Technology News
Latest technology news and updates
Total: 510
Robots Steal the Show at China’s New Year Gala — and Send Consumer Orders Soaring
Robotic performances at China’s Spring Festival Gala triggered a surge in consumer demand — orders jumped about 150% and several models sold out within minutes. The televised showcase amplified commercial interest in domestic robotics while prompting debate over reliability, safety and the broader geopolitical signal of China’s tech ambitions.
How China’s ‘Red Envelope’ Algorithm Levelled the Playing Field in the Hongbao Scramble
Chinese platforms adjusted hongbao allocation from pure randomness to a "double-average" cap that limits each claim to twice the remaining per-person average. The tweak reduces the early-grabber advantage, preserves randomness and keeps users feeling the distribution is fair while maintaining the ritual’s social and engagement value.
China’s Spring Gala Puts Robots Center Stage — Markets Cheer, Reality Lags Behind
China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala showcased multiple robot makers and shone a spotlight on listed suppliers and investors with exposure to embodied-intelligence technologies. While the public debut boosted attention and prompted capital-market scrutiny, most corporate participants report only small-batch orders and pilot-stage business, leaving the sector’s commercial inflection point uncertain.
Apple Goes Live in Shanghai as Siri Upgrade Stumbles: A Global Experience, Minus a Clear Reveal
Apple has scheduled simultaneous, in‑person “Apple experience” events in Shanghai, New York and London for 4 March, emphasizing hands‑on media engagement while offering no livestream or product clues. The company is also grappling with setbacks to a major Siri upgrade, which may push flagship AI features out of the March iOS 26.4 update into later releases.
Musk’s SpaceX and xAI Join Pentagon Contest to Build Voice‑Controlled Drone Swarms
SpaceX and xAI have entered a Pentagon $100 million prize challenge to build voice‑controlled autonomous drone swarms, joining a small group of competitors. The move highlights the US military’s reliance on commercial innovators while raising technical, legal and geopolitical questions about autonomy, oversight and proliferation.
Spring Gala Turns Robots into Hot Sellers: JD Sees Searches Jump Over 300% and Models Sell Out in Minutes
Exposure on China’s Spring Festival Gala produced a sharp, short‑term surge in robot interest on JD.com — searches jumped over 300%, inquiries rose 460% and orders climbed 150%, with several models selling out within minutes. The event demonstrates the Gala’s power to convert cultural visibility into commerce, but sustaining demand will depend on scaling production, lowering costs and building service networks.
China’s Gala Robot Claims Real-Time Autonomy — Promise or Primetime Performance?
Galaxy General Robots showcased a humanoid, "Xiao Gai," at China’s Spring Festival Gala performing dexterous household tasks and claimed its AstraBrain system made real-time autonomous decisions rather than running pre-scripted routines. The demonstration signals strides in embodied AI and serves as a high-impact marketing moment, but independent verification and real-world robustness remain open questions.
OpenAI Recruits OpenClaw’s Architect to Close the ‘Usability Gap’ in Personal Agents
OpenAI has hired Peter Steinberger, founder of OpenClaw, to lead development of its next‑generation personal agents while converting OpenClaw into an independent non‑profit foundation sponsored by OpenAI. The move aims to close gaps in usability, local execution and multi‑agent coordination that have limited agent adoption, and it escalates competition among major AI players for talent and platform dominance in 2026.
China’s Spring Gala Turns into a Robot Showcase — What the Pageant Means for the Race to Build a ‘Smart’ Humanoid
China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala became a de facto showcase for humanoid robotics, with four domestic firms presenting polished acrobatics, coordinated dance and domestic task demonstrations. The broadcast signalled that motion control and embodied intelligence are maturing, while shifting investor attention from hardware to the ‘brain’ — large embodied models and task‑general AI.
Robots Steal the Show at China’s New Year Gala — Hype, Cash and a Long Road to Everyday Life
Humanoid robots took center stage at China’s Spring Festival Gala, drawing mass attention and investor interest. The spectacle highlights real progress in robotics but also underscores the gap between theatrical demonstrations and practical, affordable deployments for everyday life.
China’s Haiguang DCU Achieves Day‑Zero Support for Qwen3.5, Easing Enterprise LLM Deployments
Haiguang’s DCU has completed Day‑0 adaptation and deep tuning for the Qwen3.5‑397B‑A17B model, offering immediate, pre‑optimised deployment for developers and enterprises. The achievement shortens deployment times and bolsters China’s domestic AI hardware–software stack, though independent performance validation and production testing remain necessary.
China’s Spring Gala Turns Robots into a Consumer Frenzy — JD Searches Spike Over 300%
Robot performances at China’s 2026 Spring Festival Gala triggered a rapid consumer response: JD.com saw robot searches surge over 300% and orders rise 150% within the first two hours. The event showcased robotics to a mass audience, producing immediate sales and raising questions about supply, capability and longer‑term market sustainability.