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Tech News
Developer Vidit Bhargava built an app called Duo-Man at a hackathon that recreates the Sony Walkman experience on Apple's folding iPhone Duo. Users open the device to select and 'insert' a virtual cassette and close it to start playback, with recorded button clicks and static from a real Walkman for authenticity. Bhargava says the app, originally just a fun demo, will now be released publicly.
Nothing has released the Headphone (1) Pro, a flagship follow-up to last year's Headphone (1), featuring a new three-driver system with bass, precision, and treble xMEMS drivers tuned with London's Metropolis Studios. The headphones add a 10-microphone adaptive noise cancellation system rated up to 46 dB, Hi-Res wireless and wired audio support up to 24-bit/192kHz, five Dynamic Spatial Audio modes, and an aluminum-and-titanium build with Nothing's signature transparent design.
The author, who previously wrote a widely shared post titled 'Six Months Sober,' has published a follow-up describing 13 months without alcohol. He reports that the novelty of sobriety's benefits has faded, though he still notices improved sleep and clearer thinking, and he says he now mentions his sobriety to fewer people.
A tech reviewer has published a list of budget-friendly earbuds that rival Apple's AirPods Pro 3, which cost $249. All the recommended alternatives include active noise cancellation, matching the core feature set of Apple's buds, though they lack the deep iPhone, iPad and Mac integration that AirPods Pro offer.
Sony told Bloomberg that neither it nor its affiliates will exhibit products at CES in January 2027, ending its decades-long presence at the show. The company said it is shifting emphasis toward entertainment businesses including games, anime, film and music, along with its intellectual property and creator-support technology.
State Sen. John Kane has introduced the Protect Our Games Act in Pennsylvania, which would require video game publishers to give 60 days' notice before cutting off access to a title. Companies would then have to offer offline play, a server-independent patch, or a refund based on the game's highest price over the past year, capped at no less than 25% of its original cost.
Sennheiser's new Momentum 5 headphones, priced at $399.99, were tested over several weeks for sound quality, noise cancellation, comfort and battery life. The company doubled the microphone count to eight for active noise cancellation and rates the battery at up to 57 hours, a figure the reviewer says held up in testing. The headphones also support Dolby Atmos and are positioned below rivals like the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Apple AirPods Max 2 in price.
Letterboxd, the film-tracking social app founded in 2011 by Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, is reportedly being shopped for more than $300 million. Potential buyers named include The New York Times, A24, and Sony Pictures, according to a Times report. The company is projected to earn about $15 million this year and has grown to 30 million users, up from 1.8 million in 2020.
Sony Music and Universal Music Group have sued AI music generator Suno again, alleging its newly launched v6 model still infringes their copyrights. The labels argue v6 was trained on outputs from Suno's earlier models, which themselves relied on unlicensed music, and that this 'model laundering' carries the infringement forward even without direct use of the original recordings.
A Sony patent published September 17, 2026 (filed March 2025) describes a PlayStation controller with NFC capability that could let users tap a phone or swipe a card against it to make purchases. The filing outlines uses including buying games, adding funds via gift cards, transferring player IDs, letting guests join multiplayer sessions, and sending screenshots or recordings to a phone.
Letterboxd, the social network for film enthusiasts, is reportedly close to being sold at a valuation of $300 million, according to sources cited by the New York Times. Potential buyers named include A24, Sony, and the New York Times itself, though no deal has been finalized.
Sony has filed a patent describing a cloud-based AI system that continuously monitors consumer devices like PlayStations, TVs, and headsets to detect software problems. When an issue arises, the system can generate a diagnostic tool, analyze the results, and either write and deploy a fix automatically or escalate the issue to a human technician. The patent indicates the cloud 'brain' would select from multiple large language models to write and upload firmware or OS-level updates, potentially without notifying the user.