Twitter co-founder Biz Stone and Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp have raised new funding for their social media startup West Co. The startup launched an invite-only version of its first app, Tangle, in November. Now the Financial Times has pieced together more details from comments made by Stone and Sharp, as well as from regulatory filings and job listings. The company has reportedly raised $29 million, with Spark Capital leading its seed round. Sharp — the company’s CEO — described West Co as emerging from the question, “What could I build that might help address just some of the terrible devastation…
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Sony’s CES 2026 press conference is just a few days away, and this year comes with a twist: Rather than an overview of Sony’s electronics, video game and Hollywood studio plans for the new year, the presser will have a more narrow focus: electric vehicles. Sound odd? That’s because the traditional end-of-press-day slot isn’t just Sony, but rather Sony Honda Mobility — the joint venture responsible for the Afeela 1 electric car that has been showcased at CES for the better part of a decade. But this year, we’ll get to see an all-new concept model at the event. How…
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The interior of the Volkswagen ID. Polo has been unveiled ahead of the electric light car’s full unveiling some time this year. According to Volkswagen, the cabin has been “systematically optimised based on customer feedback”, referring to the negative feedback the company about the ID.3, and subsequent electric and combustion models. One of the big complaints was the use of capacitive buttons on the steering wheel and elsewhere. While recent new models and facelifts have addressed this problem, the ID. Polo goes a step further by debuting a new two-spoke steering wheel design with up to 11 buttons on each…
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For years, LG has pushed its ultra-light Gram laptops as a way to stand out from the PC crowd, for better or worse. I was’t a big fan of the flex-prone case in the 2017 Gram, and we had similar concerns with the first 17-inch Gram in 2019. But in fairness, it’s been a while since we’ve reviewed one, and we found a lot to like in our preview of last year’s AI-equipped model. Now LG is back with a major Gram Pro redesign at CES 2026, which features a new aluminum/magnesium alloy it’s dubbed “Aerominum.” And finally, it seems…
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We’ve known for several months now that tech giant Lenovo is hosting its Tech World event at Sphere is Las Vegas during CES week. And like many other tech conglomerates, the world’s largest PC manufacturer by units shipped is centering its focus on AI. Lenovo says it will be a “Tech World experience unlike anything CES has seen before.” We’ll tell you where to livestream the event and what the company has teased so far. How to watch the Lenovo CES 2026 event live Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang will host the event on Tuesday, January 6 at 8PM ET. You…
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Belkin just introduced the appropriately-named Charging Case Pro for Nintendo Switch 2 at CES. This is a high-end charging case specifically designed for Nintendo’s latest console. The 10,000mAh power bank delivers up to 30W of fast charging, which is a decent enough metric. I’m more excited, however, about the bells and whistles. The Charging Case Pro boasts an LCD screen on the exterior, making it easy to keep track of remaining battery life. It also doubles as a tabletop stand, which is always nice. The built-in Switch 2 stand is better than what we got , but it’s still not…
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Over the past few days, France and Malaysia have joined India in condemning Grok for creating sexualized deepfakes of women and minors. The chatbot, built by Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI and featured on his social media platform X, posted an apology to its account earlier this week, writing, “I deeply regret an incident on Dec 28, 2025, where I generated and shared an AI image of two young girls (estimated ages 12-16) in sexualized attire based on a user’s prompt.” The statement continued, “This violated ethical standards and potentially US laws on [child sexual abuse material]. It was a…
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Samsung is arguably the 800-pound gorilla of CES, since many of the other consumer tech titans — Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon — either no longer have a presence, or have never shown up to begin with. In the past, that’s given Samsung free range to bow a full spectrum of products that range from phones and computers to refrigerators, AI assistants and rolling robots. But for CES 2026, the company is switching things up a bit: Instead of its longtime midday Monday press conference, the Korean giant will take the lead of the show with a Sunday night presentation.…
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Hardware maker Plaud launched a new AI notetaker called Plaude NotePin S, along with a desktop app that helps you take notes for digital meetings, ahead of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. The company first launched its pin-styled notetaker in 2024, which my former colleague Brian Heater really liked. The new pin brings a physical button that lets you start and stop the recording. Plus, during the recording, you can tap the button to highlight a certain point — just like you can do on the newly launched Plaud Note Pro. One nice thing about the…
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Govee, which makes some of the more unique and interesting smart lighting products, has a new batch at CES 2026. That includes two ceiling lights (one of which simulates a skylight) and a floor lamp that supports trillions of colors. Govee describes the new Ceiling Light Ultra as “the industry’s first ceiling light designed as a true creative canvas.” It uses 616 individually controlled LEDs (the highest in its class, according to Govee) to provide that level of detail. Using the Govee app, you can design visuals for it “with up to eight distinct layers of motion, color and shapes.”…