Sonos hosted an Open House event on September, unveiling its next wave of hardware after CEO Thomas Conrad hinted in July that the company had spent two decades building what he called an operating environment for AI in the home. The event, not livestreamed, was covered by Engadget staff on-site through a live text blog, with speculation swirling around potential new speakers, headphones, or app fixes.
Roku is entering OLED television territory with two new models: the Roku Pro Series OLED, available in 55- and 65-inch sizes with a 4K 120Hz panel, Dolby Vision, and a slim metal-bezel design, and the higher-end Roku Pro Series LX OLED, which promises a brighter picture, 144Hz refresh rate, and glare-reducing polarizer but has undisclosed sizing details. Both TVs retain Roku's signature software features like Smart Picture Max and Automatic Game Mode, with the LX model including a premium rechargeable remote.
NVIDIA is launching DLSS 5, its latest AI upscaling technology, alongside NBA 2K27 on September 3. Early demos from Resident Evil: Requiem and Starfield drew heavy criticism for producing unnatural, over-processed character models, though NBA 2K27's implementation reportedly applies the effect more subtly with improved shadows and texture depth. The feature is exclusive to NVIDIA's RTX 50-series graphics cards.
Dropbox notified users that attackers gained unauthorized access to their accounts between August 4 and 21, 2026, though the company says no files were confirmed viewed or downloaded. The breach stemmed from a weakness in Lenovo's identity verification process, which let attackers register Lenovo IDs tied to victims' email addresses without owning those inboxes, then use those IDs to log into linked Dropbox accounts.
Federal investigators say Daejon Labrayae Love, posing as an injured San Francisco 49ers receiver or a wealthy Swiss developer, and 18-year-old accomplice Taylor Jamie Chan, who claimed to be his financial advisor, met victims on dating apps and convinced them to invest in fake opportunities. The FBI alleges the two swindled at least 26 women across four states out of roughly $1.3 million, with some victims taking out loans to fund the fake investments. When suspicious victims searched online, Google's AI Overviews reportedly echoed Love's fabricated social media claims, lending false credibility to his identity.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is pushing back against a wave of lawsuits in which major rightsholders ask courts to broaden copyright protections in response to generative AI. EFF argues this mirrors past panics over VTRs, player pianos, and cameras, technologies once feared to destroy creative industries but which instead expanded them. It warns that rightsholders' 'market dilution' theory, claiming AI tools threaten creative markets simply by existing, would improperly stretch copyright law based on speculation rather than evidence.
Best Buy is offering the 256GB Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra for $1,799.99, a $300 discount that marks the lowest price since the phone debuted last month. The foldable brings brighter screens, sharper cameras, faster charging, and a larger 5,000mAh battery compared to its predecessor, though its hinge durability and IP48 rating trail some rival foldables.
A new essay traces how media mogul Steve Ross built his fortune not through glamorous entertainment deals but by acquiring a series of mundane businesses—limousine rentals, parking lots, cleaning services, and building trades—before rolling them into Kinney Services and eventually using that platform to acquire Warner Bros. The piece highlights the overlooked, unglamorous groundwork that preceded his transformation into one of America's best-paid executives, earning $78 million in 1990.
GoPro has been bought by Starman Holding, a diversified holding company with ties to phone case brands like Incipio and Incase, in a $285 million cash deal characterized as a merger. GoPro CEO Nick Woodman is now positioning the company as an imaging and optics business serving national security, AI infrastructure, and aerospace markets rather than just consumer action cameras. The deal follows closely on the heels of YouTuber Markiplier becoming GoPro's largest shareholder without disclosing it in a sponsored review.
POCO has launched the F9 Ultra and F9 Pro globally, rebadged versions of China's Redmi K100 Pro Max and Redmi K100 Pro. Both share a 6.9-inch 185Hz OLED display, 200MP main camera, 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, and an IP68 rating, while the Ultra adds a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, an 8,050mAh battery, and a Bose-branded rear speaker. Pricing is expected to start around $858.
Xiaomi's Poco brand has introduced the F9 Ultra, a midrange phone packing a 6.9-inch AMOLED screen with a 185Hz refresh rate, an 8,050mAh battery, and last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. The device also includes a 200MP main camera, 5x periscope telephoto, 100W wired charging, Bose-tuned sound, and a company spokesperson says pricing will land under $800 when it launches globally, though it won't be sold in the US.
Sony's Bravia Theater Trio is a 3.0.2-channel speaker system that splits audio across a center and two side units instead of using a traditional single soundbar. It performs well with TV dialogue and movie sound effects, and delivers warm, detailed sound for acoustic music genres, though it lacks low-end bass power for heavier music styles.