• Last 24 hours to grab your +1 pass at 50% off to Disrupt 2026 | TechCrunch

    January 30, 2026

    This is it. The clock is running out. With demand surging and early inventory nearly gone, tonight is your last chance to lock in record-low pricing for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 and secure a +1 pass at 50% off while limited passes remain. If Disrupt has been on your must-attend list, now is the moment to act. Save up to $680 on your pass and bring a +1 for half the price before this offer disappears. This pricing ends tonight, January 30, at 11:59 p.m. PT, or the moment the last +1 pass sell out. No extensions. No exception. Register now to secure yours with the lowest-priced offer. What Disrupt delivers year after year…

  • What do prediction markets like Kalshi cost us?

    January 30, 2026

    Somehow, we live in a world where people can bet on practically anything using sites like Polymarket and Kalshi. In this episode, Devindra and Engadget Senior Reporter Karissa Bell dive into the world of prediction markets. How did we get here? And is endless betting having an effect on the real world? Also, we chat about the new American version of TikTok, which stumbled during its first weekend with a litany of errors and reported censorship. Subscribe! Topics Who’s going to buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Tri-fold for $2900? – 1:18 Tesla is killing off the Model X and S…

  • Apple’s new iPhone and iPad security feature limits cell networks from collecting precise location data

    January 30, 2026

    A new security feature rolled out to select models of the latest iPhones and iPads this week will make it more difficult for law enforcement, spies, and malicious hackers to obtain a person’s precise location data from their phone provider. According to Apple, the new feature, when enabled, limits the precision of location data that iPhones and cellular-enabled iPads share with the customer’s cell carrier. Sharing a less-precise location, such as the general neighborhood rather than a street address, will help to protect the device owner’s privacy, the company claims.  Apple said switching on the feature does not affect the…

  • 2026 Volkswagen Golf GTI Edition 50 review: Quick drive

    January 30, 2026

    To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Golf GTI, Volkswagen has launched a limited-build model called the Edition 50 with more power than any of its predecessors.  While not yet 100 per cent confirmed for the Australian market, fans of the badge should start saving, as it won’t come cheap. Not only that, but the standard Edition 50 is really just a GTI Clubsport with a little more performance, so buyers will need to fork out for the Performance Package upgrade to unleash the full Nurburgring record-breaking potential of the car.  That probably won’t matter to those that can afford…

  • DeepSeek reportedly gets China’s approval to buy NVIDIA’s H200 AI chips

    January 30, 2026

    The Chinese government has given DeepSeek its approval to purchase NVIDIA’s H200 AI chips, according to Reuters. ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have also reportedly received permission from Beijing to buy a total of 400,000 H200 GPUs. Reuters says Chinese authorities are still finalizing the conditions they’re imposing on the companies to be able to proceed with their orders, so it may take a while before they’re able to receive their shipments. In addition, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang told reporters that his company has yet to receive orders from the aforementioned firms and that he believed China is still finalizing their…

  • Spotify rolls out group chats

    January 30, 2026

    After launching a messaging feature last August, Spotify is now rolling out group chats. The company announced this week that users can now share the podcasts, playlists, and audiobooks they’re listening to with up to 10 people. You can only start a chat with someone you’ve previously shared content with. For example, if you have a collaborative playlist with someone or have joined a Jam or a Blend together, you can start a conversation with them. The move comes as Spotify continues to invest in making its streaming app more social. Over the years, the company has gradually added social…

  • The Nex Playground is everything Xbox Kinect wanted to be

    January 30, 2026

    It’s the year 2026 and the hottest game in my living room is Fruit Ninja. No, I’m not in the midst of an ill-advised retro mobile gaming kick. Instead, my family and I have been jumping around and slicing flying fruit in our living room using the Nex Playground. It’s a tiny gaming system built entirely around Kinect-like games. With its camera and onboard computer vision processing, the $249 Nex Playground can track up to four players as effectively as Microsoft’s clunky old Xbox motion tracker. Simply put, the dream of the Kinect, as well as Nintendo’s Wii, lives on…

  • Tesla’s energy storage business is growing faster than any other part of the company

    January 30, 2026

    Tesla’s energy storage business saved a dismal earnings report from turning into a horrible one. Last year, the company’s profit fell 45% compared with 2024, driven in large part by falling sales of its electric vehicles. Investors anticipated the decline in sales, but Tesla still beat Wall Street earnings and revenue estimates thanks to its energy storage business. Tesla deployed a record 46.7 gigawatt-hours of energy storage products in 2025, a 48% increase from last year, according to the company’s official filings. Big, stationary batteries like the Megapack and Powerwall, along with solar installations, now drive nearly a quarter of…

  • The best power banks and portable chargers for every device in 2026

    January 30, 2026

    To find the best power bank out there, I tested more than 60 portable chargers and batteries from big brands like Anker, Belkin, UGreen and Mophie — as well as from smaller players such as Biolite, Nimble and Satechi. I tested the batteries on a number of devices including iPhones, Galaxy phones, an iPad, a MacBook and even my ereader and a PlayStation controller. If you just want a brick that can charge anything, go for Anker’s 25kmAh Laptop Power bank. It has two built-in USB-C cables, a massive capacity and super fast charging speeds. But if that’s not quite…

  • Flapping Airplanes and the promise of research-driven AI

    January 30, 2026

    A new AI lab called Flapping Airplanes launched on Wednesday, with $180 million in seed funding from Google Ventures, Sequoia, and Index. The founding team is impressive, and the goal — finding a less data-hungry way to train large models — is a particularly interesting one. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I would rate them as Level Two on the trying-to-make-money scale. But there’s something even more exciting about the Flapping Airplanes project that I hadn’t been able to put my finger on until I read this post from Sequoia partner David Cahn. As Cahn describes it, Flapping…