• Porsche poaches new design boss from McLaren

    January 29, 2026

    Porsche has announced former McLaren chief design officer Tobias Sühlmann will replace Michael Mauer as its head of design, effective February 1, 2026. Mr Sühlmann, who worked on the McLaren 750S and Artura Spider sports cars, will replace Michael Mauer, who has been with the German sports car maker since 2004. Mr Mauer oversaw the design of several generations of vehicles, having previously worked at Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Smart. During his more than 21 years at the brand, Mr Mauer had the task of evolving the design of the Porsche 911, one of the most recognisable and iconic sports…

  • Halide co-founder joins Apple’s design team

    January 29, 2026

    Apple picked up an intriguing new member for its design team today in Sebastiaan de With, co-founder of the iPhone camera app Halide. He announced the move today on Threads, adding, “So excited to work with the very best team in the world on my favorite products.” The Halide app has caught our eye at Engadget at several points over the years. de With also is co-founder of Lux, which is Halide’s parent company. The other Lux apps also have an emphasis on photography and videography, particularly on Apple devices. Prior to Halide, de With had done other work at…

  • Trump energy department loosens rules on nuclear safety

    January 29, 2026

    For the last several months, nuclear startups have been raising large sums of money — well over $1 billion so far. Data centers and their thirst for electricity have been one driving force. But recent changes to federal nuclear safety policies could be another accelerant that helps clear the way for speedy reactor development and at a potential cost to human and environmental health. The Trump administration has quietly changed how the Department of Energy oversees the safety and security of nuclear power plants built on its properties, according to a report from NPR. About a third of the rulebook has…

  • Porsche Taycan recalled | CarExpert

    January 28, 2026

    Porsche Cars Australia is recalling the hottest member of the Porsche Taycan lineup, the Turbo GT, due to an issue that could affect some of its airbags from deploying. “Due to a manufacturing issue, the wiring harness under the front seats may not have been positioned according to specifications,” the company says in its recall notice. “As a result, it may become damaged over time and affect the deployment of the seat side airbags. “In the event of an accident, a seat side airbag not deploying as intended could increase the risk of injury or death to vehicle occupants.” CarExpert…

  • Mark Zuckerberg says Reality Labs will (eventually) stop losing so much money

    January 28, 2026

    Mark Zuckerberg says there’s an end in sight to Reality Labs’ years of multibillion-dollar losses following the company’s layoffs to the metaverse division earlier this year. The CEO said he expects to “gradually reduce” how much money the company is losing as it doubles down on AI glasses and shifts away from virtual reality. Speaking during Meta’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Zuckerberg was clear that the changes won’t happen soon, but sounded optimistic about the division that lost more than $19 billion in 2025 alone. “For Reality Labs, we are directing most of our investment towards glasses and wearables going forward,…

  • Zuckerberg teases agentic commerce tools and major AI rollout in 2026

    January 28, 2026

    Mark Zuckerberg says Meta users will start to see new AI models and products from the company in a matter of months. “In 2025, we rebuilt the foundations of our AI program,” Zuckerberg said on an investor call Wednesday, referring to the company’s recently restructured AI lab. “Over the coming months, we’re going to start shipping our new models and products… and I expect us to steadily push the frontier over the course of the new year.” But while Zuckerberg didn’t give specific timelines or products, he highlighted AI-driven commerce as a particular area of focus for Meta. “This also…

  • Astronomers share new insights about the early universe via the Webb Space Telescope

    January 28, 2026

    Researchers using the James Webb Space Telescope have found a galaxy that is offering new data about the early stages of the universe’s existence. The latest discovery shared by astronomers is about a bright galaxy dubbed MoM-z14. According to the team, this galaxy existed 280 million years after the Big Bang. The sounds like a long time, but in the context of the universe’s estimated 13.8 billion years of existence, that’s actually one of the closest examples astronomers have found to the Big Bang’s occurrence. As a result, MoM-z14 can offer some insights and some surprises about what the early…

  • Tesla invested $2B in Elon Musk’s xAI

    January 28, 2026

    Three weeks ago, Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, revealed it raised $20 billion in a Series E funding round. Now, we know Tesla is among its investors. Tesla disclosed in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday that it invested $2 billion in xAI, the startup behind the Grok chatbot that also owns Musk’s social media company X. Other previously disclosed investors in xAI include Valor Equity Partners, Fidelity, Qatar Investment Authority as well as Nvidia and Cisco as “strategic investors.” This is a truly circular deal and one that Tesla shareholders voted against last year. In November, shareholders were asked…

  • MBZUAI Releases K2 Think V2: A Fully Sovereign 70B Reasoning Model For Math, Code, And Science

    January 28, 2026

    Can a fully sovereign open reasoning model match state of the art systems when every part of its training pipeline is transparent. Researchers from Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) release K2 Think V2, a fully sovereign reasoning model designed to test how far open and fully documented pipelines can push long horizon reasoning on math, code, and science when the entire stack is open and reproducible. K2 Think V2 takes the 70 billion parameter K2 V2 Instruct base model and applies a carefully engineered reinforcement learning approach to turn it into a high precision reasoning model that…

  • Volvo keen on a larger SUV to take on the BMW X7

    January 28, 2026

    The Volvo XC90 and EX90 are the brand’s flagship models, but the Swedish marque is keen on stepping up a size to take on the Mercedes-Benz GLS and BMW X7. During a briefing last week in Stockholm, CEO Håkan Samuelsson told the media demand for three-row SUVs continues to grow in the US and China. In a subsequent chat with Automotive News, he went further, stating, “Bigger SUVs, that is something we’re looking into.” Mr Samuelsson cautioned such a vehicle has yet to be green lit. Volvo XC90 If such a car were to be given the go-ahead, it’s likely…