It’s been another busy week for tech news – but then again, when has it ever not been? The good news is that you don’t need to spend hours catching up because we’ve got it all covered in one place.
The big stories involved everything from Spotify to ChatGPT to Netflix, but it was the developments in the world of OLED TV that really caught our attention, as Sony, TCL and LG all made major announcements.
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 was a different matter, however: cheaper than Whoop and Polar, and very good, both in terms of hardware capabilities and app quality. We have duly added it to our list of best fitness trackers.
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 bringing Prompted Playlists – a new playlist creation tool that lets you control the algorithm – to the US and Canada.
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 to a much greater extent. After spending time with it, we 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 long been revered as the ultimate high-end TV technology, but the “new” brighter, cheaper kid 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 Netflix initially announced that it would stream Universal’s live-action films exclusively on its platform starting in 2027, it appears the deal started much earlier than expected.
According to Netflix, “we can confirm that the live-action film licensing deal, paying $1 billion, begins sooner than previously announced, with the first film being Megane 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 come 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 represents 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 in AI chatbots – although Google promises Gemini ads aren’t in the works.
