Amazon’s next-generation AI assistant is now available to everyone in the US for $20 per month, or for free if you’re a Prime member. Amazon has also introduced a try-before-you-buy free tier for non-Prime members, but it’s limited to text-based chat.
Alexa+ has been in early access since last year, and Amazon says it’s listened to user insights ahead of rolling out the update nationwide today. If you’re a Prime member, you can start using the new assistant by saying "Alexa, upgrade to Alexa+" or by heading to Alexa.com and signing into your Amazon account. The Alexa website is also where you’ll find the new free Alexa chat feature, which lets you ask questions and research various topics with usage limits.
Given that a Prime membership costs less ($15 per month) than Alexa+ on its own, Amazon is no doubt hoping that the introduction of its now more conversational Alexa assistant will entice some would-be subscribers. Amazon also offers a 30-day free trial of Prime to first-time customers.
As well as allowing more complex and naturally flowing interactions, Alexa+ also has new agentic capabilities, making it more effective at managing your schedule, providing recommendations, making reservations and controlling your smart home devices. It’s also a more personalized experience, with the idea being that Alexa keeps an eye on your digital activity so it gives you more useful answers.
Whether the overhauled Alexa will work for everyone remains to be seen. In our preview last summer, Engadget’s Cherlynn Low wrote about her conflicted feelings on the next-gen assistant. While impressed by its ability to handle more complex tasks, she found the experience to be inconsistent and "just incompetent enough to be annoying."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/alexa-is-now-available-nationwide-with-a-free-text-based-version-for-non-prime-members-to-try-155550342.html?src=rss
Walking through a mall means passing bright rectangles looping 2D video, occasionally interrupted by a viral 3D billboard that makes people stop and film it. Those 3D moments usually feel like one-off stunts with custom hardware and bespoke content, not something you can bolt to a wall like normal signage and manage alongside the rest of your screens without rebuilding your entire workflow from scratch.
Samsung’s Spatial Signage tries to make that volumetric effect practical. The first global product is an 85-inch 4K portrait display that uses a patented 3D Plate behind the LCD to create depth you perceive behind the glass, without glasses or headsets. It is still wall-mounted, but it behaves more like a window where products and scenes sit in real space instead of just flickering on a surface.
Picture a flagship store or museum lobby where a life-size figure or product appears to stand just behind the glass, rotating to show front, back, and side views. The 9:16 portrait format and 4K resolution let brands run 360-degree spins or full-height characters that feel more like installations than ads. Samsung’s Quantum Processor handles upscaling, color mapping, and HDR tweaks so older assets stay sharp, and an anti-glare panel keeps the illusion working under bright retail lighting.
The 85-inch unit is only 52mm thick and weighs 49kg, so it mounts with a Slim Fit Wall Mount like regular signage instead of needing a deep box enclosure. That means it can integrate into compact or design-sensitive locations without construction overhauls. Samsung is launching smaller 32-inch and 55-inch versions later, making it easier to repeat the same 3D language in window displays or feature walls across a retail chain.
Of course, the content side matters as much as the hardware. AI Studio, the new app inside Samsung’s VXT cloud platform, can take static images and automatically turn them into signage-ready video, adjusting shadows, margins, and backgrounds specifically for Spatial Signage. That means brands without dedicated 3D pipelines can still get depth-friendly motion from existing imagery instead of hiring specialized studios for every campaign.
Spatial Signage launches alongside other supersized displays, like a 130-inch Micro RGB signage and a 108-inch The Wall All-in-One that simplifies LED installs, plus Cisco and Logitech partnerships for meeting rooms. The point is that this 3D panel is not a toy but one piece of a lineup meant to cover storefronts, lobbies, and boardrooms with different flavors of immersive screens that plug into the same management stack.
Samsung’s Spatial Signage hints at a future where digital signage is less about flat loops and more about volumetric storytelling that fits into normal walls and workflows. It does not ask passersby to put on glasses or download an app; it just quietly makes content feel like it occupies space. Brands and venues that live or die by how long people stop and stare will see this, pun intended, as the logical next step after everyone got bored with rectangles running the same video on repeat.
The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is set to make its official debut on February 25th, 2026, and it promises to elevate the standards of premium smartphones. With a combination of thoughtful upgrades and refined design elements, this flagship device aims to enhance the user experience while staying true to the core features that define the […]
Despite its supremely sleek design, the iPhone Air actually has a pretty respectable battery life, lasting for somewhere in the region of 27 hours if you’re continuously streaming video. But you’re still going to be wary of it dying on you if you’re on a trip or just having a particularly screen-heavy day. That’s where Apple’s iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack comes in, and it’s currently on sale for $79.
This accessory only works with the iPhone Air, but much like the phone it attaches to, it’s extremely slim at 7.5mmm, so crucially doesn’t add so much bulk when attached that it defeats the point of having a thin phone in the first place. The MagSafe Battery isn’t enormous at 3,149mAh (enough to add an extra 65 percent of charge to the Air), but it can wirelessly charge the AirPods Pro 3 as well, making it an even more useful travel companion. You can also charge your iPhone while charging the battery pack.
At its regular price of $99, the MagSafe battery pack is an admittedly pricey add-on to what is already an expensive phone, but for $20 off it’s well worth considering what Engadget’s Sam Rutherford called an "essential accessory" for some users in his iPhone Air review.
Many Apple loyalists will always insist on having first-party accessories for their iPhone, but there are plenty of third-party MagSafe chargers out there too, a lot of them considerably cheaper than Apple’s lineup. Be sure to check out our guide for those.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-iphone-air-magsafe-battery-pack-drops-to-an-all-time-low-price-144516530.html?src=rss
It’s hard to tell the difference between Apple’s second-generation AirTag and the almost-five-year-old original just by looking at them. In fact, the only way to tell is the many scratches on my old tracker, picked up from all those years attached to my keyring, living in my pocket.
While the price is still $29, Apple’s latest tracker packs some core upgrades. The new AirTag has a second-generation ultra-wideband (UWB) chip that extends its Precise Finding range up to 50 percent, though it requires an iPhone 15 or newer to do so. It’s also apparently 50 percent louder and has a new, higher-pitched chime. Still no keyring hole, though.
The new AirTag looks… the same. It’s arguably the most understated hardware design Apple has ever made, with no buttons or ports, just a company logo on one side. It’s made from a combination of a stainless steel plate and a (now 85-percent recycled) plastic enclosure. It’s like a thick coin, a little bigger than a quarter, and slips into any small pocket or wallet. The battery can be replaced by rotating the backing off, but it's still solid enough that I never felt there was a risk of coming off accidentally.
Apple’s accessories to attach the AirTag to your keys are still more expensive than the tracker itself. However, compared to when the original tracker launched, there’s now a rich collection of third-party options from the likes of Mophie, Belkin and more, many of which are more reasonably priced at around $15. A $35 keyring for a $29 tracker is a very tough sell, Apple.
Apple's new AirTag promises increased range and a louder ring chime.
Mat Smith for Engadget
Setting up a new AirTag is just as effortless as its predecessor. Pull out the plastic tag, connecting the battery, and a notification will pop up on your nearby iPhone. You can then name it, assign it to an item and it’ll join your list of findable Apple hardware.
I’ve been testing the range of the new AirTag, and if anything, the 50 percent increase in Precision Finding range is a conservative estimate. Naturally, tracking can be affected by building structure, walls, a lack of nearby Find My network devices and other interference, but the next-generation AirTag’s “getting closer” screen consistently appeared on my phone when I was around 80 feet away. The older tracker, however, needed me to be around 30-40 feet away to do the same. The benefit of Precision Finding was limited on the debut AirTag, because its range was so tiny — especially in busy environments. The hardware upgrades now make it truly useful. The new AirTag is also faster to connect and more responsive to my movements and sudden turns, thanks, I expect, to the new ultra-wideband chip.
You can now also use newer Apple Watches (Series 9, Ultra 2 and up) with precision location detection. After updating her Apple Watch Series 11 to the latest software, my colleague Cherlynn Low reported that locating the new AirTag was pretty much the same as on an iPhone. She did find it slightly counterintuitive to have to first add the Find My shortcut to the Control Center on the watch instead of going to the Find My Items app to do so, but ultimately, once she did that, it mirrored the existing setup for Precision Finding on iPhones.
Apple's new AirTag promises increased range and a louder ring chime.
Mat Smith for Engadget
Apple also redesigned the AirTag’s speaker assembly, which it says makes sounds 50 percent louder. Possibly the most effective audio upgrade is a higher-pitched chime that’s easier to hear over ambient noise and in busy public spaces. I could hear it ringing out from the other side of my gym’s locker room, while inside a locker, over music playing in the background. My old AirTag was inaudible until I was a few feet away from my locker. I always thought the sound on the original AirTag was a little too low-key for something you were urgently trying to find. (I’d love to be able to customize the chime, though.)
It’s the Find My network that makes the AirTag shine. Apple’s massive footprint of over a billion devices, from iPhones to Macs, continues to offer a tracking range and finer precision than GPS and Bluetooth alone. If anything, this network is even more built out since the launch of the first Apple tracker.
Since we tested the first AirTag, Apple has added multiple new features, usually through iOS updates, that expanded the utility and versatility of its trackers. In iOS 17, you could share an AirTag through Family Sharing. In iOS 18.2, Share Item Location allowed you to share your tracking information with third parties (such as airlines or train companies), improving the chances of finding the AirTag.
There have also been subsequent safety upgrades, including expanding unknown tracker alerts to Android devices without needing to install an app. Apple also reduced the time an AirTag takes to emit a sound when separated from its owner, shifting the interval to a random range between 8 and 24 hours. At launch, this was a three-day span.
Wrap-up
Apple's second-gen AirTag is still $29.
Mat Smith for Engadget
Do you need the new AirTag? While improved in every way, it’s pretty much the same device. However, the AirTag’s simplicity and ease of use are second to none when it comes to Bluetooth trackers. If you already own a single AirTag for your keys or wallet, upgrading to the second-gen iteration and repurposing the old one to track, say, your luggage, makes a lot of sense. You get the more precise location tracking and sensing for your smaller item, while you can reduce your bag anxiety if your suitcase doesn’t make it to your destination.
There's no doubt the second-gen AirTags are improved, and thankfully, upgrading to the new capabilities doesn’t come at too steep a cost.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/apple-airtag-2026-review-143000427.html?src=rss
Remember when office furniture meant heavy desks bolted to the floor and chairs that squeaked every time you moved? Those days feel like ancient history now. The way we work has transformed so dramatically that our furniture is finally catching up, and the Kylinc system by Belte Furniture is proof that flexibility isn’t just a buzzword anymore.
Unlike traditional office setups that commit you to one configuration forever, Kylinc treats your workspace like a living thing that can adapt whenever you need it to. The secret lies in its clever design: each piece rolls on large wheels, transforming your office into a sort of adult Lego set where you can rebuild your environment based on what the day demands.
Designer: Belte Furniture
The real genius shows up in the details. Those oversized wheels aren’t just for show. They make repositioning furniture feel effortless, whether you’re creating an impromptu collaboration zone or carving out a quiet corner for focused work. And in a world where every device needs charging, Kylinc integrates power management directly into the furniture itself, complete with smart cable organization that keeps cords from turning into a tangled mess.
But here’s where things get interesting. The system comes alive through its mix-and-match approach. Benches, seating pods, work surfaces, and storage units all play together in whatever combination makes sense for your space. Need to host a team brainstorm? Arrange the pieces in a circle. Pivoting to heads-down work mode? Spread everything out for individual focus zones. The furniture bends to your workflow instead of forcing you to adapt to rigid layouts.
The color palette deserves its own mention. While most office furniture sticks to safe grays and blacks, Kylinc brings vibrant hues into the mix, injecting energy into spaces that typically feel sterile. It’s a small touch that acknowledges something important: where we work affects how we feel, and how we feel influences what we create.
Of course, no design exists in a vacuum. Some observers have noted that Kylinc draws inspiration from established designs in the flexible furniture space, particularly work by firms like Pearson Lloyd. The addition of integrated power might seem like pure innovation, but it introduces a practical question: will people actually bother unplugging and managing those cables when they want to reconfigure their space? There’s a gap between theoretical flexibility and real-world behavior that even the smartest design can’t always bridge.
Still, this tension points to something larger happening in workplace design. We’re moving away from the idea that one setup serves all needs all the time. The pandemic accelerated this shift, but the underlying truth was always there: different tasks require different environments, and the same person might need a collaborative hub in the morning and a quiet retreat in the afternoon. Kylinc responds to this reality by making spatial reconfiguration actually feasible. Traditional modular furniture often requires tools, time, or multiple people to rearrange. By contrast, a system built on wheels and designed for intuitive assembly lowers the friction enough that people might actually use it the way it’s intended.
The multifunctional accessories add another layer of versatility. Surfaces can morph from laptop stands to communal tables. Storage elements double as room dividers. Each component serves multiple purposes, which matters especially in smaller offices where every square foot counts. What makes furniture like Kylinc significant isn’t just the product itself but what it represents. We’re seeing a fundamental rethinking of how physical space supports work. The old model assumed stability: you’d sit at the same desk, in the same spot, doing roughly the same thing. The new model embraces flux: your needs change throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout your projects.
Winning an iF Design Award puts Kylinc in good company among furniture innovations that are reshaping how we think about workspaces. Whether this particular system becomes ubiquitous or simply points the way forward, it’s part of a bigger conversation about creating environments that serve people instead of constraining them. And in a time when the relationship between work and space continues to evolve, that’s exactly the kind of furniture we need more of.
Nintendo has lined up its first showcase of the year. The next Nintendo Direct is taking place on February 5 at 9AM ET, the company has announced. It will run for around 30 minutes.
As previous reports suggested, it will focus on third-party titles from partners instead of first-party games from Nintendo itself. So if you were hoping for new Mario or Zelda announcements, that may not happen during this event. Still, you can expect to hear about new games that are coming to Switch and Switch 2. You can tune into the Direct via the YouTube video embedded above.
FromSoftware’s The Duskbloods, a Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, is slated to arrive this year, so we may get another look at that (or the Switch 2 version of Elden Ring, for that matter). Meanwhile, Resident Evil Requiem will hit the console later this month, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Capcom making an appearance during this Direct.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendos-first-direct-showcase-of-2026-is-scheduled-for-february-5-141931154.html?src=rss
What if the battle for handheld gaming supremacy wasn’t just about portability but about raw power and efficiency? Below, ETA Prime takes you through how Intel’s Panther Lake Core Ultra X9 388H is shaking up the game, going head-to-head with AMD’s Ryzen Z2 Extreme in a showdown that redefines what handheld gaming PCs can achieve. […]
Samsung is poised to make a significant impact in the wireless earbud market with the Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. These latest additions to the Galaxy Buds lineup aim to deliver a seamless blend of advanced features, ergonomic design, and competitive pricing. By focusing on user-centric enhancements, Samsung is positioning these […]
What if you could create a fully functional, AI-powered application without writing a single line of code, and do it for free? It might sound like a dream, but Google’s Antigravity and Stitch ecosystem is making it a reality. In this guide, World of AI explains how these innovative AI-driven platforms are transforming app development […]
