The Xteink X4 Pro is a great, tiny e-reader, and it’s cheaper than ever
If you’re looking for an e-reader that can easily fit in your pocket (or snap onto your magnet-equipped phone), the tiny Xteink X4 Pro might be worth a look. It features a 4.26-inch, 800 x 480 E Ink display, making it significantly smaller and thinner than Amazon’s smallest six-inch Kindle. It’s also quite a bit cheaper. Right now, you can pick it up for $84.15 ($25 off) at Amazon, which is its best price to date.
The X4 Pro brings several welcome upgrades over its predecessors, including a touchscreen that gives readers another way to interact with it. It still has physical page-turning buttons, though. There’s also a new touch-sensitive button below the display for quickly returning to the home screen, along with a built-in light with adjustable brightness and color temperature, so you can read in the dark. It ships with the excellent CrossPoint Reader software, which makes navigating your library and reading books a much better experience than on previous Xteink models we’ve tested, though it’s still not quite as polished as Amazon’s software.
Understandably, not everyone is a fan of Xteink’s decision to swap the X4 Pro’s USB-C port for a proprietary charging connector. If you can look past that, the X4 Pro is a great, little e-reader that features magnets that let you attach it to compatible smartphones, just like previous models. The magnetic connection is stronger this time around, though we still wish it were a little more secure. All the same, my colleague Andrew Liszewski still considers the X4 Pro the best tiny e-reader you can buy, calling it a device he “won’t leave the house without.”
Read our hands-on impressions.
Facebook will let you customize your feed algorithm using AI
Facebook's new "Your Algorithm" feature will let you directly add and manage topics you want to see in your feed and Facebook Reels. Meta says your recommendations "respond right away" after you make updates using the new feature by hitting "interested" or "not interested" for different topics. Your Algorithm previously launched on Instagram earlier this year, and Meta also launched a similar "Dear Algo" feature on Threads.
Facebook users will be able to access Your Algorithm or select "interested" or "not interested" from the three dots menu on individual posts. The "interested" and "not interested" buttons may also appear under posts, an …
Google makes it easier to launch your vibe-coded apps
The next time you vibe-code a custom app with Google's AI Studio, you won't have to connect your phone to a computer to install it. On Tuesday, Google announced a new feature in the US that will allow you to launch personal apps directly through the Play Store.
Google first launched the ability to vibe-code personal Android apps in May. Even though you can now launch your custom apps in Google Play, the company notes it will continue to keep them "secure, private, and separate from the public store catalog." You can also launch them using a standard Google account, and the company will soon add the ability to share your app with a select gr …
A redesigned Play Store is coming to cars with Google built-in
The Google Play Store is getting a big update for cars with Google built-in. On Tuesday, the company announced that the Play Store's layout will now automatically adapt to the size and layout of your car's screen while making it easier to find and download new apps.
The update, which is rolling out in the coming weeks, will put featured apps on the Play Store's homepage and allow you to download them with a single tap. It also comes with what Google says is a "streamlined navigation" menu that puts "Apps," "Games," "Search," and "More" options on the left side of your screen (or on the top if your car's screen has a vertical orientation).
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I tried out Apple’s HomeView smart display
Apple has just announced the HomeView, its first smart home display - and I just got hands-on with the device, which features a gorgeous 7-inch square touchscreen and built-in Siri AI. It's designed as a smart home controller, personal assistant, and home hub for your household, so there was a lot to check out.
The first thing that struck me about the HomeView was its size. It's much smaller than I expected, and the screen almost entirely hides the small aluminum base that acts as a speaker. The Liquid Retina display is bright and responsive to touch, and it displays photos and the HomeView "faces" brilliantly.
You can swipe to change fa …
Actress Mia Goth says it’s ‘incomprehensible’ that Instagram allowed an AI image of her to spread
Earlier this month, news broke that actress Mia Goth had filed for divorce from actor and filmmaker Shia LaBeouf. An Instagram post from the account miagoth_ - marked with a blue verified checkmark - quickly spread.
The post shows Goth in a T-shirt that reads "MY EX IS MY BIGGEST FAN" in bold black letters. The Beyoncé song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" had been added to the Instagram post. Hundreds of thousands of people - including some in the entertainment industry - liked the image, and entertainment outlets like OK! and even People wrote about it as if it were authentic. Soon, screenshots of the post were shared widely on other s …
Hands-on with the Apple Home Collection
We've just gotten a closer look at Apple's new video doorbell, security cameras, a door lock, and thermostats following the company's "Welcome Home" event on Tuesday. The six new devices are part of a new Apple Home Collection, which the company co-developed with LG Electronics and Schneider Electric.
The LG smart lock costs $349 and comes with support for Apple Home Key, allowing you to unlock your door hands-free with UWB. You can unlock the door with a PIN code, too, or by using the physical keyhole beneath the keypad.
There's also a new $249 video doorbell from LG. It comes with two cameras that support up to 2.5K resolu …
Google finally releases Gemini 4 Argon
After months sitting on the sidelines of the frontier AI race, Google has finally launched its long-awaited Gemini 4 Argon model, claiming it can compete with the best the industry has to offer.
Google says Argon delivers "frontier reasoning and improved performance across complex workflows," while cutting down on hedging, repetition, and the cliches that continue to plague AI chatbots. The company claims Argon outperforms rival models like GPT-6 Astra, Claude Fable 5.1, and Claude Opus 5.5 across a range of benchmarks, including coding, cybersecurity, science, finance, and law.
Google says it's already putting Argon to use internally, s …
Buying Apple’s wall-mounted HomeView? The mount costs extra
The HomeView smart home display announced by Apple today comes in two models that both cost $299: one with a speaker base, and the other being a self explanatory "Wall Mounted" version. If you want the latter, however, you'll actually have to pay at least $59 more - the mounts required to actually affix the display to your wall are sold separately. Maybe calling it the "Mountless" version would have been more accurate?
Apple isn't exactly shouting about that sneaky additional premium for wall-mounted HomeView customers. The details are mentioned in the small print at the bottom of the product announcement page:
HomeView (Wall Mounted) wil …
Apple’s HomeView display is now available to preorder
Apple is getting into smart displays with its new HomeView. It has a seven-inch squircle design, looking similar to a gargantuan Apple Watch mounted to a speaker base. The $299 HomeView is meant to be the centerpiece for Apple's big push into the home, as it's capable of controlling a host of smart home tech. Additionally, it can display recipes, show music playback controls, let you make FaceTime calls, and display a host of widgets.
The HomeView launches on Friday, November 13th, and it'll likely be a popular holiday gift. You can preorder in in multiple colors, and you have the option at checkout to either include a speaker base (it incl …