Were starting to hit our stride in 2026. Now that February is here, our reviews team is flush with new devices to test, which means youve got a lot to catch up on if you havent been following along. Read on for a roundup of the most compelling new gear weve tested recently from gaming, PCs, cameras and more.
Nex Playground
If you still have a fondness for the Xbox Kinect, the Nex Playground might be right up your alley. Senior reporter Devindra Hardawar recently put the tiny box through its paces and found an active gaming experience thats fun for the whole family. While I have some concerns about the companys subscription model, Nex has accomplished a rare feat: It developed a simple box that makes it easy for your entire family to jump into genuinely innovative games and experiences, he wrote.
MSI's Prestige 14 Flip AI+
Devindra also tested MSIs latest laptop, the powerful Prestige 14 Flip AI+. While the machine got high marks for its performance, display and connectivity, he noted that the overall experience is hindered by subpar keyboard and truly awful trackpad. As one of the earliest Panther Lake laptops on the market, the $1,299 Prestige 14 Flip AI+ is a solid machine, if you're willing to overlook its touchpad flaws, he explained. More than anything though, the Prestige 14 makes me excited to see what other PC makers offer with Intel's new chips.
Shokz OpenFit Pro
Fresh off of its Best of CES selection, I conducted a full review of the OpenFit Pro earbuds from Shokz. I continue to be impressed by the earbuds ability to reduce ambient noise while keeping your ears open. And the overall sound quality is excellent for a product that sits outside of your ears.
Sony A7 V
Contributing reporter Steve Dent has been busy testing cameras to start the year. This week he added the Sony A7 V to the list, noting the excellent photo quality and accurate autofocus. The A7 V is an incredible camera for photography, with speeds, autofocus accuracy and image quality ahead of rivals, including the Canon R6 III, Panasonic S1 II and Nikon Z6 III, he said. However, Sony isnt keeping up with those models for video.
Apple AirTag (2026)
Our first Editors Choice device of 2026 is Apples updated AirTag. All of the upgrades lead to a better overall item tracker, according to UK bureau chief Mat Smith. There's no doubt the second-gen AirTags are improved, and thankfully, upgrading to the new capabilities doesnt come at too steep a cost, he concluded. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-shokz-openfit-pro-nex-playground-sony-a7-v-and-more-123400089.html?src=rss
Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. As always, we've got a bunch of neat games to tell you about. Perhaps I'll tear myself away from playing as Chappell Roan in Fortnite or Jetpack Cat in Overwatch long enough to check more of them out.Thanks to the folks at Aftermath, I learned about a short, text-based game from Woe Industries from a while back called You Have Billions Invested In Generative AI. Surprisingly enough, you take on the role of a venture capitalist who has plowed gobs of money into genAI technology and might be starting to have doubts about that investment. Other characters warn you about the dangers of the tech and real-life headlines showing the impact of genAI hallucinations pop up. It's tagged as a horror game, for what it's worth. It's both satirical and all too real, and it's pretty funny. Plus, any game that allows me to yell at Noam Chomsky is A-OK in my book. You can play You Have Billions Invested In Generative AI for free on Itch.io.New releasesTackle for Loss had a very timely arrival this week, just ahead of a certain other big, real-life game. This is a football-themed take on action-heavy, top-down games like Hotline Miami. Developer Indifferent Penguin took some inspiration from the Taken film series as well you take on the role of a CTE-afflicted former football player who sets out to rescue his kidnapped daughter.The combat sounds pretty interesting here. You need to clear out all of the bad guys on each floor of a multistory building before you can progress, but you only have four offensive actions at your disposal each time (this draws from the four-down format of football). You'll need to plan things out before you go on the attack, not least because your character and the enemies all die in a single hit.Tackle for Loss is out now on Steam. It'll usually run you $11, but it's 15 percent off until February 12. Trust Me, I Nailed It is an intriguing turn-based strategy game from Team Afternoon and publisher Jungle Game Lab. A useless warrior hires you as a video editor to make them look like a true hero capable of slaying any beast. Enemy attacks and other actions appear on the edit timeline as pre-recorded footage, and the idea is to plot out the warrior's movements around those. You have post-processing visual effects tricks at your disposal, so you can let the warrior teleport and convert low-power strikes into critical hits.It's a fun idea, and a reminder (as if we should need one in the current climate) not to always take videos at face value. Trust Me, I Nailed It is on Steam now and it's free-to-play.Tomb of the Bloodletter is a spin on the roguelike deckbuilder genre that I haven't really seen before. Your deck consists of magic powers that are applied to letters of the alphabet. Spelling out words using these Magicks can result in powerful combinations, particularly if you use the same letter multiple times. That's right, this is a typing game a roguelike deckbuilder that the likes of Wordle players might be interested in.It's really about coming up with words that put the right letters in a specific order. For instance, certain letters are more effective if you place them at the end of a word. So, this should get your brain ticking. Tomb of the Bloodletter from Ethan's Secretions and indie.io debuted during the Steam Typing Fest. It'll typically cost $8, but there's a 20 percent discount until February 19.Upcoming Shadowstone is an upcoming turn-based tactical co-op roguelike for up to four players from developer Secret Door and Dreamhaven (Blizzard co-founder and ex-CEO Mike Morhaime's company). It's set in the same universe as Secret Door's Sunderfolk. The action plays out on a hexagonal board with randomized rooms and enemies. Positioning will be key, and finding synergies between the abilities of the playable characters will put you in good stead.Shadowstone will hit Steam in early access later this year for $15. It's also coming to the Epic Games Store.Meanwhile, a major update for Sunderfolk is set to go live on March 10. It will introduce a new tank-style character and two fresh sets of missions. Secret Door will also add two much-requested features to PC versions: online multiplayer and so you don't have to use your phone to play the game anymore mouse and keyboard controls.I really loved Planet of Lana and the sequel is among my most-anticipated games of this year. There's now a release date for the upcoming puzzle platformer. Wishfully and Thunderful Publishing are ringing it to Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch on March 5. It'll also be on Game Pass on day one.A Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf demo will hit Steam, Xbox and PlayStation on February 11. It will arrive on Switch a bit later.Is Sticker/Ball the first Ball x Pit-like? I'm not entirely sure. Still, it is now firmly on my radar. Instead of firing balls at a horde of constantly-advancing enemies, here you'll shoot them at dice to earn points. You'll unlock stickers that can be applied to said dice and theyll interact with each other too. For instance, spiders can create webs and these can catch flies that are attracted to poop stickers. The trailer describes another interaction, "frog jumped and triggered cigarette pack." Frogs can also hijack spaceships, apparently, and there's a bouncing DVD (well, "VID") logo. There are more than 100 types of stickers and dozens of different enemies.I don't really understand what's going on in the trailer, but it's somehow making my brain happy, so this is going on my wishlist. Solo dev Bilge is behind Sticker/Ball, which is coming to Steam soon through the help of publisher Future Friends Games. A demo is available now, so that's my weekend sorted.Skate City has long been one of the best games on Apple Arcade. Its creator, Daniel Zeller, (Zellah Games) has revealed a new project. Skate Style is billed as a "next-gen skateboarding game with high-end graphics." You'll be able to take to the virtual streets of Barcelona and Prague to show off your best moves. What could help Skate Style really stand out from the pack is the animation editor, which enables you to create completely new tricks. The game is slated to have an "advanced" character creation tool as well as mod support, so there'll be a high level of customization available. A Skate Style demo is available on Steam now. The full game should land on PC later this year. Here's hoping the soundtrack can match up to those from the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.Crimson Capes is billed as a 2D Soulslike action RPG with four playable characters, elemental magic, more than 25 bosses, swordfighting, lots of secrets, co-op, optional hunts with randomized dungeons and invasions from other players. That all sounds neat enough, but most exciting to me here is the pixel-art, rotoscoped animation work. It looks modern and retro at the same time, and I'd love to see this sort of style in more games. I also dig that you get a PDF instruction manual and game guide as well as a printable world map when you buy the game.You (and I) won't have to wait long to play Crimson Capes, which is from Poor Locke. It's coming to Steam on February 12 for $15, though you'll get 10 percent off if you pick it up within the first nine days. Console versions are in the pipeline too. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/hotline-miami-meets-football-the-power-of-video-editing-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000628.html?src=rss
Kris Marszalek, CEO and co-founder of crypto and stock trading platform Crypto.com, has bought an expensive website. In this case it's AI.com, valued at one point at $100 million, which will serve as the online home for his new company of the same name. The website launch is being paired with a Super Bowl ad that will air this Sunday.AI.com's main offering is an AI agent that "operates on the users behalf organizing work, sending messages, executing actions across apps, building projects, and more." It's a similar concept to what companies like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google are promising with their own agents and agentic features, and notably lacking in hard details. Users can make multiple agents with AI.com and have them do a variety of tasks the company's press release mentions trading stocks and updating a dating profile, for example while remaining permission-based and private. It's not clear if AI.com is offering its own AI models or licensing those offered by other companies, but clearly whatever it offers, both for free and via a planned paid subscription, will be flexible.Like Crypto.com's big push into the mainstream during late 2021 and early 2022, AI.com is arriving at a particularly hype-filled time in the AI industry. Anthropic's Claude Code and Claude Cowork tools have been taken up as evidence that AI might actually make people more productive, so AI.com's decision to push an agent of its own is timely. Of course, after Crypto.com's big Matt Damon ad in 2021, and Super Bowl ad in 2022, Bitcoin prices hit an all-time low in June 2022. Ironically, Marszalek's AI.com is also launching during a particularly nasty "crypto winter" which has lowered the price of Bitcoin to under $66,000, a steep drop from the $127,000 it cost in October 2025. That's not to suggest the AI.com CEO is a groundhog for deflating hype balloons. More likely, it's a sign that the future of AI could be as unpredictable and volatile as cryptocurrency. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-cryptocom-guy-bought-aicom-and-a-super-bowl-ad-234325394.html?src=rss
Apple plans to allow third-party voice-controlled AI apps in CarPlay, Bloomberg reports. Siri is the default voice assistant for things like controlling music and looking up directions, but future AI apps in CarPlay could handle the complicated, open-ended requests Siri can't answer.The expanded support would let developers like OpenAI or Google offer versions of their ChatGPT and Gemini apps for CarPlay. Similar functionality is possible just by connecting a smartphone to a car over Bluetooth and using an AI app's voice mode, but CarPlay support would presumably make the process a little more seamless. Not so seamless that it replaces Siri, however. Bloomberg writes that these third-party apps won't be able to replace the Siri button in the CarPlay interface or use their own wake words ("Hey Google," etc.). Instead, anyone who wants to spend a long drive talking to Gemini will have to open the app first. That could cut down on the utility of using one of these apps, but Apple presumably wants to get Siri to a place where CarPlay users prefer it as their in-car assistant anyway.Apple and Google recently announced that Gemini would power future versions of Siri and Apple Foundation Models, the AI models underpinning Apple Intelligence. The delayed, updated version of Siri Apple introduced alongside Apple Intelligence in 2024 is supposed to be able to take actions on user's behalf, work across apps and understand the context of what's on screen, all things Gemini can currently do. Reports suggest Apple wants to eventually use Google's Gemini models to transform Siri into a proper conversational chatbot, too. That future version of the voice assistant could be right at home in CarPlay.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/apple-will-reportedly-allow-third-party-ai-assistants-in-carplay-213432646.html?src=rss
Disney+ subscribers in some European countries have lost access to advanced HDR features like Dolby Vision, TechRadar and FlatpanelsHD report. The issue was first spotted by German Disney+ subscribers on Reddit, but currently also impacts subscribers in Portugal, Poland, France and the Netherlands, according to FlatpanelsHD."Dolby Vision support for content on Disney+ is currently unavailable in several European countries due to technical challenges," Disney said in a statement. "We are actively working to restore access to Dolby Vision and will provide an update as soon as possible. 4K UHD and HDR support remain available on supported devices."If the issue is in fact a technical one, it seems like it could be around for the long-term. Disney has removed any reference to Dolby Vision from its Disney+ video quality support page in Germany. As of now, the company lists HDR10 as its default HDR format, despite Dolby Vision support being a feature of Disney+ for several years now. FlatpanelsHD writes that the real issue might be legal, rather than technological. A company called InterDigital won an injunction in a German court against Disney in November 2025 because it violated at least one of the company's patents on streaming video technology. The injunction specifically requires Disney to stop violating InterDigital's patent on "a method for dynamically overlaying a first video stream with a second video stream comprising, for example, subtitles." It's not entirely clear how that plays into the company offering Dolby Vision in Europe, but it would explain why subscribers in Germany were some of the first people to notice Dolby Vision's absence.Engadget has contacted Disney for more information about Disney+'s missing HDR support and whether InterDigital's injunction played a role. We'll update this article if we hear back.Mentions of Dolby Vision were also stripped out of the US version of Disney+'s video quality support page. InterDigital hasn't won an injunction in the US, but the company is pursuing a patent case against Disney in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. That doesn't necessarily mean Dolby Vision support will be taken from US subscribers next, but it does suggest there's more happening here than just technical challenges.Update, February 6, 3:44PM ET: The original version of this article included mention of Disney+ losing HDR10+ support in Europe, but Disney says it never offered HDR10+ in that region. The article has been updated accordingly.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-loses-access-to-dolby-vision-in-some-european-countries-193930702.html?src=rss
The long wait for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is nearly over, as the film hits theaters on April 1. To keep the hype train rolling, Illumination and Universal Pictures have dropped a short new teaser. It's exactly 30 seconds long, so you'll probably be seeing it again on TV this Sunday during the Super Bowl.
It does feature some nifty footage that we haven't seen before, including a hungry Yoshi absolutely devouring a Magikoopa. There are also shots highlighting the star cannons from The Super Mario Galaxy games and one shot that shows Rosalina bodying Bowser Jr.
There seems to be a plot point in which Princess Peach and Toad head to some sort of sci-fi mega-city, which should be fun. There's an Octoomba living there, another shout-out to the OG Wii game.
As previously stated, the hotly-anticipated sequel arrives on April 1. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a total smash, grossing nearly $1.4 billion and becoming one of the most successful animated films ever made. We found the original to be a fun, but safe, trip to the Mushroom Kingdom.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/tv-movies/the-new-trailer-for-the-super-mario-galaxy-movie-shows-yoshi-absolutely-devouring-a-magikoopa-191807037.html?src=rss
Noble Audio has announced the Sceptre, a pocket-sized USB-C Bluetooth transmitter meant to boost wireless audio quality from phones, laptops and tablets. The device is intended to exceed the quality offered by a device's existing hardware.
Sceptre is powered by Qualcomm's QCC5181 Bluetooth chipset and supports LDAC, aptX Adaptive, AAC and SBC codecs. Of course, to take advantage of the high quality codecs you'll need a pair of headphones that support them. The dongle has a reported wireless range of roughly 66 feet.
Listeners use the Noble app for initial pairing and can then move the dongle between compatible USB-C devices. It also supports pass-through charging with USB-C so users can charge their devices while listening. The company says Sceptre is compatible with iOS, Android and Windows, and the company confirmed with Engadget that iPhones 15 and newer are supported.
We've been pleased in the past with Noble Audio products, like the FoKus Apollo headphones, or the FoKus Rex5 earbuds. The Sceptre from Noble Audio is available for $70.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/noble-audio-has-released-a-usb-c-bluetooth-dongle-for-high-fidelity-transmission-191655786.html?src=rss
Spotify is rolling out a feature called About the Song which lets fans learn a bit more about their favorite tunes. This "brings stories and context" into the listening experience, sort of like that old VH1 show Pop Up Video.
How does it work? The Now Playing View houses short, swipeable story cards that "explore the meaning" behind the music. This information is sourced from third parties and the company promises "interesting details and behind-the-scenes moments." All you have to do is scroll down until you see the card and then swipe.
This is rolling out right now to Premium users on both iOS and Android, but it's not everywhere just yet. The beta tool is currently available in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
Spotify has been busy lately, as this is just the latest new feature. The platform recently introduced a group messaging feature and prompt-based playlists.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/spotify-now-lets-you-swipe-on-songs-to-learn-more-about-them-164558366.html?src=rss
Good deals on Apple products arent as frequent as wed like them to be, but if theres one of the companys products that does seem to enjoy pretty regular price cuts, its the AirTag. Right now you can pick up a four-pack of Apples diminutive first-generation Bluetooth trackers for $64, which translates to 35 percent off and a near record low price.
Bear in mind that this deal brings the price per AirTag down to about $16 if you were to buy them individually, and when not on sale they usually cost $29. The single first-gen AirTags are also on sale right now, and you can pick one up for 41 percent off at $17.
If you use Apple devices and consider yourself to be a serial thing-misplacer, AirTags are extremely useful. Adding one to your account takes a single tap, and with Apples Find My network so well established, locating missing items has never been easier.
Using your iPhone you can trigger a sound from the AirTags built-in speaker, or alternatively Precision Finding can be used to pinpoint its location via Find My. You just follow the instructions on your iPhone, paying attention to the vibrations that signal youre getting closer.
A reminder again that the above deals apply to the first-generation AirTag only. Apple introduced a refreshed tracker with greater range and a louder speaker last month, which retails at the same price as its predecessor. For deals on the new AirTag, you may have to wait a bit.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-a-four-pack-of-first-gen-airtags-for-only-64-163619159.html?src=rss
Most people wouldn't leave their phones behind when they so much as go for a drive, but NASA astronauts have had to leave their phones on Earth while they went to work 250 miles away at the International Space Station. That is, until now.
In a post on X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman shared that the Crew-12 and Artemis II astronauts will be allowed to bring smartphones along for the journey to the ISS and beyond. "We are giving our crews the tools to capture special moments for their families and share inspiring images and video with the world," Isaacman said.
While these won't be the first smartphone images captured in space that distinction belongs to a trio of miniature phone-based satellites sent into Earth orbit in 2013 which succeeded where the earlier British STRaND-1 project failed. But thanks to the upcoming Artemis II mission, we can look forward to the first smartphone images from the moon's orbit. The March (for now) launch will be the agency's first crewed moon mission since Apollo 17 in 1972.
The crews' personal devices will be far less cumbersome to use than the old Nikon DSLRs they were previously limited to for high-quality still images. Ideally, this means more spontaneous pictures that can be shared with friends and family back on Earth.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-will-now-allow-astronauts-to-take-their-smartphones-to-space-151310548.html?src=rss
