All posts tagged: gadget

Meta wants your next gadget to be Muse-infused

Meta wants your next gadget to be Muse-infused

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Meta’s Muse, a personal AI agent that books travel, fills out forms, and shops on a user’s behalf, has already proven popular with the masses, but a new side project could be particularly alluring to tinkerers and hackers. On Friday, the company introduced Muse Gadgets, an open-source project that lets developers build their own hardware that connects to Muse. Meta is providing open-source firmware (the low-level software that runs a device), and a Linux software development kit (SDK), along with a few project ideas to get users started. These include giving Muse a color e-ink display or loading it onto a stick that plugs into a TV’s HDMI port. There don’t appear to be many limits, either. Users can set up a low-cost hobbyist computer like a Raspberry Pi or an off-the-shelf ESP32 board, and then connect Muse “to your displays, buttons, sensors, actuators, and whatever else you’ve got lying on your workbench,” Meta notes. The company has also set up a Discord channel to support users. Meta has already tried the code itself, naturally. …

This is what your smart home needs, not another random gadget

This is what your smart home needs, not another random gadget

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Your smart home should be set up in a way that streamlines your usage. Setting up the smart home should take a little bit of thought, as you want devices that you’re going to utilize to make your life easier. You don’t just want to add a bunch of smart bulbs to your home because you can. If you’re going to use them on a schedule or because they have different color options, that’s a different story. There are so many smart home devices to choose from that it can be overwhelming to get the right system in place. The worst thing you can do is have a bunch of devices not connected and collecting dust because they didn’t actually serve the purpose that you wanted. I have a box in my basement of smart home devices that I don’t use because I wasn’t smart about early purchases. I’ve started to go the route of focusing on Matter-enabled devices for any purchase. Related Matter finally supports cameras, but I still wouldn’t buy one without checking …

This wearable gadget effectively soothes my migraines and headaches, and it’s under

This wearable gadget effectively soothes my migraines and headaches, and it’s under $50

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. I spend a lot of time on the computer.  I work remotely, and as ZDNET’s deals and shopping editor, I often work a decent amount of odd hours during the year: late nights during major holidays like Prime Day, early mornings during product event days in other countries, and so on. All that’s to say that my eyes take a beating from screen time, blue light exposure, and nitty-gritty writing and editing.  Also: 5 last-minute gifts your mom will actually like for Mother’s Day (and all are on sale) That’s why I was desperate to find anything to help alleviate the discomfort of headaches and eye fatigue. Taking over-the-counter medications doesn’t always cut it, and sometimes, the obvious solutions (more sleep, less stress, etc.) just aren’t feasible. I decided to try Renpho’s Eyeris 2 eye massager after one of my colleagues suggested it, and I was skeptical — but now this niche device is my go-to tool when I feel like my head and eyes are ready to …

I use this gadget to keep my 2016 laptop relevant in 2026

I use this $45 gadget to keep my 2016 laptop relevant in 2026

Published by Miika Tikkanen

I never enter the buying experience for a device without thinking about how long it could last me. If I’m going to be spending money on something, I want to get all I can out of it. It’s why I still have an iPhone 13 (which I will say is on its last legs and I will need to upgrade soon) and a Kindle Fire 7 (which still works perfectly fine). This also extends to one of the laptops that I use, which is a 2016 MacBook Pro that was passed down to me by my mother-in-law. I had been using a 2015 HP 15er for about eight years and it started slowing down considerably. She was getting rid of her MacBook Pro, so I took it. My wife and I do share a 2021 MacBook Pro M1 as a family computer, which is what I use a lot of the time. But I still can get a lot out of the 2016 Apple laptop, mostly because of the four Thunderbolt 3 ports that it …

The 5 coolest gadget innovations of 2025

The 5 coolest gadget innovations of 2025

Published by Jenni Sidey

We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Learn more › Sign Up For Goods 🛍️ Product news, reviews, and must-have deals. Deep down, we want to be cyborgs. We spend huge chunks of time interacting with technology every day, but the friction created by devices and interfaces persists. This year, we got closer than we have been to tech that truly augments reality. Meta took its smart glasses beyond its beginning as a simple content creation tool. The rest of the innovations run the gamut from a drone that captures aerial images in a new way to a grand platform designed to help AI systems navigate the physical world. Ultimately, all of these devices are designed to help humans do more of the things humans already like to do. That’s the way it should be. (Editor’s Note: This is a section from Popular Science’s 38th annual Best of What’s New awards. Be sure to read the full list of the 50 greatest innovations of 2025.) Grand Award …