Know What's Happening in Consumer Tech
Know What's Happening in Consumer Tech
Samsung unveils Galaxy Z Fold 8 with 5,000 mAh battery and 45W fast charging
Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Fold 8, emphasizing durability and battery life over a major redesign. The device features a dual‑layer ultra‑thin glass display, a 5,000 mAh battery with 45 W fast charging, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, up to 16 GB RAM, 1 TB storage, and a 200 MP main camera.
Also developing:
By the numbers: SBI Mutual Fund acquires 4% stake in Urban Company for $76M
Meta’s latest standalone headset, the Quest 3, ships with a Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor, 2064 × 2208 per‑eye resolution and a 120 Hz refresh rate, positioning it as the market’s most capable consumer VR device. The headset supports a growing library of exclusives such as Batman: Arkham Shadow and Asgard’s Wrath 2, while remaining compatible with PC‑based SteamVR titles. Meta is promoting a $1 Mystery Star Bundle on Fanatical, where each purchased star grants a random Steam game and a slim chance to win a Quest 3, Steam Deck, or other high‑value prizes. Though the odds are low, the promotion offers a near‑cost‑free entry point for new VR adopters.
StarTech’s Thunderbolt 5 Universal Docking Station offers a surprisingly low‑priced entry into the emerging TB5 ecosystem, retailing around £253. It supports three simultaneous 4K displays, 2.5 GbE Ethernet, and delivers up to 140 W of power to connected laptops. Performance tests show 3,130 MB/s...
The Startech Thunderbolt 5 Universal Docking Station delivers high‑bandwidth connectivity, triple‑4K display support, 2.5 GbE networking, and up to 140 W laptop charging at a price well below most competitors. In real‑world tests it handled three external monitors, SSD transfers near 3 GB/s, and...
Forget Starlink – this PS5-sized device promises to deliver fiber-like 25Gbps internet speeds using invisible beams of light https://www.techradar.com/computing/forget-starlink-this-ps5-sized-device-promises-to-deliver-fiber-like-25gbps-internet-speeds-using-invisible-beams-of-light
Oura announced its first proprietary large language model, a clinician‑vetted AI built specifically for women’s health, embedded in the Oura Advisor feature. The model draws on users' sleep, activity, stress and menstrual cycle data to deliver personalized guidance, moving beyond...
South African retailers expect a noticeable uptick in smartphone and laptop prices over the coming months. The increase is driven by a depreciating rand, higher import duties, and global supply‑chain constraints that raise component costs. Analysts warn that both consumers...
Sapphire has unveiled its first X870‑class AM5 motherboard, the PURE X870A WIFI 7, targeting high‑end enthusiasts with a clean white‑and‑silver design. The board features a 16+2+1 VRM delivering 55 A per phase, PCIe 5.0 GPU and M.2 slots, and support for DDR5‑8400 memory. Integrated Wi‑Fi 7,...
Apple is reportedly developing an entry‑level MacBook SE priced between $599 and $799, aimed at students and budget‑conscious users. The device will feature a minimalist design with a 12.9‑ or 13.3‑inch display, limited USB‑C ports, and 8 GB of RAM with...
Google is rolling out Play Services v26.07, enabling Wear OS smartwatches to receive earthquake alerts without a paired phone. The update works server‑side and activates on cellular or Wi‑Fi‑connected watches, leveraging built‑in gyroscopes and accelerometers to detect seismic activity. By removing...
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra and Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max represent the 2026 flagship duopoly, each championing a distinct design and ecosystem philosophy. Samsung leans on a brighter 3,000‑nit Dynamic AMOLED display, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, a 200 MP camera and...
Amazon introduced the eero Signal, an add‑on for its eero Wi‑Fi mesh that automatically switches to cellular broadband when the primary internet fails. The 4G‑only device retails for $99.99 and includes six months of service, after which a $99.99 annual...
Irish startup MyCelsius announced the upcoming Irish launch of its cooling bracelet, following a successful UK debut. Co‑founder and CTO Aonghus O’Donovan highlighted the device’s ultra‑compact, high‑power cooling technology designed to alleviate hot flushes and heat stress, especially for women....
Xiaomi announced that its Pad 8 5G tablet will launch in India on February 28, 2026 at 6:30 PM. The device is expected to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 processor, an 11.2‑inch 3.2K display with a 144 Hz refresh rate, and a 9200 mAh battery supporting 45 W...
Juniper Research projects global OTT messaging users will climb from 4.4 billion in 2025 to over 5.2 billion by 2028, a 16% increase. The surge is fueled by rising smartphone penetration—forecast to reach 91% of connections by 2030—and expanding mobile broadband. Enterprises...
Samsung has officially teased a new "Privacy Display" feature for the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra, which darkens the screen when viewed from side angles to block prying eyes. A Chinese tipster reported that several overseas OEMs are testing similar hardware‑level...
The author installed Bazzite, a Linux‑based SteamOS fork, on an Asus ROG Ally Z1E, replacing the default Windows environment. By dual‑booting, half of the 2 TB SSD runs Bazzite while the other half remains Windows for work and anti‑cheat compatibility. Bazzite’s...
The 2025 Global Digital Shopping Index, commissioned by Visa Acceptance Solutions, found that 48% of shoppers used a mobile device for their most recent retail purchase, with usage exceeding 60% in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Mobile browsing frequency is...
Apple will begin assembling the Mac mini in the United States in 2026, a notable shift for a product that makes up about five percent of global Mac sales. The 2024 redesign introduced the first major update since 2010, pairing...
A Reddit‑based weekly roundup, Last Week in AVP #107, aggregates the most compelling Apple Vision Pro (AVP) news, reviews, and videos into a single, ad‑free page. The edition highlights Apple’s potential immersive Formula 1 demo at the March 4 event, teases the...
Apple’s Mac lineup is experiencing unprecedented demand, pushing US lead times to two‑four weeks, the longest in years. The Mac Studio now has a 27‑day wait, followed by the M4‑powered MacBook Pro at 23 days and the Mac Mini at...
London‑based Tewke closed a £1.5 million second‑stage round, backed by JamJar, Cur8, Energy Mix Ventures, Project Ventures and Revolut CTO Vlad Yatsenko. The company’s Tap device, engineered in the UK, retrofits without a neutral wire and can be installed in minutes,...
Telkom has launched Plug’d by Telkom, a mobile‑first platform aimed at South Africans aged 18‑24. The service bundles affordable data, curated digital content and access to real‑world opportunities such as jobs and internships within a single always‑on ecosystem. Plug’d is...
The open‑source PanVK driver for Arm Mali GPUs received a major update in Mesa 26.1 that reworks its framebuffer abstraction and moves MSAA resolves into a final frame shader. This change yields dramatic performance improvements in the Sascha Willems Vulkan multisampling...
Forget the wooden ruler — I measured the Blizzard of 2026 with my iPhone https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/forget-the-wooden-ruler-i-measured-the-blizzard-of-2026-with-my-iphone #m
Apple is the only company with a great proposal here: let parents, who buy the devices used by kids, set up kids accounts and decide what they're allowed to do, then pass those decisions to apps through parental controls --...
Cheil India unveiled a brand film for Samsung’s Galaxy Book5 titled “Many Me’s in Me,” portraying a Gen Z protagonist navigating multiple creative identities. The ad positions the laptop’s AI capabilities—AI Select, Photo Remaster, and Copilot—as seamless enablers rather than technical...
Samsung's 'Wide' Galaxy Z Fold might include a clever way to save your screen from damage with a new "foreign material detection" alert feature. ✅ Details - https://t.co/N5TPQ8poEf https://t.co/3mQNBbdYnr
🚨 First look: Here's how the new Real-time Location sharing feature will soon work inside chats in Google Messages ✅ Details and video demo - https://t.co/muFvGBBxgc https://t.co/7DU19QeQ0i
Xiaomi has launched an in‑house home‑appliance production line at a new Wuhan plant, investing roughly RMB 2.5 billion ($350 million) and achieving a capacity of up to 7 million units annually. The company plans to manufacture about 20% of its air‑conditioners and other key...
The Galaxy S26 series may already be behind Pixel phones in one big way Another year with no support for finding the phone when powered off through Find Hub ✅ Details - https://t.co/m3rASS8CAq https://t.co/vqhg7SV3Ok
I loved Dark Sky, and it was always really annoying that Apple removed the variety of weather notifications as it rains so much in the UK. This new app isn’t available in the UK though 😭
The Sideload episode 23, hosted by 9to5Google’s Will Sattelberg, features Brady Snyder discussing recent shifts in streaming media. They examine YouTube TV’s newly introduced channel packages, noting higher prices and added complexity for subscribers. The conversation then pivots to Apple Music’s Android app,...
I’ve been watching Seedance 2.0 videos so you don’t have to and they are a nightmare dreamscape https://www.techradar.com/ai-platforms-assistants/ive-been-watching-seedance-2-0-videos-so-you-dont-have-to-and-they-are-a-nightmare-dreamscape
Microsoft’s Windows 11 24H2 update now activates BitLocker automatically during the out‑of‑box experience when a Microsoft account, TPM 2.0, and Secure Boot are present. The encryption starts silently, using the same engine as the Pro‑only BitLocker but without visible controls on Home devices. Because...
I did a live stream over on LinkedIn this morning on another show and saw @auradeluxe asked me what my latest thinking on AI-driven glasses are. For me, it splits up into three different categories: 1. Ultra-lightweights Where...
Meta’s AI glasses can now overlay fitness data from Strava onto recorded workout videos, thanks to a new app integration. Users must launch the workout from the Strava app, preferably on a Wear OS watch, to capture heart‑rate and other metrics....
Sony Interactive Entertainment is offering deep discounts across its PlayStation ecosystem, targeting both physical and digital PS5 games, accessories, and the PSVR2 headset. Prices on flagship titles such as God of War Ragnarök and Marvel’s Spider‑Man 2 have dropped to $19.99‑$29.99, while...
Takara Tomy announced a new Animal Crossing: New Horizons watch capsule toy set, rolling out in Japanese gashapon machines this week. Each pull costs 400 yen (≈$2.60) and yields one of five digital watches themed after iconic NPCs. The watches feature...
Heated steering wheels are a popular comfort feature in modern vehicles. Recent observations reveal a temperature imbalance in the 2023‑2026 Toyota Tundra, where one side of the wheel stays cold while the opposite side heats above 114 °F. Thermal‑imaging evidence shared...
Home Assistant’s mobile app sends push notifications through Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), meaning the message payload is unencrypted while on Google’s servers. This applies to both Android and iOS devices, as Home Assistant cannot directly access Apple’s push service....
Google is testing real‑time location sharing in its Messages app, leveraging the Find Hub service. The upcoming feature will let users share live coordinates directly within a chat, with preset durations of one hour, today, or until manually stopped. Strings...
I have not used the TriFold but I am sure I would agree with Chris cause it is exactly the same argument I have made in the past about the great Android Tablets Samsung brought to market. I hope shifting...
Headed on @CNBCOvertime in a bit to talk $NVDA earnings, Cloud debt, and interesting AI companies I'm tracking. https://t.co/F6LkN3AUt6
The article ranks five ultra‑lightweight operating systems by download size, from KolibriOS at roughly 1.44 MB up to Slax at under 300 MB. Each OS delivers a functional desktop environment despite its tiny footprint, with KolibriOS fitting on a floppy disk and...
Google’s Gemini app now includes a library of fifteen video‑generation templates, letting users start clips with predefined styles such as Cyberpunk, Cosmos or Action Hero. The update adds an "Ingredients to Video" option where a personal photo can become the...
HP’s Omen Max 16 launches with three GPU options—RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5080, and RTX 5090—and two CPU choices, Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX or AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375. Priced from $2,099, the Intel‑based RTX 5080 configuration garners the most praise for its OLED 2.5K 240 Hz display and effective Tempest...
An author of a MakeUseOf article discovered that their Debian‑based Linux system’s Downloads folder had accumulated 14 GB of obsolete files, including old ISOs, duplicate PDFs, and lingering .deb packages. By manually auditing the directory with basic commands and applying a...
Smart devices and IoT gadgets are rarely patched, leaving them vulnerable to malware such as Mirai. These products, from smart TVs to internet‑connected cameras, routinely harvest user data and can be hijacked to spy or launch attacks. Security experts recommend...
Panasonic announced a strategic partnership with Shenzhen‑based Skyworth to manufacture its televisions for the EU and US markets, marking a significant shift in its supply chain. The company also re‑absorbed its Entertainment division, ensuring continued production of 4K Blu‑ray players....
Thermal Grizzly’s WireView Pro II is a hardware‑level GPU monitoring device that sits between the graphics card and a 12VHPWR or 12V‑2×6 power cable. It provides per‑pin current data on a 320 × 170 TFT‑IPS colour screen and streams the information to the...
