This week was a bizarre one on the earth of tech, however we’re nonetheless right here that will help you compensate for all the largest tech information tales you may need missed up to now seven days.
On the traditional finish, we acquired a date and time for Nintendo’s Swap 2 Direct presentation (April 2, 2025), and on the ‘I am unable to consider we’re syaing this finish,’ Apple acquired flustered by the iPhone’s first-ever official porn app.
As soon as you’ve got caught up on all that and extra, remember to take a look at our picks for the seven new movies and TV shows to stream this weekend (February 7).
7. Nintendo set a Swap 2 presentation date
We now know precisely when the Nintendo Swap 2 Direct is occurring on April 2. Because of Nintendo’s official social media channels over on X / Twitter, it’s been confirmed that the anticipated broadcast will occur at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm GMT / 3pm CEST. This actually comes as no shock, as Nintendo Direct displays usually land within the morning for US audiences and mid-afternoon within the UK and Europe.
As for the contents of the Nintendo Swap 2 Direct, the corporate stays tight-lipped. We don’t assume it’ll be a deep exploration of the system’s specs, however the presentation ought to give us an honest thought of the brand new {hardware}’s enhancements. It additionally appears cheap to count on a take a look at new Nintendo Swap 2 video games, doubtlessly together with a greater take a look at that new Mario Kart title we noticed within the official reveal teaser.
6. Dyson’s new handheld vacuum turned out to be… not so new
Dyson has added a handheld vacuum to its vary, but it surely seems the Dyson Automotive+Boat is basically only a V8 stick vacuum shipped with out its wand and floorheads. We could not assist however really feel somewhat cheated, and never simply because the V8 launched a decade in the past, in 2016.
That disappointment apart, the brand new addition truly carried out very nicely in our official Dyson Car+Boat review. Though it is not the latest Dyson stick vacuum, it’s the smallest and lightest of the present vary, and when pitted towards different handhelds, the Automotive+Boat simply wins out. The battery life is double that of most handheld vacuums, and it is highly effective sufficient to blast by means of even essentially the most difficult cleanup duties.
In brief, the Automotive+Boat is an ultra-capable handheld vacuum, we simply want we had been getting extra of that trademark Dyson innovation as a substitute.
5. OpenAI fought again towards DeepSeek R1
It didn’t take lengthy for OpenAI to flex its muscle tissues following the unbelievable success of Chinese language start-up DeepSeek. Simply final week, we had been speaking concerning the US AI firm’s issues following the launch of a very free reasoning mannequin, DeepSeek R1, that was simply nearly as good, if not higher, than OpenAI’s o1 providing.
Now, not solely has OpenAI revealed Deep Analysis, an unbelievable AI agent that works as your individual private analyst, able to deal with any analysis you throw at it and are available again with outcomes, however Deep Analysis has additionally eclipsed all rivals on the world’s hardest AI examination.
If that wasn’t sufficient, OpenAI additionally introduced this week that ChatGPT Search, its competitor to Google Search, would not require a login, permitting anybody to make use of the free AI search engine with out the necessity to surrender any private data. It’s honest to say the corporate took DeepSeek’s try and shake up the AI trade personally, and now it’s us, the shoppers, who’re reaping the rewards.
4. Amazon teased Alexa upgrades
Amazon invited individuals to an unique product launch event in New York Metropolis later in February. Whereas many particulars from the invite made us fairly assured it will be for the long-awaited Alexa AI improve we’ve been ready for, Amazon spelled it out for us because it was found that combining 5 invitations would present you ‘alexa’ in a cursive font.
We’re not sure what this new Alexa can be able to, however leaks have steered it’ll lastly begin to meet up with the likes of ChatGPT, Gemini, and different LLMs, which have left the sensible assistant of their mud.
Extra particularly, they tease that Alexa can be higher at understanding and responding to pure human speech, comparable to a number of prompts offered in a row. It’ll additionally have the ability to carry out extra duties autonomously as an AI agent. Sadly, it may also value $5-$10 a month – however we’ll must take all these particulars with a pinch of salt till Amazon’s occasion in a few weeks.
3. Apple launched Invitations
Apple has been making sluggish and regular Calendar app enhancements throughout iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but it surely simply made organizing events 100 occasions simpler with the brand-new Apple Invitations app for iCloud+ customers.
It’s designed to be a one-stop store for creating the occasion invite, from setting an occasion description to accurately seize the vibe to constructing a visitor record and managing who has RSVP’d and who is not coming. It will possibly even function a simple one-stop store for company who can see all of the occasion information with out everybody needing to message the host the identical questions individually.
iCloud+ is a central a part of this, as you want it to ship invitations and create an occasion however anybody can obtain them even individuals on Android.
2. Apple acquired mad concerning the iPhone’s first porn app
That isn’t a sentence we anticipated to write down this week, but it surely’s 2025, so all bets are off. Sure, the iPhone’s first official porn app (known as Scorching Tub, in fact) has simply landed within the EU, and Apple isn’t greatest happy – to place it mildly.
Scorching Tub arrived because of EU rules that lately opened the door to third-party iOS app shops like AltStore, the place you possibly can obtain the app (or so we’ve heard). Apple was fast to level out it’s “deeply involved concerning the security dangers” and disapproves of the controversial porn aggregator.
An added dimension to the story is that AltStore is funded by Apple’s nemesis Epic Games, who lately battled it over Fortnite. We are able to really feel a Netflix documentary approaching…
1. Apple’s robotic stole our hearts
Apple additionally confirmed off its ELEGANT (Expressive and Practical Motion Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robotic) lamp this week – and this real-life Pixar lamp is splendidly cute.
Movies showcased the robotic’s practical meets expressive method, which noticed it carry out duties with a little bit of aptitude – at one level, the robotic was requested to seize one thing out of attain, and reasonably than merely realizing it wasn’t lengthy sufficient, the lamp tries to stretch just a few occasions earlier than shaking its head and admitting it will probably’t full the duty.
Whereas taking part in music, it danced alongside, and whereas serving to a consumer construct a 3D printer, it carried out micro-adjustments that made it appear alive earlier than taking part in a video of the directions when it noticed they had been struggling. Apple hasn’t introduced any plans to launch this as one thing you should buy at some point, however we’re hoping we’ll at some point get an Apple iLamp announcement.
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