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EngadgetJan 04, 2026
LG brought back the Wallpaper TV for CES and ditched the companion sound bar
It's been nearly 10 years since LG first introduced its Wallpaper TV that was so thin that the mounting process felt like applying wallpaper. After eventually discontinuing the ultra-thin TVs in 2020, LG is finally reviving the Wallpaper TV series with the OLED evo W6 that will make its debut at CES 2026. LG is marketing the updated Wallpaper TV as the "world's thinnest" OLED that's truly wireless, making some major upgrades to the original.

Instead of the companion soundbar that housed all the ports, LG designed the Zero Connect Box that hosts all the inputs and can transmit from up to roughly 32 feet away. It's similar to what Samsung has been doing with its Wireless One Connect Box, which is often paired with its Frame TV lineup. While you won't have to worry about a web of tangled wires or a clunky soundbar, the OLED evo W6 measures slightly thicker at 9mm, compared to its predecessor's hyperthin 2.6mm measurement. That's more than three times the thickness, but it's still impressive if you consider that the W6 will feel about as thick as putting an iPhone 17 Pro Max against your wall.

LG The latest Wallpaper TV doe


EngadgetJan 04, 2026
Lockin's everlasting vein-recognizing smart lock doorbell cam combo is peak CES
Smart locks have a notable inconvenience: running out of power. Lockin, maker of vein-recognition locks, debuted its newest model on the CES floor. It charges wirelessly via an optical infrared beam with a four-meter range. A small device, connected to a standard outlet inside the house, shoots a beam at the lock, which has a small receptor panel that turns the light into power, sort of like a plug-in sun beaming at a tiny solar array. The tech carries certifications from two independent organizations, and won't harm eyeballs or bodies that get in the way of the beam (though if the beam is interrupted, charging stops).

The lock itself is a mortise lock that will likely require a pro to install, as it's not just a standard deadbolt replacer. It's not a standard lock in other ways too, with video and speaker capabilites, AI recognition as well as touchscreen features and vein recognition.

The tall black rectangle looked sleek (if huge) in person with a pocket-style grip and a rather sizable display on the interior panel. The outer panel has a touchscreen along with two cameras allowing it to act as a doorbell video camera. You can unlock the door via palm, finger vein or 3D facial recognition.

Lockin V7 Max smart lockLockinIt'll feed the video to any of the major smart home eco systems, including those from Google, Apple, Amazon and Samsung. But for general setup and advanced AI features, such as recognizing a package delivery and speaking a canned request to the driver, you'd use Lockin's own app.

I can't imagine this high-end do-everything lock will be cheap, and


Major GeeksJan 04, 2026
VidCoder Portable 12.13
VidCoder is a DVD/Blu-ray ripping and video transcoding application for Windows that utilizes HandBrake as its encoding engine. [License: Open Source | Requires: 11|10|8|7 | Size: 85 MB ]

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VidCoder 12.13 (Major Geeks)

EngadgetJan 04, 2026
Sweekar turns the Tamagotchi into a physical AI pocket pet that won't die on you
Takway, a startup that wants to be the "Nintendo of the AI robot era," has unveiled a Tamagotchi-like virtual pet at CES 2026 that's meant to go with you everywhere and develop a unique personality in the process. Sweekar is an AI companion built into a palm-sized toy, a cutesy egg-shaped device with ears and a screen for its face. As with a Tamagotchi, you'll have to feed and play with it to keep it happy and healthy, and its mood and facial expressions will reflect your care. But this virtual pet will remember your voice and the activities you've done together — and once it's grown up, it will keep itself entertained, go off on its own virtual excursions (kind of like a Finch birb) and bring back tales of its adventures.  

The Sweekar pocket pet being placed into a large brown checkered purseTakwaySweekar comes in pink, yellow and blue, but there will also be the option to switch up the shells and buy silly little outfits for it, because why not. The pocket pet has four life stages, becoming less needy as it grows.

It starts out as a closed egg for its two-day incubation period, after which it will "break" its shell to reveal a face. From then on, you have to keep it alive with care tasks and attention in order to raise it through the baby and teen stages. On


EngadgetJan 04, 2026
PartyStudio is a wireless MIDI speaker with 128 built-in instrument sounds
There are a slew of keyboards and apps that help people learn how to play the piano, but a small company called PopuMusic is showing off an intriguing set of products at CES to make the process easier. PartyKeys and PartyStudio are a 36-key MIDI keyboard and MIDI / Bluetooth speaker that pair together in seamless fashion. The PartyStudio is particularly interesting because it has a built-in library of 128 instrument tones and more than 50 different drum machine patterns. Naturally, it works with the PartyKeys, but any MIDI keyboard can connect to it and use those sounds.

The PartyStudio and PartyKeys both use NFC to connect to each other — you can just tap and hold the keyboard up to the speaker for pairing. You can connect up to three devices using MIDI over Bluetooth Low-Energy (BLE MIDI) as well as a fourth using a wired connection. If you have more than one keyboard, meanwhile, you can connect them together with NFC as well — you can pair three keyboards together total, giving you a huge 108-key surface to play.

Both the PartyStudio and PartyKeys have an understated but appealing look to them (they're available in black or white) and feel quite substantial and well-made. PopuMusic has been releasing hardware via Kickstarters campaigns for a few years now, so even though they're a relatively small and new company they have some experience in this department. The speaker seems to hit a nice balance of portability and power; it has two tweeters and two woofers and weighs in at 3.75 pounds. It's about 13.5 inches wide, 5.2 inches tall and 4 inches deep, so it's not a tiny speaker you'll just throw in your bag, but it still feels easy to tote around thanks to its attached handle.

The other trick that the PartyStudio and PartyKeys have is on the software side. Using a companion app, multiple people can play along with a song. The light-up keyboard can show you what to play, and if you have multiple people playing each keyboard can display compli


CNET Most Popular ProductsJan 04, 2026
LG Brought a Robot That Cooks, Folds Laundry and Empties the Dishwasher to CES
The launch of LG's ClOiD, an AI-powered home robot designed to perform a slew of household chores, marks the first major consumer appliance brand to unveil such a dynamic home robot.

EngadgetDec 30, 2025
1Password deal: Last chance to save 50 percent on our favorite password manager
If cleaning up your digital life is on your New Year's resolution list, we've got good news: 1Password is offering half off its subscription plans (both the Individual and Families plans). That brings the price of the Individual plan down to $24 for a year and the Families plan down to $36 for a year. 

The plans are nearly identical, but the Families plan accommodates five additional people. These discounts are only available to new customers and the prices expire after the year, so set a reminder to cancel or reassess. And you'll need to act fast, because the offer expires today — Tuesday, December 30.



This provider topped our list of the best password managers, and for good reason. We appreciated the intuitive interface and the fact that it's available on most platforms, so you'll never be left out in the cold. These include Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, macOS, iOS, Windows, Android and more.

Subscriptions include industry standard encryption and a "secret key" that only you know on top of a master password. There's also two-factor authentication and the platform issues alerts when credentials have potentially been compromised.

1Password recently raised prices across the board, but this is still looking to be the best deal for our favorite password manager going into the new year. The only downside here is the one that accompanies many password managers: There is no free version. Obviously, this won't be an issue for the year, but it could once the plan runs out.

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