Overwatch season 5 adds new hero, map and major changes

Inquirer.net - Oct 8, 2026

MANILA, Philippines — Blizzard Entertainment released Overwatch Season 5, “A Grim Doctrine,” on October 7, opening the final chapter of the game’s Reign of Talon storyline with new gameplay content, seasonal events and major hero changes. The update introduces Doctrine, a new Support hero with a violent history tied to Doomfist, after the latter breaks

Read full article

More News

US AI firm Anthropic enables Chinese-language options for Claude chatbot

Oct 8, 2026

US AI firm Anthropic enables Chinese-language options for Claude chatbot

US artificial intelligence company Anthropic has introduced Chinese-language options to its Claude chatbot in supported markets, even as it continues to block users from mainland China. Checks by the South China Morning Post on Thursday confirmed that Claude’s web interface now lets users select simplified and traditional Chinese as their preferred on-screen language. China also briefly appeared as a billing country option before disappearing from the settings. Users on X have shared screenshots...

Reporter’s notebook: my week with Huawei’s new US$3,500 trifold phone

Oct 8, 2026

Reporter’s notebook: my week with Huawei’s new US$3,500 trifold phone

When I took out the US$3,500 Huawei Mate XT 2 over a family dinner during China’s “golden week” – the long National Day holiday in early October – the trifold phone quickly became the centre of discussion: my father and his peers took turns playing with the device, marvelling at the sleek design while debating whether it was true innovation or pure luxury. It wasn’t the first time unfolding its massive 10.2 inch display raised a few eyebrows at dining tables during the week I spent trying out...

Reporter’s notebook: my week with Huawei’s new US$3,500 trifold phone

Oct 8, 2026

Reporter’s notebook: my week with Huawei’s new US$3,500 trifold phone

When I took out the US$3,500 Huawei Mate XT 2 over a family dinner during China’s “golden week” – the long National Day holiday in early October – the trifold phone quickly became the centre of discussion: my father and his peers took turns playing with the device, marvelling at the sleek design while debating whether it was true innovation or pure luxury. It wasn’t the first time unfolding its massive 10.2 inch display raised a few eyebrows at dining tables during the week I spent trying out...

ByteDance heads first SCMP Plus Going Global 100 ranking

Oct 8, 2026

ByteDance heads first SCMP Plus Going Global 100 ranking

TikTok owner ByteDance is China’s Going Global champion, according to a new SCMP Plus databank tracking mainland companies’ overseas expansion efforts. The social media giant topped the debut SCMP Plus Going Global 100 ranking ahead of Apple assembler Foxconn Industrial Internet, online fashion retailer Shein and electric vehicle (EV) maker BYD. More than 2,000 companies were assessed as part of the research project, which assigned each contender a weighted score based on overseas revenue,...

NVIDIA’s RTX Spark PCs are almost here, and DGX Station is coming to Windows

Oct 8, 2026

NVIDIA’s RTX Spark PCs are almost here, and DGX Station is coming to Windows

RTX Spark laptops will start shipping from 16 October, while NVIDIA is also bringing its more powerful DGX Station platform to Windows.

Apple is reportedly working with LG to release smart home accessories for its home hub

Oct 8, 2026

Apple is reportedly working with LG to release smart home accessories for its home hub

The LG-branded smart home products are reportedly designed to work with Apple’s upcoming smart home hub.

Anthropic sought religious views on AI consciousness

Oct 7, 2026

Anthropic sought religious views on AI consciousness

MANILA, Philippines — Anthropic co-founder Christopher Olah turned to religious leaders with a question the AI company has struggled to answer: Could artificial intelligence be conscious?  The effort eventually reached the Vatican, where Olah and his team urged Pope Leo XIV’s advisers to consider the possibility. Leo rejected it in his first encyclical. Pope Leo

China’s open-weight AI models are winning global users. Who is capturing the value?

Oct 7, 2026

China’s open-weight AI models are winning global users. Who is capturing the value?

China’s open-weight artificial intelligence models are taking off globally, but much of the money they generate is flowing to third-party providers rather than the companies that create them, according to a new study. Developers including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI make their model weights – essentially the “brains” of their AI systems – freely available for download. This strategy, which has accelerated global adoption over the past two years, allows other companies to run the models on their own...

China’s open-weight AI models are winning global users. Who is capturing the value?

Oct 7, 2026

China’s open-weight AI models are winning global users. Who is capturing the value?

China’s open-weight artificial intelligence models are taking off globally, but much of the money they generate is flowing to third-party providers rather than the companies that create them, according to a new study. Developers including DeepSeek and Moonshot AI make their model weights – essentially the “brains” of their AI systems – freely available for download. This strategy, which has accelerated global adoption over the past two years, allows other companies to run the models on their own...

Opinion: Education, not just regulation

Oct 7, 2026

Opinion: Education, not just regulation

Last week I attended a conference called the Safe Online Space Forum convened by the PLDT Group. It was the first stakeholder discussion I attended that was scheduled from the aftermath of the Discord ban and the ratification of the Batang Ligtas Act. In attendance were key stakeholders from the other telcos including DITO and

US risks ceding AI governance leadership to China and the EU

Oct 7, 2026

US risks ceding AI governance leadership to China and the EU

Standing alongside prominent technology executives, US President Donald Trump announced a voluntary agreement under which major artificial intelligence (AI) companies will use internal controls and monitoring, outside audits and board oversight to manage risks. The White House calls the commitments “morally binding”, but the accord does not create a comparable system of legal enforcement. The administration’s logic is understandable. AI is becoming a source of economic and military power, and...

China’s ‘city of the future’, Xiongan, hunting high-value tech firms: sources

Oct 7, 2026

China’s ‘city of the future’, Xiongan, hunting high-value tech firms: sources

China’s Xiongan New Area is accelerating its hunt for technology firms as the city, designed partly to house state-owned institutions relocated from Beijing, moves to nurture its own industries, according to people familiar with its plans and local officials. Officials were looking to attract tech companies that could reach valuations of 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), hoping some would list on stock markets, including Hong Kong’s, in the next few years, sources said, adding that the key...

Recommended