Amazon's new Alexa Tablets drop the Fire branding but are more Android than ever
For the last 15 years, you've been able to buy a Fire tablet from Amazon. Which Fire tablet? It doesn't matter—like Kindles, they have been pretty much the same year to year. The company's new tablet...
View ArticleMicrosoft event debuts new AI-friendly hardware and Windows changes
In its first live event in two years, Microsoft today announced its newest Surface laptop, outlined a host of changes coming to Windows 11, and shared a vision of how local-AI and agentic workflows...
View ArticleDrones sink ships near NATO countries in “unacceptable” attacks, EU says
Drones sank two cargo ships and damaged a third in the exclusive economic zones of NATO member countries for the first time, killing at least two sailors. The attacks represent a notable escalation as...
View ArticleHBO Max, Paramount+, and Discovery+ "will unify into a single service”
After months of industry and customer speculation, Paramount Skydance has shed some light on the future of the HBO Max and Paramount+ streaming services. Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of...
View ArticleAmazon kills Alexa’s ability to control Echo speakers' AUX input
Amazon has disabled Alexa control of devices plugged into the company's Echo smart speaker’s AUX port. Users have reported receiving an email from Amazon this week informing them of the change. “This...
View ArticleGooglebook "Better Together" phone features don't work with Samsung at launch
Googlebooks are Google's latest attempt to carve out a piece of the premium laptop market, and tight integration with Android phones is a key part of that effort. Now that Googlebooks are available,...
View ArticleRussian drones strike Ukraine’s data centers by exploiting air defense gaps
A surge in Russian jet-powered drone strikes on Ukrainian data centers has increasingly disrupted mobile phone and Internet services for thousands of people. Now Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy...
View ArticleExplaining Hall-effect, TMR, and other new types of "mechanical" switches
The mechanical keyboard isn't always so mechanical anymore. Over the past six years, keyboards with optical, Hall-effect, and other "contactless" switches have become increasingly common, often going...
View ArticleThe dawn of the age of the exoskeleton
This year, members of Seattle Mountain Rescue have been setting off into the wilds of the US Pacific Northwest wearing an unusual piece of kit. They’ve been hiking into the wilderness with powered...
View ArticleHow I kept cool with NYC's free battery program for window AC units
My family has spent four summers participating in demand response programs whereby utility companies pay customers to reduce energy use on the hottest summer days. Most summers have involved carefully...
View ArticleThe 7-year-old Nvidia Shield TV is now $100 more expensive due to AI
The era of generative AI has upended technology supply chains, and there is one ironclad rule in 2026: If it has memory or storage, it's getting more expensive. Even devices with years-old tech inside...
View ArticleTCL is right to question Samsung’s use of the term “Mini LED”
What makes a display a Mini LED display? It's a question that sounds like it should have a simple answer. But it's now at the center of a lawsuit between two of the biggest names in TVs, with TCL...
View ArticleMemory executives expect RAM shortage to continue through 2028
Micron and Samsung executives this week said the memory shortage will continue for at least the next couple of years. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra expects demand for the firm’s memory to exceed its...
View ArticleReddit is putting more limits on Old.Reddit.com
Soon, Reddit won’t let people use Old.Reddit.com unless they have used the site while logged in within the previous six months. In July, Reddit started requiring that users be logged in to access Old...
View ArticleThe Disney protests were a wake-up call about the risks of streaming mergers
There was a call to boycott Disney last fall. The owner of the ABC network had taken Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air over comments Kimmel made about responses to Charlie Kirk's murder, sending free...
View ArticleDiscord gives more advertisers more tools to target its users
Discord has announced tools aimed at expanding the number and types of companies that advertise on the platform. This week, the social media firm announced Discord Ads Manager, an ad campaign...
View ArticleInterview: Firefox's chief on why he hopes a redesign will help win users...
Today, the Firefox 157 update will roll out a redesign of the web browser across desktop and mobile platforms. The team that made it hopes it will help expand the browser's audience beyond...
View ArticleGoogle seemingly confirms plans to kill ChromeOS in 2034
We are mere days away from the launch of Googlebooks, the long-awaited Android laptops that Google hopes will compete with macOS and Windows. But what of Chromebooks? There have been hints that Google...
View ArticleMicrosoft stops insisting you need a "Copilot+ PC"
Since 2024, Microsoft has tried to sell “Copilot+ PC.” The marketing initiative was aimed at making it easy for people to know which Windows systems were approved to run AI-accelerated workloads...
View ArticleF-Droid gets its biggest update in a decade with new UI and smoother app...
Virtually every Android device comes with the Play Store preloaded, but there are other ways to get apps. F-Droid bills itself as a community-driven source for free and open source Android apps, but...
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