DeepSeek is a ‘wake-up call’ for US tech firms, Amazon drone delivery trial starts in UK
US President Donald Trump has called the rise of Chinese company DeepSeek “a wake-up call” for the US tech industry, after the emergence of its artificial intelligence (AI) model triggered shockwaves on Wall Street. Shares in major tech firms such as Nvidia fell sharply, with the chip giant losing almost $600bn (£482bn) in market value. What has shaken the industry is DeepSeek’s claim that its R1 model was made at a fraction of the cost of its rivals – raising questions about the future of America’s AI dominance and the scale of investments US firms are planning. DeepSeek has become the most downloaded free app in the US just a week after it was launched. BBC
Amazon plans to begin launching drone deliveries in the UK as part of a trial. The US tech giant said the drone service, called Prime Air, is already operating in two locations in the US, delivering packages in 60 minutes or less using a fleet of Amazon-designed, built and operated drones. The company said it was submitting a planning application to build drone flight operations at its fulfilment centre on the outskirts of Darlington, and was seeking clearance from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for the flights. Sky News
Virgin Media O2 Business has released its second annual Movers Index, revealing that over half (52%) of workers plan to commute more than four times a week, with 73% expecting to commute at least three times a week. Key motivators include company incentives like time off after intense periods of work (28%) and free drinks (26%), alongside a collective desire to recapture the benefits of pre-pandemic work culture (50%). Despite these motivations, mobile data showed commute trips into major towns fell by 7% across last year. Tech Digest
Google Maps has said it will rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America after Donald Trump ordered the change. The US tech giant said it would follow the US government in renaming the gulf, which is ringed by the US, Mexico and Cuba. The company has been under pressure from US Republicans to apply the name change quickly after Mr Trump signed an executive order on the matter last week. Google has not yet made the change but said it would update the gulf’s name for users in America. Telegraph
Donald Trump has suggested that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app. When asked if Microsoft was in talks to buy the app, the US president said “I would say yes”, adding “A lot of interest in TikTok. There’s great interest in TikTok.” Microsoft, TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for a comment outside regular business hours, after the US president’s comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. The Guardian
Today Apple has released iOS 18.3 and iPadOS 18.3 to the public. The new software version adds Visual Intelligence support for adding events to the Calendar app straight from posters or flyers and identifying more plants and animals. The update also removes Apple Intelligence Notification summaries for news and entertainment apps, as those were sometimes misleading. This is a temporary measure, Apple says, and you can opt in to receive these again in the future if you want.
All summaries made by Apple Intelligence are now italicized, to better distinguish them from other notifications. Settings for Notification summaries can be managed from the Lock Screen, you just need to swipe and tap Options. This also lets you quickly disable notification summaries for a specific app. GSM Arena
