Australian Govt. Issues Expectations for Data Centers – DTH

0:00Want to get this show ad free? Head to dailytechnewshow.com slash subscribe to find out how. These are the daily tech headlines for Monday, March 23rd, 2026. I'm Jen Cutter. On Monday, the Australian government issued formal expectations for data center and AI infrastructure developers wanting to operate within the country. The five expectations include handling their own electricity generation capacity with clean energy, paying for energy infrastructure and transmission costs, sustainable and efficient water usage and investments in the Australian workforce and skills. The expectations also state assessments being enabled for Australian startups, innovative small businesses, researchers and not-for-profits on favorable terms, as well as prioritizing Australia's national security and data sovereignty.

1:03Royal Des reports the European Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services called on the EU Antitrust Chief to designate makers of smart TVs as gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act using data from a 2025 study. Amazon's Fire OS and Samsung's Tizen OS were specifically named as examples as Android TV increased market share from 16% to 23% from 2019 to 2024. In the letter, the broadcasters said, quote, it is crucial that the commission designate major TV operating systems as gatekeepers and ensure adequate oversight to guarantee fairness and contestability. The letter further notes smart TV should be included under the DMA, even if they do not meet the standard requirements of 45 million monthly active users and a market capitalization of 75 billion euros, approximately 87 billion US. Bloomberg reports the deal between Sony and Chinese company TCL Electronics Holding Limited

2:06is nearly complete, sources claiming it may be valued around 1 billion, and an announcement will be made as soon as the end of March. Sony and TCL announced their intentions to set up a joint venture in January and a memorandum of understanding would have Sony holding 49% and TCL 51%. On Sunday, Tencent launched a tool integrating an AI OpenClaw agent within WeChat. The new CLABOT tool appears as a WeChat contact connecting users directly with OpenClaw, able to send and receive comments with the AI agent in the standard messaging interface. Earlier in March, Tencent launched its own AI agent suite with QClaw for individual users, lighthouse for developers, and work buddy for enterprises. The government of Mexico City launched a chatbot on WhatsApp to a tourist during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and will remain active beyond the event. The chatbot named Sholi provides info and answers questions in English or Spanish regarding

3:09tourism, cultural offerings, gastronomy, mobility, and other services. Sholi is available now operating 24-7. Digital Trends reports a recent build of Google Translate shows an AI-powered practice mode. The mode will help users improve their pronunciation by listening to native speakers' pronunciations and subbending their own attempts with AI analyzing and grading the effort. It will also suggest ways to improve, including providing a phonetic breakdown of words to simplify the process. The feature is likely to roll out in stages with select language pairs like English and Spanish. Motorsports simulator I Racing will be available on Apple Vision Pro this spring through a collaboration with Apple and Nvidia. I Racing, which features lidar scanned real-world tracks and cars, and also partners with various racing organizations will launch alongside Vision OS 26.4 and Nvidia's Cloud XR 6.0 streaming

4:09platform. I Racing, being a hardcore racing sim, is generally limited to a cockpit view, and on Apple Vision Pro, racers will be able to view their physical hands on the wheel, aiming to replicate the same experience as in a real racing cockpit. And Game Developer Pearl Abyss launched a comprehensive audit of in-game assets after gamers discovered a bunch of AI-generated art in the newly released open-world game Crimson Desert. The AI art was not originally disclosed as required by Steam's AI content policy only added after being called out. In a statement, the Korean company said, quote, we sincerely apologize for these oversights, and out of the AI assets will be replaced in future patches. Crimson Desert's Steam launch had nearly 250,000 players, and the Metacritic score sits at 78. The next patch is expected to focus on correcting complicated controls, though in the meantime, Pearl Abyss suggests using a controller for Crimson Desert.

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