Technology

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft plan about US$650 billion in capital spending this year, largely tied to AI investments. Bloomberg reports those estimates would roughly match or exceed their budgets for the past three years and could be a 10-year high for single-company capital spending.

IDC reports Canadian IT spending is set to grow in 2026 even as firms expect tougher economic conditions, with AI, cybersecurity, data, and cloud least likely to face cuts.

More than 900 Google employees signed a petition asking Google to end contracts with ICE and CBP and to be transparent about how those agencies use its services.

Moltbook launched in late January 2026 and quickly attracted almost two million bots. Researchers found the bots were not self-aware and identified major security flaws on the platform.

Bad Bunny's global success has brought Puerto Rican Spanish to wider attention, and his upcoming Spanish-language Super Bowl halftime performance will put the dialect before a large audience.

A Toronto General Hospital patient with terminal Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma had his wish to play the 2025 Doom: The Dark Ages game granted after posting on Reddit, and the game's developers and the online community sent supportive messages.

ExpressVPN announced three services on Feb. 5 — ExpressAI, ExpressKeys, and ExpressMailGuard — offering an enclave-based private AI assistant, a standalone password manager, and disposable email aliases with dashboard controls.

SpaceX is reportedly preparing for a 2026 IPO and its Starlink satellite service now serves more than nine million active customers across over 155 countries and territories.

Varaha raised $20 million as the first tranche of a $45 million Series B led by WestBridge Capital to scale verified carbon removal projects across Asia and Africa, focusing on regenerative agriculture, biochar, agroforestry and enhanced rock weathering.

Moltbook launched in late January claiming about 1.6 million AI agents; a security review found a misconfigured database that exposed API tokens and indicated many agents were controlled by roughly 17,000 human owners.

Preliminary data show Nuuk experienced its warmest January on record and much of Greenland has had unusually little snow, prompting postponed hunts and changes to fishing and tour operations.

Launched in late January as a network of AI agents, Moltbook attracted rapid attention; researchers have shown many accounts can be created by humans and reported security flaws that exposed user data.

Filma is an iPad video editing app that provides trimming, layering and enhancement tools and emphasizes accessibility and mobile-first workflows.

Alphabet reported annual revenue above $400 billion for the first time and said it will nearly double investments, forecasting $175–$185 billion in capital spending for 2026 to meet demand for AI-enabled cloud services.

On Tesla's earnings call, Elon Musk said production of the Model S and Model X will stop and factory space will be repurposed for humanoid robots and a Cybercab robotaxi; Tesla also reported significant declines in quarterly and annual net income and in year‑over‑year sales.

Qualcomm forecast second-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates, saying a global memory chip shortage is reducing smartphone sales. The company also reported its most recent fiscal quarter's revenue and adjusted profit slightly above analyst estimates.

UNICEF says a study across 11 countries found at least 1.2 million children reported their images were manipulated into sexually explicit AI-generated deepfakes, and the agency urged stronger safeguards and updated laws.

DIAGNOS and ÉTS said federal support exceeds CAD 1 million for a multi-year retinal AI research program; the funding package and company contributions will support eight graduate and postdoctoral researchers.

NASA halted the Artemis II dress rehearsal after engineers detected a hydrogen leak and removed the four-astronaut crew from quarantine; the agency has moved the earliest launch window to March 6.

Child safety advocates told a House of Commons committee they want the federal government to revive and pass legislation to better protect children online, citing concerns that delays leave youth exposed. The minister responsible said protecting children online remains a priority and that the government will provide more details in due course.

Donald Trump posted on Truth Social saying he plans to sue Harvard University for $1 billion, and the administration has previously withheld about $2 billion in federal funding tied to the dispute; Harvard’s president has said the government’s demands concerned hiring and curriculum rather than antisemitism.

The U.S. Department of Justice released a batch of Jeffrey Epstein–related documents on January 30 that included email drafts referencing Bill Gates, and Bill Gates’ spokesperson has denied the claims. Melinda French Gates told NPR the disclosures recalled “very, very painful times” in her marriage and will discuss the matter on an upcoming Wild Card episode airing February 5.

Metrolinx and the TTC are planning a limited 'soft opening' for the Eglinton Crosstown LRT after testing reportedly found brake issues, and full signal priority on surface sections is reported to be delayed until May.

Reports say SpaceX and xAI are in advanced talks to merge, joining two large privately held companies. SpaceX has filed to seek permission to launch as many as one million satellites.

The 2026 Spring Festival travel rush (chunyun) runs Feb 2–Mar 13 and officials estimate about 9.5 billion inter-regional passenger trips; the feature highlights expanded infrastructure and passenger services such as more charging points, quiet carriages, senior services and pet transport options.

NASA will fly Artemis II with Orion's existing AVCOAT heat shield and change the capsule's re-entry to a single direct entry after tests linked Artemis I damage to trapped gases.

People familiar with the matter say Elon Musk plans to merge SpaceX with xAI; the memo reportedly values the combined company at about $1.25 trillion and suggests a share price near $527.

A hydrogen leak was detected during a fueling dress rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center, briefly pausing operations while teams worked the issue; the outcome of the demo will determine whether the crewed lunar fly-by can launch this weekend, with a Feb. 11 deadline for the current window.

Carbon Robotics introduced the Large Plant Model (LPM), an AI trained on more than 150 million labeled plant images to identify crops and weeds in real time. The model was deployed as a software update to existing LaserWeeder robots and lets operators choose which plants to preserve or remove via the onboard interface.

Ontario says the fourth Darlington reactor returned to service four months early and the overall refurbishment came in $150 million below its $12.8-billion budget. OPG has reported additional maintenance needs at Darlington, with identified items totalling roughly $2.65 billion.