Browsing: Tech Reviews

Jensen Huang took to the CES stage on Monday to share the latest from NVIDIA, and while the presentation was more a refresher of technologies the company has been working on for the past few years, there were a couple of notable announcements.NVIDIA announced Alpamayo, a family of open-source reasoning models designed to guide autonomous vehicles through difficult driving situations. The centerpiece of the release is Alpamayo 1 , a 10-billion parameter chain-of-thought system NVIDIA says is capable of approaching driving more like a human being would. The model works by breaking down unexpected driving situations into a smaller set…

CES is chock-full of unique concepts, but every now and then, I stumble upon something that purely seems to exist for the heck of it. I got a (literal) taste of that with the Lollipop Star. This sweet treat also packs a little trick: it can play music while it’s in your mouth using bone conduction (sound vibrations that go through your skull’s bones to your inner ear). You can choose from three artists: Ice Spice, Akon and Armani White. Each artist pop has its own flavor: Ice Spice is peach, Akon is blueberry and Armani White is lime. I went…

Peacock is already one of the best streaming services for its breadth of content, offering everything from Wicked to Minions, plus SNL, Bravo shows, cult favorites like The Office, and a wide range of live content, from the NBA to the NFL, with WWE in between. Now, it’s deepening its ties with Dolby to help ensure that whatever you’re streaming looks its best.Announced at CES 2026, Peacock is diving deeper into Dolby’s technology across both picture and sound, adding support for Vision and Atmos even on live sports streaming – something Peacock is continuing to dive headfirst into in 2026…

Sandisk today unveiled “SANDISK Optimus” at CES 2026 as the new brand name for its popular consumer-grade internal SSDs made for gamers, creators, and professionals. Previously, these storage devices were part of the WD Black and WD Blue lineups. This development only makes sense considering that Sandisk parted from Western Digital earlier last year as a new company of non-platter storage. Tip In March 2025, Western Digital (WD) split off Sandisk (a slight name change from “SanDisk”) as a separate company. The move means WD retains all hard platter-based products, including those with “SanDisk” in their model names. Similarly, Sandisk…

To be sure, it’s hard to see this not ending in some market carnage. The current “winner-takes-most” mentality in the space means the bets are big and bold, but the market can’t support dozens of major independent AI labs or hundreds of application-layer startups. That’s the definition of a bubble environment, and when it pops, the only question is how bad it will be: a stern correction or a collapse. Looking ahead This was just a brief review of some major themes in 2025, but so much more happened. We didn’t even mention above how capable AI video synthesis models…

Over the last ten or so years, L’Oréal has brought a taste of beauty tech to the masses at CES 2026. This time, it has three devices to show off: the “Light Straight + Multi-styler” as well as the helpfully named LED Face Mask and LED Eye Mask.Don’t let the unassuming names mislead you. These three products actually harbor some unique traits. The Light Straight (and multi-styler, which I’m going to just call the Light Straight from here on), for instance, uses infrared light to help generate the heat required to style your hair. Meanwhile, the LED Face Mask is…

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.Fans of the Knives Out film series, today’s Mini Crossword has a clue just for you. Read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York…

Intel places seven CPUs in PassMark’s top ten price performance rankingsAMD leads only through discounted Ryzen 5 clearance entriesValue favors Intel across widely available desktop CPUsIntel dominates the top end of PassMark’s price performance rankings in a way that would have seemed unlikely just a few years ago. Looking at the current leaderboard, Intel places seven CPUs in the top ten when performance is measured against price.AMD does hold the top two spots, but don’t be fooled. One comes from an entry-level Ryzen 5 benefiting from clearance pricing, while the other is an EPYC part listed at prices that are…

A third AI-related proof-of-concept attack that garnered attention used a prompt injection to cause GitLab’s Duo chatbot to add malicious lines to an otherwise legitimate code package. A variation of the attack successfully exfiltrated sensitive user data. Yet another notable attack targeted the Gemini CLI coding tool. It allowed attackers to execute malicious commands—such as wiping a hard drive—on the computers of developers using the AI tool. Using AI as bait and hacking assistants Other LLM-involved hacks used chatbots to make attacks more effective or stealthier. Earlier this month, two men were indicted for allegedly stealing and wiping sensitive government…

We could be witnessing the start of the renaissance for real buttons in cars, courtesy of Volkswagen’s ID. Polo. The German automaker unveiled the interior of its upcoming compact EV, which features real buttons, switches and even a knob for audio controls.”We have created an interior that feels like a friend from the very first contact,” Volkswagen’s chief designer, Andreas Mindt, said in a press release. “Clear physical buttons provide stability and trust, warm materials make it appealing, and charming details such as the new retro views of the instruments show the typical Volkswagen wink.”VolkswagenLast year, Mindt told Autocar that…