News written by Petteri Pyyny (April, 2026)

A much-desired update is coming to Steam, the world's largest PC game marketplace, owned by Valve.

Steam will start showing an estimate of how well each game would perform on the specific computer you are logged into the Steam marketplace with.

The estimate is based on real performance statistics from other users who have already played the game, and the computer configurations used by those players. In other words: you will directly see how fast the game runs on your own computer, because it is very likely that someone has already played the game with exactly the same hardware you are using.

According to Steam's latest change history, the collected game performance data is anonymized, meaning no individual player can be identified from it. Smoothness is simply described by the fps number, which indicates how many times per second the computer in use can update the image displayed on the screen with that particular game.

The feature is currently in beta testing and focuses on players using the SteamOS operating system.

Microsoft has recently given strong hints that Windows 11's problems and pain points are finally being seriously addressed.

As one clear step, Microsoft has established a completely new team, which focuses on renewing a large number of key Windows core applications - and they are intended to be implemented entirely as native applications. This refers to the fact that nowadays - in both Windows and most other operating systems - a large portion of applications are implemented as so-called PWA applications, meaning, to put it very simply, they are solutions built with web technologies, wrapped as apps.

The advantage of native applications over PWA applications is that they demand much less PC resources like RAM, and partly also better consistency in the user interface's appearance and usability. Apple has also been criticized for the fact that an increasing number of Mac's core applications are implemented using (usually Electron) PWA technology.

The team will be led by a name perhaps vaguely familiar to many tech enthusiasts, Rudy Huyn. Huyn rose to fame during the Windows Phone era, when the biggest problem with Windows phones was the lack of many important applications. App giants were not interested in developing new versions of their apps for Windows Phone, so Huyn - usually without permission - made them himself. His creations on Windows Phone included an unofficial Tinder app for Windows Phone and an unofficial Windows Phone version of Secret.

Google's popular photo service, Google Photos, is finally coming directly to Samsung TVs.

Photos integrates directly into Samsung TV's entire user interface, meaning it's not just another app. At the same time, Google Photos replaces Microsoft's OneDrive integration, which was previously on Samsung TVs and will now be removed from Samsung TVs.

Just like on a mobile phone, Google Photos also offers Memories highlights of old photos and moments through the TV. Users can browse their automatically updated memories, view them full-screen, or see selections in a widget view. Freely browsing the entire photo library is not yet possible; the emphasis is on Google's automatically selected highlights.

The installation process has been made easy: in the Google Photos section of the TV, the user is shown a QR code, which is then scanned with a phone camera - and immediately linked to the user's Google account. After this, the user enters a verification code and allows access to their photos. Individual people, pets, or dates can be hidden from memories if, for example, one does not want former partners to appear on the TV's home screen at regular intervals.

In Italy, a court has issued a decision that could have huge implications for streaming services across Europe.

According to the court's decision (in Italian), Netflix's price increases in Italy between 2017 and 2024 were illegal, as they were not justified in any way.

According to the court, price increases made without any specified and explained reason are illegal, as they violate Italian consumer protection law. Netflix does not define any specific reason in its terms of service on the basis of which it can raise prices, but rather generally reserves the right to increase its prices in its terms of service. According to the court, this is not permissible; instead, the reasons for price increases must be clearly stated in the contract - for example, by describing that they are based on inflation or a similar, understandable reason.

Behind the decision is a lawsuit filed by the Italian consumer organization Movimento Consumatori, which demanded the annulment of Netflix's price increases and compensation for customers. The court ordered that the company must refund customers for unduly collected fees, the amount of which can in individual cases reach up to 500 euros for Premium subscribers and approximately 250 euros for Standard subscribers. The refunds apply to both current and former customers who have paid increased prices during the period in question.

Penguin Random House has filed a lawsuit against AI company OpenAI, alleging that the company's ChatGPT has infringed the company's copyrights by reproducing content from a popular German children's book series.

According to The Guardian, the lawsuit was filed in Germany last week and targets OpenAI's Irish European subsidiary.

According to Penguin Random House, ChatGPT, with user prompts, is capable of generating stories, images, and even cover designs that are almost indistinguishable from the original works of the German children's author Ingo Siegner's Coconut, the Little Dragon (in German Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss) book series. The publisher states that ChatGPT was also able to copy the texts from the back covers of the books - and when asked, provided instructions on how to make money from copies of Siegner's books produced by ChatGPT, by publishing them on various self-publishing platforms. According to Penguin Random House, OpenAI has used the works of the author it represents (Siegner) as training material without permission.

Swiss-based Proton, known for strong encryption and privacy protection, has expanded its product range.

The company is now challenging the dominance of Microsoft Teams with its new Proton Meet video conferencing service. As with Proton Mail, Proton Meet is also promised to be end-to-end encrypted (end-to-end encryption) and that no meeting data will be collected by Proton.

Proton Meet meetings can be joined without a Proton user account, and conferences work not only with a separate application but also in a browser and on mobile.

Using Proton Meet is free, as long as meetings last a maximum of one hour and there are a maximum of 50 participants. Larger numbers require a paid Proton subscription from the organizer.

The product launch is clearly timed at the right moment, when Europe is actively considering breaking its dependency on American technology. Often, the transition is easiest to make one piece, product, and service at a time.

The Proton Meet service can be found at meet.proton.me.

American IT giant Oracle has laid off up to 30,000 of its employees around the world in a rather brutal manner.

In countries where advance notice of dismissals is not required, the company simply sent an email at six in the morning to all employees being laid off, informing them of their termination.

The sender of the messages was only "Oracle Leadership", meaning Oracle's management, without the name of any single leader. According to news sources, the company did not inform even the supervisors or HR of those being laid off about the upcoming terminations, meaning they came as a complete surprise before morning coffee on Tuesday, March 31, 2026.

According to the Times of India, the majority of the layoffs affected the United States and India.

Those being laid off were apparently offered a severance package, but on the condition that the employee immediately signs an agreement accepting their termination.