The Verge·Monday, January 5, 2026

The Verge - Monday, January 5, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Lego announces Smart Brick, the ‘most significant evolution’ in 50 years

Lego’s first smart brick will start shipping in Star Wars sets this March. | Image: Lego On March 1st, 2026, The Lego Group will begin selling the most ambitious brick it's ever made: a tiny computer that fits entirely inside a classic 2×4 Lego brick. When it detects NFC-equipped smart tags nearby, embedded inside new Lego tiles and new Lego minifigures, or when it sees other Smart Bricks, the company claims it will make entire Lego sets come to life - starting with the humming lightsabers, ro

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That viral Reddit post about food delivery apps was an AI scam

A viral Reddit confessional about a "major food delivery app" posted January 2nd is most likely AI-generated. 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 indu

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LG’s CLOiD robot can load the washer for you, slowly

LG’s chore-completing robot made multiple cameos during the company’s CES keynote. LG's CLOiD robot took the stage at CES 2026 on Monday, offering our first look at the bot in action. During LG's keynote, the company showed how CLOiD can load your washer or dryer - albeit slowly - as part of its goal of creating a "zero labor home." CLOiD waved both of its five-finger hands as it rolled out on stage. Brandt Varner, LG's vice president of sales in its home appliances division, followed behind a

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At $50 off, the Shokz OpenRun Pro helps you stick to your new year’s goals

The Shokz OpenRun Pro headphones come in multiple colors. Getting fit is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions, and if we’re being honest, it’s also one of the easiest to quit by week two. But with the right support, it doesn’t have to be that way this year. Earbuds like the last-gen Shokz OpenRun Pro can help keep you motivated, while their open-ear design provides a safer, more comfortable alternative to traditional wireless earbuds. And right now, they’ve hit a new low price at Ama

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Asus’ new OLED gaming monitors will have sharper text and more accurate colors

Asus is announcing three new OLED gaming monitors at CES with "RGB stripe" technology that the company says will bring improvements to "texture clarity and color rendering consistency." With RGB stripes, which Samsung Display and LG Display (the two companies that usually provide the panels for gaming monitors) are also making a big deal about at CES this year, the colors of subpixels are lined up in vertical RGB stripes. The resulting clarity and color improvements "enhance your viewing experie

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Audeze upgrades its Maxwell gaming headset with magnetic ear pads

Audeze - the headphone-maker now owned by Sony - announced a refreshed version of its Maxwell gaming headset at CES on Monday, offering roomier ear pads that attach magnetically for easy replacement. The Maxwell 2 for PlayStation is available now for $329, while the Xbox version costs $349, though both support Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, and mobile. Similar to its predecessor, the Maxwell 2 promises up to 80 hours of battery life and comes equipped with 90mm magnetic drivers that deliver a

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Bosch is taking on Dyson with its first cordless stick vacuums in the US

The Bosch Unlimited 10 offers a bendable tube so you can easily clean under furniture. Bosch has announced it's releasing its first ever cordless stick vacuum in the US, the Bosch Unlimited 10 and 9. While Dyson tends to dominate the conversation in the US, Bosch has long been a major player in Europe, making its debut in the US cordless stick vacuum market a notable one. Bosch says the vacuums are designed to pick up 99.99 percent of dust, even fine particles you can't easily see with the nak

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Bosch’s fancy coffee machine is getting Alexa Plus

Bosch’s fully automatic countertop espresso maker is getting new Alexa Plus skills. | Image: Bosch At CES this week, Bosch announced the launch of its Personal AI Barista, Powered by Alexa Plus, and teased a new AI-powered cooking feature coming to its connected appliances. Coming to its Bosch 800 Series fully automatic espresso machines, the upgrade allows Alexa users to talk with the machine via an Echo smart speaker "as naturally as speaking to a local barista - customizing drinks, routines

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Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon X2 laptops are here — and they brought a new friend

In September, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X2 Elite and X2 Elite Extreme, the laptop chips that, it claimed, would be "the fastest and most efficient processors for Windows PCs." They might finally give Intel and AMD a run for their money. Now, CES 2026 is bringing us the first actual laptops based on both that silicon and the Snapdragon X2 Plus - a pair of just-announced chips aimed at more budget machines. PCs with the X2 Elite and ones with the X2 Plus should both arrive around the end o

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The HP OmniStudio X’s webcam can watch your work desk

The OmniStudio X’s Thunderbolt Share feature also makes it easier to transfer files between two devices. HP has announced several spec bumps for its 2026 computing hardware lineup at CES, and its all-in-one desktop PCs are no exception. The latest 27-inch OmniStudio X is being updated with Intel's next-gen processors and Nvidia's RTX 5050 GPU with 8GB of VRAM, alongside new features that make it easier to share your work with colleagues, classmates, and clients. The built-in webcam that sits o

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