James Channel continues to shed light on old, forgotten gaming gear that still has a few tricks up its sleeve. His latest segment delves deeper into a device from 2003 that appears to be an early prototype for the PlayStation Portal. More specifically, the Intech Controller and Game Screen (model PS2-750). It’s an odd combination of a full PlayStation 2 controller and a little built-in screen and speakers that allows you to play on the go, away from the big living room TV.
Years of steady usage and exposure to the elements have taken a toll on Japanese railway stations, making replacement a headache. Finding competent contractors is difficult, and construction wages are high. Serendix collaborated with ABB to help JR West restore a historic wooden shelter from 1948 at a station in Wakayama Prefecture. This site, a true relic, was only frequented by around 270 visitors every day in a tiny coastal village near Arida that few people had ever heard of.
Photo credit: This-Profession-1680
Collectors frequently pause for a second when they see one in a thrift store or internet listing. A 1982 RCA Colortrak 2000 stands there with that 25-inch CRT screen behind a full tinted glass panel that swings open like a cabinet door, seeming almost like a piece of furniture at first glance. It protected the tube from dust and made darker scenes appear much more dramatic in well-lit spaces by reducing reflections.
Sony’s WH-1000XM5 noise-canceling wireless headphones, priced at $250 (was $400), feature 8 microphones and two processors to read the environment and instantaneously adjust to whatever noise is there. When you lift off, say from an airplane, distracting background noise disappears, while office banter or city traffic fades into a distant hum that no longer draws your attention.
At this month’s New York International Auto Show, visitors crowded around a bright yellow van. The vehicle, painted in a typical yellow cab pattern with a sign atop that reads “TAXI,” looked ready to pull away from any Manhattan curb. Kia refers to it as the PV5 New York Taxi concept, and it is a full-size electric van that has been redesigned in collaboration with BraunAbility to make it easy for wheelchair users to enter and exit.
Nostalgia strikes anyone who spent hours staring at a computer screen in the 1990s, when hard drives produced a mechanical symphony. These drives would start spinning with a low whir, clicking every time you accessed a file, and finally shutting down with a gentle clunk. Then came solid-state SSDs, which stored data in total silence.
Australian researchers have built the world’s first quantum battery that completes every part of an energy cycle from start to finish. Dr. James Quach was the main force behind this at CSIRO, and he collaborated with colleagues at RMIT University and the University of Melbourne to complete the research. Behind the scenes, engineers shaped the battery as a multi-layered organic microcavity and sent a laser beam across open space to add energy wirelessly.
Robots equipped with Generalist AI’s new GEN-1 model have evolved into the ultimate automation workhorses, capable of completing the same simple tasks repeatedly without fail. You can witness in real time as one arm folds shirts row after row, carefully placing each one neatly into a basket, while another robot services robotic vacuums.
When you step into the 2026 Mercedes EQS, you feel as if you’ve entered another dimension. Nothing connects the mechanical workings of the car anymore. Instead, you have a steering-by-wire system. This means that all of your steering wheel movements are detected by sensors and relayed to control units, which then instruct the actuators on how to make the wheels respond to your commands.
Last month, engineers at a Chinese startup successfully launched a gigantic 57-foot robotic arm into space, and its performance has really impressed thus far. The arm is capable of handling the precision work required to maintain satellites operational for an extended period of time, and it has already demonstrated this without any major issues.