Google changes Gmail after 22 years, PowerWash Simulator 2 nominated for two Baftas

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Here we go again. A new furore after Google’s decision to allow Gmail users to change their original email addresses for something less embarrassing or more age-appropriate. But this long-awaited update does not solve anyone’s email problems. And worse, Gmail’s 2 billion users all now need new email addresses. This option to change Gmail addresses is not new. But its higher profile is new. The U.S. rollout has grabbed attention, not least because Google’s CEO fronted the PR campaign. Forbes 

The UK’s leading AI research institute has been told to make “significant” changes by its main source of taxpayer funding. The Guardian revealed last week that the board of the Alan Turing Institute was reminded of its legal duties by the charity watchdog after a whistleblower complaint. The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) body, which awarded the ATI a five-year, £100m funding package in 2024 and is its largest single source of funds, said it had conducted a review of the institute and found it underperforming in terms of strategy and delivering value for money. Guardian 

Apple has released the first public beta for iOS 26.5, just a few days after the beta for developers came out. One of the biggest changes the new operating system brings is the “Suggested Places” feature in Apple Maps. It will show you trending places to visit, such as restaurants and other establishments, near your location or based on your search history. You can see Suggested Places when you tap on the search bar in the Maps app. iOS 26.5 beta also will also come with notifications that the company will be putting ads inside Maps. Engadget

PowerWash Simulator sees players don their cleaning gear and hose down a variety of filthy in-game locations until they’re sparkling and spotless. While it may seem like an unusual premise, the original game from 2021 has sold more than 17 million copies. The sequel, released in 2025, has just been nominated for two Bafta Games Awards. Both fall under the category of “mundane job simulations”, an ever-growing gaming genre in which people carry out routine and – on the face of it – not very exciting tasks. BBC 

Nasdaq brought its market open festivities to Apple’s sprawling Silicon Valley headquarters on Tuesday, the eve of the company’s 50th birthday. From a desk inside Apple Park, the ring-shaped campus that Steve Jobs spent his last years helping design, Tim Cook rang the opening bell and, in the process, ushered in the iPhone maker’s second half-century. It was a celebratory occasion, but one arriving at a pivotal point for an iconic American company that faces major challenges. CNBC 

Since the accidental leak of more than half a million lines of code in late March, Anthropic has moved aggressively against the publication of the Claude Code source code. DMCA claims were filed with GitHub and others. However, these actions not only deleted approximately 100 repositories containing the leaked code but also over 8,100 legitimate repositories using Anthropic’s official codebase. Anthropic has since significantly walked back these actions and apologized to the developers of the accidentally deleted repositories. Notebook Check 

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