Tech

ChatGPT rival gets more free features as ads arrive

Published

4 hours ago

13 February 2026

Anthropic has upgraded Claude’s free tier, adding features previously reserved for paying users. The timing comes as OpenAI prepares to introduce ads into ChatGPT, highlighting the different paths the two AI rivals are taking.

To start off, free Claude users can now create and edit files directly in the chatbot. Yes, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and PDFs are now real, supported formats in the free platform. The feature runs on Anthropic’s Sonnet 4.5 model, which is known to power Claude’s productivity tools.

What’s more is that connectors are now also available without charge. This integration links Claude to third‑party services such as Canva, Slack, Notion, Zapier, and PayPal. Free users can now automate workflows and connect conversations with external platforms.

Then, there’s the obvious upgrade of skill. The company now lets users teach Claude to complete specific tasks in repeatable ways. Now, Claude can handle structured processes more efficiently by loading folders of instructions, scripts, resources, and more.

Other upgrades include longer conversations, interactive responses, and improved voice and image search. Together, they make Claude’s free tier more capable and closer to the paid experience.

Anthropic’s announcement appears timed to contrast with OpenAI’s move to add ads in ChatGPT’s Free and Go tiers. Claude’s update ended with the tagline “No ads in sight,” reinforcing the company’s promise to keep its chatbot ad‑free.

The rivalry has even spilled into the realm of marketing. Anthropic ran a Super Bowl ad poking fun at OpenAI’s monetization strategy, positioning Claude as a more independent alternative.

For savvy AI users out there, the changes mean more choice. ChatGPT’s free tier will soon include ads, while Claude’s free tier now offers expanded tools without cost. Paid Claude plans still include higher limits and faster performance, but the gap between free and paid has greatly narrowed.

Anthropic’s move signals a clear strategy: attract users by offering more utility without advertising. Free tiers are becoming battlegrounds for user loyalty and frankly, a testing ground on monetisation within things we consume on a daily basis.

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Samsung’s new Penta QD-OLED tech promises brighter, longer-lasting screens

Published

11 minutes ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Samsung Display has officially named its latest QD-OLED panel upgrade — QD-OLED Penta Tandem — and it’s designed to boost brightness and durability across premium monitors and TVs.

The key change is a shift to a five-layer blue OLED structure, up from four layers in the previous generation.

Samsung says this revised stack, combined with updated organic materials, spreads energy more efficiently across the panel. The result is higher brightness potential and longer lifespan without simply pushing more power through the display.

That matters most as screens get sharper. With higher pixel density — particularly in smaller 4K monitors — each pixel has less physical space to emit light. Keeping brightness consistent becomes harder. Samsung claims the Penta Tandem design improves luminous efficiency by 1.3x over last year’s panels and doubles panel lifespan. Consequently, this potentially allows either brighter highlights at the same power draw or similar brightness with lower strain.

On headline figures, Samsung cites peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits for TVs and 1,300 nits for monitors, measured at a 3% on-pixel ratio (OPR). While that represents a small highlight window, it’s a useful indicator of HDR headroom for specular highlights like reflections or UI elements.

The upgrade is rolling out across several flagship panel sizes this year, including 27-inch 4K (160 PPI), 31.5-inch 4K, 34-inch WQHD, and an upcoming 49-inch Dual QHD model. Additionally, Samsung says the same five-layer approach has already appeared in high-end self-emissive TV lineups from major partners since 2025.

High-resolution monitors could see the biggest benefit. Samsung points to its 27-inch 4K QD-OLED panel at 160 pixels per inch, claiming it’s currently the highest pixel density among self-emissive gaming monitors. In fact, Samsung is the only company mass-producing that specification.

There’s also a certification angle. Panels using Penta Tandem can meet VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500, and Samsung says the only 31.5-inch UHD monitor currently certified at that level is built on its panel.

For shoppers, “Penta Tandem” isn’t a model name but a panel generation marker. Therefore, if you’re considering a 2026 OLED monitor or TV, it’s worth checking whether it uses the new five-layer stack — especially if strong HDR highlights and long-term panel health are priorities.

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The best power banks and portable chargers for every device in 2026

Published

22 minutes ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Finding yourself far from a wall socket when your phone hits five percent is positively nervewracking. If you stash a portable battery in your bag, you can avoid that feeling altogether. But there are thousands of power banks out there and it can be tough to pick the right one for what you need. I’ve spent a few years testing dozens of batteries and found the best power banks for different scenarios. Whether you need a quick reup for your phone or a huge brick to keep your laptop alive, you’ll find something fitting here.

Best power banks for 2026

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Anker’s MagGo Power Bank was one of the first Qi2-certified products to come on the market, and the new standard has made the brand’s popular MagSafe/kickstand model much faster. It’s the most well-rounded best MagSafe battery I’ve tested, but if you’re looking for other options, we have an entire MagSafe power bank guide to peruse.

It brought an iPhone 15 from near-dead to half-full in about 45 minutes. For reference, it took our former top pick in this category an hour and a half to do the same. It’s similarly faster than Anker’s previous generation of this model, the 633, as well. After that initial refill, the MagGo 10K had enough left over to get the phone up to 70 percent on a subsequent charge.

In addition to faster charging speeds, this wireless power bank adds a LCD display to indicate the battery percentage left in the bank, plus the approximate amount of time before it’s full (when it’s refilling) or empty (when it’s doing the charging). A strong MagSafe connection makes it easy to use the phone while it charges and the small kickstand creates a surprisingly sturdy base for watching videos and the like. If you twist the phone to landscape, StandBy mode kicks in.

The power bank did a fine job of charging our Galaxy S23 Ultra — though that model doesn’t have Qi2 support. New Pixel 10 phones do, so those handsets will charge at a faster rate with this battery — and benefit from zero-effort magnetic alignment. The MagGo also has a USB-C port, so if you need to fill up something without wireless capabilities, you can.

Pros

Qi2 tech enables extra fast wireless charging
Sturdy kickstand props up iPhones as it charges
LED display for battery percentage

Cons

More expensive than other MagSafe packs

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

The Anker Nano power bank has impressive power delivery for its size. It’s the exact size and shape of the lipstick case my grandma used to carry and has a built-in USB-C connector that folds down when you’re not using it. That means that, in addition to being ultra-portable, you don’t need to remember to grab a charging cable when you toss it in your bag. There’s also a built-in USB-C port that can refill the battery or be used to fill up a different device with an adapter cable. Four indicator lights let you know how much charge remains in the battery.

In my testing, the 5,000mAh battery provided enough charge to get a depleted Galaxy S23 Ultra back up to 65 percent in about an hour. That’s relatively quick, but the Nano is also small enough that, with its sturdy connection, you can use your phone while it’s charging without feeling too awkward. The charger’s small size also makes it a good pick for recharging earbuds.

For a little more juice and an equally clever design, Anker’s 30W Nano Power Bank is a good option for delivering a single charge. It’s bigger in size and capacity (10,000mAh) and includes a display indicating the remaining charge percentage. The built-in USB-C cable doubles as a carry handle, which is a nice touch. That cable is in/out and there’s another USB-C in-out port in addition to an out-only USB-A port.

Cons

Small enough to get misplaced

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

The toughest thing about using a power bank is remembering to bring it along. You also have to remember a cable and, if you want to refill the bank itself, a wall adapter. Anker’s 10K Fusion solves two of those problems with its attached USB-C cable for your gadget and foldable two-prong plug for charging the bank itself (yes, you still have to remember to bring the thing with you).

Despite the attachments, it’s compact, just a smidge wider than a stick of butter, yet still packs a 10,000 mAh capacity. The 30 watts of power enabled the “Super Fast Charging” message on a Galaxy S23 android phone and got it from five percent to full in just over an hour. In just 20 minutes, the 10K Fusion bumped a near-dead iPhone 15 to 45 percent. Though it slowed down towards the end of the Apple handset’s charge.

There’s an additional USB-C port for charging devices that may require a different cable and both it and the built-in connector can be used to refill the power bank. The cable makes a neat loop that looks a lot like a handle. Even though I’m wary of carrying a device around by its cord, it felt sturdy enough.

The onboard display indicates the Fusion’s remaining charge in terms of a percentage and was one of the more accurate readouts I’ve tested. I also like the corduroy texture along the sides — very fidget-worthy.

Our previous pick in this low-capacity category, the BioLite Charge 40 PD, is still an excellent choice — it’s durable, delivers a quick charge and looks cool. I use it often myself. Plus BioLite has an admirable mission of bringing energy to places where it’s otherwise scarce. But Anker’s new release, the 10K Fusion simply delivers a faster charge and more features at a lower price.

Pros

Has a built-in USB-C cable
Also has built-in wall prongs
Display is fairly accurate
Affordable

Cons

iPhone charging is slower than other banks in its range

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

An integrated cable seems to be the hot new feature in portable chargers — and I’m all for it. I can remember times when I’ve had a dead phone and power bank, but no way to connect the two. The Belkin Boost Charge 20K with Integrated Cable is one such bank I’ve tested and also one of the more affordable examples.

It can output a maximum of 30 watts, which doesn’t make it the fastest charger around, but it wasn’t a slouch. It charged a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra from near-dead to full in an hour and 15 minutes and bumped an iPhone 15 from five to 87 percent in just over an hour. And the 20,000mAh capacity means it can achieve those numbers around three times over.

In addition to the built-in (and conveniently magnetized) USB-C cable, there are two other ports: an out-only USB-A and an in/out Type C. That means you can technically charge three devices at the same time, but just note that the amount of charge and the time it takes for things to refill will both take a hit.

There’s no digital screen to tell you how much charge remains in the battery, just four indicator LEDs. I’ve certainly found display readouts to be helpful in determining just how much more juice I can squeeze out of a battery, but the lighted pips here are accurate and still useful.

While color options probably won’t make or break your battery pack purchase, I appreciate that the BoostCharge 20K comes in something other than standard black. You can of course get it in that shade, but also in blue, pink or white. The pink of my tester unit was pale and pretty and the matte finish does a good job of staying clean — some black smudges from who-knows-what in my bag came off easily with some rubbing alcohol.

Pros

Built-in USB-C cable is handy
Comes in four color options
Affordable
Great capacity for the price

Cons

Charge isn’t as fast as other banks

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Nimble’s Champ Pro battery delivers a screaming fast charge and got a Galaxy S23 Ultra from five percent to full in under an hour. That’s faster than every other battery I tested except for Anker’s Laptop Power Bank, our premium pick — and that model costs $30 more. It lent nearly three full charges to both an iPhone and Galaxy device and has enough juice to refill an iPad more than once. The battery pack itself also re-ups from the wall noticeably faster than other models, so it’ll get you out the door quicker.

The company, Nimble, is a certified B-Corp, meaning they aim for higher environmental and social standards and verify their efforts through independent testing. The Champ Pro uses 90 percent post-consumer plastic and comes in packaging made from paper scrap with a bag for shipping back your old battery (or other tech) for recycling.

The unit itself feels sturdy and has a compact shape that’s a little narrower than a smartphone and about as long. The attached adjustable lanyard is cute, if a little superfluous, and the marbled effect from the recycled plastics give it a nice aesthetic. You can charge devices from both USB-C ports simultaneously, and both are input/output plugs.

My only qualm was with the four indicator lights. On a second testing round, it dropped down to just one remaining pip, yet went on to deliver a full fill-up plus an additional top off after that. That said, I’m glad the indicator lights under-estimated the remaining charge rather than the other way around, and the accuracy seemed to improve after subsequent depletions and refills.

Pros

Super fast charging
Made from recycled materials
Sturdy and compact design

Cons

Indicator lights underestimate charge

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

The compact and rounded design of the Biolite Charge 100 Max makes it more packable and conducive to travel than the Lion Eclipse Mag. It was also a touch faster in refilling most devices, but since the Charge 100W is $50 more expensive for slightly less capacity, it earns runner-up status.

In addition to four USB ports (three Type-C and one Type-A) It has a MagSafe-compatible wireless charging pad on one side, with a maximum output of 15 watts. The magnetic hold is enough to keep it in place as it charges, but it’s not as strong as you’ll find on smaller MagSafe batteries — I wouldn’t carry it around during a refill.

The 10 LED pips indicate the remaining charge and I found those to be pretty accurate, though the last pip doesn’t flash before it dies like other batteries. The rubberized texture and yellow accents are a welcome aesthetic change from the techy black look of most larger batteries — and it’s quite nice to hold. There’s also plenty to appreciate about the company itself: a climate neutral-certified B-Corporation that helps bring lights and cook stoves to energy impoverished areas around the world.

Pros

Compact and colorful design
Delivers a quick charge to phones, tablets and laptops
Company is a climate neutral-certified

Cons

More expensive than similar-capacity batteries

Amy Skorheim for Engadget

The only thing worse than needing a power bank and not having one is having one but no way to connect it to your device. The Anker laptop power bank with built-in cable forgoes any clever naming scheme, but makes sure you’re never left without a way to charge your stuff.

It has two attached USB-C cables: one attached to the side of the battery that acts as a carrying cable and another retractable cord that extends up to two feet. Both handle in/out functions so you can use them to refill a device or reup the battery itself.

The display tells you the amount of charge remaining in the battery pack as well as the output wattage that’s funneling towards your devices from each port. When refilling the battery, you can see an estimate of how long it will be until the unit is full. Calculating and displaying info like that takes up a bit of power but, in my testing, the unit outputs the same or a higher amount of charge compared with other 25,000 mAh batteries.

It’s an attractive, high-capacity bank, with matte silver exterior and a smaller display area than Anker’s Prime bank (our previous pick for this category). One of my concerns with that battery was the huge display area which was easily scratched. This newer unit feels more durable.

It’s worth it at just $15 more than Anker’s popular Powercore bank, as that bank doesn’t have built-in cables.

Pros

Two built-in USB-C cables so you’re never without a cord
Durable build
Display shows detailed charging information
Delivers a fast charge

Cons

Screen picks up smudges easily

Anker

I knew it wouldn’t be long before I came across an app-connected power bank — the portable battery landscape is crowded and brands are no doubt looking for ways to stand out. Anker’s latest Prime Power Bank (26K, 300W) does stand out, but it’s not because of the app. Yes, it works, letting you see the remaining charge, how much power is going to a device and other bits of data on your phone. But I can’t imagine this info being important to most people. If it is, the same numbers are available on its built-in display anyway.

What’s actually impressive are the speeds the bank delivers, the large capacity and the extra simple recharging via the optional base. The three ports can be used all at once, with the two USB-C ports delivering up to 140 watts each. It’s tough to think of a scenario where that actually happens, as most devices recharge far below that wattage, but if you ever need to partially charge two high powered laptops at the same time, you can.

More commonly, the battery will simply give phones, tablets and laptops speedy refills. It got a near-dead iPhone 15 to 60 percent in a half hour and delivered more charge to my MacBook Pro than any other battery I’ve tested. The display not only tells you how much charge is left in the battery, it also has a temperature gauge — a wise thing to keep an eye on when it comes to lithium ion batteries.

The attractive and sleek design has a shiny black front where the display lives and a matte silver body. The bank is more compact than most 27,000mAh batteries out there. Anker made the battery a little wider and flatter than the last round of Prime devices, which makes it a bit easier to handle and somehow looks more elegant than the square brick did.

The charging power base is a separate (and optional) purchase, but it makes recharging the battery extra convenient — you just plunk it down and walk away. It’s the same base used with the previous line of Anker Prime batteries, so if you have one already, you’re set. Unfortunately the base costs $110. Combined with the battery, that’s more than $300, but if you want a truly premium power bank, this is it.

Pros

Delivers a super fast charge
Sleek and premium design
Display shows remaining charge and battery temperature

Cons

Pricey, especially with the optional base

Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget

Plenty of battery packs are built to withstand drops and other abuse, but very few are waterproof or even water resistance. It makes sense; water and electrical charges aren’t good companions. The Nestout Portable Charger battery has an IP67 rating, which means it can handle being submerged in water for a number of minutes, and Nestout claims a 30-minute dunk in a meter of water shouldn’t interfere with the battery’s operation. I couldn’t think of a likely scenario where a power bank would spend a half hour in three feet of water, but I could see a backpacker traversing a river and submerging their pack for a few minutes, or a sudden downpour drenching all of their gear. So I tested by dropping the battery in a five gallon bucket of water for five minutes. After drying it off, the unit performed as if it had never been wet.

The water resistance comes courtesy of screw-on caps with silicone gaskets that physically keep the water out, so you’ll need to make sure you tighten (but don’t over tighten) the caps whenever you think wetness is in your future. The company also claims the battery lives up to a military-standard shock/drop specification which sounds impressive, but it’s hard to pin down what exactly that means. I figured it should at minimum survive repeated drops from chest height onto a hard surface, and it did.

As for charging speeds, it wasn’t quite as quick as our recommendation for a mid-capacity bank. The Belkin charged an iPhone 15 to 80 percent in under an hour and the Nestout got the smaller iPhone 11 to 80 percent in a little more than that. Another thing to note is that the supplied cable is short, just seven inches total, so you’ll likely want to use your own cord.

Nestout also makes accessories for its batteries, which I found delightful. A dimmable LED worklight snaps on to the top of the battery while a small tripod holds them both up. The portable solar panel reminded me of a baby version of Biolite’s camping panels. Nestout’s version refilled the 15,000mAh bank to 40 percent in under three hours, which sounds slow, but is actually fairly impressive considering the compact size of the panels. This is also a blazingly hot summer, so I’d expect better performance in more reasonable weather.

Pros

Waterproof with the caps secured
Clever accessories (sold separately)
Survived drop tests

Cons

Not the fastest charge times
Included cable is short

What to look for in a portable battery pack

Battery type

Nearly every rechargeable power bank you can buy (and most portable devices) contain a lithium-ion battery. These beat other current battery types in terms of size-to-charge capacity, and have even increased in energy density by eight fold in the past 14 years. They also don’t suffer from a memory effect (where a battery’s lifespan deteriorates due to partial charges).

Flying with portable batteries

You may have heard about lithium ion batteries overheating and catching fire — a recent Hong Kong flight was grounded after just such a thing happened in an overhead bin. Current restrictions implemented by the TSA still allow external batteries rated at 100Wh or less (which all of our recommendations are) to fly with you, but only in your carry-on luggage — they can’t be checked.

Recently, Southwest Airlines was the first in the industry to take that rule one step further. Now, flyers on that airline must keep power banks in clear view when using them to recharge a device. If the portable charger isn’t actively in use, however, it can stay in your carry-on bag in the overhead bin.

Capacity

Power bank manufacturers almost always list a battery’s capacity in milliamp hours, or mAh. Smaller batteries with a 5,000mAh capacity make good phone chargers and can fill a smartphone to between 50 and 75 percent. Larger batteries that can recharge laptops and tablets, or give phones multiple charges, can exceed 25,000mAh and we have a separate guide that covers that entire category.

Unsurprisingly, the prices on most batteries goes up as mAh capacity increases, and since batteries are physical storage units, size and weight go up with capacity as well. If you want more power, be prepared to spend more and carry around a heavier brick.

You might think that a 10,000mAh power bank could charge a 5,000mAh phone to 100 percent twice, but that’s not the case. In addition to simple energy loss through heat dissipation, factors like voltage conversion also bring down the amount of juice that makes it into your phone. Most manufacturers list how many charges a battery can give a certain smartphone. In our tests, 10,000mAh of battery pack capacity translated to roughly 5,800mAh of device charge. 20,000mAh chargers delivered around 11,250mAh to a device, and 25,000mAh banks translated to about 16,200mAh of charge. That’s an average efficiency rate of around 60 percent.

Wireless

Wireless charging, whether through a bank or a plugged-in charging pad, is less efficient than wired connections. But it is convenient — and in most cases, you can carry around and use your phone as it refills with a magnetically attached power bank.

Power banks with wireless charging are far better than they once were. Just a couple years ago, the ones I tested were too inefficient to recommend in this guide. When batteries adhering to the Qi2 wireless charging standard started arriving in 2023, performance markedly improved.

To gain Qi2-certification, a device has to support speeds of up to 15 watts and include magnetic attachment points. The MagSafe technology on iPhones were once the only handsets that were Qi2-compatible, but now Google’s Pixelsnap tech brings both the higher speed and magnetic grip to Pixel 10 phones. Samsung may follow up with its own version in future releases.

The latest wireless charging standard, Q12 25W, is supported by the new iPhone 17 phones as well as the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Battery packs that are Qi2 25W-enabled are starting to hit the market as well, and the Ugreen MagFlow was the first on the scene.

Ports

USB-C ports can deliver faster charges than USB-A ports, and most of the portable chargers we recommend here have Type-C connections. But Type-A jacks are still handy if you need to use a specialized cable for a certain device (my camera’s USB-A to micro USB cable comes to mind).

There’s also variation among USB-C ports. Larger banks with more than one port will sometimes list different wattages for each. For example, a bank with three ports may have two 65W ports and one 100W port. There will also be at least one in/out port on the bank, which can be used to charge the battery itself or to deliver a charge to your device. Wattages and in/out labels are printed right next to the port — and always in the tiniest font possible (remember, your phone is an excellent magnifying glass if you ever have trouble reading them).

As with standard wall chargers, the port’s wattage will determine what you can charge. A phone will happily charge off a 100W connection, but a 15W plug won’t do much for your laptop. And remember, the cable has to match the maximum wattage. A cable rated for 60W won’t deliver 100W speeds.

Luckily, some of the best power banks include a built-in USB-C cable. That’ll not only ensure you have the right cord, it’s one less thing you have to remember to bring along.

Design

Once, most rechargeable batteries were black with a squared-off, brick-like design, but now they come in different colors and shapes with attractive finishes and detailing. While that doesn’t affect how they perform, it’s a consideration for something you’ll interact with regularly. Some portable power banks include extra features like MagSafe compatibility, a built-in wall plug or even a kickstand. Nearly all have some sort of indicator to let you know how much available charge your power bank has left, usually expressed with lighted pips near the power button. Some of the newer banks take that a step further with an LED display indicating remaining battery percentage.

How we test best power banks

First, I considered brands Engadget reviewers and staff have tried over the years and checked out customer ratings on retail sites like Amazon and Best Buy. Then, I acquired the most promising candidates and tested them in my home office.

an assortment of power banks sit on a wooden table — Amy Skorheim for Engadget

For testing, I used each battery to charge both an iPhone and an Android phone, as well as an iPad and a MacBook Pro for the larger portable chargers. I let the devices get down to between zero and five percent and charged them until the devices were full or the power bank died.

For reference, here are the battery capacities of the device I’ve used for testing over the years:

iPhone 14 Plus: 4,325 mAh
Galaxy S22 Ultra: 4,855mAh
16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro: 27,027mAh

*The iPhone 17 has a slightly larger battery at 3,692mAh

I continuously update this guide as companies release new products.

Other power banks we tested

Here are a few picks that didn’t quite make the cut, but are worth mentioning.

Belkin Stage PowerGrip

If you’re into iPhonography, this clever accessory could be worth a look. Belkin’s Stage PowerGrip is a 9,300mAh power bank that has both a wireless charging pad and built-in cable. But it’s also a Bluetooth shutter with a quarter-inch tripod thread. The design resembles a standard digital camera and provides a sturdy grip once you magnetically attach your phone (make sure you’re either using a MagSafe case or no case to ensure a solid connection).

The shutter is conveniently placed and the remote speed was quick enough to capture the cute things my cat was doing. The accessory can even act as a stand while it charges in either landscape or portrait orientation. As a power bank, it’s slow, taking about two hours to get my iPhone 16 from three to 98 percent, but it has enough juice for a full refill plus a little more, which could help if you’re out taking pictures all day.

Anker MagGo for Apple Watch power bank

The Anker MagGo for Apple Watch power bank combines a 10K battery with a built-in USB-C cable and a pop-up Apple Watch charger. I didn’t formally test it as it’s a little too niche, but it deserves a mention for saving my keister on two occasions. Driving to a hike, my watch told me it was down to 10 percent. Thankfully, I had this and could refill the watch before I got to the trailhead. Later, on an interstate trip, I realized the travel charging station I’d brought was a dud. This kept my watch alive for the week I was away. It does a good job simply charging a phone via the handy on-board cable, too. But for those with an Apple Watch, it’s extra useful.

HyperJuice 245W

Hyper’s massive-but-sleek brick is one nice looking power bank. The HyperJuice 245W packs a hefty 27,000mAh capacity, enough to refill my tester phone about four times and get a MacBook Pro from near-dead to 75 percent. It only has USB-C ports, but you at least get four of them. USB-C only is probably fine for most situations, but a USB-A port would be nice for charging the occasional older peripheral. The 245 wattage is pretty high for a power bank and it was indeed speedy. It filled a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in just over an hour. But it’s the same price and capacity as our Mophie Powerstation pick for laptop banks, and that one has a better variety of ports. Hyper’s battery is also comparable to Anker’s laptop battery, which is cheaper, has built-in cables and has nearly the same capacity. Plus, that bank is just as swanky looking.

EcoFlow Rapid magnetic power bank

I was curious to try out the first power bank from EcoFlow, a company that primarily makes larger power stations and whole-home backup batteries. The first offering in the brand’s Rapid series is a Qi2-enabled magnetic charger with a 5,000mAh capacity. It looks quite nice with shiny silver accents and soft-touch grey plastic on the MagSafe-compatible front. There’s a little pull-out leg that sturdily displays your phone as it charges and the attached USB-C cable lets you refill devices directly, then tucks out of the way when it’s not in use. But it didn’t outperform our top pick in the MagSafe category, in terms of both charging speeds and the amount of charge delivered.

Mophie Snap+ Powerstation Mini

The Mophie snap+ Powerstation Mini is terribly well-built. It feels premium with a rubberized contact point for the MagSafe charging pad and a stand that runs the entire width of the bank itself, making it extra sturdy. It’s compact, too, but only carries a 5,000mAh capacity, which gets you a partial charge on most newer or larger phones. Our current MagSafe/iPhone pick has double the capacity, a stand and a digital display — for just $20 more than the Powerstation Mini.

Power bank FAQs

What’s the difference between a portable power bank and a portable charger?

A slew of terms are used to describe power banks, including portable batteries, portable chargers, external battery packs and even, somewhat confusingly, USB chargers, which is what wall chargers are often called. They all mean the same thing: a lithium ion battery that stores a charge so you can refill a smartphone, tablet, earbuds, console controller, ereader, laptop, or just about any other device with its own built-in, rechargeable battery.

There’s little difference between the terms, so the specs you’ll want to pay attention to are capacity (expressed in mAh), size and weight so you can find the right balance between recharging what you need and portability.

Power stations, on the other hand, are distinct. These are bigger units (often around the size of a car battery) that can be used to charge multiple devices multiple times, but notably, they can’t be taken on airplanes.

Does fast charging actually ruin your battery?

Not exactly. The real enemy of a battery’s longevity is heat. The faster you charge a battery, the more heat is generated. Modern phones have features that keep the battery cool while charging, like physical heat shields and heat sinks, as well as software features that slow down processes that generate too much heat. Phone manufacturers are keen to promote a phone’s fast-charging abilities, so they had to figure out ways to make faster charging work.

While there aren’t long-term studies on what fast charging does to a phone, a study on EV batteries (which use the same general concept of charged lithium ions flowing from one side of the battery to the other, absorbing or releasing a usable charge) showed a very slight decrease in capacity over time with only fast charging — though what actually made a larger difference was how hot the battery itself was, due to ambient temperatures, when it was charged.

In short, fast charging could be slightly harder on your battery than normal charging. But the safeguards most smartphones have make that difference fairly negligible. To really ensure you’re optimizing charging capabilities, limit your phone’s heat exposure overall.

Can you use a power bank for all your devices?

That depends on the size of the bank and the size of your device’s battery. A small 5,000mAh battery isn’t strong enough to charge laptops, but a portable charger with a 20,000mAh capacity will give your computer a partial refill. You also have to consider port compatibility. If your device has a USB port, you’ll be able to easily find a cable to connect it to a battery. If your device has a more unique port, such as a DC port, you won’t be able to use a battery. Devices with an AC cable and plug can be charged, and sometimes powered (such as in the case of a printer or speaker), by larger laptop batteries with AC ports.

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Stanhope AI raises $8M to build adaptive AI for robotics and defence

Published

36 minutes ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

London-based deep tech startup Stanhope AI has closed a €6.7 million ($8 million) Seed funding round to advance what it calls a new class of adaptive artificial intelligence designed to power autonomous systems in the physical world.

The round was led by Frontline Ventures, with participation from Paladin Capital Group, Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, UCL Technology Fund, and MMC Ventures.

The company says its approach moves beyond the pattern-matching strengths of large language models, aiming instead for systems that can perceive, reason, and act with a degree of context awareness in uncertain environments.

Stanhope is developing what it terms a “Real World Model”, building on principles from neuroscience and computational theory to allow machines to learn and adapt on the fly.

“We’re moving from language-based AI to intelligence that possesses the ability to act to understand its world – a system with a fundamental agency,” says Professor Rosalyn Moran, CEO and co-founder of Stanhope AI.

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Her team includes theoretical neurobiologist Professor Karl Friston, whose work on the Free Energy Principle informs the startup’s methodology.

Rather than relying on cloud-centric deep learning, Stanhope’s models are designed to run efficiently on edge devices with limited data and power. That fits a broader industry shift toward on-device AI, where systems must operate reliably in dynamic settings such as autonomous vehicles, robots, and defence hardware.

The firm says its technology is already being tested on drones and other autonomous platforms with international partners.

Stanhope’s funding comes amid sustained investor interest in AI and autonomy startups across Europe. In recent months, companies from robotic manufacturing to defence software have attracted capital, underscoring demand for systems that go beyond conventional machine learning.

Frontline Ventures partner Zoe Chambers said Stanhope’s progress from academic research to production-ready systems was a rare combination in the industry, and that the technology had clear potential in domains where machines must react and adapt in real time.

Christopher Steed of Paladin Capital Group highlighted the relevance of adaptive AI for critical and security-sensitive applications.

Founded in 2023 as a spin-out from University College London and King’s College London, Stanhope AI aims to carve a niche at the intersection of robotics, industrial automation, and defense.

The new capital will help push its technology further into real-world deployments, where adaptability and resilience are often the key barriers to broader adoption.

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Have an old Mac, iPhone, or iPad gathering dust? Get down to Best Buy right now to trade it in for generous savings on new Apple products

Published

51 minutes ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

What to do with old tech can be a bit of a pain, especially if said gadgets are from premium brands like Apple. While it can be handy to have a spare secondary iPhone or iPad to hand in case a newer model goes wrong, sometimes such devices can sit in a drawer or cupboard and just gather dust.

Trading in Apple items to get a newer version is one way around that, but the trade-in values aren’t always great. But as we approach the Presidents’ Day sales, Best Buy is running an ‘Apple Trade-up Event’, offering some compelling value estimates for people looking to upgrade a whole host of Apple devices.

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Daily Deal: Hypergear 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Dock

Published

1 hour ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

from the good-deals-on-cool-stuff dept

The Hypergear 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Dock is meticulously engineered to reduce the cable clutter and streamline your daily routine. Featuring 2 dedicated wireless charging surfaces, you can power up your phone and AirPods easily. In addition, you can charge your Apple Watch with the built-in charger mount. Stylish and compact, the dock is perfect for your tabletop, desk, or nightstand and will effortlessly charge your everyday essentials in one convenient place. It’s on sale for $33.

Note: The Techdirt Deals Store is powered and curated by StackCommerce. A portion of all sales from Techdirt Deals helps support Techdirt. The products featured do not reflect endorsements by our editorial team.

Filed Under: daily deal

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How to test OpenClaw without giving an autonomous agent shell access to your corporate laptop

Published

1 hour ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Your developers are already running OpenClaw at home. Censys tracked the open-source AI agent from roughly 1,000 instances to over 21,000 publicly exposed deployments in under a week. Bitdefender’s GravityZone telemetry, drawn specifically from business environments, confirmed the pattern security leaders feared: employees deploying OpenClaw on corporate machines with single-line install commands, granting autonomous agents shell access, file system privileges, and OAuth tokens to Slack, Gmail, and SharePoint.

CVE-2026-25253, a one-click remote code execution flaw rated CVSS 8.8, lets attackers steal authentication tokens through a single malicious link and achieve full gateway compromise in milliseconds. A separate command injection vulnerability, CVE-2026-25157, allowed arbitrary command execution through the macOS SSH handler. A security analysis of 3,984 skills on the ClawHub marketplace found that 283, about 7.1% of the entire registry, contain critical security flaws that expose sensitive credentials in plaintext. And a separate Bitdefender audit found roughly 17% of skills it analyzed exhibited malicious behavior outright.

The credential exposure extends beyond OpenClaw itself. Wiz researchers discovered that Moltbook, the AI agent social network built on OpenClaw infrastructure, left its entire Supabase database publicly accessible with no Row Level Security enabled. The breach exposed 1.5 million API authentication tokens, 35,000 email addresses, and private messages between agents that contained plaintext OpenAI API keys. A single misconfiguration gave anyone with a browser full read and write access to every agent credential on the platform.

Setup guides say buy a Mac Mini. Security coverage says don’t touch it. Neither gives a security leader a controlled path to evaluation.

And they’re coming fast. OpenAI’s Codex app hit 1 million downloads in its first week. Meta has been spotted testing OpenClaw integration in its AI platform codebase. A startup called ai.com spent $8 million on a Super Bowl ad to promote what turned out to be an OpenClaw wrapper, weeks after the project went viral.

Security leaders need a middle path between ignoring OpenClaw and deploying it on production hardware. Cloudflare’s Moltworker framework provides one: ephemeral containers that isolate the agent, encrypted R2 storage for persistent state, and Zero Trust authentication on the admin interface.

Why testing locally creates the risk it’s supposed to assess

OpenClaw operates with the full privileges of its host user. Shell access. File system read/write. OAuth credentials for every connected service. A compromised agent inherits all of it instantly.

Security researcher Simon Willison, who coined the term “prompt injection,” describes what he calls the “lethal trifecta” for AI agents: private data access, untrusted content exposure, and external communication capabilities combined in a single process. OpenClaw has all three — and by design. Organizational firewalls see HTTP 200. EDR systems are monitoring process behavior, not semantic content.

A prompt injection embedded in a summarized web page or forwarded email can trigger data exfiltration that looks identical to normal user activity. Giskard researchers demonstrated exactly this attack path in January, exploiting shared session context to harvest API keys, environment variables, and credentials across messaging channels.

Making matters worse, the OpenClaw gateway binds to 0.0.0.0:18789 by default, exposing its full API to any network interface. Localhost connections authenticate automatically without credentials. Deploy behind a reverse proxy on the same server, and the proxy collapses the authentication boundary entirely, forwarding external traffic as if it originated locally.

Ephemeral containers change the math

Cloudflare released Moltworker as an open-source reference implementation that decouples the agent’s brain from the execution environment. Instead of running on a machine you’re responsible for, OpenClaw’s logic runs inside a Cloudflare Sandbox, an isolated, ephemeral micro-VM that dies when the task ends.

Four layers make up the architecture. A Cloudflare Worker at the edge handles routing and proxying. The OpenClaw runtime executes inside a sandboxed container running Ubuntu 24.04 with Node.js. R2 object storage handles encrypted persistence across container restarts. Cloudflare Access enforces Zero Trust authentication on every route to the admin interface.

Containment is the security property that matters most. An agent hijacked through prompt injection gets trapped in a temporary container with zero access to your local network or files. The container dies, and the attack surface dies with it. There is nothing persistent to pivot from. No credentials sitting in a ~/.openclaw/ directory on your corporate laptop.

Four steps to a running sandbox

Getting a secure evaluation instance running takes an afternoon. Prior Cloudflare experience is not required.

Step 1: Configure storage and billing.

A Cloudflare account with a Workers Paid plan ($5/month) and an R2 subscription (free tier) covers it. The Workers plan includes access to Sandbox Containers. R2 provides encrypted persistence so conversation history and device pairings survive container restarts. For a pure security evaluation, you can skip R2 and run fully ephemeral. Data disappears on every restart, which may be exactly what you want.

Step 2: Generate tokens and deploy.

Clone the Moltworker repository, install dependencies, and set three secrets: your Anthropic API key, a randomly generated gateway token (openssl rand -hex 32), and optionally a Cloudflare AI Gateway configuration for provider-agnostic model routing. Run npm run deploy. The first request triggers container initialization with a one-to-two-minute cold start.

Step 3: Enable Zero Trust authentication.

This is where the sandbox diverges from every other OpenClaw deployment guide. Configure Cloudflare Access to protect the admin UI and all internal routes. Set your Access team domain and application audience tag as Wrangler secrets. Redeploy. Accessing the agent’s control interface now requires authentication through your identity provider. That single step eliminates the exposed admin panels and token-in-URL leakage that Censys and Shodan scans keep finding across the internet.

Step 4: Connect a test messaging channel.

Start with a burner Telegram account. Set the bot token as a Wrangler secret and redeploy. The agent is reachable through a messaging channel you control, running in an isolated container, with encrypted persistence and authenticated admin access.

Total cost for a 24/7 evaluation instance runs roughly $7 to $10 per month. Compare that to a $599 Mac Mini sitting on your desk with full network access and plaintext credentials in its home directory.

A 30-day stress test before expanding access

Resist the impulse to connect anything real. The first 30 days should run exclusively on throwaway identities.

Create a dedicated Telegram bot, and stand up a test calendar with synthetic data. If email integration matters, spin up a fresh account with no forwarding rules, no contacts, and no ties to corporate infrastructure. The point is watching how the agent handles scheduling, summarization, and web research without exposing data that would matter in a breach.

Pay close attention to credential handling. OpenClaw stores configurations in plaintext Markdown and JSON files by default, the same formats commodity infostealers like RedLine, Lumma, and Vidar have been actively targeting on OpenClaw installations. In the sandbox, that risk stays contained. On a corporate laptop, those plaintext files are sitting ducks for any malware already present on the endpoint.

The sandbox gives you a safe environment to run adversarial tests that are reckless and risky on production hardware, but there are exercises you could try:

Send the agent links to pages containing embedded prompt injection instructions and observe whether it follows them. Giskard’s research showed that agents would silently append attacker-controlled instructions to their own workspace HEARTBEAT.md file and wait for further commands from an external server. That behavior should be reproducible in a sandbox where the consequences are zero.

Grant limited tool access, and watch whether the agent requests or attempts broader permissions. Monitor the container’s outbound connections for traffic to endpoints you didn’t authorize.

Test ClawHub skills before and after installation. OpenClaw recently integrated VirusTotal scanning on the marketplace, and every published skill gets scanned automatically now. Separately, Prompt Security’s ClawSec open-source suite adds drift detection for critical agent files like SOUL.md and checksum verification for skill artifacts, providing a second layer of validation.

Feed the agent contradictory instructions from different channels. Try a calendar invite with hidden directives. Send a Telegram message that attempts to override the system prompt. Document everything. The sandbox exists so these experiments carry no production risk.

Finally, confirm the sandbox boundary holds. Attempt to access resources outside the container. Verify that container termination kills all active connections. Check whether R2 persistence exposes state that should have been ephemeral.

The playbook that outlasts OpenClaw

This exercise produces something more durable than an opinion on one tool. The pattern of isolated execution, tiered integrations, and structured validation before expanding trust becomes your evaluation framework for every agentic AI deployment that follows.

Building evaluation infrastructure now, before the next viral agent ships, means getting ahead of the shadow AI curve instead of documenting the breach it caused. The agentic AI security model you stand up in the next 30 days determines whether your organization captures the productivity gains or becomes the next disclosure.

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Apple’s Magic Mouse is down to $68 right now

Published

2 hours ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Apple’s USB-C Magic Mouse is back on sale for about $11 off its usual retail price of $79. At $68, that’s a savings of 14 percent for one of Apple’s best accessories from a company that does not often run sales.

The multi-touch mouse was first released in 2009 with a modest refresh released in 2015 and the addition of a USB-C port in 2024. The rechargeable mouse features gesture controls and automatically pairs with your Mac when connected via USB. The Magic Mouse can also be used with an iPad via Bluetooth, or with a Windows PC, though in that case, functionality would be limited.

Famously, Jony Ive’s design of the Magic Mouse sees its charge port on the underside of the body, rendering it unusable while charging. In 2024 there were rumors of a more comprehensive redesign coming but nothing has materialized since.

Apple

The deal only applies to the white model.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

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Hackaday Podcast Episode 357: BreezyBox, Antique Tech, And Defusing Killer Robots

Published

2 hours ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

In the latest episode of the Hackaday Podcast, editors Elliot Williams and Tom Nardi start things off by discussing the game of lunar hide-and-seek that has researchers searching for the lost Luna 9 probe, and drop a few hints about the upcoming Hackaday Europe conference. From there they’ll marvel over a miniature operating system for the ESP32, examine the re-use of iPad displays, and find out about homebrew software development for an obscure Nintendo handheld. You’ll also hear about a gorgeous RGB 14-segment display, a robot that plays chess, and a custom 3D printed turntable for all your rotational needs. The episode wraps up with a sobering look at the dangers of industrial robotics, and some fascinating experiments to determine if a decade-old roll of PLA filament is worth keeping or not.

Check out the links below if you want to follow along, and as always, tell us what you think about this episode in the comments!

Download this episode in DRM-free MP3 on your ESP32 with BreezyBox for maximum enjoyment.

News:

What’s that Sound?

Interesting Hacks of the Week:

Quick Hacks:

Elliot’s Picks:
Tom’s Picks:

Can’t-Miss Articles:

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Sony’s New WF-1000XM6 Earbuds Put Fantastic Sound In A Frustrating Package

Published

2 hours ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds and a phone on a table

Adam Doud/SlashGear

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Of all the earbuds I’ve tested in my career — and there have been a lot — Sony’s always hold a special place in my heart. The Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds are among the best you can buy in personal audio. Nearby competitors include the Bose QC Ultra 2 earbuds and the Apple AirPods Pro 3. The XM6 earbuds can stand toe-to-toe with either of those brands in many ways, and that’s great.

But Sony also has a few things it still needs to work out. In this day and age, great sound is one thing, but putting together the whole package remains a challenge for the audio company. The issues I have aren’t major, but when the buds command as high a price as these do, compromise can’t be taken lightly. It’s the 6th generation of this series and, to be frank, these things should’ve been worked out by now.

Nonetheless, these buds are still class leading in the same fields, so in many ways they’re the buds to beat. I’ve been using a pair of Sony WF1000XM6 earbuds provided by Sony for about 10 days.

Growing hardware

Adam Doud/SlashGear

One of the more notable differences between the XM6 earbuds and their XM5 predecessors is the size — and not in a good way. Both the earbuds and their case got noticeably bigger. That wouldn’t be a problem except the expected tradeoff for an increase in size — better battery life — is not there. Both generations of earbuds have similar battery life: eight hours for the XM6 with active noise cancellation on, and 24 hours total with the case.

The XM6 earbuds have more microphones and redesigned driver units, which is cool, but not only are the earbuds and the case chonkier, but the case has sharper angles to it as well. That makes it annoying to carry in my pants pocket: the previous-generation XM5s had a slimmer, shorter, and more rounded-profile case, which slipped into a pocket easily and didn’t dig into your knee while walking around. It seems like a minor design change, but it’s definitely a minus in my book.

Sony also stuck with foam ear tips, which I think is a good move overall. Most earbuds opt for a silicone ear tip to help form a good seal with the ear canal. Foam can do that, but silicone feels more secure overall. However, silicone can also irritate the ear canal making your ears itch. I haven’t had that problem with Sony earbuds of late, which is a big win.

Speaking of foam

Adam Doud/SlashGear

The main attributes by which all earbuds are judged are comfort and sound, of course, and foam helps with both. From a comfort standpoint, these earbuds are lovely. Long-term listening sessions are great: there’s no itching in the ear canal, nor do they cause fatigue over the long term. I generally don’t have marathon listening sessions, but I tested these for a few hours at a time while working, and I never minded wearing them in the slightest.

Sony’s choice of foam also helps form a better seal in your ear canal than silicone-using rivals, at least in my opinion. Since foam can be squished and will expand back into its original shape, it can fit your ear canal better than silicone. How much of a real difference this makes in terms of sound is up for debate, of course. This is more of a personal preference.

Cone of silence

Adam Doud/SlashGear

Up until now, Bose’s Quiet Comfort Ultra earbuds have held my personal crown for the best active noise cancellation (ANC) you can buy in a pair of earbuds, with the AirPods 3 Pro being a very close second. Well, Sony has entered the chat. The ANC that these earbuds are capable of is right in the middle of the conversation as well. It’s hard to definitively declare who is doing the best job here; airplanes are usually my go-to for determining the best ANC, but my travel plans didn’t line up with the testing period here.

In day-to-day life, though, the XM6 are impressive in their ability to eliminate noise around you. That includes both droning sounds — like of a car engine — but also sudden noises, like people talking to you. The latter is by far the hardest to eliminate, and these buds do that as well as either of the other two options. It’s a big step for Sony; you used to have to be content with amazing sound and ANC that was good, but not great, and that’s no longer the case.

The earbuds still have a decent amount of side-tone to them, the amount of your own voice that reverberates in your head when you’re wearing headphones or earbuds. Bose still does a better job in that regard. But these still aren’t bad at all.

Exquisite sound

Adam Doud/SlashGear

These earbuds sound really great. The XM6 have newly redesigned drivers tuned by grammy winning musicians, which is promising, and overall they’re capable of nuance that I don’t normally hear in my earbuds. That’s saying something because my ears are also damaged from a misspent youth in a metal band.

Picking out individual tones that I simply don’t hear with other earbuds is a remarkable experience. I mostly listen to podcasts, and these earbuds are a particular kind of overkill for that listening experience. But, while I was working, I took in music for several hours at a stretch, including the likes of Scorpions’ “Alien Nation”, Lindsey Stirling’s “Roundtable Rival”, and Ozzy Osbourne’s “No More Tears” among others. From the deepest bass line to the highest violin, the XM6 manage a lovely range of tones throughout the spectrum.

The earbuds ship with a pretty flat equalizer, as they should. You have your choice of five different presets for the 10-band equalizer, and you can have up to three other custom EQs. I didn’t need to tweak the EQ too much to find my sweet spot. The buds just have remarkable sound without having to adjust settings in that regard, but that brings us to arguably the biggest downside in the Sony earbud experience.

Sony’s software is not great

Adam Doud/SlashGear

A while back, Sony shipped Sound Connect in an effort to consolidate its various apps into one experience. It should’ve taken the opportunity to revamp its software at the same time. My biggest gripe is how you take these earbuds that are amazing in just about every way, and nerf them by compromising the controls.

Within Sound Connect, you can adjust what touch controls do on each earbud, but you can only cycle through three preset options for the earbuds: one tap activates ANC, two taps skips to the next song, and three taps goes back, for example. That’s mostly the extent of the customization, with one exception.

Adam Doud/SlashGear

Two or three taps of an earbud can optionally launch a music service of your choice, with what Sony calls “Quick access services”. You can have two taps launch YouTube music, for example, while three taps launch Spotify. That’s it, the full extent of the customizations Sony’s flagship earbuds offer.

Even before Sound Connect, this was a pain point in Sony’s earbuds. There’s really no reason why you shouldn’t be able to configure your earbuds for whatever you want; if I want to play my music with a single tap, adjust volume with two taps, and summon my assistant with three taps, that’s my business. All Sony’s doing here is limiting options and it’s arguably the one thing that sours the listening experience.

Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds verdict

Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds on a table with a phone in the foreground

Adam Doud/SlashGear

The Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds are priced at $329. That’s more than the AirPods Pro at $249, and even Bose’s $299 QC Ultra 2 earbuds. Is it a fair price? That’s arguable. Sony’s sound performance is better than either of those rivals, but Apple in particular makes a strong argument with extras like hearing aid functionality.

All that being said, there’s a reason why an update to Sony’s WF-1000 series is something I look forward to year after year. For 2026, there were some noticeable steps back in terms of design, yet when it comes to sound quality these are still the earbuds to beat. You just enjoy a fuller sound than you get with any other mainstream set of earbuds. True, there are audiophile earbuds out there that might get you more nuance and detail, but if you want the best sound you can buy in this price range, there really isn’t competition.

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Meta’s smart glasses could soon identify people in real time

Published

2 hours ago

13 February 2026

NewsAdmin

Five years after shutting down facial recognition on Facebook over privacy concerns, Meta is preparing to bring the technology back – this time through its smart glasses. According to reports, the company is developing a feature internally called “Name Tag” that would allow wearers of its Ray-Ban Meta glasses to identify people in real time using facial recognition, with assistance from its built-in AI system.

Meta had previously discontinued facial recognition for photo tagging in 2021, citing the need to find the “right balance” between innovation and privacy. Now, as its wearable ambitions expand, the company appears ready to revisit the technology. The proposed feature would not function as a universal face search engine, but instead would reportedly recognize people connected to users through Meta platforms or those with public profiles.

The move signals a broader shift in how Meta sees AI-powered wearables shaping the future of computing

The company’s smart glasses, developed in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, have become a surprising commercial success, with millions sold last year. Adding facial recognition could differentiate Meta’s hardware as competition intensifies from companies like OpenAI that are developing their own AI-first devices.

However, the plan carries serious privacy and civil liberties implications. Facial recognition has long drawn criticism from advocacy groups concerned about surveillance, misuse, and erosion of public anonymity. Some U.S. cities have restricted law enforcement use of the technology, while lawmakers have raised alarms about its deployment in public spaces. Critics argue that embedding such capabilities into consumer wearables could normalize constant identification in everyday life.

Meta has reportedly debated how and when to release the feature

The company has acknowledged internal concerns about “safety and privacy risks.” The company is also exploring advanced versions of its glasses – internally referred to as “super sensing” – that could continuously run cameras and sensors. In such scenarios, facial recognition would help the AI assistant provide contextual reminders or information based on who the wearer encounters.

For consumers, the technology could offer convenience, especially for accessibility use cases such as helping blind or low-vision individuals identify people nearby. But it also raises questions about consent and transparency. Meta’s current glasses include a visible LED light to signal recording, and discussions are ongoing about how to signal when facial recognition features are active.

What comes next will likely depend on regulatory scrutiny and public response. Meta remains bound by past privacy settlements with regulators, though internal reports suggest some review processes have recently been streamlined. As AI wearables move closer to mainstream adoption, Meta’s approach to facial recognition could become a defining moment in the balance between innovation and personal privacy.

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