TECHNOLOGY

PERTH, Australia — Escalating conflict in the Middle East has triggered the largest oil supply disruption in history, sending crude prices surging and spotlighting vulnerabilities in global energy chains.

China's aggressive embrace of open-source artificial intelligence models is creating a "self-reinforcing competitive advantage" that threatens U.S. leadership in the sector, even as Washington restricts access to advanced chips

Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang stunned the technology world Monday by declaring that artificial general intelligence — long considered the holy grail of AI — has already been achieved, telling podcaster Lex Fridman "I think it's now. I think we've achieved AGI."

Apple's iPhone 18 Pro Max is shaping up as one of the most significant upgrades in years, with rumors swirling around a massive battery capable of up to 40 hours of use, a smaller Dynamic Island edging toward under-display Face ID, and the debut of the company's first 2nm A20 Pro chip as the lineup prepares for a September 2026 unveiling alongside a foldable iPhone.

In a head-to-head comparison of conventional military power, Iran's armed forces outrank Australia on most quantitative measures according to 2026 global assessments, yet experts caution that Australia's smaller, highly trained force — backed by advanced Western technology and strong alliances — would likely prove more capable in a high-intensity, technology-driven conflict far from home.

OpenAI announced Tuesday it will discontinue its standalone Sora video generation app and related services, a surprising move that comes roughly six months after the tool's public launch and just three months after a high-profile partnership with Disney that included a planned $1 billion investment.

Thousands of users worldwide are reporting disruptions to Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot integrated into Elon Musk's social media platform, X.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is steering the artificial intelligence juggernaut through one of its most turbulent and transformative periods, rejecting a massive unsolicited buyout offer from Elon Musk while forging new partnerships with Amazon and the U.S. Department of Defense, even as he grapples publicly with the technology's disruptive impact on jobs and capitalism itself.

LastPass, one of the world's most widely used password managers, faced widespread user complaints of login failures and vault access problems Tuesday, March 24, 2026, prompting the company to acknowledge an internal issue and launch an active investigation.

NEW YORK — LinkedIn is not experiencing a widespread outage Tuesday, with the company's official status page reporting all systems operational and major monitoring services showing no significant problems for the professional networking platform.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are shaping up as significant upgrades when they debut alongside the company's first foldable iPhone in September 2026, with rumors pointing to a smaller Dynamic Island, a variable aperture main camera, a more efficient 2-nanometer A20 Pro chip and potentially record-breaking battery life.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that machine learning-based frame generation technology is on the horizon for PlayStation consoles, a move that could significantly boost perceived frame rates in future games without demanding more raw hardware power.

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is spearheading a major funding round for Halter, a New Zealand-based agtech startup whose AI-powered smart collars for cattle could soon value the company at more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

Sony Group Corp. is pushing forward with its Xperia smartphone lineup in 2026, with leaks and database filings confirming development of the flagship Xperia 1 VIII and mid-range Xperia 10 VIII. The Japanese tech giant reaffirmed its commitment to the mobile division earlier this year amid speculation about potential exits from the competitive market.

Popular graphic design platform Canva experienced a short-lived service disruption on March 23, 2026, affecting some users who reported difficulties loading the website and accessing designs. The issue, which surfaced early in the Australian Eastern Daylight Time zone, was quickly addressed and marked as resolved by Canva's official status page.

Austin, Texas — Elon Musk unveiled an ambitious plan March 21, 2026, for a joint Tesla and SpaceX semiconductor fabrication facility dubbed "Terafab," aiming to produce custom chips on an unprecedented scale to fuel artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles and space-based computing.

Sydney, Australia — In a market where premium devices and brand loyalty drive consumer choices, Apple's iPhone continues to reign supreme over Samsung's Galaxy lineup in Australia

CANBERRA, Australia — As the United States and China accelerate their fierce competition for supremacy in artificial intelligence, Australia finds itself in a precarious position: investing heavily in infrastructure and talent while grappling with slower enterprise adoption, skills shortages and a regulatory approach that prioritizes caution over speed.

Microsoft released an emergency out-of-band update for Windows 11 on March 21, 2026, to resolve widespread sign-in problems affecting Microsoft accounts in apps and services following the March 10 Patch Tuesday security release.

OpenAI confirmed it will begin displaying advertisements to every user on the free and low-cost Go tiers of ChatGPT in the United States in the coming weeks, expanding a pilot program launched earlier this year to help offset massive computational costs and fuel broader access to its AI tools.

Sydney — The persistent "jelly scrolling" issue that has frustrated iPad mini users for years may finally be resolved in Apple's next-generation model, with strong rumors pointing to an OLED display transition in the 2026 iPad mini that could eliminate the problem entirely.

The TCL Note A1 NXTPAPER has emerged as a compelling contender in the growing market for distraction-free digital note-taking devices, blending TCL's proprietary NXTPAPER display technology with a focus on productivity that sets it apart from traditional tablets and conventional e-ink readers.

Sony Interactive Entertainment's PlayStation Network (PSN) faced a widespread but short-lived outage on March 21, 2026, affecting millions of users worldwide and preventing access to online multiplayer features, game launches and social functions on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles.

PlayStation Network (PSN), Sony Interactive Entertainment's online gaming and digital services platform, faced intermittent disruptions late Saturday into early Sunday, affecting players on PS5 and PS4 consoles worldwide. As of early Sunday morning, official channels indicate full restoration, though some users continued reporting lingering connectivity hiccups.

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple's iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are shaping up as major upgrades when they launch in September 2026, with leaks pointing to under-display Face ID, a variable aperture main camera, a record-breaking battery and the A20 Pro chip built on advanced 2nm process technology.

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal jury in San Francisco found Elon Musk liable Friday, March 20, 2026, for misleading Twitter shareholders by deliberately driving down the company's stock price in the months leading up to his $44 billion acquisition in 2022, though it absolved him of broader fraud claims including an intentional scheme to defraud.

As smartphone buyers weigh the latest flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max stand out for their advanced AI capabilities. Released in February 2026 and September 2025 respectively, both devices position artificial intelligence as a core selling point, but they take markedly different approaches.

SEOUL, South Korea — As the Galaxy S26 series settles into the market following its February 2026 launch, early leaks and analyst reports are already shaping expectations for Samsung's next flagship lineup: the Galaxy S27, S27 Plus and S27 Ultra.

RHEINFELDEN, GERMANY – In the world of specialized transport and utility vehicles, the components hidden beneath the chassis are the difference between a seamless operation and a costly breakdown.