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It’s hard to find a company that had a better 2024 than NVIDIA. Even after some choppiness in recent weeks, the chip giant’s stock price finished last year up 178 percent, and its market cap of more than $3.3 trillion dollars — with a T — is currently second only to Apple. That’s thanks to the fact that the ongoing AI revolution is powered largely by NVIDIA processors, which is raking in billions on its hardware even as its customers stay firmly in the red. 
So what does founder and CEO Jensen Huang do for an encore? It’s a great question, but we won’t have to wait long for an answer. Huang is kicking off CES 2025 in Las Vegas with the first keynote address. He’ll be taking the stage at the Mandalay Bay on Monday, January 8 at 9:30PM ET — and you can watch his remarks live right here. 
What to expect at NVIDIA’s CES 2025 press conference
In addition to plenty of AI-centric partnerships and services, NVIDIA had a PC gamer-friendly slate of announcements at its CES 2024 press conference, with new RTX 40 Super GPU cards and upgrades to its GeForce Now game streaming platform. 
For 2025, look for the inevitable sequels, with rumors suggesting a blazing fast RTX 5090 for starters. Of course, Wall Street will be more focused on the details Huang will undoubtedly share on the status of NVIDIA’s AI hardware. We’re likely to hear more news on the company’s Blackwell AI chips, which should begin shipping in greater volume this year after first entering the market in late 2024. 
NVIDIA’s CES 2025 livestream
You can watch NVIDIA’s CES presser as it happens right here — we’ll add the YouTube embed ahead of the event’s start time on Monday, January 6 at 9:30PM ET. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/watch-the-nvidia-ces-2025-press-conference-live-monday-930pm-et-174947756.html?src=rss

It’s hard to find a company that had a better 2024 than NVIDIA. Even after some choppiness in recent weeks, the chip giant’s stock price finished last year up 178 percent, and its market cap of more than $3.3 trillion dollars — with a T — is currently second only to Apple. That’s thanks to the fact that the ongoing AI revolution is powered largely by NVIDIA processors, which is raking in billions on its hardware even as its customers stay firmly in the red. 

So what does founder and CEO Jensen Huang do for an encore? It’s a great question, but we won’t have to wait long for an answer. Huang is kicking off CES 2025 in Las Vegas with the first keynote address. He’ll be taking the stage at the Mandalay Bay on Monday, January 8 at 9:30PM ET — and you can watch his remarks live right here. 

What to expect at NVIDIA’s CES 2025 press conference

In addition to plenty of AI-centric partnerships and services, NVIDIA had a PC gamer-friendly slate of announcements at its CES 2024 press conference, with new RTX 40 Super GPU cards and upgrades to its GeForce Now game streaming platform. 

For 2025, look for the inevitable sequels, with rumors suggesting a blazing fast RTX 5090 for starters. Of course, Wall Street will be more focused on the details Huang will undoubtedly share on the status of NVIDIA’s AI hardware. We’re likely to hear more news on the company’s Blackwell AI chips, which should begin shipping in greater volume this year after first entering the market in late 2024. 

NVIDIA’s CES 2025 livestream

You can watch NVIDIA’s CES presser as it happens right here — we’ll add the YouTube embed ahead of the event’s start time on Monday, January 6 at 9:30PM ET. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/watch-the-nvidia-ces-2025-press-conference-live-monday-930pm-et-174947756.html?src=rss

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Hisense unveiled its latest L9 series laser TV — the L9Q — at CES 2025. The “television” (an ultra-short-throw laser projector paired with a screen) comes with one of five screen sizes, ranging from 100 to 150 inches. The L9Q is the first in the series with auto screen alignment to ease the transition when you project it onto a different-sized screen.
The L9Q uses a proprietary Hisense triple-laser light engine, which helps the TV reach 110 percent of the BT.2020 (aka Rec. 2020) color space — a good omen for lifelike colors that pop. This model also boosts the brightness from previous models, reaching up to 5,000 lumens and a 5,000:1 contrast ratio.
The laser projector’s paired ambient light rejection (ALR) screen comes in five sizes: 100, 110, 120, 136 and 150 inches. (ALR screens tend to have better contrast and viewing angles in brightly lit environments.) In addition to auto screen alignment, the projector has manual keystone correction to adjust for any proportional irregularities in the image.
Hisense says the L9Q is the first laser TV with a 6.2.2 surround sound system. It supports Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual X and eARC audio technologies.
The projector has a “sleek black walnut décor panel” with brushed metal finishes. It has HDMI 2.1 and supports Wi-Fi 6E and NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) for broadcast channels. It runs Google TV and can be controlled by Google Assistant, Alexa and Apple HomeKit.
Hisense hasn’t yet shared a launch date or pricing info. But for the uninitiated, premium laser TVs like this don’t come cheap — typically retailing for at least several thousand dollars.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/hisenses-new-laser-tv-projector-boosts-the-brightness-and-contrast-172431429.html?src=rss

Hisense unveiled its latest L9 series laser TV — the L9Q — at CES 2025. The “television” (an ultra-short-throw laser projector paired with a screen) comes with one of five screen sizes, ranging from 100 to 150 inches. The L9Q is the first in the series with auto screen alignment to ease the transition when you project it onto a different-sized screen.

The L9Q uses a proprietary Hisense triple-laser light engine, which helps the TV reach 110 percent of the BT.2020 (aka Rec. 2020) color space — a good omen for lifelike colors that pop. This model also boosts the brightness from previous models, reaching up to 5,000 lumens and a 5,000:1 contrast ratio.

The laser projector’s paired ambient light rejection (ALR) screen comes in five sizes: 100, 110, 120, 136 and 150 inches. (ALR screens tend to have better contrast and viewing angles in brightly lit environments.) In addition to auto screen alignment, the projector has manual keystone correction to adjust for any proportional irregularities in the image.

Hisense says the L9Q is the first laser TV with a 6.2.2 surround sound system. It supports Dolby Atmos, DTS Virtual X and eARC audio technologies.

The projector has a “sleek black walnut décor panel” with brushed metal finishes. It has HDMI 2.1 and supports Wi-Fi 6E and NEXTGEN TV (ATSC 3.0) for broadcast channels. It runs Google TV and can be controlled by Google Assistant, Alexa and Apple HomeKit.

Hisense hasn’t yet shared a launch date or pricing info. But for the uninitiated, premium laser TVs like this don’t come cheap — typically retailing for at least several thousand dollars.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/hisenses-new-laser-tv-projector-boosts-the-brightness-and-contrast-172431429.html?src=rss

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Anthropic has partly resolved a legal disagreement that saw the AI startup draw the ire of the music industry. In October 2023, a group of music publishers, including Universal Music and ABKCO, filed a copyright infringement complaint against Anthropic. The group alleged that the company had trained its Claude AI model on at least 500 songs to which they held rights and that, when promoted, Claude could reproduce the lyrics of those tracks either partially or in full. Among the song lyrics the publishers said Anthropic had infringed on included Beyoncé’s “Halo” and “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5.
In a court-approved stipulation the two sides came to on Thursday, Anthropic agreed to maintain its existing guardrails against outputs that reproduce, distribute or display copyright material owned by the publishers and implement those same measures when training its future AI models. 
At the same time, the company said it would respond “expeditiously” to any copyright concerns from the group and promised to provide written responses detailing how and when it plans to address their concerns. In cases where the company intends not to address an issue, it must clearly state its intent to do so.
“Claude isn’t designed to be used for copyright infringement, and we have numerous processes in place designed to prevent such infringement,” an Anthropic spokesperson told Engadget. “Our decision to enter into this stipulation is consistent with those priorities. We continue to look forward to showing that, consistent with existing copyright law, using potentially copyrighted material in the training of generative AI models is a quintessential fair use.”
As mentioned, Thursday’s pact doesn’t fully resolve the original disagreement between Anthropic and the group of music publishers that sued the company. The latter party is still seeking an injunction against Anthropic to prevent it from using unauthorized copies of song lyrics to train future AI models. A ruling on that matter could arrive sometime in the next few months.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-agrees-to-work-with-music-publishers-to-prevent-copyright-infringement-154742806.html?src=rss

Anthropic has partly resolved a legal disagreement that saw the AI startup draw the ire of the music industry. In October 2023, a group of music publishers, including Universal Music and ABKCO, filed a copyright infringement complaint against Anthropic. The group alleged that the company had trained its Claude AI model on at least 500 songs to which they held rights and that, when promoted, Claude could reproduce the lyrics of those tracks either partially or in full. Among the song lyrics the publishers said Anthropic had infringed on included Beyoncé’s “Halo” and “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5.

In a court-approved stipulation the two sides came to on Thursday, Anthropic agreed to maintain its existing guardrails against outputs that reproduce, distribute or display copyright material owned by the publishers and implement those same measures when training its future AI models. 

At the same time, the company said it would respond “expeditiously” to any copyright concerns from the group and promised to provide written responses detailing how and when it plans to address their concerns. In cases where the company intends not to address an issue, it must clearly state its intent to do so.

“Claude isn’t designed to be used for copyright infringement, and we have numerous processes in place designed to prevent such infringement,” an Anthropic spokesperson told Engadget. “Our decision to enter into this stipulation is consistent with those priorities. We continue to look forward to showing that, consistent with existing copyright law, using potentially copyrighted material in the training of generative AI models is a quintessential fair use.”

As mentioned, Thursday’s pact doesn’t fully resolve the original disagreement between Anthropic and the group of music publishers that sued the company. The latter party is still seeking an injunction against Anthropic to prevent it from using unauthorized copies of song lyrics to train future AI models. A ruling on that matter could arrive sometime in the next few months.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/anthropic-agrees-to-work-with-music-publishers-to-prevent-copyright-infringement-154742806.html?src=rss

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LG has announced two new projectors for CES 2025, which it calls successors to last year’s CineBeam Q. The PF600U may look like a stand fan, but it’s actually a projector that’s also a Bluetooth speaker and a LED mood lamp. Its lighting has nine colors and five brightness levels, so you can customize it to create the ambiance you want. Tilt its head, and you’ve got yourself a projector that can produce images up to 120 inches in size with an FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and 300 ANSI lumens of brightness. It can stream movies, shows and other content from streaming platforms via LG’s webOS.
The company’s other projector is CineBeam Q’s direct successor. CineBeam S is now LG’s smallest 4K Ultra Short Throw projector and weighs in at only 5.5 pounds. It’s capable of delivering images as big as 100 inches — with a 4K UHD resolution and with 500 ANSI lumens of brightness — while only needing “a few inches of wall clearance.” It has Dolby Atmos capability, and like the PF600U, it’s powered by LG’s webOS. The device has a metallic finish and was designed to be portable, so you can easily set it up anywhere you want. Since it was made to be moved around, LG gave it intuitive features that can automatically align its screen, adjust its colors based on the wall, as well as resize its picture to fit the room’s dimensions. 
LG has yet to reveal the projectors’ prices and availability, but it willy likely announce more details at CES 2025. To note, the CineBeam Q became available for preorder in March 2024 and sold for $1,299. 
LG
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/lgs-new-projector-looks-like-a-stand-fan-140048366.html?src=rss

LG has announced two new projectors for CES 2025, which it calls successors to last year’s CineBeam Q. The PF600U may look like a stand fan, but it’s actually a projector that’s also a Bluetooth speaker and a LED mood lamp. Its lighting has nine colors and five brightness levels, so you can customize it to create the ambiance you want. Tilt its head, and you’ve got yourself a projector that can produce images up to 120 inches in size with an FHD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution and 300 ANSI lumens of brightness. It can stream movies, shows and other content from streaming platforms via LG’s webOS.

The company’s other projector is CineBeam Q’s direct successor. CineBeam S is now LG’s smallest 4K Ultra Short Throw projector and weighs in at only 5.5 pounds. It’s capable of delivering images as big as 100 inches — with a 4K UHD resolution and with 500 ANSI lumens of brightness — while only needing “a few inches of wall clearance.” It has Dolby Atmos capability, and like the PF600U, it’s powered by LG’s webOS. The device has a metallic finish and was designed to be portable, so you can easily set it up anywhere you want. Since it was made to be moved around, LG gave it intuitive features that can automatically align its screen, adjust its colors based on the wall, as well as resize its picture to fit the room’s dimensions. 

LG has yet to reveal the projectors’ prices and availability, but it willy likely announce more details at CES 2025. To note, the CineBeam Q became available for preorder in March 2024 and sold for $1,299. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/lgs-new-projector-looks-like-a-stand-fan-140048366.html?src=rss

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The festive lights, time off and cute scarfs can only conceal the truth for so long: Winter can be pretty bleak. I don’t mean to be a downer, but it’s cold all of the time, dark most of the time and this lasts far beyond the most wonderful time of the year. Here at Engadget, we’ve tried so many tools and products to make winter more bearable from therapy lamps to heaters. We’ve invested in tea sets, wrapped ourselves in heated blankets and learned to grow herbs indoors — really, anything that will make these three-plus months more bearable, we’ve tried.
Here, you’ll find some of the best winter tech getting us at Engadget through the coldest months as warm, comfortable and content as possible, from wool socks to humidifiers to hydroponic home gardens and everything in between. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/the-best-winter-tech-to-get-you-through-the-coldest-months-130009205.html?src=rss

The festive lights, time off and cute scarfs can only conceal the truth for so long: Winter can be pretty bleak. I don’t mean to be a downer, but it’s cold all of the time, dark most of the time and this lasts far beyond the most wonderful time of the year. Here at Engadget, we’ve tried so many tools and products to make winter more bearable from therapy lamps to heaters. We’ve invested in tea sets, wrapped ourselves in heated blankets and learned to grow herbs indoors — really, anything that will make these three-plus months more bearable, we’ve tried.

Here, you’ll find some of the best winter tech getting us at Engadget through the coldest months as warm, comfortable and content as possible, from wool socks to humidifiers to hydroponic home gardens and everything in between. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/the-best-winter-tech-to-get-you-through-the-coldest-months-130009205.html?src=rss

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We’re ringing in 2025 with everything we’re expecting to see at CES! That includes new video cards from AMD and NVIDIA, a holographic windshield from Hyundai and potentially more satellite enabled phones. AI will still be a major topic — like the next generation of AI PCs — but it also seems like we’ll be hearing a lot more about classic CES stories. In addition, we explore why Meta wants to start adding AI users to Facebook and Instagram.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Subscribe!

iTunes
Spotify
Pocket Casts
Stitcher
Google Podcasts

Topics

CES 2025 Preview: LG’s bendable 5K OLED, AI PCs, and a broadening satellite phone market – 2:17
New video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at CES – 12:09
2024’s biggest losers in tech – 18:46
Meta announces AI personas are coming to Instagram and Facebook – 32:22
Pop culture picks – 41:02

Credits 
Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn LowProducer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

Livestream

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-gearing-up-for-the-ai-and-gpus-at-ces-2025-123022943.html?src=rss

We’re ringing in 2025 with everything we’re expecting to see at CES! That includes new video cards from AMD and NVIDIA, a holographic windshield from Hyundai and potentially more satellite enabled phones. AI will still be a major topic — like the next generation of AI PCs — but it also seems like we’ll be hearing a lot more about classic CES stories. In addition, we explore why Meta wants to start adding AI users to Facebook and Instagram.

Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you’ve got suggestions or topics you’d like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!

Subscribe!

iTunes

Spotify

Pocket Casts

Stitcher

Google Podcasts

Topics

CES 2025 Preview: LG’s bendable 5K OLED, AI PCs, and a broadening satellite phone market – 2:17

New video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at CES – 12:09

2024’s biggest losers in tech – 18:46

Meta announces AI personas are coming to Instagram and Facebook – 32:22

Pop culture picks – 41:02

Credits 

Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Cherlynn Low
Producer: Ben Ellman
Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien

Livestream

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/engadget-podcast-gearing-up-for-the-ai-and-gpus-at-ces-2025-123022943.html?src=rss

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The Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the FCC does not have the “statutory authority” to implement net neutrality rules.
Since the rules were established in 2015, the FCC argued that classifying ISPs as “telecommunication services” gives it broad authority to regulate them. The decision to redefine ISPs as “information services” during the first Trump Administration led to the repeal of net neutrality in 2017.
The current FCC voted to restore net neutrality on April 25 last year. The difference between 2015 and now is the Supreme Court’s recent, radical reinterpretation of an important legal doctrine. The Chevron doctrine said that if Congress doesn’t weigh in on an issue, courts are supposed to defer to the interpretation of government agencies. Now, interpretation falls to the individual judge, and the Sixth Court doesn’t agree with the FCC.
This is the end of the road for the FCC’s attempts to wrench a little bit of the power from internet providers and carriers and level speeds and access regardless of service. Net neutrality rules will remain in California and other states, but anything at the federal level will require either an act of Congress or, for this case, be appealed to (and succeed in front of) the Supreme Court.
– Mat Smith
Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!
The biggest tech stories you missed

The first 27-inch 4K gaming OLED monitor is here courtesy of Samsung
Nick Clegg is leaving Meta after 7 years of overseeing its policy decisions
Our favorite tech we bought in 2024

Tesla reports its first-ever annual drop in deliveries
The information caused the stock price to slide.
Tesla
Tesla delivered around 1.78 million vehicles in 2024, but the company delivered 1.81 million total in 2023. Company shares fell by as much as seven percent at the news, but has since rallied a couple of points. This follows similar news from Q1 of 2024, but that was just for a single quarter. Tesla doesn’t publish actual sales numbers in the US, but numbers are down in Europe, with a 14 percent decline in 2024 when compared to last year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
Continue reading.

Apple agrees to settle a 2019 Siri privacy lawsuit for $95 million
Class members could get up to $20 per Siri-enabled device.

Apple will settle a five-year-old class action lawsuit over Siri privacy. Reuters reports that the company agreed to pay $95 million to class members, estimated to be tens of millions of Siri-enabled device owners. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2019 report that Apple quality control contractors could regularly hear sensitive info accidentally recorded by the voice assistant’s “Hey Siri” feature. The clips were said to include medical information, criminal activities and even “sexual encounters.” Reuters notes that $95 million in cash amounts to about nine hours of profit for the company. If you owned a Siri-enabled mobile product during that period (and Judge White approves the settlement), you might get a heady $20 per device.
Continue reading.
In 1972, Time named the computer ‘Man of the Year’
Well, machine of the year.
Time
42 years ago, long before Time was awarding it to ‘you’, groups of scientists or even women (gasp!) it awarded the personal computer its ‘man of the year’ award. Time publisher John A. Meyers wrote: “Several human candidates might have represented 1982, but none symbolized the past year more richly, or will be viewed by history as more significant, than a machine: the computer.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121617627.html?src=rss

The Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the FCC does not have the “statutory authority” to implement net neutrality rules.

Since the rules were established in 2015, the FCC argued that classifying ISPs as “telecommunication services” gives it broad authority to regulate them. The decision to redefine ISPs as “information services” during the first Trump Administration led to the repeal of net neutrality in 2017.

The current FCC voted to restore net neutrality on April 25 last year. The difference between 2015 and now is the Supreme Court’s recent, radical reinterpretation of an important legal doctrine. The Chevron doctrine said that if Congress doesn’t weigh in on an issue, courts are supposed to defer to the interpretation of government agencies. Now, interpretation falls to the individual judge, and the Sixth Court doesn’t agree with the FCC.

This is the end of the road for the FCC’s attempts to wrench a little bit of the power from internet providers and carriers and level speeds and access regardless of service. Net neutrality rules will remain in California and other states, but anything at the federal level will require either an act of Congress or, for this case, be appealed to (and succeed in front of) the Supreme Court.

– Mat Smith

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

The biggest tech stories you missed

The first 27-inch 4K gaming OLED monitor is here courtesy of Samsung

Nick Clegg is leaving Meta after 7 years of overseeing its policy decisions

Our favorite tech we bought in 2024

Tesla reports its first-ever annual drop in deliveries

The information caused the stock price to slide.

Tesla delivered around 1.78 million vehicles in 2024, but the company delivered 1.81 million total in 2023. Company shares fell by as much as seven percent at the news, but has since rallied a couple of points. This follows similar news from Q1 of 2024, but that was just for a single quarter. Tesla doesn’t publish actual sales numbers in the US, but numbers are down in Europe, with a 14 percent decline in 2024 when compared to last year, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

Continue reading.

Apple agrees to settle a 2019 Siri privacy lawsuit for $95 million

Class members could get up to $20 per Siri-enabled device.

Apple will settle a five-year-old class action lawsuit over Siri privacy. Reuters reports that the company agreed to pay $95 million to class members, estimated to be tens of millions of Siri-enabled device owners. The lawsuit stemmed from a 2019 report that Apple quality control contractors could regularly hear sensitive info accidentally recorded by the voice assistant’s “Hey Siri” feature. The clips were said to include medical information, criminal activities and even “sexual encounters.” Reuters notes that $95 million in cash amounts to about nine hours of profit for the company. If you owned a Siri-enabled mobile product during that period (and Judge White approves the settlement), you might get a heady $20 per device.

Continue reading.

In 1972, Time named the computer ‘Man of the Year’

Well, machine of the year.

42 years ago, long before Time was awarding it to ‘you’, groups of scientists or even women (gasp!) it awarded the personal computer its ‘man of the year’ award. Time publisher John A. Meyers wrote: “Several human candidates might have represented 1982, but none symbolized the past year more richly, or will be viewed by history as more significant, than a machine: the computer.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121617627.html?src=rss

Read More 

Apple is kicking off 2025 with a new wave of updates to Apple Fitness+. This time, the company is not only adding new content to the service’s yoga, strength training, and meditation programs, but also offering a new integration with another popular fitness app: Strava.
If there’s any problem with Fitness+’s offerings up until this point, it’s that they primarily cater to beginners. Yoga Peak Poses could be one way that changes. Apple is adding yoga retreat-inspired workshops focused on specific, challenging yoga poses like Dancer or Crow. “For each pose, there’s a 10-minute prep flow to warm users up,” Apple says, followed by a “corresponding 10-minute practice session.” You can use the workshop to build on your skills and hopefully end up pulling off a tricky pose in the process.
If strength training is more your speed, Fitness+ is also getting a new three week-long progressive strength training program Apple has dubbed “Three Perfect Weeks of Strength.” The program is spread across a dozen 30-minute workouts, with the first week focused on “Progressive Overload,” the second on “Time Under Tension,” and the third on “Dynamic Power.” Apple says its designed the program to be repeatable so you can run through it again with different weights as you grow stronger. Don’t expect it to be as in-depth as Peloton’s new strength training app, but it’s nice to have more options.
Apple
One of the more interesting new additions in this update is how Fitness+ will integrate with Strava. When you share a Fitness+ workout to Strava, the app will now display things like the Fitness+ workout you performed or trainer who led it, on top of your normal health metrics. Apple is offering Strava subscribers up to three months of Fitness+ at no additional costs in a savvy bit of cross-promotion, too.
Alongside these new additions is a grab bag of other new features, like an Intro to Breath Meditation class, a selection of workouts designed around training for pickleball, a new slate of Apple’s celebrity-led Time to Walk audio stories, and workout playlists focused on Janet Jackson (on January 13), Coldplay (on January 20), Bruno Mars (on January 27) and Kendrick Lamar (on February 3).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-fitness-gets-strava-integration-and-new-workouts-120013064.html?src=rss

Apple is kicking off 2025 with a new wave of updates to Apple Fitness+. This time, the company is not only adding new content to the service’s yoga, strength training, and meditation programs, but also offering a new integration with another popular fitness app: Strava.

If there’s any problem with Fitness+’s offerings up until this point, it’s that they primarily cater to beginners. Yoga Peak Poses could be one way that changes. Apple is adding yoga retreat-inspired workshops focused on specific, challenging yoga poses like Dancer or Crow. “For each pose, there’s a 10-minute prep flow to warm users up,” Apple says, followed by a “corresponding 10-minute practice session.” You can use the workshop to build on your skills and hopefully end up pulling off a tricky pose in the process.

If strength training is more your speed, Fitness+ is also getting a new three week-long progressive strength training program Apple has dubbed “Three Perfect Weeks of Strength.” The program is spread across a dozen 30-minute workouts, with the first week focused on “Progressive Overload,” the second on “Time Under Tension,” and the third on “Dynamic Power.” Apple says its designed the program to be repeatable so you can run through it again with different weights as you grow stronger. Don’t expect it to be as in-depth as Peloton’s new strength training app, but it’s nice to have more options.

One of the more interesting new additions in this update is how Fitness+ will integrate with Strava. When you share a Fitness+ workout to Strava, the app will now display things like the Fitness+ workout you performed or trainer who led it, on top of your normal health metrics. Apple is offering Strava subscribers up to three months of Fitness+ at no additional costs in a savvy bit of cross-promotion, too.

Alongside these new additions is a grab bag of other new features, like an Intro to Breath Meditation class, a selection of workouts designed around training for pickleball, a new slate of Apple’s celebrity-led Time to Walk audio stories, and workout playlists focused on Janet Jackson (on January 13), Coldplay (on January 20), Bruno Mars (on January 27) and Kendrick Lamar (on February 3).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apple-fitness-gets-strava-integration-and-new-workouts-120013064.html?src=rss

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It’s been nearly five years since Apple Arcade launched, and while the service hasn’t fully delivered on Apple’s promise back in 2019, it can still be worth paying for. Of course, that’s provided you’re willing to hunt through the 200-ish games currently available on the service. I’ve been playing Apple Arcade games since it launched and these are just a few of my favorites that have stood the test of time.
What is Apple Arcade?
Apple originally released Apple Arcade with the promise of high-quality, exclusive games that are playable across basically every device the company makes. That includes the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV (though you need a controller for the latter). Over time, Apple started allowing games originally launched in the App Store as well, provided that they met certain criteria. All Apple Arcade games are ad-free and have no in-app purchases, something that really helps differentiate its offerings over the flood of low-quality games in the App Store.
While Apple Arcade launched with a pretty excellent lineup, additional games have unfortunately been fewer and farther between in recent years. Apple has also pulled a number of games from the service, including some of the best ones you could get like Sayonara Wild Hearts, Cozy Grove, Assemble with Care, Shinsekai: Into the Depths and numerous others. It’s a reminder that with a subscription service, things can go away at any time.
While we’re not seeing the same cadence of high-quality original games on Apple Arcade as we did a few years ago, I still think the service is worth the $7 per month or $50 per year subscription if you do a lot of gaming on your phone. Some of the best games in the history of the App Store are here (anything with a “plus” symbol denotes a game that was originally sold in the App Store and then brought to Apple Arcade), and there are still a number of excellent originals worth playing. It is worth noting that the “plus” games were not designed with Mac or Apple TV playback in mind and thus only work on an iPhone or iPad. These 16 games are some of the best you can play, and there are a bunch more I want to try for future inclusion on this list. In the meantime, this should be more than enough to get you started.

Check out our entire Best Games series including the best Nintendo Switch games, the best PS5 games, the best Xbox games, the best PC games and the best free games you can play today.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/best-apple-arcade-games-140053796.html?src=rss

It’s been nearly five years since Apple Arcade launched, and while the service hasn’t fully delivered on Apple’s promise back in 2019, it can still be worth paying for. Of course, that’s provided you’re willing to hunt through the 200-ish games currently available on the service. I’ve been playing Apple Arcade games since it launched and these are just a few of my favorites that have stood the test of time.

What is Apple Arcade?

Apple originally released Apple Arcade with the promise of high-quality, exclusive games that are playable across basically every device the company makes. That includes the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV (though you need a controller for the latter). Over time, Apple started allowing games originally launched in the App Store as well, provided that they met certain criteria. All Apple Arcade games are ad-free and have no in-app purchases, something that really helps differentiate its offerings over the flood of low-quality games in the App Store.

While Apple Arcade launched with a pretty excellent lineup, additional games have unfortunately been fewer and farther between in recent years. Apple has also pulled a number of games from the service, including some of the best ones you could get like Sayonara Wild Hearts, Cozy Grove, Assemble with Care, Shinsekai: Into the Depths and numerous others. It’s a reminder that with a subscription service, things can go away at any time.

While we’re not seeing the same cadence of high-quality original games on Apple Arcade as we did a few years ago, I still think the service is worth the $7 per month or $50 per year subscription if you do a lot of gaming on your phone. Some of the best games in the history of the App Store are here (anything with a “plus” symbol denotes a game that was originally sold in the App Store and then brought to Apple Arcade), and there are still a number of excellent originals worth playing. It is worth noting that the “plus” games were not designed with Mac or Apple TV playback in mind and thus only work on an iPhone or iPad. These 16 games are some of the best you can play, and there are a bunch more I want to try for future inclusion on this list. In the meantime, this should be more than enough to get you started.

Check out our entire Best Games series including the best Nintendo Switch games, the best PS5 games, the best Xbox games, the best PC games and the best free games you can play today.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/best-apple-arcade-games-140053796.html?src=rss

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When Samsung unveiled the world’s first 27-inch 4K gaming OLED monitor on Thursday, Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic predicted that other vendors would soon follow suit. (After all, Samsung is also the biggest supplier of OLED gaming monitor panels.) Sure enough, MSI followed suit the same day at CES 2025 with two monitors with familiar specs: a 27-inch 4K QD-OLED display and a 27-inch QD-OLED one with a crazy-smooth 500Hz refresh rate.
First up: the 27-inch 4K QD-OLED one, marketed to perfection as the… MPG 272URX QD-OLED. (Sure, why not!) MSI is differentiating its monitor as the first one to combine that panel with DisplayPort 2.1a, which can provide a better combination of resolution and frame rates. Like Samsung’s equivalent (the G81SF), it has a 240Hz refresh rate and should look nice and crisp at 166 PPI.
MSI says this panel “significantly reduces color fringing,” which should help with the poor text clarity too often customary of QD-OLED screens. As my colleague Igor points out, this could be an ideal do-it-all monitor for gaming, work or anything else you can throw at it.
It supports NVIDIA’s G-SYNC tech, so smooth gameplay won’t likely be a concern. The MPG 272URX QD-OLED even took home a CES 2025 Innovation Award.
The 27-inch QHD QD-OLED model also has a catchy and memorable name: the MPG 272QR QD-OLED X50. (Yes!) MSI is marketing this monitor to “all the mainstream gamers out there,” likely due to its lower (2,560 x 1,440) resolution. It also uses DisplayPort 2.1a and (like Samsung’s) can have a 0.03ms gray-to-gray pixel response time. It received VESA ClearMR 21000 certification, so motion blur shouldn’t be an issue when enjoying its blistering 500Hz refresh rate.
MSI hasn’t yet shared pricing or release date info for either model.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/msi-also-has-a-27-inch-4k-qd-oled-gaming-monitor-at-ces-2025-221902190.html?src=rss

When Samsung unveiled the world’s first 27-inch 4K gaming OLED monitor on Thursday, Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic predicted that other vendors would soon follow suit. (After all, Samsung is also the biggest supplier of OLED gaming monitor panels.) Sure enough, MSI followed suit the same day at CES 2025 with two monitors with familiar specs: a 27-inch 4K QD-OLED display and a 27-inch QD-OLED one with a crazy-smooth 500Hz refresh rate.

First up: the 27-inch 4K QD-OLED one, marketed to perfection as the… MPG 272URX QD-OLED. (Sure, why not!) MSI is differentiating its monitor as the first one to combine that panel with DisplayPort 2.1a, which can provide a better combination of resolution and frame rates. Like Samsung’s equivalent (the G81SF), it has a 240Hz refresh rate and should look nice and crisp at 166 PPI.

MSI says this panel “significantly reduces color fringing,” which should help with the poor text clarity too often customary of QD-OLED screens. As my colleague Igor points out, this could be an ideal do-it-all monitor for gaming, work or anything else you can throw at it.

It supports NVIDIA’s G-SYNC tech, so smooth gameplay won’t likely be a concern. The MPG 272URX QD-OLED even took home a CES 2025 Innovation Award.

The 27-inch QHD QD-OLED model also has a catchy and memorable name: the MPG 272QR QD-OLED X50. (Yes!) MSI is marketing this monitor to “all the mainstream gamers out there,” likely due to its lower (2,560 x 1,440) resolution. It also uses DisplayPort 2.1a and (like Samsung’s) can have a 0.03ms gray-to-gray pixel response time. It received VESA ClearMR 21000 certification, so motion blur shouldn’t be an issue when enjoying its blistering 500Hz refresh rate.

MSI hasn’t yet shared pricing or release date info for either model.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/msi-also-has-a-27-inch-4k-qd-oled-gaming-monitor-at-ces-2025-221902190.html?src=rss

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