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Jan 06, 2026
Not everyone remembers the unique controllers that never quite made it. As third-party peripheral makers attempt to offer gamers something different to the likes of DualSense and Joy-Cons, they often have to go in a different direction. GameSir's Swift Drive (apparently a working product name) is definitely that. And if you remember 1998's JogCon for the PS1, there's definitely some shared DNA.
It features a compact steering wheel at the center of an otherwise typical controller design. It's also got force feedback, tech usually found in (full-size!) steering wheel controllers. GameSir says it has a "high precision" Hall Effect encoder built in for "ultra-accurate" steering.
Mat Smith for Engadget
You will be able to adjust the steering range from 30 to 1080 degrees, but you'd likely want to keep it high - it's the entire point of this controller. GameSir has added Hall-effect sensors to its more typical joysticks and buttons, while each trigger has its own haptic motor to simulate wheel slip and braking. Several RGB lights across the top of the controller will even attempt to replicate your in-game RPMs, which is a cute touch.
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Jan 06, 2026
Lenovo just revealed a new smartglasses concept design at CES 2026. The appropriately-named Lenovo AI Glasses Concept promises to transform "how users interact with their surroundings and unifies their workflow."
They look like a standard pair of specs and not all that different from something like Meta's Ray-Ban Display glasses. A pair weighs just 45 grams and the battery lasts eight hours, which is just enough time to get through a standard workday.
The glasses are wirelessly tethered to a smart device, which is what does most of the computational heavy lifting. They do include Lenovo and Motorola's proprietary AI platform called Qira, which delivers "sub-millisecond live translation and intelligent image recognition." There's also something called the Catch Me Up feature, which is an AI-generated recap of various notifications from various devices.
The hardware allows for touch and voice control and includes teleprompter software. The concept glasses include speakers, as Lenovo is advertising music playback as a feature.
We don't know when or if these smart glasses will ever hit store shelves. Lenovo tends to drop several intriguing concept designs each year at CES and not all of them make it to market.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/lenovo-just-revealed-a-concept-for-ai-powered-smartglasses-at-ces-010057822.html?src=rss
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Jan 06, 2026
Lenovo has brought a slew of updates to its Legion and LOQ line of gaming laptops for CES 2026. The refreshed laptops are all built around Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs.
The new Legion 7a is both thinner and lighter than the previous generation and is aimed at gamers, creators, and working professionals. Lenovo says the new 7a will be powered by AMD Ryzen AI 400 CPUs and RTX 50-series GPUs, delivering up to 125W of total system power.
Presumably this means buyers will choose from multiple CPU and GPU configurations, and Lenovo says the 7a will support up to a Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 and up to an RTX 5060 GPU, but precise details on other configurations have not been made available.
The laptop sports a 16-inch OLED display and Lenovo says the laptop's "AI-optimized" performance is ready to handle complex coding, simulation, and 3D modeling projects. The 7a runs on Windows 11 Copilot and uses on-board software to dynamically tune power use and thermals depending on the workload the laptop is under. The Legion 7a will start at $2,000, with availability "expected" in April.
Lenovo is also refreshing the Legion 5 line with the Legion 5i powered by the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 and Legion 5a with a choice of an AMD Ryzen AI 400 or Ryzen 200. Both will offer RTX 50-series GPUs, OLED displays and the same software-based tuning features as the 7a. Lenovo says the 5i can be figured up to an Intel Ultra 9 386H with an RTX 5060 GPU, and the 5a up to a Ryzen AI 9 465 with RTX 5060. Here again we don't yet have details on alternate configurations.
The Legion 5 lapto
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Jan 06, 2026
Motorola just announced its very first side-foldable smartphone, joining the ranks of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold and the Galaxy Z Fold 7. The Razr Fold boasts an impressive 6.6-inch external screen and an 8.1-inch flexible main display. The company hasn't provided dimensions, so we don't know how thick it is.
We do know, however, that it'll include support for the Moto Pen Ultra stylus. This is actually a fairly big deal, as Samsung dropped the feature for the Z Fold 7. Modern foldables basically double as tablets, so a stylus is always appreciated.
Motorola
There's a robust camera system here, with a 50MP Sony sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide/macro, a 50MP telephoto, a 32MP external selfie lens and a 20MP internal camera. It also offers the ability to record in Dolby Vision.
The Razr Fold will be available in blue and white. We don't have any information regarding internal specs, pricing or availability. Motorola says that "more specifications will be shared in the coming months."
It's worth noting that while this is the company's first side-folding camera, Motorola has always mad
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Jan 06, 2026
After kicking off its Moto Things accessory line with wireless earbuds, a Bluetooth tracker and a cheap smartwatch in 2024, Motorola is doubling down. At CES 2026, the company is announcing a sequel to its tracker, the Moto Tag 2, a stylus for its new folding phone, the Moto Pen Ultra and a more premium smartwatch called the Moto Watch.
The Moto Watch has a 47mm round face with a stainless steel crown and an aluminum frame. The smartwatch comes with a PANTONE "Volcanic Ash" silicone band, but is designed to support third-party 22mm bands, too, which greatly expands its customization options. Motorola says the watch can get up to 13 days of battery life normally or seven days with its always-on display enabled, and also features a built-in speaker and microphone for hands-free controls and audio notifications. The Moto Watch is meant to be fairly durable, as well, with Gorilla Glass 3 front glass and IP68 water and dust resistance.
The actual fitness features of the watch are powered by Motorola's new partner Polar, a company with its own line of fitness trackers and smartwatches. The Moto Watch lets users log their calorie consumption throughout the day, track their workouts and activity levels (with a daily Activity Goal and Activity Score) and monitor their sleep. The watch also has built-in dual-frequency GPS for tracking runs, bike rides and hikes.
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Jan 06, 2026
Lenovo has unveiled a bunch of new laptops and concepts at CES 2026, including its latest ThinkPad X1 models. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon Gen 14 Aura Edition and ThinkPad X1 2-in-1 Gen 11 Aura Edition come with a new design the company has dubbed "Space Frame."
Lenovo calls Space Frame an "engineering breakthrough" and describes it as a design that restructures the interior of a laptop, so that components are placed on both sides of the motherboard. This structure improves the computer's cooling and, hence, enables higher sustained performance. It comes with replaceable USB ports, battery, keyboard speakers and fans for easier repairs, and it also gives Lenovo enough room to equip laptops with a larger haptic touchpad.
In addition to having the Space Frame design, both ThinkPad X1 Carbon and X1 2-in-1 Aura Editions are Microsoft Copilot PCs powered by the new Intel Core Ultra X7 Series 3 processors, which also debuted at CES. The processors ship with 12Xe graphic cores and integrated NPUs for AI acceleration. Both models also introduce a new 10MP camera with a 110-degree-wide field of view that features advanced distortion correction. As for the ThinkPad X1 2-in-1, it ships with a new magnetically docked pen that was designed to be ergonomic.
The company has announced the ThinkPad X9 15p Aura Edition at the event, as well. It's a follow-up to last year's X9 with an all-aluminum ch
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Jan 06, 2026
If you saw Lenovo's Legion Go 2 launch last year and thought, "I'll wait for the SteamOS version," well, you'll have to wait a little longer. But at least now it's official. At CES 2026, the company revealed the Legion Go 2, Powered by SteamOS. The Valve-friendly variant of the gaming handheld arrives in June, starting at a pricey $1,199.
There aren't any surprises here. It's the same Lenovo Legion Go 2 hardware, with SteamOS replacing the sometimes-awkward Windows. In many ways, you could view the SteamOS Legion Go 2 as a more powerful and versatile (and expensive!) Steam Deck. One notable exception is the optimizations game developers often make for Valve's handheld. (Ditto for "Steam Deck Verified" badges on store listings to learn quickly how playable games are.)
So, all the specs from the Windows version carry over. That includes a spacious 8.8-inch OLED display at 1,920 x 1,200 and with a 144Hz VRR. You still have two tiers to choose from: Ryzen Z2 / 16GB / 1TB or Ryzen Z2 Extreme / 32GB / 2TB. The device has a microSD slot, kickstand, detachable controllers and a 74Wh battery. At 2.2 lbs, it's a bulky affair, so you'll want to look elsewhere if a light, compact handheld is your priority.
Lenovo says the Legion Go 2, Powered by SteamOS is expected in June. It will start at $1,199 for the entry-level variant. (Lenovo hasn't yet announced pricing for the Z2 Extreme tier.) You can revisit Sam Rutherford's
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Jan 06, 2026
If the world didn't already have one too many digital assistants, Lenovo is adding another one to the pile. On Tuesday evening, the company announced Qira, a cross-device AI for both its own computers and Motorola smartphones. Set to arrive later this quarter, it will live at the system level of Lenovo devices. Users won't need to open or switch to the assistant. Instead, "it's always present," says Lenovo.
Of course, you can ignore Qira, and it will stay quiet if you don't need the software to do anything for you. Occasionally, Lenovo says Qira will surface proactive suggestions, and for frequent users, the company promises a machine learning system that will develop a "living model" of your world, "understanding context, continuity and personal patterns of over time." In practice, that means Qira can write emails for you, transcribe and translate meetings and provide summaries of things you might have missed. You know, all the usual stuff every company is offering with their on-device assistants.
From a privacy standpoint, Lenovo says Qira employs a hybrid architecture that "prioritizes" on-device processing, and won't collect customer data without the user's permission. "Every aspect of the Lenovo Qira experience is designed to be secure, ethical, and accountable." I asked Lenovo how Qira would interact with Copilot and Gemini on the company's PCs and Motorola smartphones, and if the new assistant would add to the processing load on those devices, but the company has yet to respond to my email. I'll update this article when I hear back.
On paper, creating a dedicated AI assistant for the company's devices is something I'm sure Lenovo executives agreed was a good idea, but when many people aren't even using Copilot, it feels like a misread of what Lenovo
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Jan 06, 2026
Lenovo has experimented more with laptops featuring rollable displays than pretty much any other PC maker and at CES 2026 it's keeping that trend going with the XD Rollable Concept.
Equipped with a 180-degree Gorilla Glass Victus 2 cover, the XD Rollable concept features a very futuristic design. However, underneath, it has the same basic engineering as last year's ThinkBook Plus Gen 6. That means with the touch of a button, its 13.3-inch flexible OLED display can expand to 16 inches, which gives you around 50 percent extra screen space in just a few seconds. The main difference with Lenovo's latest concept is that instead of hiding the unused section of its rollable display underneath its keyboard, the XD's panel wraps up and over its lid to create a "world-facing" display around back. This allows people sitting on the other side of the laptop to see content, with the laptop capable of mirroring elements from its main display or using that space as a small secondary monitor.
Now I will admit that after seeing the XD Rollable in person, its design does feel a bit gimmicky. Even though Lenovo's space-themed animation that appears when the laptop's display extends is pretty slick, I'm not sure how helpful that world-facing display really is. In normal use, you can't even see it because it's on the other side of the lid and while I suppose you could utilize that area for meetings or presentations, I think most people would be much better off simply connecting the no
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Jan 06, 2026
Lenovo might have the most concept devices of any company at CES 2026, but the wildest and most interesting one is almost certainly the Legion Pro Rollable which features a 16-inch flexible display that can expand to not one but two different sizes.
To make the Legion Pro Rollable, Lenovo started out with a standard Legion Pro 7i and kept the bottom half including all of its ports and support for an RTX 5090 GPU. But then the company went a bit crazy: Instead of replacing the notebook's original 16-inch OLED screen with a rollable variant that extends upwards like the Thinkbook Plus Gen 6 from 2025, Lenovo opted for one that expands outwards to either 21.5 inches or 23.8 inches This means instead of being restricted to a standard 16:10 aspect ratio, you also have the choice of 21:9 or an ultra-wide 24:9 with just the touch of a button. Or more like two buttons because to widen or shrink its display, you need to press FN plus one of its arrow keys.
— Sam Rutherford (@samrutherford) January 7, 2026
Admittedly that feels a bit clunky considering some of Lenovo's other laptops with expandable displays have a dedicated button. But this is a concept device after all, w
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Jan 06, 2026
A couple years ago Lenovo showed off a concept laptop stand that used cameras and AI to follow you around. But now at CES 2026, the company has taken that idea and turned it into a full-fledged system that it's actually going to sell.
Dubbed the ThinkBook Plus Gen 7 Auto Twist, instead of a laptop stand, Lenovo created a standalone notebook with the same functionality, plus a little more. The impressive thing is that despite having a built-in motor that lets its display follow you around, the laptop's design doesn't look all that outlandish. And after playing around with it a bit, I discovered a handful of other tricks it can do.
Instead of using your fingers to open the lid like a luddite, all you have to do is knock a couple times and then the laptop's display will pop up by itself. From there, you're greeted with a surprisingly good-looking 14-inch 2.8K OLED display and a traditional keyboard that won't upset longtime ThinkBook or ThinkPad aficionados. You also get solid specs including support for Intel's new Core Ultra Series 3 processors, up to 32GB of RAM, 2TB of storage and a decently large 75Whr battery. The laptop also sports a strong selection of ports including two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, a full-size HDMI jack and Wi-Fi 7. And all of this comes in a chassis that weighs 3.1 pounds, which is very reasonable for a 14-inch machine.
As for its auto-twisting abilities, the main use case is during pres
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Jan 06, 2026
In the original, and best Total Recall, there's a scene where Rekall's receptionist uses a digital pen to change the color of her nail polish. It's only taken 35 years, but now a company has turned up to CES 2026 with a version that actually works outside a pricey sci-fi movie. iPolish is a company which makes press-on acrylic nails that, when you apply an electric charge, changes color.
In order to enjoy kaleidoscopic nails, you'll need to charge the wand, which then connects to your phone. Once you've selected your color of choice, you just put the tip of the nail into the wand, and it'll pass a short charge into the nail to change it. Sadly, the company wouldn't shed too much light on the process it uses to run the nails but, from my guess, it's some sort of electrochemical shenanigans going on behind the scenes. All in all, it took around five seconds to change the color of a single nail, so it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
iPolishDaniel Cooper for EngadgetiPolish says that each nail can display 400 colors, and can be changed as many times as the user would like. So, if you're coordinating your nails with your outfits, you're not bound to a single color palette in the weeks between salon visits. They're also surprisingly affordable, with the starter set costing $95 which contains two sets
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Jan 06, 2026
Bethesda announced on X today that Quake is now a Steam Deck Verified title. The 1996 game from the legendary id Software has also been designated Handheld Optimized for the Xbox ROG Ally devices. As one of the OG boomer shooters, Quake still commands a sizable and passionate fan base, and it's now available on just about every gaming platform imaginable.
Since rolling out its verification program, several thousands of games have been designated as supported for the Steam Deck. Valve has more recently been preparing to have additional gaming devices run its SteamOS platform. Even though Xbox ROG Ally is the only one now, there's already a special extension of verification to note if a title is more broadly compatible with Steam's operating system. And don't forget that Valve's anticipated Steam Machine is due out some time early this year, so it wouldn't be surprising to have those verification checkmarks start to carry more weight in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/quake-is-now-steam-deck-verified-223009852.html?src=rss
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Jan 06, 2026
I've been using the same smartphone controller on my iPhone for years. That's partly because most options are so similar. Announced at CES 2026, the X5 Alteron couldn't be more different. It's a collaboration between GameSir (which loves unusual peripheral dalliances) and Hyperkin (retro-leaning controller maker).
The X5 Alteron is apparently the world's first fully modular mobile games controller. While the headline feature might be the stick/d-pad/button modules, the X5 Alteron has a very accommodating vice grip that works with devices from iPhone and Android phones through to the Switch series and even iPads. There's even Bluetooth if you want to use it with a PC.
Mat Smith for Engadget
On the showfloor, Gamesir had a non-working prototype model with swappable modules, able to replicate most of your favorite layouts, including asymmetric analogue sticks, a yellow stick that's aspiring to be a Gamecube controller and even a six-button array for those wanting to scratch that Sega Saturn itch. And if you want symmetrical sticks, you maniac, you can have that too. Rumble motors will also be built into the controller.
The modules lie flush when magnetically attached to the controller, altho
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Jan 06, 2026
How far has Intel's embedded Arc graphics come over the years? Enough to let me play Battlefield 6 at up to 190 fps in 1080p, with the graphics settings set to high, all on an unassuming Lenovo IdeaPad Pro 5. There was no need for dedicated graphics, just the Intel Core Ultra X9 388H's built-in Arc B390 GPU.
There's a catch, of course: Intel's XeSS3 AI upscaling and 4X frame generation is the big reason why I was able to see such high fps figures. I was playing Battlefield 6 on a controller, with the Lenovo laptop connected to a TV, and I was surprised by how smooth the gameplay felt. There wasn't any sense of lag like I've seen in earlier frame-gen implementations, though any lag would probably be more noticeable if I was playing with a high DPI gaming mouse.
Environmental details, shadows, lighting and particle effects also looked flawless. If I was sitting on a couch, I'd think the game was being powered by a console or a budget gaming PC. I didn't get a chance to push the resolution up to 1440p, but it'd be interesting to see if it could maintain at least 100 fps in that mode.
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Jan 06, 2026
Robot vacuum companies are once again trying to outdo each other at CES 2026. This year, Chinese appliance maker Dreame is showing off a prototype of a device that can climb up and down an entire flight of stairs.
The concept, called the Cyber X, was previewed last year at IFA in Berlin. The vacuum sports a somewhat terrifying set of legs with rubber treads that allow it to autonomously navigate multi-story environments. While Dreame has previously shown off vacuums that can move up smaller steps, it says the Cyber X can climb stairs up to 25cm (9.8 inches) high and slopes up to 42 degrees. It can manage both straight and curved staircases, and can climb a flight of steps in 27 seconds, according to the company.
In addition to its legs, the Cyber X also has a built-in water tank to support mopping abilities, and a laser-powered navigation system to help it maneuver up stairs and around other obstacles. It also has a braking system that allows it to stay stable on floors and stairs, even if the battery dies. We haven't been able to see it in action yet, but Dreame is expected to show off its abilities at its CES booth and we'll update this post once we're able to get an up-close look.
Dreame's Cyber X concept and the X60.Karissa Bell for EngadgetFor now, Dreame says Cyber X is just a research prototype and hasn't indicated if it plans to make it, or a robo vac like it, more widely available at some point
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Jan 06, 2026
Last year at CES, Dreame showed off a robot vacuum prototype with a mechanical arm. But while we were able to see the arm extend and retract, we didn't see the device, which was described as a prototype at the time, actually grab anything, which was a bit disappointing.
This year, though, the company has made its arm-enabled vacuum a reality with the Cyber 10 Ultra. Dreame previewed it recently at IFA in Berlin, but has now confirmed it will be on sale later this year.
The vacuum has an extendable arm that looks pretty similar to the prototype version we saw last year. It extends from the top of the vacuum and has a claw-like device at the end for scooping up objects. According to Dreame, it can pick up items that weigh up to 500 grams (about 1 pound) so it should be able to grab a wider variety of stuff than the Roborock vac we saw last year, which had a 300-gram weight limit for its arm.
The arm can also do more than pick up stuff from the floor. It supports its own cleaning accessories, and can grab vacuum nozzles and brush attachments from its base station. This allows the arm to act as an extension of the vacuum itself so it can be used similarly to how you might use hose attachments to reach hard-to-get areas with a traditional vacuum.
And, like Dreame's other robot vacuums, the Cyber 10 Ultra also has mopping abilities and can climb up small steps up to 6cm (about 2.4 inches). That's not quite as impressive as the tank-like stair-climbing Cyber X prototype it also brought to CES, but should help the Cyber 10 reach a few extra places in the house.
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Jan 06, 2026
Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale for $165 via Amazon. That's a nice discount of $64, which breaks down to 28 percent. There is a spot of bad news. The deal only applies to the hazel colorway. Other colors are discounted, but they aren't as cheap. It's not as if the hazel is hideous. These are standard dark brown-hued earbuds.
The device made our list of the best wireless earbuds, and this is particularly true for those tied into the Pixel ecosystem. These earbuds are on the smaller side and, more importantly, comfortable to wear for long periods of time. They also manage to
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Jan 06, 2026
Amazon has announced the next collection games that will be available to play through its Luna game streaming service in January. The highlight of the bunch is EA SPORTS Madden NFL 26, which will be available for a limited time on the service, but as in the past, Amazon is also giving away free PC games too if you'd prefer not to stream.
Madden NFL 26 will be available to Prime members everywhere Luna currently streams, from January 10 through February 10. Luna is also getting several new "GameNight" games — Amazon's name for streaming games you can play with a smartphone — including multiplayer physics-based building game Tricky Towers on January 8, and the party game collection The Jackbox Party Pack 3 on January 23. If you're looking for something a little more narrative-driven, Alan Wake Remastered and Death Stranding Director's Cut are also available to stream right now.
As part of the Prime benefits Amazon offers to subscribers, there's also some new PC games you can redeem for free. The best option this month is turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization VI, which is worth a revisit after the dramatic mechanical overhaul Sid Meier's Civilizat
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Jan 06, 2026
Home appliance company Cosori has released a stainless steel air fryer because why not. The Iconic Air Fryer debuted in all its shiny glory at Pepcom this week, a media showcase event ahead of CES.
Cosori says the air fryer is meant to address a pain point in the market regarding consumer concern over heating food in plastic air fryers. The company's answer to this is a 6.5-quart stainless steel fryer with a ceramic, nonstick coating on all surfaces that come in contact with food. Iconic has a brushed metal finish that Cosori says is corrosion resistant.
The controls and display for the fryer are seated under tempered glass atop the motor. From there, users can select from six different cooking functions consisting of air fry, roast, bake, dehydrate, proof and reheat. The fryer can run as cool as 90 degrees Fahrenheit or as hot as 450.
Users can connect Iconic with the VeSync app, the parent company's app for bluetooth-enabled devices across its brand portfolio. From there, Iconic can be remotely monitored and controlled. The app also contains a library of recipes that can automatically
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Jan 06, 2026
Riot Games has a pretty long legacy as a PC gaming studio, but the company is spreading out into consoles with its newest title. 2XKO will land on consoles on January 20, to coincide with the start of its first season. The game will be available globally for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S with cross-play support, allowing current players to access their existing progress on a PC account.
The formula for most recent Riot projects (with the notable exception of Valorant), has been to take the extensive character roster from its long-standing League of Legends MOBA and place them into other game genres. 2XKO is the company's foray into a 2v2 fighting game. Ten familiar LoL champions were on the debut linup when it launched in early access on October 7.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/riot-games-2xko-will-hit-consoles-on-january-20-185627826.html?src=rss
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Jan 06, 2026
IO Interactive just revealed minimum and recommended specs for the PC build of 007 First Light. The company recommends 32GB of RAM and 12GB of VRAM. In a normal world, this wouldn't be news, as modern NVIDIA GPUs certainly have more than enough VRAM. However, we live in a world where AI companies gobble up lots of memory.
This has caused newer cards to tick up in price, with more hikes to come. Older cards like the RTX 3070 just won't cut it, as that one ships with 8GB of VRAM. Standard RAM is also getting much more expensive, putting that 32GB out of reach for many gamers. In other words, playing the James Bond sim at max settings will likely cost a pretty Moneypenny.
IO Interactive
IO also recommends an Intel Core i5 13500 or an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 CPU, along with 80GB of storage space. Rumors have been swirling that NVIDIA is set to relaunch the RTX 3060 from 2021 to help offset increased demand caused by the hungry hippo that is AI. That one does ship with enough VRAM to run the game at recommended settings.
However, mostl
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Jan 06, 2026
If I were building a new PC today, I'd go for a small form factor mATX or ITX build. With companies like Fractal Design and Lian Li making cases that can fit modern GPUs without sacrificing on thermals, you don't need to settle for the old mid-tower monstrosities of yesteryear. And that's why PNY's new "Slim" model RTX 50-series designs caught my eye. All three variants, covering the 5070, 5070 Ti and 5080, are two slot cards with just a pair of 120mm fans for cooling. As a result, even the largest of the three new models, the 5080, is relatively svelte, coming in at 11.8-inches or 300mm long. That means it can comfortably fit with room to spare in a media PC enclosure like the Fractal Ridge.
Technically, NVIDIA's reference designs for the 5070 and 5080 are also dual-slot solutions, but most of the company's manufacturing partners produce two-and-half or three slot variants of those cards. And with no Founders Edition version of the 5070 Ti available from NVIDIA, PNY's new take on that GPU will likely find a dedicated fanbase among PC enthusiasts.
PNY says the new cards will arrive
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Jan 06, 2026
On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the first batch of incoming Game Pass titles for 2026. Star Wars Outlaws and Resident Evil Village headline the first wave of the January lineup.
If you (perhaps wisely) held off on spending $70 on Ubisoft's first stab at a Star Wars game, here's your chance to try it for less. Star Wars Outlaws sets you loose in an open world as the young thief Kay Vess. The third-person action title includes melee, shooting and stealth. There's even some speeder chases and space dogfights to scratch your (boilerplate) Star Wars itch. Does it do anything novel or innovative to justify its full price? Not really. But it can still be a good time for fans of the saga.
Star Wars Outlaws arrives on Game Pass on January 13 (cloud, PC, and current-gen Xbox consoles). It will only be available for Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers.
If you're less into Wookies and more about 10-foot-tall vampire ladies, there's Resident Evil Village. Capcom's 2021 title is "a gothic fairy tale masquerading as a survival-horror game," as Engadget's Jessica Conditt put it. In addition to the iconic Countess Alcina Dimitrescu, you'll encounter werewolves, sea creatures and the requisite creepy dolls. The franchise's eighth mainline game is something of a departure for the series, but you'll still find plenty of familiar horror, puzzles and action.
Resident Evil Village lands on Game Pass on January 20 (cloud, console, PC). It will be available for the Ultimate, Premium and PC tiers.
There's plenty of other fare arriving this month. Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition
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Jan 06, 2026
On Monday, we went hands-on at CES with LG's new Sound Suite speakers featuring Dolby Atmos FlexConnect and now we have pricing for the entire lineup. The modular home audio system consists of four speakers that include a soundbar, surround speakers and a subwoofer.
The centerpiece of the group is the H7 soundbar, which will retail for $1,000. The soundbar uses FlexConnect to optimize sound based on the layout of a room and its location therein. This is intended to solve for when a speaker can't be perfectly placed to deliver optimal sound, especially spatial audio.
The H7 also has a feature LG is calling Sound Follow that tracks the location of a user's phone throughout a room and adapts the audio to their location. The idea is that if you move from one side of the couch to the other, or to a chair in a totally different part of the room, you'll still receive the best possible sound.
The M7 and M5 surround speakers will sell for $400 and $250 respectively. These serve as satellite speakers to the H7 and can be placed around a room in pairs or used on their own. The W7 subwoofer carries a price tag of $600.
The entire suite is available for pre-order on LG's
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Jan 06, 2026
Anker dove into CES 2026 with a slew of announcements that bring new chargers and accessories under its umbrella. The new accessories include improved visual interfaces, faster Qi2 wireless charging and "upgraded ecosystems" that support the latest iPhones. Some of the latest devices are even available to buy right now.
First up is the Anker Nano Charger with smart display, which features a tiny screen, 180-degree foldable prongs and provides up to 45W of power. The plug can identify the exact iPhone model connected and then deliver the right amount of power for your phone. Anker says the Nano uses three-stage power delivery and a "Care Mode" that the company claims keeps batteries cooler than some competing 45W chargers. It arrives in late January 2026 and will retail for $40.
For fans of wireless charging stations, the Anker Prime Wireless Charging Station offers a 3-in-1 solution for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. It uses a "AirCool" system for "faster, safer performance" and offers up to 25W of Qi2 wireless power. The design is also foldable for compact travel. It's set for release in Q1 2026 and will retail for $150.
The company debuted a clamp-on 10-in-1 Nano Power Strip with 70W of output and built-in surge protection. It sports two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports and six AC outlets. The Nano Power Strip is getting a late January release, and it will sell for $70.
Anker also unveiled a 13-in-1 Nano Docking Station. This serves as an all-in-one hub with support for up to three displays (with 4K resolution supported on a single display), up to 100W of upstream charging and 10 Gbps of data transfer between connected devices. It also features a removable 6-in-1 hub with SD and microSD card readers, a USB-A port and a 5 Gbps USB-C port. The Nano Docking Station is availa
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Jan 06, 2026
The Chinese micromobility company Navee has some wild new stuff at CES 2026. The lineup is headlined by the UT5 Ultra X, a dual-motor e-scooter with an advertised top speed of 43 mph. And who among us isn't in the market for an auto-following golf cart and a seaplane?
The flagship UT5 Ultra X is a sleek-looking e-scooter with a pair of 2,400W motors. Navee says it can reach a top speed of 43 mph and has a max range of 87 miles. (However, in the world of e-scooters, it's safe to expect the real-world range to be around half of what manufacturers promise.) It has a front and rear hydraulic suspension and front and rear hydraulic disc brakes. Navee claims it can accelerate from 0 to 12 mph in 1.98 seconds.
Navee UT5 Ultra XNaveeIf you want something that can hold its own on rougher terrain, there's the NT5 Ultra X. A pair of 1,200W motors helps this e-scooter reach a top speed of 40 mph and an advertised range of 56 miles. It has dual-disc brakes and an electronic anti-lock braking system. To help manage the bumps, it has two suspension types: a front telescopic suspension and a rear spring one. Navee claims its steel frame supports up to 330 lbs.
Then there's the Eagle F1X, which could put golf caddies out of work. This electronic cart can carry your clubs (up to 44 lbs). It has a "smart auto-follow" feature that uses a combination of AI and ultra-wideband. It also responds to voice and gesture controls. The 33-lb. cart uses a pair of 250W motors, and Navee claims it can handle 36-hole games. Strangely, the bottom portion loo
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Jan 06, 2026
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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Jan 06, 2026
The ASUS Zenbook Duo was easily one of my favorite laptops of 2024 as it was the first dual-screen notebook actually worth buying. But now at CES 2026, ASUS has given the second-gen model a complete revamp with practically all the upgrades and tweaks I've been hoping for.
Like the rest of the Zenbook line, the 2026 Duo is getting ASUS' Ceraluminum treatment on its lid, bottom and kickstand, which not only looks great but it adds an extra bit of durability and scratch resistance. There's also an improved magnetic latch system and Bluetooth connection for its detachable keyboard to help keep it charged up and paired more reliably. However, the biggest upgrade is ASUS' all-new "hideaway" hinge. Not only does it allow the system to unfold flat against a table, it also massively shrinks the gap between the laptop's two 3K 144Hz Lumina Pro OLED displays to just 8.28 mm. That's a reduction of 70 percent compared to the previous model and it makes the idea of using a dual screen laptop just that much more seamless and appealing than before.
Another important upgrade is that despite having a significantly larger 99Whr battery (up from 75Whr on its predecessor), the overall footprint of the second-gen Zenbook Duo is actually five percent smaller than before. That makes it noticeably more compact without sacrificing on weight or thinness, which is staying pretty much the same at 3.6 pounds and 0.77 to 0.9 inches thick (depending on where you measure). Connectivity remains excellent as well, with ASUS including Wi-Fi 7, two USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 connector and even a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack. And for all the artists out there, the Zenbook Duo also supports sty
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Jan 06, 2026
Eric Migicovsky has been thinking a lot about friction. Specifically, he's been thinking about how too much friction in the way of using a device can put people off wearing it altogether. The founder of Pebble is here at CES 2026 with a few new devices from the company he recently started to bring back the beloved smartwatch brand, including the Pebble Round 2 and the Index 01. That second one is a simple ring with a button on it that you push down to talk to Pebble's AI whenever you want it to help you remember something.
In the sea of AI gadgets that clutter the showfloors of CES (and the current tech industry in general), the Index 01 is refreshingly simple. The prototypes I saw here in Las Vegas weren't connected to phones, so they weren't actually working. They also seemed a little unfinished, like there was still some polishing to do. But I was able to put a few on and push their buttons. I also checked out the one Migicovsky wears — more on that in a bit.
I have to caveat that the rings that Migicovsky and his team had for us to try on were way too large for me. I did manage to get sized and found out I was a Pebble size 7, while my colleague Dan Cooper was determined to be a size 11. These demo rings sat loosely on my finger — and Migicovsky was particular that I wear it on my index finger and not my thumb or middle finger.
I suspect that has to do with how you reach for and press the button. It's much easier to push the key if it's closer to your thumb. Since the idea of the Index 01 began as an app on the Pebble watch, Migicovsky has been working hard to figure out how best to make it easy
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Jan 06, 2026
As soon as I held the Pebble Round 2 in my hand, I suddenly realized what I'd been missing for the better part of a decade. I've always felt smartwatches should supplement, rather than supplant, your phone, but that's an attitude that feels almost quaint these days. After all, Apple and Samsung believe everyone wants a watch that can do almost everything your phone can do. But that wasn't the prevailing opinion at the dawn of the smartwatch era, either philosophically or from limitations in the technology. Back then, companies like Pebble, Vector, Basis and others all built devices that added a second screen to the device in your pocket, and were all the better for it. Thankfully, Pebble founder Eric Migicovsky agrees, and if his project to revive the company is successful, perhaps we'll once again see these alternative approaches flourish. The first step on this very long road is the Pebble Round 2, which aims to be the standard bearer for a new generation of comparatively less smart, but fundamentally more useful, smartwatches.
Round 2 was announced on January 2, and is the second product in Core Devices' (Migicovsky's new company) lineup of revived Pebbles. The first was the revamped Time 2, ap
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Jan 06, 2026
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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Jan 06, 2026
Last year, PocketBook rocked up at CES with a series of large e-paper displays to display art on the walls of your home. This year, the company has turned up with a far larger, A1-sized model called the Duna, which it says mimics the "texture, depth and tonal richness of printed paper." It's intended to act as an upmarket alternative to those big screen TVs which display art when they're not being used for their intended purpose.
Unsurprisingly, such a fancy product also needs some fancy accessories, so it's recruited Italian design house Pininfarina to help. It claims the credit for the Duna's "precision-engineered aluminum frame" and its "elegantly stitched Alcantara." To celebrate the pairing, the InkPoster App will enable you to view original design sketches from the Pininfarina archives on your screens.
At last year's CES, I saw the three smaller models in person and found them to be very promising. The colors are vibrant in a way you don't expect from an e-paper display, and at a distance you could easily mistake these for a real canvas. Just don't get too close to the screen itself, since you'll still be able to see the pixels rather than brush strokes. I'm no expert, but I suspect the technology suits bold, blocky art styles — think modern artists like Modigliani — better than delicate, more antiquated forms.
As before, each InkPoster can be hung for up to a year on a single charge, refreshing from its library of licensed artwork according to your whims. Plus, you can use it as a digital photo frame, if you want to display your selfies at art gallery or movie poster sizes.
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Jan 06, 2026
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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Jan 06, 2026
Corsair just revealed a gaming keyboard with a built-in Stream Deck controller at CES 2026. The Galleon 100 SD is a mechanical keyboard with a 5-inch screen, two rotary encoders and a full complement of Stream Deck buttons.
For the uninitiated, the Stream Deck is basically a collection of hot keys
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Jan 06, 2026
ElevationLab makes a battery case for your AirTag that can power it for 10 years and the accessory is on sale now for 30 percent off. Normally retailing for $23, you can pick one up for $16.
The TimeCapsule case uses two AA batteries to offer up to 14 times the lifespan of the CR2032 battery that powers an AirTag. The company based those estimates on Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries, so your mileage may vary. Once an AirTag is seated inside the case, which is a compact 4.45 x 1.57 inches, it is sealed shut with four screws at the corners. The case is fiber-reinforced, according to Elevation Lab, and rated IP69 waterproof.
The company says it's intended for use cases where you might place an AirTag for long periods of time, like in a vehicle, a piece of luggage or a wor
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Jan 06, 2026
CES remains a key stage for laptop makers to lay out their plans for the year ahead. At CES 2026, that meant new flagship productivity machines, reconsidered gaming notebooks and solid incremental updates across several major lineups. While we're still seeing embargoes lift and hands-on time on the show floor, the announcements below reflect the most significant laptops we've seen so far. Plus, the list will grow as more companies reveal details throughout January 6 and beyond.
Samsung Galaxy Book6 seriesNew Samsung Galaxy Book6 laptops offer NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPUs.Samsung announced the Galaxy Book6 family at CES 2026, introducing three new laptops built around Intel's Panther Lake chips: the Galaxy Book6, Book6 Pro and Book6 Ultra. The focus this year is on slimmer designs, improved thermals and longer battery life, with Samsung claiming up to 30 hours of video playback on the Book6 Ultra and Pro.
The 16-inch Galaxy Book6 Ultra sits at the top of the lineup, with configurations offering up to Intel Core Ultra X9 processors, Intel Arc graphics and NVIDIA RTX 50-series GPUs, including RTX 5070 and RTX 5060 options. Sam
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Jan 06, 2026
LG just announced its fastest and brightest OLED gaming monitor yet at CES, the 27-inch UltraGear GX7. The new QHD display, which uses LG Display's 4th-gen RGB Tandem 2.0 OLED tech, can hit 335 nits typical brightness and is DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified. At the same time, it offers an outstanding 540Hz refresh rate at QHD (720Hz at HD) and a .002ms grey-to-grey (GtG) response time. So in other words, about 5,000 times faster than the best human reflexes.
Though a gaming monitor by design, the GX7 would make an excellent content creation monitor too thanks to the true 10-bit panel that delivers 99.5 percent DCI-P3 color gamma coverage and Delta E
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Jan 06, 2026
It's the first week of a new year and there's no time for the tech world to slowly ease back into things following the holidays. That's because CES 2026 is in full swing, with all manner of companies descending on Las Vegas to reveal their latest innovations and what they're planning to bring your way in the near future.
Many of the Engadget crew are on the ground to check out as much of the new tech as possible. Of course, we're keeping tabs on all of the major CES press conferences too. Samsung held its First Look presentation, which focuses on home products, while LG has shown off a wide array of TVs and Lego unveiled its new Smart Brick technology. We've heard from the major chipmakers, gone hands-on with Samsung's trifold phone, checked out some funky laptops and seen some cute robots.
You can catch up on all of the big CES 2026 announcements (and some of the more offbeat gizmos we've seen) right here. We'll be keeping this story updated throughout the week.
Micro RGB TVs Samsung's 130-inch Micro RGB TV. Devindra Hardawar for EngadgetMicro RGB is a term you can expect to hear about quite a bit in the coming months and years, especially when you're shopping for your next TV. Micro RGB is a new tech that's similar to Mini LED, though it uses red, green and blue LEDs instead of white backlights. Contrast ratios aren't quite as high as those on Micro LED and OLED displays, since the pixels can't be turne
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Jan 06, 2026
CES 2026 officially opens today, but much of the show's biggest announcements already landed during Monday's press conferences and early events. AI was everywhere, chipmakers dominated the schedule and a handful of brands used the pre-show window to quietly drop meaningful hardware updates.
Below are the biggest announcements and trends from January 5, plus a few standout hands-ons from Pepcom and CES Unveiled.
LG doubles down on AILG's CLOiD robot.LGLG's World Premiere keynote leaned hard into its vision of "Affectionate Intelligence," with AI positioned as the connective tissue across TVs, appliances and even robotics. While most of the hardware was announced ahead of time, the company used the stage to show how its ideas fit together, including updated OLED TVs, Micro RGB panels and its ultra-thin Wallpaper TV.
The most memorable moment, though, was CLOiD, LG's humanoid home robot, which capped off the presentation with demos that were more theatrical than practical. As usual for LG at CES, the vision was ambitious, even if much of it s
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Jan 06, 2026
Dell has unveiled an ultrawide, curved 52-inch 6K monitor at CES 2026. This productivity behemoth is designed for stock traders, engineers and other data professionals. Dell claims the UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is the world's first 52-inch ultrawide curved 6K monitor (but with that many qualifiers almost anything can be a world first).
Given Dell's experience in the monitor realm, this could be a dream display for professionals who handle vast data sets such as trading platforms, AutoCAD, 3D rendering software, spreadsheets and more. It sports a 120Hz refresh rate on an IPS Black panel and emits up to 60 percent less blue light when compared to competing monitors. It delivers an impressive 129 ppi (for comparison a 4K 32-inch monitor delivers 138 ppi) and an ambient light sensor helps avoid eye strain during long work sessions.
Users can connect up to four PCs to the monitor simultaneously, which can use picture-by-picture to treat each partitioned screen as an individual monitor. It also features built-in KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) features that let users control all connected PCs via a single mouse and keyboard. The monitor can also charge your laptop with up to 140W of power via a Thunderbolt 4 connection.
Dell also rolled out a new 32-inch 4K QD-OLED monitor with support for both True Black 500 HDR and Dolby Vision. It claims true-to-life color accuracy out of the box and excellent gamut coverage at 99 percent of DCI-P3. This monitor would be a strong fit for film and photo editing.
The Dell UltraSharp 52 Thunderbolt Hub Monitor is priced at $2,900 with stand or $2,800 without. It will be widely available starting January 6. The Dell UltraSharp 32 4K QD-OLED Monitor comes in at $2,600 and will be available beginning February 24.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/dell-unveils-a-massive-52-inch-6k-ultrawide-monitor-at-ces-2026-1400
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Jan 06, 2026
NVIDIA has unveiled the G-Sync Pulsar, which it calls the "latest evolution of [its] pioneering VRR (variable refresh rate) technology," at CES 2026. The new tech promises a gaming experience that's free of stutter with buttery smooth motion, which is made possible by pulsing the display's backlight. G-Sync Pulsar displays have multiple horizontal backlight sections that are pulsed independently from top to bottom, unlike traditional displays whose backlight is always on. When the backlight is always active, the image fades from one frame to the next. The displays with the new tech give pixels in a frame enough time to stabilize before they're backlit so that they're shown in their right locations, effectively reducing monitor-based motion blur.
The company says G-Sync Pulsar can effectively quadruple your refresh rate. If you're playing at 250 fps, that means it can deliver a perceived effective motion clarity of over 1,000 Hz. That enables easier tracking and shooting in-game, making displays with the technology especially suited for esports. You can see the difference in motion in Counter-Strike 2 between a 360Hz monitor without G-Sync Pulsar and one with the technology switched on in the video below.
The first four displays designed specifically to support G-Sync Pulsar and Ambient Adaptive Technology, which allows users to automatically adjust color temperature and brightness based on ambient lighting, will be available starting on January 7. Acer, AOC, ASUS and MSI will each be releasing a
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Jan 06, 2026
Razer is once again thinking big about what a gaming chair can do, and its concept for CES 2026 isn't just a chair but an entire multisensory experience to match whatever's happening on-screen. The concept, called Project Madison, combines reactive lighting, spatial audio and multi-zone haptic feedback to make the player feel more immersed in the in-game environment. We're talking Razer Chroma light strips along the head flaps, THX Spatial Audio for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound and six haptic motor actuators powered by Razer Sensa HD Haptics to bring the physical sensations of a game to life.
One can only imagine the price tag on such a setup. Actually, I'd rather not. Project Madison isn't a product you can buy right now anyway, but Razer did bring a real — albeit far less flashy — new(ish) gaming chair to CES too. The company has updated its Iskur V2 lineup with the Iskur V2 NewGen, which features the same dynamic lumbar support and dual-density cold-cured foam seat cushion that it's known for, but now wrapped in Razer's Gen-2 EPU Leather with CoolTouch Technology for a long-lasting cooling effect.
Razer's Iskur V2 NewGen chair in Light Gray, Black/Green, Black and Quartz.RazerPer Razer, "The chair's material delivers high thermal effusivity, keeping it cool to the touch for hours of play." That CoolTouch faux leather is also coming to the less expensive Iskur V2 X, with the Iskur V2 X NewGen. Pre-orders for both chairs are now open, though the com
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Jan 06, 2026
We see plenty of far-out ideas on the CES show floor, and this year Razer brought in a concept piece called Project Motoko. The device is Razer's take on blurring the line between a gaming headset and an AI-powered wearable for daily life. Or it's a way for Ghost in the Shell fans to feel affronted by Razer taking The Major's name in vain, take your pick.
Project Motoko is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon platforms. The headset has a pair of first-person view cameras positioned at eye level that can support real-time object and text recognition. It also has a wide field of attention that can capture things happening beyond the normal human eye's peripheral vision, and its microphone array is designed to capture both near and distant audio.
"Project Motoko is more than a concept, it's a vision for the future of AI and wearable computing," Nick Bourne, Razer's global head of mobile console division, said in the press release about the device. "By partnering with Qualcomm Technologies, we're building a platform that enhances gameplay while transforming how technology integrates into everyday life. This is the next frontier for immersive experiences."
In addition to taking in environmental details, Project Motoko can also operate as a wearable AI assistant, and the model is compatible with several different chatbots. The company's press release noted that it can integrate with Grok, OpenAI and Gemini. Since Project Motoko is a concept device, Razer has no plans for a commercial release of this headset, but one of the highlights of CES is seeing these more experimental designs. Razer is also well-established as a brand for serious gamers, so seeing the company explore making an AI wearable that could appeal to a broader audience, if still a geeky one, is an intriguing move.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/razers-project-motoko-is-a-concept-gaming-headset-that-doubles-as-an-ai-wearable-1400
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Jan 06, 2026
Ring turned up to CES with a whole host of announcements, including a revamped range of home sensors. Ring Sensors (for that is their name) is a new lineup of tools, built on Amazon's Sidewalk low-power networking protocol. That includes updated versions of its door, window and break glass sensors, as well as a new OBD-II car alarm, motion detectors and panic buttons. You'll be able to pre-order the new car alarm today, while the rest of the new sensors will be available at some point in March. And, in tandem with that news, Amazon is announcing that Sidewalk is expanding outside of the US, starting in Canada and Mexico.
At the same time, the company is launching a number of enhancements to its app platform, including the Ring Appstore. This will let users purchase and integrate with third-party apps which have been built to cater to "specific use cases, from small business operations to everyday needs around the home." The company added that, in the coming weeks, users will be able to browse a growing number of apps designed to help "you get more value from your Ring cameras."
The company is also throwing more AI into its system to better coordinate its alerts, including Unusual Event Alerts. These will learn from the patterns around
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Jan 06, 2026
Segway, the maker of Steve Wozniak's favorite mode of self-balancing transport, has released a new series of robotic lawn mowers under its Navimow brand, designed for all manner of Roomba-esque mowing action. The lineup includes four residential series and was unveiled at CES 2026.
Navimow's lineup includes the flagship X4 Series for large yards up to 1.5 acres in size. Its AWD system can handle slopes up to 40 degrees and it sports dual 180-watt cutting motors. The largest mode, the X450 will retail for $3,000. A smaller X430 rated for yards up to 1 acre will go for $2,500.
The Navimow i2 series comes in AWD and LiDAR variants and is designed for "everyday" lawn maintenance. The AWD variant's three-wheel-drive system can handle 24-degree slopes and is designed to handle muddy or slippery terrain. The larger i2 AWD model, called the i210 AWD is rated for yards up to a quarter-acre in size, and will retail for $1,300. A smaller model dubbed the i206 AWD can handle yards as large as 0.15 acres and will go for $1,000.
The i2 LiDAR variant can scan 200,000 points per second to create a detailed spatial map of your yard, allowing it to navigate complex paths and, crucially, work at night. That model is rated for yards up to 0.37 acres in size. Pricing has not been announced for the i215 LiDAR model.
Finally, the H2 series features three vision technologies integrated into one model, with LiDAR, Network RTK and cameras combining into what Navimow is calling LiDAR . The H2 is built for slopes up to 24 degrees and can handle yards up to half an acre in size. The H2 is being released in two models. The H210 for yards up to 0.25 acres, and the H220 for half-acre yards. Pricing for the H2 series has not been released yet.
The i2 AWD Series and the X4 Series will be ava
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Jan 06, 2026
I'm no psychologist, but I get a sense Segway turned up to CES 2026 with something to prove after last year. Certainly, it's gone out of its way to prove its micromobility bona fides with the press, who perhaps were a bit too sniffy that scooter people were launching an e-bike. This year, Segway's not just launching two more mainstream e-bikes, but an electric dirt bike, all of which are crammed with the sort of tech that might just make everyone halt their sniffiness.
First up, there's the Myon, a chunky step-through with a decent-sized pannier rack for folks who want to go far and carry a bit of luggage as they go. That's hardly an eye-catching proposition given so many e-bikes fit within the same template, but Segway is hoping its tech will make a difference here. Myon is equipped with electronic gear shifting (tied to a Shimano CUES chain drivetrain), electronic motor optimization and the company's proprietary Intelligent Ride System.
The latter, along with Segway(TM) TurboTuned(TM) will automatically optimize motor and battery performance while under way. The company adds that the bike's built-in gyros, cadence and torque sensors will meter out performance according to road conditions. So if you're going up hill, the power will gently increase before you have to think about it. Additionally, if you stop at the lights, the system won't just turn on the power to whatever you've set it at as soon as it senses the tiniest ounce of pressure on the pedal, removing the jerky start action you see in other bikes.
Segway's broader pitch is that its bikes will also feature a whole host of smart features, including integration with Apple's Find My network, GPS tracking, remote locking, integration with your health and fitness app of choice, and smartphone pairing.
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Jan 06, 2026
Ugreen makes plenty of things, but you're probably familiar with the name in the context of its NAS systems (should that be NASes? Who knows). Naturally, the company has turned up to CES 2026 with the former, but it's also branching out into home security. It's announcing SynCare, an AI infused all-in-one surveillance platform which, it rather boldly claims, will become an "attentive, integrated guardian" of your home.
Leading the pack is the SynCare Video Doorbell with head-to-toe 4K video, intelligent detection and 24/7 recording — especially if you've got it hooked up to your Ugreen NAS. That works in tandem with SynCare cameras offering 4K video on a pan-tilt base and, of course, AI to recognise "people, pets and key events." Ugreen is also offering a tablet, the SynCare Smart Display, a "home hub" to let you manage your cameras from a single place in your home.
The company is quick to highlight the major benefit of an at-home system like this, which is no need to pay for a monthly subscription. And, of course, that the footage from your home stays inside your home at all times, making it a better option for those folks who value their privacy. Sadly, Ugreen isn't ready to share pricing or availability information for the series, saying it'll be available in the back end of 2026.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ugreen-launches-a-smart-home-security-platform-at-ces-130000389.html?src=rss
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Jan 06, 2026
I'm seeing a ton of smart bird feeders again this year at CES — and I'm inexplicably drawn to them. Perhaps because the idea of birds nibbling on seeds and flying away represents a natural purity and freedom that doesn't exist within the halls of CES. Birdbuddy was one of the first smart bird feeder brands, with a wildly successful Kickstarter back in 2020. And this year, they've added birdsong to their species identification capabilities.
Two new feeders, the Birdbuddy 2 and the Birdbuddy 2 Mini both have the new feature, but the latter is a more affordable, starter version. The Bird Buddy 2 is solar-powered with built-in panels. It's slightly larger and has a bigger seed capacity, too. Both have HD cameras you can manually position either vertically or horizontally and both have a mic to help with birdsong IDs.
Upgrades to the cameras include a faster wake-up time when a bird lands and the housing for the seed and camera has a more modular design that makes the feeder easier to clean. The lens is now protected by Gorilla Glass, which may seem excessive, but Rhian Humphries, Birdbuddy's senior PR manager, said curious birds often peck at the camera looking for more food.
The AI Birdbuddy uses was trained on real bird visits and at the end of each day, you'll get a "postcard," a c
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Jan 06, 2026
Meta is pausing release of its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses to the UK, France, Italy and Canada due to "unprecedented demand and limited inventory," the company said on Monday at CES 2026. There's no new date for the expansion that was originally set for early 2026. "We'll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the US while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability," Meta wrote on its blog.
Since Meta's display glasses first went on sale, acquiring them has been a challenge. They're not available online and can only be found in a limited number of retail outlets including select Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters and Best Buy locations in the United States. To buy them, you need to book an appointment for a demo at one those stores via Meta's website. Ahead of launch, Meta said it saw "strong" demand for demos with locations booked ahead for several weeks.
There was optimism that availability would increase as the company expected buying options to "expand" the longer they were on sale. However, with the delay of the planned international launch, it appears that the company still has a mismatch between supply and demand.
Meta's $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses are its first to incorporate a heads-up display and are also equipped with a camera, stereo speakers, six microphones, WiFi 6 and a finger tracking Neural Band controller. In her review, Engadget's senior reporter Karissa Bell noted that the Ray-Ban display "enables wearers to do much more than what's currently possible with [other] Ray-Ban or Oakley models" — provided you don't mind the look of the chunky, chunky frames.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-has-delayed-the-international-rollout-of-its-display-glasses-1
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Jan 06, 2026
Meta has been experimenting with EMG technology for years. In 2025, the company commercialized it for the first time in its Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, which users control via a dedicated neural band that is able to interpret subtle muscle movements in the wrist.
Now, at CES 2026, the company is offering its first look at how its neural band could be used to control devices outside of its smart glasses lineup. Meta has teamed up with Garmin, as well as a handful of research partners, to explore some intriguing use cases for its wrist-based controller.
The social media company has previously worked with Garmin on fitness integrations for its glasses. But at CES, the companies were showing off a very early demo of how Meta's neural band inside of a car to control the built-in infotainment system.
The experience is part of Garmin's "Unified Cabin" concept, which explores
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Jan 06, 2026
As a long-time Mint user, I was frustrated to say the least when news broke at the end of 2023 that Intuit would shut Mint down. I, like millions of others, enjoyed how easily Mint allowed us to track all accounts in one place and monitor credit scores. I also used it regularly to track spending, set goals like pay my mortgage down faster and with general money management.
So I set out to find the best Mint alternatives in the wake of its disappointing demise. I gave Credit Karma, Intuit's other financial app, a try but found it to be a poor Mint substitute. The following guide lays out my experience testing some of the most popular Mint replacement apps available today in search of my next budgeting app.
Our pick for best Mint alternative remains
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Jan 06, 2026
Noted turntable manufacturer Victrola just announced the Soundstage speaker at CES. This thin little doodad actually sits underneath turntables, removing the need for a full stereo set-up. The Soundstage isn't the first speaker that offers this functionality, but this one has tech-forward features.
It offers multiple connection options, including Bluetooth. Many newer Victrola turntables can do Bluetooth streaming, so adding this speaker to a setup would be extremely simple. Otherwise, companies offer Bluetooth receivers for turntables.
It also allows for traditional wired connections, and there's an option for USB-C. In other words, the Soundstage should easily connect to other audio sources like smartphones and computers. It even integrates with Auracast for multi-speaker setups.
Victrola
As for sound, Victrola promises superior audio thanks to a "vibration-isolated design." There's a specialized woofer for bass response and balanced mode radiators (a type of driver) for stereo separation. It likely won't sound as good as a full sound system but, again, think of all of those annoying wires.
The Soundstage will be available this summer and costs $350. There will be multiple colorways, including walnut and black.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/speakers/this-speaker-by-victrola-sits-underneath-turntables-and-streams-audio-via-bluetoot
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Jan 06, 2026
Cambridge Audio has three new active speakers at CES 2026. The L/R Series is a trio of active bookshelf-style speakers, each with wired and wireless modes.
The flagship L/R X is an 800W model (400W per speaker). The largest of the three, it unsurprisingly carries the highest price, at $2,299. It uses a 2.5-way acoustic design: a 28mm Torus tweeter alongside dual 5-inch woofers. The L/R X has a pair of 6-inch force-canceling passive radiators, a 64-bit audio pipeline, DynamEQ and Wi-Fi streaming (via Cambridge Audio's StreamMagic app). It even adds LED underlighting for an extra aesthetic touch.
The walnut variant of the L/R XCambridge AudioIn the middle is the $1,599 L/R M. Cambridge Audio describes it as using the same foundations as the flagship model (including the 2.5-way acoustic design), but with only 300W of power. This model has smaller (4-inch) dual woofers alongside the same 28mm tweeter. Its smaller force-canceling passive radiators measure 4.75 inches each. Like the larger model, the L/R M supports Wi-Fi streaming and includes LED underlighting.
The smallest and most affordable of the three is the $549 L/R S. This 100W speaker pairs a 21mm hard-dome tweeter with a 3-inch long-throw woofer. Although you can save money on this model, you'll miss out on Wi-Fi streaming. (In its place is Bluetooth aptX HD.) It also lacks the LED underlighting found in the L/R X and L/R M.
Each speaker is available in black, white, green, blue, orange and walnut colors. Cambridge Audio says all three tiers of L/R speakers will be available "later in 20
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Jan 06, 2026
Shokz may have made its name with bone-conduction headsets, but the company has also built open-style earbuds in recent years. At CES 2026, the company is debuting its most recent model, the OpenFit Pro, which combines effective noise reduction with Dolby Atmos support in a premium set of wireless buds. As the name suggests, these sit outside of your ears, secured by an over-the-ear hook, so that you can stay in tune with your surroundings at all times.
To me, the main appeal of the OpenFit Pro is the new Noise Reduction Mode that acts as a bit of active noise cancellation (ANC) for the open earbuds. The feature is adjustable, allowing you to slide between Reduced, Default and Enhanced levels of said reduction. I'm happy to report the tool does make a difference, even at its lowest setting, by assisting with background noise like raucous HVAC units. Shokz says
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Jan 06, 2026
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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Jan 05, 2026
For better or worse, CES 2026 is already shaping up to be a big year for humanoid robots. Chinese company Agibot showed up with two: the roughly human-sized A2 and the slightly smaller X2, both of which were displaying their surprisingly impressive dancing abilities.
We watched both robots walk around, wave at passersby and show off their best moves. The larger A2 mostly kept its legs still and danced mainly with its arms. The smaller X2 on the other hand is a bit more nimble — it has a larger set of "feet" to give it more stability — and those abilities were on full display.
At the time we saw them, the robots were controlled partially by an Agibot rep using a dedicated controller, but the company told me the robots are able to move autonomously in spaces once they've been able to use their onboard sensors to map out their environmentThe company, which has already shipped several thousand robots in China and plans to make them available in the United States this year, says both the A2 and X2 are intended to provide a flexible platform so people can interact with the robots in a variety of situations.
— Karissa Bell (@karissabe) January 6, 2026
Agibot envisions the larger A2 as a kind of hospitality helper robot that can greet visitors at museums or conferences (like CES) and provide directions or even walk alongside
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Jan 05, 2026
The following article discusses adult themes.
One surprising find at CES 2026 comes from OhDoki, the Norwegian makers of The Handy, a smart stroking device. It turned up to the desert with two new products, the Handy 2 and the Handy 2 Pro. Fundamentally, they're the same device, but the Handy 2 Pro comes with a far bigger battery, taking the usable life from one hour on the standard model all the way to five. That extra power enables you to run the 2 Pro far faster and harder than the original once you set it into Turbo mode. In fact, I was told the hardware can essentially be "overclocked," although I wouldn't recommend it. Because the motor action was so aggressive that even just holding it in the hand, I'd be worried about breaking bones.
There are plenty of useful new features, including using the Handy's beefy battery to charge your other USB-C devices. In addition, the sleeves are now be mounted to the motor arm with a click on motion, so you don't have to wrestle with the (very) weighty hardware when you don't have to. There are even tripod screws on both the side and bottom of the unit, enabling you to mount the Handy 2 to any compatible equipment. And, if you don't want to use your phone to control the action, there's a dot matrix display on the side which will show you both speed and stroke length.
Naturally, the company's representatives were keen to highlight the connectivity features beyond just connecting to your own phone. As well as allowing other people to control the device, it'll sync with various VR and video content platforms as well as tube sites like Xhamster. And the company has recently teamed
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Jan 05, 2026
Last year in Las Vegas at CES 2025, Sony Honda Mobility displayed yet another revision of its now-familiar yet still-unreleased Afeela 1 sedan. With a starting price of $89,900 and a maximum range of 300 miles, it didn't seem like a great value proposition. 12 months later, the math still hasn't changed, but would-be buyers now have a slightly taller option to consider.
Meet the Afeela Prototype 2026, a version of the Afeela 1 sedan that's been up-scaled to better suit American SUV proclivities. It offers a carbon copy of the smaller Afeela's understated styling, including the external, nose-mounted LCD, and is due "as early as 2028."
Afeela Prototype 2026Tim Stevens for EngadgetThat's code for "2029 is probably more likely" and is, sadly, all we know about the thing for now.
And what about the Afeela 1? Shugo Yamaguchi, president and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility of America, confirmed that it's still on track for a release this year, still priced at $90,000 to start, and still set to be built at Honda's Ohio factory. That last bit is particularly good news, as the global tariff situation has been rather
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Jan 05, 2026
Garmin's big announcement for CES 2026 wasn't another fitness watch. Instead, it revealed it is adding food (and calorie) tracking to its Connect app. It combines AI image recognition with a rich food database, so you can monitor your calorie and nutrient intake without leaving the app — and even log some food through its watches.
The food tracking works similarly to existing apps like MyFitnessPal, Noom, LifeSum and many others. Still, Garmin hopes to make its companion app the best place for tracking nutrition without having to leave its app - and tying it into your other fitness goals.
This makes sense in a few ways. If you already use Garmin to track your exercise, the app can provide a more accurate estimate of your ca
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Jan 05, 2026
OhSnap won our hearts (and a best of CES award) last year with the MCON, its tiny Bluetooth game pad that magnetically connects to your phone. At the time, we tried a pre-production unit, but in the year since the MCON has been finalized and went on sale last month. I just got a chance to try the final version here at CES, and just a quick demo was enough to convince me that OhSnap has made some solid refinements over the last year.
Just as we saw last year, the MCON attaches magnetically to an iPhone or any compatible Android phone (the company also includes a magnetic ring in the box for Androids that don't have Qi2 yet). It has the full array of controls, including four face buttons, a D-pad, two joysticks and index finger buttons and full bumpers. It's just sleeker and feels more solid than last year's prototype, and while mounting your makes it feel a bit top-heavy, it's not awkward enough to cause real issues when playuing (at least that's how I felt after my brief demo).
The controller also has grips that unfold to help balance things, and the plate that attaches your phone to the controller has a kickstand. So if you want to drop your phone down on a tray table on a plane and play just holding the controller, feel free. All in all, the MCON feels like a flexible and high-quality device that's probably worth the $150 OhSnap asks for it.
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Jan 05, 2026
New tech at CES often makes categorization hard. Is Cozyla's latest device a digital family calendar, a TV or a smart home hub? After seeing it, I'd say the answer is, yes? Cozyla calls the Calendar Max the "largest interactive hub in it's category." And indeed, it's the size of a big flatscreen, but the main interface is just like any other Cozyla device, an Android-based family calendar and planner with shared schedules, notes, meal plans, and chores. It syncs with Google, Yahoo and Apple calendars as well as Outlook, and it will run apps from the Google Play store. (Yahoo owns Engadget, but has no say in our editorial coverage.)
But this super-sized version can also stream shows and movies with whichever apps you subscribe to. The photo integration, via the app, will take pics from your phone and stick them on the bigs screen. You can also create a slideshow and photo walls to look at when the calendar is off.
The smart home integration lets you view your security camera and video doorbell feeds on a much larger scale than your phone's display can offer. The display has a camera of its own so you can make FaceTime and Zoom calls.
The Max comes on a built-in stand that you can roll around the house, along with a battery that should power the whole thing for around six hours. When I first heard about it, I found myself wondering where I would put Calendar Max in my house. The kitchen is an ideal centralized calendar location, but I don't want to watch Miss Scarlet in there. Luckily, the wheels make that conundrum moot. This can go anywhere you want it to, and swings into portrailt orientation that looks great for chore mode, and landscape orientation for watching shows.
Possibly the best part is the lack of subscription required. Like with all Cozyla screens, there's no ongoing cost to use all the features. The Calendar Max has no release date or price available just yet, but if I ever decided to organize my family's
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Jan 05, 2026
While it's nice to see desktop support in AMD's new Ryzen AI 400 chips, demanding gamers and enthusiasts will likely be more intrigued by the company's next batch of Ryzen AI Max chips, as well as the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D with 3D V-Cache. The former will make its way into small desktops and a handful of workhorse laptops, while the latter is another option for gamers who want the speed bump of 3D V-cache without shelling out for the $700 9950X3D.
Last year, AMD debuted its Ryzen AI Max chips as a way to create a single piece of silicon with powerful CPU cores, GPU cores, NPUs and integrated memory, similar to Apple's home-brewed chips. At the time, AMD VP Joe Macri also noted that the existence of Apple Silicon helped make the Ryzen AI Max chips possible.
"Many people in the PC industry said, well, if you want graphics, it's gotta be discrete graphics because otherwise people will think it's bad graphics," Macri said at last year's CES. "What Apple showed was consumers don't care what's inside the box. They actually care what the what the box looks like. They care about the screen, the keyboard, the mouse. They care about what it does."
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Jan 05, 2026
The whole AI PC trend didn't exactly set the world on fire last year, but, like clockwork, AMD is still ready to deliver a new batch of AI chips at CES 2026. The Ryzen AI 400 processors will offer some slight speed upgrades over last year's chips, and notably, they also include AMD's first Copilot processors for desktops. Sure, the Copilot program didn't really go anywhere, but as I've argued, it at least served as a template for building capable AI PCs. Now we just need some genuinely useful AI features in Windows — Recall and Copilot's voice commands aren't really compelling enough on their own.
AMD's first AI desktop chips, the Ryzen 8000G series, arrived in 2024 with relatively underpowered neural processing units (NPUs) for AI tasks. The Ryzen AI 400 chips, on the other hand, feature 60 TOPS XDNA 2 NPUs (up from the 50 to 55 TOPS in Ryzen AI 300 hardware). That places them well above the 40 TOPS NPU minimum for Copilot systems. For most consumers, NPU speeds don't really mean much yet, but if you're running AI models on your system you can expect slightly faster inferencing from AMD's previous chips.
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Jan 05, 2026
After relaunching its Area-51 brand with a new 16-inch laptop in 2025, Alienware is teasing two new laptops at CES 2026 in an attempt to reach an even larger audience. Dell's gaming brand plans to launch both entry-level and ultra-slim models later this year, and in the meantime, it's rolling out updates to its existing desktops and laptops to tide people over.
Alienware isn't sharing all the details of its new laptops at CES, but we do have the highlights. The company's new "ultra-slim gaming laptop" will be around 17mm or 0.67 inches thin, and come in either 14-inch or 16-inch variants. While the 16-inch version of the laptop will feature NVIDIA discrete graphics and "new highly efficient CPUs," it's not meant to be a gaming powerhouse like the Area-51. Instead, Alienware suggests the laptop will work for gaming and also "creative projects, productivity and everything in between."
The entry-level laptop is similarly not at Area-51-levels of power, but Alienware claims it'll deliver "strong gaming performance" at its "most accessible price point yet." That should ideally put the new laptop under the $1,199 starting price of the more streamlined Alienware 16 Aurora laptop.
The Alienware Area-51 Desktop will get updated with the latest AMD chips in February 2026.DellOn top of those two new models, Alienwa
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Jan 05, 2026
For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to have a keyboard computer -- that is, a computer where the entire machine was stuffed inside of a keyboard. Maybe I caught a glimpse of the Commodore 64 at an impressionable age, but for whatever reason, the idea has always intrigued me. Now HP is bringing the concept back with its new EliteBoard G1a "Next Gen AI PC."
It's an IT administrator's dream: It looks a typical desktop keyboard, but it has the full power of a Copilot AI PC inside. You can equip it with Ryzen 5 or 7 CPUs and their embedded Radeon 800 GPUs, up to 64GB of RAM and as much as 2TB of NVMe SSD storage. All you need to do is add a monitor and a mouse, and you've got a full-fledged desktop setup.
HP EliteBoard keyboard PC.Devindra Hardawar for EngadgetThe more I think about it, the more sad I am that the arc of the computing industry trended towards standardized desktops and laptops. There was a brief spark of interest with the UMPC (ultra mobile PC) trend in the 2000's, which Engadget covered extensively as a young blog, as well as ASUS's Eee keyboard. But they couldn't survive the rise of the smartphone and tablet. It turns out putting an entire computer behind a screen was more compelling than stuffing them into a keyboard.
I was able to test out
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Jan 05, 2026
French startup NAOX is at CES with a groundbreaking wearable EEG for clinics and research, but that's not what we're interested in today. Because it's also here showing off a prototype of the consumer version, which incorporates its brain-scanning technology in wireless earbuds. As early as the end of this year, your earbuds could pull double-duty, pumping out tunes and keeping an eye on your brain's health.
The product being released today is the NAOX Link NX01, an in-ear EEG designed to replace the wire-covered caps you've seen at a sleep clinic. It's designed to be much more convenient for use in long-term studies, enabling people to keep an eye on their health while on the go. Don't think you'll be able to mess with one of these yourself as it is targeted toward clinical environments.
Of more interest is the NAOX Wave, which uses the same in-ear EEG technology from Link, but in a pair of wireless earbuds. As with the clinical model, Wave is designed to quietly keep an eye on your brain's biomarkers as you go about your day. The company says it'll be able to monitor your mental activity while working, relaxing and sleeping. In the companion app, you'll get insights about your mental health, sleep analytics and cognitive performance, as well as details on your brain's age.
NAOX has said its version of the buds will launch towards the end of 2026, but it may not be the only name selling this tech. The company says it is interested in licensing its technology to audio companies, so we could see these EEGs popping up in earbuds from other, more established brands.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/naoxs-wireless-earbuds-have-a-built-in-eeg-to-monitor-your-brain-health-030000605.html?src=rss
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Jan 05, 2026
Urinalysis company Vivoo has rocked up at CES 2026 with two new products designed to keep an eye on your health. The first is the Smart Toilet, which clips onto your bowl and uses optical sensors to monitor your hydration levels.
It's an evolution of the smart toilet product it originally announced back in 2023, which used a reactive testing strip as part of its process. Here, that feature has been ditched in favor of just collecting a small sample in its pocket-shaped cup for non-contact testing before being released.
The optical sensors in question are designed to track your urine's specific gravity to monitor how hydrated you are. (If urine is too dense, it's a sign of dehydration, while if it's too thin, it's a sign of over-hydration or something more serious, like diabetes or renal failure.)
mage of the Vivoo Smart Toilet being splashed with water
Vivoo
You trigger a reading via the smartphone app, and when the test is complete the data will be pushed back to your device. The company says its battery will last for more than 1,000 measurements before you need to recharge it, too.
Vivoo doesn't (Withings) name (Withings) names (Withings) but throws a sharp elbow toward its competitor. It boasts that its product will last for 1,000 tests
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Jan 05, 2026
You'll be able to watch more live sports programming on Peacock that supports Dolby Vision and Atmos starting this year. At the moment, the only live sports offering you can enjoy with Atmos on the service is Sunday Night Football. Now, Dolby Laboratories has announced at CES that Peacock is expanding the availability of Dolby Vision and Atmos across live sports over the coming year. Peacock will add support for both technologies to Sunday Night Football, NBA and MLB live sporting events that the streaming service will offer its subscribers.
"Our partnership with Dolby ensures that whether our subscribers are streaming a thrilling playoff game, the latest Universal blockbuster, or a critically acclaimed Peacock Original, they're experiencing it exactly as creators intended — with breathtaking picture and immersive sound that brings every moment to life," said David Bohunek, Senior Vice President of Global Video Engineering at NBCUniversal.
The companies have also announced that Peacock will start supporting Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4 starting later this year. Dolby Laboratories called Vision 2 "a groundbreaking evolution of its industry-leading picture quality innovation" when it announced the technology at IFA 2025. It was designed with today's TV technology in mind, and it uses AI to automatically adjust your TV based on what you're watching and where you're watching it. Meanwhile, AC-4 is a new audio format that Dolby says can deliver the highest audio quality "at a much lower bandwidth than other formats."
This article originally a
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Jan 05, 2026
Smartglasses company Rokid has introduced new display-free AI glasses at CES 2026. Dubbed "Style", the glasses are intended for all-day use and are compatible with users' corrective prescriptions.
Style supports multiple AI engines, including ChatGPT and DeepSeek, instead of being locked to any LLM. The glasses can also work with Google Maps and Microsoft AI translation.
Style is powered by a dual-chip setup, with an NXP RT600 handling low-power, always-on tasks and a Qualcomm AR1 taking on heavier AI and imaging workloads. Rokid claims this architecture helps it reach up to 12 hours of battery life under typical use.
A 12MP camera with a Sony sensor on the front supports 4K capture. Video can be shot in three different aspect ratios, which Rokid says makes it easier for creators to make content for different platforms. Style can record up to 10 minutes of continuous footage, which Rokid is quick to point out exceeds the roughly three-minute limit on Meta Ray-Bans.
The glasses weigh 38.5 grams and sport ultra-thin lenses with anti-scratch coatings. Style is a bit lighter than the Rokid smartglasses that we reviewed earlier this year, which include a display. The company also offers transition lenses in a variety of colors and the frames are offered in two.
Style is available for reservation now with a one dollar deposit and will officially release globally January 19. The AI smart glasses will retail for $300. Glasses purchased for a vision-impaired user will receive a 20 dollar subsidy from Rokid.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/rokid-introduces-display-free-ai-smartglasses-at-ces-2026-010017906.html?src=rss
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Jan 05, 2026
"Relaxing" isn't a word anyone is likely to associate with CES. If anything, it is the antithesis of CES, an exhausting and wildly overstimulating marathon event that takes place in the already exhausting and wildly overstimulating Las Vegas. But a demo of Ambient's bedside device, Dreamie, ahead of its appearance at CES-adjacent Pepcom had me properly lulled and ready to go right back to bed. Dreamie is a smart sunrise alarm clock and nighttime wind-down device that has a built-in podcast player, a catalog of green, pink and brown noise sound masks, guided breathing programs, contactless motion sensors to provide insights into your sleep habits, dynamic lighting with simulated sunrise wake-ups and Bluetooth connectivity for headphones.
But most importantly for anyone trying to avoid using their phone immediately before bed, it's a standalone system in which all controls, features and scheduling options as well as data storage are on-device. And there's no subscription.
The goal of Dreamie is "to help you separate from your phone while providing a lot of the conveniences that you would normally have," said CEO and co-founder Adrian Canoso. You can set multiple alarms on different schedules, access soothing content to fall asleep to and customize how gradual your sunrise wakeup is. There are environmental sensors to clue you in on the humidity, temperature and lighting conditions over the course of the night, to give you a better idea of how these things may be affecting your sleep.
Dreamie is a relatively small device compared to other sunrise-style clocks, with a truncated pill-shaped body and a sleek circular touchscreen. Around the display is a hidden dial for volume control, and it feels great to rotate, with just the right amount of resistance. There's also a touch strip on top
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Jan 05, 2026
Last year, Dell killed off all of its PC brands, including the iconic XPS lineup, and replaced them with a simplified naming scheme. It was a move meant to make it easier for people to discern between the company's many brands, but in reality, it just just made the company's lineup even more confusing. We called it an unforced error at the time, but after seeing how much Dell's PC market share fell over 2025, it's fair to say that rebranding was an absolute marketing disaster.
So, with its tail between its legs, Dell has returned to CES some welcome news for its fans: XPS lives! And the company plans to double-down on the brand in ways it never did before. Today, Dell revealed the new XPS 14 and 16 notebooks, which feature a more practical design than the previous models. There's a new function row with traditional keys, instead of the odd capacitive buttons that disappeared in sunlight. And while the company is sticking with its "invisible" trackpad, which sits flush alongside the wrist rest, there's now a light border around the edges that lets you feel exactly where the trackpad begins and ends.
So, in short, Dell seems to have solved most of our recent complaints about the XPS lineup. To signify its commitment to the brand, it's also emblazoning the XPS logo on all of these new machi
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Jan 05, 2026
Intel turned up to CES 2026 to herald the birth of the Core Ultra Series 3, a new range of chips offering "exceptional performance." It says the mobile processors, formerly known as Panther Lake, deliver great graphics and battery life alongside the aforementioned grunt. And that, for the first time, the silicon has been certified for embedded and industrial use cases, including robotics and smart cities. But, like so many stories about Intel these days, the launch is loaded with so much subtext you'll need a copy of Cliffs Notes to understand it.
On the face of it, these are just some snappy flagship chips, available in Core Ultra 7 and 9 ranges as well as Core X7 and X9, which ship with 12 Xe graphics cores over the usual four. Almost all of them offer 16 total cores and threads, and all bar two have total NPU performance of 50 PTOPS.
Image of the Core Ultra Series 3IntelThese chips are going to be famous for two key reasons: First, Intel claims they're the most advanced chips ever manufactured in the US
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Jan 05, 2026
Who among us hasn't looked at the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 and said, "That's great and all, but what if it had more Hideo Kojima?" Well, our cries have been heard. Behold, the ROG Flow Z13-KJP, a collaboration between ASUS and Kojima Productions.
On the inside, this model is no different than the standard version we reviewed last May. The device takes a Surface Pro-like form factor and beefs it up into something that's more like a gaming laptop. (Ergo, ASUS's pitch of the product as a "gaming tablet.")
But on the outside, you'll find a design "for Ludens who dare." The Death Stranding influence is evident, but you may pick up on some Metal Gear-adjacent touches as well. The tablet's gold color, symbols and integrated carbon fiber conjure Kojima's Ludens mascot. This variant is slightly larger than the standard one, most noticeably in the detachable keyboard.
ROG Flow Z13-KJPASUSThere will also be matching accessories available, including a mouse, case, headphones and a desk mat. Depending on your region, those may or may not be bundle
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Jan 05, 2026
A couple years ago ASUS made its first dual-screen laptop in the ZenBook Duo. Now at CES 2026, the company has taken that idea and branched off in a somewhat unexpected way with the ROG Zephyrus Duo, which might just be the world's first true dual-screen gaming laptop.
Unlike a more traditional productivity notebook with two built-in displays, the concept of a dual-screen gaming notebook doesn't translate quite as naturally because powering two screens comes with a performance hit. Plus, in the heat of battle, it's not like you have a lot of opportunity to utilize that second monitor. But if you view this Zephyrus Duo as more of an all-purpose portable content creation and gaming station, things begin to make a lot more sense.
Both of Zephyrus Duo's 16-inch Nebula OLED panels have strong specs including support for HDR with up to 1,100 nits of peak brightness, NVIDIA G-Sync, stylus integration and a very strong Delta-E (which measures color accuracy) of less than one. Performance also looks solid with ASUS offering the latest Core Ultra processors from Intel and up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU. Sure, with a TDP of 135 watts, the Zephyrus Duo won't be quite as punchy as a comparable single-screened 16-inch gaming notebook, but those won't be nearly as adaptable as the ROG either.
Just like the Zenbook Duo, the Zephyrus Duo comes with a detachable wireless keyboard that can be charged up magnetically. This allows users to set up the laptop in all sorts of positions, which are enhanced thanks to a built-in kickstand. The one people will use the most is probably the stacked arrangement with one display above the other. However, you can also keep the Duo and clamshell mode, slide the keyboa
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Jan 05, 2026
After years of testing its humanoid robot (and forcing it to dance), Boston Dynamics' Atlas is entering production. The robotics company says the final product version of the robot is being built now, and the first companies that will receive deployments are Hyundai, Boston Dynamics' majority shareholder, and Google DeepMind, the firm's newly minted AI partner.
This final enterprise version of Atlas "can perform a wide array of industrial tasks," according to Boston Dynamics, and is specifically designed with consistency and reliability in mind. Atlas can work autonomously, via a teleoperator or with "a tablet steering interface," and the robot is both strong and durable. Boston Dynamics says Atlas has a reach of up to 7.5 feet, the ability to lift 110 pounds and can operate at temperatures ranging from minus 4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. "This is the best robot we have ever built," Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter said in the Atlas announcement. "Atlas is going to revolutionize the way industry works, and it marks the first step toward a long-term goal we have dreamed about since we were children."
Boston Dynamics has been publicly demoing its work on humanoid robots since at least 2011, when it first debuted Atlas as a DARPA project. Since then, the robot has gone through multiple prototypes and revisions, most notably switching fro
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Jan 05, 2026
Last year when Dell decided to kill off the XPS name, it felt like a big mistake. In fact, we said so multiple times. But at CES 2026, Dell is righting wrongs by bringing back its iconic laptop brand and it feels like the right move for both the company and its flagship consumer devices.
Even more than the words the letters XPS are meant to represent (Extreme Performance Systems), over the last decade, Dell's signature laptop brand stood for excellent design, quality engineering and top notch performance. And it was precisely those laptops that landed the company at the top of nearly every best Windows laptop guide every year for the last decade. So to replace XPS with a generic tag like premium felt like a big step backwards.
Now if you were living under a rock (at least when it comes to Windows laptops), you can sort of squint your eyes and see the reasoning behind Dell's misguided rebranding. Premium means good, typically something much better than average. By putting that word in front of its top-tier systems, there's no way anyone could be confused about what kind of device they were buying, right? Take for example the
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Jan 05, 2026
NVIDIA and Intel had their moment in the spotlight, and now it's AMD's turn. The chipmaker is kicking off CES 2026 on Monday night, where it'll cover its latest AI developments and perhaps show off its newest Ryzen chips. It's the kickoff keynote of CES 2026, and CEO Dr. Lisa Su is expected to outline how AMD's hardware will power the AI revolution — and what the company can offer partners and consumers that those aforementioned rivals can't.
We'll tell you how to tune in to the livestream and what else you can expect to see.
How to watch AMD's keynote live
Dr. Su will deliver a keynote speech from the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian on Monday, January 5 at 9:30PM ET (6:30PM PT). You can watch the event live on the CES YouTube channel (we've embedded the livestream below).
Engadget will also be liveblogging the AMD keynote in real-time.
What to expect from AMD at CES 2026
While AMD says it's keeping its product details under wraps, we
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Jan 05, 2026
Waymo is getting a good look at the competition as Uber revealed the design of its robotaxi that's due to launch in San Francisco later this year. The upcoming robotaxi is a result of a partnership announced in July between Uber, Lucid and Nuro. The plan is still to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid EVs that will use the Nuro Driver autonomous driving tech and be available through the Uber platform.
It's important to note that the robotaxi reveal will be a "production intent design," so there may be some modifications to the version that will eventually hit the streets. However, the partnership started on-road testing last month in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Nuro using more than 100 robotaxi prototypes supervised by autonomous vehicle operators.
The robotaxi, which is a modified Lucid Gravity, will feature a multi-pronged sensor system, including high-res cameras, lidar sensors, and radar. The design also incorporates a halo mounted onto the EV's roof, which will increase sensor visibility and double as a display tha
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Jan 05, 2026
Acer just announced the Predator Helios 16S AI gaming laptop at CES 2026. This computer is filled with both bells and whistles, making it a decent choice for modern gamers.
To that end, the laptop can be equipped with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor. This is Intel's upcoming flagship mobile processor that has previously been known as Panther Lake. The Helios 16S AI can also be outfitted with up to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU.
Acer
It comes with a 16-inch WQXGA OLED display that offers true HDR imaging support. The laptop can be loaded with up to 64GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. The connectivity here is on point, with support for Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth. Everything is housed in an 18.9mm slim metal chassis. It looks pretty solid.
We don't have any pricing, and the company might still be calculating that, given that ongoing RAM shortage. Acer says they'll disclose that closer to launch.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acers-predator-helios-neo-16s-ai-laptop-can-be-outfitt
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Jan 05, 2026
In addition to huge TVs, compact projectors, Trifolds and more, Samsung announced a new family of laptops at CES called the Galaxy Book 6 series. The company says it's focused on what matters and on what you, hopefully, want in your next laptop. That means Intel's latest chips, a cleaner design and battery life that lasts longer than a day. They're really thin, too.
Timed alongside Intel's CES announcements, the whole Galaxy Book 6 series features new Panther Lake chips, optimized by Samsung for three new laptops: The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, Galaxy Book 6 Pro and Galaxy Book 6.
The 16-inch Galaxy Book 6 Ultra can be equipped with up to Core Ultra X9 processors and promises significant performance improvements, with a new 5th-generation MPU, Intel Arc graphics and NVIDIA's RTX 50 series GPUs (with RTX 5070 and 5060 options). That package leads Samsung to promise up to 1.6x greater CPU power and 1.7x improved graphics performance compared to the last Galaxy Book series. (It's worth noting that Samsung skipped an Ultra configuration of the Galaxy Book 5 series.)
All the laptops feature improved heat-management architecture, with a wider vapor chamber and re-engineered fans. At the same time, the Ultra features a new dual-path fan to cool the GPU even more efficiently and swiftly.
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Jan 05, 2026
Acer has a handful of laptop updates at this year's CES show. The headlining item is the addition of the Acer Swift 16 AI to the company's flagship line. This laptop has what the company says is currently the world's largest haptic touchpad at 5.5mm by 109.7mm, and it can support up to MPP 2.5 stylus inputs. The screen is a 16-inch 3K OLED WQXGA touch display with HDR, a 120 Hz refresh rate and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut. On the inside, the Swift 16 AI can be kitted with up to an Intel Core Ultra X9 388H processor with built-in Intel Arc B390 graphics. The whole package is in a 14.9mm thin chassis and the machine weighs 1.55kg (about 3.4 lbs).
Closeup of the trackpad on the Acer Swift 16 AI laptopAcer (modified)Another notable element in the company's CES announcements is Acer Swift Edge 14 AI, one of two new lightweight laptops revealed at the event. The Swift Edge 14 AI measures just 13.95mm thick and weighs 0.99kg (about 2.2 lbs). It is powered by up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor 386H. The max spec 14-inch screen has a 3KWQXGA OLED touch display with 120 Hz refresh rate.
Both machines can have up to 32GB of RAM and are part of the Copilot PC program. Storage in the Swift 16 AI maxes out at 2TB while the Swift Edge 14 AI be up to 1TB.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acer-goes-big-on-the-haptic-trackpad-for-ces-with-the-swift-16-ai-laptop-230000750.html?src=rss
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Jan 05, 2026
This year HP is making an important change by taking its name off its gaming hardware entirely and letting its HyperX branding take center stage. At CES 2026, the company is celebrating this transition in a big way with Omen Max 16, which is being heralded as the world's most powerful gaming laptop with fully internal cooling.
Now the last part of that claim is a bit of a cop out, but considering that most gamers probably don't want to lug around a notebook with hoses coming out the back, it's an understandable qualifier. Plus, with a total platform power of 300 watts that includes support for the latest chips from Intel and AMD and up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU, this thing certainly won't be lacking in speed. Under the hood, the Max 16 features a third cooling fan to prevent throttling under sustained workloads along with HP's Fan Cleaner tech that reverses the direction of the laptop's fans to prevent dust from building up inside.
As for its design, the Max 16 doesn't stray too far from HyperX's signature matte black color scheme, though I do appreciate that the company kept a handful of accents like the RGB lightbar mounted on the laptop's front lip. The notebook also features a per-key RGB backlit keyboard with a 1,000Hz polling rate, which should all but eliminate any issues with ghosting or rollover during hectic facerolling sessions.
However, one quirk about the system I noticed when checking it out first hand is that even with above average brightness of 500 nits for its 2.5K OLED display, the screen also comes with an unusually glossy coating. The benefit of this is that colors appear super saturated. The downside is that especially in well-lit rooms with a lot of sunlight, there's more glare and reflections than you might expect.
Another nice improvement about the Max 16 that might go unnoticed if you only look at its spec sheet is that despite having a T
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Jan 05, 2026
MSI has presented its refreshed Prestige lineup of business laptops, as well as its next-generation Raider, Stealth and Crosshair gaming models at this year's CES. The Raider 16 Max HX is a 300w laptop, which the company says its its most powerful gaming model yet. It can supply 175w to its GeForce RTX 5090 or RTX 5080 GPU, while feeding 125w to its Intel Core Ultra 200HX processor at the same time under full-load conditions. To be able to handle that kind of power, MSI equipped it with a new cooling system consisting of three fans, six heat pipes, five exhaust vents and phase-change thermal compound. The Raider 16 Max also has a quick-access bottom panel that gives users an easy way to upgrade their storage and memory.
Meanwhile, the new Stealth 16 AI laptop's selling point seems to be its portability. It's just 16.6mm thin, weighs under two kilograms, comes equipped with RTX 50 series GPU and has dual memory and SSD slots. MSI has also introduced the new Crosshair 16 Max HX and Crosshair 16 HX laptops powered by Intel Core Ultra 200HX processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series GPUs at the event. Buyers can pay extra for an optional QHD 165Hz OLED display if they want sharper visuals, as well.
In addition to its new gaming laptops, MSI has introduced its all-new Prestige 14 and Prestige 16 business laptops at CES. They're slimmer with a more rounded silhouette compared to their predecessors, and they're encased in full aluminum. The laptops are powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors and are equipped with an 81Wh battery that can offer over 30 hours of video playback in 1080p. MSI has debuted the new Modern 14S and 16S series powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors for everyday users, as well. Plus, the company has unveiled a Glacier Blue edition of its handheld gamin
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Jan 05, 2026
Jensen Huang took to the CES stage on Monday to share the latest from NVIDIA, and while the presentation was more a refresher of technologies the company has been working on for the past few years, there were a couple of notable announcements.
NVIDIA announced Alpamayo, a family of open-source reasoning models designed to guide autonomous vehicles through difficult driving situations. The centerpiece of the release is Alpamayo 1 , a 10-billion parameter chain-of-thought system NVIDIA says is capable of approaching driving more like a human being would. The model works by breaking down unexpected driving situations into a smaller set of problems before finding the safest path forward. At each step of the way, the model can explain its reasoning.
A sister model named AlpaSim allows developers to do closed-loop training for driving scenarios that are rarely encountered in real life. Huang said the 2025 Mercedes Benz CLA will be the first vehicle to ship with NVIDIA's entire AV stack, including Alpamayo. "Our vision is that someday, every single car, every single truck, will be autonomous," Huang said.
Following the Alpamayo announcements, a pair of BD-1 droids from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order joined Huang on stage. We saw one join the executive at last year's CES. After that, Huang turned to Vera Rubin. NVIDIA first announced the GPU architecture in 2024, and now the company has begun production on a super computer that makes use of the new tech. One Vera CPU has 88 custom Olympus cores and 1.5TB of system memory for a total of 227 billion transistors. Meanwhile, one Rubin GPU features 336 billion transistors. Each Vera Rubin supercomputer has a pair of both components.
For those hoping for some gaming-related announcements, Huang didn't have anything t
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Jan 05, 2026
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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Jan 05, 2026
I met up with a few people from Google at the Encore Villas during CES (which is just 2,500 feet from my hotel but took 28 minutes to walk to, thanks to Vegas's pedestrian-averse design [also I got lost]). Once there, I saw what "more Gemini" will mean for people with a Google TV.
The AI integration ranged from useful to probably unnecessary. The most useful bit, for me at least, came at the end. It's admittedly a boring, but now you an adjust your TV's settings just by talking. In the demo, Salahuddin Choudhary, Google's Gemini for Android product lead said, "Can you boost the dialogue?" and Gemini changed the mode accordingly, without leaving the golf game he was watching. I asked if it could turn off motion smoothing, the first thing I adjust on a new TV (and sometimes other people's). Yes, it can.
The "deep dive" Gemini feature could prove fairly useful, too. With it, asking for general information turns into a mini lesson on the subject, complete with generated images and narration. When Choudhary asked Gemini to "explain the Northern Lights to [his] eighth grader," the screen filled with the standard Gemini answer: a brief definition and images and video tiles for further exploration. But a small Dive deeper button on the screen led to a narrated and illustrated tour of the science behind the phenomenon. My kid is at the age where he
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Jan 05, 2026
A viral Reddit post purportedly from an employee of a "major food delivery app" may actually be an AI-generated hoax, The Verge reports. The post itself, and an image of an employee ID card the poster, u/trowaway_whistleblow, shared with The Verge, where both flagged as being likely AI-generated when run through online AI detectors and AI assistants like Gemini and Claude.
Given the inflammatory nature of the post, it's not hard to see why it received over 80,000 upvotes in the four days it's been up in r/confession. The post includes a series of striking claims about the unnamed food delivery company, like that its "Priority Delivery" option doesn't actually change delivery speeds, that it sorts delivery drivers based on their level of desperation and that it steals tips from drivers. The post doesn't name a specific company, but there's enough real world evidence of driver mistreatment — including misleading pay structures that subsidize driver's base pay with tips — that it sounds true.
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Jan 05, 2026
TCL introduced the next entry in its flagship line of televisions during CES. The X11L SQD-Mini LED Series is available for pre-order now in three sizes. But like much of the gear on show in Las Vegas this week, it doesn't come cheap. The 75-inch model of the X11L costs $7,000, the 85-inch option is $8,000 and the 98-inch model goes for $10,000. That's more than double the costs of the QD-Mini LED TV the brand unveiled at last year's CES.
The most notable addition in TCL's latest screen is the company's new Deep Color System. This tech leverages Super Quantum Dots, combined with its CSOT UltraColor Filter, and the Advanced Color Purity Algorithm. While a mini LED screen can't match the true blacks of an OLED, the X11L has TCL's Halo Control System to reduce the presence of bloom. The television also has 20,000 discrete dimming zones and boasts peak brightness of 10,000 nits.
Well-known brand Bang & Olufsen continues to be responsible for the TV's audio system. The models use an upgraded AI processor to deliver enhanced color, contrast, clarity, motion, upscaling and sound. It's also integrated with Gemini for Google TV.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/tcl-unveils-its-x11l-sqd-mini-led-tvs-at-ces-2026-205532386.html?src=rss
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Jan 05, 2026
SOPA Images via Getty Images
CES 2026 is off and running, and chipmakers enabling the AI moment are one of the big starts of the show. In addition to NVIDIA and AMD taking the stage today, we'll also be getting Intel's 2026 launch event. The chip giant is expected to provide more details on its AI PC initiative and the new processors powering it: The Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs (aka Panther Lake) are made using an 18A process — that's 18 angstroms, or just under 2nm — and designed for high-end laptops and gaming devices.
For Intel, the stakes at CES are higher than ever. In the past 12 months, both NVIDIA and the US government acquired ownership stakes in the compan
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Jan 05, 2026
Hyundai
CES has long felt like a full-on auto show, but the car-centric energy seems somewhat muted at CES 2026. Sure, the Afeela electric vehicle from the Sony-Honda joint venture is returning to the show floor, but with the Trump administration yanking most EV incentives from the market, the industry isn't offering a full-court press of new vehicles in Las Vegas this year.
That includes Hyundai. While the company's Mobis subsidiary will present "more than 30 mobility convergence technologies" during CES week — including its Holographic Windshield Display — we're hearing the Korean auto giant will instead use its pre
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Jan 05, 2026
A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying Brigitte Macron, wife of President of France Emmanuel Macron, the BBC reports. The judge found that the defendants made false claims about Macron's gender and sexuality, and "malicious remarks" about the 24-year age gap between Macron and her spouse.
The defendants, eight men and two women, received a range of sentences, including jail time up to eight months and mandatory online harassment awareness training. Five of the defendants will also lose access to their X accounts for six months, according to The New York Times.
Key to the lawsuit is the fringe belief that Brigitte Macron was born a man — proponents for s
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Jan 05, 2026
A reputable leaker has indicated that NVIDIA plans on bringing the RTX 3060 back to market, according to reports by Kotaku and WFCCTech. It first released the GPU at the beginning of 2021. The leaker Hongxing2020 indicates that NVIDIA will resume production of the 3060 sometime in the next few months.
Why is the world's most valuable company reportedly bringing back such an antiquated graphics card? You know the answer. It's the endless gaping maw known as AI. Tech companies have been hoovering up PC parts for AI applications with reckless abandon. It has become a legitimate challenge for a regular person to buy RAM and graphics cards, which has led to price increases across the board and companies like Crucial closing up shop.
rtx3060 Q1 come back… ??
— hongxing2020 (@hongxing2020) January 5, 2026
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Jan 05, 2026
Dolby introduced its FlexConnect technology a few years ago, vowing that it would allow customers to position soundbars and speakers anywhere in a room. The company said the platform would then reconfigure the sound automatically, taking into account any locations that may be further away from the center sweet spot. At CES 2026, LG is the first to put Dolby Atmos FlexConnect in a soundbar, offering the so-called Sound Suite that also includes satellite speaker options and a subwoofer. You don't need every member of the lineup to use Dolby's tech, so you can pick and choose which items work best for your living room.
The centerpiece of the Sound Suite is the H7 soundbar. This 9.1.6-channel speaker is configured for spatial audio (Dolby Atmos) and supports lossless audio up to 24 bit/96kHz. The standout on the spec sheet for me is the six up-firing channels, which should enhance the sensation of overhead sounds. Most of the soundbars I review have only two of those.
What's more, the H7 is equipped with a feature called Sound Follow that tracks the location of your phone to reconfigure the audio when your position changes. Maybe you move to a comfy chair instead of the sofa right in front of the TV. The idea is that you don't have to suffer through subpar audio during a movie or show just because you aren't in the best spot.
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Jan 05, 2026
CES is once again where TV manufacturers lay out their plans for the year ahead, and CES 2026 is shaping up to be a showcase of both familiar rivalries and genuinely new display tech. While OLED and Mini LED remain central to most lineups, Micro RGB has emerged as one of the most talked-about developments at the show so far, especially at the higher end of the market.
Below are the TV announcements that stood out most from the pre-show events and early press conferences, with more expected as CES continues.
Samsung Micro RGB TVs
Samsung's flagship Micro RGB TV
Engadget
Samsung's Micro RGB push at CES 2026 isn't just about big screens — it's also about how the technology tries to redefine color accuracy and brightness in LCD-based TVs. Unlike traditional Mini LED backlights that rely on white LEDs and filters, Samsung's Micro RGB TVs use microscopic red, green and blue LEDs in the backlight plane, which help deliver a wider color gamut and more precise local luminance control than conventional backlit LCDs.
The standout of the lineup so far is the jaw-dropping
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Jan 05, 2026
Lego bricks come in a ridiculously vast array of sizes and shapes, but the company is unveiling an entirely new take on its classic shape at CES 2026. Meet the Lego Smart Brick, a standard-sized 2 x 4 brick that's packed with modern technology to enable sets that can respond to how they're played with or the sets you build. It's part of a new initiative called Smart Play, which encompasses the Smart Brick as well as Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags. While we obviously don't know yet how Lego fans will take to this new system, it's still fair to say it's the biggest move Lego has every made to infuse its products with connected technology.
The Smart Brick has a 4.1mm ASIC chip inside of it that Lego says is smaller than a standard Lego stud. It runs something called the Play Engine that can sense things like motion, orientation and magnetic fields. Thanks to this and some integrated copper coils, the Smart Brick can sense distance, direction and orientation
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Jan 05, 2026
Micro RGB TVs first arrived last year with little fanfare and a confusing name, so you may have mistaken it for other panel tech or not even noticed. That is not likely to be the case this year, though — it's the hot new "luxury" display technology and is all over the place at CES 2026. So why do we even need these new TVs and how are they different from OLED, Micro LED and Mini LED models? Here's how it works and how it compares.
A brief history of flat panel display tech
To better understand Micro RGB, it helps to see how flat panel display technology has evolved over the last 20 years. The first LCD TVs used liquid crystals that become transparent to light when voltage is applied, letting a rear backlight shine through as a pixel. Those pixels combine to create moving or still images, with color created via an RGB filter layer placed in front.
The main problem is that LCD crystals let some light partially leak through, so blacks are dark grey instead of pure black. And for a backlight, early LCD TVs used a white screen lit by dim and power-hungry fluorescent lights, which caused uneven light distribution. And finally, the RGB filter color layer reduced a panel's brightness.
The next step up, then, was to use LED backlights instead, placed at first at the edges of the white screen and then later directly behind it (the first TV with this tech was
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Jan 05, 2026
Smart fridges are a dime a dozen at CES, and LG and Samsung have thoroughly explored what's possible when you connect your fridge to the internet or slap a touchscreen on the front. The new GE Profile Smart Refrigerator with Kitchen Assistant GE Appliances is announcing ahead of CES 2026 doesn't reinvent the wheel in that regard, but it does include a first: a built-in barcode scanner for adding items to your shopping list.
GE Appliances' "Scan-to-List" feature uses the barcode scanner to quickly (and precisely) add items to a shareable shopping list in the company's SmartHQ app. You can refer to that list while you're shopping in person, or sync it with Instacart and have it delivered, eliminating the need to go grocery shopping entirely. Inside the fridge, GE Appliances also includes a flush-mount LED bar with a built-in camera that can deliver "real-time, on-demand snapshots of crisper drawers, focusing on the most costly and perishable items." This "FridgeFocus" feature is supposed to prevent you from overbuying perishable produce that you might already have, by letting you see which perishables might go bad first.
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Jan 05, 2026
Netflix just announced the pending release of a Stranger Things documentary, hot on the heels of the series finale. It premieres on January 12. One Last Adventure focuses on the making of season five, so it's not a full series retrospective. This seems similar to what Disney does a few weeks after a popular Star Wars or Marvel show drops.
Still, it's a documentary about the very last season of the show, so there's likely to be some tearful goodbyes and all of that jazz. As a matter of fact, the trailer shows plenty of hugs along with sit-down interviews.
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Jan 05, 2026
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
Hisense is typically best known for its affordable electronics and home appliances, from TVs to refrigerators. But at CES 2025, the China-based company showed off its premium side with a massive 136-inch micro LED TV — now available for a jaw-dropping $100,000. So what's in store for this year's show? New leadership, for starters.
The company has two new hires, including Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Larsen and Chief Commercial Officer J
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