Author: News Room
Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It’s impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit “agree” to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don’t read and definitely can’t negotiate.To use the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, you’ll need a Meta account and the Meta AI app downloaded onto your phone. A Meta account works across platforms like…
In August, Musk’s companies filed a lawsuit accusing Apple of rigging App Store rankings against chatbots and apps competing with OpenAI, including Grok and X. Apple’s lawyers said Musk’s AI and social media companies had done nothing to “plausibly” stand up their allegations, explaining that the agreement with OpenAI is “expressly not exclusive.”In any instance, Apple’s lawyers said it is also “widely known that Apple intends to partner with other generative AI chatbots,” adding that competition law does not require it to simultaneously partner “with every other generative AI chatbot” on the market, regardless of quality. Read the full article…
Peloton has been angling for a redemption arc ever since its status as a pandemic darling started faltering when the world reopened for business. It tried to steady the ship with a series of layoffs, a pivot to subscriptions, and a leadership shuffle. Now, Peloton’s hoping to kick off a new era with the Cross Training Series, a total refresh of its product lineup consisting of a new Bike, Bike Plus, Tread, Tread Plus, and Row Plus.“The impetus behind the Cross Training series is, ‘Let’s just give people one place to do all the strength and cardio workouts in one…
The Brompton Electric G folding e-bike I reviewed last year is now available to buy in the US starting at $4,950. While it looks like a regular Brompton, it’s been scaled up with 20-inch wheels and an extended wheelbase that improves the ride dramatically on all types of terrain, leaving behind the twitchiness of its 16-inch brethren. Despite this embiggening, it still folds down small enough to be taken onto a train or hoisted into the back of a car, making it ideal for multimodal commuters or as a companion vehicle for vanlifers.The US bike has been tweaked a bit…
All the top movies to check out this year. What are you looking forward to the most? Can you believe it? We’re now more than halfway through 2025 – a year that has seen the release of some very fine movies, including Sinners, 28 Years Later and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Thankfully, film fans still so much to look forward to before New Year’s Eve rolls around. There’s a slate of new sequels and fresh adaptations ready to roll on film both at movie theatres and on home streaming services, as well as some entirely original stuff for…
The Epic Games Store has seen an uptick in downloads since the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) prompted Apple to streamline its process for installing third-party app marketplaces, according to a new blog published by Epic. Stats shared by the gaming software giant on Wednesday show the drop-off rate for Epic Games Store installations on iOS has gone from 65 percent down to around 25 percent following the release of iOS 18.6 in July.The “updated user experience” for installing alternative app marketplaces was introduced in iOS 18.6 following the EU commission raising concerns in April that “Apple makes it overly…
Hamilton is stepping onto the digital battlefield with its latest watch release – a limited-edition Khaki Field Automatic created in collaboration with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The Swiss watchmaker has long been known for weaving its timepieces into films and games (such as Interstellar, Dune and Death Stranding 2), and now it’s taking that knack for detail into one of the world’s biggest first-person shooters. This isn’t Hamilton’s first foray into video games, but it is the biggest yet. The brand’s rugged Khaki Field Automatic 38mm plays a starring role on the wrist of Axel Vermaak, a character…
Our pick of the best wellness gifts for Christmas 2025 Shark FacialPro Glow Bring the spa home with Shark’s FacialPro Glow – a five-step system developed with dermatologists to give your skin the radiance of a professional facial, in just 10 minutes. It starts by cleansing and extracting impurities with hydro-powered suction, before exfoliating away dull cells for a clearer, smoother base. Hydrate mode then infuses moisture deep into your skin with hyaluronic acid. Glow mode follows, refreshing your complexion, while the DePuffi tool uses instant hot-and-cold contrast therapy to sculpt, calm and soothe. An effortless way to refresh and…
The late English writer Douglas Adams is best known as the author of the 1979 book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. But there is much more to Adams than what is written in his Wikipedia entry. Whether or not you need to know that his birth sign is Pisces or that libraries worldwide store his books under the same string of numbers — 13230702 — you can if you head to an overlooked corner of the Wikimedia Foundation called Wikidata.There, images, text, keywords, and other information related to Adams are stored both in a webpage and, for the robots…
Amazon revealed an upgraded Ring smart device lineup at its Devices and Services 2025 event, but even better are the software bells and whistles that have also appeared. Alexa+ Greetings is essentially an AI smart doorbell attendant. If you choose, it can ask callers why they are there and provide them with instructions. While some might find the feature a step too far, I’m thinking my misunderstandings with delivery drivers could be a lot easier to handle. Familiar Faces will also be very useful for me. It’s a feature intended to reduce alerts from routine events such as the children…
Roland has largely decided sit out the analog synth renaissance of the last decade. But it’s (belatedly) making amends for that error with the launch of the TR-1000 Rhythm Generator. Unlike previous instruments that tried to cash in on Roland’s long legacy through digital technologies like its Zen-Core engine, Analogue Circuit Behavior (ACB) modeling, and Roland Cloud subscription service, the TR-1000 embraces the true analog sound of iconic Roland machines like the TR-808 and TR-909,Unlike other TR instruments from Roland over the last several years that simply invoke the branding, the TR-1000 actually recreates 16 analog sound circuits from the…
Amazon debuted new versions of the Echo Studio and Echo Dot smart speakers at its Devices and Services event today. Echo Dot – apparently the world’s best-selling smart speaker – is now the Echo Dot Max in its latest compact guise with a 3x improvement in the bass performance compared with the older Echo Dot. Amazon must be impressed with it, since it has seemingly decided to bin off the standard Echo in favour of the Echo Dot Max and new Echo Studio. The Echo Studio upgrade is one that I’ve been waiting for – the older design was not…