Weber has been in the smart grilling game since 2020, dabbling in Wi-Fi connectivity for gas and pellet grills. It has also offered grillers a standalone option for its Weber Connect platform. For 2026, the company is expanding its smart grilling lineup to its original fuel source: charcoal. Today, Weber announced the Performer Smart Charcoal Grill and Kettle Smart Ring, both of which bring Weber Connect control and cooking guidance to charcoal grilling in a more integrated way.

The 22-inch Performer Smart Charcoal Grill has a Wi-Fi-enabled LCD controller that regulates grill temperature by adjusting the airflow to lit charcoal. Weber says this grill is well-suited for overnight smoking and longer cooks thanks to this bit of automation. The new Performer also has a so-called Rapidfire Assist mode to get those coals lit faster. The grill can be controlled remotely with the Weber Connect app, which can also keep tabs on any connected food probes.

The new Performer is essentially an upgraded version of the Performer Premium, Deluxe and base options that currently exist. You still get the porcelain-enamel finish, adjustable dampers for manual temperature controls and the One-Touch cleaning system for ash removal. The other upgrade is a Weber Works side table and side rail that accommodate the company’s line of accessories. A premium version comes with a cart with storage shelves for $799 while an option with a more basic cart will be $599. Weber also plans to sell non-smart versions for $649 and $449, respectively. The company says the base models will arrive this spring while the premium trims will be available this summer.

Weber Blackstone

If you already have a Weber Kettle and are looking to add a bit of automation to your setup, the Kettle Smart Ring brings temperature control and smart connectivity for $280 this spring. This accessory fits the company’s 22-inch grills and is equipped with an LCD display and knob-based controls. Of course, it also syncs with the Weber Connect app and offers two slots for wired food probes.

Another key smart grilling area Weber lags behind its competition is wireless temperature probes, but that changes this spring. The company will debut a $70 Smart Wireless Probe and a $115 version with range booster and charger. These new probes sync with any Weber smart grill, the Weber Connect app or the new Smart Hub Display and Booster ($90) that works on any grill. Weber also built a retractable wired Smart Probe ($40) that can be used to monitor the temperature at the grates.

And if you’re loyal to propane, Weber has new options for you too. Updated Genesis Smart Gas Grills have a Sear Zone that can hit temperatures of up to 750 degrees Fahrenheit and a side table that now accommodates Weber Works accessories. It will be available in both propane and natural gas versions — in both three- and four-burner configurations — this spring starting at $999. More affordable Spirit Smart Gas Grills will start at $599 and will also come in three- and four-burner options. Both the Genesis and Spirit smart models work with the Weber Connect app like the rest of the company’s Wi-Fi grills and accessories.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/webers-2026-smart-grill-lineup-includes-the-companys-first-wi-fi-equipped-charcoal-grill-150000097.html?src=rss

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We’ve covered portable power stations like the Anker SOLIX line, but if you’re looking for a heavy-duty, large-capacity model that can handle sump pumps, large AC units, multiple appliances, and even whole-home backup with extra batteries, brands like EcoFlow will better suit your needs. One of their award-winning models is the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 power station, which is currently available at a 46% discount, bringing it down to an all-time low of $1,999 (originally $3,699).

EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 Portable Power Station

$1,999.00
at Amazon

$3,699.00
Save $1,700.00

$1,999.00
at Amazon

$3,699.00
Save $1,700.00

Compared to Anker’s most powerful model, the SOLIX C2000 with a 2,048Wh capacity, EcoFlow’s Delta Pro 3 nearly doubles that at 4,096Wh and is expandable to up to 48000Wh. It supports 120V/240V voltage and can be recharged in a variety of ways, including solar panels, AC outlets, gas generators, and EV charging stations. It’s powered by a lithium iron phosphate battery, which is longer-lasting, safer, and tolerates more cycles than many competing power stations on the market.

Compared to a gas generator, it operates quietly and doesn’t give off dangerous exhaust fumes, so it’s suitable for indoor use. It can be controlled and monitored via a companion app that tracks generation and power usage history and calculates the estimated time until empty. Although PCMag, which gave it an Editor’s Choice Award, calls it “elegant-looking,” it’s an undeniably heavy device at over 100 lbs due to its massive output, so it’s not as portable as many competitors. This makes it better for vehicles or semi-permanent setups rather than camping trips or hiking. 

If you want a serious backup power solution for your home and your priorities are a high power capacity with expandability, versatile recharging options, and a quiet, indoor-friendly alternative to a gas generator, the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3 power station is your best bet, especially at nearly half off. However, if you only need to power small devices or use it for travel, it will most likely be overkill, and a cheaper model from the Anker SOLIX line (or the Ecoflow River 2) might be better for your needs.

Your eyes don’t deceive you: You did just read a headline in the year of our lord 2026 about Yahoo! Despite losing out to other search engine and email companies like Google, Yahoo! is very much still a thing. In fact, one statistic claims Yahoo! Mail still has 225 million daily active users to this day. That’s a ways off from Gmail’s 1.8 billion daily active users, but way better than AOL’s eight million users. (Yes, AOL is still a thing, and is actually a part of Yahoo!—at least until its sale to Bending Spoons goes through).

But I’m not here to talk about Yahoo! and AOL’s marketshare. Instead, I’m here to sound the alarms to the millions of people that use Yahoo!, and, by extension, AOL: The services are currently down. If you try to search the web for something on Yahoo!, or check your Yahoo! Mail, or even your AOL Mail, you’ll find the following error message: “Edge: Too Many Requests.” I first spotted the outage via Downdetector, owned by Lifehacker parent company Ziff Davis, which has seen nearly 9,000 user reports as of 9:50 a.m. ET.

There’s no official reason for the outage from Yahoo! as of this article, but, like most of these outages, there’s no doubt a fix in the works as you read this. Last week, X had an outage, and it came back online before long. Of course, that outage was overshadowed by the massive Verizon outage, which Verizon claimed was simply a “software issue.” There’s a big difference between a series of web sites going down and a nationwide cell network, however, so I expected Yahoo! and AOL alike will both be back online sometime this morning. Soon enough, the millions of users who rely on these services will have them back, while the rest of us can forget about them all over again.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan used his annual letter to creators, published Wednesday, to outline an ambitious 2026 vision that embraces AI-powered creative tools while simultaneously pledging to crack down on the low-quality AI content that has come to be known as “slop.”

Mohan identified four AI-related areas that YouTube “must get right in 2026.” The platform is working on tools that will let creators use AI to generate Shorts featuring their own likenesses and to experiment with music. “Just as the synthesizer, Photoshop and CGI revolutionized sound and visuals, AI will be a boon to the creatives who are ready to lean in,” he wrote. Features like autodubbing, he says, will “transform the viewer experience.”

But “the rise of AI has raised concerns about low-quality content, aka ‘AI slop,'” he wrote. YouTube is building on its existing spam and clickbait detection systems to reduce the spread of such content. He also flagged deepfakes as a particular concern: “It’s becoming harder to detect what’s real and what’s AI-generated.” The platform plans to double down on AI labels and introduce tools that let creators protect their likenesses.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If you’re looking to expand the storage on your Switch 2, the 512GB Samsung P9 microSD Express card is on sale right now for 33 percent off, marked down to $80 from $120. With component prices skyrocketing these days, it’s getting increasingly rare to see good storage on sale, and 512GB for $80 is a much better deal than you’ll currently find directly from Nintendo.

The P9 boasts transfer speeds of up to 800MB/s, making moving games to the card that much faster. As for load times, in our testing we found that any microSD Express, the standard the Switch 2 requires, will offer roughly the same performance. This format is pretty new, so there aren’t a ton of cards on the market. As such, the P9 makes our list of best microSD cards for the Nintendo Switch 2.

The P9 microSD Express is also compatible with the Steam Deck or any other gaming console that accepts the format, as well as cameras and more.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-512gb-samsung-p9-microsd-express-card-is-33-percent-off-right-now-143849000.html?src=rss

Even as exposure to floods, fire, and extreme heat increase in the face of climate change, a popular tool for evaluating risk has disappeared from the nation’s leading real estate website.

Zillow removed the feature displaying climate risk data to home buyers in November after the California Regional Multiple Listing Service, which provides a database of real estate listings to real estate agents and brokers in the state, questioned the accuracy of the flood risk models on the site.

Now, a climate policy expert in California is working to put data back in buyers’ hands.

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Companies are spending vast sums on AI expecting the technology to boost efficiency, but a new survey from AI consulting firm Section found that two-thirds of non-management workers among 5,000 white-collar respondents say they save less than two hours a week or no time at all, while more than 40% of executives report the technology saves them upward of eight hours weekly.

Workers were far more likely to describe themselves as anxious or overwhelmed about AI than excited — the opposite of C-suite respondents — and 40% of all surveyed said they would be fine never using AI again. A separate Workday report of roughly 1,600 employees found that though 85% reported time savings of one to seven hours weekly, much of it was offset by correcting errors and reworking AI-generated content — what the company called an “AI tax” on productivity.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of nearly 4,500 CEOs found more than half have seen no significant financial benefit from AI so far, and only 12% said the technology has delivered both cost and revenue gains.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Back in August, Adobe debuted Acrobat Studio. The new service saw Adobe bring the humble PDF into the 21st century with support for a handful of new genAI features, including PDF Spaces, a hub where you can upload up to 100 documents and have AI summarize them. Now the company is enhancing the capabilities of those hubs with the introduction of four new genAI features inside of Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Studio and Adobe Express. 

The next time you add documents and files to a PDF Space, you can prompt Adobe’s built-in AI assistant to generate a presentation from those materials. The software will first create an outline. From there, you can select from a handful of “professional” designs to build the presentation around, and then make tweaks. Adobe says the majority of changes, including copy edits and image swaps, can be made without the need to generate entirely new slides. Once you’re happy with the results, you can share the presentation with your co-workers for further editing. Adobe has also made it easier to collaborate inside of PDF Spaces. With this latest update, you can invite others to add files and leave notes.   

On the subject of editing, you can now carry out a dozen different tweaks using natural-language prompts. That includes adding text, comments, images and e-signatures. If you’re old-fashioned like me, Adobe has also reworked the Help section to offer step-by-step instructions on how to complete most tasks.   

Last but not least, Adobe is borrowing a page from NotebookLM by adding a feature that allows users to generate podcasts from a PDF Space. This works much like it does in Google’s app. Acrobat will default to centering the generated podcast around two hosts having a conversation about the material you want summarized.  

Adobe says Acrobat’s AI features have been highly popular, in part because users are finding those tools are saving them time. As you might expect, the company reports students have had a particularly strong response to its efforts to add AI inside of Acrobat, seeing as the app can generate summaries of course material while providing citations for fact checking.     

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/adobe-acrobat-can-now-generate-presentations-and-audio-podcasts-from-your-documents-140000146.html?src=rss

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Mobile gaming stopped being a casual distraction a while ago. Big-budget titles, console-quality ports, and cloud streaming have turned phones into credible gaming machines. The problem is still input. Touch controls work until they don’t, especially once games demand precise movement, aiming, or long sessions. The Razer Kishi Ultra is built to fix that gap. And it’s currently $79.99 on Amazon, which online price trackers confirm is its lowest price to date. It fits most phones, even with cases, and can expand wide enough to hold an iPad mini, which gives it more range than controllers built only for phones.

Razer Kishi Ultra Gaming Controller

$79.99
at Amazon

$149.99
Save $70.00

$79.99
at Amazon

$149.99
Save $70.00

In use, the Kishi Ultra feels closer to a traditional console controller than a typical snap-on accessory. It’s large and deliberately so, with thick grips that distribute the weight of your phone instead of cramping your hands. The triggers use Hall Effect sensors, which provide smoother movement and more consistent input than standard triggers, especially noticeable in racing games and shooters where partial pulls matter. The face buttons are mechanical and clicky, and the eight-way D-pad handles precise inputs well for fighting games and older titles. Razer also includes two extra programmable bumpers that can be mapped through its app, which helps in games that benefit from quick-access controls.

That said, there are some trade-offs worth noting. The controller connects over USB-C, so it won’t work with older iPhones that still rely on Lightning. The wired connection does bring one upside: You can plug it into a PC and use it like a standard controller, which adds value if you move between platforms. On iOS, cloud gaming support can feel inconsistent with services like Xbox Game Pass, while Android tends to be smoother overall, notes this PCMag review. Still, if you want mobile gaming to feel closer to a console session, the Kishi Ultra makes a convincing case at this price.

The Razer Kishi Ultra is a full-size mobile gaming controller that brings console-style controls to phones and tablets. It’s now $79.99 on Amazon, the lowest price it has hit so far, making it easier to justify if you want more precise controls for mobile or cloud gaming.

Microsoft has announced some solid additions to Game Pass this month, ranging from AAA titles to indies, including some of our favorites from 2024 and 2025. Topping the list is Death Stranding Director’s Cut, an extended version of Hideo Kojima’s 2019 sci-fi action game (now available). Other key inclusions are Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (January 29) and puzzle game The Talos Principle 2 (January 27).

We’re also seeing some award winners including Indika (February 2), a surreal tale about the devil living inside a nun’s head, one of Engadget’s 2024 games of the year. Last year’s Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (available today), a hack-and-slash platformer with top-notch pixel, was on our list for one of 2025’s best games. Finally, Roadcraft allows you to operate a fleet of 40 authentic construction vehicles to clear debris, repair bridges and restore infrastructure.

Xbox

Along with the games, there are a few DLC releases arriving soon as well. The Sims 4 players (Ultimate, Premium, or PC tiers) will gain The Sims 25th Birthday Bundle on Jan. 22. You also get Grounded 2, Dead by Daylight (extra Stranger Things content coming January 27) and and Sea of Thieves, with season 18 act 2 coming on January 22.

Here’s a list of key games and tiers arriving on Game Pass over the next month:

• Death Stranding Director’s Cut (Ultimate, Premium, PC ) on January 21

• RoadCraft (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 21

• Ninja Gaiden Ragebound (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 21

• The Talos Principle 2 (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 27

• Anno: Mutationem (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 28

• Drop Duchy (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 28

• MySims: Cozy Bundle (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on January 29

• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 (Ultimate, Premium, PC ) on January 29

• Indika (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on February 2

• Final Fantasy 2 (Ultimate, Premium, PC) on February 3

At the same time, here are the titles leaving January 31:

• Shady Part of Me (Cloud, PC, and Console)Cataclismo (PC)

• Starbound (Cloud, PC, and Console)

• Lonely Mountains Snow Riders (Cloud, PC, and Console)

• Paw Patrol World (Cloud, PC, and Console)

• Citizen Sleeper 2 Starward Vector (Cloud, PC, and Console)

• Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap (Cloud, PC, and Console)

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox-game-pass-adds-death-stranding-dc-ninja-gaiden-talos-principle-2-and-more-134126315.html?src=rss