By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Every January, millions take on Dry January, a ritual of restraint and resetting after the holiday season. If that’s the benchmark for kicking off the year with moderation, Europe’s startup ecosystem clearly didn’t get the memo.  In the opening weeks of 2026, the region saw five startups join the unicorn club, crossing the $1 billion valuation mark across sectors as varied as cybersecurity, cloud optimisation, defence tech, ESG software, and education technology.  January was anything but dry for European companies. This burst of activity signals more than a funding spike; it invites a deeper look at what Europe’s innovation identity…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Hisan Kidwai Anime World Tower Defense is a popular tower defense game in Roblox, where players defend their…
The post Anime World Tower Defense (AWTD) Codes (February 2026) appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

Source:: Computer World

By Alexandru Stan G2 acquires Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner G2 has completed a major acquisition by purchasing three of the world’s most influential software discovery platforms from Gartner. The move significantly reshapes the global B2B software reviews market and strengthens G2’s position in how companies evaluate and buy software. Noora Saksaa appointed CEO of Slush Slush, one of Europe’s most influential tech and startup events, has named Noora Saksa as its new CEO. The leadership change signals a strategic shift toward expanding Slush beyond its annual event and building a year-round global founder platform. France moves public sector away from…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Alina Maria Stan The software industry is increasingly questioning the growing influence of G2 following its agreement to acquire Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner. The deal, announced in late January and expected to close in Q1 2026, consolidates several of the most influential B2B software discovery platforms under a single owner . How big is G2’s footprint after the acquisition? According to G2’s own disclosures, the combined group will host around 6 million verified software reviews and reach more than 200 million software buyers annually across thousands of categories. Individually, the platforms already commanded significant scale: G2 reports over 3 million…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

By Varun Mirchandani Researchers develop ultra-high-resolution micro-LED displays (~1,700 PPI) that could enable near-reality visuals in smartglasses and wearable XR.
The post Why your next smartglasses might finally have crisp visuals appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Varun Mirchandani New thermal diode technology could steer heat one way, preventing overheating and prolonging battery life in phones and other devices.
The post Your phone might stay cool thanks to this new battery breakthrough appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Allison Steffens Herrera We are all familiar with the subscription economy, and it certainly works as a reminder of the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were all hooked on our TVs watching Netflix or listening to our favorite music artist on Spotify. Despite how modern it seems to be, the truth is that the subscription economy has been around for some time, surprisingly dating back to around 1800, with the first magazine subscriptions, or the subscriptions for fresh British milk, around 1860. Over the years, the of subscription-based companies has turned the subscription model into an ideal business strategy since it provides unique benefits.…This story continues at The Next Web

Source:: The Next Web

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Windows developers are now focusing on improving the core experience in Windows 11, with Microsoft reportedly redirecting resources to address the operating system’s performance and reliability issues, according to The Verge.

The move follows criticism of Windows 11 over recurring bugs and performance issues. Many users have also reacted to what they perceive as intrusive ads, bloatware, and unwanted AI initiatives.

“The feedback we’ve received from our community of engaged customers and Windows Insiders has been clear. We need to improve Windows in ways that actually matter to people,” Pavan Davuluri, head of Windows and devices, told The Verge.

“This year, you’ll see us focus on addressing the pain points we hear repeatedly from customers: improving system performance, reliability, and the overall Windows experience.”

Source:: Computer World

It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole that is the hype surrounding Anthropic’s code agent Claude Code, a hype that really took off during the Christmas holidays and — at least in tech circles — is reminiscent of ChatGPT’s arrival three years ago. Claude Code, already being called both “the new ChatGPT” and “the end of SaaS,” and is considered by many to be the next big step in AI development and AI use.

If, like me, you spend a little too much time online, Claude Code has started to completely dominate your feeds lately. Of course, it “helps” that the algorithms give me “more of what I want,” but both LinkedIn and TikTok are overflowing with people talking about the excellence of Claude Code. AI influencers, ordinary developers, curious IT professionals, and, of course, a steady stream of obscure individuals who want to cash in on all the buzz.

People are vibe-coding everything from entire websites to small personal apps and finding new solutions for their workflows. Ethan Mollick, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, wrote about how he had Claude Code build an entire startup. In other circles, there’s talk of Gas Town, an orchestration solution that allows 20 to 30 agents to work in parallel. In San Francisco, it is said, people are letting “Claude swarms control their lives.”

In the last week, Clawdbot (now Moltbot) also jumped on the hype train; it’s a Claude Code-like AI assistant that you give full access to your digital life, if you dare.

It’s all fascinating and often incredibly impressive. Code is seen as the primary use case for generative AI (genAI), and when you see what Claude Code can do, it’s not hard to understand why. I haven’t tested Claude Code myself, even though more than one person has told me that I simply “must.” And I’m not particularly keen to do so (though I will probably get around to it later for purely educational purposes). Let me explain my thinking.

For starters, I’m not a developer and I can’t write code. Now, the point is that Claude Code is supposed to write the code for you, but it’s not quite that simple. The entry barrier is still too high for me, and the road to the really cool stuff is too long. I have a basic understanding of the processes and functions involved in software development, but my knowledge is far from enough.

Anthropic has begun to address this by releasing Claude Cowork, which is described as Claude Code for people who are not developers. That sounds interesting. But here’s the problem: what I’m being asked to do with it, how it’s being sold — it just sounds…boring. For some reason, the first example often highlighted for tools like this is that they can “sort your files on your computer.” That might be a good thing to do, once, if you have a lot of unsorted files on your computer. But it’s hardly a use case that’s worth buying and learning a new tool for.

If you look at what enthusiasts are doing with Claude Code, a lot of it focuses on personal productivity and “optimization,” both at work and in everyday life. That’s something I’m completely uninterested in. Sure, I also read “Getting Things Done” and “The 4-Hour Workweek” 20 years ago, but what I learned above all else was that the deeper you sink into that self-help swamp, the greater the risk you’ll end up spending all your time finding new ways to optimize things. (It’s also sad, but perhaps telling of modern working life, that people need to come up with “hacks” to be able to do their jobs.)

The main reason I’m meh about Claude Code is this: I lack the software perspective. This realization occurred to me recently when I read tech writer Jasmine Sun’s experiences with Claude Code. She points out how people who do parkour over time learn to see a city in ways that the rest of us don’t; they develop a “parkour perspective” where walls and stairs become something completely different from walls and stairs. In the same way, she suggests developers develop a kind of software perspective where all problems can be translated into, and solved by, software.

An ordinary user like me does not have software-related problems. I do not automatically see how something I do can be automated or optimized by a bot. So when I hear that Claude Code can solve my problems, I cannot think of a single one.

I think this perspective says a lot about the use of AI in general and isuseful to keep in mind. That’s true for both super users who hype the new solutions for people who “can’t keep up,” and for companies that are feverishly trying to get their staffers to embrace AI. I don’t think anyone is against a new tool that makes them more productive and facilitates their work, as long as they know what to use it for.

Perhaps companies’ AI training courses should focus less on learning specific tools and more on learning to identify the problems they’re supposed to solve, perhaps even developing a software perspective.

This column is taken from CS Veckobrev, a personal newsletter with reading tips, link tips, and analyses sent directly from editor-in-chief Marcus Jerräng’s desk, each Friday. Sign up for a free subscription here.

Source:: Computer World

By Ana-Maria Stanciuc Apple confirmed this week that it has acquired Israeli AI startup Q.ai in a deal valued at close to $2 billion, making it one of the company’s largest acquisitions ever, second only to the $3 billion purchase of Beats in 2014.  But check your assumptions: this isn’t Beats 2.0. There’s no new headphone brand to flex. Instead, Apple is paying top dollar for tech that might let your devices understand you without you ever saying a word. ​​These days we put our phones on silent so they won’t disturb us; soon the phone will put us on silent so it…This story continues at The Next WebOr just read more coverage about: Apple

Source:: The Next Web

By Paulo Vargas Some blind and low-vision fans will use a Super Bowl tactile device that lets them feel ball movement on a tablet, with live Westwood One audio in headphones to keep every play in sync.
The post Super Bowl tactile device lets your hands follow the ball appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Manisha Priyadarshini Researchers have developed a flexible AI chip thinner than a human hair that could allow future wearables to run intelligence on their own, removing the need for a constant connection to a smartphone.
The post A flexible AI chip thinner than hair promises smart wearables that work without a phone appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

By Deepti Pathak Wobble Displays has recently introduced its latest range of smart TVs in India, including the X Series and…
The post Wobble Launches QLED X Series & 4K K Series TVs in India, Starting at ₹10,999 appeared first on Fossbytes.

Source:: Fossbytes

By Shikhar Mehrotra A leaked promo banner appears to confirm Samsung’s Galaxy S26 launch event for late February, aligning perfectly with months of industry rumors.
The post Samsung leak spoils the Unpacked date for Galaxy S26 series launch appeared first on Digital Trends.

Source:: Digital Trends

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Brotli is one of the most widely used but least-known compression formats ever devised, long incorporated into all major browsers and web content delivery networks (CDNs). Despite that, it isn’t yet used in the creation and display of PDF documents, which since version 1.2 in 1996 have relied on the FlateDecode filter also used to compress .zip and .png files.

That is about to change, though, with the PDF Association moving closer to publishing a specification this summer that developers can use to add Brotli to their PDF processors. The hope is that Brotli will then quickly be incorporated in an update of the official PDF 2.0 standard, ISO 32000-2, maintained by the International Organization for Standardization.

With PDF file sizes steadily increasing, and the number stored in enterprise data lakes ballooning by billions each year, the need for a more efficient compression method has never been more pressing.

The pay-off for using Brotli compression will be smaller PDFs. This will translate into an average of 10% to 25% reduction in file size, depending on the type of content being encoded, according to a 2025 test by PDF Association member Artifex Software.

Unfortunately, for enterprises this is where the work begins. As PDFs written using Brotli compression start to circulate, anyone who hasn’t updated their applications and library dependencies to support it will be unable to decompress and open the new-format files. For PDFs, this would be a first: While the format has added numerous features since becoming an ISO standard in 2008, none have stopped users from opening PDFs.

The most visible software requiring an upgrade to support Brotli includes proprietary PDF creators and readers such as Adobe Acrobat, Foxit PDF Editor, and Nitro PDF. PDF readers integrated into browsers also fall into this category.

Beyond this, however, lies a sizable ecosystem of less-visible open-source utilities, libraries, and SDKs which are used inside enterprises as part of PDF workflows and automated batch processing. Finding and updating these components, often buried deep inside third-party libraries, promises to be time consuming.

If enterprises delay updating, then they risk encountering PDFs created using newer software supporting Brotli that will no longer open on their older, non-updated programs. IT teams will most likely come face to face with this when users contact them to report that they can’t open a file.

Building Brotli support

To kick off adoption, developers need encouragement, said Guust Ysebie, a software engineer with document processing developer Apryse. “Somebody has to jump first and make some noise so other products jump on the bandwagon,” he said.

It’s a challenge because, as he explained in a post about the move to Brotli on the PDF Association’s website, Brotli’s adoption has been slowed because the PDF specification requires consensus across hundreds of stakeholders.

The transition can be eased in three ways, he suggested, the simplest of which is to publicize the need to upgrade across multiple information sources as part of an awareness campaign.

A more radical suggestion is that Brotli-enabled PDFs could be formatted such that, rather than cause older readers to crash, they could show a “not supported” error message encouraging customers to upgrade as a placeholder for the compressed content.

A final tactic is for likeminded developers to take it upon themselves to upgrade open-source libraries. Ysebie said he’s added Brotli support to several libraries, including the iText SDK from Apryse.

“This is how adoption works in real life: Create the feature unofficially, then early adopters implement it, and this causes bigger products to also adopt it,” said Ysebie. The critical moment for adoption of Brotli-enabled software would be its appearance in Adobe Reader. This will happen at some point, but when is still unclear, he said.

The good news is that because there are only a limited number of software libraries to upgrade, adding support to this software should be straightforward, said Ysebie. However, organizations will still have to apply those updated images to their current applications.

As to when Brotli will be added to the ISO PDF 2.0 specification (ongoing since 2015), Ysebie agreed this has a way to go. But the industry had to move on from old technology at some point. “We need to push the ecosystem forward. It will be a little chaotic in the beginning but with a lot of potential for the future.”

Source:: Computer World

Microsoft has for the first time reported Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption stats, boasting this week of 15 million paid seats (individual user licenses). There are “multiples more enterprise chat users” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during the company’s earnings call Wednesday — a reference to Copilot Chat, a simplified version of the AI assistant available to Microsoft 365 customers at no extra cost. (Microsoft did not provide specific figures.)

Analysts said the number of paid user seats lags expectations at this stage, given the company’s efforts to market Microsoft 365 Copilot and position it as central to its AI strategy.

“Microsoft’s disclosure of 15 million Microsoft 365 Copilot paid users represents disappointing uptake of the tool — just 3.3% of the 450 million-strong Microsoft 365 user base, despite reorganizing the Microsoft 365 product and go-to-market around Copilot,” said J.P. Gownder, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester.

“My take is that businesses are still trying to figure out the best way to use Microsoft 365 Copilot, and are hesitant to take on another expense without knowing how it will help their worker productivity,” said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates. 

He expects adoption to increase significantly over the next couple of years, though this will likely be tied to “contractual renewals and obligations that enterprises have to navigate, rather than simply adding on to existing contracts with Microsoft. It’s a similar situation to how enterprises viewed the migration to Microsoft 365 originally,” Gold said.

Microsoft 365 Copilot launched in late 2023 as a paid add-on for Microsoft 365 customers. It’s embedded into productivity applications such as Word, Teams, and Outlook, and is increasingly pitched as an AI agent that can perform tasks autonomously. 

Despite significant business interest in the Microsoft 365 Copilot and its potential to boost employee productivity, adoption has been sluggish. This is due to a range of factors, including a perceived lack of value and concerns about data security and governance.

In its earnings call, Microsoft reported a three-fold increase in the number of customers with more than 35,000 seats, compared to last year. (The total number was not provided.) That rise included deals with Fiserv, ING, NAST, the University of Kentucky, the University of Manchester, the US Department of Interior, and Westpac. “Publicis alone purchased over 95,000 seats for nearly all its employees,” said Nadella. 

In most cases, companies pay for a limited number of Microsoft 365 licenses, assigned to small groups within their workforce “due to the cost and lack of proven, measurable ROI,” said Gownder. 

“So, while a lot of organizations have a few licenses, few organizations hold a lot of licenses,” he said.

Microsoft also announced figures about individual usage. Microsoft 365 Copilot is becoming a “daily habit” for those with access to the AI assistant, Nadella said on the earnings call, with a 10-fold increase in daily active users compared to the previous year. In addition, the average number of user conversations with the AI assistant has doubled in the past year. In neither instance did Microsoft provide specific numbers.

In the medium term, Gownder said, Microsoft is repositioning the value proposition of the Microsoft 365 Copilot paid product. While it’s mostly considered an AI personal assistant inside Office apps, it also offers license holders a “powerful cost-containment promise in a world of growing agentic AI,” he said.

That’s because Microsoft 365 Copilot license holders gain unmetered access to Copilot Agents. “As organizations deploy more and more Copilot Agents, the value proposition of the license will broaden to include unmetered access to agents,” he said. 

The company still needs to prove the tools’ worth to businesses — and users. “Unless Microsoft can improve the Microsoft 365 Copilot product, both as a personal assistant and as an enabler of agentic AI, it might continue to struggle with adoption,” said Gownder.

During the earnings call, Microsoft highlighted increased revenue for its Microsoft 365 productivity suite, up 17%. The number of paid seats increased 6% year-on-year to 450 million, boosted by increased adoption among small and medium businesses. 

Microsoft recently announced price increases for Microsoft 365 customers that will begin July 1.

Source:: Computer World