Latest news

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Valve has announced that the popular Steam Deck OLED handheld console is once again available in the company's own online store.

However, with its return, the prices of the devices have experienced an exceptionally sharp increase, as the recommended prices for both models have had to be significantly updated upwards. Although Valve markets the device as being generally available again, according to the pages, the more affordable 512-gigabyte model has already sold out, and currently, only the larger one-terabyte version is available for order.

With the updated pricing, the 512-gigabyte model of the Steam Deck OLED now costs 779 euros in Europe. When the device was released about three years ago, its retail price was 569 euros, so the price increase amounts to a significant 210 euros.

The new price for the larger one-terabyte model, on the other hand, is 919 euros, which means an increase of 240 euros compared to the original release price of 679 euros.

The device itself or its technical specifications have not changed at all; rather, the fresh prices purely reflect the changed cost level.

Valve justifies the price changes with the rise in memory component and storage costs, as well as other global logistical challenges in the industry.

The European Commission has imposed a 200 million euro fine on the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu for serious violations of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The direct reason for the fine is the company's weak risk management, as Temu has neglected its obligation to identify, analyze, and assess systemic risks caused by illegal products sold on its platform, as well as harm to consumers. The decision published today concludes a long investigation process, which was launched by the Commission in October 2024 and whose preliminary results, warning of non-compliance, were received in July last year.

The Commission's investigations revealed that Temu's risk assessment conducted in 2024 was insufficient and based merely on general industry knowledge, instead of the company collecting evidence of the actual risks of its own service.

Mystery shopping conducted by authorities indeed showed that consumers in the EU area are very likely to encounter illegal and dangerous products on Temu.

A very large proportion of the chargers among the tested products failed basic safety tests, and a significant number of baby toys contained chemicals exceeding permitted limits or posed a choking hazard due to easily detachable parts. The Commission also notes that Temu had not assessed at all how its own recommendation systems and influencer marketing programs amplify the spread of dangerous products.

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.

Meta has released a new app called Forum, designed to give Facebook groups their own, clearer home outside the main app.

Social media expert Matt Navarra's revealed details (links to Threads) show that the app strongly resembles Reddit in both functionality and goals, aiming to make information exchange between communities more accessible.

The app is currently only available in a limited capacity, apparently only in the U.S. market, but its availability will likely expand with the official launch.

Behind the Forum app is Meta's attempt to separate one of Facebook's most popular features - groups - into its own entity.

Over the years, Facebook's main app has become heavy and filled with ads, algorithmically boosted content, and AI-generated content that is often referred to as AI junk.

Forum, on the other hand, focuses specifically on the discussions and opinions between people that Facebook groups contain.

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.

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

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.