X is rolling out a new feature called Starterpacks to all users in the coming weeks, the companys head of product has announced. Its made up of compilations of accounts new users can follow based on their interests. If that sounds familiar, its because Bluesky launched a very similar feature thats also called starter packs back in 2024. Bluesky allows ordinary users to curate their own packs as long as each one doesnt exceed 50 accounts. They can then share those lists broadly on the platform ..

Marshall plans to add seamless multi-room audio to its Bluetooth speakers via a newly announced music streaming hub called Heddon . The $300 hub makes it possible to connect and synchronize multiple older Marshall speakers together, not unlike Sonos' audio devices. Rather than use Wi-Fi to get multiple speakers playing the same audio, though, the Marshall Heddon uses Auracast . The hub connects to services like Spotify Connect or Tidal over Wi-Fi, or other devices through Google Cast and ..

Apple has been spinning its wheels for many months over its approach to artificial intelligence, but a strategy finally appears to be emerging for the company. Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reported today that Apple's long-awaited Siri overhaul will allegedly involve transforming the voice assistant into an AI chatbot, internally called Campos. Sources have reportedly told Gurman that Apple chatbot will completely replace the current Siri interface in favor of a more interactive model similar to ..

Apple will reportedly try to succeed where Humane failed (miserably) . On Wednesday, The Information reported that the iPhone maker is working on an AI pin. The wearable is said to resemble a slightly thicker AirTag and include multiple cameras, a speaker, microphones, and wireless charging. The report coincides with another from Bloomberg that claims that Apple will revamp Siri as a ChatGPT-style chatbot. When combined with the recent announcement that Google's Gemini will power Siri AI , it ..

Microsoft has announced that the Xbox app is now available on all Arm-based Windows 11 PCs. The app's release follows an update Microsoft made to its Prism emulator in December 2025, which translates x86 and x64 apps to Arm, and now includes support for AVX and AVX2. Both extensions play a role in making games run efficiently on Windows. Windows on Arm users will be able to use the Xbox app to purchase, download and stream PC games, and Microsoft says that "more than 85 percent of the Game Pass ..

Threads has grown enough for Meta to fully integrate it into its advertising machine. On Wednesday, the company said that, with the platform now hosting 400 million monthly active users, ads are expanding globally to all users. The inevitable move follows a test in 30 countries early last year. Ads on Threads are powered by Meta's AI-powered advertising system. They'll use the "same level of personalization" (i.e., tracking and profiling) as Facebook and Instagram. Image, video and carousel ad ..

Apple TV+ has become one of the best streaming services for sci-fi, with hits like Pluribus , Severance , Foundation and many more. There are so many shows that it's easy to forget the one that started it all. For All Mankind was the platform's very first attempt at sci-fi and it's finally coming back after two years for season five on March 27. The next season will run for ten episodes on a weekly basis. It concludes on May 29, with new installments dropping each Friday. What follows are some ..

Amazon is introducing an AI-powered assistant to One Medical, the tech-forward primary care provider it acquired in 2023 . Dubbed 'Health AI,' Amazon says the tool "provides 24/7 personalized health guidance based on your medical records." The company says Health AI can explain lab results, help manage medications, and book appointments for patients. Amazon also says it can "analyze images" but doesn't specify whether this means medical imaging or user uploaded photos. While the company ..

Two high-profile upcoming Ubisoft games have been starting to look m

Volvo hasn't exactly had a great run of EVs lately. The rollout of its flagship EX90 was stymied out of the gate by a bevy of software glitches. The EX30, meanwhile, was too expensive when it launched the promised $35,000 model was incompatible with the currently chaotic global tariff situation. Now, it's time for a new generation of EV from Volvo, one that's radically different at its core with a gigacast frame, a much higher-density battery and enough digital and literal horsepower to ..

Elon Musk is reportedly looking to finally take SpaceX public after years of resistance, according to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal . The company has long said it wouldn't choose an IPO until it had established a presence on Mars. That isn't happening anytime soon . So why now? Company insiders have suggested it's because Musk wants to build AI data centers in space. Google recently announced it was looking into putting a data center in space , with test launches scheduled for ..

The festive lights, time off and cute scarfs can only conceal the truth for so long: Winter can be pretty bleak. I don't mean to be a downer, but it's cold all of the time, dark most of the time and this lasts far beyond the most wonderful time of the year. Here at Engadget, we've tried so many tools and products to make winter more bearable from therapy lamps to heaters . We've invested in tea sets, wrapped ourselves in heated blankets and learned to grow herbs indoors really, anything that ..

YouTube is just as wary of the rise of AI slop as you, and thats why more AI- generated content is coming to the platform in the near future. In a lengthy blog post outlining YouTubes 2026 plans, CEO Neal Mohan said the company will continue to embrace this new "creative frontier" by soon allowing its creators to throw together Shorts using their AI-generated likeness. Mohan didnt elaborate further about how this feature will work when it launches, but acknowledged the "critical" issue of ..

I vividly remember when Bose announced the Ultra Open Earbuds . While I applauded the company for trying something different, I wasnt sure if the clip-on design would take hold. Well, here we are almost two years later and most earbud makers now have something akin to Boses fashion experiment . You can now count Sony among those as the company revealed its LinkBuds Clip ($230) open-fit earbuds today. These arent the first open-wear earbuds in Sonys LinkBuds lineup. The company has two ..

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 ..

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 . The P9 boasts transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s, making moving games to the card that much faster. As for load times, in our ..

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 ..

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, ..

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 Directors Cut , an extended version of Hideo Kojimas 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). Were also seeing some award winners including Indika (February 2), a surreal tale about ..

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 ..

Samsungs 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 ..

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 ..

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 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, ..

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 friends 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 detect

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 ..

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 users stated age, the companys announcement states. If an individual is incorrectly characterized by ..

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 ..

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 ..

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. Weve consistently liked ExpressVPN because its fast, easy to use and widely available across a large global server network. In fact, it's ..

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 ..

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. "Were working ..

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. ..

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 ..

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 companys 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 ..

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 ..

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, than 58 percent off if you consider the cost of each service individually (Disney+ at $12 per month and, ..

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 childrens 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 countrys ministers are going to visit Australia to see the ..

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 hes entitled to a chunk of the companys recent $500 billion valuation, after contributing $38 million in seed funding during the AI companys early years. It wasnt just money according to the filing, Musk helped advise on key employee recruitment, introductions with business ..

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 ..

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. This morning the world lost a pioneer in Dr Gladys West, she passed ..