• The FTC isn’t giving up on its antitrust case against Meta

    January 20, 2026

    The Federal Trade Commission lost its antitrust case against Meta last year, but the regulator hasn’t given up on its attempts to punish the social media company for its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. The FTC is appealing a ruling last year in which a federal judge found that the government hadn’t proven that Meta is currently operating as a monopoly. “Meta has maintained its dominant position and record profits for well over a decade not through legitimate competition, but by buying its most significant competitive threats,” the FTC’s Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera said in a statement. “The…

  • In an effort to protect young users, ChatGPT will now predict how old you are

    January 20, 2026

    As concern for AI’s impact on young people continues to mount, OpenAI has introduced an “age prediction” feature into ChatGPT that is designed to help identify minors and put sensible content constraints on their conversations. OpenAI has been heavily criticized in recent years for the impacts that ChatGPT can have on children. A number of teen suicides have been linked to the chatbot and, like other AI vendors, OpenAI has also been criticized for allowing ChatGPT to discuss sexual topics with young users. Last April, the company was forced to address a bug that had allowed its chatbot to generate…

  • New rules for foreign licence holders in NSW

    January 20, 2026

    New South Wales will soon require those from selected countries to complete driving examinations before a licence from the state is issued. From February 1, 2026, drivers with licences issued by 16 countries will need to pass knowledge and driving tests before a NSW driving licence can be obtained – regardless of their age. Prior to the new rules coming into effect, only those aged under 25 with licences from the listed countries are required to sit the exams. The changes bring New South Wales into line with all other Australian states and territories. CarExpert can save you thousands on…

  • OpenAI is launching age prediction for ChatGPT accounts

    January 20, 2026

    OpenAI is the latest company to hop on the bandwagon of gating access by users’ age. The AI business is beginning a global rollout of an age prediction tool to determine whether or not a user is a minor. “The model looks at a combination of behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time,and a user’s stated age,” the company’s announcement states. If an individual is incorrectly characterized by ChatGPT as underage, they will need to submit a selfie to correct the mistake through the…

  • Elon Musk says Tesla’s restarted Dojo3 will be for ‘space-based AI compute’

    January 20, 2026

    Elon Musk said over the long weekend that Tesla aims to restart work on Dojo3, the electric vehicle company’s previously abandoned third-generation AI chip. Only this time, Dojo3 won’t be aimed at training self-driving models on Earth. Instead, Musk says it will be dedicated to “space-based AI compute.” The move comes five months after Tesla effectively shut down its Dojo effort. The company disbanded the team behind its Dojo supercomputer following the departure of Dojo lead Peter Bannon. Around 20 Dojo workers also left to join DensityAI, a new AI infrastructure startup founded by former Dojo head Ganesh Venkataramanan and…

  • Rad Power Bikes warehouse catches fire following flammable battery warnings

    January 20, 2026

    In a strange twist of fate, a fire broke out this week at the Rad Power Bikes retail store warehouse in Huntington Beach, California, Electrek reports. The structural blaze came less than two months after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned customers to “immediately stop” using and dispose of some of the company’s e-bike batteries due to fire hazard. In December, Rad filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stating it couldn’t afford to recall the batteries. “We’re working with local authorities to review a thermal incident that occurred at our Huntington Beach store Sunday evening,” a Rad Power Bikes…

  • Trump administration admits DOGE may have misused Americans’ Social Security data

    January 20, 2026

    Two members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency may have accessed and shared Social Security numbers in an effort to help an advocacy group “overturn election results in certain States” last year, according to court documents.  The revelation, which was first reported by Politico, comes as part of a series of corrections to previous testimony by top Social Security Administration officials related to legal battles over DOGE’s access to Social Security data.  Neither the two DOGE members, nor the advocacy group, are named in the court documents. In March 2025, a political advocacy group contacted two members of the…

  • Ford open to re-entering sedan segment in the US

    January 20, 2026

    Ford might return with a sedan to the US market after dumping the traditional body style back in 2020. With the average transaction price on a new car in the US now north of US$50,000, and an on-going cost-of-living problem, Bill Ford, chairman of Ford, was asked at the recent Detroit motor show about affordability. In response, Mr Ford said, “Can you engineer vehicles that are fundamentally lower-cost so that you can pass that on to the consumer? And that’s what we’re working on.” CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. Ford Taurus/Mondeo…

  • Earth is having some issues, so let’s enjoy the Webb telescope’s new nebula image

    January 20, 2026

    Sometimes, you just need to give your mind a little vacation. And these days, outer space sounds like as good a destination as any. Thankfully, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is here to give us a dazzling new image of the Helix Nebula. Discovered in the early 19th century, the Helix Nebula resides in the constellation Aquarius. (Cue The 5th Dimension.) At about 655 light-years away, it’s one of Earth’s closest planetary nebulae. When zoomed farther out, it’s easy to see why it’s been nicknamed the Eye of God or Eye of Sauron. This 2004 image from the Hubble…

  • Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says tariffs are starting to drive up product prices

    January 20, 2026

    Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says consumers are beginning to see higher prices as sellers look to absorb added costs from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Jassy told CNBC that Amazon and many of its third-party sellers stocked up on inventory ahead of the tariffs to keep prices low, but most of that supply ran out last fall. “So you start to see some of the tariffs creep into some of the prices, some of the items, and you see some sellers are deciding that they’re passing on those higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices, some are deciding…