• A timeline of the US semiconductor market in 2025

    Last year was a tumultuous one for the U.S. semiconductor industry.   From leadership changes at legacy companies to continuously changing dialogue around AI chip export controls, a lot has happened. If the first few weeks of 2026, which saw new chip tariffs and international semiconductor deals, are any indicator — this year will be as unexpected as the last.   But before we get too deep into 2026, here is a final look at everything that happened in the U.S. semiconductor industry in 2025:   December Nvidia finds gold with Groq  December 24: Nvidia announced that it struck a non-exclusive licensing deal with chip maker Groq. While this wasn’t an acquisition, Nvidia hired Groq’s founder and president,…

  • Marshall’s new Heddon hub adds multi-room audio to speakers with Auracast

    Marshall plans to add seamless multi-room audio to its Bluetooth speakers via a newly announced music streaming hub called Heddon. The $300 hub makes it possible to connect and synchronize multiple older Marshall speakers together, not unlike Sonos’ audio devices. Rather than use Wi-Fi to get multiple speakers playing the same audio, though, the Marshall Heddon uses Auracast. The hub connects to services like Spotify Connect or Tidal over Wi-Fi, or other devices through Google Cast and AirPlay, and then shares that audio over Auracast to the Marshall Acton III, Stanmore III and Wobrun III speakers. You can control playback…

  • Apps for boycotting American products surge to the top of the Danish App Store

    European consumers are fighting back against the U.S. following Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland, a Danish territory. As a result, two mobile apps that offer a way to determine if products are made in America, then suggest local alternatives, have surged to the top of the Danish App Store in recent days. The Danish App Store serves users in both Greenland and Denmark, and the same is true for Google Play. The boost in downloads comes as Danish consumers have been organizing a grassroots boycott of American-made products, which also included canceling their U.S. vacations and ditching their…

  • Kia to keep physical buttons in the cabin

    As Kia continues to add more technology to its models, the Korean automaker says it will keep physical buttons in the their cabins, especially for the most common tasks. In an interview with Autocar, Kia’s head of interior design Jochen Paesen said: “There are certain functions you need to find straight away and you don’t want to mess up, so we keep them physical.” Mr Paesen added that some brands “get away with just digital and it works for them”, but according to Kia’s global market research “people have very basic needs” and that “if to get to a function you…

  • Microsoft ports the Xbox app to Arm-based Windows PCs

    Microsoft has announced that the Xbox app is now available on all Arm-based Windows 11 PCs. The app’s release follows an update Microsoft made to its Prism emulator in December 2025, which translates x86 and x64 apps to Arm, and now includes support for AVX and AVX2. Both extensions play a role in making games run efficiently on Windows. Windows on Arm users will be able to use the Xbox app to purchase, download and stream PC games, and Microsoft says that “more than 85 percent of the Game Pass catalog” now runs on Arm PCs. Unlike Valve’s SteamOS, Windows…

  • Zipline charts drone delivery expansion with $600M in new funding

    U.S. autonomous drone delivery and logistics startup Zipline said Wednesday it will set up operations in Houston and Phoenix early this year, as part of an expansion that will be propelled by $600 million in fresh investment.  The round, which values the company at $7.6 billion, will be used to expand to at least four U.S. states in 2026, the company said. Several existing and new investors, including Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners and Tiger Global participated in the funding round. Founded in 2014, Zipline developed its own drone delivery ecosystem, including the logistics software,…

  • Meta is expanding ads to all users globally

    Threads has grown enough for Meta to fully integrate it into its advertising machine. On Wednesday, the company said that, with the platform now hosting 400 million monthly active users, ads are expanding globally to all users. The inevitable move follows a test in 30 countries early last year. Ads on Threads are powered by Meta’s AI-powered advertising system. They’ll use the “same level of personalization” (i.e., tracking and profiling) as Facebook and Instagram. Image, video and carousel ad formats will all appear natively in Threads feeds. Meta said the ad expansion will begin next week, but the full rollout…

  • Blue Origin’s satellite internet network TeraWave will move data at 6Tbps

    Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has just announced a satellite internet network called TeraWave which will be capable of offering data speeds up to 6Tbps, and geared towards enterprise, data center, and government customers. The TeraWave constellation will use a mix of 5,280 satellites in low-Earth orbit and 128 in medium-Earth orbit, and Blue Origin plans to deploy the first ones in late 2027. It’s not immediately clear how long Blue Origin expects it will take to build out the whole network. The low-Earth orbit satellites Blue Origin is building will use RF connectivity and have a max data…

  • 2027 Volvo EX60 revealed: Electric XC60 counterpart locked in for Australia

    The Volvo EX60 has been revealed as a new mid-size electric SUV that serves as the battery-powered counterpart to the popular XC60. It slots in between the EX30 and EX40 small electric SUVs and the flagship EX90, and debuts the Sino-Scandinavian automaker’s new SPA3 dedicated electric vehicle (EV) platform. The EX60 is expected to arrive in Australia either late 2026 or early 2027, depending on the variant. A Performance variant is expected on sale here in mid-2027. Unlike some other Volvos sold here, the EX60 will come from the brand’s homeland of Sweden rather than China. CarExpert can save you…

  • 400-mile range, 670 hp and Google Gemini onboard

    Volvo hasn’t exactly had a great run of EVs lately. The rollout of its flagship EX90 was stymied out of the gate by a bevy of software glitches. The EX30, meanwhile, was too expensive when it launched — the promised $35,000 model was incompatible with the currently chaotic global tariff situation. Now, it’s time for a new generation of EV from Volvo, one that’s radically different at its core with a gigacast frame, a much higher-density battery and enough digital and literal horsepower to impress the most jaded of automotive enthusiasts. Mix in high-performance chipsets from both NVIDIA and Qualcomm,…