Six years after Sony first announced its automotive ambitions, everything is looking a lot more concrete. Production of the Afeela 1, the electric sedan that has been developed by Sony Honda Mobility, is already underway in Ohio. Deliveries will begin later this year in California, expanding to Arizona and Japan in 2027. And last night, on the eve of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, it even showed off a crossover version.

“The way we are fusing diverse technologies to deliver a completely novel mobility experience is not limited to a single model type,” said Sony Honda Mobility CEO Yasuhide Mizuno.

We first saw a Sony electric vehicle back at CES in 2020 when the consumer electronics company showed off the Vision-S, telling the world it was mostly just a showcase for things like sensors and infotainment. Then the world caught a hot case of electric vehicle fever. Tesla’s stock price went vertical, and the auto industry focused on EV optimism, even as a pandemic rewrote everyone’s working rules.

Read full article

Comments

There’s very little privacy on the internet: Data brokers collect tons of information about you and your online activity and sell it to anyone interested in marketing to you. California residents have gained more control over their personal data than those in other states since the passage of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2018, and they now have a one-stop shop for requesting that their information be removed from hundreds of data brokers registered with the state (and any that do so in the future).

California isn’t the only state to enact stronger consumer privacy laws in recent years, but its Delete Requests and Opt-Out Platform (DROP) is the first of its kind. The tool is live now, though brokers won’t begin processing submissions until August. Here’s what to do now if you live in California—and some options for removing your information from data brokers if you don’t.

How to sign up for California’s data removal platform

To get started with DROP, you’ll need to confirm that you are, in fact, a California resident by verifying personal information via California Identity Gateway or signing in with Login.gov credentials. To be eligible, you must either live in California or be domiciled in the state even if you live elsewhere temporarily. (This is based on the location of your primary residence, where you are registered to vote, and which state issued your driver’s license.)

You will then be able to create and submit a deletion request. You’ll need to provide some personal data, which will be used to match your request with records held by data brokers. Data types include names, date of birth, zip codes, email addresses, phone numbers, Mobile Advertising IDs (MAIDs), and vehicle identification numbers (VINs). You can enter multiples of everything except your date of birth and update your request at a later time—if you get a new car or change your email, for example.

While you can begin submitting requests now, know that data brokers won’t actually begin processing them until August 2026 and could take up to 90 days from then to delete your data. If they find a match, they are required to delete all of the information they have about you, though there are some exceptions, such as data available through public records or provided directly to a business.

Once processing begins later this year, you’ll be able to track the status of your request on the DROP platform.

Alternatives for deleting your data

If you don’t reside in California and qualify for DROP, all is not lost—though you will have to invest a bit more time and/or money to remove your information from data broker sites than simply mass deleting via a single request.

To start opting out of data collection, download Consumer Reports’ donation-based Permission Slip app, which tracks where your data can be found and follows up on removal requests. You can try to manually opt out by identifying data brokers and going directly to their sites, but this can be tedious, and there are a handful of other paid services that will do it for you. (None are perfect, nor do they guarantee 100% success.)

We also have a guide to blocking companies from tracking your online activities, which can help mitigate the problem somewhat before it begins.

Segway, the maker of Steve Wozniak’s favorite mode of self-balancing transport, has released a new series of robotic lawn mowers under its Navimow brand, designed for all manner of Roomba-esque mowing action. The lineup includes four residential series and was unveiled at CES 2026.

Navimow’s lineup includes the flagship X4 Series for large yards up to 1.5 acres in size. Its AWD system can handle slopes up to 40 degrees and it sports dual 180-watt cutting motors. The largest mode, the X450 will retail for $3,000. A smaller X430 rated for yards up to 1 acre will go for $2,500.

The Navimow i2 series comes in AWD and LiDAR variants and is designed for “everyday” lawn maintenance. The AWD variant’s three-wheel-drive system can handle 24-degree slopes and is designed to handle muddy or slippery terrain. The larger i2 AWD model, called the i210 AWD is rated for yards up to a quarter-acre in size, and will retail for $1,300. A smaller model dubbed the i206 AWD can handle yards as large as 0.15 acres and will go for $1,000.

The i2 LiDAR variant can scan 200,000 points per second to create a detailed spatial map of your yard, allowing it to navigate complex paths and, crucially, work at night. That model is rated for yards up to 0.37 acres in size. Pricing has not been announced for the i215 LiDAR model.

Finally, the H2 series features three vision technologies integrated into one model, with LiDAR, Network RTK and cameras combining into what Navimow is calling LiDAR+. The H2 is built for slopes up to 24 degrees and can handle yards up to half an acre in size. The H2 is being released in two models. The H210 for yards up to 0.25 acres, and the H220 for half-acre yards. Pricing for the H2 series has not been released yet.

The i2 AWD Series and the X4 Series will be available for pre-order beginning January 16.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/segways-navimow-brand-unveiled-a-new-line-of-robotic-lawn-mowers-at-ces-2026-130007014.html?src=rss

sinij shares a report from Car and Driver: Volkswagen is making a drastic change to its interiors, or at least the interiors of its electric vehicles. The automaker recently unveiled a new cockpit generation with the refreshed ID. Polo — the diminutive electric hatchback that the brand sells in Europe — that now comes with physical buttons. […] The steering wheel gets new clusters of buttons for cruise control and interacting with music playback, while switches for the temperature and fan speed now live in a row along the dashboard.

The move back to buttons doesn’t come out of nowhere. Volkswagen already started the shift with the new versions of the Golf and Tiguan models in the United States. Unfortunately, some climate controls, such as those for the rear defrost and the heated seats, are still accessed through the touchscreen. Thankfully, they look to retain their dedicated spot at the bottom of the display. Volkswagen hasn’t announced which models will receive the new cockpit design. The redesigned interior also may be limited to the brand’s electric vehicles, which would limit it to the upcoming refresh for the ID.4 SUV (and potentially the ID.Buzz), as the only VW EV models currently sold in America. “Unfortunately, the glued-on-dash tablet look is still there,” adds sinij.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

I’m no psychologist, but I get a sense Segway turned up to CES 2026 with something to prove after last year. Certainly, it’s gone out of its way to prove its micromobility bona fides with the press, who perhaps were a bit too sniffy that scooter people were launching an e-bike. This year, Segway’s not just launching two more mainstream e-bikes, but an electric dirt bike, all of which are crammed with the sort of tech that might just make everyone halt their sniffiness.

First up, there’s the Myon, a chunky step-through with a decent-sized pannier rack for folks who want to go far and carry a bit of luggage as they go. That’s hardly an eye-catching proposition given so many e-bikes fit within the same template, but Segway is hoping its tech will make a difference here. Myon is equipped with electronic gear shifting (tied to a Shimano CUES chain drivetrain), electronic motor optimization and the company’s proprietary Intelligent Ride System. 

The latter, along with Segway(TM) TurboTuned(TM) will automatically optimize motor and battery performance while under way. The company adds that the bike’s built-in gyros, cadence and torque sensors will meter out performance according to road conditions. So if you’re going up hill, the power will gently increase before you have to think about it. Additionally, if you stop at the lights, the system won’t just turn on the power to whatever you’ve set it at as soon as it senses the tiniest ounce of pressure on the pedal, removing the jerky start action you see in other bikes.

Segway’s broader pitch is that its bikes will also feature a whole host of smart features, including integration with Apple’s Find My network, GPS tracking, remote locking, integration with your health and fitness app of choice, and smartphone pairing. 

Segway

Muxi (pronounced moo-shee) is a more interesting piece of hardware, since it’s been built like a longtail cargo bike, but with the long tail chopped off. Even so, the focus is on cargo, with the bike getting an optional passenger seat with foot pegs, and an optional middle basket. Plus, the bike comes with a beverage cup holder (although given it has a direct drive motor, I’m not sure I’d want to cruise around at low speed while trying to sip my morning latte). To ensure you don’t struggle with your load, the bike comes with Hill Start Assist, Hill Descent Control, regenerative braking and traction control. Plus the aforementioned suite of added value features, like Find My integration, remote locking, GPS and the app integrations. 

Rounding out the announcements is the Xaber (say-br) 300, an electric dirt bike geared toward off-roading. It has three power modes, letting you learn on the equivalent of a 150cc engine, then dialing that up to 200cc, before topping out at 300cc. If you still want a greater sense of control, you can activate an electronic clutch, and if you want to cede more of it to the bike, you can set the maximum wheelie angle. There’s no price for Xaber, but the company says expect to learn more about it when it makes it debut in Spring or Summer this year.

As for Myon, it’s available to buy today from Segway’s official site and via its dealer network, priced at $2,000. Muxi will be available through those same channels in March, setting you back $1,700. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/segway-launches-two-more-e-bikes-at-ces-130000152.html?src=rss

Ugreen makes plenty of things, but you’re probably familiar with the name in the context of its NAS systems (should that be NASes? Who knows). Naturally, the company has turned up to CES 2026 with the former, but it’s also branching out into home security. It’s announcing SynCare, an AI infused all-in-one surveillance platform which, it rather boldly claims, will become an “attentive, integrated guardian” of your home.

Leading the pack is the SynCare Video Doorbell with head-to-toe 4K video, intelligent detection and 24/7 recording — especially if you’ve got it hooked up to your Ugreen NAS. That works in tandem with SynCare cameras offering 4K video on a pan-tilt base and, of course, AI to recognise “people, pets and key events.” Ugreen is also offering a tablet, the SynCare Smart Display, a “home hub” to let you manage your cameras from a single place in your home. 

The company is quick to highlight the major benefit of an at-home system like this, which is no need to pay for a monthly subscription. And, of course, that the footage from your home stays inside your home at all times, making it a better option for those folks who value their privacy. Sadly, Ugreen isn’t ready to share pricing or availability information for the series, saying it’ll be available in the back end of 2026.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ugreen-launches-a-smart-home-security-platform-at-ces-130000389.html?src=rss

I’m seeing a ton of smart bird feeders again this year at CES — and I’m inexplicably drawn to them. Perhaps because the idea of birds nibbling on seeds and flying away represents a natural purity and freedom that doesn’t exist within the halls of CES. Birdbuddy was one of the first smart bird feeder brands, with a wildly successful Kickstarter back in 2020. And this year, they’ve added birdsong to their species identification capabilities.

Two new feeders, the Birdbuddy 2 and the Birdbuddy 2 Mini both have the new feature, but the latter is a more affordable, starter version. The Bird Buddy 2 is solar-powered with built-in panels. It’s slightly larger and has a bigger seed capacity, too. Both have HD cameras you can manually position either vertically or horizontally and both have a mic to help with birdsong IDs.

Upgrades to the cameras include a faster wake-up time when a bird lands and the housing for the seed and camera has a more modular design that makes the feeder easier to clean. The lens is now protected by Gorilla Glass, which may seem excessive, but Rhian Humphries, Birdbuddy’s senior PR manager, said curious birds often peck at the camera looking for more food.

The AI Birdbuddy uses was trained on real bird visits and at the end of each day, you’ll get a “postcard,” a curated look at the birds that visited your feeder that day. Of course, the app can also alert you each time you have a feathered customer in your yard so you can tune into nature’s live feed and soothe your soul for a few.

The Birdbuddy 2 goes for $199. It sold out during the pre-order phase, and those units will ship in February, but more will be available in mid 2026. The Birdbuddy 2 Mini costs $129 with pre-orders opening in summer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/birdbuddys-new-smart-bird-feeder-can-id-birds-by-their-songs-122000692.html?src=rss

If you are a student of space history or tracked the space industry before billionaires and venture capital changed it forever, you probably know the name Rocketdyne.

A half-century ago, Rocketdyne manufactured almost all of the large liquid-fueled rocket engines in the United States. The Saturn V rocket that boosted astronauts toward the Moon relied on powerful engines developed by Rocketdyne, as did the Space Shuttle, the Atlas, Thor, and Delta rockets, and the US military’s earliest ballistic missiles.

Rocketdyne’s dominance began to erode after the end of the Cold War. The company started in 1955 as a division of North American Aviation, then became part of Rockwell International until Boeing acquired Rockwell’s aerospace division in 1996. Rocketdyne continually designed and tested large new rocket engines from the 1950s through the 1980s. Since then, Rocketdyne has developed and qualified just one large engine design from scratch—the RS-68—and it retired from service in 2024.

Read full article

Comments

Meta is pausing release of its Ray-Ban Display smart glasses to the UK, France, Italy and Canada due to “unprecedented demand and limited inventory,” the company said on Monday at CES 2026. There’s no new date for the expansion that was originally set for early 2026. “We’ll continue to focus on fulfilling orders in the US while we re-evaluate our approach to international availability,” Meta wrote on its blog.

Since Meta’s display glasses first went on sale, acquiring them has been a challenge. They’re not available online and can only be found in a limited number of retail outlets including select Ray-Ban, Sunglass Hut, LensCrafters and Best Buy locations in the United States. To buy them, you need to book an appointment for a demo at one those stores via Meta’s website. Ahead of launch, Meta said it saw “strong” demand for demos with locations booked ahead for several weeks. 

There was optimism that availability would increase as the company expected buying options to “expand” the longer they were on sale. However, with the delay of the planned international launch, it appears that the company still has a mismatch between supply and demand. 

Meta’s $799 Ray-Ban Display glasses are its first to incorporate a heads-up display and are also equipped with a camera, stereo speakers, six microphones, WiFi 6 and a finger tracking Neural Band controller. In her review, Engadget’s senior reporter Karissa Bell noted that the Ray-Ban display “enables wearers to do much more than what’s currently possible with [other] Ray-Ban or Oakley models” — provided you don’t mind the look of the chunky, chunky frames. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-has-delayed-the-international-rollout-of-its-display-glasses-120056833.html?src=rss

Meta has been experimenting with EMG technology for years. In 2025, the company commercialized it for the first time in its Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, which users control via a dedicated neural band that is able to interpret subtle muscle movements in the wrist.

Now, at CES 2026, the company is offering its first look at how its neural band could be used to control devices outside of its smart glasses lineup. Meta has teamed up with Garmin, as well as a handful of research partners, to explore some intriguing use cases for its wrist-based controller.

The social media company has previously worked with Garmin on fitness integrations for its glasses. But at CES, the companies were showing off a very early demo of how Meta’s neural band inside of a car to control the built-in infotainment system. 

The experience is part of Garmin’s “Unified Cabin” concept, which explores a bunch of AI-centric in-car experiences. The demo I tried was fairly limited: while wearing a neural band, I was able to navigate two apps on a touchscreen display in Garmin’s cockpit setup. In one, I used pinch and swipe gestures to manipulate an onscreen model of a car, much like how I would use the band to zoom in and out of an image while wearing the display glasses. The second demo, somewhat bizarrely, was a game of 2048. I used the same swipe gestures to move the tiles around. 

Neither of those are the kinds of experiences you immediately think of when you imagine “in-car entertainment,” but Garmin, which works with a number of major car brands on infotainment systems, seems to be thinking about some more practical use cases too. The company told me that it will explore using the neural band to control vehicle functions like rolling down windows or unlocking doors. 

Elsewhere, Meta also announced a research collaboration with the University of Utah that will explore how its EMG tech can be used to help people who have ALS, muscular dystrophy and other conditions that affect the use of their hands.

Researchers will work with Meta to test gestures that could enable people to control smart speakers, blinds, thermostats, locks and other household devices using the neural band.  “Meta Neural Band is sensitive enough to detect subtle muscle activity in the wrist — even for people who can’t move their hands,” the company explains in a blog post. Researchers will also look at using the band for mobility use cases, like the University of Utah’s TetraSki program, which currently uses a joystick or mouth-based controller to help participants ski.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/metas-emg-wristband-is-moving-beyond-its-ar-glasses-120000503.html?src=rss