without human oversight.
• The development comes as Chinese military procurement documents show the military's efforts to use AI to assist in drone piloting, cyberattacks, decision-making, and disinformation campaigns.
• Amidst fallout from a standoff between the Department of Defense and Anthropic, OpenAI said the company successfully negotiated new terms with the Pentagon to allow its AI tools to be used in the Department of War's network. 
• A report from The Verge said "OpenAI agreed to follow laws that have allowed for mass surveillance in the past" and that the "deal is much softer than the one Anthropic was pushing for, thanks largely to three words: 'any lawful use.'" The company has since amended its contract to ensure "the AI system shall not be intentionally used for domestic surveillance of U.S. persons and nationals."
• But the timing of OpenAI's deal with the Pentagon, announced within hours of the White House decrying Anthropic, has sparked widespread debate over privacy and the ethical use of AI, with Claude seeing a surge of app downloads while U.S. app uninstalls of ChatGPT's mobile app jumped 295% day-over-day on February 28, 2026.
• Mastodon debuts a new "Share to Mastodon" button for websites to allow signed-in users to share content to the decentralised social networking platform.
• Australia plans to require search engines and app stores to block AI services without age verification by March 9, 2026; comes as the new law -- which came into effect in December 2025 -- restricts Australians under 18 from receiving content related to pornography, extreme violence, self-harm and eating disorders or face fines.
• Meta's Instagram tracked the time users spent on its app, with company executives flagging "milestones" that its app reached year after year, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg's testimony in a case about whether social media companies and their addictive designs are liable for youth mental health issues; says app's daily usage grew from 40 minutes per day in 2023 to 46 minutes per day in 2026.
• Meta's WhatsApp tests a new feature that allows users to organise their chat history with the help of Meta AI, as the company pilots a dedicated Meta AI tab to bring all AI features under one roof; also appears to be readying a WhatsApp Plus premium tier to offer customisation options, including 14 new app icons, multiple accent colours and themes.
• ByteDance's TikTok says it has no plans to add end-to-end encryption (E2EE) to DMs because it would prevent police and safety teams from reading messages if needed; claims it wants to protect young users from harm.
• Amazon tells users it is shutting down the Wondery podcast app and Wondery+ subscription service "in the coming months."
• Google adds a feature to let users with a Pixel 8 and newer connect their device to an external monitor via USB-C for a "desktop-like multi-window experience"; debuts new Android features, including custom calling cards, real-time location sharing in Google Messages and luggage tracking with partner airlines.
• X announces a policy change suspending users from Creator Revenue Sharing for 90 days if they post AI-generated videos of an armed conflict without disclosure; tests a standalone X Chat iOS app.
• OpenAI releases GPT-5.3 Instant, which it says delivers more accurate answers and better-contextualized results when searching the web, for all ChatGPT users; says GPT-5.3 Instant's tone should feel less "cringe" than GPT-5.2 Instant and the model has a smoother, more to-the-point conversational style.
• Google plans to move Chrome to a two-week release cycle, instead of the current four, starting with the Chrome 153 stable release on September 8, 2026.
• Google launches Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite, which it says delivers "enhanced performance" at a fraction of the cost of larger models and outperforms 2.5 Flash.
• Google unveils Home updates and debuts Live Search to let Gemini analyze and describe live camera feeds.
• Roku teams up with Apple to offer the Apple TV subscription service on the Roku Channel, giving Roku users easy access to Apple's streaming service.
• Meta begins rolling out an experimental AI shopping tool to some users in the U.S., offering a carousel with product images and their pricing, along with a link to the e-commerce website and information about the brand when asked for product suggestions.
• OpenAI introduces a "trusted contact feature" in ChatGPT that will alert a chatbot user's designated loved one in the event of a possible mental health crisis; comes amid reports of AI-tied mental health crises with customers being pulled into delusional or suicidal spirals.
• A new investigation finds that first-person footage recorded from Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses is being sent to offshore contractors in Kenya to review and annotate sensitive and intimate data, including that of people getting undressed or filming entire sex scenes, for purposes of training AI models; Meta says the recordings are only used to improve its AI systems in certain circumstances, such as when users choose to share interactions to help train the technology, and that users can manage their data through device settings and delete recordings at any time.
• Anthropic says voice mode for Claude Code is now live for about 5% of users, with a broader rollout planned in the coming weeks.
• Planet Labs, one of the world's leading commercial satellite imaging companies, places a hold on releasing imagery of some parts of the Middle East in response to ongoing conflict in the region.
• New research finds that overuse of AI tools in workplace could result in "brain fry," a state of mental fatigue that incurs significant costs, such as "increased employee errors, decision fatigue and intention to quit."
• The Indian state of Maharashtra plans to develop an AI tool that uses "accent, tone and word choices" to identify and deport Bangladeshi Muslims and displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar, raising concerns that its linguistic profiling could risk reinforcing xenophobia, prejudice, and racial discrimination.
• Google expands Canvas in AI Mode to everyone in the U.S. in English, offering a dedicated, dynamic space to organise plans and projects over time; brings Cinematic Video Overviews to NotebookLM, and deeply integrates Gemini to Workspace for Google AI Ultra and Pro subscribers to create drafts, make spreadsheets, generate presentation decks, and provide "AI Overview" when searching in Drive using natural language, as Microsoft brings agentic Copilot capabilities to Excel, Word and PowerPoint for similar tasks.
• Google debuts Gemini Embedding 2, its first fully multimodal embedding model built on the Gemini architecture, in Public Preview via the Gemini API and Vertex AI, that "maps text, images, videos, audio and documents into a single, unified embedding space, and captures semantic intent across over 100 languages."
• Google makes Video Reach Campaign (VRC) Non-Skip ads generally available globally in Google Ads and Display & Video 360, allowing advertisers to serve non-skippable ads ranging from 6 to 30 seconds on YouTube.
• Google unveils Android AppFunctions to allow apps to expose data and functionality directly to AI agents and assistants.
• Meta's WhatsApp begins rolling out parent-managed accounts for young users under the age of 13, allowing parents and guardians to decide who can contact them and which groups they can join; also adds new anti-scam protections to Facebook, Messenger and WhatsApp.
• Grammarly disables "Expert Review" feature, which presented editing suggestions as if they came from established journalists, authors and academics without their consent (or compensation), following a class action lawsuit "challenges Grammarly’s misappropriation of the names and identities of hundreds of journalists, authors, writers and editors to earn profits for Grammarly and its owner, Superhuman." (The company has claimed it received valid critical feedback from experts who are concerned that the agent misrepresented their voices. Initially, the company attempted to address the backlash by giving authors a way to opt out of the feature.)
• Microsoft Edge unifies the tracking prevention experience between standard browsing and InPrivate windows with Edge 146; removes toggle allowing users to select Strict tracking prevention specifically for InPrivate browsing.
• Google updates Chrome on Android tablets and foldables to be more like the desktop version by adding the bookmarks bar.
• Indonesia becomes the latest country to require social media platforms to deactivate accounts belonging to users under 16 as part of a new regulation called Electronic System Governance for Child Protection that goes into effect on March 28, 2026.
• Free music streaming iOS app Music, which offered a way for users to play music from YouTube before it was delisted from the App Store in September 2024, faces a legal setback after a U.S. court says Apple can "cease marketing, offering, and allowing download" of the app at any time, with or without cause, and that it does not constitute a violation of Apple's Developer Program License Agreement (DPLA).
• Google discontinues AI search feature called "What People Suggest" that crowdsourced amateur medical advice following concerns that it could put people at risk of false and misleading health information.
• OpenAI looks at which areas to deprioritise, as it refocuses its resources on coding and enterprise users, as the company appears to be working on a desktop "superapp" that merges its ChatGPT app, the Codex AI coding app and its AI-powered Atlas browser into one app, as part of an effort to simplify its various product efforts.
• Privacy-focused Android fork GrapheneOS says it "will remain usable by anyone around the world without requiring personal information, identification or an account," as it announces a long-term partnership with Motorola to collaborate on "future devices meeting our privacy and security standards with official GrapheneOS support."
• Microsoft commits to improving the quality of Windows 11 through taskbar optimisation, reducing unnecessary Copilot entry points, starting with apps like Snipping Tool, Photos, Widgets and Notepad, faster File Explorer, and better controls over automatic Windows Updates by giving users the ability to pause them "for as long as you need."