Thomas Ricker

Deputy Editor

Anker goes big with new whole home backup system

Thomas RickerJan 12

The real boss at SpaceX.

The Wall Street Journal has a profile of Gwynne Shotwell, the longtime president of SpaceX, ahead of its potential IPO. It covers her “unusual relationship” with Elon Musk where she often plays the role of “Musk translator” and defender. But make no mistake, she’s in charge:

“The great thing about Gwynne is she’s always stepped in where she feels the company most needs help,” said Kathy Lueders, a former SpaceX executive who spent years as a high-ranking NASA official. “People would say, ‘We need to turn to Gwynne on this one.’ ”

Elon Musk Relies on Gwynne Shotwell to Make SpaceX Soar

[WSJ]

What we learned from CES 2026

Thomas RickerJan 10

Thomas RickerJan 8

Samsung profits surge on memory chip crisis.

The chip shortage created by our desire to watch AI-generated videos of Trump and Maduro dance in matching Nike sweatsuits, has nearly tripled Samsung’s profits for the quarter, as memory prices surged 40-50 percent.

Samsung Electronics estimates nearly three-fold profit surge as memory prices skyrocket

[CNBC]

Bluetti now charges power stations at up to 1200W in your car

Thomas RickerJan 7

This about sums up the humanoid robots we’ve seen at CES 2026.

The much promised AI-driven, do-it-all humanoid robots sure can dance in canned demos, but they bumble about slowly when faced with objects in the real world. Even when it’s just... carpet.

As my colleague Dom summed up yesterday, “We’re still not close to Rosey the Robot running our homes, but in the meantime the robot revolution is coming one single-purpose bot at a time.”

Thomas RickerJan 7

“X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter.”

That incredible Financial Times quip above, is supported by newly released data from deepfake researcher Genevieve Oh, published by Bloomberg. Over a 24-hour period from January 5th to the 6th, Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot generated “about 6,700” images every hour “identified as sexually suggestive or nudifying.”

For context, “The other top five websites for such content averaged 79 new AI undressing images per hour,” according to Oh.

Musk’s Grok AI Generated Thousands of Undressed Images Per Hour on X

[Bloomberg]

Thomas RickerJan 7

Realme moves under Oppo.

Realme is once again an Oppo subbrand in a bid to save money. Both were once brands under the Chinese consumer hardware behemoth BBK Electronics, which was also responsible for brands like Vivo, OnePlus, and a few more. But BBK consciously uncoupled a few years ago to avoid regulator scrutiny, creating a myriad of legal entities that occasionally shared supply chains, R&D efforts, and even marketing teams.

Chinese smartphone maker Realme set to become an Oppo subbrand

[Reuters]

Power bank feature creep is out of control

Something has gone horribly wrong when your portable battery has a screensaver.

Thomas RickerJan 6

Espresso Displays goes Lite.

The Australian company is back with a colorful new range of 15-inch portable monitors powered by a single USB-C cable. The $249 entry-level Lite models feature a 1080p display packed into a 1.55-pound (700g) plastic and glass slab. It comes bundled with a versatile magnetic folding stand and pulls just 5W at 400 nits of peak brightness.

I loved Espresso Displays’ Pro monitor that I recently reviewed, but its products are much more expensive than generic brands offering similar specs.