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Last year in Las Vegas at CES 2025, Sony Honda Mobility displayed yet another revision of its now-familiar yet still-unreleased Afeela 1 sedan. With a starting price of $89,900 and a maximum range of 300 miles, it didn't seem like a great value proposition. 12 months later, the math still hasn't changed, but would-be buyers now have a slightly taller option to consider.

Meet the Afeela Prototype 2026, a version of the Afeela 1 sedan that's been up-scaled to better suit American SUV proclivities. It offers a carbon copy of the smaller Afeela's understated styling, including the external, nose-mounted LCD, and is due "as early as 2028." 

Afeela Prototype 2026Tim Stevens for Engadget

That's code for "2029 is probably more likely" and is, sadly, all we know about the thing for now. 

And what about the Afeela 1? Shugo Yamaguchi, president and CEO of Sony Honda Mobility of America, confirmed that it's still on track for a release this year, still priced at $90,000 to start, and still set to be built at Honda's Ohio factory. That last bit is particularly good news, as the global tariff situation has been rather fluid since we saw the sedan last year. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the Afeela 1's core attributes haven't aged so well, particularly given it's intended to appeal to an increasingly skeptical American market, a situation that has driven Honda to dial down its own US EV aspirations. 300 miles of range is an increasingly middling figure, especially for a machine priced within spitting distance of a Porsche Taycan. 

To make the Afeela 1 compelling, Sony Honda Mobility is leaning into the tech play, launching with an advanced hands-off, eyes-on driver assistance system (a la GM's Super Cruise). Thanks to the beauty of over-the-air updates, the Afeela 1 will eventually offer Level 4 autonomy, leaning on a bevy of integrated sensors, including a roof-mounted LIDAR pod. That would theoretically mean you could drive in Gran Turismo 7 while your car drove you to work.

Afeela 1Tim Stevens for Engadget

At launch, though, the driver will only be able to play GT and other PlayStation games while the car is parked, thanks to built-in Remote Play functionality. Beyond gaming, Sony is building out a comprehensive set of APIs that will enable third-party developers to create immersive in-cabin experiences, including custom gauge clusters and infotainment skins. All that will be run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Digital Chassis, with enough power to handle both the evolving active safety and infotainment duties.

That all sounds fun, but the bad news is that would-be buyers are going to have to wait a little longer to start customising their rides. Production on the Afeela 1 has slipped, and it will not ship to the first customers until the very end of 2026. Those customers will have to be in California, as that's the only state where the sedan will be for sale. Arizona will come next, sometime in 2027, but nobody at Sony Honda Mobility will say which state will get the next bite of this apple, or when. 

Will it be worth the wait? We'll circle back later with more detailed impressions from inside this year's iteration of the Afeela 1.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-honda-mobilitys-afeela-prototype-2026-puts-an-suv-spin-on-its-too-familiar-sedan-at-ces-043927882.html?src=rss

Garmin’s big announcement for CES 2026 wasn’t another fitness watch. Instead, it revealed it is adding food (and calorie) tracking to its Connect app. It combines AI image recognition with a rich food database, so you can monitor your calorie and nutrient intake without leaving the app — and even log some food through its watches.

The food tracking works similarly to existing apps like MyFitnessPal, Noom, LifeSum and many others. Still, Garmin hopes to make its companion app the best place for tracking nutrition without having to leave its app – and tying it into your other fitness goals.

This makes sense in a few ways. If you already use Garmin to track your exercise, the app can provide a more accurate estimate of your calorie expenditure. It’ll personalize it based on height, weight and gender, which you’ve likely already entered on your Garmin profile. It can even offer calorie and macronutrient recommendations tailored to your fitness goals.

However, it unveiled the news at CES 2026, a tech conference held in Las Vegas, which seemed like a troll. Las Vegas, where you’re never far from a three-foot margarita, a BLT Bloody Mary or fried chicken and waffles. In fact, Garmin selected one of my favorite restaurants, Yardbird, to showcase its new nutrition-tracking feature. Yardbird does incredible chicken and waffles. It’s possibly the worst possible place to start monitoring my calorie intake, regardless of the 15,000-odd steps I take each day here.

In addition to the food database, you can use the camera to log food. With AI-powered image recognition, the Connect app makes a generally good guess at what you’re eating. During the media briefing lunch, the app swiftly recognized grilled salmon, corn and several other vegetables. The quantities were not remotely accurate, however: Five kernels of corn do not equate to one cup. You can manually adjust the serving size, but unfortunately, it can’t make a more informed estimate at this point. A Garmin spokesperson noted that the company is looking into how to improve accuracy here. (It’s a common issue for any app or service attempting to use AI image detection to analyse meals.) It was, however, quick and easy. 

Mat Smith for Engadget

You can also create customized meal entries (with the correct ingredient quantities), making it easier to track your regular breakfast habits or midday coffee order. Better still, you can monitor nutrition and calorie intake on compatible Garmin watches. You can even log your favorite (and recently logged foods from your wrist without needing to use your phone. Voice commands also work on compatible Garmin wearables.

The feature is now available to Garmin Connect+ subscribers, who pay $6.99 per month. This also includes Active Intelligence, which already offers AI-powered insights into your workouts. It can now factor in your nutrition.

Subscribers will also be able to get daily, weekly, monthly and even annual reports on calorie targets (and what you ended up consuming). But let’s start monitoring that once I’ve left Vegas, please.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/garmin-food-tracking-feature-connect-plus-ces-2026-043231948.html?src=rss

OhSnap won our hearts (and a best of CES award) last year with the MCON, its tiny Bluetooth game pad that magnetically connects to your phone. At the time, we tried a pre-production unit, but in the year since the MCON has been finalized and went on sale last month. I just got a chance to try the final version here at CES, and just a quick demo was enough to convince me that OhSnap has made some solid refinements over the last year.

Just as we saw last year, the MCON attaches magnetically to an iPhone or any compatible Android phone (the company also includes a magnetic ring in the box for Androids that don’t have Qi2 yet). It has the full array of controls, including four face buttons, a D-pad, two joysticks and index finger buttons and full bumpers. It’s just sleeker and feels more solid than last year’s prototype, and while mounting your makes it feel a bit top-heavy, it’s not awkward enough to cause real issues when playuing (at least that’s how I felt after my brief demo).

The controller also has grips that unfold to help balance things, and the plate that attaches your phone to the controller has a kickstand. So if you want to drop your phone down on a tray table on a plane and play just holding the controller, feel free. All in all, the MCON feels like a flexible and high-quality device that’s probably worth the $150 OhSnap asks for it.

The MCON dock connects your phone to your TV for full-screen gameplay.Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

The company also has some new accessories to show off. There’s a $70 TV dock that powers your phone and outputs video from USB-C to HDMI. You could use this dock with any Bluetooth controller hooked up to your mobile phone, not just the MCON. There’s also a tiny $30 adapter you can put on your keychain that has a USB-C plug that goes into your phone; plug an HDMI cable into the other end and you can broadcast your games to a TV anywhere you go and play them with a controller.

It’s a pretty clever and comprehensive set of products, and while there are tons of mobile game controllers, the OhSnap feels like one of the more portable and sleek options out there. OhSnap is working on something even slimmer, though. The company showed off two new prototype controllers, the MCON Lite and MCON Slim.

OhSnap is working on two new MCON controller that are more compact than the original.Nathan Ingraham for Engadget

As the names suggest, they’re both more compact than the original model. The Lite uses concave joypads rather than full sticks, and the Slim makes things even smaller by using concave touch pads. Your’e not going to get quite the same quality experience with those as you would with the bigger version, but they are noticeably thinner; OhSnap says they’ll be cheaper, too. The MCON Lite is scheduled to arrive this summer, while the Slim should launch in the fall (around the same time as the iPhone 18).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/another-look-at-ohsnaps-mcon-a-magnetic-game-controller-for-your-phone-042424092.html?src=rss

New tech at CES often makes categorization hard. Is Cozyla’s latest device a digital family calendar, a TV or a smart home hub? After seeing it, I’d say the answer is, yes? Cozyla calls the Calendar + Max the “largest interactive hub in it’s category.” And indeed, it’s the size of a big flatscreen, but the main interface is just like any other Cozyla device, an Android-based family calendar and planner with shared schedules, notes, meal plans, and chores. It syncs with Google, Yahoo and Apple calendars as well as Outlook, and it will run apps from the Google Play store. (Yahoo owns Engadget, but has no say in our editorial coverage.)

But this super-sized version can also stream shows and movies with whichever apps you subscribe to. The photo integration, via the app, will take pics from your phone and stick them on the bigs screen. You can also create a slideshow and photo walls to look at when the calendar is off.

The smart home integration lets you view your security camera and video doorbell feeds on a much larger scale than your phone’s display can offer. The display has a camera of its own so you can make FaceTime and Zoom calls.

The Max comes on a built-in stand that you can roll around the house, along with a battery that should power the whole thing for around six hours. When I first heard about it, I found myself wondering where I would put Calendar+ Max in my house. The kitchen is an ideal centralized calendar location, but I don’t want to watch Miss Scarlet in there. Luckily, the wheels make that conundrum moot. This can go anywhere you want it to, and swings into portrailt orientation that looks great for chore mode, and landscape orientation for watching shows.

Possibly the best part is the lack of subscription required. Like with all Cozyla screens, there’s no ongoing cost to use all the features. The Calendar + Max has no release date or price available just yet, but if I ever decided to organize my family’s life beyond barely contained chaos, I can see myself considering it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/cozyla-showed-off-a-4k-55-inch-digital-family-calendar-at-ces-040352802.html?src=rss

Projector maker XGIMI has turned up at CES to launch its own range of AR glasses, but don’t get the champagne out too soon. MemoMind is a new brand under which its AI-infused eyewear will be sold, with two distinct units arriving at some point in the near future. The company says it has leveraged its know-how in optics and engineering to produce glasses which are unobtrusively light, all the better for blending into your daily life. Fashionistas will even be overjoyed to learn the glasses’ ship in eight different frame styles, five different temple designs and can be worn with prescription lenses. 

Memo One is the company’s flagship option, with dual-eye displays and integrated speakers so you can see and hear your AI assistant. The Memo Air, meanwhile, is a more stripped down model  weighing just 28.9 grams which just has a single eye display. Unfortunately, the company is using microLED displays rather than waveguides, making them a far harder sell for a lot of would-be users. After all, putting something that small so close to your eye but behind your prescription means it’s a painful experience for short sighted folks to focus on text. As I explained in my Halliday review, this technology is no friend to the glasses wearers who would otherwise be the ideal early adopters.

Update Jan 5, 2026: I have never been so happy to post an update, as I have now seen these in person and learned that they do not use microLED displays. In fact, they do use waveguides, making them a lot more attractive than I had initially thought. In fact, the glasses they remind me the most of is Even Realities’ G1, which I reviewed and absolutely loved.

MemoMind LineupXGIMI

In fact there are plenty of similarities, including the fact you need to tilt your head up to activate them. The waveguide prisms are a lot taller here, giving you plenty more real estate for your important data. To the point where the homescreen was set to include a full stock tracker (with graphs) and still had room for the time and notification pane.

They’re also surprisingly light, despite the fact the model I tested was the feature-packed flagship as opposed to the display free version.

The glasses are just a vehicle for the company’s AI assistant, promising translation, summarization, note-taking, reminders and contextual guidance. Unlike some of its would-be rivals, XGIMI says its platform will switch between OpenAI, Azure and (Alibaba’s) Qwen depending on what it thinks will offer you the best result for each task. Naturally, we’ll need to get them in to test before passing final judgment on their qualities but, you can color us naturally hostile to those damn microLEDs until we’re convinced otherwise.

XGIMI says the flagship Memo One will be available to pre-order “soon,” most likely after MWC in March. It’ll cost $599, with prescription lenses available for an additional, as yet unspecified charge, and the other models coming further down the line.

This story was updated to rectify incorrect information from the company’s press release.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/xgimi-best-known-for-projectors-launches-its-own-smart-glasses-170000968.html?src=rss

The whole AI PC trend didn't exactly set the world on fire last year, but, like clockwork, AMD is still ready to deliver a new batch of AI chips at CES 2026. The Ryzen AI 400 processors will offer some slight speed upgrades over last year's chips, and notably, they also include AMD's first Copilot+ processors for desktops. Sure, the Copilot+ program didn't really go anywhere, but as I've argued, it at least served as a template for building capable AI PCs. Now we just need some genuinely useful AI features in Windows — Recall and Copilot's voice commands aren't really compelling enough on their own.

AMD's first AI desktop chips, the Ryzen 8000G series, arrived in 2024 with relatively underpowered neural processing units (NPUs) for AI tasks. The Ryzen AI 400 chips, on the other hand, feature 60 TOPS XDNA 2 NPUs (up from the 50 to 55 TOPS in Ryzen AI 300 hardware). That places them well above the 40 TOPS NPU minimum for Copilot+ systems. For most consumers, NPU speeds don't really mean much yet, but if you're running AI models on your system you can expect slightly faster inferencing from AMD's previous chips.

AMD Ryzen AI 400 chipsAMD

The top-end Ryzen AI 9 HX 475 offers up to 12 Zen 5 CPU cores, 5.2GHz max boost speeds and up to 8,533 MT/s memory speeds. The line scales down to the four-core Ryzen AI 5 430, but even that model supports speedy 8,000 MTS RAM and offers a 50 TOPS NPU.

AMD isn't giving us many specific details on the Ryzen AI 400 chips at CES, but broadly, it claims they'll offer up to 30 percent faster multi-tasking, 70 percent faster content creation and 10 percent faster gaming than its previous chips. The company also says you'll see 70 percent better "unplugged connectivity" on Cinebench nT, which is hopefully a sign that you'll see improved performance overall on battery.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amds-ryzen-ai-400-chips-are-a-big-boost-for-laptops-and-desktops-alike-033000635.html?src=rss

While it's nice to see desktop support in AMD's new Ryzen AI 400 chips, demanding gamers and enthusiasts will likely be more intrigued by the company's next batch of Ryzen AI Max+ chips, as well as the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D with 3D V-Cache. The former will make its way into small desktops and a handful of workhorse laptops, while the latter is another option for gamers who want the speed bump of 3D V-cache without shelling out for the $700 9950X3D. 

Last year, AMD debuted its Ryzen AI Max chips as a way to create a single piece of silicon with powerful CPU cores, GPU cores, NPUs and integrated memory, similar to Apple's home-brewed chips. At the time, AMD VP Joe Macri also noted that the existence of Apple Silicon helped make the Ryzen AI Max chips possible.

"Many people in the PC industry said, well, if you want graphics, it's gotta be discrete graphics because otherwise people will think it's bad graphics," Macri said at last year's CES. "What Apple showed was consumers don't care what's inside the box. They actually care what the what the box looks like. They care about the screen, the keyboard, the mouse. They care about what it does."

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ chip familyAMD

At CES this year, AMD is unveiled the 12-core Ryzen AI Max+ 392 and eight-core Ryzen AI Max+ 388. Both chips feature boost speeds up to 5GHz, 50 TOPS NPUs and GPUs capable of 60 TFLOPs. We've seen the earlier Ryzen AI Max chips in the Framework Desktop and the ROG Flow Z13, and we were generally impressed with its performance. For small systems, it was powerful enough that we really didn't miss having dedicated GPUs.

AMD Ryzen 7 9000X3DAMD

As for the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, it's an 8-core chip that can reach up to 5.6GHz boost speeds with 104MB of combined L2 and L3 cache. Like all of AMD's X3D chips, it uses 3D V-cache technology to vertically stack additional cache memory. In comparison, the standard 9850HX chip has 76MB of L2 and L3 cache.

AMD says the new Ryzen AI Max+ chips and the 9850X3D will ship in the first quarter. There's no pricing information on the latter, yet, but recent leaked listings suggest it may go for around $200. Rumors also point to a massive dual-cache (192MB!) 9950X3D2 chip coming soon.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amds-new-ryzen-ai-max-chips-and-ryzen-7-9850x3d-court-desktop-enthusiasts-at-ces-2026-033000587.html?src=rss

After relaunching its Area-51 brand with a new 16-inch laptop in 2025, Alienware is teasing two new laptops at CES 2026 in an attempt to reach an even larger audience. Dell's gaming brand plans to launch both entry-level and ultra-slim models later this year, and in the meantime, it's rolling out updates to its existing desktops and laptops to tide people over.

Alienware isn't sharing all the details of its new laptops at CES, but we do have the highlights. The company's new "ultra-slim gaming laptop" will be around 17mm or 0.67 inches thin, and come in either 14-inch or 16-inch variants. While the 16-inch version of the laptop will feature NVIDIA discrete graphics and "new highly efficient CPUs," it's not meant to be a gaming powerhouse like the Area-51. Instead, Alienware suggests the laptop will work for gaming and also "creative projects, productivity and everything in between."

The entry-level laptop is similarly not at Area-51-levels of power, but Alienware claims it'll deliver "strong gaming performance" at its "most accessible price point yet." That should ideally put the new laptop under the $1,199 starting price of the more streamlined Alienware 16 Aurora laptop.

The Alienware Area-51 Desktop will get updated with the latest AMD chips in February 2026.Dell

On top of those two new models, Alienware is bringing new anti-glare OLED panels to a selection of its Alienware 16X Aurora and Alienware 16 Area-51 laptops, along with new Intel Core Ultra 200HX chips. The new display panels reach 620 nits of peak HDR brightness and have a 0.2ms response time for even smoother gameplay. The Alienware 18 Area-51 is also getting an upgrade to Intel Core Ultra 200HX chips, while the Alienware Area-51 Desktop will ship with AMD's new Ryzen 7 9850X3D chips.

There's currently no pricing available for Alienware's new laptops, or the updated versions of its older models. The updated Alienware 16X Aurora, Alienware 16 Area-51, and Alienware 18 Area-51 laptops will be available in Q1 2026. The update Alienware Area-51 Desktop is coming in February 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/alienware-teases-new-super-slim-and-entry-level-gaming-laptops-at-ces-2026-033000700.html?src=rss

Urinalysis company Vivoo has rocked up at CES 2026 with two new products designed to keep an eye on your health. The first is the Smart Toilet, which clips onto your bowl and uses optical sensors to monitor your hydration levels.

It’s an evolution of the smart toilet product it originally announced back in 2023, which used a reactive testing strip as part of its process. Here, that feature has been ditched in favor of just collecting a small sample in its pocket-shaped cup for non-contact testing before being released.

The optical sensors in question are designed to track your urine’s specific gravity to monitor how hydrated you are. (If urine is too dense, it’s a sign of dehydration, while if it’s too thin, it’s a sign of over-hydration or something more serious, like diabetes or renal failure.)

mage of the Vivoo Smart Toilet being splashed with water Vivoo

You trigger a reading via the smartphone app, and when the test is complete the data will be pushed back to your device. The company says its battery will last for more than 1,000 measurements before you need to recharge it, too.

Vivoo doesn’t (Withings) name (Withings) names (Withings) but throws a sharp elbow toward its competitor. It boasts that its product will last for 1,000 tests on a single charge, “vastly exceeding the handful of monthly readings offered by chemical cartridge-based tests.” And that its battery pack, which sits on the outside of the toilet bowl, means you won’t need to uninstall the sensor to recharge and clean it on a regular basis. 

Image of Vivoo's FlowPad Vivoo

At the same time, the company is announcing Hygenic FlowPad, a menstrual pad infused with microfluidics. These are capable of monitoring factors such as Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSI), a marker for fertiity, ovarian health and perimenopause. Once the wearer removes the pad, they are tasked with scanning it with their phone camera to Vivoo’s app, much like many of its other at-home tests. At present, there’s no word on when FlowPad will be available to buy, but the company hopes to charge $4-5 per pad. 

Vivoo’s Smart Toilet can be ordered today, with early birds getting the gear for $99 with no need for an additional subscription, due to ship March. A second batch on the same deal arrives in June, but latecomers will have to wait until September 2026 when it goes on general sale. At that point, the price will climb to $129, plus an additional $6 a month for the subscription.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/vivoos-toilet-computer-keeps-an-eye-on-your-hydration-030000209.html?src=rss

French startup NAOX is at CES with a groundbreaking wearable EEG for clinics and research, but that’s not what we’re interested in today. Because it’s also here showing off a prototype of the consumer version, which incorporates its brain-scanning technology in wireless earbuds. As early as the end of this year, your earbuds could pull double-duty, pumping out tunes and keeping an eye on your brain’s health.

The product being released today is the NAOX Link NX01, an in-ear EEG designed to replace the wire-covered caps you’ve seen at a sleep clinic. It’s designed to be much more convenient for use in long-term studies, enabling people to keep an eye on their health while on the go. Don’t think you’ll be able to mess with one of these yourself as it is targeted toward clinical environments.

Of more interest is the NAOX Wave, which uses the same in-ear EEG technology from Link, but in a pair of wireless earbuds. As with the clinical model, Wave is designed to quietly keep an eye on your brain’s biomarkers as you go about your day. The company says it’ll be able to monitor your mental activity while working, relaxing and sleeping. In the companion app, you’ll get insights about your mental health, sleep analytics and cognitive performance, as well as details on your brain’s age. 

NAOX has said its version of the buds will launch towards the end of 2026, but it may not be the only name selling this tech. The company says it is interested in licensing its technology to audio companies, so we could see these EEGs popping up in earbuds from other, more established brands.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/naoxs-wireless-earbuds-have-a-built-in-eeg-to-monitor-your-brain-health-030000605.html?src=rss

You’ll be able to watch more live sports programming on Peacock that supports Dolby Vision and Atmos starting this year. At the moment, the only live sports offering you can enjoy with Atmos on the service is Sunday Night Football. Now, Dolby Laboratories has announced at CES that Peacock is expanding the availability of Dolby Vision and Atmos across live sports over the coming year. Peacock will add support for both technologies to Sunday Night Football, NBA and MLB live sporting events that the streaming service will offer its subscribers.

“Our partnership with Dolby ensures that whether our subscribers are streaming a thrilling playoff game, the latest Universal blockbuster, or a critically acclaimed Peacock Original, they're experiencing it exactly as creators intended — with breathtaking picture and immersive sound that brings every moment to life,” said David Bohunek, Senior Vice President of Global Video Engineering at NBCUniversal.

The companies have also announced that Peacock will start supporting Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4 starting later this year. Dolby Laboratories called Vision 2 “a groundbreaking evolution of its industry-leading picture quality innovation” when it announced the technology at IFA 2025. It was designed with today’s TV technology in mind, and it uses AI to automatically adjust your TV based on what you’re watching and where you're watching it. Meanwhile, AC-4 is a new audio format that Dolby says can deliver the highest audio quality “at a much lower bandwidth than other formats.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/peacock-is-expanding-dolby-vision-and-atmos-availability-for-live-sports-023000794.html?src=rss

Smartglasses company Rokid has introduced new display-free AI glasses at CES 2026. Dubbed "Style", the glasses are intended for all-day use and are compatible with users' corrective prescriptions.

Style supports multiple AI engines, including ChatGPT and DeepSeek, instead of being locked to any LLM. The glasses can also work with Google Maps and Microsoft AI translation.

Style is powered by a dual-chip setup, with an NXP RT600 handling low-power, always-on tasks and a Qualcomm AR1 taking on heavier AI and imaging workloads. Rokid claims this architecture helps it reach up to 12 hours of battery life under typical use.

A 12MP camera with a Sony sensor on the front supports 4K capture. Video can be shot in three different aspect ratios, which Rokid says makes it easier for creators to make content for different platforms. Style can record up to 10 minutes of continuous footage, which Rokid is quick to point out exceeds the roughly three-minute limit on Meta Ray-Bans.

The glasses weigh 38.5 grams and sport ultra-thin lenses with anti-scratch coatings. Style is a bit lighter than the Rokid smartglasses that we reviewed earlier this year, which include a display. The company also offers transition lenses in a variety of colors and the frames are offered in two.

Style is available for reservation now with a one dollar deposit and will officially release globally January 19. The AI smart glasses will retail for $300. Glasses purchased for a vision-impaired user will receive a 20 dollar subsidy from Rokid.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/rokid-introduces-display-free-ai-smartglasses-at-ces-2026-010017906.html?src=rss

"Relaxing" isn't a word anyone is likely to associate with CES. If anything, it is the antithesis of CES, an exhausting and wildly overstimulating marathon event that takes place in the already exhausting and wildly overstimulating Las Vegas. But a demo of Ambient's bedside device, Dreamie, ahead of its appearance at CES-adjacent Pepcom had me properly lulled and ready to go right back to bed. Dreamie is a smart sunrise alarm clock and nighttime wind-down device that has a built-in podcast player, a catalog of green, pink and brown noise sound masks, guided breathing programs, contactless motion sensors to provide insights into your sleep habits, dynamic lighting with simulated sunrise wake-ups and Bluetooth connectivity for headphones.

But most importantly for anyone trying to avoid using their phone immediately before bed, it's a standalone system in which all controls, features and scheduling options as well as data storage are on-device. And there's no subscription. 

The goal of Dreamie is "to help you separate from your phone while providing a lot of the conveniences that you would normally have," said CEO and co-founder Adrian Canoso. You can set multiple alarms on different schedules, access soothing content to fall asleep to and customize how gradual your sunrise wakeup is. There are environmental sensors to clue you in on the humidity, temperature and lighting conditions over the course of the night, to give you a better idea of how these things may be affecting your sleep. 

Dreamie is a relatively small device compared to other sunrise-style clocks, with a truncated pill-shaped body and a sleek circular touchscreen. Around the display is a hidden dial for volume control, and it feels great to rotate, with just the right amount of resistance. There's also a touch strip on top of the device to easily adjust the dimness of the light by dragging your finger along it. From the display, you can even change the direction the light is pointing so you don't blast yourself (or your partner) with it when your eyes aren't ready, casting the light off to the back instead. 

Dreamie's brightness controls Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget

Its 20-LED array can go from a soft, warm orangey glow to cool and bright blue-white, and certain programs, like the aurora borealis soundscape, will trigger other colors of the rainbow, throwing soothing green, blue and magenta. More impressive is the rich sound that comes from its 50 millimeter speaker. Dreamie has a 360-degree speaker grille on the bottom of the device that sends sound in all directions to create more immersive ambient sound. 

When a speaker is pointing toward you, "it's almost like a laser beam coming at you," which isn't exactly the most relaxing experience, explained Canoso, who previously worked in industrial design and robotics, and before that, as a studio recording engineer. "[Dreamie] projects the sound all the way around… So when you put it next to you on a night table, it sounds more diffused. It's not the loudest speaker out there because we've optimized it for rich sound quality at lower volumes. We don't need it loud. We just need it to sound good." 

And sound good, it does. It's seriously got me thinking I may finally have found the thing to replace the Philips Wake-Up Light I've been clinging to for close to 10 years now that has decent lighting but absolutely abysmal sound quality.

Dreamie, which costs $250, recently started shipping after a successful crowdfunding campaign, and certain features — including podcasts and sleep insights — haven't launched just yet (though I did get to see the podcast library during the demonstration, so it is a real thing, and it’s expected to roll out later this month). Those and other future features will arrive via free over-the-air updates. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/this-tabletop-sleep-device-and-sunrise-alarm-clock-aims-to-help-you-put-your-phone-away-before-bed-004751464.html?src=rss

Intel turned up to CES 2026 to herald the birth of the Core Ultra Series 3, a new range of chips offering “exceptional performance.” It says the mobile processors, formerly known as Panther Lake, deliver great graphics and battery life alongside the aforementioned grunt. And that, for the first time, the silicon has been certified for embedded and industrial use cases, including robotics and smart cities. But, like so many stories about Intel these days, the launch is loaded with so much subtext you’ll need a copy of Cliffs Notes to understand it.

On the face of it, these are just some snappy flagship chips, available in Core Ultra 7 and 9 ranges as well as Core X7 and X9, which ship with 12 Xe graphics cores over the usual four. Almost all of them offer 16 total cores and threads, and all bar two have total NPU performance of 50 PTOPS.

Image of the Core Ultra Series 3Intel

These chips are going to be famous for two key reasons: First, Intel claims they’re the most advanced chips ever manufactured in the US. Second, they’re the first to be made using Intel’s long awaited 18A process, which has dogged the company for several years. 18A was a key plank of former CEO Pat Gelsinger’s rescue plan to restore Intel to the top of the chip world. But sadly that comeback didn’t come fast enough to prevent the CEO from being (unfairly, in my mind) deposed at the end of 2024. It didn’t help that, for all of the money spent on 18A, as recently as August 2025, the company was reportedly still suffering from low yields and high defect rates.

18A is short for 18 Angstrom, a measurement that’s far smaller than the nanometers we currently use to denote transistor size in chips. 18 Angstrom is roughly equivalent to 1.8 nanometers, putting it on the same rough level as the most advanced manufacturing process — N2 — available at TSMC in Taiwan. At CES, Intel’s new CEO Lip Bu-Tan said the company was now ahead of schedule for ramping production on 18A, which could mark an important shift in the global chip market. 

You should expect to see these chips show up in laptops from all the usual suspects, including HP, Acer, Lenovo, Dell, Samsung and the rest across this year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/ces-2026-intel-hopes-its-core-ultra-series-3-chips-are-the-start-of-a-comeback-000155611.html?src=rss

A couple years ago ASUS made its first dual-screen laptop in the ZenBook Duo. Now at CES 2026, the company has taken that idea and branched off in a somewhat unexpected way with the ROG Zephyrus Duo, which might just be the world’s first true dual-screen gaming laptop.

Unlike a more traditional productivity notebook with two built-in displays, the concept of a dual-screen gaming notebook doesn’t translate quite as naturally because powering two screens comes with a performance hit. Plus, in the heat of battle, it’s not like you have a lot of opportunity to utilize that second monitor. But if you view this Zephyrus Duo as more of an all-purpose portable content creation and gaming station, things begin to make a lot more sense. 

Both of Zephyrus Duo’s 16-inch Nebula OLED panels have strong specs including support for HDR with up to 1,100 nits of peak brightness, NVIDIA G-Sync, stylus integration and a very strong Delta-E (which measures color accuracy) of less than one. Performance also looks solid with ASUS offering the latest Core Ultra processors from Intel and up to an NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPU. Sure, with a TDP of 135 watts, the Zephyrus Duo won’t be quite as punchy as a comparable single-screened 16-inch gaming notebook, but those won’t be nearly as adaptable as the ROG either. 

Just like the Zenbook Duo, the Zephyrus Duo comes with a detachable wireless keyboard that can be charged up magnetically. This allows users to set up the laptop in all sorts of positions, which are enhanced thanks to a built-in kickstand. The one people will use the most is probably the stacked arrangement with one display above the other. However, you can also keep the Duo and clamshell mode, slide the keyboard forward for drawing, lay it down flat on a table or even put it into tent mode and game on it. Though even ASUS admits that may not be super practical as apps will need to specifically support that use case. Though at the very least, you can mirror your screen for a friend on the other side of a desk/table.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo comes with a built-in kickstand which makes it easy to set it up in all sorts of different positions, even if it is a bit heavy. Sam Rutherford for Engadget

Now I will admit that after messing around with the Zephyrus Duo in person, it is a bit ungainly due to its weight of 6.28 pounds. But ASUS managed to do a good job of keeping it relatively thin (0.77 inches) without skimping on features like sound thanks to the Duo’s six-speaker stereo system and cooling which features a vapor chamber and a liquid metal thermal material. You also get a surprising amount of ports including multiple USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, HDMI 2.1 and a full-size SD card slot, plus a decently large 90Whr battery. 

The one important thing we don’t know yet though is how much it will cost, particularly because this thing almost certainly won’t be cheap (I’m guessing a starting price of around $2,500). A dual-screen gaming laptop might not make a lot of sense, but I appreciate how ambitious ASUS is being with the ROG Zephyrus Duo and I’m looking forward to testing it out sometime later this year. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/the-asus-rog-zephyrus-duo-is-big-weird-and-kind-of-awesome-000000156.html?src=rss

Who among us hasn't looked at the ASUS ROG Flow Z13 and said, "That's great and all, but what if it had more Hideo Kojima?" Well, our cries have been heard. Behold, the ROG Flow Z13-KJP, a collaboration between ASUS and Kojima Productions.

On the inside, this model is no different than the standard version we reviewed last May. The device takes a Surface Pro-like form factor and beefs it up into something that’s more like a gaming laptop. (Ergo, ASUS's pitch of the product as a "gaming tablet.")

But on the outside, you'll find a design "for Ludens who dare." The Death Stranding influence is evident, but you may pick up on some Metal Gear-adjacent touches as well. The tablet's gold color, symbols and integrated carbon fiber conjure Kojima’s Ludens mascot. This variant is slightly larger than the standard one, most noticeably in the detachable keyboard.

ROG Flow Z13-KJPASUS

There will also be matching accessories available, including a mouse, case, headphones and a desk mat. Depending on your region, those may or may not be bundled with the device. (We'll update this story when we find out more.)

Fortunately, once the design novelty wears off, you're left with a fairly powerful gaming machine. The Copilot PC has a 13.4-inch IPS touchscreen with a 180Hz refresh rate and 500 nits of brightness. Its port selection is surprisingly generous: two USB 4 Type-C ports, one USB-A port, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio and a microSD slot. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 chip inside has integrated graphics that punch above what you'd expect. You can configure it with up to 128GB LPDDR5X 8000 RAM.

More Kojima than you ever expected from a "gaming tablet"ASUS

ASUS hasn't yet revealed pricing or availability for the ROG Flow Z13-KJP. You can read more about the standard version in Sam Rutherford's review.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/ces-asus-made-a-special-hideo-kojima-version-of-the-rog-flow-z13-000000768.html?src=rss

NVIDIA and Intel had their moment in the spotlight, and now it's AMD's turn. The chipmaker is kicking off CES 2026 on Monday night, where it'll cover its latest AI developments and perhaps show off its newest Ryzen chips. It's the kickoff keynote of CES 2026, and CEO Dr. Lisa Su is expected to outline how AMD's hardware will power the AI revolution — and what the company can offer partners and consumers that those aforementioned rivals can't.  

We'll tell you how to tune in to the livestream and what else you can expect to see.

How to watch AMD's keynote live

Dr. Su will deliver a keynote speech from the Palazzo Ballroom at the Venetian on Monday, January 5 at 9:30PM ET (6:30PM PT). You can watch the event live on the CES YouTube channel (we've embedded the livestream below).

Engadget will also be liveblogging the AMD keynote in real-time.

What to expect from AMD at CES 2026

While AMD says it's keeping its product details under wraps, we can expect "updates on AI solutions, from cloud to enterprise, edge and devices."

It's also likely that AMD will unveil its new versions of the Ryzen chips during its keynote on Monday, as Su will talk about the "advancements driven by Ryzen CPUs." That could include the Ryzen 7 9850X3D, which is expected to have better single-threaded performance than its predecessors. Additionally, we can expect to see the Ryzen 9000G series, which is potentially built with AMD's Zen 5 architecture.

Regarding AI, AMD could further discuss its new FSR Redstone technology, which it previously previewed on December 10. AMD's upscaling tech aims to close the gap on NVIDIA's DLSS 4, which was announced during CES 2025.

Su's presentation caps off CES's press day, so she'll be taking the stage in the hours after rivals NVIDIA and Intel present their chipmaking and AI plans to the world. As a reminder of how cross-linked these companies have become: OpenAI has pledged billions of dollars of hardware orders to AMD, while rival NVIDIA has invested billions in OpenAI — and taken a stake worth billions in Intel, too. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/amd-at-ces-2026-live-updates-from-ceo-lisa-sus-keynote-presentation-190012370.html?src=rss

Waymo is getting a good look at the competition as Uber revealed the design of its robotaxi that's due to launch in San Francisco later this year. The upcoming robotaxi is a result of a partnership announced in July between Uber, Lucid and Nuro. The plan is still to deploy at least 20,000 Lucid EVs that will use the Nuro Driver autonomous driving tech and be available through the Uber platform.

It's important to note that the robotaxi reveal will be a "production intent design," so there may be some modifications to the version that will eventually hit the streets. However, the partnership started on-road testing last month in the San Francisco Bay Area, with Nuro using more than 100 robotaxi prototypes supervised by autonomous vehicle operators.

The robotaxi, which is a modified Lucid Gravity, will feature a multi-pronged sensor system, including high-res cameras, lidar sensors, and radar. The design also incorporates a halo mounted onto the EV's roof, which will increase sensor visibility and double as a display that uses LEDs to display helpful info to passengers.

As for the interior, Uber designed the "in-vehicle rider experience," which can accommodate six passengers and luggage space. Inside, the robotaxi will have a display that lets you activate heated seats, adjust climate controls and throw on music, while also offering options for emergencies, like contacting support or requesting the robotaxi to pull over. Even though the passenger isn't behind the wheel, the robotaxi's interactive screen will show its planned path in real-time and all the decisions it makes while driving, like interacting with pedestrians, traffic lights or lane changes.

The partnership said the design is still awaiting final validation, but that the robotaxi production is slated to start at Lucid's factory in Arizona later this year. Before its official launch in late 2026, Uber's robotaxi will be on display at CES 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/uber-reveals-the-design-of-its-robotaxi-at-ces-2026-230056302.html?src=rss

Acer just announced the Predator Helios 16S AI gaming laptop at CES 2026. This computer is filled with both bells and whistles, making it a decent choice for modern gamers.

To that end, the laptop can be equipped with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 386H processor. This is Intel's upcoming flagship mobile processor that has previously been known as Panther Lake. The Helios 16S AI can also be outfitted with up to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 GPU.

Acer

It comes with a 16-inch WQXGA OLED display that offers true HDR imaging support. The laptop can be loaded with up to 64GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage. The connectivity here is on point, with support for Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth. Everything is housed in an 18.9mm slim metal chassis. It looks pretty solid.

We don't have any pricing, and the company might still be calculating that, given that ongoing RAM shortage. Acer says they'll disclose that closer to launch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acers-predator-helios-neo-16s-ai-laptop-can-be-outfitted-with-intels-new-core-ultra-9-386h-cpu-230048825.html?src=rss

In addition to huge TVs, compact projectors, Trifolds and more, Samsung announced a new family of laptops at CES called the Galaxy Book 6 series. The company says it’s focused on what matters and on what you, hopefully, want in your next laptop. That means Intel’s latest chips, a cleaner design and battery life that lasts longer than a day. They’re really thin, too.

Timed alongside Intel’s CES announcements, the whole Galaxy Book 6 series features new Panther Lake chips, optimized by Samsung for three new laptops: The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, Galaxy Book 6 Pro and Galaxy Book 6.

The 16-inch Galaxy Book 6 Ultra can be equipped with up to Core Ultra X9 processors and promises significant performance improvements, with a new 5th-generation MPU, Intel Arc graphics and NVIDIA’s RTX 50 series GPUs (with RTX 5070 and 5060 options). That package leads Samsung to promise up to 1.6x greater CPU power and 1.7x improved graphics performance compared to the last Galaxy Book series. (It’s worth noting that Samsung skipped an Ultra configuration of the Galaxy Book 5 series.)

All the laptops feature improved heat-management architecture, with a wider vapor chamber and re-engineered fans. At the same time, the Ultra features a new dual-path fan to cool the GPU even more efficiently and swiftly.

Mat Smith for Engadget

The Galaxy Book 6 Pro will come in 14- and 16-inch versions, with up to Core Ultra X7 processors and Intel Arc graphics. Both the Book 6 Ultra and Pro have improved AMOLED 2X (2,880 x 1,800) displays with touch, reaching up to 1000 nits of peak brightness — twice the brightness of the Book 5 Pro. Both models support adaptive refresh rates too, going up to 120Hz.

The Book 6 Ultra has a more typical laptop shape, while the Book 6 Pro has a teardrop profile, made famous by the MacBook Air. Even if there’s some Apple inspiration, the Samsung laptops look great. Samsung has removed many unnecessary design elements. Although the Book 6 Ultra clings onto a USB-A port, it now (finally) has a full-size SD card reader, the lack of which was a major oversight on previous laptops.

Mat Smith for Engadget

Samsung has also tweaked the keyboard layout, though it’s too early to say whether it offers a significant improvement to the typing experience. It has added haptic trackpads to the Galaxy Book series for the first time too, although I found the one on my demo unit a little too hair-trigger sensitive to my touch. Thankfully, that’s something that can be addressed in the settings.

As you might notice from the photos, there are upward-firing speakers on either side of the keyboard. The Book 6 Ultra has six built-in speakers (four woofers, two tweeters) and has apparently balanced them symmetrically to reduce noise distortion.

Both laptops are slimmer than their predecessors, too. The Galaxy Book 6 Ultra is 15.4mm thick, while the Book 6 Pro is a svelte 11.9mm. Inside, Samsung has also enhanced heat management, including a wider vapour chamber and re-engineered fans, to ensure optimal performance during intensive tasks – apparently another priority for the Book 6 Series. Likewise, battery enclosures and placements have been re-engineered, and Samsung claims the new Book 6 Ultra and Pro can each deliver up to 30 hours of video playback. The Book 6 Ultra has the extra benefit of faster charging, reaching 63% in 30 minutes.

It wouldn't be a laptop launch in 2026 without AI features. Alongside the Book 6 series, Samsung highlighted a tool that uses AI to help create cut-outs of images for copy-and-pasting across devices, as well as a Note Assist feature to help collate and summarize your notes.

As is often the case at CES, Samsung hasn’t yet shared pricing or release dates for the Galaxy Book 6 series, so expect to hear more in the coming months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/samsungs-galaxy-book-6-series-ces-2026-intel-panther-lake-230010324.html?src=rss