Anthropic’s banned Claude AI was reportedly used in the Iran war, even after Washington ordered federal agencies to phase out the system across the government.

The post Pentagon Used Anthropic’s Claude in Iran War Despite Federal Ban appeared first on TechRepublic.

Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web. Google AI Mode has better link cards to recipe sites now...

Australia’s flexible work rules are tightening. Victoria’s right to work from home law is pushing HR teams to document decisions and strengthen governance processes.

The post Victoria’s ‘Right to Work From Home’ Law Signals a Shift in Workplace Governance appeared first on TechRepublic.

Apple Music may soon add labels that identify AI-generated tracks, giving listeners quick context and pushing other streaming services toward clearer disclosure.

The post Apple Music Plans Transparency Tags for AI-Generated Tracks appeared first on TechRepublic.

Xiaomi says two humanoid robots completed about 90% of assigned tasks in a three-hour EV plant trial, testing whether they can match line pace.

The post Chinese Robot ‘Interns’ Hit 90% Success Rate in Factory Floor Test appeared first on TechRepublic.

Google’s March 2026 Pixel Drop adds Gemini automation, Circle to Search upgrades, desktop mode, and new security features for Pixel devices.

The post Google March Pixel Drop Adds Gemini Tasks, Desktop Mode appeared first on TechRepublic.

Enterprise-ready multitasking power and 26-hour battery life delivered at a price for cost-conscious teams.

The post Stretch Your Laptop Budget with an HP OmniBook X Touch for $650 appeared first on TechRepublic.

Conductor is a new Gemini CLI extension that promotes context-driven development. It shifts project context from chat logs to persistent Markdown files for formal specs and plans, ensuring AI agents adhere to project goals, style, and tech stack. This structured workflow is great for "brownfield" projects and teams, allowing for safe iteration and consistent code contributions while keeping the human developer in control.

Read our LastPass review covering pricing, security, features, pros and cons, and whether LastPass is safe or free.

The post LastPass Review: Features, Pricing, Security, and Who It’s Best For appeared first on TechRepublic.

PDF Converter Pro is an all-in-one tool that allows you create or convert PDF documents into a variety of formats or from a variety of formats with ease.

The post Working with PDFs Is a Breeze with PDF Converter Pro appeared first on TechRepublic.

Google has removed a whole section from its JavaScript SEO documentation because it was outdated and Google says loading content with JavaScript does not make it hard for Google Search.

Google is testing a new AI Mode widget within the main search results that drives searchers away from the core search results and recipe listings/cards and into AI Mode, which then shows those horrible AI-generated Frankenstein recipes.

Google seems to be rolling out a new format for some of the AI Overviews it shows within search. This format shows a drop-down, expandable, accordion-style interface that you can expand to show more.

Google announced it updated AI Mode to link to more recipe sites and bloggers. "Starting today, when you search for meal ideas like 'easy dinners for two,' you can tap on the dish to see links to relevant recipe sites, plus a short overview of the dish to help with inspiration," Robby Stein from Google said on X.

Google has added a new attribute to the Google Merchant Center availability options within vehicle listings. The new one is named "Build to order" and only works for Google Vehicle ads.

Data Commons has launched a free, hosted Model Context Protocol (MCP) service on Google Cloud Platform, eliminating the need for users to manage complex local server installations. This update simplifies connecting AI agents and the Gemini CLI to Data Commons, allowing Google to handle security, updates, and resource management while users query data natively.

Google is launching the Developer Knowledge API and MCP Server in public preview. This new toolset provides a canonical, machine-readable way for AI assistants and agentic platforms to search and retrieve up-to-date documentation across Firebase, Google Cloud, Android, and more. By using the official MCP server, developers can connect tools directly to Google’s documentation corpus, ensuring that AI-generated code and guidance are based on authoritative, real-time context.

Finetuning the FunctionGemma model is made fast and easy using the lightweight JAX-based Tunix library on Google TPUs, a process demonstrated here using LoRA for supervised finetuning. This approach delivers significant accuracy improvements with high TPU efficiency, culminating in a model ready for deployment.

Google has introduced FunctionGemma, a specialized 270M parameter model designed to bring efficient, action-oriented AI experiences directly to mobile devices through on-device function calling. By leveraging Google AI Edge and LiteRT-LM, the model enables complex tasks—such as managing calendars, controlling device hardware, or executing specific game logic in the "Tiny Garden" demo—to be performed entirely offline with high speed and low latency. Available for testing in the Google AI Edge Gallery app on both Android and iOS, FunctionGemma allows developers to move beyond simple text generation toward building responsive, "agentic" applications that interact seamlessly with the physical and digital world without relying on cloud processing.