Tech Roundup: Apple WWDC 2026, Spotify SongDNA & More

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

• Kagi brings its hand-picked collection of non-commercial, human-authored websites to mobile devices through new "Small Web" apps for iOS and Android.
• Tencent integrates WeChat with OpenClaw AI agent, allowing users of the country's most popular app with over ⁠1 billion monthly active users to connect directly with ​OpenClaw using ClawBot.
• Google signs deals with five U.S. electric utilities for 1GW of "demand response" in total, to reduce data centre power consumption during peak grid demand hours.
• Samsung rolls out Apple AirDrop support to Quick Share, starting with the Galaxy S26 series in South Korea, with plans to expand to more devices and regions.
• Reddit says it's exploring different ways to verify a user is human and not a bot; unveils a new process that may require some users with suspicious bot-like behaviour to confirm that they're human using methods like fingerprint scanning or submitting their ID.
• Anthropic updates Claude Code and Claude Cowork to accomplish tasks using a computer, allowing users to assign tasks on the phone and enable the AI assistant to open files, use the browser and run developer tools.
• Google tests removing the QR code option to mirror a user's Google Messages data onto a web browser; urges users to sign-in with a Google Account.
• Russian authorities block paywall removal site Archive.today citing a "decision of the public authorities."
• The Internet Watch Foundation says it identified 8,029 AI-generated images and videos of realistic child sexual abuse in 2025, up 14% from the previous year.
• Apple announces WWDC 2026 for June 8-12, 2026, to spotlight "incredible updates for Apple platforms, including AI advancements and exciting new software and developer tools."
• OpenAI rolls out a new feature called Library for ChatGPT that lets users store personal files or images on OpenAI's cloud storage, so that they can be referenced in a future chat.
• Apple plans to allow businesses to buy advertisements in its Maps app, stating the ads "will appear when users search in Maps, and can appear at the top of a user’s search results based on relevance, as well as at the top of a new Suggested Places experience in Maps, which will display recommendations based on what's trending nearby, the user's recent searches, and more"; comes as the company announces Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that allows companies to manage devices and reach more customers.
• Pinterest begins rolling out promoted pin feature to the users in the U.S. to reach a broader audience without designing intricate ad campaigns. (Pinterest has 619 million active users driving more than 80 billion searches every month.)
• Spotify announces the global rollout of a new feature, SongDNA, that lets Premium subscribers on iOS and Android more deeply explore their favourite music and view a song's collaborators, samples, interpolations and covers; tests a new feature called Artist Profile Protection that lets artists review releases before they go live.
• Google's YouTube tests "Discover videos with Previews" that allows users to see "5-10 previews featuring short, engaging moments from videos that are already recommended for you" before actually opening the full video; says it's reducing the Shopping affiliate program subscriber threshold from 1,000 to 500, allowing content creators to start making money earlier in their careers.
• Mozilla releases Firefox 149 with Split View and added privacy protection through a free built-in VPN that offers up to 50GB of protection every month; introduces a tab notes feature that lets users attach a short note to a web page to "remember why you opened a page, what you planned to do next or any details you want to revisit later."
• Meta announces plans to allow creators to include clickable shopping links for products directly in their Reels on Facebook and Instagram.
• OpenAI shuts down Sora, its standalone AI video generation app and social network, a little over two years after launch, with no plans to roll the feature into ChatGPT; Disney ends its partnership with OpenAI, signed in December 2025, in which it pledged to invest $1 billion and agreed to license some characters to Sora.
• Apple releases iOS 26.4 with new Playlist Playground feature that lets users create a playlist with a text-based prompt, offline music recognition, Family Sharing changes that allow adult members to use separate payment methods for purchases, switch between watching and listening to shows on Podcasts, improved Stolen Device Protection and better keyboard accuracy.
• A New Mexico jury finds that Meta violated state laws by failing to protect underage users and safeguard its platforms from child sexual exploitation and orders it to pay $375 million in damages; Meta says it will appeal the decision, adding "we work hard to keep people safe on our platforms and are clear about the challenges of identifying and removing bad actors or harmful content." (The development comes as a Los Angeles jury finds Meta and YouTube were negligent in a landmark social media addiction case, ruling that addictive design features such as infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations harmed a 20-year-old user and contributed to her mental health distress. The verdict could have repercussions across the social media landscape, with experts characterizing it as a the social media industry's "Big Tobacco" moment.)
• X updates its revenue sharing incentives by "giving more weight to impressions from your home region" to "encourage content that resonates with people in your country, in neighbouring countries and people who speak your language" and "drive diverse conversations on the platform."
• OpenAI overhauls the shopping experience in ChatGPT by shifting focus from in-app purchases to product discovery with up-to-date information and side-by-side comparisons, after the company's Instant Checkout feature fails to gain traction; to begin showing ​ads to all users of the free ‌and Go versions of ChatGPT in the U.S. in the coming weeks.
• Anthropic launches an "auto mode" for Claude Code to lets the AI agent make permissions-level decisions on users' behalf; says "Auto mode is a middle path that lets you run longer tasks with fewer interruptions while introducing less risk than skipping all permissions."
• Apple rolls out mandatory age verification in the U.K. with iOS 26.4, requiring users to provide a credit card or ID, a first in Europe, after U.K. government pressure.
• Google launches Lyria 3 Pro, an upgraded music model that generates more customisable tracks that are three-minutes long (up from Lyria 3's 30 seconds) as it expands AI music tools across Gemini, enterprise products and other services.
• Apple settles its lawsuit against former Vision Pro designer Di Liu, after he agreed to return confidential documents to Apple and pay monetary damages.
• Microsoft's GitHub says it will use Copilot interaction data, including inputs, outputs and code snippets, to train its AI models starting April 24, 2026, unless users opt out.
• Google says Android has set a new record for mobile web performance, making it the fastest mobile platform for web browsing, surpassing non-Android competitors like iOS.
• Wikipedia takes steps to ban AI-generated content; says "the use of LLMs to generate or rewrite article content is prohibited," save for basic copyedits.
• Browser vendor Vivaldi releases version 7.9 of its iOS browser, introducing two-level tab stacks, Safari import tools and a new Daily Image feature.
• Apple expands its American Manufacturing Program, adding Bosch, Cirrus Logic, TDK and Qnity Electronics to make components in the U.S. for products sold globally , committing $400 million through 2030.
• Meta's WhatsApp adds the ability to have two accounts on a single iOS device, years after addition the option on Android; adds new features that allow for easier movement of chat histories between platforms and devices in the same ecosystem and debuts AI features for photo editing and drafting a message.
• European lawmakers vote to delay key parts of the EU AI Act, pushing back compliance deadlines for developers of high-risk AI systems, specifically those deemed to pose a "serious risk" to health, safety, or fundamental rights, until December 2027; also backs proposals to ban nudify apps.
• Enterprise AI company Cohere launches Transcribe, its first 2B-parameter, open-source speech recognition model to handles tasks like note-taking and speech analysis; ByteDance unveils its Dreamina Seedance 2.0 audio and video model in its CapCut editing platform, supporting clips up to 15 seconds across six aspect ratios, as Google debuts Gemini 3.1 Flash Live, an audio model with improved tonal understanding and lower latency for real-time dialogue, and watermarked with SynthID, and Mistral launches Voxtral TTS, an open-source enterprise text-to-speech model that supports nine languages, including Hindi and Arabic, based on Ministral 3B.
• The European Commission launches a DSA investigation into Snapchat for failing to protect children, including assessing its age verification measures; comes as the Commission accuses Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX, and XVideos of failing to protect kids from exposure to pornographic content.
• OpenAI puts plans for an erotic chatbot on hold "indefinitely" as it refocuses on its core products, after concerns from staff and investors; plans to conduct "long-term research on the effects of sexually explicit chats and emotional attachments, before making a product decision."
• Google releases new tools for its Gemini AI assistant that let users upload chat history and context from other AI apps, making it easier to switch from them.
• Apple discontinues the Mac Pro and says it has no plans to offer future Mac Pro hardware; begins requiring app developers to declare regulated medical device status in EEA, the U.K., and the U.S.
• X limits X Pro (previously TweetDeck) access to subscribers of the $40/month Premium+ plan. (It was originally available in the $8/month Premium plan.)
• Google expands Search Live, its AI conversational search feature previously limited to the U.S. and India, to all languages and regions where AI Mode is available; improves its translation features with Gemini integration, adding AI to more accurately translate idioms, local expressions and slang, and adds real-time translations in headphones by simply pointing the phone in the direction of whoever is talking.
• Mastodon plans to redesign user profile pages to make the decentralised social media platform more appealing to use.
• Indonesia begins implementing a regulation that bans under-16s from digital platforms that could expose them to porn, cyberbullying, online scams, and addiction; come as Austria plans to restrict under-14s from using social media platforms over concerns about addictive algorithms and harmful content.
• Google rolls out its Veo video model globally within Google Ads, allowing advertisers to create 10-second videos for YouTube from up to three static images.
• Anthropic adjusts Claude session limits and says users will hit their limits faster during peak hours, amid compute strain due to Claude's new popularity.
• Google's third Android 17 beta with photo picker customisations for third-party apps; adds an option to hide app labels, along with a redesigned screen recording toolbar and app bubbles, a multitasking feature allowing apps or conversations to appear as floating icons over other apps, enabling quick access and replies.
• OpenAI introduces a Codex plugin for Claude Code, letting users invoke Codex from inside Claude Code to review code or delegate tasks.
• Alibaba releases its Qwen3.5-Omni omnimodal LLM with support for more than 10 hours of audio input; says the Plus variant surpasses Gemini 3.1 Pro on audio benchmarks.
• Apple mistakenly releases Apple Intelligence in China prior to regulatory approval; takes it offline. (The Chinese government currently requires Apple to partner with local companies, like Alibaba, to power AI features in the country.)
• Meta tests an Instagram Plus subscription service in "few countries" with exclusive features, such as longer Stories posts, create multiple "audiences" for Stories posts, rewatch stats, and the ability to peek at a Story without showing up in the viewer list.
• Google updates its Find Hub website with the ability to track smart tags and audio products; comes as Find Hub for Android removes biometric login.
• France passes bill that would ban children under 15 from social media. (If the French effort becomes law, it would make France the first European country to follow Australia's lead by banning social media for young teenagers.)
• OkCupid and its owner Match Group reaches a settlement with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission over allegations that the dating app did not inform its customers that nearly 3 million user photos were shared with Clarifai, a company making a facial recognition system, and for giving the firm access to user location information and other details without customers' consent. (OkCupid and Match did not admit or deny the allegations but agreed to a permanent prohibition barring them from misrepresenting how they use and share personal data.)