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Jan 21, 2026
Weber has been in the smart grilling game since 2020, dabbling in Wi-Fi connectivity for gas and pellet grills. It has also offered grillers a standalone option for its Weber Connect platform. For 2026, the company is expanding its smart grilling lineup to its original fuel source: charcoal. Today, Weber announced the Performer Smart Charcoal Grill and Kettle Smart Ring, both of which bring Weber Connect control and cooking guidance to charcoal grilling in a more integrated way.
The 22-inch Performer Smart Charcoal Grill has a Wi-Fi-enabled LCD controller that regulates grill temperature by adjusting the airflow to lit charcoal. Weber says this grill is well-suited for overnight smoking and longer cooks thanks to this bit of automation. The new Performer also has a so-called Rapidfire Assist mode to get those coals lit faster. The grill can be controlled remotely with the Weber Connect app, which can also keep tabs on any connected food probes.
The new Performer is essentially an upgraded version of the Performer Premium, Deluxe and base options that currently exist. You still get the porcelain-enamel finish, adjustable dampers for manual temperature controls and the One-Touch cleaning system for ash removal. The other upgrade is a Weber Works side table and side rail that accommodate the
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Jan 21, 2026
If you're looking to expand the storage on your Switch 2, the 512GB Samsung P9 microSD Express card is on sale right now for 33 percent off, marked down to $80 from $120. With component prices skyrocketing these days, it's getting increasingly rare to see good storage on sale, and 512GB for $80 is a much better deal than you'll currently find directly from Nintendo.
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Jan 21, 2026
Back in August, Adobe debuted Acrobat Studio. The new service saw Adobe bring the humble PDF into the 21st century with support for a handful of new genAI features, including PDF Spaces, a hub where you can upload up to 100 documents and have AI summarize them. Now the company is enhancing the capabilities of those hubs with the introduction of four new genAI features inside of Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Studio and Adobe Express.
The next time you add documents and files to a PDF Space, you can prompt Adobe's built-in AI assistant to generate a presentation from those materials. The software will first create an outline. From there, you can select from a handful of "professional" designs to build the presentation around, and then make tweaks. Adobe says the majority of changes, including copy edits and image swaps, can be made without the need to generate entirely new slides. Once you're happy with the results, you can share the presentation with your co-workers for further editing. Adobe has also made it easier to collaborate inside of PDF Spaces. With this latest update, you can invite others to add files and leave notes.
On the subject of editing, you can now carry out a dozen different tweaks using natural-language prompts. That includes adding text, comments, images and e-signatures. If you're old-fashioned like me, Adobe has also reworked the Help section to offer step-by-step instructions on how to complete most tasks.
Last but not least, Adobe is borrowing a page from NotebookLM by adding a feature that allows users to generate podcasts from a PDF Space. This works much like it does in Google's app. Acroba
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Jan 21, 2026
NBA League Pass, the streaming service that lets you catch hundreds of out-of-market NBA games, is on sale right now for up to 55 percent off. The League Pass Premium subscription is on sale for $75, down from $160, while League Pass Standard is marked down to $50 from $110. We're almost halfway through the season at this point, so it makes sense for a service like League Pass to start offering some discounts.
The Standard plan includes commercials and support for only one device at a time, while the Premium tier offers no commercials, in-arena streams during breaks in the game, offline viewing of full games and concurrent streams on up to three devices at once.
Last year, League Pass added multiview, which allows you to view u
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Jan 21, 2026
Microsoft has announced some solid additions to Game Pass this month, ranging from AAA titles to indies, including some of our favorites from 2024 and 2025. Topping the list is Death Stranding Director's Cut, an extended version of Hideo Kojima's 2019 sci-fi action game (now available). Other key inclusions are Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (January 29) and puzzle game The Talos Principle 2 (January 27).
We're also seeing some award winners including Indika (February 2), a surreal tale about the devil living inside a nun's head, one of Engadget's 2024 games of the year. Last year's Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (available today), a hack-and-slash platformer with top-notch pixel, was on our list for one of 2025's best games. Finally, Roadcraft allows you to operate a fleet of 40 authentic construction vehicles to clear debris, repair bridges and restore infrastructure.
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Jan 21, 2026
Tax season is fast approaching, and unfortunately for 2026, Direct File isn't an option anymore. The free, government-provided service was shut down, so you'll need to look to other federal programs, including IRS Free File, to file your paperwork. If you don't qualify for Free File, TurboTax might be your best bet for a relatively cheap, efficient way to file your taxes. While it pains us to suggest you give money to a company that has spent decades lobbying to ensure America's tax system remains a nightmare, we can at least help you save a bit of cash if you've determined TurboTax is a necessary expense for you this year.
Right now, Amazon has discounted the
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Jan 21, 2026
One of the disconcerting things about using a virtual private network (VPN) is that it can be hard to tell when it's doing its job. The best VPNs all work in the background to keep your IP address hidden and your communications with their servers encrypted. The better the VPN, the less you notice it, which can make a top-performing VPN feel (uncomfortably) like one that isn't working at all.
Luckily, you've got options for checking whether your VPN is working — other than just taking the app at its word. In this article, I'll cover the basics, then go through five different tests you can run to make sure you're actually using an encrypted VPN server. For each test, I'll explain what kind of problem it's looking for, how to run it and what to do in case it fails.
Make sure your VPN is turned onBefore you do anything else, though, it's not a bad idea to check your VPN app and make sure you remembered to connect. It's all too easy to open up the client app, choose a server, tweak some preferences and feel like your work is done. On top of that, we don't always remember to tell VPN beginners that simply opening the client isn't enough.
To check that your VPN is turned on, open the app on your desktop or mobile home screen. Each VPN designs its apps differently, but common signs include the color green, the word Connected and information on what server location you're connected to.
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Jan 21, 2026
Samsung's 2025 was filled with new foldables, an ultra-thin new form factor and the launch of Google's XR platform. After making some announcements at CES 2026, the company is expected to host its first Galaxy Unpacked of the year in February to introduce the Galaxy S26 lineup.
Engadget will be covering Galaxy Unpacked live, and we'll most likely have hands-on coverage of Samsung's new smartphones soon after they're announced. While we wait for an official invite, here's everything we expect Samsung will introduce at the first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2026.
Galaxy S26, S26 and S26 UltraSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on photoPhoto by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
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Jan 21, 2026
After testing the feature for the last six months or so, Netflix said it will bring vertical videos to its mobile app sometime later in 2026, TechCrunch reported. So far, the feature has been used to show clips promoting Netflix films and TV shows, letting you swipe to move to the next one à la TikTok or YouTube Shorts.
Going forward, though, it could also serve as a promotion tool for new types of programs. "You can imagine us bringing more clips based on new content types, like video podcasts," co-CEO Greg Peters said in an earnings call.
That was another subject of discussion, as Netflix is taking on YouTube with new video podcasts. The company debuted the first of those originals last week, including shows from sports commentator Michael Irvin and comedian Peter Davidson. It's also offering hosting content like the Bill Simmons Podcast and other shows from The Ringer.
Despite increasing competition from YouTube and other social media networks, Netflix is doing all right. In 2025, the company saw $45.2 billion revenue including $1.5 billion in ad dollars from its lower tier subscriptions. The streamer counted 325 million paid subscribers around the world at the end of last year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-mobile-app-redesign-will-offer-deeper-integration-of-vertical-video-120000820.html?src=rss
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Jan 21, 2026
Looking to keep your home clean without having to vacuum and mop every day, pick up dirt, the dinner your child threw on the floor or your furry friend's endless pet hair? Join the club. Smart home gadgets have come a long way over the years, and that includes robot vacuums. With newer technology including voice controls, object detection and more automation features, investing in a robot vacuum cleaner makes more sense now than ever before. Some of the best robot vacuum cleaners even have mopping capabilities, roller brush options and self-emptying bases, too, and there are plenty that don't cost a fortune either. If you're ready to adopt a less hands-on approach and let a robot vacuum cleaner do the hard work for you, consider our recommendations below.
Best robot vacuums 2026
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Jan 20, 2026
The Federal Trade Commission lost its antitrust case against Meta last year, but the regulator hasn't given up on its attempts to punish the social media company for its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. The FTC is appealing a ruling last year in which a federal judge found that the government hadn't proven that Meta is currently operating as a monopoly.
"Meta has maintained its dominant position and record profits for well over a decade not through legitimate competition, but by buying its most significant competitive threats," the FTC's Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera said in a statement. "The Trump-Vance FTC will continue fighting its historic case against Meta to ensure that competition can thrive across the country to the benefit of all Americans and U.S. businesses."
The FTC originally filed antitrust charges against Facebook in 2020 during President Donald Trump's first term in office. The government argued that by acquiring apps it once competed with, Instagram and WhatsApp, the company had depressed competition in the space and ultimately hurt consumers. A trial last year saw testimony from several current and former executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg, who spoke at length about the pressure to compete with TikTok.
US District Judge James Boasberg was
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Jan 20, 2026
OpenAI is the latest company to hop on the bandwagon of gating access by users' age. The AI business is beginning a global rollout of an age prediction tool to determine whether or not a user is a minor. "The model looks at a combination of behavioral and account-level signals, including how long an account has existed, typical times of day when someone is active, usage patterns over time,and a user's stated age," the company's announcement states. If an individual is incorrectly characterized by ChatGPT as underage, they will need to submit a selfie to correct the mistake through the Persona age verification platform.
Most AI companies have been willing to push new features first and then attempt to layer on a patchwork of protections and safety guards on top of them after they cause harm. OpenAI was implicated in a wrongful death suit for a teen who allegedly used ChatGPT to plan his suicide, and only in the following months began pondering automatic restrictions on content for underage users and launching a mental health advisory council. In this instance, OpenAI is attempting to prepare for the launch of an "ad
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Jan 20, 2026
Akai just revealed its most powerful standalone groovebox, the MPC XL. For the uninitiated, the MPC has been around since the 1980s and pretty much defined hip hop from that era. The line has continuously iterated to keep up with the times and the XL looks to be the baddest of them all.
First of all, it offers four times the processing power of previous MPCs, which is enough to load up to 32 virtual instruments at the same time. This is assisted by a full 16GB of RAM, which is a whole lot in this era of AI tomfoolery. The XL can handle 16 audio tracks simultaneously. In my experience with previous units, this is more than enough for a full song.
It runs on a proprietary OS and features a 10-inch OLED touchscreen for making adjustments. There are also dozens of knobs and buttons to play with, including 16 knobs that integrate with the display for real-time feedback.
The XL features a step sequencer, but this is an MPC. The real star attraction are those 16 drum pads. These pads can be set to trigger samples and hits, but can also be programmed to initiate effects and do all kinds of other stuff. Each pad has four quadrants, one for each corner, and they are all fully adjustable.
Looking for even more nuanced control? There are two assignable touch-strips and plenty of short-cut keys. It has built-in microphone preamps, phono inputs for sampling, instrument inputs and numerous other connectivity options. This is a true flagship in every sense of the word. It's a
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Jan 20, 2026
Sometimes, you just need to give your mind a little vacation. And these days, outer space sounds like as good a destination as any. Thankfully, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is here to give us a dazzling new image of the Helix Nebula.
Discovered in the early 19th century, the Helix Nebula resides in the constellation Aquarius. (Cue The 5th Dimension.) At about 655 light-years away, it's one of Earth's closest planetary nebulae. When zoomed farther out, it's easy to see why it's been nicknamed the Eye of God or Eye of Sauron. This 2004 image from the Hubble telescope illustrates that.
A wider view of the same nebula from 2004NASA / ESA / C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University) / M. Meixner / P. McCullough / G. Bacon ( STSI)What we're seeing in the nebula is, in a sense, a moment of death that lays the groundwork for a new birth. The dying star (out of frame in the closer new image) sheds its outer layers. As expelled gas and dust cool, they provide raw material that could someday form new stars and perhaps planetary systems.
The new image from Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) provides a much closer, higher-resolution view.
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Jan 20, 2026
If you're looking to up your privacy game on the internet in the new year, you can do so for a little less than usual thanks to ExpressVPN's latest deal. Its two-year plans are up to 78 percent off right now: the Advanced tier is on sale for $101 for two years, plus four additional free months. That works out to $3.59 per month during the promotional period.
We've consistently liked ExpressVPN because it's fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it's our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the biggest drawbacks has always been its high cost, and this deal temporarily solves that issue.
In our review we were able to get fast download and upload speeds, losing only 7 percent in the former and 2 percent in the latter worldwide. We found that it could unblock Netflix anywhere, and its mobile and desktop apps were simple to operate. We gave ExpressVPN an overall score of 85 out of 100.
The virtual private network service now has three tiers. Basic is cheaper with fewer features, while Pro costs more and adds extra perks like support for 14 simultaneous devices and a password manager. Advanced sits in the middle and includes the password manager but only supports 12 devices.
The Basic plan is $78 right now for 28 months, down from $363, and the Pro plan is $168, down from $560. That's 78 percent and 70 percent off, respectively. All plans carry a 30-day mo
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Jan 20, 2026
Roland just unveiled the Go:Mixer Studio, a powerful entry in the company's line of audio interfaces. This one promises to be a portable and affordable way to create high-quality recordings with a smartphone or PC.
The biggest news here are the 12 input channels and six output channels. This means that users can record multiple instruments at once and even run the signal through outboard gear if so desired. There are two XLR inputs on the back with phantom power, an instrument jack, stereo ¼-inch line-in jacks, an aux input, TRS MIDI ins and outs, two headphones jacks and stereo line outs for connecting monitor speakers.
It records up to 24-bit/192kHz audio, which will certainly get the job done. The device comes with built-in effects for mangling audio on the fly. Each audio input also has a dedicated EQ and compressor directly on the channel.
It connects via an app that's available for iOS, Windows and MacOS. The iOS app actually lets users capture both video and multitrack audio at the same time, which should be a boon for streamers and content creators of all stripes. The Windows and MacOS apps allow for complete control of the mixer remotely.
As for the unit itself, there are several big knobs to adjust parameters and a color display. It's also really small and light, making it easy to pack away in case of an unexpected recording session. The device can even be mounted on a mic stand.
The Roland Go: Mixer Studio is available right now and costs $300. The
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Jan 20, 2026
Meta has a lot of work to do when it comes to limiting hate speech on its platforms. Now, its Oversight Board is looking into the company's decision to ban an account for, among other things, posting visual violent threats and harassment against a journalist — and it wants the public's advice.
In the year prior to the ban, Meta referred five posts due to violations of its hateful conduct, bullying and harassment, violence and incitement and adult nudity and sexual activity community standards. In addition to the posts harassing the woman journalist, the user also shared "anti-gay slurs against prominent politicians and content depicting a sex act, alleging misconduct against minorities."
Meta's internal review experts decided to permanently disable the account due to the consistent violations and calls for violence. This action was taken despite the number of strikes not reaching the ban threshold — Meta's guidance states that even seven strikes only get users a one-day ban. However, its account integrity page lays out examples of when it will disable accounts, including violating its community standards through "risk of imminent harm" to an individual.
The Board is now looking for insight from the public until 11:59PM PT on Tuesday, February 3. The Board is specifically
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Jan 20, 2026
One way to read more in the new year is to incorporate audiobooks as part of your reading habit. Audible is having a sale right now that makes that easier and cheaper to do: you can get three months of access for only $1 per month, or a total of $3. The promotion runs through January 21.
An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything.
However, it's easy to plow through a single book in a month. Users also get streaming access to thousands of curated titles. Think of it l
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Jan 20, 2026
Adobe has announced updates for Premiere and After Effects, including new AI-powered tools that are meant to speed up your video editing tasks. In Premiere, the company's video-editing software, it has unveiled a new AI-powered Object Mask feature that lets you easily pick and track persons or objects moving through your video clips. You simply have to hover over that object and click to generate a mask overlay in seconds. While the mask is supposed to be accurate from the start, you can adjust and resize it as needed. Adobe says the feature uses its own AI model for the feature and that the processing happens on-device. It also says that it doesn't use your activities and data to train its models.
The company has also given its Shape Mask tool an upgrade. You can generate its redesigned Ellipse, Rectangle and Pen masks directly from the toolbar. Further, it updated their controls to make moving or adjusting the masks more precise. The masks can now also track objects on your video clips 20 times faster than their predecessors, which means you won't have to keep such a close eye on the status bar. Another new Premiere update lets you easily bring media from from Firefly Boards, Adobe's AI-powered digital canvas, into the program. In addition, Adobe Stock is now fully integrated within Premiere.
For After Effects, Adobe has rolled out an update that lets you import SVG files that are commonly used in Illustrator. You can now also build graphics and photorealistic objects inside images with 3D parametric meshes, consisting of cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, toris and planes, within the visual effec
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Jan 20, 2026
In a strange twist of fate, a fire broke out this week at the Rad Power Bikes retail store warehouse in Huntington Beach, California, Electrek reports. The structural blaze came less than two months after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned customers to "immediately stop" using and dispose of some of the company's e-bike batteries due to fire hazard. In December, Rad filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, stating it couldn't afford to recall the batteries.
The recent two-alarm fire hit a commercial complex with multiple businesses. Footage from the fire shows e-bikes outside of the warehouse as firemen fought the blaze. Engadget has reached out to Rad for more information on the fire's impact.
The CPSC's November warning told of 31 reports of fire, with 12 of those involving property damage. In some cases, the battery was in storage, not being charged or used, yet still caught fire. The CPSC told customers to get rid of (in a safe, detailed manner) specific models of Rad's lithium-ion batteries. It claimed that the "hazardous" batteries were at risk of igniting or exploding, even more if wet or interacting with debris.
Rad told the CPSC it couldn't recall the batteries as it couldn't afford to offer replacements and refunds. "Rad offered multiple good-faith solutions
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Jan 20, 2026
The start of the new year is a great time to get your finances in order, and a good budgeting app can help with that. Instead of laboring over a spreadsheet, you can try one of our favorite budgeting apps for less than usual. Monarch Money is running a sale that gives new users 50 percent off one year of the service, bringing the final cost down to just $50. Just use the code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout to get the discount.
Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS, Android, iPadOS or the web, and Monarch also offers a Chrome extension that can sync your Amazon and Target transactions and automatically categorize them. Like other budgeting apps, Monarch Money lets you connect multiple financial accounts and track your money based on where you spend it over time. Monarch offers two different approaches to tracking budgeting (flexible and category budgeting) depending on what fits your life best, and the ability to add a budget widget on your phone so you can know how you're tracking that month.
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Jan 20, 2026
You have the best chance to save on streaming services during the holiday shopping season, but throughout the year, the occasional deal pops up that's worth considering. Case in point: this new Disney deal. New and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for the Disney Hulu bundle (with ads) for $10 for one month of access. That's $3 off the usual price of the bundle for one month, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney at $12 per month and, separately, Hulu also at $12 per month).
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this isn't quite as good as the Black Friday deal we saw last year, which offered the same bundle for $5 per month for one year. However, if you missed that offer or just want to try out Disney and Hulu for a brief period of time, this is a good way to do so.
Disney and Hulu make one of the most balanc
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Jan 20, 2026
The UK government has announced a consultation, asking people for their feedback on whether to introduce a social media ban for children under 16 years old. It would also explore how to enforce that limit, how to limit tech companies from being able to access children's data and how to limit "infinite scrolling," as well as access to addictive online tools. In addition to seeking feedback from parents and young people themselves, the country's ministers are going to visit Australia to see the effects of the country's social media ban for kids, according to Financial Times.
Australia's minimum age social media ban went into effect on December 10. It's the first of its kind and covers several social media platforms, including Facebook, X, TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, YouTube and Reddit. Just recently, Meta shut down nearly 550,00 accounts, most of which were on Instagram, to comply with the new law.
The UK passed the Online Safety Act in 2023 and has been enforcing its rules since. Last year, for instance, it started requiring websites that publish pornography to conduct age checks for users. But British politician Liz Kendall said parents still have serious concerns about the content their children can consume online. As
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Jan 20, 2026
Part of a lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its non-profit status claims Musk is owed anywhere from $79 billion to $134 billion in damages for the "wrongful gains" of OpenAI and Microsoft.
Musk claims in the filing that he's entitled to a chunk of the company's recent $500 billion valuation, after contributing $38 million in "seed funding" during the AI company's early years. It wasn't just money — according to the filing, Musk helped advise on key employee recruitment, introductions with business contacts and startup advice.
If this sounds familiar, it's because the lawsuit dates back to March 2024. It's still going.
— Mat Smith
The other big stories (and deals) this morning
ASUS changes mind, will continue selling the RTX 5070 Ti after all
Musk claims Tesla will restart work on its Dojo supercomputer
Microsoft issues emergency fix after update stops some Windows 11 devices from shutting down
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Jan 20, 2026
Sony is ceding control of its Bravia TV brand to China's TCL as part of a new "strategic partnership," the companies announced in a joint press release. The Japanese electronics giant plans to sell a majority 51 percent stake in its home entertainment arm to TCL, while retaining a 49 percent share. The joint venture is set to start operations in April 2027, pending regulatory and other approvals.
The new combined business will sell TVs carrying Sony and Bravia branding while using TCL's display technology. The partnership will also leverage Sony's picture and audio expertise, supply chain management and other areas of expertise. For its part, TCL will contribute its vertical supply chain strength, global market presence and end-to-end cost efficiency.
"By combining both companies' expertise, we aim to create new customer value in the home entertainment field," Sony CEO Kimio Maki said in a statement. "We expect to elevate our brand value, achieve greater scale and optimize the supply chain in order to deliver superior products and services to our customers," added TCL Electronics chairperson DU Juan.
The news will come as a shock to some, particularly in Japan, as Sony has been strongly associated with high-quality TVs since the Trinitron days. However, it's currently fighting in a low-margin TV business full of formidable competitors including Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL. The company has already sold off or closed other electronics operations, including PCs and tablets, and is barely hanging in with its smartphone business.
Sony effectively stopped making its own LCD and OLED panels some time ago, while TCL has increased its own production — having recently
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Jan 20, 2026
If you've upgraded your phone recently, there's a good chance it supports wireless charging. Battery life can be one of the first things to deteriorate as your phone ages, so you'll need quick and easy ways to power up wherever you are. You may not always be able to have a cable on your person, but investing in a wireless phone charger (or a few) can make it more convenient to plop your phone down and know it'll have more juice when you pick it back up again.
While you're not going to get the same charging speed with a wireless charger that you would with a power cable, the convenience of a power source like this is undeniable. Stick a wireless charger on your bedside, on your desk at work, in your kitchen or wherever you spend a good chunk of your time and you'll have a reliable way to power up your phone, sans bulky, messy cables. Needless to say, there are a ton of options out there with different charging capabilities and price ranges. Below, we've collected the best wireless chargers we've tested to make your search a little easier.
Table of contents
Best wireless chargers for 2026
What to look for in a wireless charger
Where and how will you use your charger?
Wireless charging performance
Quality and box contents
Wireless chargers FAQs
Best wireless chargers for 2026
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Jan 19, 2026
Pioneering mathematician Dr. Gladys West has passed away at the age of 95. Her name may not be familiar to you, but her contributions certainly are; West's work laid the foundation for the global positioning system. As you likely know from experience, GPS is now an essential component of industries ranging from aviation and emergency response, as well as ensuring that you get to that dinner date or job interview on time.
— Dr. Gladys B. West (@DrGladysBWest) January 18, 2026
West was born in 1930 in Virginia. Despite the oppression of Jim Crow laws in the south, she was able to pursue higher education at Virginia State College (now named Virginia State University), obtaining bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics. In 1956, West was hired at what is now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA. Her focus during the 1970s and 1980s was creating accurate models of the Earth's shape based on satellite data, a complex task requiring the type of mathematical gymnastics that would make the average person dizzy. Those models later became the backbone for GPS. West worked at the Dahlgren center for 42 years, retiring in 1998.
As has been the case with so many of the women, particularly those of color, behind tech and science breakthroughs in the US, West's work went largely uncelebrated fo
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Jan 19, 2026
ASUS appears to be shifting its business operations away from smartphones. According to translations of recent quotes from Chairman Jonney Shih, the company does not plan to release new phone models in the future. The chairman did not confirm whether smartphones would be completely phased out, but he did acknowledge that possibility. Whatever direction ASUS takes, its existing phones will continue to receive software updates and warranty assistance. Shih suggested that its future plans may include a shift into AI-related projects such as robotics or smartglasses.
Previous reports hinted that ASUS would not introduce any smartphones in 2026, but Shih's recent comments indicate that the pause may stretch longer than a year. We've reached out to ASUS for additional comment and will update if the company shares any further information.
ASUS had plenty of other updates emerging from CES at the start of the month unrelated to smartphones, such as dual-screen laptops and a pair of gaming smartglasses. So if it does decide to leave
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Jan 19, 2026
The UK Gambling Commission has raised concerns that Meta is ignoring advertisements by illegal gambling websites on its platforms. At a conference in Barcelona, the commission's Executive Director Tim Miller criticized Meta's behavior towards advertisements for online gambling on its Facebook and Instagram social networks.
"Companies like Meta will tell you that they don't tolerate the advertising of illegal sites and will remove them if they are notified about them," Miller's speech transcript reads. "But that approach suggests that they don't know about those ads unless alerted. That is simply false."
Meta's internal policy is that gambling sites must be licensed in the markets where their ads run. However, the agency was able to conduct basic searches for advertisers that are not on its GamStop platform, which helps people block themselves from accessing online gambling sites. GamStop integration is
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Jan 19, 2026
With the spring approaching, it's time to start thinking about how you'll file your taxes. Unfortunately, with the recent demise of Direct File, there isn't a free, government-provided alternative to TurboTax in 2026, and you'll need to look to other federal programs, including IRS Free File, to file your paperwork. If you don't qualify for Free File, chances are you'll need to dish out cash for Intuit's software. And while we hate to suggest you give money to a company that has spent decades lobbying to ensure America's tax system remains a nightmare, we can at least save you some money if TurboTax is your only option.
Right now, Amazon has discounted the
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Jan 19, 2026
Marathon, Bungie's long-awaited extraction shooter, will arrive on March 5, the studio announced today. Alongside a definitive release date, Bungie shared a new gameplay trailer, in addition to details about the game's forthcoming deluxe edition, which fans can pre-order today on Steam, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. All versions of the game will support crossplay, meaning you'll be able to play with your friends, no matter where they decide to buy Marathon.
Sony, Bungie's parent company, had previously committed to a March release for Marathon, but stopped short of sharing an exact date. News of that date leaked early Monday after Microsoft published the pre-order trailer you see above early. Sony had originally planned to release Marathon in September 2025, but delayed the game inde
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Jan 19, 2026
Elon Musk posted on X that Tesla will be restarting work on Dojo3, the third generation of its in-house supercomputer project. The Dojo team had been disbanded last year as the company prioritized the AI chips that run on board Tesla vehicles. Musk said the company is returning to the project "now that the AI5 chip design is in good shape."
The purpose of the Dojo project is to process video recordings and other data from Tesla vehicles and use that to train the "neural net" behind the company's Full Self-Driving software. Last year, however, Musk posted on X that "It doesn't make sense for Tesla to divide its resources and scale two quite different AI chip designs. The Tesla AI5, AI6 and subsequent chips will be excellent for inference and at least pretty good for training. All effort is focused on that."
The AI chips Musk is referring to are ones developed for running FSD onboard Tesla vehicles and are not optimized for training. The AI6 chips will be
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Jan 19, 2026
Basketball fans can save on NBA League Pass right now, which lets you catch a bunch of out-of-market NBA games via streaming. The League Pass Premium subscription is on sale for $75, down from the usual $160, and League Pass Standard is marked down to $50 from $110. Considering we're almost halfway though the season, the discount makes sense and is a good deal for anyone who wants to keep a close eye on the rest of the games to be played this year.
The Standard plan includes commercials and support for only one device at a time, while the Premium tier offers no commercials, in-arena streams during breaks in the game, offline viewing of full games and concurrent streams on up to three devices at once.
Last year, League Pass added mult
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Jan 19, 2026
Apple keeps most of its product pricing on a tight leash, but we do see the company's AirTags go on sale pretty frequently. Another cost cut has come around for this item just in time for the holidays. Amazon is currently selling a four-pack of AirTags for $65. At a third off the regular cost, that price is pretty close to the record low discount of $63 we've seen for these Bluetooth trackers.
AirTags can be useful for people who travel frequently, helping you to keep track of essentials like your passport as well as a way to keep tabs on luggage while you're on the go. If you do purchase some AirTags, we have some recommendations for useful accessories to go along with them, such as dif
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Jan 19, 2026
Meta's Threads is pulling further ahead of Elon Musk's X on mobile, based on recent estimates from analytics firm Similarweb, Forbes reports. In the first stretch of January, Threads averaged roughly 143 million daily active users worldwide on mobile devices, compared with about 126 million for X.
Similarweb's year-over-year snapshot shows Threads growing sharply, up 37.8 percent year-over-year, while X's daily mobile audience fell 11.9 percent across the same period. The picture is more mixed in the US, where X still holds a narrow edge on mobile. Similarweb data puts X at about 21.2 million daily active US mobile users in early January versus roughly 19.5 million for Threads.
However, Threads' US mobile usage has risen substantially faster over the past year, surging almost 42 percent to X's 18 percent. X remains far larger on desktop, where it draws around 150 million daily users or visits worldwide, while Threads' web presence sits at just 9 million.
Forbes also reported on Similarweb data for Bluesky, another competing text-based platform started by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Dorsey left the board in the summer of 2024, later telling Pirate Wires he believed Bluesky was "literally repeating all the mistakes we made as a company," in reference to Twitter
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Jan 19, 2026
Instant cameras have become a popular category for one simple reason: they're fun. You can whip one out at a party or event and take a snap, then a couple of minutes later you have a real, physical, instant photo that everyone can touch, feel and enjoy instead of staring at a screen. It's also a lot cooler than a smartphone shot thanks to the retro, nostalgic vibes of analog photography.
Given the large number of camera brands on the market, choosing one can be tricky. That's why we've put together this buying guide that will help you choose the best instant camera for you based on factors like price, instant film size, photo quality and more.
Best instant cameras for 2026
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Jan 18, 2026
ExpressVPN is back on sale again, and its two-year plans are up to 78 percent off right now. You can get the Advanced tier for $101 for 28 months. This is marked down from the $392 that this time frame normally costs. On a per-month basis, it works out to roughly $3.59 for the promo period.
We've consistently liked ExpressVPN because it's fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it's our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the biggest drawbacks has always been its high cost, and this deal temporarily solves that issue.
In our review we were able to get fast download and upload speeds, losing only 7 percent in the former and 2 percent in the latter worldwide. We found that it could unblock Netflix anywhere, and its mobile and desktop apps were simple to operate. We gave ExpressVPN an overall score of 85 out of 100.
The virtual private network service now has three tiers. Basic is cheaper with fewer features, while Pro costs more and adds extra perks like support for 14 simultaneous devices and a password manager. Advanced sits in the middle and includes the password manager but only supports 12 devices.
The Basic plan is $78 right now for 28 months, down from $363, and the Pro plan is $168, down from $560. That's 78 percent and 70 percent off, respectively. All plans carry a 30-day money-back guarantee for new users, so you can try it without committin
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Jan 18, 2026
If you weren't able to shut down your Windows 11 device recently, Microsoft has rolled out an emergency fix addressing a couple of critical bugs that popped up with its latest January 2026 Windows security update. The latest "out-of-band" update repairs an issue for some Windows 11 devices that would only restart when users tried to shut down or hibernate. The same update restores the ability for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users to log into their devices via remote connection apps.
Microsoft said the inability to shut down or hibernate affected Windows 11 devices using Secure Launch, a security feature that protects a computer from firmware-level attacks during startup. As for the remote connection issue, Microsoft explained in its Known issues page that credential prompt failures were responsible when users tried to log in remotely to affected Windows 10 and 11 devices.
According to WindowsLatest, some lingering issues with the January 2026 Windows security update are still affecting users, like seeing blank screens or Outlook Classic crashing. Back in October, Microsoft had to issue another emergency fix for Windows 11 related to the
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Jan 18, 2026
Have a hankering for some audiobooks? Audible is holding one heck of a sale right now, giving users three months of access for $3. That's a dollar per month. This is something of a winter tradition for the Amazon-owned platform and the promotion ends on January 21.
An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything.
However, it's easy to plow through a single book in a month. Users also get streaming access to thousands of curated titles. Think of it li
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Jan 18, 2026
You can easily spruce up your nightstand or desk by decluttering a bit, replacing some of those annoying charging cables with a good wireless charging setup. One of our favorites that can handle three devices at once is the UGREEN MagFlow Qi2 3-in-1 Charger Station 25W. Normally $140, it's on sale right now for $95; that's 32 percent off and only about $5 more than its record-low price.
This is
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Jan 18, 2026
Washington state residents may soon be forced to produce IDs before getting onto websites with pornographic content. Within the state's House of Representatives, Rep. Mari Leavitt introduced House Bill 2112, which is informally known as the Keep Our Children Safe Act. Similar to the initiatives seen in other states, the bill proposes to restrict access to "online sexual material harmful" to anyone under 18.
In practical terms, those living in Washington state could see websites asking for digital identification or demanding the user go through an age verification system that requests a government-issued ID. If a website that has more than one-third of its content being "sexual material harmful to minors" is found not following these rules, the state's attorney general can pursue steep civil penalties.
If those restrictions sound familiar, it's because many other states have also passed similar constraints. Washington state's proposed bill is very similar to Texas' age verification law that went into effect in September 2023 and was recently upheld by the US Supreme Court. Like the Texas law, several groups expressed disap
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Jan 18, 2026
A new year is the perfect time to get your spending in order, and if you're not trying to build your own spreadsheet, budgeting apps are one of the best ways to do it. To save yourself some money in the process, you can pick up a year-long subscription to Monarch Money, one of Engadget's favorite budgeting apps, for just $50 if you use code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout and you're a new subscriber. That's a 50 percent discount on the service's normal $100 price.
Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS, Android, iPadOS or the web, and Monarch also offers a Chrome extension that can sync your Amazon and Target transactions and automatically categorize them. Like other budgeting apps, Monarch Money lets you connect multiple financial accounts and track your money based on where you spend it over time. Monarch offers two different approaches to tracking budgeting (flexible and category budgeting) depending on what fits your life best, and the ability to add a budget widget on your phone so you can know how you're tracking that month.
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Jan 18, 2026
If you want a wireless charger for your iPhone and prefer to stick with Apple, Amazon has a sale that may pique your interest. The retailer is selling the one meter Apple Magsafe charger for $30, saving you $10 off the regular price, while also selling the
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Jan 18, 2026
The peak time for deals on streaming services — the holiday shopping season — has come and gone, but Disney is back with a fresh offer for the new year. New and eligible returning subscribers can get one month of the ad-supported Disney Hulu bundle for just $10. That's $3 off the usual monthly rate for the bundle, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the prices for each service individually (Disney at $12 per month and, separately, Hulu also at $12 per month).
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this isn't quite as good as the Black Friday deal we saw last year, which offered the same bundle for $5 per month for one year. However, if you missed that offer or just want to try out Disney and Hulu for a brief period of time, this is a good way to do so.
Disney and Hulu make one of the most balanced streaming pairs available, blending family-friendly favorites with
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Jan 17, 2026
Six years after the announcement of plans to build Atari Hotels in eight cities across the US, including Las Vegas, only one now seems to be moving forward, in Phoenix, Arizona. The Las Vegas deal ultimately "didn't come to fruition," spokesperson Sara Collins told Las Vegas Sun this week, and Atari Hotels is putting its focus into the Phoenix site "for the time being."
Phoenix was always meant to be the first site, followed by other hotels in Austin, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle. But Las Vegas is now apparently off the table, and there haven't been any signs of life around the other planned locations. The FAQ on the Atari Hotels website notes, "Additional sites, including Denver, are being explored under separate development and licensing agreements." The Atari Hotel project was announced in 2020 just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and consequently experienced development delays. Construction on the Phoenix hotel, which was supposed to break ground in 2020, is expected to begin late this year, with its opening now planned for 2028.
But maybe don't hold your breath. According to a December press release, the company is still trying to raise $35 million to $40 million to fund the "playable destination" for gamers in Phoenix.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-plan-for-a-gaming-themed-atari-hotel-in-las-vegas-has-reportedly-been-scrapped-214212269.html?src=rss
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Jan 17, 2026
Amazon is reportedly adding Teresa Palmer (The Fall Guy, Warm Bodies, Hacksaw Ridge) to its pantheon of Norse gods for its God of War TV show adaptation. As first reported by Deadline, Palmer will play Sif, Thor's wife and eventual leader of the Aesir, in the live-action adaptation. It may not carry as much weight as the casting of the video game's protagonist that was revealed earlier this week to be Ryan Hurst, but it could hint at the direction the TV show may take.
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Jan 17, 2026
In another attempt to reduce our attention spans to mush, TikTok has released the PineDrama app, which offers serialized drama series that are roughly a minute per episode. As first spotted by Business Insider, the app is designed exactly like TikTok, but instead of trendy dance videos, you can scroll through and watch "micro dramas."
For those new to the category, micro dramas are bite-sized TV shows shot in vertical video and available in minute-long episodes. Don't expect any nominations for Best Original Screenplay with series like The Officer Fell For Me or Married to my past life's nemesis, since they typically offer soap opera vibes with cliffhangers that keep users scrolling to the next episode. The app is designed to keep people on it with a Discover tab, a place to save favorites and the ability to react in real time alongside other viewers.
Right now, the micro dramas on PineDrama are all free to watch and don't have any ads. It's unclear if TikTok will introduce any costs or ads to the app, since other micro drama options like DramaBox or ReelShort have a paid structure. Late last year, TikTok also introduced a way to watch micro dramas within its own app, with a section called
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Jan 17, 2026
E Ink tablet maker reMarkable is running a bundle deal right now that can save you between $80 and $90 when buying a reMarkable 2 along with a Marker stylus and a folio case. The savings vary depending on the bundle you configure, but this can bring your out-the-door cost down to $449 from $529 for the tablet, Marker stylus and polymer weave book folio. The offer runs through January 17.
The company also sells a newer stylus called Marker Plus that lets you erase by flipping it around just like a real pencil, but that will cost you an extra $50. If you've been eyeing a dedicated writing tablet for work, school or just jotting down notes without the distraction of endless apps, this bundle deal is an ideal opportunity to pick one up.
The reMarkable 2 earned our top pick for best e-ink tablet. In our
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Jan 17, 2026
NBA League Pass, the streaming service that lets you catch hundreds of out-of-market NBA games, is on sale right now for up to 55 percent off. The League Pass Premium subscription is on sale for $75, down from $160, while League Pass Standard is marked down to $50 from $110. We're almost halfway through the season at this point, so it makes sense for a service like League Pass to start offering some discounts.
The Standard plan includes commercials and support for only one device at a time, while the Premium tier offers no commercials, in-arena streams during breaks in the game, offline viewing of full games and concurrent streams on up to three devices at once.
Last year, League Pass added multiview, which allows you to view u
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Jan 17, 2026
We now have some idea of what's at stake in the longstanding feud between Elon Musk and OpenAI. As first reported by Bloomberg, the latest filing, as part of a lawsuit that accuses the AI giant of abandoning its non-profit status, claims that Musk is owed anywhere between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages from the "wrongful gains" of OpenAI and Microsoft.
Musk claimed in the filing that he's entitled to a portion of OpenAI's recent valuation at $500 billion, after contributing $38 million in "seed funding" during the AI company's startup years. Along with providing "roughly 60 percent of the nonprofit's seed funding," Musk offered recruiting of key employees, introductions with business contacts and startup advice, according to the filing. The monetary estimate comes from C. Paul Wazzan, a financial economist who's serving as Musk's expert in the case. According to Wazzan's calculations, OpenAI earned between $65.5 billion and $109.43 billion in wrongful gains, while Microsoft saw between $13.3 billion and $25.06 billion.
The lawsuit between Elon Musk and OpenAI dates back to March 2024, when the xAI CEO first filed a legal action claiming that OpenAI violated its non-profit status. Musk later added Microsoft as
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Jan 17, 2026
Most Apple products are pretty expensive, but some of the most affordable (and useful) ones are AirTags. The Bluetooth trackers are priced pretty reasonably even when not on sale, but they can be a steal if you can get them on a discount — like right now. A four pack of AirTags is on sale for $65 at Amazon, which is only a few dollars more than the record-low price we saw during Black Friday this year.
AirTags can be useful for people who travel frequently, helping you to keep track of essentials like your passport as well as a way to keep tabs on luggage while you're on the go. If you do purchase some AirTags, we have some recommendations for useful accessories to go along with them, su
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Jan 17, 2026
California Attorney General Rob Bonta has sent a cease and desist letter to xAI, days after his office launched an official investigation into the company over reports that Grok was generating nonconsensual
If you'll recall, xAI and Grok have been under fire for taking images of real individuals and putting them in revealing clothing like bikinis upon random users' requests.
Bonta's office demands that xAI immediately cease and desist from creating "digitized sexually explicit material" when the depicted individual didn't consent to it or if the individual is a minor. It also demanded that xAI stop "facilitating or aiding and abetting the creation… or publication of digitized sexually explicit material" of nonconsenting individuals and persons under 18 years of age.
X changed its policies after the issue broke out and prevented the Grok account from being able to edit images of real people into revealing clothing. xAI also moved Grok's image-generating features behind a paywall and geoblocked paying users' ability to edit images of real people into bikinis, but only in regions where it's illegal.
In his announcement, Bonta said xAI developed a "spicy mode" for Grok to generate explicit content and used it as a marketing point. The California AG also said that Grok-generated sexual images are being used to harass both public figures and ordinary users. "Most alarmingly, news reports hav
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Jan 17, 2026
AirPods work most smoothly with Apple hardware, but they also connect reliably to Android phones, Windows laptops and other Bluetooth devices. The pairing process depends on the platform in use although the basics remain the same. Once the AirPods are placed in pairing mode, most devices detect them quickly and handle the remaining steps in the background. The guide below explains how to pair AirPods with Apple products, how the process differs on newer iPhones that support H2 features and how to connect them to non-Apple devices.
How to pair AirPods with Apple devicesApple builds AirPods to pair almost instantly with devices in its own ecosystem. Opening the charging case near an unlocked iPhone or iPad usually brings up an on-screen prompt. Tapping Connect links the earbuds to the device and to every other Apple product signed into the same iCloud account. After that, switching between devices is automatic. Audio output follows the active device as long as each product is using updated software and is signed in with the same Apple ID.
If the pairing prompt does not appear, there are a few simple checks that help things move along. Opening the Control Center and selecting the audio output menu confirms whether the AirPods already appear as an available device. If they are listed there, choosing them establishes the connection. If they do not appear, opening the Settings app and checking Bluetooth usually reveals whether the AirPods are in range or already recognized. Opening the case while viewing the Bluetooth menu often triggers the pairing card once more.
The process is similar across Apple Watch and Mac. When the AirPods are already linked to an iPhone, they tend to show up automatically on a paired Apple Watch. On Mac, opening System Settings and viewing the Bluetooth section r
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Jan 17, 2026
I came out of my CyberGhost review with a positive opinion, feeling it had earned its spot in my best VPN roundup. However, even an expert review is subjective, and there's a chance CyberGhost will not work for you. If that's the case, here's how to cancel your subscription.
How to stop your CyberGhost subscription renewingCancelling your CyberGhost subscription won't end it right away, unless you delete your account or get the refund (I'll explain how to do both of those later). Instead, the way to cancel CyberGhost is to stop your subscription from renewing at the end of each billing period. Once you've done that, you can keep using CyberGhost until your current period ends.
The following steps will cancel auto-renewal if you got CyberGhost through its website. If you bought it through an app store instead, see the next section.
Open your browser and go to
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Jan 17, 2026
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. Several neat-looking games arrived this week, we got release dates for several others that I'm really looking forward to and a brand-new Steam festival was announced.
The Love, Romance, and Heartbreak Debutante Ball is said to be the first Valentine's Day-themed Steam festival. It'll run from February 13 to 20 and feature more than 100 games, including discounts and demos. A showcase will take place on February 13 at 1PM ET on the Sunny Demeanor Games YouTube channel too.
Organizers say the festival includes a wide variety of games about love, including RPGs, puzzle games and (naturally) visual novels. You might play as a cat or someone trying to fish an engagement ring out of a claw machine, as a secret agent or a couple that's run off to another planet. I'm intrigued! There will be some NSFW games involved, for what it's worth.
New releasesQuarantine Zone: The Last Check seems like a 3D version of Papers Please but with zombies. At a checkpoint amid a zombie outbreak, your mission is to screen survivors for signs of infection. If you're unsure of their status, you can send an individual to quarantine for further observation or a lab for additional screening. Otherwise, you can let them in or send them to "liquidati
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Jan 16, 2026
As frustrating as it is that governments and businesses are running roughshod over our online freedoms, at least we have plenty of good VPNs to choose from to keep us protected online. There are so many fast, intelligently designed, full-featured and affordable services on the market that the biggest problem is picking one. For any use case, you can bet at least two providers will be neck-and-neck for first place.
On the other hand, the VPN world is still the Wild West in some ways. It's easy enough to slap a cheap VPN together that the market is flooded with low-quality apps that put more money into advertising than infrastructure. They may look good, but it's all styrofoam under the hood.
I built this list of the best VPNs after intensive testing to help you reorient your focus on the providers that actually deserve your time and money. Which one truly fits your needs is dependent on who you are and what you do online, but if you pick any of my seven recommendations, you can't go too far wrong. If you're interested in a service you can use without paying, head over to my list of the best free VPNs — and if you're willing to pay but want to save money, I keep a list of the best VPN deals updated weekly.
For each VPN on this list, I've shared which platforms it works on, how much it cuts into your download speed, where it offers servers, what other features are included and how much the best available deal costs. At the end, I'll list some honorable and dishonorable mentions, then answer some of the most common questions I hear about VPNs.
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Jan 16, 2026
X seems to be working again after struggling with an outage that took the service offline and made it slow to load for much of the morning. According to X's developer platform page, there is an ongoing incident related to streaming endpoints that's caused increased errors. The incident started at 7:39AM PT, according to the page.
That roughly coincides with a spike in reports at Down Detector. The issues seemed to be somewhat intermittent. At some points, X's website loaded partially and only showed older posts. At other times, the app and website failed to load at all.
As of 9:30AM PT, X's Explore and trending pages were loading, but the "following" tab wasn't showing posts and instead suggested users "find some people and topic to follow" (as shown in the screenshot below).
Posts aren't loading.XAs of 11:15AM PT, X's developer site was still indicating ongoing issues, so there may still be some lingering problems even though the website seems to be functioning normally again. Reports on Down Detector have also dropped off considerably.
X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage. As TechCrunch
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Jan 16, 2026
Google has filed its appeal to the Department of Justice's antitrust case that ended with a federal judge ruling that the company was maintaining a monopoly with its search business. While the company goes through the appeals process, it's also asking that implementation of the remedies from the case, which include a requirement that Google share search data with its competitors, also be paused.
"As we have long said, the Court's August 2024 ruling ignored the reality that people use Google because they want to, not because they're forced to," Google said in a statement. "The decision failed to account for the rapid pace of innovation and intense competition we face from established players and well-funded start-ups. And it discounted compelling testimony from browser makers like Apple and Mozilla who said they choose to feature Google because it provides the highest quality search experience for their consumers."
The company says that the requirement that it "provide syndication services to rivals" and share search data is a privacy risk and could "discourage competitors from building their own products." Both remedies where compromises based on what the Justice Department originally proposed, which included forcing Google t
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Jan 16, 2026
If you're looking to up your privacy game on the internet in the new year, you can do so for a little less than usual thanks to ExpressVPN's latest deal. Its two-year plans are up to 78 percent off right now: the Advanced tier is on sale for $101 for two years, plus four additional free months. That works out to $3.59 per month during the promotional period.
We've consistently liked ExpressVPN because it's fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it's our current pick for best premium VPN. One of the biggest drawbacks has always been its high cost, and this deal temporarily solves that issue.
In our review we were able to get fast download and upload speeds, losing only 7 percent in the former and 2 percent in the latter worldwide. We found that it could unblock Netflix anywhere, and its mobile and desktop apps were simple to operate. We gave ExpressVPN an overall score of 85 out of 100.
The virtual private network service now has three tiers. Basic is cheaper with fewer features, while Pro costs more and adds extra perks like support for 14 simultaneous devices and a password manager. Advanced sits in the middle and includes the password manager but only supports 12 devices.
The Basic plan is $78 right now for 28 months, down from $363, and the Pro plan is $168, down from $560. That's 78 percent and 70 percent off, respectively. All plans carry a 30-day mo
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Jan 16, 2026
CyberGhost is the middle child of the Kape Technologies VPN portfolio, but in quality, it's much closer to ExpressVPN than Private Internet Access. I mainly put it on my best VPN list because it's so cheap, but I wouldn't have done that if it didn't earn its place in other ways — affordable crap is still crap, after all.
My universal impression of CyberGhost is a VPN that's not perfect but is always genuinely working to make itself better. It makes decisions based on what will help its users, not to set itself apart in a crowded market. This makes it similar to a lot of other VPNs, but that's not a bad thing — especially at such a low price.
Other than its price, the best things about CyberGhost are its intuitive app design, its frictionless user experience and the super-low latencies that make it an ideal pick for gamers. Download speeds are great up close but middling far away. While I love how many servers it's got in Africa and South America, a few too many of them are virtual locations. I'll get into all this and more in the review; feel free to read straight through or use the contents table to find the area that interests you most.
Editor's note (1/16/26): We've overhauled our VPN coverage to provide more detailed, actionable buying advice. Going forward, we'll continue to update both our best VPN list and individual reviews (like this one) as circumstances change. Most recently, we added official scores to all of our VPN reviews. Check out
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Jan 16, 2026
Claude Cowork, Anthropic's AI assistant for taking care of simple tasks on your computer, is now available for anyone with a $20 per month Pro subscription to try. Anthropic launched Cowork as an exclusive feature for its Max subscribers, who pay a minimum of $100 per month for more uses of Claude's expensive reasoning models and early access to experimental features. Now Claude Cowork is available at a cheaper price, though Anthropic notes "Pro users may hit their usage limits earlier" than Max users do.
Like other AI agents, the novelty of Claude Cowork is its ability to work on its own. If you have the macOS Claude app and a Pro subscription, you can prompt Claude Cowork to work on tasks on your local computer, like creating documents based on files you have saved or organizing your folders. The feature is an evolution of Claude Code, Anthropic's AI coding agent, and can similarly use connectors and the Claude Chrome plugin to work with other apps and the web.
As part of this expanded rollout, Anthropic has included a few fixes inspired by early user feedback. You'll now be able to rename sessions with Claude Cowork ("Tasks" in t
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Jan 16, 2026
If you follow Anthropic, you're probably familiar with Claude Code. Since the fall of 2024, the company has been training its AI models to use and navigate computers like a human would, and the coding agent has been the most practical expression of that work, giving developers a way to automate rote programming tasks. Starting today, Anthropic is giving regular people a way to take advantage of those capabilities, with the release of a new preview feature called Claude Cowork.
The company is billing Cowork as "a simpler way for anyone — not just developers — to work with Claude." After you give the system access to a folder on your computer, it can read, edit or create new files in that folder on your behalf.
Anthropic gives a few different example use cases for Cowork. For instance, you could ask Claude to organize your downloads folder, telling it to rename the files contained within to something that's easier to parse at a glance. Another example: you could use Claude to turn screenshots of receipts and invoices into a spreadsheet for tracking expenses. Cowork can also navigate websites — provided you install Claude's Chrome plugin — and make can use Anthropic's Connectors framework to access third-party apps like Canva.
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Jan 16, 2026
OpenAI plans to start testing ads inside of ChatGPT "in the coming weeks." In a blog post published Friday, the company said adult users in the US of its free and Go tiers (more on the latter in a moment) would start seeing sponsored products and services appear below their conversations with its chatbot. "Ads will be clearly labeled and separated from the organic answer," OpenAI said, adding any sponsored spots would not influence the answers ChatGPT generates. "Answers are optimized based on what's most helpful to you."
OpenAI says people won't see ads appear when they're talking to ChatGPT about sensitive subjects like their health, mental state of mind or current politics. The company also won't show ads to teens under the age of 18. As for privacy, OpenAI states it won't share or sell your data with advertisers. The company will also give users the option to disable ad personalization and clear the data it uses to generate sponsored responses. "We'll always offer a way to not see ads in ChatGPT, including a paid tier that's ad-free," OpenAI adds. Users can dismiss ads, at which point they'll be asked to explain why they didn't engage with it.
Users will be able to ask follow-up questions about sponsored content. OpenAI"Given what AI can do, we're excited to develop new experiences over time that people find more helpful and relevant than any other ads. Conversational interfaces create p
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Jan 16, 2026
X seems to be working again after struggling with an outage that took the service offline and made it slow to load for much of the morning. According to X's developer platform page, there is an ongoing incident related to streaming endpoints that's caused increased errors. The incident started at 7:39AM PT, according to the page.
That roughly coincides with a spike in reports at Down Detector. The issues seemed to be somewhat intermittent. At some points, X's website loaded partially and only showed older posts. At other times, the app and website failed to load at all.
As of 9:30AM PT, X's Explore and trending pages were loading, but the "following" tab wasn't showing posts and instead suggested users "find some people and topic to follow" (as shown in the screenshot below).
Posts aren't loading.XAs of 11:15AM PT, X's developer site was still indicating ongoing issues, so there may still be some lingering problems even though the website seems to be functioning normally again. Reports on Down Detector have also dropped off considerably.
X didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage. As TechCrunch
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Jan 16, 2026
Although X removed Grok's ability to create nonconsensual digitally undressed images on the social platform, the standalone Grok app is another story. It reportedly continues to produce "nudified" deepfakes of real people. And now, Ashley St. Clair, a conservative political strategist and mother of one of Elon Musk's 14 children, has sued xAI for
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Jan 16, 2026
Last week at CES, Lego introduced its new Smart Play system, with a tech-packed Smart Brick that can recognize and interact with sets and minifigures. It was unexpected and delightful to see Lego come up with a way to modernize its bricks without the need for apps, screens or AI.
So I was a little surprised this week when the Lego Education group announced its latest initiative is the Computer Science and AI Learning Solution. After all, generative AI feels like the antithesis of Lego's creative values. But Andrew Silwinski, Lego Education's head of product experience, was quick to defend Lego's approac
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Jan 16, 2026
Canada has agreed to drastically reduce its tariffs on imported Chinese EVs from 100 percent to 6.1 percent as part of a new deal between the two countries. In return, China will be reducing tariffs on Canadian canola seeds from 84 percent to about 15 percent.
The move is a break from the United States, which maintains a 100 percent tariff on EVs from China, effectively banning them in the country. Mexico currently tariffs the vehicles at 50 percent after increasing its rate last year.
Under the agreement, which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called "preliminary," Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into the country, with that number rising to 70,000 after five years. Until now the three major North American trading partners had been aligned in trying to protect their domestic electric vehicle manufacturing. Chinese EV companies benefit from state subsidies, and as such can often be priced at a far better value than domestic alternatives.
"Our relationship has progressed in recent months with China. It is more predictable and you see results coming from that," Carney said to reporters. A warmer relationship may be forming in response to the Trump administration's
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Jan 16, 2026
X is still struggling with an outage that has intermittently taken the service offline and made it slow to load for much of the morning. According to X's developer platform page, there is an ongoing incident related to streaming endpoints that's caused increased errors. The incident started at 7:39AM PT, according to the page.
That roughly coincides with a spike in reports at Down Detector. The issues seems to be somewhat intermittent. At some points, X's website has loaded partially and only shown older posts. At other times, the app and website have failed to load at all.
As of 9:30AM PT, X's Explore and trending pages were loading, but the "following" tab wasn't showing posts and instead suggested users "find some people and topic to follow" (as shown in the screenshot below).
Posts aren't loading.XX didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage. As TechCrunch notes, this is the second time this week that X has
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Jan 16, 2026
We already knew something Ocarina of Time-related was coming from Nintendo and Lego in 2026, and now we know exactly what that set will look like. Weighing in at a surprisingly modest 1,003 pieces, the typically word salad-y
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Jan 16, 2026
You know things are messed up when a Big Tech company fights accusations of union-busting by insisting it was only AI layoffs. That's where things stand after a group of fired TikTok moderators in the UK filed a legal claim with an employment tribunal. The Guardian reported on Friday that around 400 TikTok content moderators who were unionizing were laid off before Christmas.
The workers were sacked a week before a vote was scheduled to establish a collective bargaining unit. The moderators said they wanted better protection against the personal toll of processing traumatic content at a high speed. They accused TikTok of unfair dismissal and violating UK trade union laws.
"Content moderators have the most dangerous job on the internet," John Chadfield, the national officer for tech workers at the Communication Workers Union (CWU), said in a statement to The Guardian. "They are exposed to the child sex abuse material, executions, war and drug use. Their job is to make sure this content doesn't reach TikTok's 30 million monthly users. It is high pressure and low paid. They wanted input into their workflows and more say over how they kept the platform safe. They said they were being asked to do too much with too few resources."
TikTok denied that the firings were union-busting, calling the accusations "baseless." Instead, the company claimed the layoffs were part of a restructuring plan amid its adoption of AI for content moderation. The company said 91 percent of transgressive content is now removed automatically.
The company first announced a restructuring exercise in August, just as hundre
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Jan 16, 2026
One way to read more in the new year is to incorporate audiobooks as part of your reading habit. Audible is having a sale right now that makes that easier and cheaper to do: you can get three months of access for only $1 per month, or a total of $3. The promotion runs through January 21.
An Audible subscription grants one audiobook per month to keep. This can be selected from a massive catalog of new releases and bestsellers. The collection here has just about everything.
However, it's easy to plow through a single book in a month. Users also get streaming access to thousands of curated titles. Think of it l
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Jan 16, 2026
Apple's next-gen Siri is still far off, but this week the company announced that it'll be using Google's Gemini AI for its new foundation models. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget's Igor Bonifacic discuss why Apple teamed up with Google again, instead of OpenAI or Anthropic. Also, they chat about Meta's Reality Lab layoffs, which is refocusing the company on AI hardware like its smart glasses.
Subscribe!
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Jan 16, 2026
The holiday season is fully in the rear view mirror and real life is here to stay. But that doesn't mean the time for gifts is over — especially ones for yourself. You can still take advantage of great January sales on some awesome tech products.
Take the Apple Mac mini M4, which is down to $500 from $599. The 17 percent discount gives you 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD for only about $20 more than the computer's Black Friday sale. Its beefier models are also on sale: opting for
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Jan 16, 2026
Now that the winter holidays are well and truly past, now's the perfect time to take stock of your tech setup. If you were gifted (or gifted yourself) some new gear in December, make sure that you've got the proper accessories to keep that gear performing at its best. If a new way to power all those batteries would be a benefit, Amazon's currently running a discount on an excellent wireless charging pad. The UGREEN MagFlow Qi2 3-in-1 Charger Station 25W is on sale for $95. That's only a little bit above the lowest price we've ever seen for the product (which was $90), and it's still a 32 percent discount off its usual cost.
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Jan 16, 2026
The fate of Warner Bros. Discovery remains the biggest story in Hollywood, with Paramount Skydance refusing to back down from its rival bid to the proposed Netflix acquisition of the company. If the Netflix deal does go through, the company's co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, has attempted to ease concerns around what that could mean for theaters.
In an interview with The New York Times, Sarandos responded to a question about his company's commitment to the theatrical business by insisting that he has no interest in bringing a swift end to it. "We will run that business largely like it is tod
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Jan 16, 2026
Meta is killing the standalone Workrooms app on February 16, 2026. The company presented Workrooms as a virtual reality space where teams can meet and collaborate in an immersive environment when it launched the product. Now Meta says its Horizon platform has evolved enough to support "a wide range of productivity apps and tools," so it "made the decision to discontinue Workrooms as a standalone app."
The company recently slashed its spending on the metaverse and started the process to lay off more than 1,000 employees from its Reality Labs division. Due to those layoffs and organizational changes, it
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Jan 16, 2026
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) has opened two investigations into Microsoft-owned game studio Activision Blizzard, centered around the mobile games Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty: Mobile. The AGCM alleges the free-to-play games use "misleading and aggressive practices" to encourage in-game purchases.
Regulators say the games rely on a "deceptive user interface design" meant to encourage longer and more frequent play sessions while bombarding players with reminders and opportunities to spend real money in-game. Players might be reminded to buy a limited-time item before it's gone or urged not to miss out on rewards, with in-app messages and push notifications that reach players during and outside gameplay. The authority also raised concerns about virtual currency and in-game currency bundles that can make it harder to understand real-world costs.
Parental control settings are also being scrutinized as the AGCM says the default settings are too permissive, such as allowing in-game purchases and unlimited play time. The watchdog will also investigate potential violations of consumer contractual rights and practices that may encourage players to unknowingly give up those rights, such as the EU's 14-day right of withdrawal.
Free-to-play games have long leaned on loot boxes and other in-game purchases to drive monetization. Unlike full-priced games like Diablo IV, these systems can blur the line between natural progression and pay-to-win. For an idea of how quickly costs can add up, consider one player
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Jan 16, 2026
One way you can reduce the number of cables you have to deal with on the regular is by investing in a few wireless chargers. Those with iPhones should consider Apple's own MagSafe charger not only because of its sleek and effective design, but also because it's on sale right now at Amazon. The Qi2.2-rated MagSafe charger is down to $30 for the one-meter version, or $40 for the two-meter version.
If you have an iPhone 16, iPhone 17 or iPhone Air, this cable can charge your device at 25W as long as it's connected to a 30W power adapter on the other end. While you'll need a more recent iPhone to get the fastest MagSafe ch
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Jan 16, 2026
San Francisco-founded Smart glasses maker Viture has been sued in a US court by rival XREAL over claims it infringed on its patents, XREAL announced in a press release. The complaint, lodged in a federal Texas court, accuses Viture of illegally incorporating XREAL's patented tech into its products including the Luma Pro, Luma Ultra and Beast models.
"The lawsuit is not merely about enforcing a single patent," the company wrote. "It is about stopping a pattern of intellectual property infringement that undermines the integrity of innovation and endangers continued technological development in this industry."
XREAL has already won a preliminary injunction against Viture in German
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Jan 16, 2026
You have the best chance to save on streaming services during the holiday shopping season, but throughout the year, the occasional deal pops up that's worth considering. Case in point: this new Disney deal. New and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for the Disney Hulu bundle (with ads) for $10 for one month of access. That's $3 off the usual price of the bundle for one month, and more than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney at $12 per month and, separately, Hulu also at $12 per month).
We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that this isn't quite as good as the Black Friday deal we saw last year, which offered the same bundle for $5 per month for one year. However, if you missed that offer or just want to try out Disney and Hulu for a brief period of time, this is a good way to do so.
Disney and Hulu make one of the most balanc
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Jan 16, 2026
The start of the new year is a great time to get your finances in order, and a good budgeting app can help with that. Instead of laboring over a spreadsheet, you can try one of our favorite budgeting apps for less than usual. Monarch Money is running a sale that gives new users 50 percent off one year of the service, bringing the final cost down to just $50. Just use the code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout to get the discount.
Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via apps for iOS, Android, iPadOS or the web, and Monarch also offers a Chrome extension that can sync your Amazon and Target transactions and automatically categorize them. Like other budgeting apps, Monarch Money lets you connect multiple financial accounts and track your money based on where you spend it over time. Monarch offers two different approaches to tracking budgeting (flexible and category budgeting) depending on what fits your life best, and the ability to add a budget widget on your phone so you can know how you're tracking that month.
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Jan 16, 2026
After telling the YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed that it was putting its RTX 5060 Ti 16GB and 5070 Ti into "end-of-life status," ASUS has backtracked on those comments and now says the GPUs will remain on sale.
"Certain media may have received incomplete information from an ASUS PR representative regarding these products," the company said in a dedicated press release." The GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB have not been discontinued or designated as end-of-life (EOL). ASUS has no plans to stop selling these models."
ASUS further clarified that supply fluctuations, primarily due to memory supply constraints, have temporarily affected production output and stocks. "As a result, availability may appear limited in certain markets, but this should not be interpreted as a production halt or product retirement. ASUS will continue to support the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti and RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB and is working closely with partners to stabilize supply as conditions improve."
Yesterday, Hardware Unboxed said that ASUS "explicitly told us this model is currently facing a supply shortage and, as such, they have placed the model into end-of-life status." In a new pinned comment, the channel noted that the new information "completely walks back their original statement to us."
Hardware Unboxed learned of the shortage by speaking to resellers in Australia, who said that the 5070 Ti is "no longer available to purchase from partners and distributors," adding they expect that to be the case throughou
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Jan 16, 2026
TikTok is bolstering its age-verification measures across Europe. In the coming weeks, the platform will roll out upgraded age-detection tech in the European Economic Area, as well as in the UK and Switzerland.
The systems will assess the likely age of a user based on their profile information and activity. When the tech flags an account that may belong to a user aged under 13 (the minimum age to use TikTok), a specialist moderator will assess whether it should be banned. TikTok will send users in Europe a notification to tell them about these measures and offer them a chance to learn more.
Also, if a moderator is looking at content for other reasons and thinks an account might belong to an underage user, they can flag it to a specialist for further review. Anyone can report an account they suspect is used by someone under 13 as well. TikTok says it removes about 6 million underage accounts in total from the platform every month.
Those whose accounts are banned can appeal if they think their access was wrongly terminated. Users can then provide a government-approved ID, a credit card authorization or selfie for age estimation (the latter process has not gone well for Roblox as of late, as kids found workarounds for age checks).
TikTok acknowledged that there's no single ideal solution to the issue as things stand. "Despite best efforts, there remains no globally agreed-upon method for effectively confirming a person's age in a way that also preserves their privacy," it stated in
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Jan 16, 2026
If you thought we were exaggerating, the hunger for memory and GPUs is making many companies reassess their priorities. YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed discovered ASUS has stopped producing the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB due to the ongoing memory crunch. Both GPUs are 16GB models, making them more expensive to manufacture in the current climate.
"Demand for GeForce RTX GPUs is strong, and memory supply is constrained. We continue to ship all GeForce SKUs and are working closely with our suppliers to maximize memory availability," an NVIDIA spokesperson told Engadget.
At CES 2026, we saw PCs and computing in the next 12 months will have higher prices and more limited availability for consumers. At the end of 2025, RAM prices skyrocketed, driven by demand from AI data centers. That's not stopping anytime soon.
— Mat Smith
The other big stories (and deals) this morning
The Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0 expansion has arrived earlier than expected
How to claim Verizon's $20 credit for Wednesday's service outage
Get one month of the Disney and Hulu bundle for only $10
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Jan 16, 2026
Gone are the days in which you needed to spend a fortune to get a good smartphone. In 2026, features once exclusive to high-end smartphones - big batteries, multi-camera arrays, high refresh rate OLED displays and more - have made their way down to more affordable models. Yes, you'll still need to buy a flagship smartphone to get the best camera or fastest processor, but you don't have to make nearly as many compromises as you once did if you have a strict budget to adhere to when you go shopping for your next smartphone. If you have less than $600 to spend, let us help you figure out what features to prioritize when trying to find the best midrange smartphone.
Table of contents
Best midrange phones in 2026
What is a midrange phone?
What to consider before buying a midrange smartphone
What won't you get from a midrange phone
Best midrange phones for 2026
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Jan 15, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/rays-blocked-engadget-test-article-031847986.html?src=rss
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Jan 15, 2026
Kathleen Kennedy is stepping down as president of Lucasfilm. Although she will continue as a producer for several Star Wars projects, including upcoming movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, the company will now be helmed by a duo in Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan. It's a big changing of the guard for Star Wars fans, and marks the start of a fresh chapter for the sci-fi universe.
Before taking over at Lucasfilm, Kennedy had seen great success as a producer with a couple little films you may have heard of: E.T. and Jurassic Park. She became Lucasfilm's president in 2012 when the company was acquired by Disney. At that point, it had been several years since the last Star Wars movie; Revenge of the Sith closed out the generally panned prequel trilogy in 2005. Fans' best option for Star Wars content was The Clone Wars, a standalone film and animated series which were well-regarded but primarily popular among the hardcore devotees rather than reaching the widespread cultural relevance of the prior feature films.
During Kennedy's tenure, Star Wars returned to the big screen with The Force Awakens in 2015. Although that J.J. Abrams-led trilogy was also a roller coaster for many fans, it marked a renaissance for the franchise. Lucasfilm embarked on two standalone movies in Rogue One and Solo, which generated yet more buzz and more money for the company. Star Wars got the full cinematic universe treatment, with critically acclaimed live-action television projects and several new video games. The world fell in love with Baby Yoda. Ewan McGregor finally got to don his Obi-Wan
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Jan 15, 2026
After a tumultuous 2025 that saw it lose around 4,000 employees, NASA finally has an operating budget for 2026, and one that largely preserves its scientific capabilities. On Thursday, the Senate passed an appropriations bill funding NASA, alongside the National Science Foundation and a handful of other federal agencies.
Going into the appropriations process, the president called for a 24 percent year over year reduction to NASA's total operating budget. As part of that plan, the White House wanted to reduce the Science Mission Directorate's funding by nearly half, a move that would have forced NASA to cancel 55 ongoing and planned missions, including efforts like OSIRIS-APEX. The bill effectively rejects President Trump's plan, reducing NASA's total operating budget by just 1.6 percent year over year to $24.4 billion.
Per the new appropriations, NASA's science budget will stand at $7.25 billion, 1.1 percent less relative to fiscal 2024, while shuffling the remaining funds to focus on different priorities. For instance, the House and Senate allocated $874 million ( 8.7 percent) for the agency's heliophysics work; planetary sciences, which oversees missions like New Horizons, was cut to $2.5 billion (-6.5 percent) compared to 2024. At the same time, NASA's STEM engagement office, which the president proposed eliminating, escaped unscathed with its funding maintained at parity.
"It's almost everything we had been asking for, and it's very encouraging to see a House and Sen
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Jan 15, 2026
The US and Taiwan have signed an agreement that will see a multi-billion dollar investment into domestic development of semiconductors and related infrastructure. The US Department of Commerce announced that Taiwanese businesses will make an upfront investment of at least $250 billion into their US production capacity, while Taiwan's government will provide credit guarantees of at least another $250 billion in support of the semiconductor industry and supply chain in the US.
In exchange, Taiwan will receive a better deal on tariffs. Reciprocal tariffs will be limited to 15 percent, compared with the previous 20 percent rate. Generic pharmaceuticals and their generic ingredients, aircraft components, and unavailable natural resources will be not be subjected to reciprocal tariffs under the arrangement. Taiwanese companies with US production will also see increased import amounts without being charged duties under the Section 232 framework.
According to reports from
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Jan 15, 2026
After testing the feature in a limited beta, Bluesky is making its "Live Now" badge for streamers available for everyone on the social network to try. Live Now is included as part of Bluesky's v1.114 update, alongside "cashtags," a separate type of hashtag for collecting conversations about publicly-traded companies.
Bluesky first started testing its Live Now badge in May 2025 with a limited group of accounts, including the official NBA account. The feature lets Twitch streamers with Bluesky profiles append a Live Now badge to their profile picture that links directly to their livestream. Live Now badges are limited to Twitch links for now, but Bluesky says "support for other streaming platforms may follow" as it learns from the beta. Linking to other social platforms shouldn't be a radical concept, but since Bluesky's competitor X has tried to prevent users from posting links in the past, the company has made it a point of trying to do the opposite.
Cashtags are a similar attempt to appeal to a certain type of veteran X user. Originally a feature of pre-Musk Twitter, cashtags work like a hashtag, marking posts in a way that makes them easy to find in a search or by tapping the cashtag itself. On Bluesky, by typing a dollar sign ($) and the stock abbreviation of a company (AAPL for Apple, for example),
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Jan 15, 2026
Today, Amazon shared more details about the final chapter of its game New World: Aeternum. The company announced in October that it would wind down support for the MMO, with the Nighthaven season to be its last. New World will be delisted and no longer available for purchase starting today, but the game's servers will not be taken offline until January 31, 2027. People who own the game will be able to continue playing until that date. Nighthaven season will continue through to that end date.
Players who had previously purchased New World: Aeternum will be able to re-download and continue playing up to the shutdown date. In-game currency such as Marks of Fortune will no longer be available to buy starting July 20, 2026, and refunds will not be offered for Marks of Fortune purchases.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/amazons-new-world-aeternum-mmo-will-go-offline-january-31-2027-205449407.html?src=rss
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Jan 15, 2026
As part of a new agreement, films from Sony Pictures Entertainment will stream on Netflix first, the companies announced via a joint statement. The new deal expands on the exclusive rights Netflix had to Sony films in the US, and means the service will be the first place people will be able to stream upcoming projects like the live-action adaptation of The Legend of Zelda, and a quartet of biopics about The Beatles.
Sony's films will stream worldwide on Netflix in what's called "Pay-1," the first window of availability after a movie's theatrical and VOD releases. As part of the deal, Netflix is also licensing an undisclosed number of films and television shows from the Sony Pictures back catalog to help fill out its library. Netflix says the new arrangement "will roll out gradually" as licensing rights become available throughout the year, with full availability happening sometime in 2029. Neither company shared how long this new setup will last, but did describe the deal as a "multi-year agreement."
Netflix and Sony's partnership has been fruitful so far. Films like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Uncharted and Anyone But You have had popular second lives on the streaming service. In the
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Jan 15, 2026
Now would be a good time to update all your Bluetooth audio devices. On Thursday, Wired reported on a security flaw in 17 headphone and speaker models that could allow hackers to access your devices, including their microphones. The vulnerability stems from a faulty implementation of Google's one-tap (Fast Pair) protocol.
Security researchers at Belgium's KU Leuven University Computer Security and Industrial Cryptography group, who discovered the security hole, named the flaw WhisperPair. They say a hacker within Bluetooth range would only require the accessory's (easily attainable) device model number and a few seconds.
"You're walking down the street with your headphones on, you'
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Jan 15, 2026
The second season of Amazon's excellent Fallout show is currently airing, but the company is already looking to expand its programming around the popular franchise. Prime Video has greenlit a unscripted reality show titled Fallout Shelter. It will be a ten-episode run with Studio Lambert, the team behind reality projects including Squid Game: The Challenge and The Traitors, as its primary producer. Bethesda Game Studios' head honcho Todd Howard is attached as an executive producer.
Amazon's description of Fallout Shelter is: "Across a series of escalating challenges, strategic dilemmas and moral crossroads, contestants must prove their ingenuity, teamwork and resilience as they compete for safety, power and ultimately a huge cash prize."
It seems fitting that the producer is the same as Squid Game: The Challenge, where a show critiquing capitalism is turned into a competition about winning money. A reality show sounds like the sort of thing you'd find in a Fallout game side quest accompanied by pointed commentary about greed rather than an activity people of the Wasteland would take seriously. Maybe the new series will be an interesting mix of survival skills and dark humor that feels true to the Fallout ethos. But, and I say this as a big viewer of reality shows, I'm not holding my breath.
The name echos the free-to-play mobile game Bethesda released in 2015. Fallout Shelter lets people build and improve their out Vault-Tec residence, managing the resources for a growing cadre of underground survivors. It seems pretty likely that there will be some type
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Jan 15, 2026
YouTube channel Hardware Unboxed is reporting that NVIDIA has "effectively" discontinued the RTX 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB due to the ongoing memory crunch. In its most recent video, the channel states ASUS "explicitly" told it the RTX 5070 Ti is "currently facing a supply shortage." As a result, the company has "placed the model into end of life status," and no longer plans to produce it.
Hardware Unboxed also spoke to retailers in Australia, who told the channel the 5070 Ti is "no longer available to purchase from partners and distributors," adding they expect that to be the case throughout at least the first quarter of the year. The 5060 Ti 16GB "is almost done as well," with ASUS stating it no longer plans to produce that model going forward either. Both GPUs are 16GB models, making them more expensive to produce in the current economic climate. And while there might be some hope of the 5070 Ti and 5060 Ti 16GB returning later this year, the channel suggests both are unlikely to make a comeback. NVIDIA
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Jan 15, 2026
The intriguing Africanfuturist heist game, Relooted, is out on February 10. Developed by independent South African studio Nyamakop, the game focuses on a ragtag crew from Johannesburg that liberates real-life African artifacts from a series of fictionalized Western museums.
Relooted is best described as a 2.5d side-scrolling action platformer with stealth and puzzle elements. You have to carefully plan each heist with your fellow teammates, knowing where to place each crew member and how you're going to get in and out in one piece. Once you've grabbed the artifact you're looking for in each mission, an alarm will sound and you have a limited amount of time to escape, so good preparation is vital.
The studio's previous game, the platformer Semblance, was significant for being the first South Africa-developed IP to come to a Nintendo console when it launched on Switch in 2018. At E3 that same year, Nyamakop programmer Cukia Kimani and designer Ben Myres talked to Engadget about the difficulties of getting your game in front of the major platform-holders as an indie developer based in sub-Saharan Africa. Without notable local industry events or reps in the country, the developers had to do a lot of globe-trotting in order to get their game noticed.
At the time of writing there's no Switch or Switch 2 release lined up for Relooted, b
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Jan 15, 2026
For a number of very obvious reasons, we don't want to roll back the clock to early 2020. No thank you. But if there was a feel-good lockdown story, it was the perfectly timed arrival of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which allowed friends who could no longer meet up IRL to do so virtually on their carefully pruned islands.
The game will almost certainly never be as popular as it was back then again, but Nintendo is hoping a good chunk of lapsed islanders will return for its latest DLC drop, which arrived on January 14, a day earlier than planned. The Switch 2 update went live as expected on January 15. As spotted by
, the free Animal Crossing: New Horizons 3.0update is available to download now and, as previously announced, brings a host of new features to the cozy life sim, including a brand new resort hotel on the pier that you can help decorate.
There are new items and quality-of-life additions too, as well as the ability to build fresh islands with your friends and family in the "Slumber Island" dream world. All you need to do is go to the New Horizons game icon on your Switch's home screen and download the software update.
Nintendo also announced last year that New Horizons would be coming to Switch 2 on January 15, improving the visuals, unlocking mouse controls and GameChat functionality, and expanding the online multiplayer capacity from eight
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Jan 15, 2026
Verizon is offering a very small mea culpa after Wednesday's massive outage, which drew more than 1.5 million reports on Downdetector and lasted hours. The carrier posted on X that it will offer a $20 credit, but customers must redeem it in the myVerizon app.
"This credit isn't meant to make up for what happened. No credit really can," the company wrote. "But it's a way of acknowledging your time and showing that this matters to us." Incensed customers have largely replied with incredulity, both at the miniscule amount, and that it isn't being applied automatically.
Engadget has reached out to Verizon seeking clarity on whether this credit can be claimed by contacting the carrier or only through the app. We will update this piece if we hear back.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/how-to-claim-verizons-20-credit-for-wednesdays-service-outage-171909695.html?src=rss
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Jan 15, 2026
As part of Wikipedia's 25th anniversary, parent company Wikimedia announced a slew of partnerships with AI-focused companies like Amazon, Meta, Perplexity, Microsoft and others. The deals are meant to alleviate some of the cost associated with AI chatbots accessing Wikipedia content in enormous volumes by giving the tech companies streamlined access.
As noted by The Verge, the timeline on these deals is a little squirrely. The Wikipedia foundation says that several companies became enterprise partners "over the past year," while listing Amazon, Google and Meta as "existing" partners. It appears today is the first time they have been officially announced.
The organization sounded the alarm on this issue last year, saying the reduction in traffic due to LLMs and AI summaries could prove existential for the nonprofit and the world's largest online encyclopedia. Wikipedia's 65 million free articles have served as rich training data for AI chatbots, but all that scraping has driven up server costs at the organization.
Wikimedia had been hoping to move these large firms over to its enterp
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Jan 15, 2026
The indie RPG Sea of Stars is being released for mobile platforms on April 7. The iOS and Android versions are priced at just $10, which is a steal considering it cost $35 when it was first released for PC and consoles. Heck, it still costs that much on many platforms.
This is a mobile release, so it's not an exact port. The interface has been revamped to allow for complete touch control. It's also compatible with controllers, which is always a good thing with smartphone ports. The Android version has a couple of unique features. It offers Google Play Games achievements and cloud saves across various Android devices.
Otherwise, this is the same great game we know and love. There's a reason, after all, why Sea of Stars snagged best indie game in a particularly crowded field at The Game Awards two years back.
This is a fantastic retro-inspired RPG with more than a few things in common with the 1990s classic Chrono Trigger. The story is utterly charming, the turn-based battle system is just deep enough and the art and character designs are gorgeous. It's more than just an homage to 1990s RPGs.
The older versions offer three-player couch co-op, which isn't available here for obvious reasons. The mobile port will also not allow access to the
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