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Welcome to your first CES edition of TMA, attempting (almost futilely) to distill the biggest product reveals and announcements. Despite two days of briefings and conferences, today is merely day one. However, we've already seen Sony Honda reveal its next car — and the Afeela 1 isn't yet on sale. We've got a deep dive on what we've seen so far, right here.
AMD announced new Ryzen AI 400 laptop processors and updated desktop chips, including the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, with a new focus broadly on AI processing improvements. NVIDIA had a lengthy, dense press conference showing off its dominance in AI tech, but it lacked major consumer announcements — until overnight, when it revealed next-gen G-Sync tech and an upgraded version of DLSS. The new tech can handle up to 4K 240Hz path traced performance. It also adds an improved version of Super Resolution Transformer, with more stability.
This year's wildcard CES press conference was… Lego? It revealed Smart Bricks, which adds sensors, audio and wireless communication to traditional Lego pieces. The system is launching with Star Wars sets later this year — and perhaps crucially, no smartphone or screen is needed to play.
There's also LG and Samsung to get into — more on those below!
— Mat Smith
The other big stories (an
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 Multiple of Satechi's Thunderbolt 4 docks are on Engadget's list of the best docking stations, so when the company announces a new accessory, it's usually worth a look. At CES 2026, Satechi is finally making the jump to Thunderbolt 5 with a new docking station and cable. The Thunderbolt 5 CubeDock with SSD Enclosure and Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable leverage the faster speeds of Intel's cable tech, and in the case of the dock, also include extra benefits like space for SSD storage.
The CubeDock is made from a block of solid aluminum and is clearly supposed to evoke Apple's desktop Macs, like the new Mac mini. Satechi already made a Mac mini hub that can do some of the same things as CubeDock, but that accessory was focused on Thunderbolt 4. With the Thunderbolt 5 on the CubeDock, the new docking station can offer support for multiple 8K monitors, 180W smart power delivery and up to 120 Gb/s transfer speeds.
The back of a Satechi CubeDock displaying multiple types of ports.
Satechi
The dock also features a microSD card slot, SD card slots and headphone jack on the fr
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The following article discusses themes of an adult nature.
Lovense has turned up to CES with a "companion doll," a life-size sex doll that's designed to be more than just a life size sex doll. The company has equipped it with its proprietary AI engine and promises "human-like cognition, emotional awareness and expressive behavior." The doll, which in the marketing video is called Emily, is Lovense's answer to the global loneliness crisis. It says, over time, a user's relationship with the system will grow deeper as it learns to adapt to their needs. And that the doll is the natural evolution of the virtual companions that have, until now, "existed only on phones and screens."
From a hardware standpoint, the doll uses a standard user posable skeleton for everywhere but inside the skull. Up top, there are various servos and mechanisms to give the doll the ability to slightly move their mouth while speaking, as well as some basic facial expressions. (You haven't lived until you've seen Emily attempt a smize or a wink in a matter few would describe as flirtatious.) The company hasn't spoken about the less delicate parts of her anatomy, but did say her built in Bluetooth can "integrate effortlessly with the full Lovense ecosystem" and can run for eight hours on a single charge.
The major focus, however, is on the AI part of the equation, explaining it will remember details of previous conversations to enable users to build a deeper bond with its user. In addition, you can even engage with the AI when you're out and about, messaging it via the Lovense app. Oh, and you can even get "AI-generated selfies that mirror her real-world appearance" should you want. The company, in its materials, say that the doll will hopefully lead people out of their comfort zone and be
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The hit show starring rKaitlin Olson returns this week.
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 Apple has historically resisted the idea of touchscreen MacBooks, arguing that laptop PCs with the feature are unwieldy and far from ergonomic. But recent reports suggest Apple has changed its tune, and the company is now rumored to be developing a touchscreen MacBook Pro. In the meantime, startup Intricuit has been showcasing its own solution at CES 2026 that brings touchscreen to existing MacBooks with Apple silicon.
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 KEYi Tech, the company behind the Loona companion robot and ClicBot modular robot, is showing off a new take on AI assistants at CES 2026 called DeskMate, which is exclusively for iPhone.
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Elon Musk's initial reaction sparked additional controversy when he responded with laughing emojis to AI-generated bikini images.
The post Grok AI Sparks International Investigations After Creating Explicit Images of Children appeared first on eWEEK.
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Just like last year, NVIDIA has used some of its time on the CES stage to introduce an upgraded version of its real-time image-upscaling technology. The new DLSS 4.5 promises sharper visuals with the 2nd Generation Super Resolution Transformer, which the company says will deliver better temporal stability, reduced ghosting and improved anti-aliasing. The DLSS 4.5 also includes Dynamic Multi Frame Generation, which maximizes frame per second to monitor refresh rate, delivering up to 4K 240Hz path traced performance.
The 2nd Gen Transformer Super Resolution is available now for all RTX GPUs, while the Dynamic 6x Frame Generation will arrive some time in spring 2026 for the RTX 50 series. It will also be available for more than 400 games through the NVIDIA app.
Another new feature is RTX Remix Logic, which allows real-time environmental reactions to in-game events. For instance, when a door is opened on screen, the NVIDIA tech can present changes to volumetric conditions, display different weather simulations with particles or alter materials. More than 30 different common events can be detected, and the RTX Remix Logic can make adaptations to volumetrics, particles, material properties and light properties.
NVIDIA noted that it now has native clients for both Linux and Fire TV. That's the roundup of major gaming updates from the company's CES presentation, but NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang had plenty to talk about earlier today.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nvidia-announces-dlss-45-at-ces-2026-053000128.html?src=rss
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When I first heard whispers about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, I immediately felt conflicted. On one hand it felt like the natural evolution of bi-fold phones like the Z Fold 7. But on the other, all this fancy tech comes with an even higher price — around $2,500 based on current conversion rates from Korean won — not to mention the added bulk you get from a third folding panel. So even as someone who has used a foldable as my daily driver for almost a decade straight, it felt like Samsung's latest high-end phone was going backwards in terms of both portability and affordability. But then at CES 2026, I got a chance to go hands-on with the Galaxy Z TriFold and all of my concerns pretty much instantly disappeared because with this thing, flexing is believing.
My initial consternation comes in large part from using the Z Fold 7, which hit a major milestone this year thanks to a revamped design that doesn't come with any added size or weight even when compared to comparable candybar-style phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. That's a major breakthrough considering how hefty and chunky the
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We are in the thick of multiple sports seasons: the NBA finals are happening, and baseball and soccer are in full swing. For devoted fans, emotions can run pretty high during a game. Cognitive anthropologist Dimitris Xygalatas has long been fascinated by that intensity — and how uniform it can be across fans. So, he and fellow researchers at the University of Connecticut decided to look into what exactly makes fans so deeply connected to their team and to fellow supporters. It turns out that connection may have less to do with actual gameplay and more to do with rituals. Their research was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Questions about sports science? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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