👐 OpenAI Confirms First Hardware Device on Track for Late 2026 Debut

OpenAI is "on track" to unveil its first consumer hardware device in the second half of 2026, the company's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane announced Monday at Axios House Davos, marking a major step in the AI company's expansion beyond software into physical products.​

The confirmation comes as OpenAI pursues an ambitious domestic manufacturing strategy, having issued a 10-year Request for Proposals last week seeking U.S.-based partners to produce components for robotics, data center infrastructure, and consumer electronics.​

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🛩 Musk Hints At Ryanair Takeover After Starlink Row

Elon Musk has escalated his clash with Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary by suggesting on X that he might buy the budget airline after O'Leary rejected installing Starlink satellite internet on its 650 planes, warning of 2% extra fuel burn and $200M–$250M in added annual fuel costs on top of a $5B bill.

Musk called that view "misinformed," traded "idiot" insults with O'Leary, ran a poll on whether he should buy Ryanair that drew strong support, and faced questions over whether EU ownership rules would allow such a deal.

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🩹 New Spray Stops Bleeding Instantly

Korean researchers have developed AGCL, a spray-on powder that quickly turns into a gel when it comes into contact with blood, sealing serious wounds in about 1 second.

Made from alginate, gellan gum, and chitosan, AGCL speeds up clotting, fights bacteria, and supports tissue repair, outperforming existing products in mouse liver tests while remaining stable for up to two years at room temperature.

❌ Boycott Apps Surge In Denmark's App Store

Apps designed to help users boycott American products have shot to the top of Denmark's App Store. NonUSA climbed to No. 1 on Wednesday after jumping from No. 441 on January 9, letting users scan barcodes to see where products are made and suggesting Danish alternatives. Made O'Meter, available on iOS and Android, has also surged, reaching No. 5.

Combined daily downloads of NonUSA (iOS) and Made O'Meter (iOS and Google Play) rose 867% over the past week.

While Denmark's App Store is relatively small—around 200,000 total downloads per day—only a few thousand installs can be enough to push an app to the top of the rankings.

💻 NexPhone: A Smartphone Instead of a PC

The startup Nex Computer unveiled its NexPhone at CES 2026. Its main features are a triple-boot function (the ARM version of Windows 11, Android 16, and Debian Linux) and an easy-to-use plug-in desktop mode, like DeX on Samsung smartphones.

Price: $549.
Launch: Q3 2026.

A cute detail: in Windows-mode interface looks like a great reference to the Windows Phone tile style.

🫡 — If you remember Windows Phone

🥇 Lego and Crocs' New Collaboration Lets You Wear Oversized Bricks for Your Feet

Crocs Inc. has teamed up with the Danish toymaker in a multiyear agreement, starting with Lego-shaped clogs as it looks to connect with new consumers.

The clogs will be available globally on Feb. 16, cost $150, and include a Lego minifigure with four pairs of its own miniature Crocs shoes.

👙 Grok Created 3 Million Sexualized Deepfakes

Grok, the AI tool developed by Elon Musk's startup xAI and integrated into X, is estimated to have generated around three million sexualized images following the rollout of a new image-editing feature, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH). The feature allowed users to modify photos of real people using simple text prompts such as "put her in a bikini" or "remove her clothes."

CCDH says about 23,000 images appeared to depict children, triggering widespread outrage, a surge of explicit deepfakes online, and bans of Grok in several countries. Regulators and victims have criticized the tool, raising renewed concerns about safeguards, consent, and the misuse of generative AI for sexual exploitation.

🔴 3 Years of @GPT4Telegrambot

We launched @GPT4Telegrambot 3 years ago on January 26, becoming the first bot to offer GPT-3, DALL-E, and later Midjourney right inside Telegram.

✈️ It took just 2 months and 8 days to reach our first 1M users.

🚀 Over these 3 years, 35M people have used the bot at least once. The bot has handled 1.7B queries and generated more than 200M images.

❤️ Thank you for being with us. We're still a small team working day and night so that everyone can conveniently use the best AI models right inside our favorite Telegram.

🔒 Iran's Internet Blackout Could Become Permanent

Iran is planning to replace its weeks-long internet shutdown with a permanent two-tier system. Under the plan, government-approved elites would keep full access to the global internet, while most citizens would be restricted to a state-controlled national network, with little or no access to the wider web.

Officials say international access will not return before late March, and watchdog Filterwatch, citing government sources, warns it will "never return to its previous form."

💬 Altman Admits OpenAI "Screwed Up" Writing Quality in GPT-5.2

During a live-streamed town hall for developers on Monday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman agreed that the model feels "unwieldy" and "hard to read" compared to GPT-4.5.

"I think we just screwed that up," Altman said.

He promised future versions will surpass GPT-4.5's writing abilities.

🖥 Saudi Arabia May Turn Neom Into an AI Data Hub

Saudi Arabia is considering radically downsizing its 170-kilometer "horizontal mega-skyscraper," The Line, and refocusing the project into a major cluster of AI data centers, insiders told the Financial Times.

Its coastal location near the Gulf of Aqaba may be used for seawater-cooled server farms, with officials saying the site could become a "major center for data centers."

❗️ Waymo Robotaxi Hits Child Near School

A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, causing minor injuries. The incident happened during school drop-off hours, with other children, a crossing guard, and double-parked cars nearby.

The vehicle was traveling at 17 mph when its system detected the child, braked hard, and slowed to 6 mph before contact. The child stood up and walked away, and Waymo said it called 911 and kept the vehicle at the scene until police cleared it.

🧠 UK Patient Calls Neuralink Chip Magical

Sebastian Gomez-Pena, a paralyzed UK medical student, says his new Neuralink N1 implant feels "magical" after a successful surgery at UCL Hospital. As part of the GB-PRIME study, the R1 robot placed 1,024 microscopic electrodes in his motor cortex, offering a "new piece of hope" for those with severe paralysis to regain digital independence.

🎒 Korean Universities Rejected School Bullies

Ten leading South Korean state universities rejected 162 applicants with bullying records during early admissions this year.

A new government mandate requires all admission tracks to penalize past bullying. The Education Ministry allowed universities to independently determine the level of penalties based on the severity of the offense. Some national universities reportedly barred applicants entirely in serious cases, while others deducted points from total scores.

Do you think this is the right move?

❤️ — Yes, absolutely
🤔 — It's too harsh

📲 Apple May Release "iPhone Flip"

Apple is considering a compact clamshell-style foldable iPhone to follow its first book-style iPhone Fold, which is expected to be smaller than Samsung's current foldable flagships.

Should the first foldable succeed, Apple expects it to catalyze demand for even more foldable designs in its future iPhone releases.

Are you waiting for a foldable iPhone?

❤️ — Yes, book-style
🔥 — Yes, small flip
👎 — No

⛔️ Spain To Ban Social Media For Under-16s

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced plans to prohibit children under 16 from accessing social media platforms.

Sánchez says the current internet is a "digital Wild West" that children shouldn't navigate alone. Spain is also preparing a law to hold social media executives personally responsible for hate speech on their platforms.

Australia has become the first country to ban children from using social networks. Now, France and Spain are also considering similar rules.

Should social media be banned for teenagers?

❤️ — Yes
👎 — No

🚘 China Bans Hidden Car Door Handles Since 2027

Retractable door handles can trap people after crashes, regulators insist. This move follows reports of at least 15 fatalities linked to the feature by early 2026, prompting China to implement stricter rules than the ongoing investigations currently seen in the United States.

The new standards require handles to be large enough for a solid grip and ensure that doors can be opened easily from the inside, even after airbag deployment or a battery fire. Major automakers—including Tesla, BMW, Xiaomi, and Nio—must redesign their latest models to comply with the safety mandate.

🎮 Bethesda Brings Fallout 4 And Indy To Switch 2
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Todd Howard closed the Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase with news that Fallout 4: Anniversary Edition hits Switch 2 on February 24, with all DLC and Creation Club content.

On May 12 the console gets Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and later this year The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered will also arrive on Nintendo’s new system.