AfterDawn: Tech news

News written by Petteri Pyyny

AfterDawn: News

AfterDawn's 27th birthday

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 10 Jun 2026 2:18

AfterDawn's 27th birthday Wow. Our site has reached the infamous "rock star age" of 27 years.

Yup, AfterDawn was officially launched on 10th of June, 1999 - back in the days when AltaVista was the leading search engine and Napster had just launched only couple of days before.

World has changed a lot since those days, but we are still here. Not as young and maybe not quite as cocky as we used to be - but very much alive.

As always, I'd like to thank all of you who have supported our site over all these years. Thank you, everybody!

-Petteri Pyyny, CEO
AfterDawn Oy





AfterDawn: News

Apple's iPhone AI updates won't be seen in Europe, possibly ever

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 08 Jun 2026 3:54

Apple's iPhone AI updates won't be seen in Europe, possibly ever Apple unveiled a massive pile of AI features for all of its devices, from iPhones to Macs, at the WWDC 2026 event.

But not a single one of the updates shown at the event will be seen on iPhones or iPads sold in the European Union.

Apple blames the European Union and the fact that both the iPhone and iPad are defined as so-called core platform services under the EU's Digital Markets Act legislation.

The term means that they have such a significant market position in their own product category that they are subject to stricter rules to prevent restrictions on competition than smaller players are (Android and Windows are also classified as operating systems in a similar way).

Put simply, it means that no new significant functionalities may be added to these operating systems unless, at the same time, it is made possible for other companies to offer equivalent, competing solutions on the same platform.

The EU takes the view that Apple should offer AI assistants competing with Siri the same kind of access to the data stored on users' phones as Siri has. In addition, other AI assistants comparable to Siri should also be able to control other apps on the device - just as Siri can.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple goes all in with AI: Apple Intelligence, Siri AI try to catch up with rivals

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 08 Jun 2026 3:48

Apple goes all in with AI: Apple Intelligence, Siri AI try to catch up with rivals At its summer 2026 WWDC event, Apple finally began its attempt to catch up after several years of lagging behind in the field of artificial intelligence, unveiling a range of new AI-powered technologies aimed at narrowing the gap with its competitors.

Almost the entire event focused on AI and how it will be integrated throughout Apple's upcoming operating systems, from the iPhone's iOS all the way to the Mac's macOS.

The company's central message was that, thanks to the announcements made today, the long-standing AI assistant Siri will finally work the way it was always supposed to. This overhaul has been anticipated since 2024, when Apple first hinted at major AI-driven improvements coming to Siri.

However, rather than attempting to build everything from scratch in order to catch up with its rivals, Apple chose to license the foundation of both Siri and the broader Apple Intelligence platform from competitor Google.

That said, Apple's AI is not simply a direct copy of Google's Gemini. Apple has extensively customized, tuned and adapted the technology for its own ecosystem, although Google's AI expertise still forms the underlying foundation.

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AfterDawn: News

iOS 27 unveiled - promises faster app launches and broad device support

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 08 Jun 2026 3:43

iOS 27 unveiled - promises faster app launches and broad device support Apple has officially introduced its new iOS 27 operating system update, which brings significant underâ€'theâ€'hood performance improvements and broad device support.

At its developer event, Apple nevertheless confirmed that the update's biggest change, the completely revamped, AI-based Siri AI, will not arrive at all on iPhone or iPad in the European Union when the operating system is released. Apple is not even able to estimate when it might arrive. This is influenced by the EU's Digital Markets Act.

As a result of the decision, European iPhone users will miss out on, among other things, the new standalone Siri chat app, systemâ€'wide text editing and drafting tools, as well as the camera app's new Siri mode, which can be used to perform visual searches of the surroundings or, for example, split a restaurant bill among friends.

Although the AI features will not be available, iOS 27 still offers speed improvements for basic functions. Thanks to an optimized CPU scheduler, apps launch up to 30 percent faster in the system, and new photos load into the photo library up to 70 percent faster than before.

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AfterDawn: News

Apple confirmed: Next year over 22,000 Mac applications will permanently stop working

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 05 Jun 2026 3:55

Apple confirmed: Next year over 22,000 Mac applications will permanently stop working Apple is soon moving into the final phase of its project, which began when the company unveiled its own M-series processors and transitioned to the era of so-called Apple Silicon.

Just like the previous time, when Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel's x86 processors, the company ensured that old applications would work with the new processor family as well.

Current Macs using Apple's M-series processors utilize a compatibility layer called Rosetta 2, which in a way emulates the previously used Intel processor architecture. Thanks to Rosetta 2, old applications originally developed for Intel-based Macs still work on current Macs.

But macOS 28, to be released next autumn, is a significant milestone in this regard: Rosetta 2 will be removed from this operating system version, meaning that thousands upon thousands of old Mac applications will completely stop working.

Applications have already been released for Mac, such as Rosetta Check, which scan all installed applications and drivers on the computer, checking if any of them use Intel architecture. If an application uses Intel architecture and an Apple Silicon version has never been released for it, the program simply cannot be used anymore from macOS 28 onwards.

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AfterDawn: News

Absurd security disaster: Instagram accounts hijacked by asking for help from Meta's own AI bot

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 05 Jun 2026 1:46

Absurd security disaster: Instagram accounts hijacked by asking for help from Meta's own AI bot Meta has found itself in the middle of a massive security scandal, as it has been revealed that hackers have managed to hijack Instagram accounts by tricking the company's own AI-powered customer service bot.

On social media (link X / Twitter) and in Telegram groups of cybersecurity researchers, shared videos and screenshots show that taking over accounts was easy and only required a conversation with the AI bot.

The attack was based on hackers contacting Meta's AI support assistant and simply asking it to link the target account to a new email address.

The AI bot agreed to the request and sent a verification code to the address provided by the attacker. When the hacker entered the code back to the bot, it offered a direct button to reset the password, after which the victim no longer had access to their own account.

So that Instagram's automatic security systems would not have alerted about suspicious activity, the attackers used a VPN connection to fake their location to match the victim's presumed location. Hackers did not need at any point to access the victim's original email account.

Among the hijacked accounts there have been several well-known entities, such as Barack Obama's White House official Instagram account, cosmetics giant Sephora, and the well-known cybersecurity researcher Jane Wong (link X / Twitter).

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AfterDawn: News

Oura Ring 5 unveiled - 40 percent smaller than its predecessor

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 04 Jun 2026 9:03

Oura Ring 5 unveiled - 40 percent smaller than its predecessor The domestic smart ring manufacturer OURA, which originally set out from Oulu to the world, has announced the latest generation of its ring lineup, the Oura Ring 5.

This is the company's most significant design leap so far, as the new model is as much as 40 percent smaller than the previous Oura Ring 4 model. As a result, the company is marketing its newcomer as the world's smallest smart ring, whose thinner and lighter titanium structure and smoother curvature make it less noticeable and more natural-feeling on the finger.

However, the small size still offers comprehensive technical features, and the ring continues to provide a week-long operating time on a single charge.

The sensor bumps on the inner surface of the ring have been made lower, which improves skin contact. In addition, the new signal architecture uses more powerful LEDs and a total of 12 stronger signal channels, which are promised to ensure accurate measurement results for an even wider range of different finger types and skin tones. The ring is protected against dust and water down to 100 meters in accordance with the IP68 rating, and its titanium surface is protected by a more scratch-resistant PVD coating than before.

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AfterDawn: News

European Parliament ditched Google's search engine and replaced it with a European Qwant

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 04 Jun 2026 8:58

European Parliament ditched Google's search engine and replaced it with a European Qwant The European Parliament is setting an example of so-called digital independence.

Today, June 4th, the French Qwant search engine will replace Google as the default search engine on all parliament computers.

During Donald Trump's second presidential term, a concrete concern has arisen in Europe about how dependent Europe is on US technology companies. Firstly, US intelligence legislation allows all data - including data stored in Europe concerning Europeans - to end up in US hands if the data is managed by American companies.

A second clear concern is that due to the political situation in the United States, it can no longer be entirely certain that American services would continue to operate in the future.

However, there are European alternatives for almost all services, if one only dares to try them.

The Parliament wants to set a clear example with its actions that a switch to European solutions is possible. The most important reason, Politico's according to information obtained, is precisely the concern for privacy - that is, whether MEPs' data leaks to the US administration when using American search engines, such as Google or even DuckDuckGo.

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AfterDawn: News

Ecovacs X11 Omnicyclone review: No more buying dust bags

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 22 May 2026 12:38

Ecovacs X11 Omnicyclone review: No more buying dust bags It's already been seven years since we reviewed the first robot vacuum that featured a separate dust container built into its charging dock. Since then, self-emptying robot vacuums have become the industry standard: practically every robot vacuum priced above €500 can now empty its own small internal dustbin into a larger dust bag located inside the charging dock.

Back then, the solution felt ingenious - and it still does. The usability of robot vacuums drops dramatically if users constantly have to manually empty the robot's tiny onboard dustbin.

But even then, we complained about one particularly silly design choice... Why on earth does the larger dock-mounted dust container rely on disposable dust bags, when traditional canister vacuum cleaners largely abandoned them sometime in the early 2010s? Buying dust bags is already irritating enough with conventional vacuums, but with robot vacuums it can eventually become nearly impossible as models age and compatible dust bags may only be available from questionable Chinese online stores.



Now, that rather ridiculous problem finally has a solution. We got our hands on Ecovacs' new flagship robot vacuum, the Ecovacs Deebot X11 Omnicyclone, launched around the turn of 2025/2026, where the dock's dust bag has been replaced by a fixed large-capacity dustbin.

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AfterDawn: News

Google Gemini transforms to an AI agent that understands user Needs and handles tasks for you

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 21 May 2026 5:29

Google Gemini transforms to an AI agent that understands user Needs and handles tasks for you Google is expanding the role of its Gemini AI assistant towards more independent, agent-like operations.

At its I/O 2026 developer conference, the company introduced a series of updates aimed at transforming Gemini from a passive question-and-answer tool into a constantly working digital assistant in the background. New features include the Daily Brief agent, which provides daily summaries, and the 24/7 personal AI agent Gemini Spark.

The task of Daily Brief is to serve as a kind of morning starting point, compiling a personalized status overview for the user. The agent automatically reads connected applications in the background, such as Gmail and Google Calendar, and based on these, quickly forms a scannable summary of urgent messages, upcoming events, and, for example, tracking information for incoming packages. Daily Brief is not limited to mere summarization but also aims to prioritize content according to the user's goals and suggest next steps. The user can guide the agent by providing feedback on the summaries it produces. Daily Brief will initially be available only in the United States and is limited to Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers.

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AfterDawn: News

Python continues as the most popular programming language, R on the rise

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 21 May 2026 5:27

Python continues as the most popular programming language, R on the rise The popularity of programming languages is measured by TIOBE, which has once again updated its listing.

The latest May 2026 listing does not contain huge surprises, as Python continues as the completely dominant number one, as it has for a long time.

Even after Python, the listing is very similar from month to month, meaning C, C++, and Java also remain firmly in the top four - although this time C++ has dropped a couple of places from a year ago, allowing C and Java to overtake it.

The biggest change was seen in the rise of the R language, which climbed as many as four places from a year ago, to position 8. According to TIOBE's assessment, R and Python are capturing the statistical computing market, and other programming languages used in statistics are losing their positions.

TIOBE's listing of the ten most popular programming languages in May 2026:

  1. Python
  2. C
  3. Java
  4. C++
  5. C#
  6. JavaScript
  7. Visual Basic
  8. R
  9. SQL
  10. Delphi/Object Pascal


TIOBE's listing is based on publicly known skill distribution of people who program for a living, available courses, and third-party sources. The full TIOBE listing can be found here.

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AfterDawn: News

Windows' hated Copilot key can soon be changed

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 20 May 2026 1:06

Windows' hated Copilot key can soon be changed A couple of years ago, the first big change in 30 years occurred on PC keyboards.

At the beginning of 2024, Microsoft mandated device manufacturers to add to the right side of the keyboard's spacebar a separate Copilot key.

As the name suggests, the key automatically opens the Copilot AI assistant in Windows and most Microsoft applications.

The key has been a quite universally hated change, because especially on laptops, manufacturers completely removed one of the previously used keys and slapped the Copilot key in its place. Most often, the right-hand Ctrl key was removed from the keyboard.

Even if one doesn't use Copilot for anything, the key has still sat on the keyboard unnecessarily. Linuxissa, the key's function could easily be changed to one's liking, and even in Windows, it has been possible in some cases with Microsoft's own PowerToys tool.

But now Microsoft has clearly listened to users, and the key's function can henceforth be changed directly from Windows settings back to the right-hand Ctrl key or the so-called Menu key, which has been the other option for several device manufacturers, in place of which the Copilot key was installed.





AfterDawn: News

Windows is getting a feature that would dramatically speed up app launches

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 20 May 2026 1:39

Windows is getting a feature that would dramatically speed up app launches Microsoft has recently started an ambitious project known as K2, in which the company aims to fix all of Windows' most annoying shortcomings and features.

So, in practice, the aim is to stop Windows' enshittification.

As part of the project, Microsoft is, among other things, revamping Windows' most important utility programs, which are intended to be completely recreated as so-called native applications.

But other things are happening too, as according to information, the company is currently testing a new change to Windows that would significantly speed up program launches.

The feature, known as "Low Latency Profile", would give a significantly larger amount of the user's computer's processor power than before to the program that is currently starting up, for about 1 - 3 seconds.

According to preliminary information obtained by Windows Central, the feature would speed up the launch of the heaviest applications by up to 40% compared to the current state.

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AfterDawn: News

Elon Musk lost his lawsuit against AI company OpenAI

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 19 May 2026 2:29

Elon Musk lost his lawsuit against AI company OpenAI Elon Musk has lost his high-profile lawsuit against AI company OpenAI and its leadership in California.

The court jury found that Musk filed his lawsuit too late, causing all of the billionaire's claims to lapse due to statutes of limitations. The decision removes a significant legal threat to OpenAI's stock market listing, which is expected to happen as early as this year.

In the lawsuit that began in 2024, Musk demanded that OpenAI's transformation into a for-profit company be reversed and that its key leaders, including CEO Sam Altman and former chairman of the board Greg Brockman, be removed from the company's leadership. According to Musk, Altman and the other founders violated the company's original non-profit mission, which aimed to develop AI for the benefit of all humanity. Musk had donated a total of approximately 38 million dollars to OpenAI and claimed that his charitable funds had been practically "stolen" when operations were shifted to a for-profit structure.

According to international media reports, however, the jury focused primarily on a technical but crucial question when making its decision: when had Musk's alleged damages occurred, and had the lawsuit been filed within the legally required timeframe. OpenAI's lawyers largely built their defense on the statute of limitations argument, aiming to show that all damages claimed by Musk had arisen before 2021-2022, by which time the deadlines for Musk's claims would have already expired under California law. The jury found this interpretation credible and reached a verdict after only about two hours of deliberation.

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AfterDawn: News

Google changed Gemini's usage limits: heavy AI searches can block the service for five hours

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 19 May 2026 2:26

Google changed Gemini's usage limits: heavy AI searches can block the service for five hours Google has changed Gemini's usage limits starting May 17, 2026.

With the change, users are required to update the Gemini mobile app to the latest version on both Android and iOS devices to ensure the best user experience. Along with the update, Gemini's user interface has also been revamped, and personal usage limits can now be easily viewed directly in the app's settings.

Geminin käyttörajat sovelluksessa
Your own usage can be easily seen in the settings

However, the new restrictions only apply to users over 18, meaning that for minors, the usage limits remain unchanged.

The biggest change concerns how the consumption of the AI service is measured. Google is abandoning traditional fixed message limits and moving to compute-power-based usage restrictions that reset every five hours until a broader weekly limit is reached.

When calculating usage consumption, the complexity of the prompt, the features used, and the overall length of the conversation are taken into account. For the consumer, this means that complex and long conversations can exhaust the five-hour quota significantly faster than before.

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