Archives April 2026

Ant Group today officially announced the release of Ling-2.6-flash, a new large language model designed to prioritize efficiency and real-world application. Leveraging a sparse Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, the model utilizes 104 billion total parameters with only 7.4 billion active, delivering high intelligence at a fraction of the cost and latency of its peers.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422256825/en/

Unlike many models that rely on generating excessive tokens to achieve higher benchmark scores, Ling-2.6-flash focuses on token efficiency.

According to data from Artificial Analysis, Ling-2.6-flash demonstrates a significant advantage in efficiency. It achieved an Intelligence Index of 26 while generating only 15 million output tokens. Unlike some models that rely on excessively long outputs to achieve higher scores, Ling-2.6-flash strikes an optimal balance between intelligent performance and output cost.

In the complete Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index evaluation, Ling-2.6-flash consumed a total of 15 million tokens to complete tasks, whereas comparable models like Nemotron-3-Super consumed over 110 million tokens. For developers and enterprises, this equals an 86% reduction in inference cost, faster response times and a smoother user experience.

Built on a hybrid linear Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture, the model delivers significant speed advantages. Under 4-card H20 conditions, it achieves inference speeds of up to 340 tokens per second, with a Prefill throughput 2.2 times that of Nemotron-3-Super. In Output Speed evaluations, Ling-2.6-flash ranks in the top tier of its size class with a stable output speed of 215 tokens per second.

Ling-2.6-flash has been specifically enhanced for AI agent applications, demonstrating state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance for its size on benchmarks such as BFCL-V4, TAU2-bench, SWE-bench Verified, Claw-Eval, and PinchBench. It maintains strong capabilities in general knowledge, mathematical reasoning, and long-text analysis while strictly controlling token consumption.

The official launch confirms that Ling-2.6-flash is the previously anonymous “Elephant Alpha.” Prior to this release, the model was available for testing on OpenRouter under that codename, where it saw a significant surge in adoption. Over the past week, it topped the “Trending” charts for consecutive days, with daily token calls reaching the 100 billion level.

With pricing set at 0.1 USD for input and 0.3 USD for output per million tokens, the Ling-2.6-flash API is officially open. It includes a one-week free trial and is accessible through OpenRouter and the Alipay Tbox. A commercial version, LingDT, will be available through Ant Digital Technologies to support global developers and SMEs.

About Ant Group

Ant Group is a global digital technology provider and the operator of Alipay, a leading internet services platform in China, connecting over one billion users to more than 10,000 types of consumer services from partners. Through innovative products and solutions powered by AI, blockchain and other technologies, Ant Group supports partners across industries to thrive through digital transformation in an ecosystem for inclusive and sustainable development. For more information, visit www.antgroup.com.

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TV Operating Systems that did not exist in 2022 are forecast to control 28% of the European TV operating system (OS) market by 2030, up from 21% in 2025, according to Omdia’s latest TV Design & Features Tracker. This rapid shift underscores how TV brands are increasingly prioritizing advertising revenue from the TV OS over traditional hardware revenue.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260421901662/en/

Europe – TV OS Unit Market Share

In Europe, Google TV currently leads with a 32% share but will lose share gradually to three key competitors: VIDAA, Titan OS and TiVo. These three platforms represent a growing group of independent operating systems that are successfully challenging Google TV in Europe.

Independent TV OS Revenue-Sharing Models

While these platforms differ in their origins, they share a common business philosophy that is highly attractive to European TV manufacturers seeking to protect their profit margins and brand identity.

Unlike Google TV, which largely keeps advertising and data revenue within the Google ecosystem, VIDAA, Titan OS, and TiVo offer active revenue-sharing models. This allows TV brands to earn a continuous stream of income from home-screen ads and FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) channels long after the initial hardware sale.

All three systems are primarily Linux-based and utilize web-app architectures rather than native Android apps. This makes them significantly lighter and faster, often requiring less powerful, and more cost-effective hardware to run smoothly compared to the more resource-heavy Google TV. This is especially important in 2026, as memory prices have spiked over the last year. The European TV market is highly competitive with slim hardware margins. Adopting a lean OS allows manufacturers to use more affordable processors while still delivering a responsive, 4K-capable interface that avoids the lag often seen in entry-level TV sets.

Controlling Smart TV User Experience and European Content

These platforms provide TV manufacturers with greater control over the User Experience (UX) and viewer data. While Google TV enforces a strict, standardized look and keeps viewer insights for its own ad engine, these independent players allow brands like Philips (Titan) and Hisense (VIDAA) to maintain a distinct brand feel and access their own audience analytics.

Titan OS, being European-built, and TiVo have focused heavily on integrating local European broadcasters into a unified homepage. This content-first approach combines live TV and streaming more seamlessly and resonates better with traditional European viewing habits.

Titan OS and TiVo recently formed a strategic ad-sales partnership in Europe. This gives them the collective ad reach needed to attract major European advertisers, making their revenue-sharing promises more realistic for TV brands

Omdia projects that Europe will reach an inflection point in 2028, when combined shipments of VIDAA, Titan OS and TiVo reach 11.9 million units. 57% of this total volume is expected to be driven by Hisense and the rapid expansion of its VIDAA platform. By 2030, Omdia forecasts that VIDAA will reach 18.0 million units globally, with Europe accounting for 7.0 million units.

“At CES 2026, VIDAA OS underwent a major transformation,” said Patrick Horner, Practice Leader, TV Set Research, Omdia. “The operating system is transitioning to a new name, V Home OS, to reflect its broader role beyond just televisions. A significant partnership with Microsoft was announced to integrate Copilot’s generative AI capabilities directly into the platform, enhancing the user experience with advanced AI services. The name change is part of the wider push by the company to position the platform to be an operating system that encompasses not only AI but also, eventually, acts as a shopping portal.”

ABOUT OMDIA

Omdia, part of TechTarget, Inc. d/b/a Informa TechTarget (Nasdaq: TTGT), is a technology research and advisory group. Our deep knowledge of tech markets grounded in real conversations with industry leaders and hundreds of thousands of data points, make our market intelligence our clients’ strategic advantage. From R&D to ROI, we identify the greatest opportunities and move the industry forward.

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• Concrete in Life Photo of the Year from the Philippines wins $10,000 top prize
• Over 20,000 international entries from professional photographers and smartphone amateurs
• Concrete is the world’s most used substance after water

Powerful and striking images from around the world have been chosen as the winners of the Concrete in Life 2025/26 global photography competition, showcasing the essential role concrete plays in daily life, infrastructure, cities, and design.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422352135/en/

OVERALL WINNER: Pillars Across the Sea by Celbert Palaganas, Cebu City, Philippines

Run by the Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), the annual competition received more than 20,000 entries from professional and amateur photographers, as well as smartphone users, spanning every continent. The competition highlights how concrete supports modern life while also offering moments of beauty, creativity and human connection.

Thomas Guillot, Chief Executive of the GCCA, said: “The spectacular images submitted this year show concrete’s positive impact on people’s lives all over the world – sometimes practical, sometimes almost hidden, and sometimes very beautiful.”

The Concrete in Life Photo of the Year 2025/26, receiving the top prize of USD$10,000, was awarded to Celbert Palaganas for “Pillars Across the Sea”, taken in Cebu City, Philippines. The image captures green coastal plants in the foreground while the Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway, the longest bridge in the Philippines, stretches across the horizon, creating a striking contrast between nature and engineering.

Celbert Palaganas said: “I am deeply honored and truly grateful to be the winner of this year’s competition. What inspired me was the contrast I witnessed in a single moment – the strength and permanence of concrete rising above, and the quiet strength of nature growing below. In that frame, I saw not conflict, but coexistence, where engineering and nature share the same space.”

Commenting on the winning picture, competition Judge, Chris George,Content Director at Digital Camera World said: “What a brilliant image with great colour, using the huge depth of field available with a smartphone to ensure the plants in the foreground are as sharp as the bridge’s structure.”

As well as the overall winner, four other category winners were also announced, each receiving a prize of USD$2,500. Ralph Emerson De Peralta was named category winner in Urban Concrete, for his photo called “Dubai Rising.” A photo of the MRT Rail Tunnel in Jakarta called “Hidden Connection” by Rafly Rinaldy won the Concrete Infrastructure category. Naitao Li (李迺涛) won the Concrete in Daily Life category for “Time and Space Travellers” in Harbin, China. The Beauty and Design category was won by Marcel Van Balken for his photo “Triangles” set in Antwerp, Belgium.

The People’s Vote prize, chosen by the public with a USD$5,000 prize, was won by Aung Chan Thar for “Rhythm on Concrete” set in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Mr Guillot added: “Concrete delivers our vital infrastructure such as bridges, railways and roads that connect us, as well as the homes, offices and schools we rely on every day. This competition gives people the opportunity to show just how important concrete is to them.”

All the winners and their picture details and quotes, as well as the wider 100 shortlisted pictures and online gallery can be viewed at Concrete in Life 2025/26 – Global Photography Competition : GCCA.

Notes to editors:

Winning images can be found in the media link here.

The full shortlist is available to download from our website.

You can view our winners video here.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260422352135/en/