Author: Trendici
CES 2026 is already shaping up to be an interesting year for robots. But while some companies are chasing humanoids that can help you do stuff, there are also a surprising number of robots whose main job is to be cute and keep you company.Japanese startup Ludens AI is showing off two extremely adorable robot companions at CES. Cocomo is an autonomous robot pet that can follow you around the house and respond to voice and touch. It has a fuzzy, egg-shaped body, but the version we saw at CES was wearing an orange suit with ears that made it…
Jake Kwon,Seoul correspondentandKoh EweGetty ImagesVisiting Beijing at this time is a significant move for Lee Jae MyungSouth Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping as he seeks to reset frayed ties with his country’s biggest trading partner.Regional security and Beijing’s unofficial ban on Korean pop culture are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, which is their second summit since November, when Xi visited South Korea. Given what a vital economic partner China is, experts say Lee is looking for assurances that it would not weaponise that relationship in the face of political tensions…
The leader of the Trades Union Congress has called for “the closest possible economic and political relationship with the European Union”.The UK’s most senior trade unionist, Paul Nowak, told the BBC that he believed this would be “essential” to boost economic growth and warned that faith in mainstream politics could “drain away” unless living standards improved.Nowak urged the PM not to rule out a customs union with the EU, which he argued would lower barriers to trade with the UK’s biggest market.Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to “reset” relations with Brussels but has ruled out rejoining the EU’s…
Liverpool are now nine matches unbeaten and have pulled clear of sixth after drawing at Fulham. That’s a decent reading for a club previously in disarray under a manager seemingly on the brink. Yet their performances, both as a team and individually, are leaving a lot to be desired. Their nine-match unbeaten run includes eight Premier League games, half of which have been draws. Three of those draws came against newly-promoted teams Sunderland and Leeds United, with the other coming on Sunday at Craven Cottage. Only two wins came by more than one goal, while the two one-goal victories were…
Back in 2023, Withings launched Body Scan, a super-premium scale with the sort of tech found in a high-end gym or low-end clinic. It had a six-lead ECG, offered segmented body composition and could monitor your nerve health, among other things. Now the company has rocked up at CES 2026 in Las Vegas with a second-generation model that adds in tests for hypertension and cellular health. Withings hopes the new model will give you even more data you can use to fight against chronic illnesses brought on by our decadent modern lifestyle.The first generation Body Scan checked 40 biomarkers, while…
BBCThe course attracts both typical early 20s students and French government spies on day releaseUniversity professor Xavier Crettiez admits that he doesn’t know the real names of many of the students on his course.This is a highly unusual state of affairs in the world of academia, but Prof Crettiez’s work is far from standard.Instead, he helps train France’s spies.”I rarely know the intelligence agents’ backgrounds when they are sent on the course, and I doubt the names I’m given are genuine anyway,” he says.If you wanted to create a setting for a spy school, then the campus of Sciences Po…
A “gap year” scheme to give school and college leavers a taste of the Army, Royal Navy or RAF without a long term commitment, is to be launched by the government.The course is aimed at under-25s and is part of efforts to solve long-term recruitment and retention problems in the armed forces.Applications to be part of the first of 150 recruits open in the spring, with plans for that number to grow to 1,000 young people a year. The programme will be paid but officials have yet to announce a salary.Defence Secretary John Healey said the scheme would offer young…
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher believes Milos Kerkez is what Darwin Nunez would look like if he played left-back. In his latest bizarre criticism, which is unlikely to go down well with the Liverpool squad, Carragher claimed Kerkez has “no thought process” and does not connect well with his team-mates on the pitch. Carragher’s Nunez, Kerkez comparison Liverpool legend likens their chaotic styles Robertson rotation not good for Kerkez, but good for Liverpool £45m signing ‘has to improve’, says Carra Kerkez joined the Reds from Bournemouth for £40m last summer and, after a miserable start, has come into some form in…
Yukai Engineering, maker of the weirdly cute Mirumi robot, has another interesting gadget at CES 2026. Baby FuFu is a portable fan for babies that attaches to strollers.Baby FuFu is modeled on the company’s smaller (but otherwise identical-looking) drink-cooling gadget, Nekojita FuFu. “Baby FuFu grew out of Nekojita FuFu fans’ feedback that their children love not only cooling their food with it but also playing with it, pretending to fan their faces and blow-dry their hair,” Yukai Engineering CEO Shunsuke Aoki said.Baby FuFu, positioned on the stroller handle. (Image by Mat Smith for Engadget)The company says the fan blades are…
Vanessa BuschschlüterLatin America editor, BBC News OnlineREUTERS/Leonardo Fernandez ViloriaMany of those who tuned in to US President Donald Trump’s news conference on Saturday were probably hoping to hear dramatic details of how US forces seized Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, in a pre-dawn raid. But arguably a more surprising moment came when Trump announced that now that Maduro was in custody, the US would “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition”.In another unexpected development, he added that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been speaking to Maduro’s Vice-President, Delcy Rodríguez, who he said…