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The NYT Connections puzzle today is not too difficult to solve if you love gambling.

Connections is the one of the most popular New York Times word games that's captured the public's attention. The game is all about finding the "common threads between words." And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier—so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.

If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for today's Connections solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable What is Connections?

The NYT's latest daily word game has become a social media hit. The Times credits associate puzzle editor Wyna Liu with helping to create the new word game and bringing it to the publications' Games section. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.

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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there's only one correct answer.

If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake—players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.

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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for January 6, 2026 Here's a hint for today's Connections categories

Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:

• Yellow: Living space

• Green: A nice voice

• Blue: Card game terms

• Purple: Creature

Here are today's Connections categories

Need a little extra help? Today's connections fall into the following categories:

• Yellow: Apartment

• Green: Sonorous

• Blue: Poker hands, familiarly

• Purple: ___ animal

Looking for Wordle today? Here's the answer to today's Wordle.

Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today's puzzle before we reveal the solutions.

Drumroll, please!

The solution to today's Connections #940 is...

What is the answer to Connections today

• Apartment: DIGS, FLAT, PAD, QUARTERS

• Sonorous: CLEAR, DEEP, FLAT, RICH

• Poker hands, familiarly: BOAT, FLUSH, QUADS, STRAIGHT

• ___ animal: BALLOON, PACK, PARTY, STUFFED

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be new Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 6, 2026

Are you also playing NYT Strands? Get all the Strands hints you need for today's puzzle.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Connections.

Today's NYT Strands hints are easy if you're not afraid of heights.

Strands, the New York Times' elevated word-search game, requires the player to perform a twist on the classic word search. Words can be made from linked letters — up, down, left, right, or diagonal, but words can also change direction, resulting in quirky shapes and patterns. Every single letter in the grid will be part of an answer. There's always a theme linking every solution, along with the "spangram," a special, word or phrase that sums up that day's theme, and spans the entire grid horizontally or vertically.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable

By providing an opaque hint and not providing the word list, Strands creates a brain-teasing game that takes a little longer to play than its other games, like Wordle and Connections.

If you're feeling stuck or just don't have 10 or more minutes to figure out today's puzzle, we've got all the NYT Strands hints for today's puzzle you need to progress at your preferred pace.

SEE ALSO: Wordle today: Answer, hints for January 6, 2026 SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 6, 2026 NYT Strands hint for today’s theme: Look up!

The words are related to flight.

Today’s NYT Strands theme plainly explained

These words describe things that fly.

NYT Strands spangram hint: Is it vertical or horizontal?

Today's NYT Strands spangram is horizontal.

NYT Strands spangram answer today

Today's spangram is Defying Gravity.

NYT Strands word list for January 6

• Balloon

• Drone

• Defying Gravity

• Kite

• Bird

• Airplane

• Rocket

Looking for other daily online games? Mashable's Games page has more hints, and if you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now!

Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Strands.

Today's Wordle answer should be easy to solve if you're full of energy.

If you just want to be told today's word, you can jump to the bottom of this article for today's Wordle solution revealed. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.

SEE ALSO: Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more: Play games on Mashable SEE ALSO: NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for January 6, 2026 Where did Wordle come from?

Originally created by engineer Josh Wardle as a gift for his partner, Wordle rapidly spread to become an international phenomenon, with thousands of people around the globe playing every day. Alternate Wordle versions created by fans also sprang up, including battle royale Squabble, music identification game Heardle, and variations like Dordle and Quordle that make you guess multiple words at once. 

Wordle eventually became so popular that it was purchased by the New York Times, and TikTok creators even livestream themselves playing.

What's the best Wordle starting word?

The best Wordle starting word is the one that speaks to you. But if you prefer to be strategic in your approach, we have a few ideas to help you pick a word that might help you find the solution faster. One tip is to select a word that includes at least two different vowels, plus some common consonants like S, T, R, or N.

What happened to the Wordle archive?

The entire archive of past Wordle puzzles was originally available for anyone to enjoy whenever they felt like it, but it was later taken down, with the website's creator stating it was done at the request of the New York Times. However, the New York Times then rolled out its own Wordle Archive, available only to NYT Games subscribers.

Is Wordle getting harder?

It might feel like Wordle is getting harder, but it actually isn't any more difficult than when it first began. You can turn on Wordle's Hard Mode if you're after more of a challenge, though.

SEE ALSO: NYT Pips hints, answers for January 6, 2026 Here's a subtle hint for today's Wordle answer:

Pizzazz.

Does today's Wordle answer have a double letter?

The letter O appears twice.

Today's Wordle is a 5-letter word that starts with...

Today's Wordle starts with the letter O.

SEE ALSO: Wordle-obsessed? These are the best word games to play IRL. The Wordle answer today is...

Get your last guesses in now, because it's your final chance to solve today's Wordle before we reveal the solution.

Drumroll please!

The solution to today's Wordle is...

OOMPH

Don't feel down if you didn't manage to guess it this time. There will be a new Wordle for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we'll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.

Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today's Strands.

SEE ALSO: NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for January 6, 2026

Reporting by Chance Townsend, Caitlin Welsh, Sam Haysom, Amanda Yeo, Shannon Connellan, Cecily Mauran, Mike Pearl, and Adam Rosenberg contributed to this article.

If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.

Not the day you're after? Here's the solution to yesterday's Wordle.

It’s hard to say whether Nvidia has ever truly been subtle with its announcements. At last year’s CES, CEO and founder Jensen Huang stunned the industry with the debut of the GeForce RTX 50 series alongside Nvidia Cosmos, its ambitious world-model initiative. This year’s show was more restrained on the consumer GPU front, but the message to CES 2026 attendees was still unmistakable: Nvidia wants it all.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026: Dell XPS is back from the dead

"All" isn't hyperbole. Nvidia is now the first company ever to surpass a $5 trillion valuation — an almost inconceivable figure — and Huang and company show no signs of slowing down. The company’s ambitions now span factories, autonomous vehicles, robotics, and nearly any domain that can be trained, tested, or perfected in simulation before ever touching the real world. If something can be modeled, Nvidia wants to power it.

Nvidia’s real obsession is physical AI

The biggest buzzword of the night was “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI systems that don’t just generate content but actually act. These models are trained in virtual environments using synthetic data, then deployed into physical machines once they’ve learned how the world works.

Credit: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Huang showcased Cosmos, a world foundation model capable of simulating environments and predicting movement, alongside Alpamayo, a reasoning model specifically designed for autonomous driving. This is the tech Nvidia says will power robots, industrial automation, and self-driving vehicles, as demonstrated by the Mercedes-Benz CLA, which was shown running AI-defined driving on stage. The company also revealed plans to test its own robotaxi service with a partner as soon as 2027, using Level 4 autonomous vehicles capable of driving without human intervention in limited regions.

Nvidia hasn’t announced where the service will launch or with whom it’s partnering, but the move signals a shift from being a behind-the-scenes supplier to actively participating in the self-driving race. Huang has already described robotics — including autonomous vehicles — as Nvidia’s second-most important growth category after AI itself.

No New GPUs

If you were waiting for new consumer GPUs, you probably noticed very quickly that there weren’t any. Nvidia didn’t announce a single new GeForce card, and that felt entirely intentional. Instead, Huang spent most of the keynote talking about Rubin, Nvidia’s next-generation AI platform that’s already in full production.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026: Asus' ROG Zephyrus Duo is finally a proper dual-screen gaming laptop

Rubin is described as more than just a chip, but an entire system. GPUs, CPUs, networking, and storage, all designed together to handle the immense (and environment-altering) compute demands of modern AI models at data center scale. Nvidia framed this as essential to keeping up with skyrocketing AI demand, where training costs, energy use, and bottlenecks are becoming existential problems.

The absence of gaming hardware shouldn't be considered a snub, but it is clear that Nvidia is no longer driven by gamers. It's kind of been clear that's been the case for a while, but today's conference really drove the nail in the coffin. Instead, the company's ambitions are driven by hyperscalers, governments, and anyone trying to automate everything that moves.

'Open' AI, powered by Nvidia hardware

The third major takeaway was Nvidia’s ongoing push to make itself unavoidable through openness — or at least Nvidia’s version of it. Huang repeatedly emphasized that the company isn’t just selling hardware, but open AI models that developers can actually use, fine-tune, and deploy (not to be confused with ChatGPT developer OpenAI). Nvidia now has open models spanning healthcare, climate science, robotics, embodied intelligence, reasoning AI, and autonomous driving, all trained on Nvidia supercomputers and released as foundational building blocks. They've practically become the corn of tech.

Even personal AI agents got some stage time, with demos of local agents running on Nvidia’s DGX Spark hardware. Nvidia aims to be the platform beneath every AI system, from massive data centers to individual desktops. It’s an elegant strategy — sell openness, but still own the pipes.

Taken together, the keynote felt like a declaration. Nvidia isn’t chasing CES hype cycles any more. It’s positioning itself as the backbone of an AI-powered world, where the most important announcements don’t happen on stage, and the most impactful products aren’t meant to fit under your desk.

Asus' dual-screen gaming laptop is back with more screen than ever. The Taiwanese tech company unveiled an new ROG Zephyrus Duo with twin 16-inch 3K OLED touchscreens at CES 2026 Monday, marking its first update in three years and a major redesign.

Previous ROG Zephyrus Duos released from 2020 to 2023 had 15- to 16-inch displays that were accompanied by a thinner tilted panel called a "ScreenPad Plus." It was attached to the top of the device's keyboard, which had narrow vertical touchpad on the right-hand side. Reviewers called its overall design "pretty cool" and potentially useful for keeping an eye on Twitch or Discord chats while gaming, but took issue with its "cramped" and "awkward" keyboard and touchpad layout.

In overhauling the ROG Zephyrus Duo for 2026, Asus finally made it a proper dual-screen gaming laptop. The ScreenPad Plus has been replaced with a second full-sized display for 213% more screen real estate, and it now has a larger detachable keyboard with a centered touchpad underneath it.

Bye-bye, ScreenPad Plus. Credit: Asus

Asus also built a kickstand into the base of the ROG Zephyrus Duo and made its hinge capable of rotating 320 degrees. This affords it five different user modes:

1. Dual-Screen Mode, where the two displays are stacked on top of one another.

2. Laptop Mode, where the second display is attached the keyboard. (The keyboard automatically charges itself this way.)

3. Sharing Mode, where the two displays are laid flat on a surface.

4. Book Mode, where the two displays are propped up vertically side by side.

5. Tent Mode, where the two displays fold up in the center like an inverted V, allowing two people to use the device at once.

These changes bring the ROG Zephyrus Duo's design more in line with that of the ZenBook Duo, Asus' dual-screener for everyday productivity. However, the ZenBook Duo's hinge opens to a maximum of 180 degrees, so it lacks Tent Mode support.

The new ROG Zephyrus Duo runs a new Intel Core Ultra chip with up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 graphics, and it maxes out with 64GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. Its two 16-inch touchscreens both feature 3K OLED panels with 120Hz refresh rates and up to 1,100 nits of brightness for HDR content.

The 2026 Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo supports (clockwise from upper left) Book, Tent, Sharing, Dual-Screen, and Laptop modes. Credit: Asus

To keep the ROG Zephyrus Duo cool, Asus has equipped it with a vapor chamber, liquid metal, two fans, and put a graphite sheet underneath its second display.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo has an aluminum chassis in a new Stellar Gray finish. Its lid features a diagonal "Slash Lighting" RGB LED strip with 35 different lighting zones, but it's otherwise pretty understated. (Well, as understated as a laptop with two bright OLED displays can be.)

The ROG Zephyrus Duo comes with six Dolby Atmos speakers and a good mix of ports, including Thunderbolt 4 ports, USB-A ports, an SD card slot, and an HDMI port. It measures 0.77 inches thin and weighs 6.28 pounds, making it quite heavy even for a 16-inch gaming laptop. For comparison's sake, its 2023 predecessor came in at 0.81 inches and 5.9 pounds.

The ROG Zephyrus Duo's heft will probably be the second-biggest dealbreaker for potential buyers after its price. Asus has yet to reveal its starting cost, but the previous model retailed for $3,499.99 with 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage — and it wasn't released amid a RAM and storage shortage.

If someone was to tell you that Hyundai was having a big press conference at CES, the first thing that would come to mind would likely be cars.

But, at CES 2026, Hyundai's big event on Monday was all about Boston Dynamics' robots and the first time its Atlas robot appeared outside the lab and in front of a public audience.

The press conference began with a group of Boston Dynamics' well-known Spot robots doing a dance number before the event's announcements officially kicked off. You've likely seen video of Boston Dynamic's two-legged humanoid robot known as Atlas, but those have always been in the company's lab.

Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot walked out in front of a public audience for the first time at CES 2026 before the debut of the new product version of the Atlas. Credit: Mashable

However, at CES, Atlas walked out on stage in front of the public for the first time. The robot stands up off the floor in an awkward fashion, but Boston Dynamics explains this as the best way for the robot to get up — because it's not human and doesn't have to conform to the way we need to stand up.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026 live updates: See the latest news, surprises, and strange tech from LG, Samsung, Lego, and new startups

As Atlas walked around the stage, Boston Dynamics announced the new product version of its Atlas robot that will be sent out in the field. The new Atlas robot can lift up to 110lbs and extend its arms up to 7.5 feet. The new Atlas is fully water-resistant and can work in temperatures as low as -4 degrees and as high as 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The Atlas robot can quickly learn new tasks and then share that knowledge instantly with other Atlas robots. The Atlas robots battery pack can last for four hours and, when the charge starts to run out, the Atlas robot can return to its charging station and swap out the battery packs all on its own.

Credit: Mashable

Where does Hyundai come in at their own press conference? Hyundai is partnering with Boston Dynamics to actually create the Atlas robots, supply the actuators and work together to build the supply chain. In addition, Hyundai itself will utilize all of the robots manufactured this year, with the robots scheduled to ship to Hyundai’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center (RMAC). Google DeepMind is also partnering with the two companies in order to further develop Atlas' cognitive abilities with its AI models.

Credit: Mashable

Boston Dynamics and Hyundai hope that once Atlas robots prove themselves in a factory setting, these robots can one day start performing tasks inside the home.

Dell is reviving the XPS laptop brand just a year after replacing it with the "Dell Premium" line. As part of its un-rebranding, the American tech company is launching revamped XPS 14 and XPS 16 laptops with thinner-than-ever designs and unrivaled battery lives. Both PCs will have the XPS logo on their lids for the first time and, crucially, a physical function row, scrapping one of their lineage's most controversial features.

Dell announced the return of XPS at CES 2026 Monday, though the news leaked days prior. Select configurations of the XPS 14 and XPS 16 will be available for purchase Tuesday for $1,649.99 and $1,849.99, respectively, with more variants launching in February. The XPS line will continue to expand later this year starting with a cheaper XPS 13.

The Dell XPS 16 and 14 are back, and they've both gotten makeovers. Credit: Dell

"XPS has always been our benchmark for premium laptops," the company said in a blog post. "The new laptops are rebuilt from the ground up, delivering striking design, speedy performance, impressive displays, and exceptional battery life. All in a compact device, built to move with you."

Who could've seen this coming? (Probably most people.)

Dell renamed all of its laptops in January 2025 under a new tiered Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max naming schema, ditching the well-known XPS, Inspiron, Precision, and Latitude labels it had been using since the 1990s. (The Dell 14 Premium and 16 Premium officially ousted the previous XPS 14 and XPS 16 in June, but the last-gen XPS 13 was still available as of early 2026.) The move was immediately panned for being confusing and seemingly ripping off Apple's naming structure.

SEE ALSO: Dell roasted at CES for adopting Apple-like device names

At the time, Dell said its new branding aimed to simplify its product lines so consumers better understood which laptop was right for them. It also pushed back against the Apple comparisons, telling Mashable that words like "Pro" were "industry terms" that the MacBook maker didn't originate.

But consumers' loyalties remained strong. During a media presentation in mid-December, Dell executives told members of the press that the company noticed lingering search interest in the line in the months after it was killed off. In other words, people were still looking for XPS machines on Google and Dell's website. This was one of several factors in its decision, they said.

Left: RIP to Dell's old laptop naming schema, 2025-2025. Credit: Dell Right: The XPS brand has a home in Dell's new laptop naming structure for 2026. Credit: Dell

The return of XPS means a shakeup for the rest of Dell's lineup. The company is keeping the just-Dell line for its mainstream portfolio, but XPS is slotting in for the Dell Premium sub-tier to encompass higher-end, minimalist consumer models. Dell will still use the Dell Pro line for its commercial PCs, but it has new sub-tiers for different use cases. (The old Precision name got put to use for the "performance" tier.) The Dell Pro Max moniker is simply donezo.

"I hope it demonstrates our ability to course-correct, to be humble," said Dell COO Jeff Clarke, speaking to the rebranding reversal during last month's presentation.

XPS rides again: New design and specs

The new XPS laptops' redesign is also a direct response to critical and consumer feedback. Swapping the Dell logo for an XPS logo on their top covers isn't just a doubling-down on the rebrand. Apparently, it's "a change that reviewers and XPS fans have been requesting for years," the company's blog post reads.

The Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 will both come in Graphite (pictured) and Shimmer finishes. Credit: Dell

Additionally, Dell has nixed the XPS 14 and XPS 16's divisive capacitive touch function row in favor of a traditional function row with physical keys. The former was a big sticking point in many XPS reviews from 2022 to 2024, and last year's Dell Premium models were often chided for retaining it. They keyboard itself is now removable for repairs, and it has slightly deeper keys.

Another hit-or-miss XPS feature of yore, the seamless glass touchpad, has been etched with lines on the new models so that users can more easily identify its active area.

The 2026 XPS 14 and XPS 16 both have a stronger unibody design made with aluminum and Corning Gorilla Glass. They'll launch in Graphite, but Dell will eventually sell them in a second "Shimmer" finish.

A normal function row! We won!!! Credit: Dell

The company also overhauled their thermal system, making their fans larger and thinner than ever. With a starting thickness of 0.58 inches, the XPS 14 and XPS 16 are the thinnest Dell laptops of their sizes to date. The 14-inch model is quite compact to boot, boasting a smaller footprint than a 13-inch MacBook Air. It weighs as little as three pounds, which makes it well over half a pound lighter than the 2024 XPS 14 and the 2025 Dell 14 Premium. Meanwhile, the XPS 16 comes in at 3.65 pounds to start — shaving over a pound off its Premium predecessor. Not to bring up Apple again, but both sizes are a hair thinner than the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro and 0.25 to 0.4 pounds lighter.

The new XPS 14 and XPS 16 can both be configured with up to an Intel Core Ultra X7 processor, Intel Arc graphics, 64GB of RAM, and 4GB of SSD storage at launch. Dell will eventually sell Intel Core Ultra X9 variants.

Users can upgrade them with a 2.8K tandem OLED touchscreen, which was previously exclusive to the XPS 13, but know that sticking with their base 2K LCD display has some major advantages. One: It supports a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120Hz, conserving tons of power when you're looking at static content like emails and PDFs. Dell says its new XPS devices are the first laptops available with such technology.

The Dell XPS 14 and XPS 16 both start at 0.58 inches thin. Credit: Dell

Secondly (and relatedly), the LCD variants are rated for more than a day's worth of battery life. Dell claims they'll offer up to 27 hours of Netflix streaming and more than 40 hours of local video playback per charge. I'm very eager to verify that claim in testing: We got less than 14 hours out of the Dell 14 Premium and the Dell 16 Premium. (Granted, the latter had a Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU.)

The overhauled XPS 14 and XPS 16 will both have an 8MP camera and three modular Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports with a headphone jack. The "modular" part is new for the XPS series.

What's next for XPS The thin-and-light new Dell XPS 13 launches later this year. Credit: Dell

Dell will keep the XPS revival's momentum going with the release of more devices "across different price points and form factors" later this year, according to its blog post. First on the docket is a new XPS 13. Dell says it's "expected to be our thinnest and lightest XPS laptop ever at less than 13mm" (or 0.51 inches), as well as the most affordable. More specs and details will be revealed in the coming months.

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.

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At any point, streaming services can take down your favorite movies and shows. Physical media like DVDs are one alternative, but what happens when you want to watch a movie on your phone? If you want the permanence of physical media with the convenience of digital, check out DVDFab. This simple DVD Ripper copies the movies from your DVDs so you can watch them as easily as you would on any streaming platform, and right now, a lifetime subscription is only $58.99 (reg. $84.99).

You start by loading a DVD from a disc, folder, or ISO file. DVDFab detects copy protection like CSS, region codes, or analog guards and decrypts it in the background before ripping. From there, you can convert to common formats like MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, or even just audio formats such as MP3 and AAC. There are profiles for phones, tablets, streaming boxes, and game consoles, so you can pick something like an iPhone or Roku preset instead of guessing at bitrates and resolutions.

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If you care about quality, there is a lossless mode that copies video to MKV with 5.1 AC3 audio in a 1:1 style output. If you want to save space, you can compress with minimal quality loss and tweak codec, bitrate, and resolution yourself. GPU acceleration support for things like multi-core CPUs, NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel Quick Sync helps keep rip times down, especially if you are working through a stack of discs.

There’s also a basic editor. You can trim and crop, merge clips, adjust brightness and contrast, add a watermark, or insert external subtitles. Subtitles can be extracted as SRT files through OCR so media servers like Plex or Kodi can read them, and metadata files can be generated to keep big libraries organized.

For anyone serious about backing up a DVD collection, the task queue lets you line up multiple discs so the software moves from one job to the next without babysitting.

Watch what you want without worrying about a streaming service taking it down. Get a DVDFab DVD Ripper Lifetime Subscription on sale for $58.99.

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TL;DR: 1ForAll.ai gives you voice generation, voice cloning, image creation, video generation, and unlimited long-form processing — all for a one-time $89.99 (reg. $792).

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AI tools don’t have to be overwhelming — or spread across five different platforms. If you’re looking for something that actually simplifies your creative workflow, 1ForAll.ai is refreshingly straightforward.

And you can get lifetime access for just $89.99 (reg. $792) for a limited time.

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At its core, 1ForAll.ai brings together something many creators need: voice, image, and video generation in one unified place. Instead of bouncing between apps to record a voiceover, design an image, or animate a simple video, you can upload your text or prompt and let the platform handle the rest.

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Whether you’re a content creator, educator, or marketer, 1ForAll.ai consolidates everything you need into one place. Don’t miss getting lifetime access to 1ForAll.ai’s Advance Plan while it’s just $89.99 (reg. $792) for a limited time.

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If there’s a single through line at CES 2026, it’s AI living. Every major brand wants you fully embedded in its vision of the smart home — a place where your appliances talk to each other, anticipate your needs, and quietly judge your lifestyle choices. LG even showcased an AI robot butler that resembled R.O.B. from Super Smash Bros., except this one performs laundry and engages in conversation with your air conditioner.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026 live updates: See the latest news, surprises, and strange tech from LG, Samsung, Lego, and new startups

Samsung, however, wants to go bigger.

Tucked inside the Wynn casino in Las Vegas, Samsung’s AI Living Exhibit is a sprawling showcase of what the company calls its "Companion to AI Living" vision — a fully integrated ecosystem where the term 'AI' is omnipresent. The setup walks press and attendees through a large museum with Samsung products that all promise to think, respond, and collaborate on your behalf.

And when I say everything has AI slapped onto it, I mean everything. The company debuted a first-of-its-kind 130-inch Micro RGB TV that uses AI to dynamically tweak picture quality, strip out commentary from soccer broadcasts, or boost crowd noise to stadium levels. There are also AI-enabled appliances that gamify the process of finding a recipe based on what’s in your fridge, then send instructions directly to your oven. There’s even an OLED "record player" that doesn’t play records at all — it just looks like one, presumably for vibes.

Behold. The world’s first 130-Inch Micro RGB TV Credit: Chance Townsend / Mashable

Samsung’s Vision AI Companion sits at the center of this whole operation, acting as the connective tissue between TVs, phones, appliances, and wearables.

Samsung wants its AI to be the omniscient power driving your home. Since at least 2017, tech journalists have been loudly declaring that there’s no escaping the smart home (and yes, I’m guilty, too), but with each passing year, we inch closer to that headline becoming less prediction and more lived reality. Your TV suggests dinner, your fridge confirms the ingredients, your washer times its cycle around your schedule, and your robot vacuum keeps an eye on the dog while you’re out.

Does all of this actually require artificial intelligence? That’s debatable. But CES has never been about restraint. Is it excessive? Absolutely. Is it impressive? Also yes, even if "AI living" sometimes feels like marketing.

The Tri-fold is here too, by the way It's essentially a very sleek tablet. Credit: Chance Townsend / Mashable

I’ll mention this last — fittingly, since Samsung is treating it the same way — but tucked inside the AI Living Exhibit is something people actually want to touch: the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold.

Because this is CES and not an Unpacked event, Samsung is being low-key about it. There’s no stage demo, no dramatic reveal, no "one more thing." That’s likely because the Tri-Fold is already on the market in South Korea, and Samsung clearly doesn’t want to step on its own marketing calendar.

If history is any indication, the phone will surface during a proper Unpacked event. That could mean January, sometime in the late spring or summer, or the fall window around September or October. Converted to U.S. pricing, the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold rings in at roughly $2,400 (or 3,590,400 Korean won), which helps explain why early reviews have been… divided. One particularly blunt headline labeled the device "expensive and half-baked," which feels both harsh and, depending on your tolerance for folding screens, not entirely unfair.

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivered a keynote address to help kick off CES 2026 in Las Vegas.

The tech world was watching as Huang delivered his speech, considering Nvidia is the primary hardware company that powers the AI boom. Not for nothing, the other major player in that space, AMD, will present a keynote address of its own.

In advance of the speech, Nvidia hadn't said what, exactly, would be revealed during Huang's keynote beyond "what’s next in AI." But anything Nvidia does is big news in 2026 — so giving the keynote a watch is certainly a good idea.

The keynote was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 5. You can watch a livestream on CNET's YouTube page, which we've also embedded below. If you miss the keynote, it'll be available to watch on replay. (Disclosure: CNET is owned by Ziff Davis, the same company that owns Mashable.)

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Dr. Lisa Su will help get CES 2026 underway on Monday, Jan. 5 by delivering a keynote address.

AMD is a major player in the tech world, if perhaps not a household name like Apple or Samsung. It's one of the preeminent chipmakers on the globe, making it increasingly powerful and important in the AI era. OpenAI, in fact, just announced a massive partnership with AMD in an effort to build out AI infrastructure.

AMD wrote on its site that Su will take the "CES stage in Las Vegas to highlight, alongside partners and customers, the AMD vision for delivering future AI solutions – from cloud to enterprise, edge and devices."

You can watch the keynote address on YouTube. It's scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 5. We've also embedded the livestream below.

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the latest news and live updates from the biggest show in tech, where Mashable journalists are reporting live.

Amazon's new AI-powered version of Alexa just got more useful.

Amazon announced during CES 2026 that Alexa+, the souped up version of Alexa that launched last year, is now usable via a web browser, negating the need for an external smart home device. You can access Alexa+ from the Alexa website, but only if you have an Alexa+ Early Access subscription at the moment.

From there, you can type in text prompts and have the newer, allegedly smarter version of Alexa answer them for you without needing to spend a couple hundred dollars on an Echo device.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026 live updates: See the latest news, surprises, and strange tech from LG, Samsung, Lego, and new startups

This is nifty not just because it cuts down costs for people who don't want to buy an Echo or Ring device, but because it also supplements people who already own them. You can use Alexa+ from a web browser to control your smart home devices, as well as do anything else you'd ask an AI assistant to do.

TikTok is all about buttons in the new year. 365 buttons to be precise. No, not the ones you press in an elevator. Yes, like the ones on your shirt. No, it doesn't really make sense.

The whole thing started innocuously enough. People were commenting on a TikTok about rebranding themselves in the new year. Enter TikTokker Tamara, who goes by the handle @flylikeadove. Tamara commented, "I’m getting 365 buttons, one for each day because I want to do more stuff and I’m scared of time so I want to be more conscious of it."

People responded with questions such as "Why buttons?" and "What do the buttons mean?" and "Are the buttons to wear?"

SEE ALSO: Was 2016 the last good year?

Tamara replied: "Just to have to see how quick days pass and to remind myself that time passes, and I just have fun and to do a lot of stuff."

OK, fair enough. Just like a calendar or a daily checkmark. But people kept following up. Finally, Tamara ended the conversation with a wonderful bit of snark.

Tamara wrote: "Hey, so it actually only has to make sense to me for me to do it, and I don’t feel like explaining it to anyone else."

This all has since gone viral as people have obsessed over the buttons, the Brat nature of it all, and the silliness of a random trend. This video from @jasonsappy explaining the saga does a great job of breaking it all down.

Search around TikTok, and you'll see endless comments and videos about buttons. It's become a meme, really. Many people, for instance, love to simply comment, "I'm getting 365 buttons," on videos. There are also Brat edits, fan cams, and, yes, brands getting in on it.

People especially love Tamara's insistence that the buttons only need to make sense to her — and her consistent desire to stay private and unbothered. People have only loved Tamara more, as she has consistently told them that virality doesn't matter to her.

The idea of storing/moving/buying/placing/collecting 365 buttons is a bit silly — why buttons, for instance? But it does make sense as a physical act to remind you of the passage of time. Doesn't it feel good to cross something off your to-do list? Using a physical button for each day would serve as a tactile reminder of the passage of time. Each button represents a moment to treasure the precious few moments we're given.

I get it! It makes sense to me — not that it matters to Tamara.

There's a second acronym constantly looming above the floor of any CES: TBD. That's the most info we have about a good chunk of products announced at CES 2026 so far. "Coming soon" could mean next month to some brands and next year to others. Sometimes, we don't even know if these debuted products will ever make it out of the prototype phase.

While no one is asking for LG's laundry-folding robot to be sold at Target or anything, a few more tangible gadgets with no waiting period would be nice. As of Jan. 5, there are already a handful of products unveiled over the weekend that are already available to buy (or at least pre-order) — and CES isn't even close to over yet. CES 2026 officially runs between Jan. 6 and Jan. 9, so we'll be updating this list of products you can buy right now as they're unveiled.

1. TCL X11L SQD-Mini LED TV

TCL's big TV announcement wasn't just another RGB TV like we were expecting from all of the major TV brands. That doesn't mean the new TCL TV isn't going to give Samsung or LG's Micro RGB TVs a run for their money. The TCL X11L is an SQD-Mini LED 4K TV, SQD standing for Super Quantum Dot: a pure white light strewn across an advanced layer of quantum dots instead of the true red, green, and blue light sources used in RGB TVs. The goal is the same: to produce ultra-high peak brightness, typically only possible with QLED and mini-LED panels, and pristine black levels and contrast, typically only possible with OLED panels, all at the same time.

The TCL X11L is available in 75, 85, and 98 inches, but only the $7,999.99 85-inch model is available to add to your cart to preorder at TCL's website. (The other two have prices, but are "out of stock.")

Opens in a new window Credit: TCL TCL 85-inch X11L SQD-Mini LED 4K TV $7,999.99 at TCL
  Shop Now 2. DuRoBo Krono e-reader

A major player has entered the e-reader villa, and it's speaking directly to people who really value portability. DuRoBo unveiled its 6.1-inch Krono e-reader at CES 2026, and several specs make it a worthy Kindle or Kobo alternative. Despite its pocket-sized build (that's smaller than the basic Kindle), the Krono packs 128GB of storage compared to the 32GB e-readers typically have. It also has Bluetooth connectivity, a built-in speaker, and a 300 ppi resolution HD display. Shopping reporter Samantha Mangino says "it bridges the gap between a tablet and e-reader and, with black and white displays, potentially makes it less tempting to scroll."

The Krono e-paper device is available for $279.99 on DuRoBo's website.

Opens in a new window Credit: DuRoBo DuRoBo Krono e-reader $279.99 at DuRoBo
  Shop Now 3. A vibrating chef's knife

The CES home tech arena has quite the range, from smart lights and ever-evolving robot vacuums to concepts for straight up robot butlers. Kitchen tech is somewhere on that spectrum. Last year, it was the Electric Salt Spoon. This year, Seattle Ultrasonics is aiming to streamline at-home meal prep with the C-200 Ultrasonic Chef's Knife. The 8-inch blade is already quite sharp on its own, but with the press of a button, 30,000 sonic vibrations per minute make the knife feel sharper than it physically. Allegedly, the amount of effort required on your end should be chopped in half, even on tricky ingredients like bread or winter squashes.

Senior shopping reporter Haley Henschel got to try it firsthand on the ground at CES, noting that it sliced like a dream. "I had no trouble getting it to cut paper-thin pieces of tomato with a light touch. Seattle Ultrasonics' rep likened it to riding a bike versus pedaling an e-bike in that it makes your experience more effortless."

The C-200 UltraSonic Chef's Knife is available to pre-order for $399 at Seattle Ultrasonic's website.

Opens in a new window Credit: Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 Ultrasonic Chef's Knife $399 at Seattle Ultrasonics
  Shop Now 4. Xreal 1S glasses

Xreal debuted the Xreal One Pro AR glasses at CES 2025, but they were pretty impossible to come buy until they finally became available at Amazon and Best Buy at the end of August. Just months later, there's already another new (and more affordable) pair from Xreal on the market. The Xreal 1S glasses can convert 2D games and videos to 3D using 3D spatial technology, plus the help of boosted specs over older Xreal models. These include a 500-inch spatial screen (compared to 147 inches on the XReal One) and 1200p HD resolution (compared to 1080p on the Xreal One and One Pro).

Despite all of the improvements and a fun new cobalt color option, the Xreal 1S glasses are cheaper than both other pairs. They're available to buy for $449 at Xreal's website.

Opens in a new window Credit: XREAL Xreal 1S $449 at Xreal
  Shop Now Honorable mention: Birdfy Bath Pro

Though we were first introduced to the Birdfy Bath Pro at CES 2025, it still made an appearance at Birdfy's CES 2026 booth — complete with a sign showcasing its 2026 Innovation Award. So while we wait for Birdfy's 2026 smart hummingbird feeder and its slow-motion 4K video to come out, it's worthwhile to refresh your memory about this other delightful staple for any bird-friendly backyard setup. The solar-powered Bath Pro also has a camera and garnered ridiculously positive reviews during its first year on the market. It would make a great gift for mom or dad (or a gift for pets who like to watch out the window).

You can buy the Birdfy Bath Pro on sale for $299.99 at Birdfy's website, saving you $50 off its original $349.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Birdfy Birdfy Bath Pro $299.99 at Birdfy
$349.99 Save $50   Shop Now

At CES 2026, Lego has announced the upcoming launch of the Lego Smart Play system, an interactive technology the company is calling the biggest evolution to Lego bricks since the introduction of the Minifigure almost 50 years ago.

The new interactive platform will respond to players' actions with appropriate sounds, lights, and behavior, creating a responsive and screen-free play experience.

Available for pre-order starting Jan. 9 in select markets, the Lego Smart Play system includes three interactive elements that react as you build and play — Lego Smart Tags, Lego Smart Bricks, and Lego Smart Minifigures. At a keynote event ahead of CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Lego leaders showed off the smart bricks for the first time, promising that the new play system "brings Lego creations to life like never before."

SEE ALSO: Switchbot claims to have the 'most accessible humanoid housebot' at CES 2026

“For over 90 years, the Lego Group has sparked imagination and creativity in children around the globe. As the world evolves, so do we — innovating to meet the play needs of each new generation. Lego Smart Play is the next exciting chapter in our Lego System in Play and something we are super excited about being able to bring to the world at this scale,” said Julia Goldin, Chief Product & Marketing Officer of the LEGO Group, according to a Lego press release. 

The new Lego Smart Play system will launch on March 1 with three Lego Star Wars sets, and Dave Filoni, Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm, joined Lego for the announcement to preview the upcoming building kits.

What is the Lego Smart Play System?

Developed by the Lego Group’s Creative Play Lab, the Lego Smart Play system will make sounds and activate lights based on player movements and builds. Lego says the new platform "features more than twenty patented world-firsts," including a new custom-made chip that's smaller than a standard Lego connector stud.

Credit: Lego

The Lego Smart Bricks and Minifigures are the same size and shape as standard Lego pieces, but contain a variety of sensors, such as accelerometers, light sensors, and sound sensors. They also contain a miniature speaker with an onboard synthesiser and a wireless charging system.

The upcoming Lego Smart Play Star Wars Sets include:

Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-Wing building set — This 584-piece set comes with two Smart Minifigures (Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia), a Lego Smart Brick, and five Lego Smart Tags.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026 live updates: The latest news, surprises, strange tech, and more

Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter building set — This 473-piece set comes with "a brick-built Rebel Outpost and an Imperial Fueling Station, as well as a SMART Minifigure featuring Darth Vader and a Rebel Fleet Trooper Minifigure." Interactive features include engine sounds.

Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Throne Room Duel & A-Wing building set — This 962-piece set will let players "re-enact and re-imagine one of the most memorable moments from the original Star Wars trilogy, the final lightsaber duel between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader at the end of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It comes with three Smart Minifigures (Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Jedi Luke Skywalker) and a Smart Tag-enabled cannon turret.

You can learn more about the upcoming platform at the Lego Smart Play website.

LG went all out at CES 2026 and we have videos to prove it.

The Korean tech giant held a press conference on Monday morning in Las Vegas to show off its newest gadgets and gizmos, which included a brand new home helper robot named CLOiD. CLOiD moves around on wheels and has two arms with five actuated digits at the end of each that it can use to help out with household tasks, when combined with a bunch of cameras, sensors, and an AI "brain" it uses to personalize responses to its owner over time.

SEE ALSO: CES 2026: This portable device will test meals for allergens in minutes

That's all fine and good to read about, but you should really see it for yourself. Mashable reporter Haley Henschel captured some quick videos of CLOiD being demonstrated at LG's CES event.

Wallpaper TVs glide into view

If a robot doing your laundry wasn't enough to tickle your fancy, LG also showed off some extremely thin Wallpaper TVs. They measure at just a handful of millimeters of thickness despite being big, vibrant-looking living room TV sets, and they need to be seen to be believed.

If that isn't CES, I don't know what is.

GET FREE EARBUDS: Through Jan. 8 (or while supplies last), you can get a pair of refurbished Bose Ultra Open earbuds for free ($249 value) at Bose.com when you purchase the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 earbuds.

Opens in a new window Credit: Bose Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 earbuds $299
+ Get free Bose Ultra Open earbuds (refurbished) Get Deal

Open earbuds are having a moment — just look at the many announcements at CES 2026 from JBL, Anker Soundcore, and more. But even with all the new kids on the block, we still hold a special place in our hearts for the Bose Ultra Open earbuds. They've earned a top spot on our list of the best open earbuds for a reason. If you're still too skeptical to dish out the money on a pair, Bose is giving away refurbished pairs for free. Let's dive in.

Through Jan. 8, you can get a pair of free Bose Ultra Open earbuds (refurbished) when you buy the Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 earbuds (Mashable's favorite noise-cancelling earbuds) at Bose.com. The second-generation QuietComfort Ultra earbuds cost $299, while the refurbished Ultra Open earbuds are a $249 value. That means you'll get two pairs of earbuds valued at $548 total for just $299.

In order to snag the deal, just add a pair of QuietComfort Ultra (2nd gen) earbuds to your cart at the Bose website. Once they're in your cart, you'll have the option to select a pair of free Bose Ultra Open earbuds (refurbished) in black, white smoke, or lunar blue. And that's all, folks — easy peasy.

Choose from black, white smoke, or lunar blue colorways. Credit: Bose

The QuietComfort Ultra earbuds (2nd gen) are a worthy investment for anyone who values noise cancellation above all else. "With spatial audio and some of the best ANC we've encountered, these earbuds deliver immersive sound that envelopes you in your music," Mashable's shopping reporter Bethany Allard writes in her review.

While the Ultra Open earbuds obviously won't compare to the QuietComfort Ultras in terms of blocking out noise, they're the best sounding open-ear headphones on the market. "Though we were skeptical at first, these buds are extremely comfortable and score top marks for battery life, spatial audio, and sound quality," Mashable's reviewer writes.

If you're a noise-cancelling headphones kind of person looking to test the waters of open earbuds, this is a premium opportunity. Just be sure to lock in the deal by Jan. 8 (or sooner).

What if Ready or Not looked like a grindhouse movie? Well, sibling filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti — who brought us It: Chapter 1 & 2 as well as Welcome to Derry — give us a look at what that kind of freaky film might look like with the first trailer for They Will Kill You.

The Muschiettis are producers on the action-horror-comedy, which is directed by Kirill Sokolov (No Looking Back) and written by Sokolov and Alex Litvak (Predators). They Will Kill You stars Zazie Beetz (Deadpool 2, Joker) as a young woman who comes to a high-rise apartment complex called The Virgil looking for work. But all too soon, she learns she's been selected as the next human sacrifice from a demonic cult.

Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette co-star — several playing foes looking to take down Beetz's would-be maid. But this sacrifice isn't happening without a fight.

While the premise has a whiff of Ready or Not — unwitting not rich girl gets tricked into a life-or-death battle in a posh location — They Will Kill You offers a distinctive style, even in this trailer. There are vivid colors, quirky uniforms, and violence that is gory and gonzo, recalling the splashy and willfull absurdity of grindhouse horror. So, if you are giddy to see Beetz kicking butt and cracking skulls, mark your calendars.

They Will Kill You opens only in theaters in March 27.

If OpenAI were to buy Pinterest, it would be a big shift for lots of folks.

Now, to be clear, there doesn't seem to be much smoke — at least for now — about OpenAI actually buying Pinterest. The idea surfaced in an article from The Information where staffers predicted what could happen in 2026. Reporter Ann Gehan predicted that OpenAI would buy Pinterest, which is obviously just a bit of prognostication and not a report that a deal was imminent, or even on the table.

Wrote Gehan:

"OpenAI would be most interested in the bones of Pinterest’s business, like its trove of image data and its existing advertising business, as well as relationships with merchants. Pinterest’s digital scrapbooking features could also complement OpenAI’s image- and video-generation tools and help it fend off competition from other AI heavyweights like Google, which launched a Pinterest-like feature in 2025."

So, what would that mean for users and, well, everyone else? For ChatGPT users, that means OpenAI would have access to Pinterest's myriad images and data, which would likely be aimed at improving its search capabilities. It would also provide a ton of well-labeled, specific data for OpenAI to train its model on, which would hopefully improve its capabilities. For OpenAI, it would be buying a cache of info that could help it compete with, say, the data available to Google's Gemini.

Wrote Tom's Guide of the potential purchase, for instance: "Google combined their search crawler with their AI creating an incredible data base — one that has arguably given Gemini the edge." To compete, Tom's Guide argued, one option for OpenAI could be to acquire a platform like Pinterest.

For Pinterest users, you could likely expect some changes — new ownership is bound to do that. But really, a potential OpenAI-owned Pinterest would mean an increasingly shopping-focused, AI-driven world. It means using ChatGPT would include built-in shopping and perusing Pinterest would include built-in AI tools.

Everything appears to be going the way of AI, so why not Pinterest?

Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.