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Why Claude Code is much more than a coding agent: it is a general-purpose AI agent that can do almost anything a user can on a computer, with impressive results (Shakeel Hashim/Transformer)

Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon X2 Plus chips for PCs, available in 10-core and 6-core variants, manufactured on TSMC's N3P node using Qualcomm's Oryon architecture (Jake Roach/Tom's Hardware)

Amazon launches Alexa+ in early access for all users via a new Alexa.com web interface, after launching on Echo, and lets users upload docs, emails, and images (Terrence O'Brien/The Verge)

Amazon unveils a Fire TV UI redesign with rounded corners, 20 app slots, and Alexa+ built in, and launches a $899+ Ember Artline TV series with colorful frames (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

TCL unveils the €339 70 Pro phone, with a 6.9" NXTPaper 4.0 display and a paper-like textured finish, and the $549 Note A1 NXTPaper, an 11.5" Remarkable rival (Allison Johnson/The Verge)

Qualcomm unveils the Dragonwing IQ10 Series, a full-stack robotics architecture integrating hardware, software, and AI for industrial and consumer humanoids (Katie Collins/CNET)

Lyte, founded by ex-Apple Face ID engineers, emerges from stealth and raised ~$107M to develop tech to help robots see better and move more safely in the world (Samantha Kelly/Bloomberg)

Google plans to add Nano Banana and Veo support into Gemini on Google TV, letting users generate AI videos, modify family photos, and more, first on TCL TVs (Terrence O'Brien/The Verge)

OpenAI says that 40M+ Americans use ChatGPT daily for health info, per an analysis of anonymized interactions and a survey, seeing it as a health care "ally" (Megan Morrone/Axios)

African fintech Flutterwave acquires Nigerian open banking startup Mono, sources say in an all-stock deal valued at $25M to $40M; Mono raised ~$17.5M since 2020 (Tage Kene-Okafor/TechCrunch)

Sources: Alibaba's Amap will soon launch an AI tool that lets restaurants render 3D images by uploading videos or photos, in an effort to compete with Meituan (Debby Wu/Bloomberg)

Taiwanese prosecutors file additional indictments against Tokyo Electron's Taiwan unit and three other defendants over the alleged theft of TSMC's trade secrets (Wen-Yee Lee/Reuters)

CES 2026: self-driving truck company Kodiak partners with Bosch to develop a hardware and software system to turn standard semi-trucks into autonomous vehicles (Kirsten Korosec/TechCrunch)

Sources: Shanghai-based AI startup MiniMax plans to price its Hong Kong IPO at ~$21, the top of its range, and stop taking orders a day earlier than expected (Dave Sebastian/Bloomberg)

Foxconn reports Q4 revenue up 22% YoY to ~$82.7B, above ~$77B est., and record December revenue up 31.8% YoY to ~$27.5B, driven by AI and networking demand (Reuters)

Chinese automotive chipmaker Black Sesame says its Huashan A2000 chip passed the US Commerce and Defense Departments' "relevant reviews" for global sales (Coco Feng/South China Morning Post)

A profile of Max Tegmark, the physicist pushing to halt AGI development, who was subpoenaed by OpenAI over the Future of Life Institute's past ties to Elon Musk (Wall Street Journal)

Samsung updates its TVs to add new AI features, including a Sound Controller feature to independently adjust the volume of dialogue, music, or sound effects (Chris Welch/Bloomberg)

A Chinese hospital says Alibaba's PANDA AI tool has analyzed 180,000 CT scans and detected ~24 pancreatic cancer cases since its deployment in November 2024 (New York Times)

Satya Nadella says the tech industry needs to move past "slop vs sophistication" arguments and view AI as a "cognitive amplifier", not a human substitute (Satya Nadella/sn scratchpad)

Taiwan says China's cyberattacks on its hospitals, banks, energy, and other infrastructure rose 6% YoY in 2025 to an average of 2.63M attacks per day (Yimou Lee/Reuters)

Samsung upgrades its Family Hub refrigerators with AI features, such as voice control to open and close the door and Gemini-powered AI Vision to track inventory (Jennifer Pattison Tuohy/The Verge)

Samsung co-CEO TM Roh says the company rolled out Gemini AI features to ~400M mobile devices so far and aims to hit 800M in 2026; Samsung's stock jumps 5%+ (Hyunjoo Jin/Reuters)

Starlink says it is providing free broadband service to new and existing customers in Venezuela through February 3, 2026 (Dylan Butts/CNBC)

PwC US Senior Partner Paul Griggs says PwC decided to "lean in" to crypto work after years of taking a more cautious stance, following Trump's crypto embrace (Stephen Foley/Financial Times)

Plaud launches the $179 Plaud NotePin S AI recorder, similar to the $159 NotePin but with a button, alongside a new desktop app for recording meeting audio (Dominic Preston/The Verge)

US immigration lawyers, talent managers, and creators say influencers and OnlyFans models now dominate O-1B visas, which are reserved for "exceptional" artists (Ian Hodgson/Financial Times)

How a crew of crypto-focused criminals moved from SIM swap attacks to coordinated, violent home invasions and kidnappings, targeting small-time crypto investors (Austin Carr/Bloomberg)

Sources: Palo Alto Networks is in talks to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Koi for $400M; Koi has raised $48M to date (Sophie Shulman/CTech)

Sources: Cisco is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity company Axonius for $2B; Axonius has raised ~$700M and was valued at $2.6B during earlier rounds (Meir Orbach/CTech)

Hands-on with Xreal's Neo, a $99 battery pack and mini-dock that acts as a passthrough converter so the company's glasses can work with the Nintendo Switch (Scott Stein/CNET)

Xreal unveils the $449 1S, a pair of AR glasses with 1200p, 700 nits brightness, 52 degree FOV, and 16:10 aspect ratio; the 1S can convert any 2D video into 3D (Victoria Song/The Verge)

A profile of June Paik, CEO of Seoul-based chip startup FuriosaAI, valued at ~$700M, whose AI chip dubbed "RNGD" is slated to enter mass production this month (Jiyoung Sohn/Wall Street Journal)

Tech workers in Silicon Valley are increasingly experimenting with gray-market peptide drugs from China, legal for personal use, for improving focus and more (Jasmine Sun/New York Times)

EU officials and policymakers say the EC will intensify its enforcement of the DMA and DSA in 2026, a move expected to renew clashes with US Big Tech and Trump (Barbara Moens/Financial Times)

Reddit surpasses TikTok as the fourth most-visited social media service in the UK, likely driven by changes to Google's search algorithms and AI deals (Michael Savage/The Guardian)

Filing: West Co, founded by Biz Stone and Evan Sharp, raised $29M; it launched the invite-only social app Tangle, "designed for intentional living", in November (Tim Bradshaw/Financial Times)

Fueled partly by US tech companies, governments worldwide are racing to deploy GenAI in schools and universities, even as agencies such as UNICEF urge caution (Natasha Singer/New York Times)

A new Polymarket account bet $30K on Maduro's capture just hours before Trump's announcement, renewing questions on insider information in prediction markets (Herb Scribner/Axios)

A look at AVA, an AI chatbot developed by Alaska's court system to provide aid in the probate process, which has been plagued by delays and hallucinations (Jared Perlo/NBC News)

Q&A with Kara Swisher on Sam Altman's determination to "do anything to make OpenAI win", Elon Musk, the tech industry's Trump pivot, and more (Mishal Husain/Bloomberg)

Dating apps are pivoting to Asia as swipe-right fatigue hits the West; India, China, and Indonesia ranked among the top five markets by downloads in 2025 (Financial Times)

The Groq deal shows the challenges Nvidia faces as options to deploy its cash flood narrow; its annual free cash flow has risen from $4.2B in 2020 to $80B+ now (Dan Gallagher/Wall Street Journal)

A deep dive into co-packaged optics, long promised to transform data center connectivity, covering benefits, challenges, architecture, key companies, and more (SemiAnalysis)

A look at Elon Musk's bet that Tesla's future is in its Optimus humanoid robots, which for now rely on human helpers and still face commercial challenges (Becky Peterson/Wall Street Journal)

London is set to become the first city where both US and Chinese robotaxis operate, as Waymo and Baidu prepare to launch their robotaxis in the city in 2026 (Tim Bradshaw/Financial Times)

Global SWF: sovereign wealth funds invested $66B in AI and digitalization in 2025, with Mubadala investing $12.9B and Kuwait Investment Authority investing $6B (Alex Dooler/Bloomberg)

What to expect at CES 2026: laptops with new chips from Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD, more AI integrations, smart home robotics, smart glasses, and more (The Verge)

Ilya Lichtenstein, sentenced in Nov. 2024 to five years in prison for hacking Bitfinex, has been released early due to First Step Act, Trump's prison-reform law (CNBC)

California launched a free tool on January 1 that lets residents request the deletion of their personal data from over 500 registered data brokers (Michael Kan/PCMag)