26 practical smart home gifts that make everyday life a little easier
26 practical smart home gifts that make everyday life a little easier Smart home products are all about making everyday life a little easier, which is why they’re some of the best and most thoughtful gifts you can give. Some people go all out building a multi-gadget IoT kingdom (like our resident smart home expert, […]
Kia and Hyundai will spend millions fixing old cars to stop ‘Kia Boyz’ thefts
Kia and Hyundai will spend millions fixing old cars to stop 'Kia Boyz' thefts Kia and Hyundai will offer free repairs for millions of cars that lack anti-theft technology as part of a settlement with dozens of US states. The automakers agreed to outfit the roughly 9 million eligible cars sold between 2011 and 2022 […]
iRobot’s bankruptcy isn’t the end — it’s a reboot, says its CEO
iRobot's bankruptcy isn't the end — it's a reboot, says its CEO The Roomba maker will continue to operate but will be owned by Picea Robotics. The news that the maker of the Roomba robot vacuum, iRobot, filed for bankruptcy this week came as no surprise. Its CEO, Gary Cohen, had been warning investors all […]
Microsoft’s holiday Copilot ad is wrapped in empty promises
Microsoft's holiday Copilot ad is wrapped in empty promises Microsoft is at it again with another round of ads showing people talking to Copilot AI on their computers. This time it’s holiday-themed, including a cameo from the big man in red. The 30-second TV spot asks if you’re “ready for the holidays” and features actors […]
‘All chaos and panic’: Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions
'All chaos and panic': Nilay answers your burning Decoder questions Welcome to our end-of-year Decoder special! Senior producers Kate Cox and Nick Statt here. We’ve had a big year, including nearly 100 episodes, a new YouTube channel, an ad-free podcast feed, and a slate of great guest hosts while Nilay was on parental leave. It’s been […]
2025 was the beginning of the end of the TV brightness war
2025 was the beginning of the end of the TV brightness war Much like the audio industry’s compression-driven loudness war, which reached its distortion-fueled apex (and not the good kind) with Metallica’s Death Magnetic in 2008, the television industry has been having its own battle the past couple of years: the brightness war. Sparked by […]
AI companies are sick of their favorite buzzword
AI companies are sick of their favorite buzzword The cringe comes for us all, and for all our hot new turns of phrase. “Rizz” lost its luster when grandparents started asking about its meaning. Teachers who dressed up as “6-7” on Halloween drove a nail into the coffin of Gen Alpha’s rallying cry. And tech […]
Apple opens iOS to third-party app stores in Japan
Apple opens iOS to third-party app stores in Japan Apple has announced the changes it’s making to the iOS App Store in Japan in order to comply with recent legislation in the country. It will allow third-party app stores and payment processing options, though is introducing new commission fees for those transactions. Developers in Japan […]
Kuxiu’s S3 MagSafe power bank is bigger and better and probably won’t explode
Kuxiu's S3 MagSafe power bank is bigger and better and probably won't explode The Kuxiu S3 simultaneously charging an iPhone wirelessly and an older Android phone via the integrated USB-C cable. Kuxiu is back with a new S3 portable battery that addresses most of the issues I had during my review of the S2, aka […]
The ChatGPT app store is here
The ChatGPT app store is here On Wednesday evening, OpenAI launched an App Directory to browse all the tools currently available and opened its SDK for developers to build new interactive experiences that operate within the bot’s UI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said last month that “We are planning to build the obvious features that […]