It has been one other busy week on the planet of tech.
AOL ended dial-up, we flew the world’s first 360 drone, and celebrated the return of a lacking Apple Watch characteristic, although it’s now a bit of totally different.
To atone for all this and extra, scroll down for the week’s seven largest information tales, which we have summarized in your comfort.
7. AOL ended dial-up
In our fashionable age, fixed connectivity is a given, however there was a time while you made the connection via dial-up. That course of was accompanied by the unforgettable and iconic sound of a digital handshake between your pc and a service like. Now, the final vestiges of AOL’s dial-up service are disappearing. We take a look at what meaning.
6. Apple spoiled an AirPods improve
The newest developer beta of iOS 26 has seemingly teased a significant unannounced improve for AirPods 4 and AirPods Professional 2: real-world, real-time translation.
Apple introduced Dwell Translate final month at WWDC, however not for real-world chatting, so this real-time translation on AirPods is one thing we didn’t know was coming (outdoors of leaks).
A lot remains to be unknown, like exactly how the characteristic works and what languages are supported, however it is a severe improve to our current Apple tech – and we’re all for it.
5. HTC launched Vive glasses
HTC has for a while felt prefer it’s second-fiddle to Meta within the VR headset class, however its new Vive Eagle glasses could possibly be a winner.
{Hardware}-wise, Vive goes beat for beat with the competitors. It boasts a 12MP snapper in addition to open-ear audio system, and a strong battery lifetime of as much as 36 hours of standby time and 4.5 hours of music playback whereas nonetheless boasting a glossy 49g design.
However on the AI aspect, we really feel it would edge forward with its capacity to entry each Gemini and ChatGPT.
The catch? It’s solely accessible in Taiwan for now, however we’re praying for a worldwide launch.
4. Samsung debuted a world’s first in its newest TV
Micro-RGB basically takes micro-sized crimson, inexperienced, and blue LEDs and places them behind the panel to create refined brightness and shade accuracy. It hit 100% HDR shade gamut protection of the BT.2020 shade house: a TV first!
The unhealthy information is that micro-RGB is pricey. The 115-inch mannequin is launching in South Korea at 44.9 million KRW, which works out at roughly $32,000 / £24,000 / €28,000 / AU$49,750 (yikes!), so that is undoubtedly out of most individuals’s budgets. Samsung believes the tech will shortly turn into extra inexpensive and turn into an actual rival to OLED. Watch this house!
Following an 18-month ban, Blood Oxygen monitoring is lastly coming again to the Apple Watch Collection 9, Collection 10, and Extremely 2 – it’s a bit of totally different this time, nonetheless.
It was disabled over a ruling in January 2024 as a consequence of a patent dispute between Massimo and Apple, however Apple has discovered a solution to obey the ruling and provides customers entry to the characteristic.
That’s, the studying not reveals in your watch; it’ll seem solely in your iPhone – with Apple explaining the replace was additionally enabled by a current U.S. Customs ruling.
2. We flew the world’s first 360-degree drone
After its debut a short time in the past, we lastly had the prospect to demo the brand new Insta360 Antigravity drone – and it’s essentially the most thrilling drone we’ve seen in years.
It is no exaggeration to say that flying the A1 is kid’s play. Overcome the disorientation attributable to carrying the goggles because the drone takes to the sky, and you will shortly become familiar with the Movement controller, and methods to use it to regulate the drone’s altitude and flight path.
Sadly, whereas official pricing has but to be confirmed, the expertise seemingly will not come low cost. You’ve received the drone itself (which packs 360 digital camera tech) and a headset. However presently nothing does what this drone can, and that could possibly be all that Insta360 must succeed proper now.
1. OpenAI responded to the haters
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has addressed criticism over the restrictive message cap for ChatGPT Plus customers on GPT-5. When the brand new mannequin launched, Plus subscribers might solely ship 200 reasoning messages per week, which many noticed as a downgrade from the earlier mannequin, GPT-4o. Altman confirmed the restrict would enhance to three,000 prompts per week for paid subscribers.
Altman additionally confirmed that OpenAI is engaged on clearer UI labels to point out precisely which mannequin is responding in ChatGPT, one thing many customers have been asking for for the reason that replace.
The announcement comes after a wave of backlash over GPT-5, with complaints concerning the smaller improve than anticipated and the removing of GPT-4o, which has since been restored. Altman’s fast response reveals OpenAI is attempting to maintain its paying customers completely happy because it navigates the difficult steadiness between new options and consumer expectations.
