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OhSnap won our hearts (and a best of CES award) last year with the MCON, its tiny Bluetooth game pad that magnetically connects to your phone. At the time, we tried a pre-production unit, but in the year since the MCON has been finalized and went on sale last month. I just got a chance to try the final version here at CES, and just a quick demo was enough to convince me that OhSnap has made some solid refinements over the last year.Just as we saw last year, the MCON attaches magnetically to an iPhone or any compatible Android phone (the company also includes a magnetic ring in the box for Androids that dont have Qi2 yet). It has the full array of controls, including four face buttons, a D-pad, two joysticks and index finger buttons and full bumpers. Its just sleeker and feels more solid than last years prototype, and while mounting your makes it feel a bit top-heavy, its not awkward enough to cause real issues when playuing (at least thats how I felt after my brief demo).The controller also has grips that unfold to help balance things, and the plate that attaches your phone to the controller has a kickstand. So if you want to drop your phone down on a tray table on a plane and play just holding the controller, feel free. All in all, the MCON feels like a flexible and high-quality device thats probably worth the $150 OhSnap asks for it.The MCON dock connects your phone to your TV for full-screen gameplay.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetThe company also has some new accessories to show off. Theres a $70 TV dock that powers your phone and outputs video from USB-C to HDMI. You could use this dock with any Bluetooth controller hooked up to your mobile phone, not just the MCON. Theres also a tiny $30 adapter you can put on your keychain that has a USB-C plug that goes into your phone; plug an HDMI cable into the other end and you can broadcast your games to a TV anywhere you go and play them with a controller.Its a pretty clever and comprehensive set of products, and while there are tons of mobile game controllers, the OhSnap feels like one of the more portable and sleek options out there. OhSnap is working on something even slimmer, though. The company showed off two new prototype controllers, the MCON Lite and MCON Slim. OhSnap is working on two new MCON controller that are more compact than the original.Nathan Ingraham for EngadgetAs the names suggest, theyre both more compact than the original model. The Lite uses concave joypads rather than full sticks, and the Slim makes things even smaller by using concave touch pads. Youre not going to get quite the same quality experience with those as you would with the bigger version, but they are noticeably thinner; OhSnap says theyll be cheaper, too. The MCON Lite is scheduled to arrive this summer, while the Slim should launch in the fall (around the same time as the iPhone 18).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/another-look-at-ohsnaps-mcon-a-magnetic-game-controller-for-your-phone-042424092.html?src=rss
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New tech at CES often makes categorization hard. Is Cozylas latest device a digital family calendar, a TV or a smart home hub? After seeing it, Id say the answer is, yes? Cozyla calls the Calendar + Max the largest interactive hub in its category. And indeed, its the size of a big flatscreen, but the main interface is just like any other Cozyla device, an Android-based family calendar and planner with shared schedules, notes, meal plans, and chores. It syncs with Google, Yahoo and Apple calendars as well as Outlook, and it will run apps from the Google Play store. (Yahoo owns Engadget, but has no say in our editorial coverage.) But this super-sized version can also stream shows and movies with whichever apps you subscribe to. The photo integration, via the app, will take pics from your phone and stick them on the bigs screen. You can also create a slideshow and photo walls to look at when the calendar is off. The smart home integration lets you view your security camera and video doorbell feeds on a much larger scale than your phones display can offer. The display has a camera of its own so you can make FaceTime and Zoom calls. The Max comes on a built-in stand that you can roll around the house, along with a battery that should power the whole thing for around six hours. When I first heard about it, I found myself wondering where I would put Calendar+ Max in my house. The kitchen is an ideal centralized calendar location, but I dont want to watch Miss Scarlet in there. Luckily, the wheels make that conundrum moot. This can go anywhere you want it to, and swings into portrailt orientation that looks great for chore mode, and landscape orientation for watching shows. Possibly the best part is the lack of subscription required. Like with all Cozyla screens, theres no ongoing cost to use all the features. The Calendar + Max has no release date or price available just yet, but if I ever decided to organize my familys life beyond barely contained chaos, I can see myself considering it. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/cozyla-showed-off-a-4k-55-inch-digital-family-calendar-at-ces-040352802.html?src=rss
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After relaunching its Area-51 brand with a new 16-inch laptop in 2025, Alienware is teasing two new laptops at CES 2026 in an attempt to reach an even larger audience. Dell's gaming brand plans to launch both entry-level and ultra-slim models later this year, and in the meantime, it's rolling out updates to its existing desktops and laptops to tide people over.Alienware isn't sharing all the details of its new laptops at CES, but we do have the highlights. The company's new "ultra-slim gaming laptop" will be around 17mm or 0.67 inches thin, and come in either 14-inch or 16-inch variants. While the 16-inch version of the laptop will feature NVIDIA discrete graphics and "new highly efficient CPUs," it's not meant to be a gaming powerhouse like the Area-51. Instead, Alienware suggests the laptop will work for gaming and also "creative projects, productivity and everything in between."The entry-level laptop is similarly not at Area-51-levels of power, but Alienware claims it'll deliver "strong gaming performance" at its "most accessible price point yet." That should ideally put the new laptop under the $1,199 starting price of the more streamlined Alienware 16 Aurora laptop.The Alienware Area-51 Desktop will get updated with the latest AMD chips in February 2026.DellOn top of those two new models, Alienware is bringing new anti-glare OLED panels to a selection of its Alienware 16X Aurora and Alienware 16 Area-51 laptops, along with new Intel Core Ultra 200HX chips. The new display panels reach 620 nits of peak HDR brightness and have a 0.2ms response time for even smoother gameplay. The Alienware 18 Area-51 is also getting an upgrade to Intel Core Ultra 200HX chips, while the Alienware Area-51 Desktop will ship with AMD's new Ryzen 7 9850X3D chips.There's currently no pricing available for Alienware's new laptops, or the updated versions of its older models. The updated Alienware 16X Aurora, Alienware 16 Area-51, and Alienware 18 Area-51 laptops will be available in Q1 2026. The update Alienware Area-51 Desktop is coming in February 2026.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/alienware-teases-new-super-slim-and-entry-level-gaming-laptops-at-ces-2026-033000700.html?src=rss
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