Gmail made us all rethink how email could work when it debuted more than 20 years ago. Google thinks we’re in the process of another email transformation courtesy of AI. The company has unveiled a new round of AI features that will make Gemini an even more integral part of Gmail. The new Gemini experiences are coming to paying subscribers starting today, and a collection of previously premium-only AI features are rolling out widely.

AI Overviews first appeared in Gmail last year to summarize email chains, and now it’s expanding to Gmail search. This is closer to the AI Overview experience to which you are accustomed in Google’s web search. You can enter a natural language search, and the robot churns through your messages to generate a response.

In the example above, the user looks up a past plumbing quote. Traditionally, Gmail would show emails that are likely matches for your search. With AI Overview, you instead get a nicely formatted AI answer that includes all the relevant information and cites the email. That sounds all well and good, assuming it works. AI Overviews in search is notoriously inaccurate when summarizing search results, but grounding it in your email could make it less likely to screw up. Maybe.

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Ahead of a launch later this month, Volvo has teased some impressive details about its upcoming electric crossover. The EX60, which slots between the EX40 and EX90, will offer an EPA range of 400 miles, beating all other Volvos and most EVs in general. It will also be the first Volvo car to use a megacasting process designed to reduce weight and boost manufacturing efficiency. 

“With our new electric vehicle architecture, we directly address the main worries that customers have when considering a switch to a fully electric car,” said Volvo CTO Anders Bell. “The result is class-leading range and fast charging speeds, marking the end of range anxiety.” 

Volvo

Volvo considered that main worry to be range anxiety, so it focused on maximizing endurance to the largest extent possible. Key to that is Volvo’s advanced SPA3 EV architecture, which integrates the battery directly into the structure of the car with cell-to-body technology. Volvo also developed its e-motors in-house to improve efficiency and reduce weight. 

The company also made the EX60 fast to charge with an 800-volt electrical system and support for up to 400kW fast charging, letting you add up to 168 miles of range in just 10 minutes. New lighter materials and lower heat generation aid in that, “meaning the EX60 can add over 100 miles or range in just a few minutes,” Volvo wrote on its blog. 

Volvo

The megacasting, meanwhile, helped Volvo replace hundreds of smaller parts with a single, high-precision casting to reduce weight. The Volvo EX60 will be revealed on January 21, 2026 at a livestream on Volvo’s website. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/volvos-ex60-electric-crossover-promises-400-miles-of-epa-range-130008964.html?src=rss

In a move that should surprise nobody, Google is stuffing more Gemini AI into Gmail. A host of new features, some of which are already familiar to Workspace users, are rolling out today for Gmail users in the US. Some are free, while others require a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription.

The first premium feature is AI Overviews, the same name as a similar feature in Google Search. Gmail’s version lets you ask questions about your messages in the search bar, using natural language. Google uses the example of, “Who was the plumber that gave me a quote for the bathroom renovation last year?” It’s hard to imagine that saving much time over a basic search for “plumber quote” or “plumbing estimate,” but maybe it could help in some situations.

There’s also a free portion of AI Overviews that summarizes mail threads for easy catch-ups. However, the ability to ask your inbox questions requires a subscription.

Meanwhile, Proofread is a subscription-only feature that’s essentially Grammarly for Gmail. As you’d guess, it suggests improvements in grammar, word choice, conciseness, voice and sentence structure.

Google

Finally, there’s the AI Inbox, a feature that “filters out the clutter so you can focus on what’s most important.” Google says it’s like a personal briefing that flags to-dos and catches you up on what it thinks is most important. (It identifies VIPs based on frequent contacts, your contact list, and inferred relationships.) The company claims, without adding further detail, that this all “happens securely with the privacy protections you expect from Google.” AI Inbox is another subscription-only feature.

Now onto the free stuff. Help Me Write is a tool for all Gmail users that generates email copy from a prompt. This kind of thing should be well-familiar by now, as Big Tech increasingly encourages users to avoid drafting anything from scratch. And Suggested Replies can draft replies for you that mimic your tone and style. (Google describes it as a next-gen version of Smart Replies.) Help Me Write and Suggested Replies are rolling out to everyone (no subscription required) today.

The new Gemini-powered features begin rolling out to Gmail today. Although they’re starting with English speakers in the US, Google says they’ll arrive in more languages and regions “in the coming months.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gmail-is-getting-a-gemini-ai-overhaul-130000422.html?src=rss

CES is about many things, but primarily it’s about screens. TVs and laptops get the most attention, but you’ll find all kinds of new PC monitors, too. At CES 2026, several companies are using the trade show as an opportunity to update their gaming monitor lineups. This year expanding what OLED panels can do in terms of refresh rates, brightness and color production is the big focus, but there’s some more unusual options, too, like a glasses-free 3D monitor. The collection below are some of our favorite gaming monitors that have already been announced: 

LG UltraGear GX7

LG

The LG UltraGear GX7 is the fastest and brightest gaming monitor LG has offered so far and a gaming-focused showcase for LG Display’s 4th-gen RGB Tandem 2.0 OLED technology. The new display tech splits up the yellow layer of the company’s 3rd-gen OLED tech into distinct red and green layers that, when stacked with blue layers, create brighter, more energy-efficient screens.

In the case of the UltraGear GX7, the new 27-inch monitor reaches a typical brightness of 335 nits, and is VES DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified, for deeper contrast between the dark and bright parts of the screen. LG touts the display’s Dual Mode, which lets discerning gamers switch between two distinct settings: a 540Hz refresh rate mode at QHD resolution, when image quality is what you care about most, or a 720Hz refresh rate mode at HD resolution, when speed is your priority.

Whichever mode you choose, LG promises the monitor will offer a smooth and stutter free experience. It has a 0.02ms response time and supports both NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSYNC Premium Pro, so you should be set, regardless of what your computer’s specialty is. For $1,000, the LG UltraGear GX7 seems like a high watermark for OLED gaming monitors.

Samsung Odyssey 3D and Odyssey OLED G8

Samsung’s new Odyssey 3D monitor is the “world’s first 6K display with glasses-free 3D,” with a 6,144 x 3,456 resolution, and the ability to take games “beyond 2D” by tracking the position of your eyes, and enhancing terrain, distance and object separation. Even if you’re not interested in playing formerly 2D games like Lies of P: Overture with an added sense of depth, a 32-inch LCD screen with a 165Hz refresh rate that’s capable of being boosted to 330Hz through Samsung’s Dual Mode is nothing to sneeze at, especially with a 1ms response time.

On top of its big 3D monitor, Samsung is also pushing its own updated OLED tech at CES. The company’s new 32-inch Odyssey OLED G8 uses a 4K QD-OLED panel with a 240Hz refresh rate and a glare-free treatment for added visibility. The monitor has a VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certification, but unlike LG’s display, its brightness is capped at 300 nits.

ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG27UCWM and ROG Strix Pulsar XG27AQNGV

ASUS

While the ASUS ROG Swift OLED PG27UCWM uses a Tandem OLED panel – a panel with two light-emitting layers, like the Ultra XDR Retina display on Apple’s recent iPad Pros – the big change ASUS is focused on at CES 2026 is its new RGB Stripe OLED layout, technology LG helped pioneer. These updated panels use “a full RGB sub-pixel arrangement” to produce sharper text and more accurate color reproduction when compared to the QD-OLED panels the company has used in the past.

The 27-inch ROG Swift OLED PG27UCWM can be run at 4K with a 240Hz refresh rate or at FHD with a 480Hz refresh rate. The display also has a 0.03ms minimum response time for smooth and clear action, and 99 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage for more vibrant and accurate color reproduction. The OLED monitor also includes a “Neo PRoximity Sensor” which automatically turns the screen off when you’re not looking at it, to prevent burn-in.

NVIDIA’s new G-Sync Pulsar tech, which uses variable backlighting to reduce blur, is specifically meant for competitive gamers, and ASUS’ new ROG Strix Pulsar XG27AQNGV monitor is one of the first to support the new tech. The monitor features a 27-inch, 1440p  panel with a 360Hz refresh rate and “the fastest response time” ASUS has ever achieved in a 1440p LCD display. The monitor also includes DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1 and multiple USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A ports for whatever devices you want to connect to it.

MSI MPG 314CQR QD-OLED X36

MSI

The star monitor of MSI’s new products at CES 2026 is the wordily titled MSI MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36, a curved, 34-inch ultrawide monitor, with new OLED panel. Like Asus, MSI is mixing different OLED display technologies for better results. This new monitor uses a 5th-gen Tandem QD-OLED panel with an “RGB Stripe sub-pixel layout” for sharper visuals. MSI also applies what it calls “DarkArmor Film” to “enhance light absorption,” eliminate the reddish tint some QD-OLED panels have under ambient light, and boost black levels by “up to 40 percent.”

As an ultrawide, the MPG 341CQR QD-OLED X36 has a resolution of 3,440 x 1,440, an aspect ratio of 21:9 and a refresh rate of 360Hz. MSI says the monitor can reach a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, and the company provides multiple HDR modes to switch between depending on your needs. Similar to ASUS, the monitor also includes a sensor for detecting whether a human is in front of the screen – MSI calls it an AI Care Sensor – so that the monitor can power-off or enter standby mode when not in active use.

ViewSonic VX2738 2K OLED Gaming Monitor

ViewSonic

ViewSonic’s new gaming monitors are more approachable and (presumably) more affordable than the options from competitors, but not necessarily less performant. The company top-of-the-line model, the ViewSonic VX2738 2K OLED Gaming Monitor has a 27-inch 2K QHD QD-OLED panel with a 240Hz refresh rate and up to 0.03ms response time.

The monitor supports AMD FreeSync Premium and NVIDIA G-Sync for smoother gameplay. The VX2738 also has the ability to scale down its image via a 24.5-inch “esports mode” for competitive settings. ViewSonic says the monitor will include HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports and be available for $500.

HP HyperX Omen OLED 34

HP

HP’s newest monitor under its unified HyperX Omen gaming brand is the HyperX Omen OLED 34, a curved 34-inch monitor with a QD-OLED panel. HP says the monitor uses V-stripe QD-OLED tech, which like in MSI and ASUS’ monitors, means sharper text and better color accuracy. The HyperX Omen OLEd 34 has an aspect ratio of 21:9, a 360Hz refresh rate and a 0.03ms response time.

The monitor has 100W USB-C power delivery for whichever laptop you decide to connect to it, and a built-in KVM switch, HP says. Plus, the company is offering a customizable, 3D-printable headphone hook, if you want to store your accessories nearby.

Acer Predator XB273U F6 Gaming Monitor

Acer is showing off multiple new monitors at CES 2026, but the Predator XB273U F6 Gaming Monitor stands out for its ridiculously fast refresh rate. Acer says the 27-inch screen has a 500Hz refresh rate by default, that can be boosted to 1000Hz at a 1,280 x 720 resolution if you use the company’s Dynamic Frequency and Resolution (DFR) mode. 

The Predator XB273U F6 otherwise features a 2,560 x 1,440 IPS panel with a brightness of 350 nits, that’s calibrated to cover 95 percent of the DCI-P3 and 99 percent of the sRGB color gamut. The monitor also has 2-watt speakers built-in, and includes HDMI2.1, DisplayPort 1.4 and audio out ports for connecting to the rest of your PC gaming setup. Acer says the Predator XB273U F6 will be available for $800 when it launches in Q2 2026 in North America.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/the-gaming-monitors-that-caught-our-eye-at-ces-2026-130000433.html?src=rss

Recently, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2026) in Las Vegas, thousands of brands from around the world showcased their cutting-edge technologies and products. Among them, ThundeRobot, located at booth 15845, attracted numerous tech enthusiasts, esports players, and media with its lightweight gaming laptops, Mini PCs, peripheral products, and a future-tech-themed booth design.

Laptop: Breaking the Conflict Between Portability and Performance

At CES, the ZERO Air was one of the most highly anticipated new products from THUNDEROBOT. This product attempts to provide a new solution in a dimension that has long been considered difficult to balance: achieving a dual full power release of 160W (CPU 45W + GPU 115W) within a body weighing approximately 1.58kg and measuring 15.9mm in thickness.

The ZERO Air features an Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 3 processor and an NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 50 series GPU. Its core significance lies not only in being “lighter” or “stronger,” but in redefining the capability boundaries of lightweight gaming laptops.

During on-site experiences, the changes brought by this design were quite intuitive: a lightweight body no longer represents a trade-off between portability and performance but has become a new normal.

If the ZERO Air addresses the long-standing conflict between “lightness” and “performance,” the aibook 14 Pro seems to respond to another question: when daily work heavily overlaps with long battery life and high computational demands, can a lightweight laptop still handle only basic tasks?

Weighing about 1kg, the aibook 14 Pro combines a carbon fiber structure to achieve a sustained performance output of 45W. At CES, this product was primarily showcased in areas focused on content creation and mobile office environments, emphasizing its stable output capabilities in real-world usage scenarios. The aibook 14 Pro raises the performance ceiling of 1kg lightweight laptops once again. The emergence of such products reflects a trend: lightweight devices are transitioning from “supplementary devices” to “primary computing terminals.”

MINI PC: High-Performance Workstation in a Compact Size, Revolutionizing Desktop Computing Experience

Moving through the mobile computing area, the core message of the desktop computing zone is “breakthrough”—overcoming the conflict between size and computing power, and balancing cooling with silence, allowing mini PCs to support top-tier performance requirements.

Mini PCs have long been viewed as a compromise between size and performance, but THUNDEROBOT has provided a more aggressive interpretation of this category at CES.

THUNDEROBOT MIX G2: Achieving a maximum performance release of 230W within a body size of approximately 3L.
THUNDEROBOT STATION: Featuring the AMD Ryzen™ AI Max+ 395 processor, positioned as a Mini PC workstation for high-performance local AI computing scenarios.

These two products point in a common direction: Mini PCs are no longer just “smaller versions of desktops” but are beginning to handle local AI inference, content creation, and high-load computing tasks. During live demonstrations, local AI computing, model inference, and multitasking processing were key highlights, resonating strongly with current trends in AI PC development.

Peripheral Experience: FPS-Focused Design to Maximize Competitive Core Performance

In the peripheral interaction area, the focus is on FPS scenarios, emphasizing low latency and high-precision control to create a series of professional esports gear.

The MACHENIKE F1 dual 8K fully customizable game controller features wired and 2.4G dual 8K feedback rates, providing almost imperceptible latency for shooting and aiming. This product is deeply designed to meet the control needs of FPS games, featuring a full grip-compatible structure, three adjustable micro-motion triggers, and twelve optical micro switches that support customizable programming, with fully hot-swappable keys designed for high-intensity competitive use.

The Shadow Hunter EX68 optical axis keyboard utilizes Razer’s third-generation optical technology, offering an ultra-low latency of 0.125ms for high-frequency key presses. Its metal body combined with RGB backlighting balances aesthetic and visual effects, promising a new experience for optical axis keyboards.

Future Forms of Gaming Hardware: Presenting Three Core Directions

THUNDEROBOT’s overall presentation at CES 2026 wasn’t just a simple product showcase, but a concentrated expression of the future forms of gaming hardware.

Firstly, the era of lightweight laptops has arrived, breaking the inherent conflict between lightness and performance, providing a significant leap in mobile gaming experiences, and offering greater efficiency in mobile work capabilities. Secondly, MINI PCs are moving towards high-performance workstation tracks, delivering significant energy in a compact size and providing flexible solutions for esports and local AI-assisted training. Thirdly, peripherals are initiating a tactile revolution focused on FPS design, upgrading various aspects from latency control and precision to durability, targeting the core usage scenarios of esports.

On the first day of the exhibition, the renowned esports team XEN, known for its outstanding performance in “Call of Duty” and “Fortnite,” also visited the THUNDEROBT’s booth, where they highly praised the exceptional competitive experience of its products.

The CES 2026 exhibition is still ongoing, and THUNDEROBOT’s booth, located at LVCC Central Hall, Booth 15845, remains open for global tech enthusiasts, industry observers, and media to experience firsthand.

As the dust settles on the spectacle that is CES 2026 in Las Vegas, one thing is abundantly clear: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) is an execution machine operating at peak efficiency. The opening keynote, delivered by CEO and Chair Dr. Lisa Su, was a relentless barrage of product announcements spanning client AI, gaming dominance, and data center supremacy.

Yet, watching the presentation, I was struck by a familiar duality that defines AMD in its current golden era. On one hand, the company is delivering silicon that genuinely pushes the boundaries of computing. On the other, their major events often lack the cohesive, narrative “pop” that defines competitors like NVIDIA (though this year NVIDIA wasn’t really on their game) or customers like Lenovo (who set the bar this year). This isn’t a product failing; it is a structural one. AMD continues to execute brilliantly on engineering, but at hyper-hyped events like CES, they are perceptibly hampered by the lack of a dedicated, top-tier Chief Marketing Officer (CMO).

The IBM Pedigree: Substance Over Sizzle

Before diving into the silicon, it is necessary to acknowledge the force behind it: Dr. Lisa Su. I have long admired Dr. Su, not just for turning AMD around, but for how she did it. She embodies the best traditions of her IBM background—a culture rooted in deep technical competence, rigorous roadmap execution, and an aversion to vaporware.

At CES 2026, this competence was on full display. Dr. Su doesn’t need gimmicks; she has specs. Her presentation style is disciplined, grounded in engineering reality, and focused on delivering measurable value to customers. In an industry often choking on hype, her steady hand is refreshing. She is the ultimate engineer’s CEO, prioritizing the “what” and the “how” over the theatrical “why.” This IBM-forged discipline is why AMD is trusted by everyone from hyperscalers to hardcore gamers.

Relentless Client and Gaming Execution

The press announcements from the keynote underscore this relentless execution. In the client space, AMD isn’t just participating in the AI PC revolution; they are attempting to define its performance tier.

The new Ryzen AI 400 Series processors, built on the “Zen 5” architecture, are a prime example. By offering up to 60 TOPS of NPU compute, AMD isn’t just meeting the requirements for Microsoft Copilot+ PCs; they are exceeding them significantly. This is crucial for enabling next-generation, on-device AI experiences that don’t rely on the cloud.Furthermore, AMD reiterated its commitment to its core constituency: gamers. The announcement of the Ryzen 9850X3D utilizing 2nd Gen AMD 3D V-Cache technology to claim the title of “world’s fastest gaming processor” is a direct strike at Intel’s remaining strongholds.

Perhaps most interesting for the ecosystem is the push on software. The 10x year-over-year increase in ROCm downloads indicates that AMD is finally chipping away at NVIDIA’s CUDA moat, providing developers with viable alternatives for local AI workloads on products like the new Ryzen AI Halo mini-PC.

The Data Center Moonshot

If the client side was about solidifying leadership, the data center announcements were about pure ambition. AMD’s execution here is terrifying to its competitors.

The unveiling of the full MI400 Series lineup, led by the “Helios” blueprint for yotta-scale compute, demonstrates that AMD is thinking way beyond the current AI boom. Delivering up to 3 AI exaflops in a single rack is an astounding engineering claim aimed squarely at training trillion-parameter models.

Even more audacious was the tease of the MI500 Series for 2027. Projecting a 1,000x increase in AI performance compared to the MI300X using CDNA 6 architecture and 2nm process technology is the kind of long-range roadmap confidence that only a company sure of its execution engine can provide.

The Missing Ingredient: The CMO Gap

Given this incredible array of technology, why did the keynote feel somewhat utilitarian? This brings us back to the missing piece of the puzzle.

When a CEO as capable as Lisa Su has to also serve as the de facto Chief Marketing Officer during the year’s biggest tech stage, something gets lost. A great CMO doesn’t just sell products; they weave a unified mythology around the brand. They connect the dots between a gaming chip, a data center rack, and an embedded automotive processor into a singular, irresistible narrative about the future.

While Dr. Su eloquently described the parts, the presentation lacked the cohesive emotional resonance that a dedicated marketing leader brings. The announcements were a list of wins, rather than a story of conquest. Without a CMO to manage the “sizzle,” AMD relies entirely on the “steak.” Fortunately for them, the steak is world-class. But at CES, one can’t help but wonder how much bigger the impact would be if the marketing machinery matched the excellence of the engineering machinery.

Wrapping Up

AMD’s showing at CES 2026 was a testament to Dr. Lisa Su’s disciplined, competence-first leadership, a style honed in the best traditions of IBM. The company is executing flawlessly across client AI, high-end gaming, and data center infrastructure, delivering products that lead their respective categories. However, the event also highlighted a persistent weakness: the absence of a high-profile CMO to elevate these technical achievements into an industry-defining narrative. AMD has the best engines in the world; they just need a better storyteller in the passenger seat.

Disney+ will add vertical videos to its service in the US sometime this year, in hopes that they can entice viewers to engage with its app every day. The company has made the announcement at its Tech + Data Showcase event at CES 2026. Disney first dabbled in vertical content with Verts, which launched for the ESPN app in August 2025, giving it the insight it needed on how its users respond to the video format.

Erin Teague, Disney Entertainment’s EVP of Product Management, told Deadline that the company will use the format for all kinds of content. The service isn’t just planning to use it as a vehicle for movie and series teasers, but also for original short-form programming. She didn’t say what kinds of original programming Disney+ will be adding as vertical videos to its app, but vertical micro-dramas have become incredibly popular over the past year.

“We’re obviously thinking about integrating vertical video in ways that are native to core user behaviors,” Teague said. “So, it won’t be a kind of a disjointed, random experience.” The company is targeting Gen Z and Gen Alpha users, in particular, since they’re not inclined to sit and watch long-form content on their phones for hours. Disney said in a statement that the experience will “evolve as it expands across news and entertainment” and will be personalized for users, with making the service “a must-visit daily destination” as its goal. After all, if a user is already in the app, they’re more likely to explore and watch the service’s programming.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-is-launching-vertical-videos-this-year-120000776.html?src=rss