It’s been another busy week of tech news – but then again, when isn’t it? The good news is that you don’t have to spend hours catching up because we’ve got everything covered in one place.
The big stories included everything from Spotify to ChatGPT to Netflix, but it was developments in the OLED TV world that really caught our attention, as Sony, TCL and LG all made big announcements.
7. Whoop clones have thrown us for a loop
It’s been a while in the making, but we’ve finally published our reviews of two screenless, cloth-covered fitness trackers – subscription-free rivals to the Whoop 5.0 and Whoop MG bands, which we rated as technically excellent but way too expensive.
The Polar Loop was solid in heart rate tracking, but a letdown with its confusing software choices. However, the Amazfit Helio Strap was a different matter: cheaper than Whoop and Polar, and very good, both in terms of hardware options and app quality. We’ve added it to our best fitness tracker list.
The reviews come at an interesting time as CES 2026 showcased the next wave of Whoop clones from Luna and Speediance. It seems to be a crowded category.
After a successful trial run in New Zealand, Spotify is bringing Prompted Playlists – a new playlist creation tool that puts you in control of the algorithm – to the US and Canada.
Building on Spotify’s AI playlist tool, which launched in April 2024, Prompted Playlists takes a similar approach, but gives you full control over where you steer the algorithm. In its news blog, Spotify puts it simply: “You don’t just ask for music, you shape how Spotify goes about discovering it for you.”
The main difference with prompt playlists is that you can change them to update daily or weekly, just like Discover Weekly, but you can customize them to a much higher degree. After spending some time with it, we can see that it’s going to be one of Spotify’s most intelligent features, and it will be even more powerful once its infancy issues are resolved.
5. OLED TVs hit back
OLEDs have long been revered as the premier TV technology, but the ‘new’ brighter and cheaper kid on the block – mini-LED – is threatening to eat its lunch.
At least that was until LG hit back with its OLED SE, which promises a 120Hz refresh rate and 1,000 nits of brightness, which is way more than the 668 nits we measured on the affordable LG B5 – so the LG B6 could be a real prize winner if it boasts this technology.
LG Display told FlatPanelsHD that it will make OLED SE panels in five sizes to begin with: 48 inches, 55 inches, 65 inches, 77 inches and 83 inches, and we’re excited to see how it will use these panels in the coming year.
4. Netflix got a universal boost
Despite Netflix initially teasing that it would get Universal’s live-action films exclusively on its platform starting in 2027, it looks like the deal has started much earlier than we expected.
According to Netflix, “We can confirm that the licensing deal for the live-action film pay-1b will start earlier than announced, with the first film being Megane 2.0.”
It’s not clear when exactly other films will follow, but this is certainly another trophy for Netflix to add to its cabinet.
3. We tried Sony’s clip-style knobs
The audio titan that is Sony debuted new clip-style open earbuds with their new LinkBuds Clip; we’ve tried them and unfortunately this may be a rare miss for the headphone experts.
The fit felt looser than we’d like at times; the lack of deep bass meant the music lacked its full resonance or a pounding, impactful beat, and even the treble struggled.
Based on our initial testing, we’d expect these earphones to cost around half their $229 / £180 / AU$329.95 price tag, which is certainly disappointing given Sony’s track record.
2. Sony and TCL joined forces
Sticking with Sony, the brand has just announced that its TVs will now be made in a “joint venture” with TCL, signaling a major shift for how its screens are developed, designed and manufactured.
Interestingly, TCL will own 51% of this new joint venture, giving it a majority stake. It’s worth noting that this may simply be due to Chinese rules limiting 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 pivoting away from OLED as TCL eschews the technology altogether and perhaps instead focus on improved mid-range and budget options using TCL’s impressively cost-effective manufacturing.
1. ChatGPT got ads
Despite its CEO once calling ads a “last resort” for its company, OpenAI has announced that ads are coming to ChatGPT for free and ChatGPT Go-tier users.
The news dropped very late last week, so we couldn’t include it in ICYMI then, so we’ve rolled it into this week’s since the announcement represents a huge turning point for OpenAI.
As part of the disclosure, OpenAI shared some examples of how ads can work, such as a sponsored shopping list that appears under the answer to a dinner-related question.
This of course raises big questions about how trustworthy responses are – for example, did the AI with the dinner plan recommend these meals because it knew it would be a better fit with a sponsorship? There’s a lot we honestly don’t know, and we expect these won’t be the last ads we see in AI chatbots—even though Google promises Gemini ads aren’t in the works.
