This week we saw Alex Honnold solo for free. Taipei 101 on Netflix while terrible comments were heard and Samsung teased its next major phone launch.
To catch up on all this and more, we’ve rounded up the week’s seven biggest tech news stories here for you, with links to the full stories too.
7. Netflix proved it hasn’t figured out live events.
This week, the world of streaming gave us Bridgerton Season 4, wonder manand Contraction Season 3, among others, but the live sporting event of the year was also broadcast: Live skyscrapersand fans were quick to let their anger at the end result be known.
It featured Alex Honnold, from Free solo fame, and his attempt to solo climb (climbing alone, without ropes or safety equipment) Taipei 101, which was, at one time, the tallest building in the world. The climb was at least a feat of human skill, but the comments, which were filled with nerves and often talked over Alex, were not well received.
Some declared the show “the worst live sports production I have ever seen,” although one of the hosts has since come out to address fans’ frustrations.
6. Xreal glasses got a 3D update
Xreal smart glasses are impressive entertainment specs that will display your favorite shows, games and movies on a giant virtual screen, as long as they are connected to a compatible device. Now they can also create that content in 3D.
This is thanks to Real 3D, which just debuted on Xreal’s One and One Pro glasses, and is an incredible tool that works on any device or content, since all the processing is done on the glasses.
Sure, it’s a work in progress, but it just made some of the world’s best smart glasses even better, and made Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that one day AI will let us “jump to” any video seem less crazy.
5. We played Resident Evil 9
We have more than four hours of Resident Evil Requiem under our belt, and now we’re sure it’s on track to be the best entry in the long-running survival horror series.
However, the return of Leon Kennedy had us worried. How can you create a sense of fear when your star is a one-man army killing infected? You pair him with a partner much less capable of combat.
Leon’s segments are like a New Game Plus version of Resident Evil 4 Remake on steroids: you’re an ultra-powerful killing machine; Meanwhile, new protagonist Grace’s sections are meant to deliver some serious scares. They are set in wonderfully intricate environments expertly created for tense exploration, a desperate search for resources, and intense fights that will always have you on the defensive.
4. OpenAI admitted to making a mistake
ChatGPT’s most avid users are quick to express their frustrations when OpenAI botches an update, and now CEO Sam Altman has admitted that the company “screwed up” with ChatGPT 5.2.
Criticism focused on AI providing overly technical and complicated answers to questions, rather than the easy-to-digest answers that AI users typically expect to receive.
“We decided, and I think rightly so, to put most of our effort into 5.2 to make it super good at intelligence, reasoning, coding, engineering, that kind of stuff,” Altman revealed. “And here we have limited bandwidth and sometimes we focus on one thing and neglect another.”
Hopefully, though, OpenAI can learn from this mistake and better manage which aspects of its vision it has to sacrifice as it releases successive iterations of its chatbot.
Speaking of making sacrifices, OpenAI also teased this week that it’s time to finally retire GPT-4o, and once again, fans are furious.
3. Apple finally gave us a new AirTag
The original AirTag launched in 2021 and quickly gained an unwanted reputation as a stalking accessory. With those issues largely resolved, Apple has released a more powerful sequel with better range and more powerful speakers.
A new Bluetooth chip allows you to find the new AirTag from 1.5 times further away than with the previous version. That new speaker also means it’s 50% louder, which is helpful if you’re trying to find keys buried deep in a couch.
While not exactly a bargain, the new AirTag maintains the same $29 / £29 / AU$49 price tag as the original.
2. Garmin leaked its Whoop alternative
The same week, Whoop criticized the Australian Open for its “ridiculous” decision to force tennis stars to remove their trackers, and after testing a number of fitness band alternatives, it looks like Garmin’s Whoop alternative has just leaked.
Normally, we’d ignore leaks here until releases are confirmed, but the spoiler was shared by none other than Garmin itself.
Eagle-eyed Garmin fans were able to take a screenshot of the page before it disappeared, giving us a clue about the ‘Garmin Cirqa smart band’, which could launch in around ‘4 to 5 months’, which would be May or June depending on shipping details.
Crucially, we didn’t get a price for the band, but still, Whoop has some competition coming.
1. Samsung advanced the biggest update to the S26 Ultra
Flagship smartphones have struggled to offer dazzling new features in recent years, but the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra appears to have bucked that trend. This week, Samsung teased the flagship phone’s new “privacy screen,” which it calls “a new frontline for privacy.”
What makes this display technology so interesting is that it allows you to hide parts of your screen (like a private message) from viewers while keeping it visible to you. The OLED display apparently does this by emitting light in specific directions. We’ve yet to see the technology in person, but if it lives up to the hype, it could be the most useful smartphone upgrade we’ve seen in a long time.
