Sofia Elizabella Wyciślik-Wilson

LEGO has been a best seller for decades, and part of the secret of its success is a willingness to evolve and embrace new technology. The latest innovation from the company is the LEGO SMART Play system which sees the humble LEGO brick reborn as LEGO SMART Bricks which are crammed with ground-breaking technology.

In short, the system allows for the creation of interactive builds, using chips, tags and sensors to trigger sounds, lights and more. Sets based on the system will be available in a couple of months, and things kick off with a Star Wars theme.

Google is making it much easier for Chrome users to access their bookmarks in the Android version of the app. Borrowing a feature from the desktop version of the browser, there is a new feature that can be used to toggle the display of the bookmarks bar.

It is a simple idea, but it is one that makes a lot of sense. There are, however, some caveats, so try not to get too excited just yet.

While Meta has used CES to make some announcements which will please people, the company has also used the event to deliver some bad news. The international rollout of Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses has been delayed.

This is not because of a problem with the device; Meta says that the smart glasses have proved to be so popular that it is simply not able to keep up with demand. What this means is that, for now, the company will stick with a US-first approach, and other countries will have to wait.

Amazon has decided to allow Alexa+ to break out of its cage. No longer confined to Amazon devices, the artificial intelligence-powered assistant is gradually rolling out to the web, ready to be used by anyone – eventually.

For now, the availability of Alexa+ on the web is limited to Early Access users, but even this marks a significant change in approach by Amazon.

Referred variously as a pirate site, a media archive and a shadow library, Anna’s Archive is notorious. The site was only recently in the headlines after it claimed to have “backed up” almost all of Spotify’s music catalog.

Like many sites of its ilk – think PirateBay – Anna’s Archive uses various domains to try to avoid being taken offline completely. However, the site's main domain, Annas-archive.org, has now been suspended.

A hacking group claiming to have breached the defenses of Resecurity and gained access to internal data was actually fooled by a honeypot stuffed with synthetic data, says the security firm at the center of the story.

Dating back a few weeks, the data breach was originally thought to have been the work of the notorious ShinyHunters group. It is now clear that this group was not involved, and that no real data was accessed.

Every social media platform needs to not only attract but then keep different types of audience. TikTok has already bet big on sport, and now it is doubling down on it with TikTok GamePlan.

Available globally, the resource provides fans of sport – including football and athletics – with detailed, up-to-the-minute analysis not of sport itself, but of the behavior of other fans, trending conversations and more.

The start of a new year is often seen as a reason for starting new routines, ditching bad habits, and improving health. And, of course, there are plenty of companies ready to jump on the “new year, new you” bandwagon to provide tools, ideas and apps; and Apple is no different.

The company has announced new programs for Apple Fitness+ which it says will help to transform the fitness of Apple Watch owners. In addition to new workout programs, there are also new playlists from featured artists to help with motivation.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has ended 2025 in a reflective mood, looking at the social media trends he sees being the hallmarks of the year ahead. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he sees the onslaught of AI continuing, and has some thoughts about what this means and how to handle it.

Mosseri makes a couple of statements that are difficult to disagree with: “Deepfakes are getting better and better”, and “AI is generating photographs and videos indistinguishable from captured media”. Interestingly, though, he does not necessarily see this as a problem.

With the end of 2025 drawing ever closer WhatsApp is getting ready for its busiest period. As the clock strikes midnight around the world, a surge of messages will be sent over the platform, and Meta is using the arrival of 2026 as a launchpad for new features and options – as well as highlighting recent additions which lend themselves to this time of year.

The company has focused on the celebratory and connective nature of New Year, providing new ways to liven up the messages you send to friends and family. There is quite a lot here, from new stickers and call effects, to the arrival of animated stickers in Status updates.

Currently in beta testing, iPhone users are being given access to an enhanced and updated version of WhatsApp’s chat cleanup tool.

The feature – which allows for the deletion of messages and media in different ways – is not completely new, but it now offers greater control over what is deleted. The cleanup tool now provides a better balance between freeing up space and retaining the files that were shared in a chat.

If you have use BitLocker to secure files within Windows 11, you will almost certainly have noticed something of a performance hit. Microsoft is not unaware of this, and is taking steps to help improve things.

The company is rolling out hardware-accelerated BitLocker, which should help to provide a speed boost on systems with NVMe drives. The new approach helps to avoid bottlenecks which can massively impact on performance.

Depending on when you signed up for a Gmail account, and factoring in the uniqueness or otherwise of your name, your email address may be one you are happy with, or it could feel like a burden.

If you have become unhappy with the @gmail.com address you chose years ago, you have always been able to sign up for another account. But actually changing your email address is a different matter – and it is something that Google appears to be experimenting with.

Back in September, US software firm Red Hat suffered a security breach. The incident was not acknowledged until October, but even now the full impact of the breach is unfolding.

Japanese car maker Nissan has just confirmed that it was indirectly affected by the Red Hat security breach. As a result of this, detailed contact information for thousands of customers were accessed by hackers.

Ever mindful of security, the US has announced a ban on new foreign-made drones and components key to their manufacture. The Federal Communication Commission’s public notice says that uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States or the security and safety of United States persons”.

The ban only applies to new devices and components, so anything which has already made its way into the US is unaffected. In implementing a blanket ban on all foreign-produced drones, there has been no need to publish a list of affected models.