Online detectives are inaccurately claiming to have identified the federal agent who shot and killed a 37-year-old woman in Minnesota based on AI-manipulated images. Federal agents push through a crowd of bystanders as they leave the scene where a woman was fatally shot by an agent in Minneapolis, Minn., on January 7, 2026. In the hours after a masked federal agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis, social media users have been sharing AI-altered images they falsely claim "unmask" the officer, revealing their real identity. The agent was later identified by Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin as an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officer. The shooting occurred on Wednesday morning, and social media footage of the scene shows two masked federal agents approaching an SUV parked in the middle of the road in a suburb south of downtown Minneapolis.

Campaigners have accused the government of dragging its heels on implementing a law which would make it illegal to create non-consensual sexualised deepfakes. It comes amid a backlash against images created using Elon Musk's AI Grok to digitally remove clothing - with one woman telling the BBC more than 100 sexualised images have been created of her. It is currently illegal to share deepfakes of adults in the UK, but new legislation that would make it a criminal offence to create or request them is still not in force despite passing in June 2025 . But it is unclear whether all of the unclothing images created by Grok would fall foul of this law. The BBC has contacted the government for comment.

Microsoft Edge is receiving a visual overhaul inspired by the Copilot app, featuring updated settings, quick menus, and new tab pages that affect all users. PCWorld reports these design changes are independent of AI features, meaning users will see the Copilot-style interface even without using AI functionality. The redesign is currently being tested in Canary and Dev versions with no confirmed release date for the general public yet. Microsoft is testing a comprehensive visual update to its Edge browser, making it more similar to the Copilot app, reports Windows Central . The new visual design includes new settings pages, updated quick menus, and a new tab page with shapes, colors, and fonts taken directly from the Copilot app. The changes are not tied to AI mode and are applied even if Copilot features are not enabled. Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft's CEO of AI, has previously said that the company wants to develop Edge and integrate it with AI features, rather than creating a completely new AI browser. The new design is currently visible in the Canary and Dev versions of Edge. It's unclear when it will appear in the full release.

It's the first week of a new year and there's no time for the tech world to slowly ease back into things following the holidays. That's because CES 2026 is in full swing, with all manner of companies descending on Las Vegas to reveal their latest innovations and what they're planning to bring your way in the near future. Many of the Engadget crew are on the ground to check out as much of the new tech as possible. Samsung held its First Look presentation, which focuses on home products, while LG has shown off a wide array of TVs and Lego unveiled its new Smart Brick technology. We've heard from the major chipmakers, gone hands-on with Samsung's trifold phone, checked out some funky laptops and seen some cute robots. There's some hot gaming gear at the show too, not to mention some weird tech . You don't necessarily have to wait to get your hands on all of these gadgets either. Some are available to buy right now. You can catch up on all of the big CES 2026 announcements (and some of the more offbeat gizmos we've seen) right here. We'll be keeping this story updated throughout the week. We also have CES live updates, with all the latest news from the event. Lego introduced the Smart Brick at CES 2026. In its first CES appearance, Lego announced the Smart Brick, a standard-sized brick with a 4.1mm ASIC chip inside that's designed to respond in different ways depending on what set you're building and how you're building it. Using what Lego calls the "Play Engine" and integrated copper coils, each brick can sense things like motion, orientation and magnetic fields, plus its own distance, direction and orientation in relation to other Smart Bricks. Each brick also has a teeny tiny speaker built in that will play audio "tied to live play actions" rather than only pre-recorded clips. Accompanying Smart Bricks are Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures, which have their own capabilities -- one of which is letting Smart Bricks know what context they are being used in. All of these pieces tie together via a local wireless layer dubbed BrickNet that, in part, lets Smart Bricks know where they are placed in relation to other smart components.

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Astronomers have spotted an asteroid the size of nearly eight football fields, with the help of the largest digital camera in the world and a new space observatory. Asteroid 2025 MN45 measures about a half mile in diameter and is the fastest spinning asteroid of its size ever recorded. The team from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and United States Department of Energy (DOE) presented their findings in . To spot this asteroid, the team used the cutting-edge Vera C. Rubin Observatory .

PCWorld reports that Microsoft will launch Windows 11 26H1 specifically for Snapdragon X2 systems by April 2026, breaking the usual update cycle. This version represents a technical adjustment optimizing performance for next-generation AI PCs rather than introducing major user-facing features for existing systems. A more significant Windows 11 26H2 update with substantial new features and an intelligent AI agent is expected in late 2026. Microsoft is currently working on a new version of Windows 11 that breaks from the usual update cycle. Windows 11 version 26H1 will be a variant that's specially adapted for Snapdragon X2 systems, which we reported on previously .

Chess or video games--which actually makes you smarter? The answer may surprise you. People play chess all over the world, but can the game actually make you smarter? We may earn revenue from the products available on this page and participate in affiliate programs. Every Christmas, my family follows the same script: a stack of board games hits the table, and a spirited debate breaks out over what we should play.

Robots, toys and practical tech dominated our time on the show floor. CES 2026's second day was all about hands on time with new tech. From Lego's most ambitious play experiment yet to assistive mobility tech, smart home ideas that actually feel affordable and robots that might one day fold your laundry, here's what stood out most on January 7. LEGO's new Smart Play system feels far more compelling in person than it did on stage. The Smart Brick, combined with Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures, responds dynamically to movement, proximity and context, triggering sounds and interactions without screens or apps. Seeing kids physically act out Star Wars battles while the bricks reacted in real time made it clear this is designed first and foremost for active social play, not digital distraction. WheelMove's motorized wheelchair attachment is compact, surprisingly quick to install and genuinely empowering in action.

The Download: mimicking pregnancy's first moments in a lab, and AI parameters explained Plus: Google and Character.AI have settled a lawsuit linking their AI to the death of a teenager At first glance, it looks like the start of a human pregnancy: A ball-shaped embryo presses into the lining of the uterus then grips tight, burrowing in as the first tendrils of a future placenta appear. This is implantation--the moment that pregnancy officially begins. Only none of it is happening inside a body. These images were captured in a Beijing laboratory, inside a microfluidic chip, as scientists watched the scene unfold. In three recent papers published by Cell Press, scientists report what they call the most accurate efforts yet to mimic the first moments of pregnancy in the lab. They've taken human embryos from IVF centers and let these merge with "organoids" made of endometrial cells, which form the lining of the uterus.

Google Is Adding an'AI Inbox' to Gmail That Summarizes Emails New Gmail features, powered by the Gemini model, are part of Google's continued push for users to incorporate AI into their daily life and conversations. Google is putting even more generative AI tools into Gmail as part of its goal to further personalize user inboxes and streamline searches. On Thursday, the company announced a new "AI Inbox" tab, currently in a beta testing phase, that reads every message in a user's Gmail and suggests a list of to-dos and key topics, based on what it summarizes . In Google's example of what this AI Inbox could look like in Gmail, the new tab takes context from a user's messages and suggests they reschedule their dentist appointment, reply to a request from their child's sports coach, and pay an upcoming fee before the deadline. Also under the AI Inbox tab is a list of important topics worth browsing, nestled beneath the action items at the top.