Qualcomm promises $300 Windows laptops with new Snapdragon C
They started at $1,000. Then $700. Then $600 budget machines. Now, Qualcomm says the price of its Arm-based Windows laptops will hit $300 this year.
Even though RAMageddon has yet to subside and PC prices keep climbing, the company says it's built a new budget laptop platform called Snapdragon C - "C" as in "Compute" - to keep entry-level laptops affordable.
"With Snapdragon C, we are raising the bar for what budget-conscious laptop buyers should expect," Qualcomm senior director of product management Mandar Deshpande told journalists on a conference call. "You get the benefits of a responsive system, lag-free performance, browsing, video …
Intel’s first handheld gaming chip is the Arc G3, and this Acer is using it
Intel is barely in the handheld gaming PC space - but that might be about to change. After the embarrassment that was the first MSI Claw and the excellent MSI Claw 8 AI Plus that followed it, Intel announced it would create custom handheld gaming chips. Today, it's formally announcing them as the Arc G3 and Arc G3 Extreme.
There's a lot we don't know about the chips, but Intel's confirming today that the Panther Lake variant contains two fewer CPU cores than Intel's Panther Lake laptop chips, but feature a full compliment of Xe3 GPU cores to run games. (They have 2 P-cores, 8 E-eores, and 4 LP E-cores, plus up to 12 Xe3 graphics cores in t …
Xiaomi 17T Pro arrives with the company’s biggest battery yet
Xiaomi has announced the 17T and 17T Pro, two cheaper spins on its 17 series flagships. As is usual for the T-series, the focus is more on performance than photography, with the biggest batteries Xiaomi has included on any of its phones outside China yet.
The 17T includes a 6,500mAh silicon-carbon battery, while the 17T Pro goes even bigger with 7,000mAh, which I found to be enough to keep the phone running for up to two days. Xiaomi has included bigger batteries than these on previous China-only phones - the recent 17 Max has an 8,000mAh capacity - but never its international models, except those released under subsidiary Poco.
Both phone …
They’ve finally made the Oura Ring smaller and lighter
Wherever I go, whatever I do, people point at my finger and ask, "Is that an Oura Ring?" Lots of people find they like the design, and they tell me why they're thinking about switching to a smart ring from a smartwatch. But the people who scrunch up their noses? They usually say something along the lines of, "Hm. Maybe when it's lighter or smaller."
Good news. The newly announced $399 Oura Ring 5 is both. It's 40 percent smaller than the Oura Ring 4, measuring 6.09mm wide (down from 7.9mm) and 2.29mm thick (down from 2.88mm). Depending on the size, it weighs from 2 to 2.69g. You'd think it might be hard to notice much a difference between t …
Kia’s flagship EV has a battery problem
I first realized there was an issue with Kia's flagship EV9 when I tried to unlock my car last year. The hulking three-row SUV was sitting on my driveway completely dead. The key didn't work, the app connection to the car was gone, and I was already late to an appointment. Luckily, I had prepared for such a scenario, after reading about widespread 12-volt battery issues with the EV9.
I managed to open the car with the manual key that Kia supplies and access the frunk to reach the 12V battery and use a booster I had purchased to jolt it back to life. Like many ICE cars, a 12V battery powers most of the low-voltage electrical systems in a ve …
Temu fined more than $230 million by EU over illegal product sales
Temu has been fined €200 million (about $232 million) by the European Commission after it found that consumers are "very likely to encounter illegal items" on the popular Chinese e-commerce platform. According to the commission, Temu breached Digital Service Act (DSA) rules by failing to identify and assess the systemic risks of illegal products being offered on its platform and the resulting harmful impact on its customers.
The EU launched its formal DSA investigation against Temu in October 2024, and issued a preliminary ruling in July 2025 that found Temu isn't doing enough to keep illegal products off its ultra-cheap marketplace. As par …
Gemini for Google Home can now use your cameras to trigger automations
Google Home is rolling out a new Gemini-powered automation feature that can trigger smart home routines based on what your security cameras can see. This is one of several updates announced yesterday for Gemini for Home, including enhanced voice command support and general stability improvements, following its early access launch in October.
"We are introducing a brand-new starter that lets you design automations based on visual insights," Google said in its announcement. "Because your cameras can now actually understand what they see, your smart home can automatically react to almost anything happening around your home."
The feature is cu …
YouTube will let you ask AI to make a custom video feed
YouTube is launching a new AI feature that creates a personalized video feed based on descriptions of what you want to watch. In its announcement, YouTube says custom content feeds can be built around your specific interests, moods, or favorite topics, which you can then pin to the top of your YouTube homepage - making it easy to jump back into the feed.
This feature is currently rolling out with English language support to YouTube users in the US who are signed in on the YouTube mobile app or desktop. To access it, click on the "Your custom feed" tab at the top of the YouTube homepage and enter a prompt description into the AI text box. Fo …
The golden age of handheld gaming is already over
For a few glorious years, a $399 portable gadget could run almost anything you'd want to play. In 2022, the Steam Deck finally made PC gaming portable and affordable. I played through the vast majority of Elden Ring on a Steam Deck, agape that such a rich world could comfortably fit between my two hands.
Today, that Steam Deck experience starts at $789 - nearly double the price.
Similarly, a Nintendo Switch cost $299 at launch - but after Nintendo's Switch 2 upgrades and "changes in market conditions," the starting price of today's Nintendo handheld gaming experience will soon be $499, more than a disc-less PS5 cost at launch.
You mig …
A Google employee allegedly used inside information to win $1.2 million on Polymarket
Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with fraud after he allegedly made $1.2 million on Polymarket bets related to Search-related trends in 2025, as reported earlier by ABC News. In their now-unsealed complaint, prosecutors allege that Michele Spagnuolo "knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data." Spagnuolo was arrested in New York on Wednesday but released on a $2.25 million bond, ABC News reports. He is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.
Spagnuolo made bets on Polymarket under the username AlphaRa …