• Google now offers free SAT practice exams, powered by Gemini

    January 22, 2026

    Prepping for the SAT is nobody’s idea of fun, but Google aims to make it less stressful with AI. The company announced that it’s now focusing its AI education efforts on standardized testing with free SAT practice exams powered by Gemini.  Students can prompt Gemini by typing “I want to take a practice SAT test,” and the AI will provide them with a free practice exam. Gemini then analyzes the results, highlighting strengths and identifying areas that need further review. It also offers detailed explanations for any incorrect answers.  Google The company said it partnered with education companies like The…

  • GeForce Now adds support for flight controllers

    January 22, 2026

    It only seems right that cloud gaming should welcome virtual pilots, and that’s definitely now the case if GeForce Now is your streaming platform of choice. One of the most frequently requested features from its community according to NVIDIA, flight control support has now been added to its GeForce Now offering, meaning you can live your Top Gun fantasies without worrying about your rig buckling under the pressure. The first compatible peripheral is the Thrustmaster T.Flight HOTAS One — which incidentally NVIDIA is giving away to five winners of a it’s currently running, along with a month of GeForce Now…

  • Struggling fusion power company General Fusion to go public via $1B reverse merger

    January 22, 2026

    Last year, fusion power startup General Fusion was struggling to raise funds, laying off at least 25% of its staff before receiving a $22 million lifeline investment while it figured out how to keep the company afloat. Today, General Fusion revealed its survival plan: it will go public through a reverse merger with an special purpose acquisition company, Spring Valley III, combined with additional investment from institutional investors. It’s a significant change in fortunes for a company whose CEO wrote a public letter just last year pleading for funding. If the deal closes as planned, General Fusion could receive up…

  • How to watch and what we expect to see from Fable, Forza Horizon 6 and Beast of Reincarnation

    January 22, 2026

    Xbox is set to hold the fourth installment of its now-annual Developer Direct showcase on January 22. You’ll be able to watch the 2026 edition at 1PM ET on YouTube (including versions with audio descriptions and ASL), Twitch, Facebook and Steam. Xbox will stream the Developer Direct on its regional channels simultaneously, and it’ll be available on Bilibili on Friday. The YouTube stream might be the way to go, since that one will be available in 4K and 60 fps. Because we’re so nice, we’ve embedded that stream above, so all you have to do is click the play button…

  • Google’s AI Mode can now tap into your Gmail and Photos to provide tailored responses

    January 22, 2026

    AI Mode, Google’s conversational Search feature for complex questions, is getting more personalized. The tech giant announced on Thursday that it’s bringing “Personal Intelligence” to AI Mode, enabling it to tap into your Gmail and Google Photos to provide more individualized responses. The company first debuted Personal Intelligence last week in the Gemini app to allow the AI assistant to tailor its responses by connecting across your Google ecosystem, starting with Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube history. The opt-in feature is now starting to roll out to AI Mode to Google AI Pro and AI Ultra subscribers in English in…

  • Spotify’s Prompted Playlist lets you describe exactly what you want to hear

    January 22, 2026

    Ahead of its upcoming price hike, Spotify is rolling out a more advanced AI playlist feature in the US and Canada. Prompted Playlist, which the company trialed in New Zealand late last year, lets subscribers “control the Spotify algorithm,” as the company describes it. “You’re not just asking for music, you’re shaping how Spotify goes about discovering it for you.” For example, you can guide it to make a playlist of songs you’ve saved to your Library but haven’t listened to yet. (It can tap into your entire Spotify history.) Or, you can tell it to round up songs from…

  • Anthropic has to keep revising its technical interview test so you can’t cheat on it with Claude

    January 22, 2026

    Since 2024, Anthropic’s performance optimization team has given job applicants a take-home test to make sure they know their stuff. But as AI coding tools have gotten better, the test has had to change a lot to stay ahead of AI-assisted cheating. Team lead Tristan Hume described the history of the challenge in a blog post on Wednesday. “Each new Claude model has forced us to redesign the test,” Hume writes. “When given the same time limit, Claude Opus 4 outperformed most human applicants. That still allowed us to distinguish the strongest candidates — but then, Claude Opus 4.5 matched…

  • Get one year of access to one of our favorite budgeting apps for only $50

    January 22, 2026

    A new year is the perfect time to get your spending in order, and if you’re not trying to build your own spreadsheet, budgeting apps are one of the best ways to do it. To save yourself some money in the process, you can pick up a year-long subscription to Monarch Money, one of Engadget’s favorite budgeting apps, for just $50 if you use code NEWYEAR2026 at checkout and you’re a new subscriber. That’s a 50 percent discount on the service’s normal $100 price. Monarch Money makes for a capable and detailed budgeting companion. You can use the service via…

  • Snapchat gives parents new insights into teens’ screen time and friends

    January 22, 2026

    Two days after settling a lawsuit accusing Snapchat of causing social media addiction and mental health issues, Snap announced that it’s introducing new parental controls. Parents and guardians can now use Snapchat’s “Family Center” tool to see how much time their teen is spending on the platform, along with additional details about the new friends they add. With these new features, Snap is likely looking to appease regulators and parents over concerns about safety and screen time on its platform. Parents can now see the average amount of time their teen spent on Snapchat each day over the previous week.…

  • Snapchat gives parents more info on who their kids are talking to

    January 22, 2026

    Snapchat is updating its parental control features to give parents more detailed information about who their kids are connecting with in the app and which features they use the most. The app’s Family Center already gives parents visibility into their child’s friend list, but it will now surface contextual details when a new friend is added. For example, the feature could highlight that the two share mutual friends or have each other’s contact info saved in their phones. It could also indicate that they are classmates if both users have joined the same in-app “community.” If the two have no…