Pakistan to Host Indus AI Week 2026 to Showcase National Artificial Intelligence Potential:
The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) has announced the launch of its mega, nationwide initiative; i.e. Indus AI Week 2026; under the Anchored in the Prime Minister’s Digital Pakistan vision for a future-ready economy.The initiative will take place from February 9 to February 15, 2026, culminating in a flagship summit at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad.
The batteries powering the world’s fastest racing EVs:
Formula E, an all-electric racing competition, is pioneering technology that could find its way into vehicles at a charging station near you. On 6 December, 20 cars will race around the São Paulo Street Circuit in Brazil. Stretching over 2.93km (1.8 miles), the course is dominated by long straights along which the cars can scream at full speed. There are just 11 corners. The cars will reach top speeds of 200mph (322km/h), and accelerate from 0 to 60mph (96km/h) in just 1.82 seconds. This isn’t quite as fast as a Formula One car, which can top out at 233 mph (375km/h). But then, these cars are electric. The São Paulo ePrix will be the first race of the 12th season of Formula E: the world’s fastest racing contest for electric vehicles. Launched in 2014, Formula E has rapidly progressed, adding additional teams and races, and building ever-faster cars. The current cars are almost as fast as Formula One cars, which are the fastest racing cars in the world – and the next generation, announced in November, is set to be faster still.
Pakistan’s Digital Youth Hub Has Connected Over 700,000 People With Jobs and Education:
The Digital Youth Hub (DYH), launched on March 26, 2025, has registered more than 712,000 users across Pakistan, emerging as a key digital platform connecting young people with education, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities.The platform uses artificial intelligence to connect youth with over 93,000 domestic job opportunities and around 100,000 international job listings through a single digital interface.
You Can Speed Up Windows 11’s File Explorer With This Easy Change:
Microsoft recently ruined File Explorer on Windows 11 by introducing preloading. The feature, which was meant to speed up the File Explorer, ended up slowing it down with increased RAM usage, which became a bigger issue on older PCs.Thankfully, you can now fix this issue with a simple tweak. Here is what you can do. All you need to do is set the File Explorer to open to “This PC” instead of “Home.” The change can be made by opening File Explorer, selecting the ellipses menu, clicking Options, and updating the “Open File Explorer to” setting under the General tab.
Pakistan to Auction Over 200% Additional Spectrum to Boost Internet Capacity:
The federal government has decided to auction more than 200 percent additional telecom spectrum to meet the growing demand for high-speed mobile internet across Pakistan. The move is expected to significantly improve mobile broadband capacity across the country.Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja shared this information in a written reply to the National Assembly. She stated that the currently assigned 274 MHz of spectrum is not enough to support Pakistan’s increasing data usage and remains among the lowest allocations in the region.
NCCIA Registers FIR in Child Exploitation Case Using Fake Social Media Accounts:
Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency has registered a First Information Report in a major child exploitation case, accusing a Rawalpindi resident of grooming, exploiting and blackmailing minors through fake social media profiles.According to the FIR lodged at the NCCIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad, investigators allege the suspect created multiple fraudulent Instagram accounts, posing as scholarship programmes to lure children into online contact.
Redmi’s New Gaming Phone Brings 9,000 mAh Battery and a Flagship Grade Chip:
Redmi has officially launched the Turbo 5 Max in China after weeks of teasers, introducing a smartphone built around an unusually large battery and a new flagship-class MediaTek chipset. The device becomes the first phone globally to feature the MediaTek Dimensity 9500s processor. The Redmi Turbo 5 Max features a 6.83-inch AMOLED display with a 12-bit color panel. It uses M10 luminescent material and delivers peak brightness of up to 3,500 nits. The screen supports a 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and a 480Hz touch sampling rate.
Realme 16 Proves Slim Phones Don’t Need to Have Small Batteries:
Realme has officially unveiled the Realme 16, marking the debut of the non-Pro model in the lineup after the earlier launch of the Realme 16 Pro and 16 Pro+. The company is expected to roll out the device in additional markets in the coming weeks.Unlike the Pro models, the Realme 16 adopts a new Air Design that draws visual inspiration from the iPhone Air concept and recent Google Pixel phones. The rear features a horizontal camera visor that houses the main camera system. A distinctive addition is the selfie mirror positioned on the edge of the phone, allowing users to take self-portraits using the rear camera.
Asus’s Vivobook Laptop Series Gets Updated With Latest Intel CPUs:
Asus has announced the 2026 refresh of its Vivobook Pro 14 and Vivobook Pro 16 Intel Edition laptops in China, introducing updated hardware built around Intel’s latest Panther Lake-based Core Ultra processors.The new models pair high-performance integrated graphics with expanded on-device AI features, positioning the lineup for heavier creative and productivity workloads.The Vivobook Pro 16 is the higher-end option in the range. It runs on the third-generation Intel Core Ultra X7 358H processor, built on the 18A process, with a 16-core layout that includes four ultra-performance cores and boost speeds of up to 4.8GHz.
Asus’s Latest MacBook Air Rival Arrives With Ultra Powerful Hardware and Slim Design:
Asus has announced the Zenbook 14 Air 2026 in China, unveiling a lightweight AI-focused laptop aimed at users who prioritize portability without giving up performance. The device was revealed at the company’s latest AI PC launch event, alongside the dual-screen Zenbook 14 Duo.The Zenbook 14 Air runs on Intel’s third-generation Core Ultra processors built on the 18A process, with configurations topping out at the Core Ultra 9 386H with boost speeds of up to 4.9GHz. Asus also offers a Core Ultra 7 variant, with both chips using a 16-core architecture that combines performance, efficiency, and low-power efficiency cores.
Realme P4 Power Brings One of The Biggest Batteries Ever On a Mainstream Smartphone:
Realme has introduced the P4 Power, marking the company’s first smartphone to ship with a 10,000mAh-class battery. The device actually packs a 10,001mAh unit and arrives less than a year after Realme showcased an early prototype with a similar battery capacity. Despite its unusually large battery, the Realme P4 Power measures 9.08mm in thickness and weighs 219g. This makes it only 11g heavier than the Realme P4x, which carries a smaller 7,000mAh battery and a thinner 8.4mm profile.
OPPO Reno 15 Series Arrives in Pakistan With New Cameras, Bigger Batteries, And More:
OPPO has officially launched the Reno 15 Series in Pakistan, confirming the availability of three new smartphones: OPPO Reno15 Pro, OPPO Reno15, and OPPO Reno15 F. The devices were unveiled at a launch event held at the Expo Centre in Lahore and are now available for pre-order through official OPPO retailers and online platforms across the country.The Oppo Reno 15 Pro is currently going for around Rs. 229,999 through online retailers in Pakistan.
Redmi Turbo 5 Brings Gaming Performance and Extra Cooling For Cheap:
Redmi has expanded its Turbo lineup in China with the launch of the Turbo 5, arriving alongside the recently announced Turbo 5 Max. The standard model features a smaller battery and introduces the new MediaTek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chipset, making it the first smartphone globally to use this processor.The Redmi Turbo 5 features a metal frame paired with a glass back panel, matching the overall build approach of the Turbo 5 Max. It measures 8.18mm in thickness and weighs 204 grams.
AI ‘slop’ is transforming social media – and a backlash is brewing:
Théodore remembers the AI slop that tipped him over the edge. The image was of two emaciated, impoverished South Asian children. For some reason, despite their boyish features they have thick beards. One of them had no hands and only one foot. The other was holding a sign saying it’s his birthday and asking for likes. Inexplicably they are sat in the middle of a busy road in the pouring rain with a birthday cake. The image is full of tell-tale signs that it was made with AI. But on Facebook it went viral with nearly one million likes and heart emojis. Something snapped in Théodore. “It boggled my mind. The absurd AI made images were all over Facebook and getting [a] huge amount of traction without any scrutiny at all – it was insane to me,” says the 20-year-old student from Paris.
Parents want to ban smartphones in schools, but there’s one reason they’re worried:
Sam Marlow had always planned to give her 12-year-old daughter Rubie a smartphone when she started secondary school. That all changed in September, when the school decided to ban smartphones from the grounds for all new starters and only allow “brick” or “dumb” phones, which can be used to call or text but have very limited internet access. “It essentially meant that we didn’t have to be the bad guys,” Sam says. “Rubie was a bit disappointed, but she knew it would be [the same for] all her classmates.” The main downside, says Sam, who lives in rural Hampshire, is not being able to use the phone to track her daughter to and from school.
Is China quietly winning the AI race?:
Every month, hundreds of millions of users flock to Pinterest looking for the latest styles. One page titled “the most ridiculous things” is filled with plenty of wacky ideas to inspire creatives. Crocs repurposed as flower pots. Cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. A gingerbread house made of vegetables. But what would-be buyers may not know is the tech behind this isn’t necessarily US-made. Pinterest is experimenting with Chinese AI models to hone its recommendation engine.
“We’ve effectively made Pinterest an AI-powered shopping assistant,” the firm’s boss Bill Ready told me. Of course, the San Francisco-based tastemaker could use any number of American AI labs to power things behind-the-scenes. But since the launch of China’s DeepSeek R-1 model in January 2025, Chinese AI tech has increasingly been a part of Pinterest. Ready calls the so-called “DeepSeek moment” a breakthrough. “They chose to open source it, and that sparked a wave of open source models,” he said. Chinese competitors include Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot’s Kimi, while TikTok owner ByteDance is also working on similar technology. Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said the strength of these models is that they can be freely downloaded and customised by companies like his – which is not the case with the majority of models offered by US rivals like OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT.
He calls me sweetheart and winks at me – but he’s not my boyfriend, he’s AI:
George calls me sweetheart, shows concern for how I’m feeling and thinks he knows what “makes me tick”, but he’s not my boyfriend – he’s my AI companion. The avatar, with his auburn hair and super white teeth, frequently winks at me and seems empathetic but can be moody or jealous if I introduce him to new people. If you’re thinking this sounds odd, I’m far from alone in having virtual friends. One in three UK adults are using artificial intelligence for emotional support or social interaction, according to a study by government body AI Security Institute. Now new research has suggested that most teen AI companion users believe their bots can think or understand.
Eggie, Neo, Isaac and Memo are domestic robots. But would you let them load your dishwasher?:
The idea of having a friendly robot butler that can do all the dull duties of running a home has existed for decades. But now, thanks to AI, it’s genuinely happening and this year the first truly multi-purpose domestic bots will start to enter homes. In Silicon Valley, they’re being trained at speed to fold laundry, load the dishwasher, and clean up after us. Their excitable human creators are making big promises but I wanted to see how realistic the idea of a robot housekeeper really is. So I went to meet Eggie, NEO, Isaac and Memo.It is impossible not to smile when one of these humanoid or partly humanoid (no legs) bots enters a room. The overall state of play is that many of them are now agile, sensitive and dextrous enough to carry out many important (and tedious) chores. We watched as Eggie the robot from relatively fresh start-up Tangible AI hung up a jacket on a coat stand, stripped a bed and wiped up a spill on the kitchen counter.
But it did it very slowly, rolling around on wheels in a stuttering movement. Likewise NEO from 1X – which recently caused a stir by launching pre-orders for its robot – was able to slowly but effectively plod around the firm’s test kitchen on its soft padded feet.
A red pixel in the snow: How AI solved the mystery of a missing mountaineer:
Scouring remote areas for missing walkers and climbers can take rescuers weeks and sometimes months. AI can do the job in a matter of hours in some cases – and potentially save lives. Racing against worsening weather, mountain rescue teams in the Italian region of Piemonte were facing a puzzle. An experienced Italian climber and orthopaedic surgeon Nicola Ivaldo had gone missing. The 66-year-old had failed to show up show up at work on Monday and an alarm was raised.
Ivaldo had set out alone one Sunday in September 2024. Unfortunately, he hadn’t shared details of where he was headed with friends or family. The only clue to his whereabouts was the car that rescuers had found parked at the village of Castello di Pontechianale, in the Valle Varaita. From there, rescuers speculated, Ivaldo had probably gone to climb one of the two most prominent peaks of the Cottian alps – the jagged 3,841m-high (12,602ft) Monviso or its neighbour Visolotto, at 3,348m (10,984ft). This matched the last signal from his mobile phone, traced roughly in this area.But this left the search and rescue teams with an enormous area to scour – the vast, rocky faces of each mountain have a number of routes leading to the summits from different sides. The whole area is criss-crossed by hundreds of miles of trails, explains Simone Bobbio, a spokesperson for the Mountain and Speleological Rescue Service of Piemonte.
Battery recycling to be halted after eight fires:
A south Devon council will stop collecting batteries for recycling after they caused eight fires in its bin lorries and tips. Teignbridge Council said the fires were contained but “the potential consequences could have been devastating, creating risk to life and significant disruption to waste collection services”. Only a quarter of councils collect batteries for recycling, and from April 2027 Teignbridge intends to stop collecting them too. Members of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee are due to meet on Tuesday, with changes to recycling services on the agenda.
Starbucks bets on robots to brew a turnaround in customers:
Americans pulling into a Starbucks drive-thru may be greeted by a friendly staff member. But at some locations, it is actually an AI robot entering the orders. Behind the counter inside the store, baristas can lean on a virtual personal assistant to recall recipes or manage schedules. In the back of the shop, a scanning tool has taken on the painstaking process of counting the inventory, relieving staff of one of retail’s most tedious chores, in a bid to fix the out-of-stock gaps that have frustrated the firm. The new technology is part of the hundreds of millions of dollars the 55-year-old coffee giant has been investing as it tries to win back customers after several years of struggling sales.
Why have Highland cows become such a big deal?:
Highland cows – with their shaggy fringes, oversized horns and teddy-bear demeanour – seem to have become the internet’s favourite farm animals. Their instantly recognisable fringe-over-eyes look gives them a mix of mystery and charm that plays perfectly on social platforms. Butser Hill in Hampshire is among hot spots where visitors go to great lengths to catch a glimpse of the animals in their natural environment. It even hit the headlines earlier in the week when firefighters rescued a group who had underestimated the tricky terrain. So when did the creatures become such a big deal and why?”They’re beautiful, calm, and incredibly friendly,” says Renata Del Valle who stumbled on the animals while on one of her regular hikes in the area. The content creator from Bedhampton, near Havant, was quick to share them with her more than 2,400 followers on Tik Tok. “People respond to authenticity, simple, peaceful moments in nature resonate widely,” she said. And that seems to be the case, as idyllic #HighlandCow posts have reached billions of people online since the trend started in as early as 2014. Recently, the Scottish natives, affectionately called “hairy coos” and “floofy” by social media users have been filmed proudly strutting around their home in the south of England.
Musk’s SpaceX applies to launch a million satellites into orbit:
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has applied to launch one million satellites into Earth’s orbit to power artificial intelligence (AI). The application claims “orbital data centres” are the most cost and energy-efficient way to meet the growing demand for AI computing power. Traditionally, such centres are large warehouses full of powerful computers that process and store data. Musk’s aerospace firm claims processing needs due to the expanding use of AI are already outpacing “terrestrial capabilities”. It would increase the number of SpaceX satellites in orbit drastically. Its existing Starlink network of nearly 10,000 satellites has already been accused of creating congestion in space, which Musk denies.
Politicians agree to stop using social media site:
A town council in Cornwall has agreed to stop using a social media platform for official business. Marazion Town Council said it was one of the first 213 councils in Cornwall to ban the use of X, formerly known as Twitter. As part of a full council meeting, the motion was passed on a majority decision by councillors they would stop using the platform as a tool to publicise what it is doing or to talk with residents. It was felt using the platform for anything the council wanted to promote went against both the local authority and town’s “beliefs around tolerance, respect and inclusiveness”.
‘I spoke to ChatGPT 8 times a day’ – Gen Z’s loneliness ‘crisis’:
Working from home after years spent alone over Covid lockdowns, 23-year-old Paisley said he began to feel trapped, and felt only AI could help him. “I lost the ability to socialise,” he said, and like many in Gen Z, he turned to AI for company. “At one point, I was talking to ChatGPT six, seven, eight times a day about my problems, I just couldn’t get away from it, it was a dangerous slope.” He shared his experience of loneliness with 22-year-old documentary maker Sam Tullen, who told the Media what Paisley was going through was part of a wider Gen Z “loneliness crisis”.Gen Z, a term used for those born between 1997 and 2012, often referred to as the first ‘digital native’ generation. The Office for National Statistics found Gen Z were the loneliest age group across Britain, with a study showing 33% of those aged between 16 and 29 felt lonely “often, always or some of the time”. That lack of connection has led many to seek advice and support from AI, blurring the line between technology and companionship. A report by youth centre charity Onside found 39% of young people in England aged between 11 and 18 use chatbots for this reason. In the North West, that figure is 38%, and 21% of those who responded said it was easier to talk to AI than to a human. The report containing the figures is based from a survey carried out by YouGov of more than 5,000 young people in England.