 |
|
|
|||||
While the Lego Group has dipped its toes into tech waters before, the company hasnt strayed far from its analog roots. But on Monday, the 94-year-old company unveiled a new product line that embraces the digital age, without abandoning its core business. At CES, Lego announced the upcoming launch of the Lego Smart Play system, an interactive technology that lets users Lego creations respond to player actions with tailored sounds, lights, behavior, and more. The company says its a way to further engage digital native kids without having them stare at yet another screen. While the toy market has struggled for the past few years, sales at the Lego Group have remained strong; 2024 was a record year, with revenues of $10.8 billion, and the first half of 2025 showed further growth. But the competition for kids’ attention continues to grow. Through Smart Play, the company hopes to keep younger Lego enthusiasts engaged. [Image: Lego] Everything that we do is driven with an appetite for innovation, says Julia Goldin, chief product and marketing officer of the Lego Group. It took a long time to craft the technology that would enable us to do it in a way that’s also lesson-based. The first three products, launching March 1, will be Star Wars-themed: Luke Skywalker’s 548-piece X-Wing ($100), Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (743 pieces, $69), and a 962-piece set that includes the Emperor’s Throne Room and an A-Wing for $160. [Photo: Lego] Lego showcased the technology in demos at CES, showing how Smart Play could work in a number of scenarios. When a Lego minifigure robber tried to steal a police car, for instance, an alarm sounded, but when the police minifigure sat in the drivers seat, it triggered a siren. Lego ducks quacked. And car wheels squealed when players took sharp turns with their Lego creations. Those were just tech demos and not something Lego plans to release. The Star Wars sets will mark the debut of Lego Smart Play at retail. Like the demos, though, the X-Wing and TIE Fighter make the same sounds fans know from the big screen as players pretend to fly them through the air. Crash the X-Wing (or turn it upside down) and R2-D2 will scream in terror. [Photo: Lego] Lego will begin taking preorders on Jan. 9 through its website and retail stores. (Other retailers will as well.) And while the initial focus is on kids, Goldin says, based on early feedback, she’s confident the technology will find its way to larger Lego kits tailored to adults. A long time coming Work on Lego Smart Play started eight years ago, with more than six years of technological development. The result is a system that incorporates three interactive elements: Lego Smart Tags, Lego Smart Bricks, and Lego Smart Minifigures. Those three elements work in tandem. Smart tagsflat-topped two-by-two pieces that sit atop the Smart Brickscontrol the sounds, lights, and behaviors that are performed. And multiple smart tags can interact with each other, making for a more complex (and interactive) experience. The Smart Brick itself is loaded with sensors, accelerometers, a mini speaker, and moreand powered by a newly created silicon ASIC chip that’s smaller than one standard Lego stud. Smart Minifigures, meanwhile, have their own personalities, with programmed moods and reactions that are heard through the Smart Brick’s speaker. [Image: Lego] The Smart Brick reacts differently depending on how its moved, twisted, and turned. And because it has a synthesizer embedded, it can create any sound the programmers want, versus a limited set. In total, Lego has filed 25 patents for the new technology, and the company says at its peak, the production line for the Smart Brick was as long as seven school buses. Some of the interactive elements almost didn’t happen. Lego spent years developing the positioning system that lets Smart Bricks know precisely how close they are to other Smart Bricks, Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures and react appropriately. Deadlines came and went. Finally, just as executives decided to scrap the concept, the team tweaked the system one last timeand managed to get it working One of the key factors in designing and building the new type of Lego brick, says Lego Group senior vice president and head of Creative Play Lab Tom Donaldson, was to create something that would have the same longevity as the classic bricks (which were introduced in 1958). “We want to [build] a platform that lasts for a period of time,” he says. “If you have a Lego brick from this year, it works with a Lego brick from 10 or 30 years ago. We spent a lot of time thinking how do we build a system that lasts rather than a system that you have to upgrade? We don’t expect consumers will have to replace their bricks every two years. We want them to keep the same bricksand that brings a lot of challenges.” That doesn’t mean the technlogy won’t improve. Donaldson says the company will push software upgrades in years to come, rather than update the hardware, giving players new abilities without having to invest in new technology. The Lego Smart Bricks will come with a wireless charger. Battery life will vary depending on how hard users play with the bricks. Times can range from roughly 40 minutes to a couple of hours, says Soren Holme, a design director at Lego. They can interact with each other from as far as 23 feet away in open spaces, he adds. [Photo: Lego] And to ensure the Smart Bricks can be played with for years, they hold their charge in a coil, much like an electric toothbrush. That not only makes them easier to charge wirelessly, it ensures a longer lifespan. The new bricks are loaded with all manner of tech, but what you won’t find included is artificial intelligence. While so many other products at CES are hopping on board the AI bandwagon, Lego decided to abstain with its new productfor now, at least. When we first started, we expected to bring in AI at some point, but it wasn’t the first thing to bring in, says Donaldson. At the moment, we think we have some tremendous opportunities that don’t require AI and that’s where we really want to focus today. Should we see an opportunity where AI can play a role, it’s possible to integrate and evolve it in the future, adds Goldin. But we wanted to design an experience the consumers would really loveand we didn’t think we needed AI for that experience.
Category:
E-Commerce
Nvidia, AMD and Intel all had important chip and AI platform announcements on the first day of CES 2026, but all audiences wanted to see more of was Star Wars and Jensen Huang’s little robot buddies.CES is a huge opportunity annually for companies both large and small to parade products they plan to put on shelves this year. As predicted, artificial intelligence was anchored in nearly everything as tech firms continue to look for AI products that will attract customers.Here are the highlights from Day 1: Nvidia gets physical The biggest buzzword in the air at CES is “physical AI,” Nvidia’s term for AI models that are trained in a virtual environment using computer generated, “synthetic” data, then deployed as physical machines once they’ve mastered their purpose.CEO Jensen Huang showed off Cosmos, an AI foundation model trained on massive datasets, capable of simulating environments governed by actual physics. He also announced Alpamayo, an AI model specifically designed for autonomous driving. Huang revealed that Nvidia’s next generation AI superchip platform, dubbed Vera Rubin, is in full production, and that Nvidia has a new partnership with Siemens. All of this shows Nvidia is going to fight increased competition to retain its reputation as the backbone of the AI industry.But once Huang called for two little, waddling, chirping robots to join him on stage, that’s all the audience wanted to see more of. The chips are back in town AMD CEO Lisa Su announced a new line of its famed Ryzen AI processors as the company continues to expand its footprint in the world of AI-powered personal computers.For gamers, AMD also showed off the latest version of its gaming-focused processor, the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D.Meanwhile, Intel announced its new AI chip for laptops, Panther Lake (also known as the Intel Core Ultra Series 3), and said the company has plans to launch a new platform to address a growing market for handheld video gaming machines.Intel, a Silicon Valley pioneer that enjoyed decades of growth as its processors powered the personal computer boom, fell into a slump after missing the shift to the mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone. It fell further behind after the AI boom propelled Nvidia into the spotlight.President Donald Trump’s administration stepped in recently to secure a 10% stake in the company, making the government one of Intel’s biggest shareholders. Federal officials said they invested in Intel to support U.S. technology and domestic manufacturing. Uber dives back into the robotaxi game Uber is giving the public a first look at their robotaxi at this CES this week. Uber, along with luxury electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors and vehicle tech company Nuro, introduced an autonomous vehicle with an Uber-designed in-cabin experience.Uber calls it the most luxurious robotaxi yet. It features cameras, sensors and radars that provide 360-degree perception and a low-profile roof “halo” with integrated LEDs that will display riders’ initials to help them spot their car and track their ride status. Inside, riders can personalize everything from climate and seat heating to music, while real-time visuals show exactly what the vehicle is seeing on the road and the route it plans to take.Autonomous on-road testing began last month in San Francisco, led by Nuro, marking a major step toward what the companies said is a planned launch before the end of the year. Star Wars and Lego announce new a partnership When Lucasfilm chief creative officer David Filoni brought out an array of X-Wing pilots, Chewbacca, R2D2 and C-3PO, he won the Star Wars fandom for Lego.Lego announced its Lego Smart Play platform on Monday, which introduces new smart bricks, tags and special minifigs for your collection. The new bricks contain sensors that enable them to sense light and distance, and to provide an array of responses, essentially lights and sounds, when they are used in unison.Combine this with a newly announced partnership with the Star Wars franchise and now you can create your own interactive space battles and light-saber duels. LG reveals a new robot to help around the home File this one under intrigued, for now.The Korean tech giant gave the media a glimpse Monday of its humanoid robot that is designed to handle household chores such as folding laundry and fetching food. Although many companies have robots on display at CES, LG certainly is one of the biggest tech companies to promise to put a service robot in homes.It will be on display beginning Tuesday, so we’ll have more to report soon. What’s new with lollipops? Music you can taste was on display Monday at CES: Lollipop Star unveiled a candy that plays music while you eat it. The company says it uses something called “bone induction technology,” which lets you hear songs like tracks from Ice Spice and Akon through the lollipop as you lick it or bite it in the back of your mouth, according to spokesperson Cassie Lawrence.The musical lollipops will go on sale after CES on Lollipop Star’s website for $8.99 each. And if that wasn’t enough star power, Akon was expected to visit the company’s booth Tuesday when CES opens to the public. Atlas holds up Hyundai’s (manufacturing) world Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics publicly demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas for the first time at the CES tech showcase, ratcheting up a competition with Tesla and other rivals to build robots that look like people and do things that people do. The company said a version of the robot that will help assemble cars is already in production and will be deployed by 2028 at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia. Delta gets spherical Delta Air Lines is taking entertainment to new heights as the “official airline” of the Sphere in Las Vegas. The airline announced a new multiyear partnership with Sphere Entertainment Co. that it says will deliver premium experiences to the venue, including a Delta SKY360° Club lounge.The carrier said SkyMiles members can unlock exclusive access to other experiences at the Sphere, starting during the final weekend of the Backstreet Boys’ residency in February with features including private suite seating, food and beverages. The partnership brings Delta branding to the Sphere’s massive exterior LED screen. Delta says more exclusive SkyMiles experiences will roll out in 2026 and beyond. Shawn Chen and Rio Yamat, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
For retirement savers and retirees, the new year brings more than the usual inflation adjustments to retirement contributions. The retirement legislation known as Secure 2.0 will also continue to phase in, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have impacts too.Here’s a roundup of three key changes and some moves to consider. Roth-only catch-up contributions for high-income 401(k) investors Thanks to a provision in the Secure 2.0 retirement legislation, high-income earners (with $150,000 or more in FICA income in the prior year) who are over 50 and investing in 401(k) or other company retirement plans must make catch-up contributions to their plans’ Roth option, rather than traditional tax-deferred contributions, starting this year.For 2026, 401(k) investors under 50 can contribute $24,500 to their company plans, plus $8,000 in catch-up contributions if they’re over 50, for a total of $32,500. In addition, people age 60 to 63 can make “super-catch-up” contributions: $11,250 on top of $24,500.Potential Action Items: Some 401(k) plans may not have a Roth option, so those participants should instead consider making a full IRA contribution in addition to their baseline 401(k) contributions ($24,500).This year, the IRA contribution limit is $8,600 for people over 50and $7,500 for those under 50. If you can invest even more than that, steer the overage to a taxable brokerage account.A separate issue is how 401(k) investors should proceed if their goal is to make traditional tax-deferred contributions rather than Roth. Secure 2.0 forces higher-income older workers into Roth, at least with the catch-up portion of their contributions. In that case, workers can contribute the base 401(k) limit ($24,500) to the traditional tax-deferred option, with catch-up contributions directed to the Roth option. Higher SALT deduction amounts Thanks to OBBBA, taxpayers can now deduct a higher amount of state and local taxes. The SALT deduction cap was increased from $10,000 to $40,000 starting in 2025. It will revert to $10,000 in 2030.Potential Action Items: How is this related to retirement? The amount of SALT that’s deductible phases out for higher-income taxpayersthose with modified adjusted gross incomes over $500,000. High-income earners should consider ways to come in under $500,000 if they’re close. They might favor contributions to traditional tax-deferred retirement plans rather than Roth or max out their health savings accounts. Qualifying for the higher SALT tax deduction might also argue against strategies that increase income, such as converting traditional IRAs to Roth.Of course, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Strategies like making Roth contributions or converting IRAs might make sense long-term, even if they curtail the deductibility of SALT. Senior deduction Through 2028, people 65and up can take advantage of a new $6,000 deduction. It’s available whether you itemize or not and doubles to $12,000 for married couples filing jointly, assuming both are 65. For non-itemizers, the new deduction would stack on top of standard deductions.Here’s how the deductions look this year: Single filers (standard deduction): $16,100 Single filers over 65: $16,100+ $2,050 + $6,000 = $24,150 Married couples filing jointly (standard deduction): $32,200 Married couples over 65 filing jointly: $32,200 + $1,650×2 + $6,000×2 = $47,500 Higher-income seniors, take note: Income limits apply. The deduction is reduced for single filers with modified adjusted gross incomes over $75,000 and married couples filing jointly with MAGI over $150,000.It goes away entirely for singles with MAGI over $175,000 and married couples filing jointly with MAGI of $250,000 or more. Potential Action Items: Early retirees who have a lot of control over their taxable income levels because they’re not yet receiving Social Security or subject to required minimum distributions may be tempted to try to keep MAGI down to qualify for the full deduction. But it’s wise to balance those aims alongside other worthwhile tactics, such as converting traditional IRA balances to Roth. This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more retirement content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/retirement.ChristineBenz is director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar. Christine Benz of Morningstar
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||