Monday, May 18

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You Can Now Pre-Order XReal’s R1 Gaming AR Glasses (With the ROG Control Deck)
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You Can Now Pre-Order XReal’s R1 Gaming AR Glasses (With the ROG Control Deck)

We may earn a commission from links on this page. XReal and ASUS Republic of Gamers announced this morning that pre-orders are open for the ROG XREAL R1, a pair of augmented reality smart glasses designed for high-frame-rate gaming paired with a ROG control dock. First shown at CES 2026, the R1s are a wearable monitor that projects a virtual 171-inch monitor with a 0.01ms response time and 240Hz refresh rate—the fastest available in AR glasses. XReal R1s are bundled with the ROG Control Dock, and are selling for $849 at Best Buy, with a release on the XReal store to follow on May 17. The R1 is built on the architecture of XReal One glasses (see my full XReal One review here) and is powered by the same X1 chip for three degrees of freedom (3DoF) tracking. That means y...
Here Are the Best Early Memorial Day Sales so Far
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Here Are the Best Early Memorial Day Sales so Far

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. Prime Day might be just around the corner, but if your shopping list has things like mattresses, outdoor furniture, or home appliances, you might be better off shopping during the Memorial Day sale. Lucky for you, the early sales are in full swing, even though Memorial Day isn't until May 25. These retailers have some of the best early deals so far.Amazon's Memorial Day Sale has discounts going up to 40% offUnsurprisingly, Amazon is one of the first retailers to start its Memorial Day sale early. They have many categories on sale, including: home and kitchen, garden and outdoors, home improvement, electronics, and more. Here are some...
Chatbots May Be Giving Out Your Phone Number
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Chatbots May Be Giving Out Your Phone Number

When talking to a chatbot like ChatGPT, you should never assume your conversations are private. Many chatbots, by default, use your discussions to train the underlying AI models, but even if you opt out of training, or use a temporary chat, these conversations are often stored on company servers for some limited amount of time. The general rule of thumb is to avoid sharing anything with a chatbot that you wouldn't want to come out in public. (Proprietary company information, personal secrets, etc.) But what if the chatbot in question already has your private information? What if ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude is happy to share your phone number with anyone who asks for it?That's the discussion I stumbled upon this week, following reporting from Eileen Guo of MIT Technology Review. In the piece...
10 Hacks Every Microsoft Teams User Should Know
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10 Hacks Every Microsoft Teams User Should Know

Microsoft Teams is a multi-use platform for chatting, calling, video conferencing, and collaboration, which means it has a lot of features, as well as integrations with other Microsoft 365 apps. If your workplace relies on Teams, there are several hacks you need to know to work more efficiently and get the most out of the platform. Use email forwarding to send attachments directly to a Teams channelIf you receive an email (and email attachment) that is relevant to a conversation happening in Teams, you don't need to send it to others' inboxes, copy and paste, or download and upload to the correct chat or channel. Instead, you can forward it directly from Outlook to Teams, and both the email and attachment will automatically populate for recipients, who can click on the preview to see the f...
I Tried These Four Fitness Watches to See Which Was Best for Hyrox Training
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I Tried These Four Fitness Watches to See Which Was Best for Hyrox Training

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I’m so much in the habit of recording and tracking my workouts that when I started training for Hyrox, my first question was, "how will I track them?" I want to keep an eye on my heart rate, so that narrowed it down to watches rather than smart bands or rings. But which is best? I tried four different watches and found two clear winners—depending on what you want to focus on. Hyrox is, of course, the hybrid fitness sport that blends running with strength-endurance activities. (I have an explainer on it here.) A typical Hyrox or hybrid fitness workout involves cardio and strength exercises, which you’ll usually switch between throughout. You’ll probably want to note when you switch exercises (by pressing a lap button on...
The 2026 Hisense S7SG CanvasTV Is $500 Off
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The 2026 Hisense S7SG CanvasTV Is $500 Off

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. After my wife and I bought our home and it came time to get a TV, we knew we wanted one like Samsung's The Frame—we didn't want the focus of our living room to be an ugly black box when not in use. We ended up going with Hisense's first CanvasTV, and we love it. This year, Hisense released the 2026 S7 CanvasTV, and right now, 50-inch model is $798.99 (originally $1,299.99) after a $500 discount. That's the lowest price it has ever been, according to price tracking tools. The primary attraction of the CanvasTV over Samsung's The Frame is the price: If you choose The Frame, you have to buy the frames that go around the set and pay for ...
This Is Every Android Getting AirDrop Support This Year
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This Is Every Android Getting AirDrop Support This Year

When Google announced AirDrop support for Pixel devices last year, it was a bit of a bombshell. For years, file sharing was just one of those things that didn't mix well between iPhone and Android. Email, texting, agreeing on a third-party app; none of the options were convenient, especially when each platform had its own easy-to-use solution: AirDrop or Quick Share. But opening up AirDrop support for Android phones bridges the gap in a meaningful way: Now, you can send a friend with an iPhone a picture, video, or file from your Pixel, and vice versa—as quickly and efficiently as if you both had the same type of smartphone. Unfortunately, in the six months since Google's original announcement, the rollout has been quite slow. At launch, only the Pixel 10 line supported AirDrop. Since then,...
You Could Get up to $100 in This Google Class Action Lawsuit
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You Could Get up to $100 in This Google Class Action Lawsuit

If you're an Android user or you've had an Android phone over the past nine years or so, listen up: Google just agreed to a $135 million lawsuit that you're likely a class member of. While the final payout is still up in the air, you could be entitled to up to $100. What is the lawsuit about?The lawsuit, Taylor V. Google LLC, alleges that Google was complicit in allowing Android devices to send a host of user data to Google without the permission of the users. Not only does the suit highlight the privacy implications, it also hammers Google for using up the users' cellular data. According to the details of the lawsuit, Google denies any wrongdoing in this case, but has agreed to settle for $135 million. As part of that settlement, Google will have to update the Play Store Terms of Service,...
Don’t Remove This Film on Your Switch 2
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Don’t Remove This Film on Your Switch 2

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for nearly a year. Maybe you bought one at launch, or perhaps you're looking to pick one up before the price skyrockets. Either way, if you are or are soon to be the proud owner of a Nintendo Switch 2 (or even an OLED Switch, for that matter), there's one thing you should not do to it: remove the film on the display. That film is meant to stick on the Switch 2 for goodOn Tuesday evening, Ninte...
New Smart Bands Are Coming, and Whoop Is Scared
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New Smart Bands Are Coming, and Whoop Is Scared

We may earn a commission from links on this page. I flagged smart bands as one of the tech trends of 2026, based on what I was seeing, so it’s interesting to watch the rollout of the Fitbit Air and the buzz around the (still unconfirmed) Garmin Cirqa. Whoop, which has long been the undisputed leader in this area, now has a ton of competition. Here’s what I see going on, and what I think we should expect going forward.  Fitness trackers have reached the end of their evolution, and their universe is rebootingTo explain how we got here, I’m going to take you through a little history lesson with the theme of: What do we expect a fitness tracker to be? Fitbit has been working on this question for over 15 years, beginning with simple digital pedometers that clipped to your ...