Gadgets

Gadgets

When I first connected the X4 earbuds to my Pixel 9 Pro and played my favorite Spotify playlist, I was seriously disappointed. The sound was overly tinny, had no bass, and the highs were poorly mixed in with the mids. Knowing Treblab doesn't have a mobile app for customizing the sound, I thought something had to be wrong. The X4 earbuds look every bit the part of over-the-ear earbuds. They have a loop that goes around your ear, and the speaker rests inside.

The i-SENSYS MF667Cdw is one of a couple of new color laser multifunctions just released by Canon. It's the more fully specified of the two, with fax capabilities and significantly better automatic document feeder (ADF) than the slightly cheaper i-SENSYS MF664Cdw, but neither is bad for the money. For less than £300 both give you a 250-sheet paper input tray, Wi-Fi, and gigabit Ethernet connectivity, together with a big color touchscreen that helps you configure and use all the features.

The Dolby Atmos support makes soundscapes that are three-dimensional and puts sounds above, around, and next to you instead of just in front of you. This adds depth that regular stereo soundbars can't match. Height channels bounce sound off your ceiling to make it sound like helicopters are flying by or rain is falling from above. This makes the scenes feel more real.

Now, California is giving Tesla 60 days to rename Autopilot or face a sales suspension in the state. Tesla's bell has tolled as a California judge rules that the all-electric automaker must rename its Autopilot driver assistance feature. If it refuses, Tesla could face a sales suspension in its biggest domestic market. The core issue is exactly what you might think: Autopilot, despite its name, can't enable a car to drive itself.

Ai+, led by former Realme India CEO Madhav Sheth, entered the smartphone market in July with the Ai+ Pulse and Ai+ Nova 5G. Now, the brand has teased the launch of a new smartphone, which, surprisingly, is a foldable. We are looking at a flip-style foldable, called NovaFlip. Ai+ hasn't revealed any features of the smartphone, but a teaser posted by the brand on its official X account gives us a glimpse of the NovaFlip's design.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 15, the 5G model, is available for €280 (with a €30 discount for subscribers). This is for a model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, the only one that we found on the site. Xiaomi is yet to set an official reveal date for the Note 15 series, but it did confirm that the Redmi Note 15 5G will be powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3.

Right now, Amazon is offering the 256GB Samsung P9 Express microSD card for just $33, after taking 40% off its usual $55 retail price. Prime members get to enjoy free delivery, so they're saving a few extra dollars on that front too. This is also the lowest we have seen this memory card drop to since its release, but as you'd expect, the deal is selling out fast.

At the keynote, Rivian unveiled its Gen 3 platform, which will turn the maker of EV trucks, SUVs, and vans into an autonomy company, a focus he says will subsume "the whole business" of transportation. Debuting late next year in a version of the upcoming R2 SUV, the Rivian Autonomy Computer platform is powered by a chip the company designed itself, the RAP1 (Rivian Autonomy Processor).

On Tuesday, Amazon announced that its Fire TV devices, including Fire TV Stick products and TVs with Fire TV as its built-in operating system, will be the first to get a standalone Instagram app from Meta, part of a pilot program that will presumably eventually expand to other platforms. The Instagram app for Fire TVs will focus primarily on Reels, the short-form video product that, frankly, does not seem like it belongs on TVs.

The Alexa.com website appears to be live for some users. The browser-based home for Alexa Plus, the company's revamped digital voice assistant, was first announced at the Alexa Plus launch event in February. But until recently, Alexa.com redirected to an information page. Now, some users, myself included, are seeing a new Alexa Plus web interface. This morning, when I typed Alexa.com into my web browser, it took me to a page that resembled the Alexa Plus chatbot in the Alexa app. (I was already logged into my Amazon.com account.)

CES is upon us, as the flood of teasers and marketing campaigns from every tech brand would suggest in December. Whether you're a tech enthusiast or ordinary consumer, the annual tech trade show is guaranteed to feature something you care about -- be it the launch of a new TV display type or a demo of some visionary technology with the potential to change the future. Also: The 5 most innovative tech products that surprised us this year (including a first for robot vacs) Want to keep up with the conference's latest and hottest news? ZDNET will have a team on the ground bringing you all the announcements throughout the week-long show.

Meta announced on Tuesday an update to its AI glasses that will allow you to better hear people talking when you're in a noisy environment. The feature will initially become available on Ray-Ban Meta and Oakley Meta HSTN smartglasses in the U.S. and Canada, the company says. In addition, the glasses are getting another update that lets you use Spotify to play a song that matches what's in your current view.

Metamask, the popular Ethereum and DeFi wallet, announces Bitcoin integration as the company continues its expansion into multiple chains other than Ethereum. The wallet boasts 143 million downloads and over 30 million monthly active users, making it one of the most popular crypto wallets in the world. Developed by Consensys, an Ethereum-born software development arm, Metamask has become a beast of its own, achieving massive success and adoption in the crypto industry.

When you travel often, you learn through trial and error what you genuinely need-and what's just a gimmick that takes up space. Over the years, I've been gifted my fair share of well-intentioned travel accessories that turned out to be bulky, flimsy, impractical, or just completely wrong for what people actually need when moving through airports, enduring long-haul flights, and visiting new cities.

Professional gaming demands precision and customization that standard controllers simply cannot provide, and the DualSense Edge addresses these needs with hardware-level adjustments that competitive players have requested for years. This premium controller takes everything great about the standard DualSense and adds swappable components, remappable buttons, and adjustable sensitivity curves that let you fine-tune performance for specific games or playstyles. The Midnight Black edition currently sells for $169 on Amazon, down from its regular $199 price,

Retro Games, a company known for its upgraded revivals of iconic '80s and '90s era computers, including the Commodore 64 and Amiga, has announced that it's bringing back another accessory from the same era. If you grew up gaming before the NES hit the US, you were probably using (or drooling over) the Quickshot II. Now, you can get a recreation of the popular controller for £29.99, or around $40. It is expected to be available starting on January 30th, 2026.

Aura's digital picture frames come in a variety of styles, ranging from the affordable landscape-only Carver frame to the splurge-worthy e-paper Ink frame that can be wirelessly mounted onto your wall. Aura also has an entire mat-style collection of its frames that are my personal favorite, and the ones I find myself recommending again and again. No matter which frame style you choose, you'll get Aura's app that has unlimited photo storage, compatibility with iCloud and Google Photos,

Yes, I'm admitting it in writing that I'm terrified of flying-and I do it for a living. So, naturally, I've tried just about everything, but only one thing has seemed to make a difference: learning how to source and read turbulence forecasts for each and every flight I take. I use sites like Turbli, which combines data from official weather and aviation agencies to predict the turbulence, wind, and thunderstorm activity along your flight route.

If you can take your mind way back to the beginning of 2025, you might remember a fresh wave of rumors suggesting that Half-Life 3 was finally reaching the final stages of production, and could be announced and/or released at any moment. Now, though, 2025 seems set to come to a close without any official news of a game fans have been waiting literal decades for.

The result is four watches that look like someone ripped pieces of graffiti-covered urban architecture and strapped them to your wrist. Designer: Hublot The idea sounds absurd until you see the execution. The cracks in the surface aren't flaws. They're designed that way, filled with glow-in-the-dark paint that shifts color depending on whether you're standing in daylight, darkness, or under the ultraviolet lights of a nightclub. One watch becomes three different visual experiences depending on where you take it.

Built on their full-carbon Seigla frame with 3rd gen leaf-sprung fork, the Ultimate R dials up the build with a few key upgrades from the standard Ultimate build, including: Fizik Vento Argo R3 Adaptive Saddle (140mm) Zipp 303 XPLR SW Hookless wheels Goodyear Peak SL Race 2.25″ MTB tires The addition of a 3D-printed saddle is a nice touch, and Fizik's are very comfortable.

Marines deploy with a variety of weapons, but only a handful consistently earn their confidence in real-world conditions. From salty sea air aboard ship to sand-filled valleys in the Middle East, these systems have to work every single time. The weapons Marines actually prefer are the ones that prove reliable under stress, accurate when it matters, and durable enough to survive the toughest environments on Earth. Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at the weapons that Marines prefer on deployment.

Honor has quietly launched a new Play series 5G phone in China. The Honor Play 60A comes in a single RAM/storage variant and is currently listed for sale on the official Honor China online store. The Play 60A comes with a 6.75-inch LCD display that offers HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. It is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 6300 SoC, which is paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

As the smartphone market takes a breather ahead of the holiday season we saw a very familiar face return as the most popular in our database. In the absence of big name announcements, the Samsung Galaxy A56 managed to add another gold medal to its unrivaled cabinet. The Poco F8 Ultra thus settled for second place after two weeks on top, while another long-time favorite completes the podium - the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max.

A way to let people learn and practice electronics, the magnetic device brings prototyping, coding, and testing into a single system centered on a smartphone. Instead of asking users to buy computers, microcontrollers, and displays, Commi Board uses the phone as the main interface and processing unit. The attachable board for electronic prototypes also connects through USB-C or Bluetooth. Commi Board is modular, as users place electronic components directly onto the board.

But what about memory? It's a component many people fully understand (I was certainly a part of this group). RAM, or random access memory, is essentially a computer's short-term memory. Instead of saving data directly onto an SSD, the computer stores files temporarily in the RAM for quick access, resulting in faster performance. The higher the RAM (measured in Gigabytes, or GB) the more memory it has.

I'm someone who loves the thrill of rocking up in a foreign country, sitting on a balcony or cafe, and getting some work done. Not only do I enjoy sitting in front of my keyboard with a coffee and a tostada, but I love the technical challenges and pushing my gear a little bit further. I'm currently in Spain, so it's a good time to reflect on my travel work kit and workflow, show you what worked, the things that didn't work, and the couple of things I did that made my life a bit harder.