Author: News Room

There have been a bunch of rumours over recent days about it and now it’s here – a second version of the Vision Pro headset with the latest M5 chip. It’s still called Apple Vision Pro rather than Apple Vision Pro 2, and rumours continue to swirl that Apple’s true next-gen Vision Pro will actually be more like a pair of smart glasses. As well as increased power, the M5 also brings ‘extended battery life’ to the $3,499/£3,199 Apple headset. That’s perhaps the best thing about this upgrade; having used a Vision Pro for several months last year, I found…

On Wednesday, the largest US group of unions called on employers and policymakers to join in an effort it’s calling the “workers first initiative on AI.” Functionally, the effort by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) amounts to strengthened collective bargaining in the workplace and advocating for regulations to limit the negative effect of AI on workers, in addition to an education campaign.“We reject the false choice between American competitiveness on the world stage and respecting workers’ rights and dignity,” AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler says in the press release. The AFL-CIO’s membership includes 63 unions…

What does “Xbox” mean? Some might say it can only refer to a box-shaped Microsoft game machine. Others will argue it’s a collection of Xbox-native titles like Halo, Gears, Forza, and Fable. I think most would probably agree it’s a game console experience, a way to kick back and easily play the latest games without thinking too much. Press the power button, play, press it again to pause.The 7-inch Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X gaming handhelds, on sale tomorrow, don’t meet that bar. The cheaper one doesn’t even come close.They run Windows 11, and they never let you forget…

Introduction It’s taken a few decades, but Microsoft has finally followed Nintendo and Sony into handheld territory. Well, sort of. The Xbox ROG Ally is a collaborative effort, with Asus supplying the hardware and the Windows team overhauling things on the software side to better suit PC gamers on the go. This is a two-pronged effort, just like the Xbox Series S and Series X: the all-white Xbox ROG Ally tested here is the cheaper of the two and is all about 720p play, while the black Xbox ROG Ally X leaves a bigger dent on your wallet in return…

I’m a big fan of robot vacs – I’ve got one on each floor of my home and I’m happy to let them take over my floor care. Getting a robot to take care of my lawn has seemed like the next logical step, but, to be honest, the prospect of mapping out my garden, even though it’s not huge, left me cold, so I’ve persevered with my trusty and perhaps somewhat retro, corded mower. Until, that is, Stiga launched their new robot lawnmowers, which let you map out your garden virtually and I got to test the A4. The…

Thin is most definitely in going into 2026, with plenty of upcoming phones slimming down dramatically to earn a place in the pocket of your (suitably skinny) jeans. Motorola looks set to be next in line, having officially launched the X70 Air in China this week – and now teasing an imminent global debut as the Edge 70. It’s looking to school the Apple iPhone Air and Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge on things like battery capacity and durability, while also landing at a more affordable price point. Dimensions are suitably waif-like, being 5.9mm at its thickest and tapering down to…

Microsoft is busy rolling out new curvy and colorful new Office icons, and now it’s revealing a set of design concepts it experimented with before finalizing these new icons. Some of the concepts are radically different from what Microsoft is shipping, with design explorations for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that more closely resemble the Office for Mac icons of the past.The Word concept icons (above) include a notepad-like experiment and different ways to visualize stacks of paper, or documents. Microsoft experimented with making the Word lettering the key part of the icon, and also versions where the lettering blends in…

Seiko has just launched a new digital quartz watch based on an archive 1980s model affectionately known by fans as the ‘Rotocall’. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to try the new Seiko Rotocall, and I already think I’m in love. Inspired by the 1980s Seiko A829-6029, also known as the “Astronaut,” it brings back a design that’s as functional as it is cool, and it does it without feeling like a gimmick. The original Astronaut, for those who don’t know, was the unofficial watch of the space programme. Worn on more than 160 missions, it was chosen by…

We have some new insight into Apple’s muddled rebrand of Apple TV Plus to Apple TV, courtesy of an interview with the company’s senior vice president of services, Eddy Cue. Speaking on The Town podcast, Cue said that no consultants were involved, and that it was a collective decision to drop the “Plus” from the streaming service because everyone was already calling it Apple TV.The Plus was included in the original name because that’s what Apple uses to distinguish the paid versions of its free services, such as iCloud Plus and News Plus. “We stayed consistent because of it, but…

Smartphones that transform into sizeable tablets used to be pure sci-fi… but now bendable screens are our tech reality. Besides the obvious wow factor, these book-style foldables offer innovative flexibility that could change the way you use your mobile – while also packing in hardware to rival the best phones with more traditional form factors. Think folding phones are just a hinged gimmick? Think again. The best foldable phones are about as versatile as handsets get, even if they almost exclusively come at prices that make regular flagships look cheap. We’ve tested them all to work out which is best,…

If you’re into automatic watches, getting a decent watch winder isn’t just a luxury – it’s genuinely useful. These watches rely on your wrist’s motion to keep ticking, so if your favourite piece spends more time sitting in its case than being worn, it’ll eventually stop. A winder solves that by keeping everything moving when you’re not. A good one doesn’t just keep your watch running, either. It can also help preserve its accuracy by preventing the oils inside the movement from drying out – something that can happen if it’s left idle for too long. Whether you’ve got a…

From the early console days of the 80s and 90s, Japan had always been the spiritual home of games, but it’s only in recent years that culturally Japanese games have captured a wider imagination of gamers around the world. That’s not happened in a vacuum as there’s also been a newfound appreciation of Japanese media, from award-winning shows like Shogun to Netflix having the whole back catalogue of Studio Ghibli films, as well as a wide variety of popular anime. Naturally, this means Japan’s legendary warriors, the samurai and ninja, have also been having a second wind, especially when applied…