This week in AI updates: Google’s UCP standard, a redesigned Slackbot, and more (January 16, 2026)

Google has announced a new open-source standard for agentic commerce called the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).

Copilot Studio Extension now available in VS Code

The Copilot Studio Extension allows developers to build and manage Copilot Studio agents directly from within VS Code.
GitHub

PHP HTTP Request Handler for Node.js

With @platformatic/php-node you can run PHP applications within the same process as a Node.js application, allowing for communication between Node.js and PHP without any network connection in the ...
GitHub

CodeSonar Extension for Visual Studio Code

This extension from CodeSecure provides access to static code analysis results from a CodeSonar hub inside Visual Studio Code. You will also need access to a CodeSonar hub running CodeSonar 7.1p0 or ...
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The most underrated paper stop motion animation plugin | After Effects tutorial

Discover the hidden gem of paper stop motion animation plugins for Adobe After Effects in this tutorial. Learn how to create unique, hand-crafted animation effects that bring your projects to life.