The Verge’s tour of CES 2026 found AI slapped onto everything, often with dubious purpose. The highlights include a $399 AI picture frame for “slop,” AI-upgraded sleeping pills, and a modular phone concept where even the makers couldn’t explain the AI.
In a push to accelerate the ATSC 3.0 transition, broadcasters are promising sub-$60 converter boxes by this fall. They’re also showing off new whole-home DVR solutions that finally work with encrypted channels, aiming to address major consumer and regulatory concerns ahead of a potential FCC rule ch
OpenAI is making another strategic acqui-hire, bringing on the three co-founders of Convogo. The deal is all-stock and marks the ninth such acquisition for the AI giant in just one year.
Michelle Ragusa-McBain, a former Cisco and SonicWall channel executive, has been named global channel chief at DDoS protection vendor Corero Network Security. She aims to accelerate partner-led growth for Corero’s real-time DDoS protection solutions.
Naver Cloud has built South Korea’s largest AI compute cluster, packing 4,000 Nvidia B200 GPUs. The company says it will drastically cut AI model training times, aiming to bolster national AI independence. This is part of a much larger, multi-company plan to deploy tens of thousands of GPUs in the r
The most-played games on console haven’t changed since 2024, and they probably won’t in 2026. This stagnation is killing new live-service games before they can even get started. So what’s the way forward for developers?
A new startup called Spangle AI has raised a $15 million Series A to help retailers build custom storefronts in real-time. Founded by former Amazon execs, it’s already working with brands like REVOLVE and Steve Madden.
Microsoft is rolling out Copilot Checkout in the US, letting users pay via PayPal and Shopify right in the chat. Meanwhile, the contrast between OpenAI’s new apps and Anthropic’s singular focus on superintelligence has never been clearer.
Microsoft has confirmed it is not rebranding its core Office applications like Word and Excel to “Copilot.” The confusion stemmed from website wording and the company’s broader push to integrate AI across its ecosystem.
New Xbox hardware is reportedly coming in 2026, but it’s likely the long-rumored Elite Series 3 controller, not a next-gen console. The big upgrade? A shift to direct-to-WiFi connectivity to slash cloud gaming latency.
