This week the TV world really heated up when Sony, TCL and LG made major announcements.
Better yet, the trio could not only revolutionize the already best screens, but also their cheaper models.
7. The Whoop clones threw us for a loop
It took a while, but we finally published our reviews of two screenless, fabric-covered fitness trackers – subscription-free rivals to the Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG Bands, which we found to be technically excellent but far too expensive.
The Polar Loop was solid when it came to heart rate tracking, but disappointing with its confusing software choices. The Amazfit Helio Strap, on the other hand, was both cheaper than Whoop and Polar, and very good, both in terms of hardware capabilities and app quality, making it our best fitness tracker list.
The reviews come at an interesting time, as CES 2026 showcased the next wave of Luna and Speediance Whoop clones. This seems to be a crowded category.
After a successful trial in New Zealand, Spotify is launching Prompted Playlists in the US and Canada – a new playlist creation tool that puts you in control of the algorithm.
Building on Spotify’s AI playlist tool, launching in April 2024, Guest Playlists take a similar approach but give you full control over the direction of the algorithm. In its news blog, Spotify puts it very simply: “You don’t just request music, you determine how Spotify discovers it for you. »
The biggest difference with Guest Reading Lists is that you can edit them to update daily or weekly, just like Discover Weekly, but you can customize them much more. After spending time with it, I can see it becoming one of Spotify’s smartest features, and it will be even more powerful once its burgeoning issues are resolved.
5. OLED TVs fought back
OLEDs have been revered as the ultimate high-end TV technology, but the brighter, cheaper “new” thing on the block – mini-LEDs – is threatening to eat its lunch.
At least, that was until LG cheered with its OLED SE, which promises a 120Hz refresh rate, as well as 1,000 nits of brightness, which is significantly more than the 668 nits we measured on the affordable LG B5 – so the LG B6 could be a real winner in terms of affordability if it has this technology.
LG Display told FlatPanelsHD that it will make SE OLED panels in five sizes to start: 48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, 77-inch and 83-inch, and we can’t wait to see how it uses these panels in the coming year.
4. Netflix got a universal boost
Although it initially announced that Universal’s live-action films would be exclusively available on its platform starting in 2027, it appears the deal started much earlier than expected.
According to Netflix itself, “We can confirm that the licensing deal for live-action films paying 1 billion is starting ahead of schedule, with the first film being Megan 2.0.”
It’s unclear when other films will follow, but it’s certainly another trophy Netflix can add to its cabinet.
3. We tried Sony’s clip-on headphones
Audio titan Sony has launched new clip-style open earbuds with its new LinkBuds Clip; we tried them, and unfortunately, this might be a rare miss for headphone experts.
The fit sometimes seemed looser than we would like; the lack of deep bass meant the music lacked any resonance or punchy, punchy beat, and even the highs struggled.
Based on our early testing, we’d expect these headphones to cost around half their $229 / £180 / AU$329.95 price, which is definitely disappointing given Sony’s track record.
2. Sony and TCL have teamed up
True to Sony, the brand has just announced that its TVs will now be manufactured in a “joint venture” with TCL, suggesting a major change in the way its displays are developed, designed and manufactured.
Interestingly, TCL will own 51% of this new joint project, giving it a majority share. It’s worth noting that this could simply be due to Chinese rules that limit foreign ownership in joint ventures to 49% – TCL is a Chinese electronics company, while Sony is headquartered in Japan.
Exactly what this means for us remains to be seen, but it could mean Sony moving away from OLED while TCL eschews the technology altogether and perhaps instead focuses on upgraded mid-range and budget options using TCL’s incredibly cost-effective manufacturing.
1. ChatGPT received advertisements
Although its CEO once called ads a “last resort” for its business, OpenAI announced that ads would be served for free on ChatGPT and for ChatGPT Go-tier users.
The news broke very late last week, so we weren’t able to include it in ICYMI at that time, so we’ve included it in this week’s announcement, as the announcement is a major turning point for OpenAI.
As part of the reveal, OpenAI shared some examples of how the ads work, like a sponsored grocery list appearing below the answer to a dinner-related question.
This obviously raises big questions about the reliability of the responses: for example, for the dinner plan, did the AI recommend these meals because it knew they would be better suited to a referral? There’s a lot we frankly don’t know, and we suspect this won’t be the last ad we see – although Google promises Gemini ads aren’t in the works.
