TECHNOLOGY

NEW YORK — Meta Platforms Inc. has officially ended support for the standalone Facebook Messenger desktop experience, with messenger.com no longer available for messaging as of April 2026 and users now automatically redirected to the integrated Facebook messaging interface at facebook.com/messages.

NEW YORK — Facebook Messenger's standalone website messenger.com stopped functioning for messaging on April 16, 2026, as Meta Platforms Inc. completed a long-planned consolidation that forces desktop users to switch to Facebook's integrated messaging interface at facebook.com/messages.

NEW YORK — Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited shares rocketed more than 54 percent in midday trading Wednesday, surging to around $22.68 as investors piled into the newly public photonic quantum computing company amid a sector-wide rally triggered by Nvidia Corp.'s launch of open-source AI models designed to accelerate quantum research and development.

NEW YORK — Anthropic's popular AI assistant Claude faced fresh disruptions Wednesday as users worldwide reported elevated errors across claude.ai, the API and Claude Code, prompting frantic searches for alternatives and highlighting the growing pains of rapid AI adoption.

NEW YORK — NVIDIA Corp. shares rose more than 1 percent in midday trading Wednesday as investors cheered ongoing production ramps of the company's Blackwell AI platform and expectations for explosive demand in agentic AI systems throughout 2026.

AUSTIN, Texas — Elon Musk reignited excitement around Tesla Inc.'s long-awaited electric semi-truck Wednesday with a simple two-word post on X that quickly racked up millions of views, spotlighting the production-version Tesla Semi as the company prepares for customer deliveries later this year.

NEW YORK — Alphabet Inc. Class C shares edged lower in early trading Wednesday, dipping 0.47 percent to $329.01 as investors paused ahead of the company's first-quarter earnings later this month while weighing heavy artificial intelligence investments against broader market optimism over potential de-escalation in the Middle East.

BOSTON — Boston Dynamics has unveiled a striking new demonstration of its four-legged robot Spot, now empowered by Google's Gemini Robotics AI, autonomously completing everyday household chores from a handwritten to-do list in a residential setting.

AUSTIN, Texas — Elon Musk congratulated Tesla's AI chip design team Wednesday on completing the tape-out of its next-generation AI5 processor, marking a significant step forward in the electric vehicle maker's ambitious push to build custom silicon that could accelerate autonomous driving, humanoid robotics and energy storage optimization.

NEW YORK — Travere Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TVTX) emerged as one of the biotech sector's biggest movers in mid-April 2026 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted full approval for its drug FILSPARI (sparsentan) as the first and only approved treatment for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in patients without nephrotic syndrome, sending shares surging more than 30 percent in a single session and reinforcing a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating among Wall Street analysts.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's long-awaited first foldable iPhone remains on track for a September 2026 launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, with the device entering trial production and featuring a striking wide, tablet-like design that promises the most significant form-factor overhaul in iPhone history, according to the latest reports from supply chain sources and analysts.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max is shaping up as one of the most compelling flagship upgrades in years, with leaks pointing to a powerful 2nm A20 Pro chip, a groundbreaking variable aperture main camera, a significantly smaller Dynamic Island and potentially record-breaking battery life when it arrives alongside a new foldable iPhone in September 2026.

NEW YORK — xAI's Grok 4.20 Beta 2 continues to dominate AI leaderboards in mid-April 2026, achieving top rankings in medicine, legal reasoning and general benchmarks while generating real-world impact, including reports of the AI helping save human and animal lives through accurate medical advice.

NEW YORK — OpenAI has released its latest ChatGPT update on April 9, 2026, introducing GPT-5.3 Instant Mini as a smarter fallback model and launching a new $100-per-month Pro subscription tier, even as the company faces mounting public criticism, subscription cancellations and security concerns.

More adults are choosing digital entertainment that feels easy to access, simple to understand, and comfortable to revisit in short sessions.

NEW YORK — Shares of Rigetti Computing Inc. jumped more than 10% in early trading Tuesday as excitement continued to build around the quantum computing pioneer's recent launch of its most powerful system to date, the 108-qubit Cepheus-1-108Q, now generally available to customers and partners worldwide.

NEW YORK — Google has begun rolling out its April 2026 software update for all supported Pixel devices, urging owners to install it immediately to address a critical security vulnerability and several annoying bugs affecting Android 16 users.

NEW YORK — As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries from data centers to enterprise software, investors are eyeing a select group of companies poised for strong growth throughout 2026 and beyond. With hyperscaler capital expenditure projected to exceed $500 billion and global AI infrastructure investment on track to reach trillions in coming years, the AI boom shows no signs of slowing.

TOKYO — Speculation about Sony's PlayStation 6 continues to swirl in April 2026, with insiders and analysts offering conflicting timelines for the next-generation console while highlighting challenges from the global memory chip shortage driven by artificial intelligence demand.

SEATTLE — Microsoft Outlook is not currently experiencing a widespread outage, with official service health dashboards and user reporting sites showing all major components operational as of Tuesday evening, April 14, 2026.

HAWTHORNE, Calif. — Starlink Mini is proving it can deliver reliable high-speed internet even at highway speeds, SpaceX's official account declared Monday in a post on X that quickly gained traction among travelers and tech enthusiasts.

BEIJING — As China pushes aggressively into artificial intelligence under its latest five-year plan, a mix of tech giants and specialized startups is reshaping the global landscape. With over 6,000 AI firms and a core industry scale exceeding 1.2 trillion yuan ($171 billion) in 2025, the country is closing gaps with U.S. rivals through cost-efficient models, domestic chip breakthroughs and widespread adoption.

With the 2025-26 NBA regular season wrapped up and the playoffs set to begin, the race for the 2026 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player award has narrowed to an unusually deep field of five candidates, each making a compelling case in what analysts have called one of the league's most competitive chases in years.

LOS ANGELES — Sony's next-generation PlayStation 6 remains unannounced, but leaks, insider reports and official hints paint a clear picture of a powerful console targeting a 2027–2028 launch window amid industry-wide component challenges. Here are the 10 key things gamers need to know about the PS6 as development accelerates.

SEOUL — South Korea has rolled out the first production model of its KF-21 Boramae fighter jet, marking a stunning achievement in military aviation: moving from concept to series production in roughly a decade. Experts are hailing the indigenous 4.5-generation platform as a potential game changer for middle-power nations seeking advanced combat capability without the massive costs and delays that plague traditional fifth-generation programs.

Windows is the world's most widely used desktop operating system, which also makes it the most targeted. Hackers, ISPs, data brokers, and surveillance systems all treat Windows machines as prime territory.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple is preparing to enter the foldable smartphone market with its long-rumored iPhone Fold, expected to debut in fall 2026 as one of the most significant redesigns in the iPhone's history. Supply chain reports and analyst predictions point to a book-style device that unfolds from a compact 5.5-inch outer screen to a spacious 7.8-inch inner display, potentially rivaling an iPad mini in productivity while fitting in a pocket when closed.

NEW YORK — Snap Inc. shares climbed Monday to $4.98, up 16 cents or 3.42%, as the Snapchat parent company drew fresh investor interest from a deepened partnership with Qualcomm Technologies to power future generations of its augmented reality Specs, even as the stock trades near multi-year lows ahead of first-quarter earnings.

ESPOO, Finland — Nokia Oyj shares skyrocketed nearly 9% Monday in Helsinki trading to €8.74 as investors piled into the Finnish telecom equipment maker ahead of its first-quarter earnings, following a bullish upgrade from Bank of America that highlighted strong growth potential in optical networks fueled by exploding AI data traffic and hyperscaler spending.