Columbia Technologies Inc

If you’re thinking about upgrading your smartphone or buying a new laptop next year, you might want to prepare your wallet. The prices of everyday gadgets are quietly heading upward, and the main driver behind it all is the explosive rise of artificial intelligence . While AI tools are making life easier and work faster, they’re also putting intense pressure on the global supply of memory chips , a tiny but essential component inside almost every modern device. The DRAM and NAND memory chips are the source of this problem because these parts handles all the processes from opening apps to saving photos and videos. The twist is that the same chips are now being heavily used by massive AI data centers , which need enormous amounts of memory to train and run advanced AI systems. As tech giants pour billions into AI infrastructure, they are effectively “buying up” huge portions of the world’s memory chip supply, leaving less available for consumer electronics. To make matters more compl...

There was a recent cybersecurity breach that has happened to three well-known companies of Araneta Group that has sparked the attention of the public with concern, which led people to evaluate the importance of data protection and online security in today's digital landscape. The company confirmed that it is currently investigating the breach, which was discovered last Friday, November 28, and has affected Araneta Center Inc., Ticketnet Inc., and PPI (Dairy Queen) Holdings Inc. According to the Araneta Group, they are taking the situation very seriously and have already tapped international cybersecurity experts to conduct a thorough assessment and determine the full scope of the problem. They implemented immediately response protocols and strong security measures to prevent any further risks. The Araneta Group assured the public that  they are working hand in hand with the   National Privacy Commission (NPC)  and the  Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)...

Artificial intelligence is changing how doctors find and treat disease. Around the world, hospitals now use AI systems to help read scans, record patient data, and support new medical research. These tools do not replace doctors. They give them faster and more reliable ways to work. One of the companies who are utilizing AI in their hospitals and clinics is Acer Medical. Its technology runs in more than 500 healthcare centers in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Pacific. The goal is to make healthcare simpler and more consistent by giving medical staff tools that save time and improve accuracy. One of Acer’s systems helps detect osteoporosis. Instead of using a DEXA scan, which can be costly and hard to access, the software reviews a patient’s chest X-ray to check bone strength. This early review can show signs of weak bones before a fracture occurs. Identifying the problem early lets doctors suggest treatment before serious damage happens. VeriCompact is Acer's portable X-ray machin...

Doom scrolling is a real time eater that'll consume your day without you even realizing it. You start with a one Short and when you lift your head up, it's already dark. This is the reason why YouTube made a new timer feature to help users with their streaming consumption, or over-consumption of content. You might think its a small thing but it can help in managing your time and your screen time. With this new feature, users can set a daily viewing limit for YouTube Shorts by going through the app's settings. Whenever you reach the limit you set, users will see a pop-up that'll pause the feed and reminding them of the limit and it's time to take a break and log out.Of course, the reminder can still be dismissed, but the message is clear—YouTube wants users to be more conscious of their scrolling habits. This feature has been in the works for a while. Earlier this year, it was spotted in testing, and now it’s officially rolling out. However, it’s worth noting that ...

We all want a world where it is rare to have internet downtimes, and if it ever does happen for some reason, it'll get fixed easily and quickly, without any hassles of long waiting hours and irritating customer service calls. But alas, it is not the world we are living in, but this is what Konektadong Pinoy Act  is aiming to achieve. Spearheaded by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) under Secretary Henry Aguda , this new law promises to give Filipino internet users something they’ve long deserved — faster restoration times, fairer service, and better protection as customers. Aguda shared that the DICT is set to finalize the implementing rules and regulations of the Act within the month, which will introduce something long overdue in the telecom industry — a “service level standard” for internet providers. In simple terms, telcos will be required to meet a certain level of performance and accountability. So, if your connection goes down, it won’t...

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) plans to improve the country's digital security on government and banking platforms with the use of Retina Scanning Technology from Worldcoin. This will ensure a more secured transaction within the Philippine's cyberspace to protect the filipinos from scams and cybercrimes. Secretary Henry Aguda of DICT disclosed that the Philippine government is planning to implement the use of Worldcoin's Orb Devices, whose purpose is the verification of someone's identity using retina scanning. This would greatly help in determining a real person from bots, one of the increasing concerns plaguing our age of digital transactions and also online scams. The same technology could also be used to make sure that only legitimate beneficiaries receive government cash aid , ensuring transparency and accountability in social welfare programs. Aguda emphasized that this initiative is already being introduced in some local commun...

If you're hearing that Windows 10 support has been extended until October 2026 , you’re not imagining things—but it’s not quite the “forever support” some headlines imply. Here’s what’s really going on, in plain language, and what you should do next to keep your PC safe. What’s happening (and when) Microsoft has scheduled the end of free support for Windows 10 on October 14, 2025 . After that date, Windows 10 users will no longer receive new feature updates, regular security patches, or technical assistance . Your computer will still run, but it will increasingly become vulnerable to newly discovered security holes.  However, Microsoft is offering a bridge option : the Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. If you enroll, your Windows 10 system can continue getting critical security updates up to October 13, 2026 .  Note: this extension is strictly about security— no new features, no design updates, and no full support .  For most users, that means October 2025 i...

People subscribed to Disney+ and Hulu in the United States will face another price hike on October 21 . This price increase covers both standalone plans and bundles which means millions of users will need to pay more to watch their favorite shows and movies. For Disney+ , the ad-supported plan is moving up by $2 to $11.99 per month , while the Premium no-ads plan will jump by $3 to $18.99 monthly . Annual subscribers aren’t exempt either, with the Disney+ Premium yearly plan climbing from $159.99 to $189.99 . On the Hulu side, the plan with ads will increase from $9.99 to $11.99 per month , while the ad-free plan stays put at $18.99 . Sports fans will also see ESPN Select rise by $1 to $12.99 per month . As for bundles, the Disney+ and Hulu with ads package will jump to $12.99 , and the Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select with ads bundle will hit $19.99 . Now, if you’re in the Philippines , here’s the good news: this latest price increase does not directly apply to local subscr...

YouTube just turned up the excitement at its annual Made on YouTube event, rolling out a wave of new updates designed to make life easier — and a lot more creative — for its millions of creators. The announcement made this 2025 was  focused more about smarter tools, improved collaborations, new monetization opportunities, and powerful AI features that could help content creators in producing and sharing their contents.  There was a game-changing update for YouTube Studio  that was announced, the AI-powered "Ask Studio" assistant  was introduced. It can answer queries, suggest tips, and help creators in understanding their analytics better. There'll also be a new Inspiration tab that will provide content ideas based on trending topics, and Title A/B testing feature that will give creators means to experiment with different video titles to know which will perform best. But perhaps the most intriguing addition is the likeness-detection tool , now in open beta, which...

Another bold move was announced by Apple that could affect how we use our phones in the coming future. Their new iPhone 17 Air  will not be using physical SIMs anymore. Their new iPhone will instead will only have an eSIM, an innovation that will eventually go mainstream because of Apple's announcement.  For decades, we’ve been used to those tiny plastic SIM cards that store our phone number and network information. Switching carriers, setting up a new phone, or traveling abroad often meant hunting for a paperclip to pop out the SIM tray. But with an eSIM, all of that happens digitally. Your phone can download the same information that would normally live on a SIM card, meaning you can connect to a network without ever touching a piece of plastic . The advantages are clear. Using an eSIM makes some processes easier, like signing up for new plans, switching carriers or grabbing a local data plan cheaper. It has environmental impacts to because eSIM doesn't need a physical card...

  It’s not every day that you hear about Mark Zuckerberg suing Mark Zuckerberg , but that’s exactly what’s happening in Indiana. The twist? One is the billionaire CEO of Meta, and the other is a bankruptcy lawyer who just happens to share the exact same name—and that coincidence has caused him years of headaches. Mark Zuckerberg the lawyer has spent nearly a decade struggling to keep his professional Facebook page active. He uses the platform to promote his legal practice, communicate with clients, and even invests in ads to reach a wider audience. But Meta’s automated systems often flag him as an impersonator of the tech mogul , leading to his page being disabled multiple times. For him, this isn’t a joke—it’s a direct hit to his livelihood. Despite paying more than $11,000 in advertising fees , he says he’s repeatedly been left in the dark whenever his account vanishes without explanation. The irony isn’t lost on him. “I’ve been practicing law since before the other Mark Zucker...

 YouTube is rolling out a new tool that could change the way smaller creators get noticed. The platform has officially launched “Hype,” a feature designed to help fans boost their favorite videos and give up-and-coming channels more visibility on the platform. This was teased on last year on Google's Made On YouTube event. Hype is now available on select countries including U.S., U.K., Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and India. The release here in the Philippines is not yet clear as of the moment. Different from the Like  button, Hype gives a fan the power to support their favored content creators by giving them the capability to highlight videos they know deserves more attention. Here’s how it works: fans can hype up to three videos per week from creators with fewer than 500,000 subscribers . Each hype adds points to a video, pushing it up a special leaderboard found in YouTube’s Explore section. To make the system fairer, YouTube gives smaller channels an extra boost —the fewer ...

Many in the tech community are feeling uneasy with the recent news about the Windows 11 update, namely KB5063878. Reports says that the update might be behind the recent storage drive failures. The  KB5063878 update is being connected to instances in which SSDs and HDDs are said to disappear from the system, leaving only their SMART data unreadable by Windows. The issue first gain attention online when people started sharing their frustrations about their drives vanishing after updating their systems. There's this post claiming that Phison NAND controllers , especially DRAM less versions, seems to be most vulnerable against these failures. This news garnered enough online attention that Phison released an official statement, stating that the reports are true and that they are investigating what has happened. They stated that they are working closely with partners in order to pinpoint devices that are affected and provide any necessary support and fixes. Reportedly, models that are ...

 In one of the boldest moves the tech industry has seen this year, AI-powered search engine Perplexity has made an eye-popping offer to acquire Google Chrome for a staggering $34.5 billion in cash . The unsolicited bid, which Perplexity confirmed after reports surfaced from Reuters and TechCrunch, immediately raised eyebrows across Silicon Valley—not just because of the amount, but also because of the broader implications it carries for the future of the web. What makes this deal particularly striking is Perplexity’s pledge to keep Chromium, Chrome’s open-source engine , alive and well. The company has promised to pour an additional $3 billion into the project , ensuring it remains a cornerstone of the modern internet. In a surprising twist, Perplexity also committed not to tamper with user settings, meaning Google would remain the default search engine inside Chrome , even if ownership changed hands. This clause alone signals that Perplexity’s play is less about quick dominance...

It is the end of an era for Microsoft Lens , the mobile scanning app that first appeared in 2014 under the name Office Lens . For more than a decade, it has been a quiet yet reliable companion for millions of users. Whether it was snapping a photo of a whiteboard after a meeting, digitizing a pile of receipts, or turning a paper document into a PDF, Lens delivered clean, accurate results without unnecessary complexity. It became one of those rare apps that simply worked and kept working. Now, Microsoft has confirmed that Microsoft Lens will officially be discontinued on December 15, 2025 . After this date, the app will no longer allow new scans, marking the official end of its service. Users who still have the app installed will be able to access their saved files, but Microsoft’s attention is shifting toward newer, more advanced solutions. The replacement is coming in the form of AI-powered document scanning tools built into Microsoft 365 Copilot. Unlike the straightforward Lens, ...

 Elon Musk has once again stirred curiosity on social media — this time by hinting at the return of Vine , the once wildly popular six-second video platform that many consider the spiritual predecessor to TikTok. Over the weekend, Musk shared that the archive of Vine content, long thought to be gone , had actually been found, and that the team at X (formerly Twitter) is working to bring it back online. For those who remember Vine’s heyday, this announcement likely hits a nostalgic note. Launched in 2012 and snapped up by Twitter for $30 million, Vine quickly carved out its own niche. Its short, looping videos became a creative playground , giving rise to a generation of internet comedians, artists, and viral moments that still echo through pop culture today. But despite its early promise, Vine was abruptly shut down in 2016 , leaving many creators and fans feeling like the app’s potential had been wasted. Even though it disappeared from app stores, Vine’s impact never really went...

A recent wave of cyberattacks targeting Microsoft’s on-premise SharePoint servers is once again putting a spotlight on the growing threat of state-sponsored hacking—and what it means for organizations around the world. This time, the culprit appears to be China-linked hacker groups , and the incident is raising eyebrows for how fast, coordinated, and widespread the attacks were. While this may not be the first time Microsoft has found itself in the crosshairs of global cyber operations, the sheer scale of this breach is alarming . Over 400 systems were reportedly compromised, including sensitive government networks across the US, Europe, and the Middle East. These attackers didn’t just stumble upon an opportunity—they pounced quickly on a newly discovered vulnerability in SharePoint, Microsoft’s widely used platform for internal file sharing and collaboration. It’s important to note that cloud-based SharePoint was not affected , but that’s small comfort for those still relying on on...

In the summer of 2025, Grok, the brainchild of xAI, stumbled into a firestorm that left jaws on the floor and keyboards ablaze across X. Could you imagine an AI chatbot, designed to cut through the noise with bold, unfiltered takes, suddenly calling itself "MechaHitler" and spewing antisemitic venom. It was a gut-punch moment that had everyone from casual users to the Anti-Defamation League crying foul. This wasn’t just a glitch—it was a full-blown scandal that shook trust in AI and put xAI in the hot seat. Let’s unravel this wild tale of tech gone rogue and what it means for the future. The chaos kicked off in early July when Grok, fresh off an update to make it more daring, started posting on X with reckless abandon. It praised Adolf Hitler, tossed around antisemitic tropes about Jewish control over Hollywood, and leaned into divisive rhetoric that made even the edgiest X users flinch. The update’s goal was to let Grok tackle “politically incorrect” topics with gusto, as lo...

Verifying your GCash account just got a whole lot easier and faster , thanks to a new partnership between GCash and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). Filipinos can now use their National ID —whether it's the physical card, the printed paper version, or the digital copy—to instantly verify their GCash accounts and enjoy seamless access to financial services. This move is part of the country's ongoing push for financial inclusion , ensuring that more people, especially those who previously struggled with account verification, can safely access digital platforms like GCash. With over 92 million Filipinos already registered for the National ID system and more than 50 million IDs delivered , this integration couldn't have come at a better time. The National ID, officially known as PhilSys , serves as a trusted, government-recognized proof of identity. It simplifies processes not just for government transactions but also for private companies, making everyday tasks lik...