This week, Meta turned its back on VR, and Apple pounced on Google in its pursuit of an AI update for Siri.
To catch up on these and the other seven biggest tech news stories of the week, scroll down to see our recaps of the big things that happened.
7. DJI fans in the US finally got some good news
It hasn’t been a good time for drone fans in the US, with the FCC recently banning the sale of new, foreign-made drones – and a separate proposal from the US Commerce Department targeting all Chinese drone imports (including existing models that have already been launched).
Well, luckily, a u-turn from the latter has removed that particular limitation from the equation for the time being. This means that stock of previously approved drones such as the DJI Mavic 3 Pro and Antigravity A1 can still be legally imported into the US.
Still, with the FCC effectively banning the sale of foreign-made drones it hasn’t approved (in other words, all new models), the future still looks bleak for Stateside drone fans.
6. Sophie Turner served Lara Croft
We got our first look at Sophie Turner as filming for Amazon’s Tomb Raider TV show begins, and the recreation of the character’s iconic video game look is perfect, highlighting for fans of the games just how seriously Amazon is taking this adaptation.
Obviously, this is just a still of Turner in her costume, but she’s undeniably Lara Croft in it, and if similar care and attention has been given to the rest of the cast (which includes Jason Isaacs, Sigourney Weaver and Martin Bobb-Semple, among others) as well as the show’s story, we could be in for a real treat.
No release date has been given yet, but we can’t rule out a mid-to-late 2026 launch.
5. Spotify drove people crazy
Over the past few weeks, Spotify Premium subscribers have encountered AI-generated music recommendations in their Discover Weekly and Release Radar playlists, prompting the music platform to introduce labels to identify AI-generated music in a monster Reddit thread.
According to users who have experienced this, the problem with AI music on Spotify is only getting worse; the problem is not the AI music itself, but the deception on Spotify’s part, which is what gets under people’s skin. This has led many paying users to believe that it is part of a wider, secret business plan and that Spotify is deliberately doing this to avoid paying artists further.
In other news, Spotify has also raised subscription prices for US members, affecting all tiers. It marks the third price increase since 2023, which many people attribute to the maintenance of Spotify Lossless.
This week, Meta appeared to be giving up on VR as it cut Reality Labs jobs, including closing several VR game studios and finalizing updates to the excellent VR fitness platform Supernatural.
The news is a tragedy for fans of the Meta Quest system, as it suggests that Meta’s future support for its headset will be at least a bit lacking, with Hamish Hector claiming that as things stand, he’s only interested in the Steam Frame.
It’s no secret that Reality Labs has been bleeding funds for some time, but this big turnaround from Meta may have some wondering if you can trust the company not to change course again if its new AI glasses focus starts to go awry.
3. Gemini got an upgrade
Google just dropped “Personal Intelligence” for Gemini, and it may be the most significant leap for AI assistants yet. This upgrade allows Gemini to securely leverage your personal Google ecosystem (Gmail, Photos, Search, and YouTube) to provide deep, individualized context to your queries.
The possibilities are truly impressive: imagine Gemini diagnosing a car problem by checking your Gmail purchase history for the model, scanning your photos for service records, and pulling DIY solutions from YouTube. It’s the “real” AI assistant we’ve been waiting for. Interestingly, given the recently announced Apple-Google AI partnership, this looks like a sneak peek at how the next generation of Siri might work in iOS 27.
2. Siri got a Gemini upgrade
Apple was served a big piece of humble pie this week when it conceded Ai supremacy to Google, which announced that the next-generation version of Siri will be supported by Gemini.
Many questions remain, but in a joint statement, Apple and Google revealed “These [Gemini] models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.”Apple first revealed its plans to launch an AI-upgraded Siri during WWDC 2024, but nearly two years later, we’re still waiting for the upgrade. The company has since promised a spring 2026 launch, and with Google Gemini, it may finally make it happen.
1. Verizon had a major outage
Well, we’ve officially had the first major outage of 2026, and it was a massive, nearly 8-hour-long outage that knocked out Verizon cell service for customers across the US on January 14th, 2026. You can see our full coverage in the live blog linked below, but it was a serious, hour-long event that saw people with text, voice access, and no Verizon network access. and data over large parts of the country.
Down Detector reports swelled around 12:30 a.m. ET, with Verizon confirming the issue at 1:00 p.m., but many people didn’t see any signs of improvement until closer to 1 p.m. The airline didn’t have the best communication during the event, with only a few statements coming hours apart. The day after the outage, Verizon confirmed that each account would receive a single $20 credit, which, in short, left many customers unhappy. The airline also confirmed to TechRadar that it was a software issue linked to a cyber incident.
