Author: News Room
My colleague Allison Johnson loved the Privacy Display in her review of the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. The display feature, which blocks onlookers from getting a peep at what’s on the screen when viewed from the side, is worth getting the S26 Ultra for if you are serious about privacy during your commute or elsewhere. And thankfully, it’s not as expensive to buy the only device in Samsung’s latest smartphone lineup that has the unique mode. The cost of an unlocked S26 Ultra with 256GB of storage has dropped to $1,099.99 at Amazon, Samsung, and Best Buy, which is $200…
On Tuesday, Spotify expanded its Prompted Playlists feature to include podcasts, an update that could make it easier for Premium users to find new shows to listen to. Prompted Playlists were originally launched as a beta feature in December, but previously only worked for music. You can use the feature to effectively generate customized Discover Weekly playlists using text prompts to “steer the algorithm” toward specific genres or themes.Tuesday’s update allows you to do the same thing with playlists of podcast episodes. The feature is still in beta, though, and is currently only available in English for Premium users in…
The Selfix phone case is a classic example of a great idea in theory that falls apart in practice.It’s a case for the iPhone 17 Pro with a circular screen on the back. It mirrors the middle of your main phone screen, making it easier to frame up selfies using your phone’s higher-quality rear cameras rather than the selfie camera. A nice concept! I wish it worked better.Selfie cameras have come a long way, and the updated sensor in the iPhone 17 series’ front-facing camera is more than capable in good lighting. But there are still ways that the bigger…
Android XR is getting a new feature that turns 2D apps, websites, images, and videos into “3D experiences.” The feature, which Google calls “auto-spatialization,” was initially announced last year, and it’s launching on Tuesday as an experimental feature for Samsung Galaxy XR headsets.Here’s a video from Google that gives you an idea about how auto-spatialization might look in practice:There are a few caveats to auto-spatialization: it supports content up to 1080p or lower at 30fps, it “uses slightly more battery power,” and it only works “on the app window currently in focus,” Google says. But if you have a Galaxy…
We saw a host of excellent Bose discounts during Amazon’s so-called Big Spring Sale last month; however, none of them were quite as steep as the current price drop we’re seeing on the latest Bose Soundlink Flex. Right now, the portable speaker is on sale at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $119 ($40 off), nearly matching its best price to date.A few years back, we crowned the original Soundlink Flex the best portable Bluetooth speaker under $200. It was an impressive speaker with expansive sound and a surprising amount of low-end thump, not to mention a rugged, IP67-rated design…
Available now through Satechi’s online store and Amazon for $129.99, the 3-in-1 charger is the same price as the older Qi2 version but features an updated design with corners and hard edges that have all been rounded off. The main adjustable charging pad that supports 25W rates is the most notable upgrade to the charger’s functionality. The other built-in chargers — an Apple Watch fast charger on the back and an extra Qi pad on the base for charging AirPods and other wireless earbuds — have been carried over from the previous model.While it’s primarily designed as a way to…
On Tuesday, the American chipmaker announced it was signing on to help design and build the sprawling facility, which would supply AI chips to Musk’s two companies, SpaceX (newly merged with xAI) and Tesla. Musk needs AI chips to power his plans to build a “robot army” that includes self-driving cars and humanoid robots, as well as for the data centers he plans on launching into space. SpaceX plans on making its initial public offering later this year.“Terafab will close the gap between today’s chip production and the future’s demand – a future among the stars,” the Terafab website reads.The…
What happens when DJI, the world’s leading maker of drones, is no longer welcome in the United States? You might think other dronemakers would see a huge opportunity with their competitor out of the picture. That didn’t happen.In the 15 months since the United States triggered an automatic ban on future DJI products, no company has rushed to serve the consumers, prosumers, photographers, videographers, farmers, surveyors, and more that use DJI gear. Instead, US dronemakers are largely focused on a more lucrative opportunity: a billion dollars the Pentagon has earmarked for drones that kill.Drone professionals are scared, says Vic Moss,…
I already put Asus’ new Zenbook A16 through the wringer when I brought a pre-production unit with me to CES. I loved it for its ample power in an impressively light 16-inch chassis. It’s speedy enough for part-time content creation, it’s got lengthy battery life, and its large OLED screen is crisp and vivid.Now, the final production model is here, priced at $1,599.99 for a configuration with a whopping 48GB of RAM — a spec-to-price balance that’s unheard of, especially in these uncertain times. All the strengths I witnessed from its pre-production days are still present, and the early hardware…
Adapted from Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name, Dark Matter first premiered in 2024, and it follows the story of physics professor Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) who gets abducted by, well, himself, but a version from another timeline. There’s a whole lot of alternate reality drama going on, and it sounds like that will continue in the new season. According to Apple’s official description, the story picks up with Jason’s family “as they settle into a quiet life in a world that finally seems safe until the unimaginable forces them to run once again.”As part of the announcement, Apple…
We might have our first good look at the shape of the oddly wide iPhone Fold, after leaker and journalist Sonny Dickson shared photos of what he says is a dummy unit of the foldable, alongside similar models of the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. The apparent design leak comes as it’s reported that early engineering tests of the foldable have suffered from production problems which may cause it to ship months later than other iPhones this year.Dickson, who has a good track record for sourcing accurate dummy models of Apple and Samsung phones used by case makers…
Today, I’m talking with Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco.Cisco is one of those big companies that everyone has heard of but that most of us don’t have to interact with very much; it’s not really a consumer brand. But all of us are in some way using Cisco’s products and services every day because it makes a huge amount of networking equipment for other big companies, like telecoms and ISPs. It’s a guarantee that somewhere between me recording this and you watching, listening to, or reading it, the bits have passed through Cisco products. Without the actual routers and switches…