• Australia’s best-selling hybrids in 2025 revealed

    January 8, 2026

    Hybrid vehicle sales in Australia increased by 15.3 per cent year-on-year in 2025, with a total of 199,133 reaching customers. That was slightly higher growth than posted by electric vehicles (up 13.1 per cent to 103,269 units) but not as steep as the growth of plug-in hybrid sales (up 130.9 per cent to 53,484 units). Chery and KGM launched their first hybrids in 2025, and brands like Hyundai and MG expanded their hybrid lineups. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. This influx of new product helped drive an increase in…

  • Handwriting is my new favorite way to text with the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses

    January 8, 2026

    When Meta first announced its display-enabled smart glasses last year, it teased a handwriting feature that allows users to send messages by tracing letters with their hands. Now, the company is starting to roll it out, with people enrolled in its early access program getting it first, I got a chance to try the feature at CES and it made me want to start wearing my Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses more often. When I reviewed the glasses last year, I wrote about how one of  my favorite tings about the neural band is that it reduced my reliance on voice…

  • EverNitro is simplifying the process of crafting silky nitro coffee at CES 2026

    January 8, 2026

    ​XBrew Lab debuted its countertop nitro beverage machine, EverNitro, at CES this week, offering nitro coffee enthusiasts a more accessible way to enjoy the drink — without the waste and expense of traditional cartridge-based machines. If you’re unfamiliar with nitro coffee, it’s cold brew coffee infused with nitrogen gas. This process creates tiny bubbles, resulting in a silky-smooth, naturally sweeter taste — similar to drinking a Guinness. Many people also note that nitro coffee is less bitter. EverNitro is positioning itself against competitors such as NitroBrew as a long-term more affordable all-in-one solution. “We offer the quality of a commercial…

  • Razer put a waifu in a bottle at CES 2026

    January 8, 2026

    Last year Razer showed off Project Ava as a digital assistant that lived inside your computer to help adjust settings or provide gaming tips. But now at CES 2026, the company’s AI companion platform has gotten a major glow-up while moving into some new digs. Now, in lieu of being constrained entirely to your PC’s screen, Razer has given Project Ava a real home in the form of a small tube that can display a 5.5-inch animated hologram of the AI’s avatar. You’ll still need to connect it to your computer via USB-C to provide Ava with the power and…

  • Critics pan spyware maker NSO’s transparency claims amid its push to enter US market

    January 8, 2026

    NSO Group, one of the most well-known and controversial makers of government spyware, released a new transparency report on Wednesday, as the company enters what it described as “a new phase of accountability.” But the report, unlike NSO’s previous annual disclosures, lacks details about how many customers the company rejected, investigated, suspended, or terminated due to human rights abuses involving its surveillance tools. While the report contains promises to respect human rights and have controls to demand its customers do the same, the report provides no concrete evidence supporting either.  Experts and critics who have followed NSO and the spyware…

  • Ford’s new affordable electric ute to debut eyes-off driving in 2028

    January 8, 2026

    Ford says it will be “deomcratising autonomy” when it launches an eyes-off-the-road self-driving system in 2028 in one of its most affordable vehicles, a new electric ute tipped to be christened Ranchero. Doug Field, Ford’s Chief EV, Digital and Design Officer, made the announcement at this CES in Las Vegas. He said Ford’s Level 3 self-driving tech was developed “for the many, not just a privileged few”. Mr Field claims the automaker is able to put the technology into “vehicles people actually buy” because it developed the software and hardware for the system in-house, making it about 30 per cent…

  • The US withdraws from dozens of international bodies, including climate-focused organizations

    January 8, 2026

    In a new executive order, President Donald Trump has declared that the United States will withdraw from 66 international organizations and bodies, including several focused on tackling climate change. Trump made his disregard for climate change clear when he withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement for a second time in early 2025, but these new withdrawals further confirm the second Trump administration is against global collaboration in general. Among the organizations targeted, the US will no longer participate in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and organizations focused on trade, conservation,…

  • GTMfund has rewritten the distribution playbook for the AI era

    January 8, 2026

    Building software products has never been easier, so why are so many well-funded startups failing to take off no matter how good their product is? In this season finale episode of Build Mode, our guest has an answer: Startups have focused too much on product development and not enough on distribution excellence. Paul Irving is partner and […] Source link

  • Microsoft is now integrating shopping directly into Copilot

    January 8, 2026

    Have you ever wanted to save approximately three seconds and two mouse clicks when shopping online? Microsoft has something special just for you. The company just introduced something called at the NRF 2026 retail conference. This is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a shopping assistant embedded within Copilot. The feature is rolling out now in the US and , Shopify, Stripe and Etsy. It lets people complete purchases directly inside of Copilot without having to withstand the grueling experience of being redirected to a retailer’s website. Participating partners include Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie and Ashley Furniture. The retailers remain the…

  • Internet collapses in Iran amid protests over economic crisis

    January 8, 2026

    Internet connectivity collapsed across Iran on Thursday amid nationwide protests, according to web monitoring firms.  “I think we’re at a near-total disconnection from the outside world now,” Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity researcher who works for the nonprofit Miaan Group, told TechCrunch.  Doug Madory, the director of internet analysis at Kentik, a company that monitors internet traffic worldwide, concurred, telling TechCrunch that Iran’s internet has been in “near-total blackout” since around 11:30 a.m. on the U.S. east coast on Thursday, or 8 p.m. local time in Tehran. A chart showing how internet traffic dropped in Iran on Thursday around 11:30…