This week we saw Alex Honnold free solo Taipei 101 on Netflix, while dire comments played over the top and Samsung teased its next big phone launch.
To catch up on all this and more, we’ve rounded up the top seven tech news of the week here for you, including links to the full stories.
7. Netflix proved it hasn’t figured out live events
This week the streaming world treated us Bridgerton season 4, Wonder Manand Shrinks Season 3, among others, but the live streaming sporting event of the year was also broadcast: Skyscraper Liveand fans were quick to let their anger be known at the end result.
It featured Alex Honnold, of Free solo fame, and his attempt to free solo (climb alone, without ropes or safety equipment) Taipei 101, which was at one time the tallest building in the world. The climb was a feat of human ability if nothing else, but the comment – which was fraught with nerves and often talked over Alex – was not well received.
Some declared the show “The worst live sports production I’ve ever seen in my life”, although one of the hosts has since come out to address fans’ frustrations.
6. Xreal’s glasses got a 3D upgrade
Xreal’s smart glasses are impressive entertainment specs that display your favorite shows, games and movies on a giant virtual screen – provided they’re connected to a compatible device. Now they can also make the content 3D.
That’s thanks to Real 3D, which just debuted on Xreal’s One and One Pro glasses, and it’s an incredible tool that works on any device or content, as all processing is handled on the glasses.
Admittedly, it’s a work in progress, but it just made some of the world’s best smart glasses even better—and made Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment about AI one day letting us “jump into” any video feel less far-fetched.
5. We played Resident Evil 9
We have over four hours Resident Evil Requiem under our belt, and now we’re convinced it’s on its way to becoming the finest entry in the long-running survival horror series.
However, Leon Kennedy’s return had us worried. How can you create a sense of dread when your star is a one-man infected-killing army? You pair him with a much less combat capable partner.
Leon’s segments are like a New Game Plus series of Resident Evil 4 Remake on steroids: you’re an ultra-powerful killing machine; meanwhile, new protagonist Grace’s sections are meant to deliver the serious scares. They’re set in wonderfully intricate environments expertly built for tense exploration, desperate resource scavenging and gritty battles that always have you on edge.
4. OpenAI admitted to screwing up
ChatGPT’s most ardent users are quick to vent their frustrations when OpenAI botches an update, and now CEO Sam Altman has admitted the company “screwed up” with ChatGPT 5.2.
The criticism centered on AI providing overly technical, complicated answers to questions, rather than the easy-to-digest answers AI users typically hope to receive.
“We decided, and I think for good reason, to put the majority of our effort into 5.2 to make it super good for intelligence, reasoning, coding, engineering, that kind of thing,” Altman revealed. “And we have limited bandwidth here, and sometimes we focus on one thing and neglect another.”
Hopefully, however, OpenAI can learn from this mistake and better manage which aspects of its vision it must sacrifice as it pumps out successive iterations of its chatbot.
Speaking of making sacrifices, OpenAI also teased this week that it’s time to finally retire from GPT-4o, and once again fans are furious.
3. Apple finally gave us a new AirTag
The original AirTag was launched back in 2021 and quickly gained an unwanted reputation as a stalking accessory. With these issues now largely sorted, Apple has launched a more powerful successor with better range and louder speakers.
A new Bluetooth chip lets you find the new AirTag 1.5x farther than with the previous version. The new speaker also means it’s 50% louder, which is handy if you’re trying to find keys buried deep in a couch.
While not exactly a bargain, the new AirTag retains the same price of $29 / £29 / AU$49 as the original.
2. Garmin leaked its Whoop alternative
That same week, Whoop blasted the Australian Open for its “ridiculous” decision to force tennis stars to remove its tracker, and after our testing of a number of fitness band alternatives, it looks like Garmin’s own Whoop alternative has just leaked.
Normally we’d ignore leaks here until they’re confirmed launches, but the spoiler was shared by none other than Garmin itself.
Eagle-eyed Garmin fans were able to screenshot the page before it disappeared, leading us into the ‘Garmin Cirqa smartband’ which could be released in around ‘4-5 months’, which would be May or June based on shipping details.
The bottom line was that we didn’t get an award for the band, but still, Whoop has some competition coming up.
1. Samsung teased the S26 Ultra’s biggest upgrade
Flagship smartphones have struggled to deliver dazzling new features in recent years, but the upcoming Galaxy S26 Ultra seems to have bucked that trend. This week, Samsung teased the flagship phone’s new ‘privacy screen’, which it calls ‘a new frontline for privacy’.
What makes this screen technology so interesting is that it lets you hide parts of your screen—like a private message—from onlookers while keeping it visible to you. The OLED screen apparently does this by emitting light in specific directions. We’ve yet to see the technology in person, but if it lives up to the hype, it could be the most useful smartphone upgrade we’ve seen in a while.
