By Hisan Kidwai Republic Day is almost upon us, and so is the Republic Day sale on Flipkart. This…
The post Asus Republic Day Sale: ExpertBook Series Gets Up To ₹16,000 Discount appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Manisha Priyadarshini A chip that produces microscopic “earthquakes” could change smartphone design, allowing manufacturers to shrink internal components while boosting signal handling and data speeds using surface acoustic wave technology.
The post This chip can make future phones thinner and faster through tiny ‘earthquakes’ appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

It’s important to put into context Apple’s decision to turn its industry standard creative apps into a subscription-based service. The context is that people are more prepared than ever to pay for access, rather than ownership — a mantra that’s been muttered in the back rooms of content creation since before Napster.

One way to get some sense of how this transformation manifests itself is to consider the latest app market data from Appfigures (via TechCrunch). That data tells us that while app downloads via the App Store and Google Play are declining (down 2.7% year-over-year), spending increased 21.6%, representing a move to in-app and subscription-based purchases for the fifth consecutive year. 

There is still plenty of life in the app market, of course, which generated an estimated 106.9 billion downloads last year, but the money – and consumer acceptance – is shifting. It also matters that spending on non-game apps now exceeds the value of the mobile games side of the market, which tells us app shoppers are ready to pay for the value of access to productivity apps.

Acceptance, but not at any price

Combine the trends and it’s evident that not only are people more prepared to subscribe to apps than in the past, but that they’re beginning to see the value in doing so. (That doesn’t excuse greed — how many users winced at recent price increases for Office 365, for example? Who else using creative apps feels as if the price they’re paying is far more painful than any “Apple tax”?)

Apple’s Creator Studio comprises two of the world’s most widely used creative apps, along with Photoshop competitor Pixelmator Pro. The suite also includes specialized tools for audio and video, and Apple’s own Office-compatible apps for spreadsheets, presentations, documents, and collaboration. The cost? $12.99 a month.

We can only speculate for now about the probable success of the bundle once it launches later this month, but we can already take an objective look at the timing of the release:

It comes as consumers are more ready than ever to subscribe to apps.

It arrives as many content creators recognize the value of app subscriptions.

It also walks into the room as consumers everywhere express deep dissatisfaction with the prices other leading app developers charge for subscriptions.

In other words, Creator Studio’s release seems well timed.

Cooking with Tim

Apple CEO Tim Cook saw it coming way back when he began to focus on services. “Our goal is to double the size of the services business in the next four years,” he said at that time. Apple achieved that in two years, and this side of its business generated more than $100 billion in revenue at roughly 75% margins in 2025. 

In early 2026, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, confirmed that more than 850 million people use at least one Apple service each week. That’s not only a living example of market penetration, it’s also an illustration of market reach. It shows that every week, one in 10 of all the humans alive today use an Apple service of some kind.

We know that in today’s market reality – characterized by conflict and polarization, political differences and international tension – it makes more sense than ever to build business around ultra-portable goods that are relatively easy to replicate. That’s the beauty of digital. 

For business it can also be about turning existing physical products and services into digital products that provide predictable, recurring income. Apple has done this (I remember Final Cut in a box), and it’s not alone. Everything from supermarket loyalty to diet and fitness apps illustrates the shift.

Apple’s latest decision highlights the extent to which the app industry has come of age. 

Life after the App Store

It should also be understood in a second context: life after the App Store. We learn once again just how dumb all governments have become each time we read the news, so it’s no surprise that regulation is chipping away at the App Store model. 

The eventual end product of this continued erosion will likely be a proliferation of App Stores, most of which will be led by companies building such outlets around their key and popular apps. (We’ll also gain higher prices and less security, but regulators seem to think that’s just fine.)

That’s why the publishers of those apps, including some games developers, have been so vehement in campaigning for app market liberalization. They aren’t doing it for your benefit, but to create new vehicles for capital accumulation for themselves.

What Apple has done by introducing its own Creative Studio product is play those incoming opponents at the same game. Sure, there may be many app stores, but if you want to use Apple’s industry standard products, you’ll subscribe at Apple’s store.

Eventually, Apple will extend the monetization of those products and services with in-app purchases, likely starting with premium templates and Canva-like AI-augmented design tools. In other words, by creating the new suite, Apple is also building an approach for life after the App Store. 

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

Companies struggling to keep up with the arrival of AI agents should buckle up: even more complicated technologies are quickly coming down the pike.

That includes physical AI, which includes robots — and which Nvidia pegs as a multibillion-dollar market —and quantum computing. Both are likely to disrupt a number of industries in the coming years. 

Companies can either adapt quickly and stay ahead of the curve or they will remain left behind, according to Joe Depa, chief innovation officer for Ernst & Young (EY).

Not surprisingly, the tax and advisory firm is taking a big interest in future looking technologies. The company has a history of embracing new technologies and advising clients on how to handle them.

Computerworld sat down recently with Depa to get his take on AI projects in the enterprise, the role of consultants and how companies can adapt to new technologies beyond AI agents. 

Many surveys show lots of AI proofs-of-concept, but very few get to production. What are you seeing on the ground right now? “The speed of technology evolution is accelerating. We’re moving from generative AI to agentic AI to physical AI, with quantum right behind it. ChatGPT was invented three years ago, and you’re seeing headlines around not getting value out of AI, but you’re also seeing clients get value.

“Some experimentation is standard for any technology life cycle, which is innovation theater in the beginning. But you’re now getting tangible use cases where AI is having impact.

“When we talk about agentic AI, we have use cases focused not just on productivity —particularly in back-office functions like finance, procurement, HR. Agentic AI is disrupting the software development life cycle. That area is ripe for agentic AI. Then physical AI is coming soon.”

Is AI adoption more like a sequential journey — getting one technology right before moving to the next — or is everything happening simultaneously? “The convergence of technology is happening all at once. You’ve got new processes being put in place while simultaneously replacing legacy infrastructure. You’ve got new technology, new talent being rolled into this convergence. Meanwhile, physical AI and quantum are coming quickly on top of agentic.

“Adaptability is the new job security. The ability to adapt is the most important skill for employees and the most important organizational differentiator. Organizations that can adapt quickly to new technology, redefining processes and training — that’s how they’ll differentiate. The ones that can’t will fall behind.”

With so many technologies emerging, how do you prepare for business changes that people can’t even yet anticipate? “It’s becoming not a technology issue as much as a business and process issue. The technology — whether AI, agentic AI, physical AI, or quantum — mostly exists to solve today’s problems. The issue is training, people, and adoption.

“Take healthcare. Robotic surgeries can be performed in some key categories at or better than human surgery. The robotic surgeon, if trained appropriately, isn’t tired, takes out the human emotional element, and performs surgery with laser-like precision.

“There’s a doctor shortage everywhere. Robotic surgeries remove some compression on the system and provide better health outcomes. But getting surgeons to adopt robotic surgery is a challenge. How do I train doctors on these robots? 

“In some cases, there’s resistance because they don’t think robots can do it as well, even if you show them data. The technology’s there, we know it works. But if I can’t get hospitals and doctors to adopt it, it doesn’t matter. It’s less of a technology challenge, more of a change management challenge.”

How do you educate customers? Do you focus on solving the data problem first, or are people rushing to get agents in place either way? “It’s a combination. Some industries, like financial services and healthcare [and] precision medicine — financial services has over-invested for decades in data and data quality for compliance reasons. They can use it for AI and quantum. Precision medicine is another category with high data quality.

“But without the right data, infrastructure, and sandbox, you’ll spread yourself too thin. You may try things, but it doesn’t get you value. Without a defined use case and focus area, you create innovation theater.

“Companies are getting focused on that first step: What use case am I trying to solve? If I can get specific around the use case or business outcome, then the next question is, ‘Do I have the right data’? 

“If I have the right data, let’s simulate and use this technology to produce the outcome. And if we have the right outcome, is it going to change behavior in your organization? What action are we taking? It’s the use case, the data, the simulation, and there has to be actual outcome or action to get out of innovation theater.”

What role do partners and consultants play in AI deployment? How does consulting fit in when AI is supposedly replacing consultants? “What’s starting to happen is an open innovation ecosystem. The world’s moving quickly, so you have to leverage alliance partners more closely. If you want to experiment with quantum, your best bet is not to build your own quantum computer. Partner with somebody.

“We pick a few partners we trust with similar business strategies. We create an open innovation ecosystem where we’re lockstep in how we go to market. That’s important because it provides the speed you need.

“When you ask about consulting, what people need is really smart people that understand technology, data and AI, that can help identify business problems and solve them using technology more efficiently.

“If consulting services changes, it’ll change to deliver services more effectively. It comes down to talent. Do you have people that know how to deploy AI and agentic AI? Do you have people that orchestrate across multi-vendor environments? Do you have people that understand regulatory risk compliance? 

“Consulting firms with the right talent are going to see great success. You’ll see more opportunity, but also bifurcation. Without that, those consulting services will go away.”

Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc In January 2026, London’s mayor gave a blunt warning that has reverberated far beyond City Hall: artificial intelligence could trigger “mass unemployment” in the capital’s core industries unless policymakers act now. His words came with an unexpected counterweight: an announcement of free AI training and a dedicated task force to help workers adapt. This juxtaposition captures a tension shaping Europe’s labour landscape: fear and opportunity locked in the same story. The anxiety isn’t limited to one city. Across the continent, debates about AI’s impact on jobs are intensifying. Visionaries and critics paint dramatically different pictures. Some technologists warn that advanced…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Hisan Kidwai It’s safe to say that the gaming handheld market in India is in its infancy. We…
The post I Daily Drove the Asus ROG Xbox Ally for a Month — It’s the Best Windows Handheld appeared first on Fossbytes.

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By Deepti Pathak KRAFTON India has partnered with Royal Enfield to bring a new experience to BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA….
The post Krafton Teams up With Royal Enfield To Bring Iconic Bikes in BGMI appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

Chinese company Zhipu AI has trained image generation model entirely on Huawei processors, demonstrating that Chinese firms can build competitive AI systems without access to advanced Western chips.

The model, released on Tuesday, marks the first time a state-of-the-art multimodal model completed its full training cycle on Chinese-made chips, Zhipu said in a statement. The Beijing-based company trained the model on Huawei’s Ascend Atlas 800T A2 devices using the MindSpore AI framework, completing the entire pipeline from data preprocessing through large-scale training without relying on Western hardware.

The achievement carries strategic significance for Zhipu, which the US Commerce Department last year added to a list of entities acting contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests over its alleged ties to China’s military. The designation effectively cut the company off from Nvidia’s H100 and A100 GPUs, which have become standard for training advanced AI models, forcing Chinese firms to develop alternatives around domestic chip architectures.

Followign that listing, Zhipu began collaborating with Huawei on GLM-Image. Huawei’s Ascend processors have become the primary alternative for Chinese AI companies restricted from purchasing Nvidia’s hardware. The model’s successful training on Ascend chips provides a data point that Chinese firms can develop competitive AI systems despite restricted access to Western chips.

“This proves the feasibility of training high-performance multimodal generative models on a domestically developed full-stack computing platform,” Zhipu’s statement added.

Zhipu has made GLM-Image available through an API for 0.1 yuan (approximately $0.014) per generated image. The company released the model weights on GitHub, Hugging Face, and ModelScope Community for independent deployment.

The pricing positions GLM-Image as a cost-effective option for enterprises generating marketing materials, presentations, and other text-heavy visual content at scale.

Technical approach and benchmark performance

GLM-Image employs a hybrid architecture combining a 9-billion-parameter autoregressive model with a 7-billion-parameter diffusion decoder, according to Zhipu’s technical report. The autoregressive component handles instruction understanding and overall image composition, while the diffusion decoder focuses on rendering fine details and accurate text.

The architecture addresses challenges in generating knowledge-intensive visual content where both semantic understanding and precise text rendering matter, such as presentation slides, infographics, and commercial posters.

On the CVTG-2K benchmark, which measures accuracy in placing text across multiple image locations, GLM-Image achieved a Word Accuracy score of 0.9116, ranking first among open-source models. The model also led the LongText-Bench test for rendering extended text passages, scoring 0.952 for English and 0.979 for Chinese across eight scenarios including signs, posters, and dialog boxes.

The model natively supports multiple resolutions from 1024×1024 to 2048×2048 pixels without requiring retraining, the report added.

Hardware optimization strategy

Training GLM-Image on Ascend hardware required Zhipu to develop custom optimization techniques for Huawei’s chip architecture. The company built a training suite that implements dynamic graph multi-level pipelined deployment, enabling different stages of the training process to run concurrently and reducing bottlenecks.

Zhipu also created high-performance fusion operators compatible with Ascend’s architecture and employed multi-stream parallelism to overlap communication and computation operations during distributed training. These optimizations aim to extract maximum performance from hardware that operates differently from the Nvidia GPUs most AI frameworks target by default.

The technical approach validates that competitive AI models can be trained on China’s domestic chip ecosystem, though at what cost in development time and engineering effort remains unclear.

Zhipu did not say how many processors or how long it took to train its model, nor how the requirements compared to equivalent Nvidia-based systems.

Implications for global AI development

For multinational enterprises operating in China, GLM-Image’s training on domestic hardware provides evidence that Chinese AI infrastructure can support state-of-the-art model development. Companies with Chinese operations may need to evaluate whether to develop strategies around platforms like Huawei’s Ascend and frameworks like MindSpore.

The release comes as Chinese companies invest in domestic AI infrastructure alternatives. Whether export controls will slow or accelerate the development of parallel AI ecosystems remains a subject of policy debate.

This article first appeared on Infoworld.

Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Belgian cybersecurity startup Aikido Security has closed a $60 million Series B funding round at a $1 billion valuation, marking a rare unicorn milestone for a European security company and highlighting the accelerating interest in developer-centric security platforms. The round was led by DST Global, a tech-oriented investment firm with a track record of backing major technology companies, and included participation from PSG Equity, Notion Capital, and Singular. Founded in 2022, Aikido has reached a billion-dollar valuation in just three years, a pace few cybersecurity firms attain, and according to company sources, the fastest in Europe. The new capital will…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Paulo Vargas Samsung XR smart glasses may launch in two versions. A leak cites model numbers SM-O200P and SM-O200J, plus a 12MP autofocus camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and transition lenses on one variant.
The post Samsung XR smart glasses leak says you may see two versions appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Apple on Tuesday confirmed that it’s working with Google Gemini to build AI Foundation Models used across its platforms. As the joint statement explained it: “Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.

“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users. Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”

What is the partnership structure?

The announcement confirms that Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration partnership in which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models.

Is it an exclusive deal?

The arrangement allows Apple to work with other AI providers, including OpenAI, if it wants.

What about the money?

We do not know the financial terms of the deal. Bloomberg at one point claimed Apple intended to pay around $1 billion a year to use Gemini, but the actual terms weren’t disclosed, nor are they likely to be. But both companies can already anticipate additional scrutiny on their financial statements in the coming months.

What is the deployment model?

Apple’s plan is to use its own self-customized version of Gemini, tweaked to make sure queries are handled in Apple’s preferred fashion. Apple Insider reports the absence of any mention of Google or Gemini in the UI. Essentially, Apple will use Gemini to form the base of Apple Foundation Models it will make for itself. Apple can also ask Google to tweak aspects of how the Gemini models work.

What price privacy?

Apple cares about privacy. That is why the AI features will run either on-device or using Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, not on Google’s servers. It will be possible to use third-party cloud services for complex problems, if required. But the use of Apple’s own servers means Google won’t have direct access to user data.

What will happen as a result?

With Gemini as its foundation, Apple can now deliver:

A major Siri overhaul, rolling out this spring.

Even more evolved on-device contextual understanding that will follow in months, as Apple Intelligence becomes able to figure out data, such as identifying your relatives, on your behalf.

A Siri that’s better at conversational responses and also more likely to at least try to find the correct response, rather than saying it doesn’t understand.

The ability to create documents, and eventually remember past conversations and make proactive suggestions based on information from your apps

It is important to note that as Apple builds future Foundation Models on the foundation of Gemini, Apple developers will likely also gain access to using those models within their apps. 

Why Gemini?

Apple is relying on Gemini to form the base model for its own AI development. It will then tweak and train those models to create its own agent. Max Weinbach has written an excellent review of how this could work. He estimates that Apple is effectively covering the cost of Google’s future models within the deal.

Why did this happen?

We’ve had months of reporting about how and why Apple seemingly missed a trick with AI, and at least one technical problem has been publicly disclosed. Craig Federighi, Apple’s vice president for software, told staffers that Apple had intended to merge its existing automation systems with generative AI. “We initially wanted to do a hybrid architecture, but we realized that approach wasn’t going to get us to Apple quality,” he said.

We’ve also heard about internal conflicts, poor leadership, and unexpected challenges in the work. This may not matter now as Apple leans into Gemini.

What analysts say

“For Apple, partnering, rather than building an end-to-end AI proprietary model stack, could compress time-to-market and reduce execution risk by leveraging mature, already-deployed technology.” — Anisha Bhatia, senior technology analyst at GlobalData.

“For the people asking if the Apple-Google deal means there is no differentiation, think about it in F1 terms: multiple teams run the same engine, yet deliver vastly different results based on design and setup. Same here.” — Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi.

“Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role, with ChatGPT remaining positioned for complex, opt-in queries rather than the default intelligence layer.” — Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research.

What is the rollout schedule?

Apple will introduce some new features this spring, aiming to keep to earlier promises. More sophisticated features, including proactive AI, will likely be announced at WWDC for introduction later this year, The Information reports.

What next?

Ask Siri in spring.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

Source:: Computer World

By Nadeem Sarwar The RayNeo X3 Pro smart glasses are built atop Android foundations and heavily rely on Gemini, serving it all atop an invisible screen and “normal” form factor. It’s only plagued by the curse of a first generation product.
The post I finally found AI smart glasses that offer a true glimpse of the future appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Alexandru Stan A private network for founders and executives, limited to 1,000 members The Next Web today announces the launch of TNW Council, a private membership community created for founders and executives leading technology companies. The Council is limited to 1,000 members globally. Each member is selected through an application and review process. The Council is designed to bring together experienced leaders who want peer conversations, meaningful connections, and visibility through editorial and event participation. Members gain editorial participation opportunities across the platform, access to curated expert panels, and verified executive profiles. They receive priority access to conferences, invitations to private gatherings…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Deepti Pathak Samsung fans are already looking ahead to the Galaxy S26 Ultra, which is expected to arrive…
The post Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Rumours: New Design, Faster Charging, and a Delayed March Launch appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Moinak Pal A new near-planar OLED light extraction method could deliver brighter, more efficient displays for smartphones, TVs, and future flexible devices.
The post Scientists are teaching OLED screens how to shine smarter appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Shikhar Mehrotra A hidden Google app suggests the company’s smart glasses won’t scream for attention; instead, they’ll listen, pause, and politely step aside when real life takes over.
The post Google app leak gives us a glimpse of life with smart glasses and meaningful controls appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Omair Khaliq Sultan If you like the idea of health tracking but you don’t want a smartwatch on your wrist 24/7, a smart ring is the most “set it and forget it” option. The Samsung Galaxy Ring is down to $299.99, saving you $100 off the $399.99 compared value. It’s a meaningful discount on a newer category of […] The post The Samsung Galaxy Ring is $100 off right now at $299.99 appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

Slack has launched the revamped version of Slackbot, with generative AI (genAI) features that let workers more easily find information and create documents. 

The feature is generally available for certain paid Slack plans as of today, the company announced Tuesday. Down the road, it will coordinate other AI agents to complete tasks in other apps.

“The new Slackbot release addresses a common AI challenge: generating accurate responses that are informed by relevant context,” said Wayne Kurtzman, research vice president at IDC. “Since Slack is often integrated across a large number of enterprise applications, it a logical choice to create an enterprise search that lives within the flow of work.”

There are already numerous AI assistants available to office workers, from general purpose assistants such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude to the AI tools built into productivity apps sold by Google, Microsoft, Notion, Zoom, and others. 

Slackbot’s strength is that it’s built natively into Slack’s collaboration app, said Rob Seaman, chief product officer and interim CEO at Slack. This means it immediately has knowledge of a user’s work life, with access to conversation and files, as well as enterprise data from connected sources. 

“The advantages are proximity and context,” Seaman said in an interview. “It knows what you’re working on, and it knows what your company’s priorities are because it can access what you have access to within Slack.” 

Slackbot has been around since Slack launched more than a decade ago. Slack users will likely have received notifications via the bot, or used it for simple tasks such as setting reminders. The previous version relied on rule-based automation, while the updated assistant is powered by a large language model (LLM). (Slack declined to say which LLM it uses; CNBC and Venturebeat reported that it relies on  Claude.)

Slack users can converse with Slackbot in natural language as they do with most AI assistants. One of the primary use cases is search: Slackbot can query all data a user is permitted to access across Slack and Salesforce, as well as connected enterprise sources such as Google Drive and OneDrive. This can help users track down files, or get a summary of the progress of a particular project, for instance. 

Slackbot can also generate Slack canvas documents based on user prompts, and check calendars to help set up meetings between coworkers.

Salesforce, Slack’s parent company, trialed the AI assistant internally prior to launch, with 25,000 weekly active users in just a few weeks “through word of mouth,” said Seaman. “We didn’t do any in-product nudging.”

Seaman highlighted some of the ways the AI assistant has been used by the Slack product engineering team. Before a recent all-hands meeting, for instance, he asked Slackbot check the meeting deck and provide guidance on how to pronounce the names of more than 60 new hires. The AI assistant has also been used to collate product development feedback from a Slack channel. 

“In seconds, I have a summarized view of the feedback — positive and negative — which would have taken a product manager hours or maybe a week historically,” he said. Slackbot then turned the feedback into a product brief and a sprint plan, creating canvas documents with information for the engineering team, he said. And sales teams at the company used Slackbot to get a quick rundown of clients they haven’t spoken to yet in relation to a particular product. 

Seaman also described plans to enable Slackbot to interact with other AI agents. 

There are already many examples of customers deploying agents into Slack, he said, whether custom-built Agentforce agents or the likes of Atlassian, Cursor, Claude Code, and OpenAI Codex. “Users shouldn’t have to think about what agent to go to and for what task,” he said, stressing the company wants Slackbot to “act as a concierge and make hand-offs to the appropriate task or tool or agent in the moment.” That will mean Slackbot acting as a model context protocol (MCP) client as well as server, he said, though the “handoff” will be built into the Slack UI. 

“We think of it as a super agent that’s going to help you connect with these other agents … and ideally they speak to each other,” said Seaman.

These features are still under development and not currently available. 

Other planned capabilities include the ability for Slackbot to access a user’s screen (opt-in required) to view information such as a canvas document they are working on. 

Slackbot is now generally available to customers on Business+ and Enterprise+ plans. The rollout follows pricing changes last year that eliminated separate AI add-ons and raised the price of the Business+ tier to $15 per user per month.

Source:: Computer World

Apple is going full throttle in the run-up to its Q1 FY26 fiscal call at the end of this month, boosting investor confidence with its AI partnership with Google and following that up with an announcement to inject even more growth into its all-important services division.

Introducing Apple Creator Studio

For decades, Apple has published two of the industry’s leading products for creative professionals, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. It has accompanied these with powerful tools such as Motion, Compressor, and Main Stage, and useful productivity apps including Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. (Apple also acquired Pixelmator Pro in 2024.)

All these apps have now been combined into one subscription-based product Apple calls Creator Studio. For just $12.99 per month, Apple customers can subscribe to and use all of these creative apps, including advanced tools not available in the free versions of some of the included applications. The apps are all available for Macs. most are available for the iPad, and some (such as Keynote or Pages) are also for iPhone users.

Apple continues to sell the Mac versions of Final Cut Pro, Pixelmator Pro, Logic Pro, Motion, Compressor, and MainStage as one-time purchases on the Mac App Store, while Keynote, Numbers, and Pages are also still available for free. And Apple’s powerful image editing application, Pixelmator Pro, is available for the iPad — and compatible with Apple Pencil.

One thing that should be clear is that with its industry leading creative tools, Creator Studio represents an immediate challenge to other far more expensive imaging, video, and audio suites on the market.

What you get in Apple Creator Studio 

In brief, the suite offers the following:

Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and Pixelmator Pro on Macs and iPads.

Motion, Compressor, and MainStage on the Mac.

Intelligent features and premium content for Keynote, Pages, and Numbers, with Freeform support to follow.

While Mac users can continue to purchase one-time versions of all the apps, iPad users will need a subscription to access the suite. Apple stresses that Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will “remain free for all users to create, edit, and collaborate with others” and will also continue to receive updates.

“Apple Creator Studio is a great value that enables creators of all types to pursue their craft and grow their skills by providing easy access to the most powerful and intuitive tools for video editing, music making, creative imaging, and visual productivity — all levelled up with advanced intelligent tools to augment and accelerate workflows,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of internet software and services, said in a statement. 

“There’s never been a more flexible and accessible way to get started with such a powerful collection of creative apps for professionals, emerging artists, entrepreneurs, students, and educators to do their best work and explore their creative interests from start to finish,” he said.

What’s the approach?

So, if some of the apps are available free or as standalone purchases, why switch to a subscription? Apple’s approach is two-fold: 

First, given the prevalence of piracy when it comes to powerful creative apps, making software available at prices people can more easily afford makes sense; $12.99 for leading tools for audio, video, and photography seems like an approachable price, which should go some way to preventing people from downloading malware invested versions of these apps from various dodgy file repositories. Security firms, including Jamf, have identified many instances in which pirated versions of Final Cut have been infested with malware. 

Second, it looks as if Apple will field new tools and features for the subscription-based apps first. Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and Freeform users will be able to access new premium content and intelligent features across Macs, iPads, and iPhones, the company said.

With 2.5 million people already using Final Cut Pro, Apple must surely hope the suite will be a sufficiently compelling proposition to tempt them to switch to a subscription.

Now with Apple Intelligence (and friends)

Hot on the heels of news of its AI partnership with Google Gemini, it should be of no surprise that Apple is also weaving a series of intelligent new features into the Creator Studio apps. It is also easy to imagine how Apple will be able to augment all of its creative apps with smart features down the road.

Among the smart features within the current Creator Studio:

You can search for specific soundbites across hours of video footage by typing the required phrase in Final Cut.

You find specific clips and actions using Visual Search.

Beat Detection uses AI to instantly analyze any music track to display on a grid in Final Cut to help align cuts to the music.

You get a new AI driven Synth Player in Logic Pro.

Chord ID can turn any audio or MIDI recording into a ready-to-use chord progression.

You can search for specific or similar loops in Logic Pro tracks using written prompts.

Keynote, Pages, and Numbers gain access to the Content Hub, a repository of high-quality images, graphics, and illustrations, along with new premium templates and themes. The three apps also gain advanced image creation and editing tools to craft high-quality images from text using generative models from OpenAI.

Keynote subscribers will be able to use a smattering of in-development AI features, such as the ability to generate a first draft of a presentation from a text outline.

Apple’s services segment generated more than $100 billion in revenue in 2025. Developing this side of the multinational enterprise has been a big success for the company, particularly as the margins it generates on services are very high (75%). The decision to introduce Apple Creator Studio as a service can only drive these numbers higher.

The suite will be available beginning on Jan 28. In addition to the $12.99 per month price, users can opt to pay $129 a year. 

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Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc For years, online shopping followed a fixed path. Search bar, product grid, filters, checkout. The interface barely changed, even as everything else on the internet did. That path is now breaking. Monday 12 January, 2026, JD Sports Fashion plc (JD Group) became one of the first large retailers to let US customers search and buy sneakers directly inside AI chatbots, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini. No website visit. No app. Just a conversation that ends with a payment. Basically, a customer can chat with an AI bot, say “add these shoes to my cart,” and complete a purchase in…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web