Apple will introduce advertisements in Apple Maps search results in the US and Canada, featuring promoted listings at the top of results with a blue highlight. The ads will be privacy-focused, with no user data linked to accounts or shared externally. The Apple Business program will launch on April 14, 2026, allowing businesses to create and manage their listings on Apple Maps and run advertisements through the platform.
The 2026 Steam Spring Sale, launched by Valve, is the fourth iteration of this event, which runs from March 20 to March 26. This sale features significant discounts, including Battlefield 5 Definitive Edition at 95% off, priced at [openai_gpt model="gpt-4o-mini" prompt="Summarize the content and extract only the fact described in the text bellow. The summary shall NOT include a title, introduction and conclusion. Text: As the calendar marks the arrival of spring on March 20, the reality for many, particularly in Canada, is that winter's chill still lingers. Despite the seasonal misalignment, Valve has ushered in a wave of excitement with the launch of the 2026 Steam Spring Sale, a highly anticipated event for gamers worldwide.
Spring Sale Insights
For those unfamiliar, this marks only the fourth iteration of the Steam Spring Sale in the platform's extensive history. Traditionally, Valve has celebrated three major seasonal sales—summer, fall, and winter—while spring was often reserved for themed promotions or the "Spring Cleaning Event." It wasn't until 2022 that the company recognized the need for a dedicated spring sale, prompting the question: why should there be only three seasonal sales when nature offers four?
This year’s sale features remarkable discounts, including the Battlefield 5 Definitive Edition, which is currently available at an astonishing 95% off, bringing the price down to just .49 in the U.S., £2.24 in the UK, or €2.49 in Europe. Such deals can be explored further at store.steampowered.com.
The 2026 Steam Spring Sale is set to run until March 26, providing ample opportunity for gamers to take advantage of these enticing offers and expand their digital libraries." max_tokens="3500" temperature="0.3" top_p="1.0" best_of="1" presence_penalty="0.1" frequency_penalty="frequency_penalty"].49 in the U.S., £2.24 in the UK, and €2.49 in Europe.
Retro Rewind is a shop simulator game developed by Blood Pact Studios, an indie team from Canada, that invites players to manage a '90s video rental store. Launched on Valve's Steam platform, it quickly gained popularity, securing a spot on the Top Sellers chart and peaking at 4,505 concurrent players. The game has a "Very Positive" user review rating and features extensive customization options for the store. A free demo is available, and the game is currently offered at a launch discount of .92 until March 24, down from its standard price of .90.
Google is updating its Gemini-powered home assistant to enhance user experience by providing concise responses and executing common commands up to 40% faster. Users will now receive straightforward confirmations for actions like setting alarms. The assistant can set timers based on real-world events and chain multiple commands while providing updates on timers. Gemini now supports 30 languages, enabling real-time translation for smoother conversations. The Google Home app includes new automation tools for triggering actions based on conditions and creating personalized routines. New AI features like “Help me create” and “Ask Home” simplify automation processes. Google is expanding access to these features to 14 additional countries, including Canada, which now has full support. Some features require a Google Home Premium subscription, and users may experience delays in receiving updates.
EnterpriseDB (EDB) has advanced its integration with NVIDIA's cuDF for Apache Spark to enhance Postgres® performance on NVIDIA AI infrastructure, achieving analytics capabilities up to 100 times faster than traditional methods. EDB emphasizes the need for a real-time analytics framework to address challenges posed by fragmented data silos and inefficient analytics processes. Key features of EDB Postgres AI include GPU-acceleration for interactive analytics, NVIDIA NIM model serving, fully air-gapped support for private registries, and high-speed retrieval with NVIDIA NeMo Retriever. Research indicates only 13% of enterprises have transitioned to production-scale agentic deployments, which report five times higher ROI. The EDB PG AI Analytics Engine can achieve 50–100x faster analytics on large datasets, supports lakehouse architectures, and ensures workload isolation and governance. EDB PG AI is positioned as a secure, compliant, and scalable platform for operationalizing data and AI workloads.
Meta has introduced new anti-scam tools across WhatsApp, Messenger, and Facebook, following the removal of 159 million scam ads and 10.9 million accounts linked to criminal networks last year. A feature is being tested on Facebook to flag suspicious friend or follow requests based on mutual connections, country of origin, and account age. WhatsApp is enhancing security against device linking fraud by issuing warnings for suspicious linking requests. Messenger is expanding its scam detection to more countries, flagging messages from unknown contacts that exhibit scam patterns, with an option for users to submit flagged messages for secondary review. Meta aims for 90% of its ad revenue to come from verified advertisers by 2026 and has disabled over 150,000 scam-related accounts during a joint operation with the Royal Thai Police, leading to 21 arrests. Additionally, Meta has partnered with the US Department of State for a campaign addressing trafficked workers coerced into scam operations in Southeast Asia. These measures address increasing scrutiny over scam advertising, as a Reuters investigation highlighted that Meta generated significant revenue from scam-related ads.
Amazon has updated its Fire TV Android app with a new user interface (UI) that focuses on simplicity and intuitive navigation. The redesign features a cleaner layout, improved menus, and clearer typography to enhance user-friendliness. Users can now browse movie and series recommendations, read summaries, and create a personal watchlist directly from the app's homepage. The app also functions as a remote control for compatible televisions linked to the same Amazon account, allowing users to navigate menus and control playback without a physical remote. This updated interface aligns with a broader refresh of Fire TV software and is being rolled out in several countries, including the US, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the UK.
The mobile Amazon Fire TV app is receiving a significant redesign aimed at enhancing usability and creating a seamless connection with Fire TV. Key updates include a new content discovery platform, watchlist management, and functionality as a secondary remote control for linked TVs. The user interface will feature improved typography and streamlined menus, along with tailored content recommendations. The updated TV interface is available on the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus, 4K Max (2nd generation), and Fire TV Omni Mini-LED series, with more devices set to receive the update later this spring. The enhancements for the mobile app will be available to users in multiple countries, including the US, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the UK.
Zootopia 2 has become the highest-grossing domestic release of 2025, earning 4.2 million in the United States and Canada, surpassing A Minecraft Movie's 4.08 million. Internationally, it has grossed .425 billion, bringing its global total to .85 billion. The film debuted ahead of Thanksgiving, generating 8 million in North America and 9 million globally over the holiday period, marking the second-largest Thanksgiving launch and the biggest debut for an animated film. It became the fastest PG-rated film to reach the billion milestone worldwide in just 17 days and is now Hollywood’s highest-grossing animated film of all time. Zootopia 2 has also overtaken Avengers: Endgame as the biggest Motion Picture Association title in China and is the eighth-highest-grossing film in global box office history. The film is directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard and features characters Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Disney's strong box office performance has been bolstered by additional billion-dollar releases, leading to the company's strongest annual sales since before the pandemic.
