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iRobot, the company that brought robotic vacuum cleaners to homes and popular culture, has filed for bankruptcy. It plans to sell all assets to its primary supplier, the Chinese company Picea Robotics. Investors will experience a total loss and not receive recovery on their investment if the deal is approved, iRobot said. The company didnt discuss how the move might affect its employees in the US or elsewhere. Amazon dropped its $1.7 billion acquisition of the company last year after a veto threat from European regulators, leaving the Roomba maker with no other option. Political scrutiny came on two fronts: The company was also reportedly hit hard by Trumps tariffs in Vietnam, where it manufactures products for the US market. iRobot launched its first Roomba in 2002, arguably inventing the world of robot vacuums and the first robots to enter many of our homes. Competition from rivals has chipped away at its dominance, with other companies coming in at both lower and higher prices, like Roborock, Dyson and Ankers Eufy. Mat Smith The other big stories this morning In 2025, tech giants decided smart glasses are the next big thing Grok is spreading inaccurate info again, this time about the Bondi Beach shooting 47 Ronin director found guilty of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million The best things Engadget editors bought in 2025 IKEAs new wireless charger is cute I like the illuminated charging bowl too. IKEA IKEAs revamp of its smart home products doesnt end with Matter support. It also has some new Qi wireless chargers. First up, the $10 VÄSTMÄRKE combines a PopSockets-style phone grip with cable storage in a donut-shaped package. It can magnetically attach to iPhones with MagSafe or Pixel phones with Googles Pixelsnap magnets. Then theres the $25 VÄSTMÄRKE wireless charger with lighting, a bowl-shaped charging pad in the center for your smartphone or wireless earbuds. Continue reading. LG will debut its first Micro RGB television at CES More color and better dimming than a standard LCD. LG says it will unveil its LG Micro RGB evo TV at CES 2026, but ahead of that, it shared some preliminary information about the screen. Instead of just white lights, Micro RGB means the backlight can be any hue, thanks to individually controlled red, green and blue Micro LEDs, offering a wider color array. This approach is midway between OLEDs individual-pixel lighting and TVs that use typical mini-LEDs. Continue reading. Slop is Merriam-Websters word of the year 2025 saw AI slop sludge into every nook and cranny of online life. OpenAI Merriam-Webster has selected slop for its 2025 word of the year. Its defined as digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence. Weve seen an absolute deluge of AI slop this year, from fake movie trailers on YouTube to AI-generated bands on Spotify. It was (unfortunately) one of our winners of 2025. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121547853.html?src=rss
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Google will stop sending out dark web reports starting early next year, as it shuts down the free tool that can tell you if your personal information has appeared on the seedy underbelly of the internet. The tool used to be exclusively available to Google One subscribers until the company opened it up to everyone in mid-2024. If you switch it on, youll receive a notification whenever your name, email address and phone number leak on the internet, typically due to data breaches. In Googles email announcement, however, it said it was discontinuing dark web reports because feedback showed that it did not provide helpful next steps. A report just lets you know that your information has appeared on the dark web. You can also see a list of all the hits you get on your Google account, along with what data breach leaked that particular detail. However, it doesnt give you guidance on what to do afterwards. The company explained that it will focus on tools that can give you clear, actionable step to take instead. Google will stop monitoring for new dark web results on January 15, 2026 and will remove access to the report from your account on February 16. You can also remove your monitoring profile right now by going to the results with your info section on the tools official page. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/google-is-retiring-its-free-dark-web-monitoring-tool-next-year-023103252.html?src=rss
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LG is getting in on one of the newest trends for televisions with the introduction of Micro RGB. The company will unveil the LG Micro RGB evo at CES 2026, but it shared some preliminary information about the screen today. Micro RGB is a newer screen technology where rather than white lights, the backlight can be any hue thanks to individually controlled red, green and blue Micro LEDs, offering a wider color array. This approach is a mid-way point between the precision of OLED with its individual pixel lighting, but it offers an upgrade over screens only using mini LEDs. The television is also equipped with an upgraded engine for AI upscaling. According to the company's press release, the LG Micro RGB evo is certified by Intertek for 100 percent color gamut coverage in BT.2020, DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB. The TV has more than a thousand dimming zones for brightness control. The few other brands currently using micro RGB are charging a pretty penny for it; the one announced by Samsung earlier this year costs $29,999. At 115 inches, the Samsung version is also much larger than LG's offerings, which include options at 100 inches, 86 inches and 75 inches. Although the size is reduced, expect the eventual prices for the LG Micro RGB evo to also be very expensive.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/lg-will-debut-its-first-micro-rgb-television-at-ces-010037923.html?src=rss
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