ChatGPT-Powered Desk Mic gives your Existing Laptop Realtime Translation and Agentic Powers

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The most interesting AI hardware this year might not be a new screen or headset. It might be a microphone. Powerrider frames that idea very literally. It takes the form factor of a conference mic and refits it as a GPT‑4o terminal, so the same stem on your desk that handles Zoom calls can also translate in real time, summarize a briefing, or draft follow‑up emails while the meeting is still in progress.

What makes it feel clever is how little ceremony it adds. There is no new display to manage, just a few sculpted buttons for voice input, translation, and AI control. Tap, talk, and the response appears on your existing laptop, ready to paste into a chat, a slide deck, or a script. In a single accessory you get cleaner audio for podcasting and live streaming, plus a dedicated channel that turns casual speech into an ongoing conversation with ChatGPT.

Designer: Powerrider

Click Here to Buy Now: $59 $120 (56% off). Hurry, only a few left!

The hardware itself (model M1) weighs 290 grams and stands 107 millimeters tall, machined from aluminum alloy with a 60‑degree adjustable boom so you can talk comfortably without hunching over your keyboard. The capsule is an omni‑directional condenser tuned to pick up voice across a 100 to 15,000 Hz range, with DSP noise reduction baked into the signal chain. It samples at 16‑bit/48kHz, which puts it squarely in the clean‑enough category for content work without venturing into audiophile overkill. USB‑C handles both power and data, plus there is a 3.5mm jack if you want to monitor through headphones. The base houses four physical buttons, each programmable through companion software. One button wakes the AI mode, another triggers translation, a third handles dictation, and the fourth is a rotary knob that doubles as a mute toggle and volume dial.

This is where Powerrider stops being a mic and starts being a control surface. You can map those keys to custom GPT‑4o prompts, so tapping one button might fire off “translate the last paragraph into Spanish and make it sound conversational,” while another could trigger “rewrite this email to sound less corporate.” The software supports Windows 7 and up, plus macOS 10.15 or later, which covers most setups that still get security patches. The AI functions pull from a pretty expansive toolkit: text translation, PPT generation, AI drawing, background removal, speech writing, document conversion, image analysis, code generation, reading comprehension, Q&A, writing assistance, table creation, and mind mapping. Some of those feel gimmicky (I have yet to meet anyone who genuinely wants AI‑generated mind maps on demand), but the core translation and drafting tools hit real pain points if you work across languages or spend half your day rewriting the same three types of message.

The hook here is immediacy. Most of us already talk to ChatGPT, but we do it through a browser tab or a pinned app, which means context‑switching, copying text, pasting prompts, and generally breaking flow. Powerrider tries to make that interaction feel more like push‑to‑talk in a game or on a two‑way radio. You hold a key, speak the command, release, and the result lands in your active window or in a floating overlay, depending on how you configure it. That workflow collapses a six‑step process (open ChatGPT, type or paste, wait, copy response, switch back, paste again) into a two‑step one (press, speak). If you live in tools like Notion, Google Docs, or any IDE that supports text injection, the time savings compound quickly. The software also handles screenshot translation, which is genuinely useful if you are reading documentation, design files, or research papers in another language and want inline conversion without manually copying blocks of text into DeepL.

Because the mic itself is a legitimate audio interface, you can use it in OBS, Zoom, or any DAW that recognizes standard USB microphones. The frequency response is wide enough for vocal clarity but not so hyped that you get harsh sibilance or boomy proximity effects. Think more “podcast interview” than “ASMR whisper track.” The omni pickup pattern means you do not have to aim it perfectly, which is nice if you are someone who gestures while talking or shifts around in your chair. The DSP noise reduction does a decent job of killing keyboard clatter and ambient hum, though it is not going to save you if you are recording next to a mechanical keyboard with clicky blues or a window AC unit. For meeting‑quality audio and streaming voiceover work, it sits comfortably in the same tier as entry‑level USB mics like the Blue Yeti Nano or the HyperX SoloCast, but with the GPT layer on top.

The company behind the Powerrider is positioning this as part of a broader peripheral ecosystem, which is where things get more interesting. They are also offering an AI‑powered keyboard (model K1) and an AI‑powered mouse (model S1), both of which follow the same philosophy: take an essential input device and wire it directly to GPT‑4o so you can invoke AI functions without leaving your workspace. The keyboard is a 98‑key Crater mechanical with RGB backlighting, a volume knob, and three custom macro keys dedicated to AI tasks. It supports both wired USB and wireless 2.4GHz/Bluetooth 5.0 across four channels, and the battery will run for 148 hours of continuous typing with the backlight off, or about 16 hours with the RGB cranked. The mouse is a wireless optical with adjustable DPI up to 4000, seven buttons (including dedicated AI, custom, and search keys), and a two‑hour charge time for what they claim is several days of use. Both peripherals plug into the same software suite as the mic, so you can trigger translation, text generation, or document conversion from any of the three devices depending on which one is closest to your hand.

Powerrider is live on Kickstarter right now with a few weeks left in the campaign, and the pricing is structured around bundles. A single mic starts at $59 for the super early bird tier (limited to 300 units) or $69 for the regular early bird. The full “Powerrider AI One Suite” bundle, which includes one mic, one keyboard, and one mouse, is priced at $269 (down from a claimed $608 MSRP). You can also grab the mic plus keyboard for $169 or the mic plus mouse for $149. Add‑on pricing if you are already backing is $119 for the keyboard, $99 for the mouse, and $59 for an extra mic. Those numbers put the mic roughly on par with mid‑tier USB condensers, but with the AI layer effectively thrown in as the value‑add. Whether that trade‑off makes sense depends entirely on how much friction you currently feel when bouncing between your tools and ChatGPT, and whether you are willing to let a hardware button own part of that workflow instead of a keyboard shortcut or Alfred snippet.

Click Here to Buy Now: $59 $120 (56% off). Hurry, only a few left!

The post ChatGPT-Powered Desk Mic gives your Existing Laptop Realtime Translation and Agentic Powers first appeared on Yanko Design.

How to Spot Fake AI Products at CES 2026 Before You Buy

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Merriam-Webster just named “slop” its word of the year, defining it as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” The choice is blunt, almost mocking, and it captures something that has been building for months: a collective exhaustion with AI hype that promises intelligence but delivers mediocrity. Over the past three months, that exhaustion has started bleeding into Wall Street. Investors, analysts, and even CEOs of AI companies themselves have been openly questioning whether we are living through an AI bubble. OpenAI’s Sam Altman warned in August that investors are “overexcited about AI,” and Google’s Sundar Pichai admitted to “elements of irrationality” in the sector. The tech industry is pouring trillions into AI infrastructure while revenues lag far behind, raising fears of a dot-com-style correction that could rattle the entire economy.

CES 2026 is going to be ground zero for this tension. Every booth will have an “AI-powered” sticker on something, and a lot of those products will be genuine innovations built on real on-device intelligence and agentic workflows. But a lot of them will also be slop: rebranded features, cloud-dependent gimmicks, and shallow marketing plays designed to ride the hype wave before it crashes. If you are walking the show floor or reading coverage from home, knowing how to separate real AI from fake AI is not just a consumer protection issue anymore. It is a survival skill for navigating a market that feeds on confusion and a general lack of awareness around actual Artificial Intelligence.

1. If it goes offline and stops working, it was never really AI

The simplest test for fake AI is also the most reliable: ask what happens when the internet connection drops. Real AI that lives on your device will keep functioning because the processing is happening locally, using dedicated chips and models stored in the gadget itself. Fake AI is just a thin client that calls a cloud API, and the moment your Wi-Fi cuts out, the “intelligence” disappears with it.

Picture a laptop at CES 2026 that claims to have an AI writing assistant. If that assistant can still summarize documents, rewrite paragraphs, and handle live transcription when you are on a plane with no internet, you are looking at real on-device AI. If it gives you an error message the second you disconnect, it is cloud-dependent marketing wrapped in an “AI PC” label. The same logic applies to TVs, smart home devices, robot vacuums, and wearables. Genuine AI products are designed to think locally, with cloud connectivity as an optional boost rather than a lifeline.

The distinction matters because on-device AI is expensive to build. It requires new silicon, tighter integration between hardware and software, and real engineering effort. Companies that invested in that infrastructure will want you to know it works offline because that is their competitive edge. Companies that skipped that step will either avoid the question or bury it in fine print. At CES 2026, press the demo staff on this: disconnect the device from the network and see if the AI features still run. If they do not, you just saved yourself from buying rebranded cloud software in a shiny box.

If your Robot Vacuum has Microsoft Copilot, RUN!

2. If it’s just a chatbot, it isn’t AI… it’s GPT Customer Care

The laziest fake AI move at CES 2026 will be products that open a chat window, let you type questions, and call that an AI feature. A chatbot is not product intelligence. It is a generic language model wrapper that any company can license from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google in about a week, then slap their logo on top and call it innovation. If the only AI interaction your gadget offers is typing into a text box and getting conversational responses, you are not looking at an AI product. You are looking at customer service automation dressed up as a feature.

Real AI is embedded in how the product works. It is the robot vacuum that maps your home, decides which rooms need more attention, and schedules itself around your routine without you opening an app. It is the laptop that watches what you do, learns your workflow, and starts suggesting shortcuts or automating repetitive tasks before you ask. It is the TV that notices you always pause shows when your smart doorbell rings and starts doing it automatically. None of that requires a chat interface because the intelligence is baked into the behavior of the device itself, not bolted on as a separate conversation layer.

If a company demo at CES 2026 starts with “just ask it anything,” probe deeper. Can it take actions across the system, or does it just answer questions? Does it learn from how you use the product, or is it the same canned responses for everyone? Is the chat interface the only way to interact with the AI, or does the product also make smart decisions in the background without prompting? A chatbot can be useful, but it is table stakes now, not a differentiator. If that is the whole AI story, the company did not build AI into their product. They rented a language model and hoped you would not notice.

3. If the AI only does one narrow thing, it is probably just a renamed preset

Another red flag is when a product’s AI feature is weirdly specific and cannot generalize beyond a single task. A TV that has “AI motion smoothing” but no other intelligent behavior is not running a real AI model; it is running the same interpolation algorithm TVs have had for years, now rebranded with an AI label. A camera that has “AI portrait mode” but cannot recognize anything else is likely just using a basic depth sensor and calling it artificial intelligence. Real AI, especially the kind built into modern chips and operating systems, is designed to generalize across tasks: it can recognize objects, understand context, predict user intent, and coordinate with other devices.

Ask yourself: does this product’s AI learn, adapt, or handle multiple scenarios, or does it just trigger a preset when you press a button? If it is the latter, you are looking at a marketing gimmick. Fake AI products love to hide behind phrases like “AI-enhanced” or “AI-optimized,” which sound impressive but are deliberately vague. Real AI products will tell you exactly what the system is doing: “on-device object recognition,” “local natural language processing,” “agentic task coordination.” Specificity is a sign of substance. Vagueness is a sign of slop.

The other giveaway is whether the AI improves over time. Genuine AI systems get smarter as they process more data and learn from user behavior, often through firmware updates that improve the underlying models. Fake AI products ship with a fixed set of presets and never change. At CES 2026, ask demo reps if the product’s AI will improve after launch, how updates work, and whether the intelligence adapts to individual users. If they cannot give you a clear answer, you are looking at a one-time software trick masquerading as artificial intelligence.

Don’t fall for ‘AI Enhancement’ presets or buttons that don’t do anything related to AI.

4. If the company cannot explain what the AI actually does, walk away

Fake AI thrives on ambiguity. Companies that bolt a chatbot onto a product and call it AI-powered know they do not have a real differentiator, so they lean into buzzwords and avoid specifics. Real AI companies, by contrast, will happily explain what their models do, where the processing happens, and what problems the AI solves that the previous generation could not. If a booth rep at CES 2026 gives you vague non-answers like “it uses machine learning to optimize performance” without defining what gets optimized or how, that is a warning sign.

Push for concrete examples. If a smart home hub claims to have AI coordination, ask: what decisions does it make on its own, and what still requires manual setup? If a wearable says it has AI health coaching, ask: is the analysis happening on the device or in the cloud, and can it work offline while hiking in the wilderness? If a laptop advertises an AI assistant, ask: what can it do without an internet connection, and does it integrate with other apps (agentic) or just sit in a sidebar? Companies with real AI will have detailed, confident answers because they built the system from the ground up. Companies with fake AI will deflect, generalize, or change the subject.

The other test is whether the AI claim matches the price and the hardware. If a $200 gadget promises the same on-device AI capabilities as a $1,500 laptop with a dedicated neural processing unit, somebody is lying. Real AI requires real silicon, and that silicon costs money. Budget products can absolutely have useful AI features, but they will typically offload more work to the cloud or use simpler models. If the pricing does not line up with the technical claims, it is worth being skeptical. At CES 2026, ask what chip is powering the AI, whether it has a dedicated NPU, and how much of the intelligence is local versus cloud-based. If they cannot or will not tell you, that is your cue to move on.

5. Check if the AI plays well with others, or if it lives in a silo

One of the clearest differences between real agentic AI and fake “AI inside” products is interoperability. Genuine AI systems are designed to coordinate with other devices, share context, and act on your behalf across an ecosystem. Fake AI products exist in isolation: they have a chatbot you can talk to, but it does not connect to anything else, and it cannot take actions beyond its own narrow interface. Samsung’s CES 2026 exhibit is explicitly built around AI and interoperability, with appliances, TVs, and smart home products all coordinated by a shared AI layer. That is what real agentic AI looks like: the fridge, washer, vacuum, and thermostat all understand context and can make decisions together without you micromanaging each one. Fake AI, by contrast, gives you five isolated apps with five separate chatbots, none of which talk to each other. If a product at CES 2026 claims to have AI but cannot integrate with the rest of your smart home, car, or workflow, it is not delivering the core promise of agentic systems.

Ask demo reps: does this work with other brands, or only within your ecosystem? Can it trigger actions in other apps or devices, or does it just respond to questions? Does it understand my preferences across multiple products, or does each device start from scratch? Companies that built real AI ecosystems will brag about cross-device coordination because it is hard to pull off and it is the whole point. Companies selling fake AI will either avoid the topic or try to upsell you on buying everything from them, which is a sign they do not have real interoperability.

6. When in doubt, look for the slop

The rise of AI-generated “slop” gives you a shortcut for spotting lazy AI products: if the marketing materials, product images, or demo videos look AI-generated and low-effort, the product itself is probably shallow too. Merriam-Webster defines slop as low-quality digital content produced in quantity by AI, and it has flooded everything from social media to advertising to product launches. Brands that cut corners on their own marketing by using obviously AI-generated visuals are signaling that they also cut corners on the actual product development.

Watch for telltale signs: weird proportions in product photos, uncanny facial expressions in lifestyle shots, text that sounds generic and buzzword-heavy with no real specifics, and claims that are too good to be true with no technical backing. Real AI products are built by companies that care about craft, and that care shows up in how they present the product. Fake AI products are built by companies chasing a trend, and the slop in their marketing is the giveaway. At CES 2026, trust your instincts: if the booth, the video, or the pitch feels hollow and mass-produced, the gadget probably is too.

The post How to Spot Fake AI Products at CES 2026 Before You Buy first appeared on Yanko Design.

2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI Review: Car of the Year

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PROS:


  • Exceptionally balanced chassis favors control over spectacle

  • Clark Plaid seating blends comfort, grip, and heritage

  • Torque rich powerband rewards real world driving

  • Daily usability achieved without sacrificing design intent

  • Restraint driven design feels complete and confident

CONS:


  • Touch sensitive controls reduce tactile certainty

  • Front wheel drive limits ultimate track theatrics

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The GTI wins not by doing more, but by knowing when to stop.
award-icon

Forty years into its production run, the Volkswagen Golf GTI faces a question most performance cars never survive long enough to answer: what happens when the formula is complete? The 2025 model responds not with reinvention but with refinement so deliberate it borders on philosophical. Look at the grille: a single red line, unbroken, tracing the car’s width before disappearing into the headlight housings. No additional accent. No secondary flourish. That line is the thesis statement. Where competitors chase headline numbers and aggressive styling cues, the GTI presents something rarer in automotive design: the confidence to stop adding.

The exterior reads as studied understatement. Body lines remain clean, uninterrupted by vents or scoops that would suggest performance requiring constant explanation. The silhouette sits low without crouching, planted without posturing. In Alpine Silver Metallic, our test vehicle demonstrated how surface finish interacts with the car’s subtle curves, catching light across hood creases that reveal themselves gradually rather than announcing their presence.

Material Language

Inside, the cabin architecture prioritizes tactile hierarchy over visual spectacle. The flat-bottom steering wheel occupies the central position in this material conversation, wrapped in leather that wears smooth at the nine-and-three positions within the first few hundred miles of use. Stainless steel pedals catch light from the footwell, their brushed finish contrasting with the matte black plastic surrounds. Red ambient lighting threads through the dashboard at night, the only concession to interior theater.

The Clark Plaid seats deserve separate consideration. This textile pattern has appeared in every GTI generation since 1976, and its persistence represents something beyond brand consistency. The weave itself tells a story about Volkswagen’s understanding of what performance seating actually requires: grip during lateral loading, breathability across temperature changes, durability that improves rather than degrades with use. Bolster foam density sits firmer than typical sport cloth, shaped to contain rather than squeeze the occupant. The fabric’s black and gray threads intersect at angles that catch cabin light differently depending on sun position, creating visual movement even when the car sits still. After a four-hour highway stint from Dallas to Austin, the seats demonstrated no pressure point fatigue, a claim many leather-wrapped alternatives cannot make. This is functional heritage, not nostalgia. The plaid works because the problem it solves has not changed.

Dual 10.25-inch displays span the dashboard width, their bezels thin enough to suggest a single continuous surface interrupted only by the steering column. Touch-sensitive sliders for climate and volume occupy positions along the center console where physical controls once lived. This represents the GTI’s single visible concession to interface trends over tactile tradition, a trade that prioritizes visual continuity at a modest ergonomic cost. The adjustment period is real but brief.

Chassis Philosophy

The mechanical architecture beneath reveals Volkswagen’s approach to performance engineering. The 2.0-liter EA888 engine produces 241 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, figures that appear conservative against current competition. These numbers obscure the delivery character. Torque arrives at 1,600 rpm and sustains through 4,300 rpm, creating a powerband that rewards partial throttle exploration rather than demanding full commitment.

Our test vehicle carried the seven-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission, a choice that alters the car’s personality without diminishing it. Upshifts compress into moments brief enough to feel like hesitations rather than events. Downshifts arrive with rev-matching that sounds intentional, the exhaust note rising through an acoustic signature tuned to communicate engagement without theater.

The VAQ electronic limited-slip differential manages front-wheel traction with intervention subtle enough to require attention to notice. Corner exit acceleration produces no wheel scrabble, no steering correction, no sense of mechanical systems working to contain mechanical excess. The differential’s operation suggests integration rather than intervention, a chassis behaving as a single coordinated system rather than independent components managed by software.

Dynamic Chassis Control adaptive dampers present a genuine choice rather than a marketing checkbox. Comfort mode absorbs expansion joints and surface imperfections with compliance that transforms the GTI into a credible highway cruiser. Sport mode firms the response enough to communicate surface texture through the steering rim and seat cushion. Steering weight builds progressively from center, carrying none of the artificial resistance that plagues many electronically assisted systems. Brake pedal travel follows the same logic: firm initial resistance, progressive bite, linear relationship between input and outcome. The spread between these settings covers sufficient range that drivers will likely settle into a preference rather than toggle constantly. These are not remarkable specifications. They are evidence of calibration discipline.

The Architecture of Usefulness

The hatchback form factor delivers practicality the GTI’s sedan competitors cannot match. Rear cargo volume expands from 22.8 cubic feet with seats upright to 52.7 cubic feet with the rear bench folded, the rear seatbacks folding via a single pull lever that releases with satisfying mechanical precision. The load floor sits level with the rear bumper height, its carpeted surface firm enough to slide boxes across without catching. This utility exists without visual compromise, the roofline maintaining its sporting rake while enclosing genuinely useful interior volume.

Rear passenger space accommodates adults across moderate distances. Legroom measures adequate for passengers under six feet, though knee contact with front seatbacks remains possible depending on front occupant positioning. Headroom proves more generous than the roofline suggests, the seating position dropping occupants low enough to clear the tapering roof glass.

The rear door apertures open wide enough for easy entry, their weatherstripping creating a soft thud on close that communicates build quality without conscious attention. Small storage solutions appear throughout: door pockets sized for water bottles, a center console bin deep enough for phones and wallets, map pockets behind the front seats. For a vehicle this compact, the packaging efficiency represents thoughtful spatial engineering.

The Value Proposition

At $33,860 as tested, the GTI positions itself not against the Civic Type R or GR Corolla but adjacent to them. This is strategic design territory. Volkswagen occupies the space where daily usability and driving engagement overlap, ceding the performance margins to competitors who build cars requiring accommodation. The Type R demands you rise to its level. The GR Corolla rewards commitment with drama. The GTI meets you where you already are.

2025 Toyota GR Corolla Premium Manual Review

The four-year bumper-to-bumper warranty and two years of included maintenance read as confidence in the object’s longevity, not as purchase incentives. This is the rarest positioning in contemporary automotive design: a performance car priced for accessibility that does not apologize for what it excludes. The GTI excludes excess. That exclusion is the product.

Resolution: Why This Is Our Car of the Year

The 2025 Golf GTI represents something increasingly rare in automotive design: a product that knows what it is and refuses to pretend otherwise. The chassis does not apologize for being front-wheel drive. The power figures do not strain toward competition with larger engines. The interior does not disguise its price point behind aggressive styling that overpromises.

What remains is a vehicle that executes its intended purpose with precision that approaches elegance. The hot hatch formula, refined across four decades, arrives here in what may be its final evolved form before electrification rewrites the category’s rules entirely. For drivers seeking performance that integrates into daily life rather than demanding accommodation from it, the GTI presents an argument for restraint that carries more conviction than any competitor’s argument for excess.

The 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI is Yanko Design’s 2025 Car of the Year and earns our Editor’s Choice Award because it answers the question that matters: can a performance car be finished?

Yes. This is what finished looks like. Not the absence of ambition, but the presence of conviction. Volkswagen built the GTI they intended to build: complete, coherent, and resolved. In the final years before electrification rewrites every assumption about what a driver’s car can be, this is the closing argument for internal combustion restraint.

The award goes to the car that knew when to stop.

The post 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI Review: Car of the Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI Review: Car of the Year

Posted on by


PROS:


  • Exceptionally balanced chassis favors control over spectacle

  • Clark Plaid seating blends comfort, grip, and heritage

  • Torque rich powerband rewards real world driving

  • Daily usability achieved without sacrificing design intent

  • Restraint driven design feels complete and confident

CONS:


  • Touch sensitive controls reduce tactile certainty

  • Front wheel drive limits ultimate track theatrics

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The GTI wins not by doing more, but by knowing when to stop.
award-icon

Forty years into its production run, the Volkswagen Golf GTI faces a question most performance cars never survive long enough to answer: what happens when the formula is complete? The 2025 model responds not with reinvention but with refinement so deliberate it borders on philosophical. Look at the grille: a single red line, unbroken, tracing the car’s width before disappearing into the headlight housings. No additional accent. No secondary flourish. That line is the thesis statement. Where competitors chase headline numbers and aggressive styling cues, the GTI presents something rarer in automotive design: the confidence to stop adding.

The exterior reads as studied understatement. Body lines remain clean, uninterrupted by vents or scoops that would suggest performance requiring constant explanation. The silhouette sits low without crouching, planted without posturing. In Alpine Silver Metallic, our test vehicle demonstrated how surface finish interacts with the car’s subtle curves, catching light across hood creases that reveal themselves gradually rather than announcing their presence.

Material Language

Inside, the cabin architecture prioritizes tactile hierarchy over visual spectacle. The flat-bottom steering wheel occupies the central position in this material conversation, wrapped in leather that wears smooth at the nine-and-three positions within the first few hundred miles of use. Stainless steel pedals catch light from the footwell, their brushed finish contrasting with the matte black plastic surrounds. Red ambient lighting threads through the dashboard at night, the only concession to interior theater.

The Clark Plaid seats deserve separate consideration. This textile pattern has appeared in every GTI generation since 1976, and its persistence represents something beyond brand consistency. The weave itself tells a story about Volkswagen’s understanding of what performance seating actually requires: grip during lateral loading, breathability across temperature changes, durability that improves rather than degrades with use. Bolster foam density sits firmer than typical sport cloth, shaped to contain rather than squeeze the occupant. The fabric’s black and gray threads intersect at angles that catch cabin light differently depending on sun position, creating visual movement even when the car sits still. After a four-hour highway stint from Dallas to Austin, the seats demonstrated no pressure point fatigue, a claim many leather-wrapped alternatives cannot make. This is functional heritage, not nostalgia. The plaid works because the problem it solves has not changed.

Dual 10.25-inch displays span the dashboard width, their bezels thin enough to suggest a single continuous surface interrupted only by the steering column. Touch-sensitive sliders for climate and volume occupy positions along the center console where physical controls once lived. This represents the GTI’s single visible concession to interface trends over tactile tradition, a trade that prioritizes visual continuity at a modest ergonomic cost. The adjustment period is real but brief.

Chassis Philosophy

The mechanical architecture beneath reveals Volkswagen’s approach to performance engineering. The 2.0-liter EA888 engine produces 241 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque, figures that appear conservative against current competition. These numbers obscure the delivery character. Torque arrives at 1,600 rpm and sustains through 4,300 rpm, creating a powerband that rewards partial throttle exploration rather than demanding full commitment.

Our test vehicle carried the seven-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission, a choice that alters the car’s personality without diminishing it. Upshifts compress into moments brief enough to feel like hesitations rather than events. Downshifts arrive with rev-matching that sounds intentional, the exhaust note rising through an acoustic signature tuned to communicate engagement without theater.

The VAQ electronic limited-slip differential manages front-wheel traction with intervention subtle enough to require attention to notice. Corner exit acceleration produces no wheel scrabble, no steering correction, no sense of mechanical systems working to contain mechanical excess. The differential’s operation suggests integration rather than intervention, a chassis behaving as a single coordinated system rather than independent components managed by software.

Dynamic Chassis Control adaptive dampers present a genuine choice rather than a marketing checkbox. Comfort mode absorbs expansion joints and surface imperfections with compliance that transforms the GTI into a credible highway cruiser. Sport mode firms the response enough to communicate surface texture through the steering rim and seat cushion. Steering weight builds progressively from center, carrying none of the artificial resistance that plagues many electronically assisted systems. Brake pedal travel follows the same logic: firm initial resistance, progressive bite, linear relationship between input and outcome. The spread between these settings covers sufficient range that drivers will likely settle into a preference rather than toggle constantly. These are not remarkable specifications. They are evidence of calibration discipline.

The Architecture of Usefulness

The hatchback form factor delivers practicality the GTI’s sedan competitors cannot match. Rear cargo volume expands from 22.8 cubic feet with seats upright to 52.7 cubic feet with the rear bench folded, the rear seatbacks folding via a single pull lever that releases with satisfying mechanical precision. The load floor sits level with the rear bumper height, its carpeted surface firm enough to slide boxes across without catching. This utility exists without visual compromise, the roofline maintaining its sporting rake while enclosing genuinely useful interior volume.

Rear passenger space accommodates adults across moderate distances. Legroom measures adequate for passengers under six feet, though knee contact with front seatbacks remains possible depending on front occupant positioning. Headroom proves more generous than the roofline suggests, the seating position dropping occupants low enough to clear the tapering roof glass.

The rear door apertures open wide enough for easy entry, their weatherstripping creating a soft thud on close that communicates build quality without conscious attention. Small storage solutions appear throughout: door pockets sized for water bottles, a center console bin deep enough for phones and wallets, map pockets behind the front seats. For a vehicle this compact, the packaging efficiency represents thoughtful spatial engineering.

The Value Proposition

At $33,860 as tested, the GTI positions itself not against the Civic Type R or GR Corolla but adjacent to them. This is strategic design territory. Volkswagen occupies the space where daily usability and driving engagement overlap, ceding the performance margins to competitors who build cars requiring accommodation. The Type R demands you rise to its level. The GR Corolla rewards commitment with drama. The GTI meets you where you already are.

2025 Toyota GR Corolla Premium Manual Review

The four-year bumper-to-bumper warranty and two years of included maintenance read as confidence in the object’s longevity, not as purchase incentives. This is the rarest positioning in contemporary automotive design: a performance car priced for accessibility that does not apologize for what it excludes. The GTI excludes excess. That exclusion is the product.

Resolution: Why This Is Our Car of the Year

The 2025 Golf GTI represents something increasingly rare in automotive design: a product that knows what it is and refuses to pretend otherwise. The chassis does not apologize for being front-wheel drive. The power figures do not strain toward competition with larger engines. The interior does not disguise its price point behind aggressive styling that overpromises.

What remains is a vehicle that executes its intended purpose with precision that approaches elegance. The hot hatch formula, refined across four decades, arrives here in what may be its final evolved form before electrification rewrites the category’s rules entirely. For drivers seeking performance that integrates into daily life rather than demanding accommodation from it, the GTI presents an argument for restraint that carries more conviction than any competitor’s argument for excess.

The 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI is Yanko Design’s 2025 Car of the Year and earns our Editor’s Choice Award because it answers the question that matters: can a performance car be finished?

Yes. This is what finished looks like. Not the absence of ambition, but the presence of conviction. Volkswagen built the GTI they intended to build: complete, coherent, and resolved. In the final years before electrification rewrites every assumption about what a driver’s car can be, this is the closing argument for internal combustion restraint.

The award goes to the car that knew when to stop.

The post 2025 Volkswagen Golf GTI Review: Car of the Year first appeared on Yanko Design.

Nintendo has huge discounts on Switch 2 games in its holiday sale

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Nintendo is in a giving state of mind this season, offering some holiday deals on games in the eShop, including a few recent Switch 2 titles. For instance, the Switch 2 version of Ball x Pit, which was one of our staff's favorite games of 2025, is 20 percent off at $12. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is $40, down from the usual $50 on Switch 2, which is about as good a deal as you’ll get for a current-year game release.

There are also a few older games that have gotten even steeper discounts. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Complete Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 is a whopping 75 percent off, so load it onto your new console for $15.Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2 is down to $40. At about $33, Cult of the Lamb: Unholy Edition is half off for the original Switch. No Man's Sky is also 50 percent off, so you can grab it for either Switch console for just $24. Star Wars: Outlaws is down to $40, which is $20 off, and Nier: Automata is $16, compared with its usual $40 price tag.

Those are just a few that caught our eye. The discounts will run until January 4, so you can make purchases as a last-minute gift or load up your own Switch in case nobody gifts you with a game you've been eyeing.

Update, December 23, 6:50PM ET: CD Projekt RED has adjusted the price of Cyberpunk 2077 up from $17.49 to $39.99 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt down from $34.49 to $14.49. The company said the discounts were “a result of an error we made when submitting,” the error clearly being that they attached the “75 percent off” and “42 percent off” to the wrong games. Congratulations if you were able to buy Cyberpunk 2077 for $17.49. Commiserations if you just paid $34.49 for The Witcher 3. We updated the article after publish to reflect the above changes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-has-huge-discounts-on-switch-2-games-in-its-holiday-sale-220058951.html?src=rss

Pirate group Anna’s Archive says it has scraped Spotify in its entirety

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Anna's Archive, the open-source search engine for shadow libraries, says it scraped Spotify's entire library of music. The group acquired metadata for around 256 million tracks, with 86 million actual songs, and is just under 300TB in total size.

"A while ago, we discovered a way to scrape Spotify at scale. We saw a role for us here to build a music archive primarily aimed at preservation," the group said in a blog post. The pirated treasure trove of music represents over 15 million artists with over 58 million albums.

The group intends to make all files available for download for anyone with the available disk space. "This Spotify scrape is our humble attempt to start such a “preservation archive” for music. Of course Spotify doesn’t have all the music in the world, but it’s a great start," the group wrote. The 86 million songs that the group has archived so far represent about 99.6 percent of listens on the platform. This only represents about 37 percent of the total and the group still has millions left to be archived.

The open-source site is normally focused on text like books and papers, which it says offers the highest information density. The group says its goal of "preserving humanity's knowledge and culture" doesn't distinguish between media types. Of course none of this is exactly legal, and the sharing or downloading of all these files is flagrantly in violation of IP protection laws.

Anna's Archive contends that current collections of music, both physical and digital, are over-indexed to the most popular artists or composed of unnecessarily large file sizes due to collectors' focus on fidelity. The group says that what it's amassed is by far the largest music metadata database publicly available. The music files will be released in order of popularity in stages.

“Spotify has identified and disabled the nefarious user accounts that engaged in unlawful scraping,” a spokesperson told Engadget in a statement. “We've implemented new safeguards for these types of anti-copyright attacks and are actively monitoring for suspicious behavior. Since day one, we have stood with the artist community against piracy, and we are actively working with our industry partners to protect creators and defend their rights.”

Update, December 22, 2025, 10:45PM ET: This story has been updated to add Spotify’s statement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/pirate-group-annas-archive-says-it-has-scraped-spotify-in-its-entirety-211914755.html?src=rss

Call of Duty co-creator Vince Zampella killed in a car crash

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Game developer Vince Zampella, known for his work on many popular first-person shooter franchises, has died. According to Los Angeles news channel NBC4, Zampella was killed in a single-vehicle car crash on Sunday along with one other unnamed person. He was 55.

Zampella has helmed several well-known first-person shooter titles. He was a founder of Infinity Ward, where he was a creator of the Call of Duty series. Zampella remained at the company for the launch of the hugely popular franchise's first few installments. In 2010, he co-founded Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Titanfall, Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends. Respawn was acquired by EA, and most recently, Zampella was leading DICE's studio in Los Angeles and headed up the Battlefield franchise, another FPS series that just saw the launch of Battlefield 6 earlier this year.

EA shared the following statement about Zampella's death: “This is an unimaginable loss, and our hearts are with Vince’s family, his loved ones and all those touched by his work. Vince’s influence on the video game industry was profound and far-reaching. A friend, colleague, leader and visionary creator, his work helped shape modern interactive entertainment and inspired millions of players and developers around the world. His legacy will continue to shape how games are made and how players connect for generations to come.”

Update, December 22, 2025, 3:53PM ET: Added statement from EA.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/call-of-duty-co-creator-vince-zampella-killed-in-a-car-crash-204046354.html?src=rss

Tech-savvy YouTuber builds a cardboard airplane with detachable landing gear

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The Wright Brothers changed the course of history when they took the first ever flight on December 1903. Their biplane, crafted from wood and fabric, had a rudder for yaw control, wing warping for roll control, and front elevators for pitch control. The first flight lasted for just 12 seconds, driven by the custom 12-horsepower engine and propellers.

The aviation industry has come a long way since that decisive event, and it’s always good to have a similar nostalgic feel again. Peter Sripol, along with his team, has built a cardboard airplane that has plywood-structured wings (just like the Wright Brothers’ airplane) and is capable of flying one person with ease. Interestingly, the DIYer uses a Pizza box to fit in the altimeter, air speed gauge, and the attitude indicator. According to his estimation, the plane is a giant shipping box, given that it has around 95 percent cardboard parts, which in itself is a feat.

Designer: Peter Sripol

The shape of the fully assembled airplane is just like any other double-propeller plane that’s commercially produced. It is narrower on the tail end and wider near the seating section for aerodynamic efficiency. Just that it’s not as polished and fine-tuned since it is just a prototype for now. After putting together the fuselage, wings, and the custom-made wheel assembly that ejects once the thing is airborne to shed extra weight, Peter drove around the plane in taxing mode to check if all the basics are working fine. The wheels seemed to drag a little, and the batteries powering the thing were not enough for the flight speed.

After fixing the initial kinks, he managed to get off the ground a few feet, but as soon as the landing gear assembly detached, the cardboard airplane flew for a few feet and veered off course to land abruptly. Coming back to the design, the corrugated cardboard parts of the plane are glued together for structural integrity. There are small cutouts on the sides and on the front to have a clear view. The DIY project is in work, and the maker plans to install the controls on the sides and the rudder pedals on the floor. For now, Peter uses the wireless controller to actuate the inputs for the drive and flight tests. Fitting the flight controls inside is going to be touch-and-go, given that there is only one entry and exit opening on the plane from the front. The tail section has folded cardboard skins that take the shape of the stabilizers, elevator, and rudder.

The wing is the most challenging section to build, as during flight, cardboard is not the most ideal material due to its low compression tolerance, hence the small plywood plates embedded inside the wing structure. For a secure embodiment, the wings are attached to the fuselage with bolts and reinforced cardboard doublers. The electric motors for propulsion are mounted on the reinforced cardboard structure, while the batteries, speed controls, and the messy wiring are housed inside the fuselage. We’ll have to wait for a few weeks, when the next video arrives, and hopefully Peter will take flight in this DIY cardboard airplane.

The post Tech-savvy YouTuber builds a cardboard airplane with detachable landing gear first appeared on Yanko Design.

Hisense XR10 Laser Projector and the Case for Flexible Scale at CES 2026

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Large-format displays have always posed a spatial question that brightness alone cannot answer: how much permanence does a room owe to its screen? The Hisense 100U8QG, reviewed earlier this year, represented one answer. At 100 diagonal inches of Mini-LED panel, it demanded architectural consideration. Wall reinforcement, viewing distance calculations, furniture subordination. The display became a fixture in the truest sense, its physical presence reshaping the room around it.

Designer: Hisense

The XR10 Laser TV, unveiled ahead of CES 2026, proposes a different relationship between image and architecture. Where the 100U8QG commits, the XR10 suggests. Where fixed panels dictate, projection negotiates.

Scale Without Permanence

The fundamental distinction lies not in image quality but in spatial philosophy. A 100-inch television is a decision. Once mounted, its presence organizes the room. Seating angles become fixed. Wall treatments become irrelevant behind the panel. The display asserts dominance over its environment, requiring the space to accommodate its permanence.

Projection operates under different constraints. The XR10 can scale from 65 to 300 inches depending on throw distance and surface availability. This variability represents more than convenience. It represents a fundamentally reversible intervention. The wall remains a wall. The room retains its capacity to be something other than a viewing space. When the projector powers down, the architecture reasserts itself in ways that a mounted 100-inch panel never permits.

This reversibility carries design implications that extend beyond flexibility for its own sake. Spaces increasingly serve multiple functions. A wall that hosts a 200-inch projection in the evening might face windows in the morning, hang artwork during gatherings, or simply recede into architectural neutrality when entertainment is not the room’s purpose. Fixed ultra-large displays foreclose these possibilities. Projection preserves them.

Brightness as Spatial Liberation

The XR10’s triple-laser light engine achieves output levels that shift the traditional projector calculus. Where previous generations required environmental control, darkened rooms, managed window treatments, controlled artificial lighting, the XR10 can hold its image against ambient conditions that would have dissolved earlier projectors into washed abstraction.

This capability reframes brightness not as a specification but as a design constraint relaxed. The 100U8QG demanded nothing from its environment beyond structural support. It generated its own light, controlled its own contrast, existed independently of the room’s luminous conditions. Projection historically asked more: cooperation from windows, deference from overhead fixtures, submission from the broader lighting design.

The XR10 narrows this gap without eliminating it entirely. Ambient light remains a factor. Surface reflectivity still matters. But the threshold of environmental accommodation drops substantially. A room need not transform itself into a theater to achieve cinematic scale. The projection can coexist with the space rather than demanding its temporary transformation.

Material Presence and Absence

The physical footprint of these technologies tells its own story. The 100U8QG, despite remarkably thin bezels and careful industrial design, remains an object of substantial material presence. Its glass surface catches light. Its chassis occupies wall space whether active or dormant. The panel exists as an architectural element even when displaying nothing.

The XR10 operates on different terms. As an ultra-short-throw system, it sits near the projection surface rather than across the room, typically on furniture or a low console beneath the image. The projector itself occupies space, but that space bears no fixed relationship to the image’s scale. A 300-inch projection does not require a 300-inch object. The image and its source decouple in ways that fixed displays cannot replicate.

This decoupling creates interesting possibilities for spatial hierarchy. The 100U8QG is always the most visually dominant element in any room it inhabits. The XR10 can be subordinate, tucked below sightlines, present but not assertive. The image appears and disappears. The hardware remains modest.

The Engineering of Environmental Tolerance

Achieving brightness sufficient for ambient operation requires addressing thermal and optical challenges that compound at high output levels. The XR10 employs a sealed microchannel liquid cooling system, an approach that maintains laser stability without exposing internal optics to environmental contamination. Traditional air-cooled projectors draw dust through their optical paths over time, degrading image quality incrementally. Sealed liquid cooling preserves performance across years of operation rather than months.

The optical system centers on a 16-element all-glass lens array with dynamic aperture control. Glass elements maintain dimensional stability under thermal stress better than polymer alternatives, reducing the subtle warping that can soften images at extreme scales. The IRIS system adjusts light transmission in real time to preserve contrast across varying scene brightness, a capability that becomes more critical as ambient light levels rise.

Speckle suppression addresses the last major optical distinction between projection and panel display. The grainy texture that coherent laser light can produce against reflective surfaces has historically marked projection as visually different from emissive displays. The XR10’s suppression system reduces this artifact to the threshold of perception, bringing projected images closer to the smooth, grain-free character of LED and OLED panels.

Commitment and Its Alternatives

The choice between fixed ultra-large display and high-brightness projection ultimately reflects a stance on commitment. The 100U8QG rewards commitment. Once installed, calibrated, and integrated, it delivers consistent, environmentally independent performance. The room becomes better at being a viewing room. The display improves through permanence.

The XR10 rewards flexibility. It achieves similar or greater scale while preserving the room’s capacity for other identities. The wall can be a screen, then not a screen. The space can host cinema, then release it. The architectural intervention remains reversible in ways that panel installation does not.

Neither approach is superior in absolute terms. The design question centers on what a space is asked to become and for how long. Dedicated viewing environments favor the commitment model. Multi-use spaces, rooms with competing functions, and architectures that resist permanent visual dominance may find the projection model more sympathetic to their broader purposes.

Positioning in the Display Landscape

Hisense will demonstrate the XR10 at CES 2026, booth 17704 in Central Hall. The company has spent a decade developing laser projection technology, introducing its first laser TV in 2014 and pioneering triple-laser color architecture in 2019. The XR10 represents the current limit of that trajectory: maximum brightness, maximum scale, minimum environmental demand.

Pricing and availability remain unannounced. The competitive landscape has expanded considerably since Hisense established the ultra-short-throw category, with Samsung, LG, and numerous manufacturers offering alternatives. How the XR10 positions against both competing projectors and the fixed ultra-large panels it philosophically challenges will determine its market reception.

The more interesting question may be conceptual rather than commercial. As display technology continues pushing scale boundaries, the tension between permanence and adaptability becomes more acute. The XR10 and the 100U8QG occupy different points on that spectrum, offering different answers to the same fundamental question: what does a room owe to its screen, and what does a screen owe to its room?

The post Hisense XR10 Laser Projector and the Case for Flexible Scale at CES 2026 first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Indie Game Awards snatches back two trophies from Clair Obscur over its use of generative AI

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The Indie Game Awards has stripped Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 of two major awards, including Game of the Year and Debut Game. This is due to developer Sandfall Interactive's use of generative AI, as reported by Mashable.

This looks to be fairly cut and dry. The awards ceremony clearly states in its FAQ that any game that uses generative AI in the development process would be "strictly ineligible" for nominations. It was recently revealed that Sandfall did indeed use generative AI while making Clair Obscur.

The company says it was only for placeholder textures that were later removed, but a few squeezed past the QA process and made their way to the final game and, as such, the internet. The Indie Game Awards is clear about disallowing any use of generative AI and, so, here we are.

"In light of Sandfall Interactive confirming the use of gen AI art in production on the day of the Indie Game Awards 2025 premiere, this does disqualify Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 from its nomination," the organization wrote. "While the assets in question were patched out and it is a wonderful game, it does go against the regulations we have in place."

Six One Indie, the company behind the ceremony, deserves a smidge of the blame here. These awards were initially handed out last week and we've known about the whole Clair Obscur AI thing for months. It says it didn't discover Sandfall's use of AI until December 18, the day the winners were announced. A Google search on December 17 likely would've helped. It is worth noting, however, that Sandfall did previously agree that no generative AI was used during development as part of the submission process. 

In any event, the second-highest scoring titles in each category now gets the award. This means that Blue Prince is now Game of the Year and Sorry We're Closed snags Debut Game.

Despite this AI controversy, Clair Obscur had a record-setting night at this month's The Game Awards. It won just about everything it was put up for, including Game of the Year. It also made our list of the best games of 2025. The developer announced that it had sold 5 million copies back in October. That number is surely much higher by now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-indie-game-awards-snatches-back-two-trophies-from-clair-obscur-over-its-use-of-generative-ai-164730842.html?src=rss