Optoma has expanded its 4K laser lineup with the UHZ36, a $1,299 4K UHD projector aimed squarely at budget-conscious home entertainment buyers who want one box that can handle movies, TV, and gaming without demanding a blacked-out room. With 3,500 lumens of laser light output in a compact chassis, the UHZ36 is designed for flexible, lights-on viewing and everyday use. It builds on the platform established by Optoma’s UHZ35 (DuraCore laser) and UHD35x (lamp), but refines the formula for broader appeal rather than custom-install priorities.

4K Resolution via Pixel Shifting

Like the UHZ35, UHD35x, and most value-oriented 4K UHD DLP projectors, the UHZ36 relies on a 0.47-inch 1080p DLP imaging chip (DMD — Digital Micromirror Device) from Texas Instruments. That chip contains roughly 2.1 million microscopic mirrors, far short of the 8.3 million pixels required for native 4K resolution. To bridge that gap, the UHZ36 uses high-speed pixel shifting, rapidly offsetting each pixel both vertically and horizontally at 240 Hz. The process happens so quickly that the full pixel grid is rendered within a single frame, allowing the projected image to meet UHD 4K classification standards once it hits the screen.

Optoma DuraCore Laser: 30,000 Hours of Use, No Brightness Drop

The UHZ36 continues Optoma’s shift away from traditional projector lamps in favor of a solid-state laser light source, eliminating the need for lamp replacements every 2,000 to 5,000 hours. Its laser engine is rated for up to 30,000 hours of use, significantly reducing long-term maintenance and ownership costs.

At the core of this design is Optoma’s DuraCore laser technology, which is engineered to maintain stable brightness and color performance across its entire lifespan, without the gradual light decay associated with lamp-based systems. There’s no warm-up delay, shutdown times are shorter, and the mercury-free laser light source makes the UHZ36 a more environmentally friendly option.

Reliability is further enhanced by an airtight optical engine with IP6X certification, preventing dust intrusion that can degrade image quality over time. The result is a compact 4K laser projector designed for consistent performance, lower maintenance, and long-term durability—without the usual projector headaches.

Gaming Support

As with the UHZ35 and UHD35x, the UHZ36 supports 4K at 60 Hz and 1080p at up to 240 Hz, making it well-suited for both console and PC gaming. Optoma also includes MEMC (Motion Estimation, Motion Compensation)processing to improve motion clarity for fast-moving content.

At 1080p/240 Hz, input lag drops to an impressive 4 ms, a clear win for competitive PC gamers who care about responsiveness. At 4K/60 Hz, input lag measures 16 ms, keeping the UHZ36 firmly in console-friendly territory. The combination of high refresh rates and low latency gives the UHZ36 the flexibility to handle everything from high-frame-rate PC titles to modern 4K gaming consoles without compromise.

New features on the UHZ36 

The UHZ36 adds several picture-focused upgrades aimed squarely at improving out-of-the-box image accuracy and motion handling.

Filmmaker Mode is now included, allowing viewers to disable artificial motion smoothing that leads to the dreaded “soap opera” effect. When engaged, the projector preserves the original film frame rate, color balance, and contrast, delivering a more cinematic presentation that aligns with the filmmaker’s intent rather than algorithmic guesswork.

Optoma also introduces its Pure Engine image processing platform, built around three core elements designed to fine-tune image performance:

• PureDetail uses advanced algorithms to enhance fine textures such as hair, fabric, and skin detail without over-sharpening.
• PureContrast improves dynamic range, delivering deeper blacks and brighter highlights for greater perceived depth.
• PureMotion refines motion processing to produce smoother, more natural-looking action in fast-moving scenes.

Together, Filmmaker Mode and Pure Engine give the UHZ36 more control over image presentation, letting users choose between accuracy and enhancement rather than forcing one-size-fits-all processing.

Comparison  

The Bottom Line 

The UHZ36 is a measured but deliberate step forward in Optoma’s 4K laser lineup. It keeps the proven performance foundation of the UHZ35 and UHD35x intact, while adding Filmmaker Mode and the new Pure Engine processing suite for viewers who care more about image accuracy and refined motion than installer-driven extras. Those upgrades meaningfully improve everyday movie and TV viewing, even if they don’t rewrite the spec sheet.

What the UHZ36 does not target is the custom-install crowd; WiSA certification and advanced control options are absent, and that’s not an accident. This projector is clearly aimed at value-focused home entertainment and gaming users who want bright, low-latency 4K laser performance with better picture tuning at a realistic price point. If you’re building a living-room or mixed-use setup and want strong image quality without paying for features you’ll never use, the UHZ36 might make a lot of sense.

Price & Availability

The Optoma UHZ36 is available for $1,299 at Amazon. 

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Not long ago, I participated in an exercise that asked educators to define thinking and learning. It was a familiar prompt, one we have returned to countless times over the past decade.

This time felt different. The task was to triangulate, even pinpoint, what these concepts mean in today’s educational landscape.

The conversation was thoughtful and wide-ranging. Educators from varied contexts shared perspectives shaped by their classrooms, their students and their lived professional realities. As the discussion unfolded, a shared realization emerged: Our understanding of thinking and learning is becoming increasingly abstract.

As a chief academic officer, I spend much of my time thinking about how learning is designed and measured. Yet, in that moment, listening to educators wrestle with the meaning of thinking itself, I knew the challenge is no longer to define, but to work within a world where that definition is constantly shifting.

The Shift We Didn’t Plan For

Education has always adapted to new tools, but rarely at this pace. In a matter of months, technologies capable of summarizing texts, generating essays and mimicking academic voice have become widely accessible in classrooms. What once required sustained cognitive effort can now be produced in seconds.

The result is not merely a new instructional challenge; it is a fundamental shift in what it means to learn.

For generations, schools treated knowledge acquisition as the central hurdle. If students could read closely, recall accurately and write coherently, they were considered prepared. Tasks that once demonstrated understanding now signal access.

This does not make learning easier. It makes it different. And it forces us to confront an uncomfortable question: If machines can do much of what we once taught students to do, what should learning now require?

Literacy Beyond the Page

Bloom’s Taxonomy has long articulated cognitive rigor. Remembering led to understanding; understanding enabled application; application supported analysis, evaluation and creation.

But artificial intelligence is flattening that progression.

What once represented higher-order thinking — summarizing a text, drafting an essay, explaining a concept — is now executable at the push of a button. These tasks no longer serve as reliable indicators of mastery. They have become baseline capabilities within the learning environment.

Artificial intelligence does not invalidate Bloom’s premise; it reframes it. In an AI-rich world, the lower levels of the taxonomy are no longer destinations. They are starting points.

The true measures of learning now lie above them. Can students interpret nuance rather than extract information? Can they evaluate credibility instead of repeating content? Can they connect ideas across disciplines and explain why something matters?

These are not extensions of literacy. They are literacy redefined. In this sense, literacy is no longer merely technical. It is interpretive. Ethical. Strategic.

This kind of literacy cannot be automated. Automation can, however, support its development.

Designing for Thought, Not Just Performance

To meet this moment, we must rethink how learning experiences are designed: framing tasks that require judgment, designing assessments that foster analysis, and valuing ambiguity and intellectual risk.

When applied intentionally, automation through AI can strengthen, not dilute, this kind of learning. For students, its greatest value lies in responsiveness. Research shows that AI can adapt in real time, offering targeted practice when gaps emerge, enrichment when mastery is demonstrated and prompts that ask learners to explain their reasoning, compare approaches or revise claims as their thinking develops. It can also support deeper engagement through simulations, branching scenarios and feedback loops that respond to student choices without turning learning into a race for completion.

Just as important, automation can protect student focus. By reducing cognitive clutter, streamlining navigation, pacing tasks and offering timely hints, it keeps learners in productive struggle rather than frustration or disengagement.

For teachers, the benefit is leverage. Used well, AI functions as an instructional partner in the invisible work that consumes time but does not require uniquely human judgment. It can draft lesson variants, surface patterns across student work, suggest groupings and prepare concise summaries that help teachers see which students need support and why.

The result is not automation of teaching, but an expansion of a teacher’s capacity to teach well.

Practically, this means automating what can be standardized and continuously improved, collecting evidence of learning, tagging misconceptions, generating formative checks and organizing instructional options, while preserving teacher judgment as the final authority. The teacher always remains the editor-in-chief: approving, revising and applying professional discernment while the system does the work of noticing more and preparing faster.

This is the promise of AI in education: not accelerating answers but amplifying reflection; not replacing judgment but making room for it.

The author would like to acknowledge the support of Creatium CEO and founder, Dr. Deepak Sekar, in developing this article.

In a world where machines can read, write and summarize, literacy must mean something more demanding: the ability to interpret nuance, evaluate credibility, integrate ideas and make reasoned judgments. At Lincoln Learning Solutions, our aim is not to compete with intelligent tools, but to design experiences using those tools that strengthen students’ capacity to think critically about what they read, write and create, and to help them explain why ideas matter, how meaning is constructed and what responsible choices follow.

Google’s AI-fication of the Fitbit app is charging full speed ahead and will soon be reaching more people and more countries. After debuting as an Android-exclusive preview for US Premium subscribers, Google has announced that the public preview of its redesigned Fitbit app and health coach/concierge is opening to iPhone users starting Feb. 10.

The Gemini AI-powered “Coach” will also roll out in English to Fitbit Premium subscribers in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore on both iOS and Android.

Google debuted the redesigned Fitbit app and built-in Coach as an optional public preview in late October for eligible Fitbit Premium subscribers on Android and has since been collecting feedback from early adopters to refine the experience. This expansion brings the new app to more people, generating additional feedback opportunities and moving closer to a final version release.

As the race to build smarter, more personalized health platforms intensifies, Google is leaning on its full ecosystem of hardware, software and AI assistant to set Fitbit apart. With the wrist as the centerpoint of the data (via Pixel Watch and Fitbit trackers), Google is aiming to evolve its platform from a passive fitness tracker into a proactive, AI-driven wellness companion.

What to expect

The redesigned app experience has a cleaner UI that’s more intuitive to navigate than the previous version. It’s built around four main tabs: Today, Fitness, Sleep and Health.

The Today tab, which is what you’ll consult most frequently, highlights glanceable stats with a stronger focus on weekly trends. Google says these are a truer reflection of progress compared to the usual day-to-day insights that other trackers emphasize. The other tabs let you dig deeper into detailed metrics across categories like sleep stages and vitals. And this time, the burden of interpreting the data won’t just fall solely on the user. 

Woven throughout the app is a new Coach feature, that you can access through an “Ask Coach” prompt. Coach draws on real-time and historical data to help make sense of your metrics and even turn them into a personal action plan. Google describes it as an “always-on” coach that can respond to questions or proactively adjust your plan based on recent activity, readiness, or even life events like travel or missed workouts.

For example, you might ask, “I have 30 minutes for a workout… What do you recommend?” or “How can I improve my VO2 max?” Or even draw links to your own stats with prompts like, “Do I sleep better on days when I get more steps in?”  

During the (optional) onboarding process, you can set goals, log available fitness equipment and note injuries or limitations. The preview begins with a short 5-10 minute conversation (either by text or voice) to help the AI understand your goals and motivations. From there, the plan dynamically adjusts based on changing metrics like training load, readiness score and overnight recovery data, keeping everything aligned with your long-term goals.

Participation in the coaching experience is opt-in, so you can still use Fitbit without the AI features if you prefer.

Availability and pricing

The update –launched first to US-based Android users– will also be available to people in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore (18 and older) who subscribe to Fitbit Premium ($10 a month or $80 a year) regardless of phone. Yes, that means iPhone owners too. It works with the latest Fitbit trackers, smartwatches and Pixel Watch models. During the preview phase, you can toggle between the old and new app designs without losing data, allowing for side-by-side comparison and feedback collection. 

Google says user input from this period will be key to shaping the end result of the app experience and will have an integrated feedback tool for testers. While the company hasn’t confirmed a firm end date for the preview, it says the experience will continue to expand to more users and devices over time.  

The real test

This redesign and Coach feature show serious potential. If it delivers on Google’s promises of bringing professional-grade coaching to mainstream users, it could mark a turning point for wellness tech and could position Google at the front of the pack. The company says the coach experience was developed with input from health experts and a consumer advisory panel, and that user data will not be used for Google Ads.

But as with everything in the AI world, execution will be everything, and the value of a wellness coach must be compelling enough — and accurate enough — to overcome the hesitation of entrusting yet another AI feature with sensitive health data. But the real test lies in how well Google manages privacy, data security and real-world usefulness. That balance could mean the difference between just a repackaged Gemini that most people turn off, and a game-changing tool that translates your data into action.

For now, it’s a promising preview, but one I’ll be testing firsthand once it rolls out.

• Codex has been downloaded over a million times, users are up 60% in a week
• It’ll stay free to all users, but Free/Go plans may face limits
• Deep Research gets new viewer and better controls

It’s barely been more than a week since OpenAI launched its dedicated Codex Mac app, and it’s already gained more than one million downloads.

Overall Codex users also grew 60% in one week following the release of GPT-5.3-Codex, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is so pleased with the initial uptake that Free and Go users will continue to get free access to Codex after its launch promotion.