It’s ridiculously thin at 9.5mm; LG claims it’s thinner than a pencil. While I’m sure there are some pretty dummy thicc pencils out there, the standard #2 pencil is around 6-7mm thick. But that’s still very close! It’s extremely impressive.
At the LG booth, the Wallpaper TV was flush-mounted to a custom glass wall so attendees could enjoy both the gorgeous screen part (which looked spectacularly crisp) and the flat back, which only has a power cord protruding from it.
In the box of the retail version, though, there will be a flush wall mount included to achieve a similar look. The brains of the TV live in a Zero Connect box, which wirelessly transmits 4K pictures at 165Hz with a 0.1 millisecond pixel response time.
Images: Alice Clarke.
Comparing LG’s Micro RGB and OLED TVs
Other TVs on the booth included LG’s new Micro RGB TV. OLED is still the focus for LG, as the company believes it has better light control with the technology it originally perfected. But with the rise of Micro RGB technology from other brands, LG must also have an offering.
For what it’s worth, I was particularly blown away by how red the red was on the Micro RGB evo AI TV. The colour is just so rich. The TV is driven by the same advanced A11 AI processor that’s in the OLED evo TVs, and the big headline there is that LG is calling the A11 a dual AI engine, which is able to reduce noise and upscale textures at the same time.
LG does have a point about the benefits of OLED over Micro RGB, given Micro RGB has thousands of dimming zones, and OLED has the equivalent of millions. However, side by side, I thought the red in particular was more vibrant on the Micro RGB, though the blacks were marginally blacker on the OLED.
Images: Alice Clarke.
The new top-end OLED evo TVs now have four times as much brightness as the base model, making them better suited to bright rooms. Another update across the range is that the TVs now have both Copilot and Google Gemini, so users have more options to ask their TV questions about what’s on their screens.
The new range of TVs will be coming to Australia later this year, with prices yet to be confirmed.
Alice Clarke attended CES 2026 as a guest of Lego and Intel.
A modern smart home is all about automating the things that we do every day. Whether that’s turn on certain lights, set the air con to a certain temperature and fan speed, or even extend powered awnings, raise the shades, and – with a bit of clever configuration – set the pool robot to work.
This article covers my experience setting up my modern smart home using automation products from Aqara.
All about Aqara
Now, the broad steps and functions I cover in this walkthrough can apply to all sorts of home automation kit that’s currently on the market. But for my modern smart home, I used Aqara gear.
Aqara is a relatively new name to Australia, but the company has been designing and making smart home and IoT devices for almost a decade. It markets around 900 products and serves around 12 million users across 5 continents, and has won more than 300 international design and innovation awards.
Using a single brand of devices does have a bunch of advantages, since they can all be controlled through a single app, and they’re also going to work together smoothly.
But one of the reasons I chose Aqara is because the company makes interoperability a priority. So while all my new automation gear is Aqara, I can leverage Aqara’s support for Matter, SmartThings, Apple HomeKit, Alexa, and Google, to also access my older devices – and as you can imagine with a job like mine, I have a few. Aqara also lets me MAKE gear smart, basically anything that can be turned on or off via a wall switch, I can add to my Aqara smart home.
The role of the Aqara hub (and why it matters)
Many of Aqara’s smart home devices will work as standalone gadgets, and some communicate via the cloud and the app. But for full flexibility and control, I’ve started with an Aqara Hub M3.
This hockey puck-sized device packs a CPU and a whole lot of networking smarts, to act as a central bridge or, well, hub, to control all my Aqara devices and allow them to communicate with each other, not just with the Aqara app.
When I put together this system, I focused on how everything can work together, such as how a sensor detecting a person arriving at the house, can then trigger an automatic response from a completely different device
Since each Aqara device is connected to the hub, information can be passed between them. For example, when a door sensor detects the door opening, the hub gets that signal, which triggers a light to turn on, a security camera to record video, and even sends my phone a notification.
Beyond these simple triggers, I can also configure more precise conditions, such as turning on a light at a specific brightness based on the time of day.
Crucially, the Aqara Hub M3 lets me control other non-Aqara devices too, as long as they’re compatible with Apple HomeKit, Matter, Google Home, or Amazon Alexa. Obviously, this doesn’t just cover my older devices, it also covers new gadgets I might like to add further down the track.
Now, I’ve decided to use the Aqara app for my modern smart home, but another bonus of the Aqara Hub M3 is that it lets you integrate Aqara devices into other smart home systems. So if you already have a Google Home set up, you can add an Aqara Hub M3 and control a wide range of Aqara devices using the Google Home app.
To be honest, I didn’t realise how important the hub was until everything was running. It’s the bit that makes the devices feel like a system instead of a collection of gadgets.
Devices used in the setup
Sometimes a smart home can be about reducing the number of switches you flip, so a single tap in the app can switch on all the living room lights, and set their colour, and so forth.
But I wanted to take things to the next level. I wanted a modern smart home that responds mostly to time-of-day, and to the presence of people (such as me!). So when I left in the morning, and came home at night, the smart home automatically does those things I usually don’t think about. Switching on lights, setting AC temperature, extending awnings and opening or closing blinds, and so on.
Aqara Security Camera Hub G5 Pro.
I also wanted to increase my peace of mind about certain aspects of running a full-sized home. That meant covering security, but Aqara also let me add some other things, such as a water leak sensor. Here’s the full list of everything that went into my modern smart home:
Aqara Home app
Aqara Hub M3
Aqara Smart Lock U100
Aqara Smart Video Doorbell G4 with Chime
Aqara G100 camera
Aqara Hub G5 Pro camera
Aqara Roller Shade Driver E1
Aqara Smart Light Bulb
Aqara Temperature and Humidity Sensor
Aqara Presence Multi Sensor FP300
Aqara Door and Window Sensor
Aqara Water Leak Sensor
Aqara Smart Wall Switch H2
Aqara Wireless Mini Switch
Setting up
Installing this plethora of devices was even easier than I imagined. Aqara includes a full installation kit in the box but, for me, heavy-duty double-sided tape was the key. It lets me mount sensors, cameras, the doorbell and more, in a way that’s simple and durable, but also non-permanent.
This means I can take my kit with me if I ever move, or maybe more likely in the short term, I can upgrade individual devices if Aqara brings out an even more powerful or flexible new version.
For things like the Roller Shade Driver E1 and the Water Leak Sensor, installation took a bit of planning. And, of course, I had to pull the dishwasher out to mount the water leak sensor behind it. But as DIY jobs go, it’s simple stuff. A measure here, a check there, and then the device is ready to be added to the system.
It really is as straightforward as downloading the Aqara app, and creating an account for my modern smart home system.
Aqara Door and Window Sensor T1.
Then I pair my account and phone with my Aqara Hub M3. The app provides easy-to-follow instructions for how to do this, which buttons to press or hold, how to add the hub to my Wi-Fi and so on.
A top tip here, for the hub to work I needed my home Wi-Fi to have its 2.4GHz network active, and my phone had to be able to temporarily join that network for setup. So I had my password and SSID to hand as well.
Once the hub is set up, the Aqara app is ready to start adding devices – or Accessories as they are called in-app – by tapping the plus icon and following the instructions.
Some devices appear automatically, but some need to be put in pairing mode. I was able to choose the device I knew I had, then follow the instructions for how to make it detectable.
All in all, it was a simple process, and since everything I was setting up was an Aqara product, it went smoothly.
Everyday automation in practice
As I’ve already mentioned, my goal with the system was to create sequences or chains of automation, so one simple action – such as unlocking the front door with my biometrics – then causes a bunch of automations to occur. This means I can just focus on what I want to do next, instead of first having to run around the house turning on lights or starting appliances.
My automations include:
Blinds, lights, and AC turn on when the door lock is opened
Lights turning on when movement is detected
Devices switching off when rooms are empty
Alerts appearing when doors or windows open
Cameras activating when motion occurs
Blinds opening and closing with sunrise and sunset
AC, TV, and lights switching off as one at bedtime
Door unlocking when face is recognised
Voice alert broadcast from Hub speaker when water leak is detected, and notification sent to smartphone
Individual devices can do this or be controlled to do this via the app, but a little basic “programming” makes it all happen automatically.
It’s as simple as going to the Automation section in the app and tapping the plus icon to create a new sequence. It’s all about basic WHEN and THEN actions.
So WHEN a motion sensor detects movement in the lounge, THEN a smart plug connected to a corner lamp turns on. Really, you’re only limited by what occurs to you.
And those smart switches are key actually, to being able to add legacy devices like external floodlights and awnings.
You stop ‘using’ the technology pretty quickly. It just becomes part of how the house works.
Access and visibility
One of the most important aspects of a modern smart home is the way cameras and sensors connected allow you to check what’s happening at home, from anywhere.
With my Aqara app set up and logged in with an account, I can use my phone to check my doorbell camera, and security cameras. And it’s not just about being proactive – if an event occurs, such as a camera detecting a delivery, then I’ll get an alert on my phone, and a quick clip of what’s going on.
It’s also great for peace of mind, because with the app I can confirm my doors are closed, and everything that should be switched off actually is.
It’s not about monitoring everything — it’s about knowing what’s happening if you’re not there.
Final takeaway
I certainly have no regrets in getting my home up and running as a modern smart home. It wasn’t complex or overwhelming, in fact with a central hub to manage all my connected devices, it was surprisingly simple.
And while I can go mad with lots of devices – Aqara certainly has an impressively wide range – that’s not really what this is about. It’s about reducing those small daily tasks and letting the home respond on its own.
If there’s one main thing I’ve discovered in this process, it’s that the real value of a smart home isn’t in how many gadgets and devices you connect to it. It’s about having fewer things to worry about.
Yesterday, Lego announced something big at its first-ever CES keynote. Called the “Smart Brick”, it’s one of the biggest changes to Lego in its history.
Lego’s keynote kicked off with a short film about the history of Lego brick innovations, including the shift in minifigure types from the original 1975 figures that didn’t have arms or legs, to the ones we recognise today. Then, Julia Goldin, Chief Product and Marketing, came out on stage to say that this new Smart Brick was the next major innovation to the Lego system after the Minifig in 1978.
That’s a big call, given the huge number of evolutions to the Lego system over the years. Even the last 15 years have seen major changes, such as the Mini Doll, and technological forays into Mindstorms (robots with sensors), Ultra Agents (AR), Lego Super Mario (interactive figures), Vidiyo (AR again), Hidden Side (AR once more), light-up bricks, sound bricks, and far more.
But Lego seems more enthused by the Smart Brick, and is hyping it to a level that I haven’t seen with their other technological dabbles in the time I’ve been covering them. That alone is reason to give it a look. Luckily for Lego, in the hour or so I’ve spent with the Smart Play system, I can confirm that it, like everything, is awesome.
Kids are going to be obsessed. Adults will be obsessed.
Lego Smart Brick in action
Inside the Smart Brick is a silicon chip that’s smaller than one of the studs. This chip is packed with sensors, including accelerometers, and light and sound sensors. The bricks then interact with the built-in multicoloured LEDs and speaker, alongside an onboard synthesiser. That’s then paired with a Smart Tag that tells the Smart Brick what it’s supposed to be, such as an engine, duck, plane, train, lightsaber, or something Star Wars-y (which is the technical term). There are also Smart Minifigs, which can interact with the Brick.
Images: Alice Clarke.
Most importantly, the brick doesn’t have any pre-recorded sounds. It’s all created in the moment using the on-board synthesiser, which means that once kids have a couple of Smart Bricks, all they need are more Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures (which contain RFID tags and no batteries, making them a much cheaper component).
The potential options for Smart Tags are limitless. In the demo alone, I saw loads of fun combinations. There were ducks, a dinosaur, a trophy that determines a winner based on how close things get to it, and a cupcake that prompts the ducks to sing happy birthday when you ‘blow’ its candles out.
The technology responds to different Minifigs in clever ways. I saw a police car trigger an alarm when the robber gets in, but play a siren when the police officer is in the driver’s seat.
What was cool was seeing how every adult in the room immediately turned into a happy child when flying around an X-Wing, making whooshing noises, shooting at a TIE Fighter. Everyone in the room giggled when putting Darth Vader near the brick played his entrance music. The lightsaber battle in the throne room made all the satisfying lightsaber noises, too. Honestly, I could’ve played with the Smart Bricks all day.
Images: Alice Clarke.
Yes, building these models looks like a lot of fun; there’s plenty of detail in there. But the Smart Play System ensures that more of the magic lives in the play after the figure is built. If a kid has an X-Wing Smart Tag, then no matter what they build and put that tag in, it will sound like an X-Wing.
I expected to find a limit on what could be imagined, enjoyed or played with, but it actually turned out to be thrilling. Having a T-rex flying around making spaceship noises was utterly delightful, and it means that anything can be a spaceship with enough imagination. If anything, it gives older kids more freedom and permission to break the rules of what a thing should look like without feeling silly by making the noises themselves.
How much will it cost?
Star Wars will lead the new Lego Smart Brick range, starting with three sets. The cheapest is the Darth Vader TIE Fighter set, which will cost $99 in Australia. Each set includes at least one Smart Brick, one Smart Minifig, and one Smart Tag. Pre-orders start on 8 January, before the sets arrive at retail in March.
Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter building set (75421): $99.99
Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-wing building set (75423): $149.99
Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Throne Room Duel & A-wing building set (75427): $249.99
Everyone I spoke to at Lego emphasised that Star Wars is just the beginning. I suspect it won’t be long until we start seeing Creative Boxes coming with a bunch of different tags for kids to build using their imagination, and then using the Smart Play system to make it come to life.
If this goes well, I think we’re currently witnessing the next evolution for Lego. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Alice Clarke attended CES 2026 as a guest of Lego and Intel.
Showing a wide range of laptops aimed at everyday users and creatives, the 2026 Zenbook Duo enjoyed one of the biggest glow-ups. Now made with Asus’ favoured ‘Ceraluminum’ material seen on its previous flagship laptops, the dual-screen laptop is slightly smaller, along with various upgrades across the board.
Still featuring two 14-inch OLED screens, the new Zenbook Duo gets an upgraded Bluetooth keyboard, a bigger 99Wh dual-battery system, a smaller gap between screens, and a beefier six-speaker audio setup.
On the inside is the new Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chipset, capable of reaching up to 45W TDP, which Asus says is 28 per cent higher than the previous Duo. It also has a revamped cooling system, with larger vents and two 97-blade fans to keep the PC’s heat under control.
Alongside the dual-screen laptop are plenty of traditional clamshell PCs, too. Snapdragon’s new X2 Elite Extreme processor powers the latest Zenbook A16 laptop, while the non-Extreme chipset is found in the A14 model. Meanwhile, the Zenbook S range runs on Intel’s chips.
The Zenbook A16’s beige finish is a nice change from the usual greys. Image: Asus.
AMD gets its chance to shine with a special GoPro edition of the ProArt PX13 laptop aimed at creators. On the inside is the Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor and up to 128GB of unified memory, while the outside has a durable GoPro-themed design. The laptop also has a GoPro hotkey mapped to the GoPro Player app, which pairs with a bundled 12-month GoPro Premium+ subscription.
And that only scratches the surface of Asus’ PC announcements, which also included new desktops and accessories. Expect Australian release dates and prices for Asus’ 2026 in the coming months.
After a brief tease earlier in the week, Roborock has announced the Saros Rover, a robot vacuum capable of climbing and cleaning stairs.
Stairs have so far been the ultimate foe for many robotic appliances. Between the risk of falling down stairs or being unable to move between floors automatically, it’s one thing home robot manufacturers haven’t been able to crack yet.
Roborock reckons it has the answer with the Saros Rover, an appliance that has extendable legs with wheels at the end. In a public demo at CES 2026, the robot can be seen slowly climbing a set of stairs, extending and retracting its legs to hoist itself up each step.
But it doesn’t just climb stairs; it can stop mid-climb, pivot, and clean along the way. By hooking one leg up, the Saros Rover can turn and move back and forth to vacuum a step before fully ascending to the next one.
It’s hoped that the Saros Rover will be able to clean multi-storey homes without any user intervention required. It’s not unheard of for some households to have multiple robot cleaners — one for each floor — which a device like this could resolve.
Unlike a lot of devices shown at CES that never leave the concept phase, the Saros Rover is in active development and will launch in the future, Roborock confirmed.
More Roborock upgrades at CES 2026
In a more conventional approach, Roborock also announced the Saros 20 and Saros 20 Sonic robot cleaners. A sequel to last year’s Saros 10 flagship range, the Saros 20 boosts the motor power up to 35,000Pa. It also gets an upgraded navigation system that can map faster, plus an improved lifting mechanism capable of scaling home thresholds up to 4.5cm high.
Roborock’s wet-dry vacuum range gets an upgrade, too, with the F25 Ace Pro equipped with a foaming solution designed to break down annoying floor stains. It also has a 25,000Pa suction power, a 35 per cent larger water tank than previous F25 models, and a hot water self-cleaning station.
Try blaming that mess on the cat, I dare you. Image: Roborock.
Australian prices and release dates for Roborock’s new Saros 20 and F25 appliances are expected later in the year.
Projectors just keep getting brighter, and the Hisense XR10 looks like it’ll suit more than just dark projection rooms.
When Hisense says the XR10 is bright, it’s not messing around. Last year, I tested the C2 Ultra, which pumped out 3,000 lumens. The XR10 doubles that, cranking up the brightness to 6,000 lumens. In real-world terms, the projector should be easier to enjoy during the day when it’s trickier to control ambient lighting.
Like the C2 Ultra, the Hisense XR10 can project an image as big as 300 inches. Most of us probably don’t have that sort of wall space, so the minimum projection size of 65 inches will come in handy. The projector also supports plenty of image adjustment, including 130 degrees vertical and 46 degrees horizontal, so it doesn’t have to be in the perfect position to produce a good image.
As nice as a brighter projector sounds, would it guzzle more power to operate? According to Hisense, its top-of-the-line projector uses a liquid cooling system, which it says keeps the projector quiet and cool at high brightness levels, while keeping energy demands down.
Australia will also get an upgraded C3 range of projectors, although Hisense hasn’t specified many details as of yet. Nor does the XR10 have a local release date or price — that will likely come when Hisense confirms more details about its upcoming TVs.
Ultimately, the price will determine how many living rooms will get to enjoy a much brighter projector.
In one of the flashiest tech announcements at CES 2026, ROG has announced the Zephyrus Duo, a dual-screen gaming laptop to complement the more lifestyle-centric Asus Zenbook Duo.
When I reviewed the 2024 Zenbook Duo, I thought it was surprisingly competent at gaming, even though it wasn’t its primary purpose. That was largely because of the fairly robust integrated GPU of the Intel Core Ultra at the time.
Now, Asus’ gaming brand is making sure you can definitely play the most intense games on a dual-screen device. Confirmed as shipping with two 16-inch 3K OLED 120Hz-compatible displays, the ROG Zephyrus Duo is a far different beast from the similarly named laptop from a few years ago. Instead of a smaller screen on the bottom, the 2026 edition has screen size parity, top and bottom.
Image: ROG.
Exact specs are still coming through, but ROG confirmed that the novel gaming PC will sport the “latest Intel processor”, and up to an Nvidia RTX 5090 Laptop GPU. That’s a lot of power in a dual-screen PC. I shudder to think of what the eventual price tag will be.
2026 versions of ROG’s core range were also shown, including the Zephyrus G14 and G16 clamshell gaming laptops. Both have higher graphical power outputs (130W and 160W), in addition to supporting up to an RTX 5080 and 5090, respectively.
Each Zephyrus G laptop gets ROG’s brighter 1,100-nit displays, designed to better show HDR content. Alongside the laptops, ROG announced the G1000 desktop, which can show holographic visuals via its fan system.
More displays and peripherals than you can poke a stick at rounded out the gaming goodness. Among ROG’s spread at CES also included a mix of PC components, headsets, and a set of gaming augmented reality glasses.
