Jensen Huang took to the CES stage on Monday to share the latest from NVIDIA, and while the presentation was more a refresher of technologies the company has been working on for the past few years, there were a couple of notable announcements.
NVIDIA announced Alpamayo, a family of open-source reasoning models designed to guide autonomous vehicles through difficult driving situations. The centerpiece of the release is Alpamayo 1 , a 10-billion parameter chain-of-thought system NVIDIA says is capable of approaching driving more like a human being would. The model works by breaking down unexpected driving situations into a smaller set of problems before finding the safest path forward. At each step of the way, the model can explain its reasoning.
A sister model named AlpaSim allows developers to do closed-loop training for driving scenarios that are rarely encountered in real life. Huang said the 2025 Mercedes Benz CLA will be the first vehicle to ship with NVIDIA’s entire AV stack, including Alpamayo. “Our vision is that someday, every single car, every single truck, will be autonomous,” Huang said.
Following the Alpamayo announcements, a pair of BD-1 droids from Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order joined Huang on stage. We saw one join the executive at last year’s CES. After that, Huang turned to Vera Rubin. NVIDIA first announced the GPU architecture in 2024, and now the company has begun production on a super computer that makes use of the new tech. One Vera CPU has 88 custom Olympus cores and 1.5TB of system memory for a total of 227 billion transistors. Meanwhile, one Rubin GPU features 336 billion transistors. Each Vera Rubin supercomputer has a pair of both components.
For those hoping for some gaming-related announcements, Huang didn’t have anything to say about NVIDIA’s consumer GPUs, but we may get something later during CES.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/everything-nvidia-announced-at-ces-2026-225653684.html?src=rss
When I first heard whispers about the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold, I immediately felt conflicted. On one hand it felt like the natural evolution of bi-fold phones like the Z Fold 7. But on the other, all this fancy tech comes with an even higher price — around $2,500 based on current conversion rates from Korean won — not to mention the added bulk you get from a third folding panel. So even as someone who has used a foldable as my daily driver for almost a decade straight, it felt like Samsung’s latest high-end phone was going backwards in terms of both portability and affordability. But then at CES 2026, I got a chance to go hands-on with the Galaxy Z TriFold and all of my concerns pretty much instantly disappeared because with this thing, flexing is believing.
My initial consternation comes in large part from using the Z Fold 7, which hit a major milestone this year thanks to a revamped design that doesn’t come with any added size or weight even when compared to comparable candybar-style phones like the Galaxy S25 Ultra. That’s a major breakthrough considering how hefty and chunky the original Galaxy Fold was back in 2019. And when you compare the Z Fold 7’s dimensions (7.58 ounces and 8.9mm thick when folded) to the new TriFold (10.9 ounces and 12.9mm when folded), there’s no doubt that Samsung’s new flagship foldable comes with a lot of extra bulk. To put things into context, we have to go back several generations to the Z Fold 5 just to find a comparable phone with similar thickness (13.4mm). And even then, that handset is still significantly lighter than the TriFold at 8.92 ounces.
There’s simply no denying that the Z TriFold (left) is a much bulkier device than the Z Fold 7 (right).
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
But then I opened it up and my concerns were quickly pushed aside because suddenly you’re greeted with 10 inches of vivid AMOLED goodness. As a phone that can pull double duty as a tablet, the jump up from the Z Fold 7’s 8-inch main display cannot be understated. Not only does it make multitasking so much easier, when combined with Samsung’s DeX desktop mode, you basically get a miniature laptop experience from a device that fits in a pocket. Especially if you don’t mind carrying around a travel-friendly mouse and keyboard. Plus, you can connect the TriFold to an external display (either wired or wirelessly) to access even more screen space. Way more than with the Z Fold 7, I can honestly see myself leaving my PC at home and using the TriFold as my primary work device.
Another important but easily overlooked upgrade on the Galaxy Z Trifold is the 4:3 aspect ratio for its 10-inch main display. Compared to the Z Fold 7 and its almost perfectly square screen, you just get so much extra room on the sides for widescreen movies and shows. I tested this out by watching the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and even though that movie uses a super wide aspect ratio due to being filmed entirely on IMAX cameras, the viewing experience was just so much better. Peak watchability is something the regular Z Fold line has sort of left by the wayside as the company moved to larger exterior displays, which resulted in the series’ primary screen becoming more square. The one downside though is that the TriFold may make you more of a resolution snob, as it’s a lot easier to tell the difference between 1080p and 2K or 4K on a larger 10-inch panel.
The final pillar of the TriFold’s kit is all the engineering that Samsung put into making it easy to open and close. Simply moving from one hinge to two while adding a third folding panel undersells the complexity of its design. Samsung actually uses two different types of magnets that push or pull depending on where they are, which makes accessing the TriFold’s primary display practically just as easy as on the Z Fold 7. That’s no small feat. Opening and shutting this thing is just so satisfying on a tactile level, and that’s before you consider that there’s basically no downgrade in terms of image quality.
While there’s only one way to unfurl the TriFold, which might seem confusing at first, Samsung addressed that too by throwing up a warning and making the whole phone vibrate if you try to do it wrong. And then there are components like the glass-reinforced carbon panels Samsung uses to add strength and durability to its chassis while keeping it as thin as possible. The one potential concern in the future is that unlike Samsung’s older foldables, there’s not as much room for improvement to shrink its dimensions much further, as the TriFold’s slimness is currently limited by the size of its USB-C jack. So if the next model wants to make big gains there, it may need to go completely portless.
Here’s what The Odyssey trailer looks like on the Z TriFold (right) compared to the Z Fold 7 (left). It’s such a better experience.
Sam Rutherford for Engadget
On a certain level, I kind of hate how much I like the Galaxy Z TriFold. I really don’t want to go back to bigger, heavier phones that are even more bulky and expensive than the Z Fold 7. But the appeal is impossible to deny and for people who love a good multitasker, I can easily see how these tradeoffs are worth the upside of Samsung’s latest apex foldable.
The Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold is currently on sale in South Korea, though we’re still waiting for official pricing and availability for the US and North American market.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-z-trifold-hands-on-flexing-is-believing-at-ces-2026-224343480.html?src=rss
A viral Reddit “whistleblower” post accusing a major food delivery app of systemic exploitation is “most likely AI-generated,” reports the Verge. From the report: The original post by user Trowaway_whistleblow alleged that an unnamed food delivery company regularly delays customer orders, calls couriers “human assets,” and exploits their “desperation” for cash, among other indefensible actions. Nearly 90,000 upvotes and four days later, it’s become increasingly clear that the post’s text is probably AI-generated. Considering the delivery app industry track record of exploitation of its drivers, it’s easy to see why so many people believed this was the real thing.
The Verge put the original 586-word Reddit post through several free online AI detectors, in addition to Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude. The results were mixed: Copyleaks, GPTZero, Pangram, Gemini, and Claude all pegged it as likely AI-generated, but ZeroGPT and QuillBot both reported it as human-written. ChatGPT played it down the middle. Reached by The Verge on Signal, Trowaway_whistleblow provided an image of an Uber Eats employee badge. That image was generated or edited with Google AI, according to Gemini. The image shows an Uber Eats logo above two black boxes, presumably covering an employee name and photo, and the words “senior software engineer.” It’s odd that an engineer’s badge would have the Uber Eats logo, and not the Uber logo, according to Gemini. That, in addition to slightly misaligned words and warped coloration at the edge of the green border, are reasons Gemini thinks it’s inauthentic. (Uber later confirmed that Uber Eats-branded employee badges do not exist.) “Not only are the claims fake, but they’re also dead wrong,” Uber spokesperson Noah Edwardsen told The Verge. Uber Eats’ Andrew Macdonald wrote on X, “This post is definitively not about us. I suspect it is completely made up. Don’t trust everything you read on the internet.”
DoorDash CEO Tony Xu also denied the redditor’s “appalling” allegations. “This is not DoorDash, and I would fire anyone who promoted or tolerated the kind of culture described in this Reddit post,” Xu said in a post on X.
I met up with a few people from Google at the Encore Villas during CES (which is just 2,500 feet from my hotel but took 28 minutes to walk to, thanks to Vegas’s pedestrian-averse design [also I got lost]). Once there, I saw what “more Gemini” will mean for people with a Google TV.
The AI integration ranged from useful to probably unnecessary. The most useful bit, for me at least, came at the end. It’s admittedly a boring, but now you an adjust your TV’s settings just by talking. In the demo, Salahuddin Choudhary, Google’s Gemini for Android product lead said, “Can you boost the dialogue?” and Gemini changed the mode accordingly, without leaving the golf game he was watching. I asked if it could turn off motion smoothing, the first thing I adjust on a new TV (and sometimes other people’s). Yes, it can.
The “deep dive” Gemini feature could prove fairly useful, too. With it, asking for general information turns into a mini lesson on the subject, complete with generated images and narration. When Choudhary asked Gemini to “explain the Northern Lights to [his] eighth grader,” the screen filled with the standard Gemini answer: a brief definition and images and video tiles for further exploration. But a small Dive deeper button on the screen led to a narrated and illustrated tour of the science behind the phenomenon. My kid is at the age where he asks me questions I can’t answer about the fundamental makeup of the universe — maybe this could help.
The Google TV demo at CES showed an answer on the science behind how the northern lights are created
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
Google Photos is getting a much deeper integration with Google TVs, too. Choudhary asked for pics from a trip to the beach and snapshots of happy people amongst the sea and sand popped up on the screen. One particular shot would make a nice screen saver, I was told, and he asked Gemini to give the photo an oil painting makeover using the Remix feature.
However, if you want your photo recast in a way not offered with Remix, you can use Nano Banana. Choudhary turned one of the personal photos into a cartoon just by asking. Using Veo turned the same image into an short (if slightly glitchy) animation of a person playing fetch with the dog in the photo.
Google TV used Neo to recast a picture as a cartoon.
Amy Skorheim for Engadget
Your ability to generate video will depend on your Gemini subscription tier, but I was told a purchase of a Google TV device would include most of the other AI capabilities that I saw demonstrated.
I’d classify the photo manipulation and video generation as decidedly less useful that the other features, but my kid would probably get a kick out of messing with them for a while. For people who use Gemini a lot, being able to do so on the biggest screen in the house may appeal. Ditto for those who like seeing your Google Photos in a giant format. Some folks will appreciate the AI image manipulation and generation, I’m sure, but I’m mostly excited about the admittedly boring part of not having to leave a show to boost the brightness of a scene.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/google-tvs-new-gemini-features-range-from-useful-to-unnecessary-222900001.html?src=rss
In June, the White House released a budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 that slashed funding for NASA’s science programs by nearly 50 percent. Then, in July, the Trump administration began telling the leaders of dozens of space science missions to prepare “closeout” plans for their spacecraft.
Things looked pretty grim for a while, but then Congress stepped in. Congress, of course, sets the federal government’s budget. In many ways, Congress abdicated authority to the Trump administration last year. But not so, it turns out, with federal spending.
Throughout the summer and fall, as the White House and Congress wrangled over various issues, lawmakers made it clear they intended to fund most of NASA’s science portfolio. Preliminary efforts to shut down active missions were put on hold.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Amazon’s AI-powered overhaul of its digital assistant, now known as Alexa+, is coming to the web. On Monday, at the start of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company announced the official launch of a new website, Alexa.com, which is now rolling out to all Alexa+ Early Access customers. The site will allow customers to use Alexa+ online, much as you can do today with other AI chatbots such as ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.
[…] Related to this expansion, Amazon is updating its Alexa mobile app, which will now offer a more “agent-forward” experience. Or, in other words, it’s putting a chatbot-style interface on the app’s homepage, making it seem more like a typical AI chatbot. (While you could chat with Alexa before in the app, the focus is now on the chatting — while the other features take a back seat.) On the Alexa.com website, customers can use Alexa+ for common tasks — for instance, exploring complex topics, creating content, and making trip itineraries. However, Amazon aims to differentiate its assistant from others by focusing on families and their needs in the home.
[…] The Alexa.com website features a navigation sidebar for quicker access to your most-used Alexa features, so you can pick up where you left off on tasks like setting the thermostat, checking your calendar for appointments, reviewing shopping lists, and more. In addition, Amazon aims to convince customers to share their personal documents, emails, and calendar access with Alexa+, so its AI can become a sort of hub to manage the goings-on at home, from kids’ school holidays and soccer schedules to doctor’s appointments and other things families need to remember — like when the dog got its last rabies shot, or what day the neighbor’s backyard BBQ is taking place. “Seventy-six percent of what customers are using Alexa+ for no other AI can do,” says Daniel Rausch, VP of Alexa and Echo at Amazon.
“Ninety-seven percent of Alexa devices support Alexa+, and we see now in adoption from customers that they’re using Alexa across all those many years and many generations of devices,” Rausch adds. “We support all of Alexa’s original capabilities, the tens of thousands of services and devices that Alexa was integrated with already are carried forward to the Alexa+ experience.”
The report notes that Alexa.com will initially only be available to Early Access customers who sign in with their Amazon account.
Under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., federal health officials on Monday announced a sweeping and unprecedented overhaul of federal vaccine recommendations, abruptly paring down recommended immunizations for children from 17 to 11.
Officials claimed the rationale for the change was to align US vaccine recommendations more closely with those of other high-income countries, namely Denmark, a small, far less diverse country of around 6 million people (smaller than the population of New York City) that has universal health care. The officials also claim the change is necessary to address the decline in public trust in vaccinations, which has been driven by anti-vaccine activists, including Kennedy.
“This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health,” Kennedy said in a statement.
Remember when HP made its own CPUs and Unix? We wonder if it doesThe final version of HPE’s own flavor of Unix, HP-UX 11i v3, is now out of support. It is the end of a line that started in 1982.…
Californians are getting a new, supercharged way to stop data brokers from hoarding and selling their personal information, as a recently enacted law that’s among the strictest in the nation took effect at the beginning of the year.
According to the California Privacy Protection Agency, more than 500 companies actively scour all sorts of sources for scraps of information about individuals, then package and store it to sell to marketers, private investigators, and others.
The nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said in 2024 that brokers trawl automakers, tech companies, junk-food restaurants, device makers, and others for financial info, purchases, family situations, eating, exercising, travel, entertainment habits, and just about any other imaginable information belonging to millions of people.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Popular AI-powered integrated development environment solutions, such as Cursor, Windsurf, Google Antigravity, and Trae, recommend extensions that are non-existent in the OpenVSX registry, allowing threat actors to claim the namespace and upload malicious extensions.
These AI-assisted IDEs are forked from Microsoft VSCode, but cannot use the extensions in the official store due to licensing restrictions. Instead, they are supported by OpenVSX, an open-source marketplace alternative for VSCode-compatible extensions. As a result of forking, the IDEs inherit the list of officially recommended extensions, hardcoded in the configuration files, which point to Microsoft’s Visual Studio Marketplace.
Back in November AMD began posting open-source Linux graphics driver patches for some next-gen graphics IP. Those IP block patches were for MMHUB, PSP, and other blocks making up modern AMD GPUs. The GFXHUB patch pointed it to being part of the GFX12 / RDNA4 family. Out today are new patches for enabling the SMU15 IP and an interesting takeaway there is some apparent NPU integration for future Radeon graphics…
The primary domain of Shadow library Anna’s Archive was taken offline, with annas-archive.org being put under the serverHold status. While Anna’s Archive recently made waves with a massive “backup” of Spotify, the shadow library’s operator said the music pirating doesn’t appear to be connected to the .org domain suspension. Anna’s Archive remains available at several other domains.
Anna’s Archive launched in 2022 in response to the US Department of Justice seizure of domains used by e-book pirate site Z-Library. Acting as a shadow library and a search engine for other shadow libraries, Anna’s Archive aims to archive books and other written materials and make them widely available via torrents. Its data sets have also been heavily used by AI companies to train large language models.
In addition to mirroring shadow libraries such as Sci-Hub, Library Genesis, and Z-Library, Anna’s Archive made a major move into music pirating two weeks ago with an announcement that it scraped Spotify and made a 300TB copy of the most streamed songs. Despite that development, the person behind Anna’s Archive said the domain suspension doesn’t seem to be related to the Spotify scraping.
The 273rd installment of the 9to5Linux Weekly Roundup is here for the week ending on January 4th, 2026, keeping you updated with the most important things happening in the Linux world.
Stewart Cheifet, the television producer and host who documented the personal computer revolution for nearly two decades on PBS, died on December 28, 2025, at age 87 in Philadelphia. Cheifet created and hosted Computer Chronicles, which ran on the public television network from 1983 to 2002 and helped demystify a new tech medium for millions of American viewers.
Computer Chronicles covered everything from the earliest IBM PCs and Apple Macintosh models to the rise of the World Wide Web and the dot-com boom. Cheifet conducted interviews with computing industry figures, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos, while demonstrating hardware and software for a general audience.
From 1983 to 1990, he co-hosted the show with Gary Kildall, the Digital Research founder who created the popular CP/M operating system that predated MS-DOS on early personal computer systems.
