• Stanford Researchers Build SleepFM Clinical: A Multimodal Sleep Foundation AI Model for 130+ Disease Prediction

    January 8, 2026

    A team of Stanford Medicine researchers have introduced SleepFM Clinical, a multimodal sleep foundation model that learns from clinical polysomnography and predicts long term disease risk from a single night of sleep. The research work is published in Nature Medicine and the team has released the clinical code as the open source sleepfm-clinical repository on GitHub under the MIT license. From overnight polysomnography to a general representation Polysomnography records brain activity, eye movements, heart signals, muscle tone, breathing effort and oxygen saturation during a full night in a sleep lab. It is the gold standard test in sleep medicine, but…

  • Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 earbuds are on sale for $165

    January 8, 2026

    It’s hard to find better wireless earbuds than Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 if you’re an Android user. The statement is even more true if you have a Pixel phone. If you’re on the market for a new pair, you can grab the Pixel Buds Pro 2 for $165 in the hazel colorway, which is $54 off their usual price. Other color options are also discounted, just not as steeply. The device made our list of the best wireless earbuds, and this is particularly true for those tied into the Pixel ecosystem. These earbuds are on the smaller side and,…

  • Why this VC thinks 2026 will be ‘the year of the consumer’

    January 8, 2026

    Investment in consumer tech startups has been in a downturn since 2022, as a turbulent macroeconomic climate and rising inflation have made VCs skittish about consumer spending power. For the past couple of years, most AI investment has focused on winning over enterprise customers, who provide fat checks, multi-year contracts, and quick paths to scale.   But one VC sees the consumer sector gearing up for a comeback in 2026.  “This is gonna be the year of the consumer,” said Vanessa Larco, partner at the venture firm Premise and a former partner at NEA, on this week’s episode of the Equity…

  • Nintendo reveals its first Switch 2 Joy-Con color variant

    January 8, 2026

    Nintendo has unveiled the first color variants for the Switch 2 Joy-Cons in light purple and light green, set to arrive on February 12 alongside Mario Tennis Fever. The new controllers are now on pre-order for $100 and include matching wrist-straps. Other than the colorway, these are standard Joy-Con 2 controllers with motion controls and HD rumble, along with the C Button for GameChat and the mouse controls for compatible games. However, you may have noticed something weird about them — the colors are on the inner rails, so you’ll barely be able to see them when the Joy-Con 2s…

  • Hands on with a prototype of Clicks’ Communicator, a new BlackBerry-like smartphone

    January 8, 2026

    The BlackBerry is back — sort of — thanks to the latest product from the mobile keyboard maker, Clicks Technology, which last week announced its debut phone, the $499 Communicator, which sports a physical keyboard. The company is also offering a separate $79 slide-out physical keyboard that fits to any device. At CES, TechCrunch chatted with Clicks chief marketing officer and co-founder, Jeff Gadway, and went hands-on with the latest handmade prototype of the forthcoming smartphone. The device, which offers a BlackBerry-like keyboard and messaging-focused touchscreen, runs Android 16 under the hood. That means the Communicator can run any Android…

  • 2026 Volvo XC60 review | CarExpert

    January 8, 2026

    Volvo’s long-serving XC60 mid-size luxury SUV is still gorgeous to look at and fancy to sit in.  It was launched eight years ago, so a lot has changed during its lifecycle. And while this isn’t the EXACT same car as it was at launch, having received a recent facelift and tech revisions over the last few years, the formula remains the same: luxury, comfort, simplicity, and safety. But with competition rife and the market rapidly changing, does this SUV still make sense? How much does the Volvo XC60 cost? The updated Volvo XC60 lineup has seen some price increases, and…

  • Volvo’s EX60 electric crossover promises 400 miles of EPA range

    January 8, 2026

    Ahead of a launch later this month, Volvo has teased some impressive details about its upcoming electric crossover. The EX60, which slots between the EX40 and EX90, will offer an EPA range of 400 miles, beating all other Volvos and most EVs in general. It will also be the first Volvo car to use a megacasting process designed to reduce weight and boost manufacturing efficiency. “With our new electric vehicle architecture, we directly address the main worries that customers have when considering a switch to a fully electric car,” said Volvo CTO Anders Bell. “The result is class-leading range and…

  • Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla’s startup triples to $100M valuation

    January 8, 2026

    Spangle, an AI e-commerce startup founded by former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla, has raised $15 million in a new funding round, valuing the company at $100 million after the investment. Led by NewRoad Capital Partners, the all-equity Series A round comes over a year after the Seattle-based startup raised a $6 million seed round at a $30 million pre-money valuation. Madrona, DNX Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, and strategic angel investors also participated, bringing total funding to $21 million, according to the startup. Retailers are facing changes in how consumers discover products online, as AI tools, social platforms, and recommendation engines increasingly…

  • Disney+ is launching vertical videos this year

    January 8, 2026

    Disney+ will add vertical videos to its service in the US sometime this year, in hopes that they can entice viewers to engage with its app every day. The company has made the announcement at its Tech + Data Showcase event at CES 2026. Disney first dabbled in vertical content with Verts, which launched for the ESPN app in August 2025, giving it the insight it needed on how its users respond to the video format. Erin Teague, Disney Entertainment’s EVP of Product Management, told Deadline that the company will use the format for all kinds of content. The service…

  • Google Classroom’s new tool uses Gemini to transform lessons into podcast episodes

    January 8, 2026

    Google has introduced a new way to grab the attention of students who are avid podcast listeners. Now available in Google Classroom, teachers can use a new Gemini-powered tool that generates podcast-style audio lessons, meant to promote deeper comprehension of educational material.  To begin, educators simply go to the Gemini tab within Google Classroom. There, they can select different customization options, such as selecting the appropriate grade level, defining topics, and setting clear learning objectives. They can then further personalize the audio experience by choosing the number of speakers or selecting different conversational styles, such as interviews, roundtable discussions, or…