Engadget News + Next

The latest Power On newsletter from Bloomberg hints at an Apple competitor to Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip series. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The searches are part of an investigation that has been ongoing for nearly a year over the functioning of X’s algorithms that are “likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system,” investigators said at the time. -On February 24, or possibly earlier, Mozilla will roll out Firefox 148, which will include an AI controls section in the desktop browser settings. From here, you’ll be able to block current and future generative AI features, or only enable select tools. -Developer Lyra Rebane created Xikipedia, a social media-style feed of Wikipedia entries. The web app algorithmically displays info from Simple Wikipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a recent filing, Elon Musk's aerospace company requested to build an "orbital data center" that relies on solar power. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-In December, Perseverance successfully completed a route through a section of the Jezero crater plotted by Anthropic's Claude chatbot, marking the first time NASA has used a large language model to plot a course for the car-sized robot. -You now select each spec of your new Mac device when purchasing through the website. As first spotted by MacWorld, Apple updated its online configuration tool for purchasing a Mac. -Grok is once again available in Indonesia, after the country lifted its ban on the AI chatbot that was seen generating millions of sexualized deepfakes, thousands of which included children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The project covered 3,000 miles of road in Ohio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said it received more than 1 million reports of AI-related child sexual abuse material (CSAM) last year. -A few major publications have begun blocking the nonprofit Internet Archives access to their content based on concerns that AI companies' bots are using the Internet Archive's collections to indirectly scrape their articles. -The Chinese government has given DeepSeek its approval to purchase NVIDIA’s H200 AI chips. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The company is also previewing a new auto browse feature. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Tesla will “basically stop the production” of its Model S and X electric vehicles next quarter. So says CEO Elon Musk, who made that announcement at the automaker’s earnings call for the 2025 fiscal year. You can still buy the vehicles as long as there are units to be sold, and Tesla promises to support them for as long as people have them. -Mark Zuckerberg says there's an end in sight to Reality Labs' years of multibillion-dollar losses following the company's layoffs to the metaverse division earlier this year. -Patreon creators will need to make some changes soon, thanks to Apple. On Wednesday, Patreon said Apple has renewed its requirement that all Patreon creators must move to subscription billing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's part of a strategy to rely less on US services for government use. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Meta has faced some serious questions about how it allows its underage users to interact with AI-powered chatbots. Most recently, internal communications obtained by the New Mexico Attorney General's Office revealed that although Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was opposed to the chatbots having "explicit" conversations with minors, he also rejected the idea of placing parental controls on the feature. -Snap’s augmented reality glasses business will now be its own entity, with the company establishing Specs Inc. as a wholly owned subsidiary. It will enable Snap to more easily secure investors and partnerships for its wearables, as well as to grow Specs into a distinct brand while running it within Snap Inc. -LinkedIn is leaning into the rise of vibe coding by allowing users to show off their proficiency with various AI coding tools directly on their profiles. The company is partnering with Replit, Lovabl, Descript and Relay.app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

X's lack of controls potentially 'exposed citizens in the EU to serious harm,' regulators said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The Trump administration is planning on using Google Gemini to draft important federal regulations starting with the Department of Transportation. -TikTok's newly formed US entity is off to a very bumpy start. As the app continues to face technical issues affecting the recommendation algorithm, view counts and other features, TikTok is also seeing a wave of frustrated users uninstalling it. -Google has agreed to a $68 million settlement regarding claims that its voice assistant inappropriately spied on smartphone users. Plaintiffs claimed that the company’s Google Assistant platform began listening to them after it misheard conversations that sounded like its wake words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The safety probe comes after Waymo did a voluntary software recall late last year addressing the same issue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI may have called GPT-5.2 its "most advanced frontier model for professional work," but tests conducted by the Guardian cast doubt on its credibility. According to the report, OpenAI's GPT-5.2 model cited Grokipedia, the online encyclopedia powered by xAI, when it came to specific, but controversial topics related to Iran or the Holocaust. -According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple wants to announce a new Siri in "the second half of February" that will show off the results of its recently announced partnership with Google and offer demonstrations of the Gemini-powered capabilities. -Before Electronic Arts goes private in a groundbreaking sale, some US lawmakers are pleading for some federal oversight. Democratic members of the US Congress, as part of the Congressional Labor Caucus, penned a letter asking the Federal Trade Commission to "thoroughly review" the $55 billion acquisition of EA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple needs a better Siri, not an unproven wearable. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-TikTok has finalized the deal for its US entity, with its parent company ByteDance selling the majority of its stake to a group of non-Chinese investors. -Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is apparently still hopeful that investors will approve his $108.4 billion hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. -Elon Musk took the stage recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and announced that Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot will be sold to the public by the end of next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The agentic "Health AI" will be integrated into the primary care provider's app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Apple's long-awaited Siri overhaul will allegedly involve transforming the voice assistant into an AI chatbot, internally called Campos. -A report by The Information on Wednesday said that Apple is working on an AI pin. The wearable is said to resemble a slightly thicker AirTag and include multiple cameras, a speaker, microphones, and wireless charging. -Threads has grown enough for Meta to fully integrate it into its advertising machine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It also launched new features for Adobe After Effects. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The AI business is beginning a global rollout of an age prediction tool to determine whether or not a user is a minor. -The FTC lost its antitrust case against Meta last year, but the regulator hasn't given up on its attempts to punish the social media company for its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. -After testing the feature for the last six months or so, Netflix said it will bring vertical videos to its mobile app sometime later in 2026. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The project was shut down last year as the company shifted focus toward AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Adobe has announced updates for Premiere and After Effects, including new AI-powered tools that are meant to speed up your video editing tasks. -The UK government has announced a consultation, asking people for their feedback on whether to introduce a social media ban for children under 16 years old. -Gladys West's work laid the foundation for the global positioning system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plus, how to claim Verizon's $20 credit for last week's service outage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-If you weren't able to shut down your Windows 11 device recently, Microsoft has rolled out an emergency fix addressing a couple of critical bugs that popped up with its latest January 2026 Windows security update. -Washington state residents may soon be forced to produce IDs before getting onto websites with pornographic content. -Six years after the announcement of plans to build Atari Hotels in eight cities across the US, including Las Vegas, only one now seems to be moving forward, in Phoenix, Arizona. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The best budget fitness trackers can help you stick to your fitness goals without breaking the bank. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The US Department of Commerce announced that Taiwanese businesses will make an upfront investment of at least $250 billion into their US production capacity. -Live Now is included as part of Bluesky's latest update, alongside "cashtags," a separate type of hashtag for collecting conversations about publicly-traded companies. -The Netflix/Sony deal expands on the exclusive rights the companies have in the US, and means the service will be the first place people will be able to stream upcoming projects. Sony's films will stream worldwide on Netflix in what's called "Pay-1," the first window of availability after a movie's theatrical and VOD releases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The AI can search through your photos, Gmail and Search and YouTube history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-X says it is changing its policies around Grok’s image-editing abilities following a multi-week outcry over the chatbot repeatedly being accused of generating sexualized images of children and nonconsensual nudity. -OpenAI has debuted a dedicated ChatGPT-powered translation tool. While folks have been using the main chatbot for translation for some time, Android Authority spotted that you can now find ChatGPT Translate on its own webpage. -Spotify is raising the prices for its premium subscriptions by $1 to $2 across the board, starting this February. Those are similar figures to the company’s last price hike in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Claude Cowork is a file-managing AI agent for the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on his X platform that the company will stop selling its $8,000 Full Self-Driving option and make it strictly a monthly subscription service after February 14. -The DEFIANCE Act lets the subjects of nonconsensual, sexually explicit deepfakes take civil action against the people who create and host them. Deepfakes are a known issue online, but without the proper protections, easy access to AI-powered image and video generation tools has made it possible for anyone to create compromising content using another person's likeness. -The UK government has backtracked on a plan to require all workers to have a digital ID following a backlash. It will no longer be mandatory to register with the digital ID program to prove one has the right to work in the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Claude Cowork is the computer agent for the rest of us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On the other hand, Malwarebytes said this incident is related to an alleged leak that includes usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Parting with your money has never been easier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-YouTube introduced some new filters to its advanced search tools today. Possibly the most exciting change is that Shorts are now listed as a content type, so the three-minute-or-less videos can be excluded as results in your searches. -After years of testing its humanoid robot, Boston Dynamics' Atlas is entering production. The first companies that will receive deployments are Hyundai and Google DeepMind, the firm's newly minted AI partner. -UK-based EV startup Longbow Motors showed off one of its high-performance electric machines with advanced in-wheel motors from Donut Labs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LG's vision for a "zero labor home" feels more aspirational than actually possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-OpenAI is launching a new feature that will allow users to connect medical records and wellness apps to ChatGPT in order to get more tailored responses to queries about their health. -Apple announced that JPMorgan Chase will be the new issuer for the Apple Card. According to the tech company, the transition to the new provider should take about two years to complete -Ubisoft is closing a Canadian studio just over two weeks after it unionized. The company told GamesIndustry.biz that the closure of Ubisoft Halifax was part of "company-wide actions to streamline operations" and unrelated to the unionization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NVIDIA has begun production on its new Vera Rubin supercomputer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-The appropriately-named Lenovo AI Glasses Concept promises to transform "how users interact with their surroundings and unifies their workflow." -Meta has teamed up with Garmin, as well as a handful of research partners, to explore some intriguing use cases for its wrist-based controller. The social media company has previously worked with Garmin on fitness integrations for its glasses. -The Chinese micromobility company Navee introduced the UT5 Ultra X, a dual-motor e-scooter with an advertised top speed of 43 mph along with an auto-following golf cart and a seaplane? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How the display tech is different from Micro LED, Mini LED and OLED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-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. -Birdbuddy was one of the first smart bird feeder brands, with a wildly successful Kickstarter back in 2020. And this year, they’ve added birdsong to their species identification capabilities. -For better or worse, CES 2026 is shaping up to be a big year for humanoid robots. Chinese company Agibot showed up with two: the roughly human-sized A2 and the slightly smaller X2, both of which were displaying their surprisingly impressive dancing abilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 1S is a spec bump of the original One, and it's cheaper. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-SwitchBot turned up to CES with a wearable microphone which records and transcribes every noise to come from your mouth. -Samsung had a big surprise for folks last night at CES 2026: A massive 130-inch Micro RGB TV. -Lockin debuted its newest smart lock model. It charges wirelessly via an optical infrared beam with a four-meter range. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Adam Mosseri says creators should prioritize "unflattering" images to prove they are real. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Starlink will lower the orbits of roughly 4,400 satellites this year as a safety measure, according to engineering VP, Michael Nicolls. In a post on X, Nicolls wrote that the company is "beginning a significant reconfiguration of its satellite constellation," in which all satellites orbiting at around 342 miles will be lowered to around 298 miles. -Rather than the very tall towers typically used for this approach, Airloom's structures are 20 to 30 meters high and are made of a loop of adjustable wings that move along a track, a design that’s sort of like a roller coaster. -The Swiss minimal phone pioneer Punkt is back with another model, the MC03. The new handset continues Punkt's focus on privacy, security and digital minimalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Turn your Apple tablet into the ultimate productivity tool with the right gear. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The companies, products and trends that fared the best over the last 12 months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-In its worst-case-scenario model, the IDC predicts PC shipments could shrink by up to 8.9 percent in 2026 because of the high cost of memory. -Meta has acquired an AI startup called Manus — known for its custom research and website-building agents — in a deal valued at more than $2 billion. It's reportedly one of the largest acquisitions yet involving a startup nurtured in China's AI ecosystem. -Samsung will have two new inexpensive mobile devices arriving on the US market next month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The two-armed, five-fingered robot named CLOiD is supposed to help with tasks around the home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

-Considering the caliber of President Trump's other appointees, Jared Isaacman is probably the best candidate for the job. Outside of being a successful entrepreneur, he has flown fighter jets and been to space twice as part of the Inspiration4 and Polaris Dawn private missions. -Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt, has acquired total ownership of the DRM-free video game storefront GOG. The digital video game platform was started by CD Projekt in 2008 with a stated mission to preserve "Good Old Games" (hence the GOG acronym). -Ubisoft had to shut down Rainbow Six Siege's servers and roll back transactions, a situation that came from a widespread breach that left various players with billions of in-game credits, ultra-rare skins of weapons, and banned accounts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CEO Sam Altman posted about the role on X, saying the models 'are starting to present some real challenges.' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices