IFA Berlin has often been a place to see cutting-edge tech, cool concepts, and interesting prototypes (or should we say weird?). While there certainly have been some of those this year, like iRobot’s Roomba Duo, various humanoid demos, and a flying car concept, 2026 has felt more muted than last year. We’re still seeing the
German company Isar Aerospace has successfully launched Europe’s first entirely commercial orbital rocket. It attempted to achieve the feat last March, but that lasted all of 30 seconds before the vehicle crashed into the sea and exploded. This time the company managed to get the two-stage Spectrum into low Earth orbit from a Norwegian spaceport.
When I first tested the developer beta of Apple’s Siri AI by taking it as my tour guide around San Francisco, I was convinced the overhauled smartphone assistant would be an “everything tool” on the iPhone. The answers felt reliable enough and more helpful than previous versions of Siri. Also, the chatbot-style app for Siri
Earlier this summer, Travis Kalanick’s Atoms announced a $1.7 billion funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. But even after raising that mega round, the Uber founder remained a bit cagey about what he was actually aiming to do. Now a story in the Financial Times offers more details about Atoms’ goals. The startup is reportedly
MapQuest, who knew? A week ago, the app seemed like just another long-forgotten relic from the dotcom glory days. Now, it’s surged to the top of app download charts after the company ignored an executive order from President Donald Trump by refusing to relabel Lake Ontario as Lake America. And the company apparently is going
Boox teased the Picco, its take on the buzzy Xteink X4 e-reader, back in July, but provided almost no details. Now, thanks to some reporting out of IFA, we’ve got a bit more info, though sadly still no price. Unlike the Xteink devices, the Picco will not have magnets on the back for attaching to
