If there’s one thing consistent about Samsung’s speakers, it’s that they have distinct designs. In recent years, there was the Music Frame, a speaker designed to look like art you hang on a wall. This year, Samsung has the Music Studio 5 and Music Studio 7, a pair of wireless speakers that, while not art-themed as such, are meant to furnish a home as much as they are meant to play music.
Revealed at CES 2026 earlier in the year, the Wi-Fi-enabled Music Studio speakers brandish what’s called a “Dot Design”. It’s pretty easy to see why: they have a big dot in the centre, meant to evoke a minimalist aesthetic.
Of the two, the Music Studio 7, priced at $749 in Australia, is the more powerful unit. It houses a 3.1.1-channel audio system, while the smaller $499 Music Studio 5 is a simpler two-channel setup. Both support many of the standard casting features, including Apple AirPlay and Google Cast. They also support Spotify Tap, letting you double-tap your phone to the speaker to start up a playlist.
Samsung’s Music Studio duo work with the brand’s Q-Symphony technology, so they can connect to Samsung TVs and soundbars for a fuller sound. Alternatively, up to 10 Music Studio speakers can connect and play music simultaneously if you’re keen to have one in every room of the house.
Samsung’s 2026 soundbars elevate audio, literally
Launching at the same time is Samsung’s latest Q-Series soundbar range, led by the 11.1.4-channel HW-Q990H model, which costs $1,999 in Australia. At the more affordable end of the scale is the $899 HW-Q600H 3.1.2-channel soundbar.
This year’s soundbars come with a feature called ‘Samsung Sound Elevation’. According to Samsung, the feature uses a soundbar’s up-firing speakers to make dialogue sound like it’s coming from higher, as in the TV instead of the soundbar that sits below.
Image: Samsung.
Perhaps the most useful feature for most households will be ‘Auto Volume’. It aims to normalise audio levels, so you’re not suddenly jumpscared by wildly different volume levels when swapping between YouTube and free-to-air TV, for example.
This feature could help address audio inconsistencies with streaming content; it’s a common bugbear that people have to manually set different volume levels per input. If it also addresses the big volume difference between ads and actual content, Samsung might be onto a winner here.
Alongside the Music Studio and soundbar ranges, Samsung rounded out the launch with two updated Sound Tower party speakers. Each one is splashproof and kitted out with reactive LED lights. As for price, the MX-ST40F model costs $479 in Australia, while the bigger MX-ST50F costs $699.
Prompted by the rise of fuel thefts throughout Australia, Uniden has discounted its cellular Solo X2K 4G Plus security camera by $100 to help keep an eye on things.
Now $199 via Uniden’s website (down from $299), the 2K-resolution camera supports Nano SIM cards with 4G connectivity, meaning it can provide a live feed and upload footage to the cloud in areas that Wi-Fi doesn’t reach.
With petrol prices set to remain high for the foreseeable future, Uniden hopes its camera can help add a layer of security while pressure from the fuel crisis continues. The Solo X2K 4G Plus is billed as a camera suited to outdoor use, featuring an IP65 weatherproof rating, a 60-day battery, and 300-degree pan functionality.
Like Uniden’s other cameras, the Solo X2K 4G Plus comes with seven days of free rolling cloud storage. Many other smart home security brands charge extra for cloud storage, but Uniden bucks the trend, providing the storage “for the lifetime” of its products. A 32GB MicroSD card is also included for internal storage.
Watching TV out loud, especially through a good sound system, is almost always the superior option for audio quality. However, getting a baby or toddler to go to sleep is a major challenge, so sometimes you just don’t want to tempt fate by watching TV with the volume audible to others.
For that reason, my wife and I have been watching TV in the evening with headphones on for almost two years. The good news is that in 2026, this is easier to do than ever. The bad news is that it’s expensive if you don’t already have some of this stuff anyway.
How to watch TV with Apple headphones
If you’re an Apple household, then it’s easy to share audio from an Apple TV to two pairs of AirPods or Beats headphones with an H1 or H2 chip.
Image: Alice Clarke.
The Apple TV box connected to your TV should automatically detect any AirPods or Beats headphones belonging to members of your iCloud family in the vicinity. Then, to share audio to both sets of headphones, hold down the screen button on the remote, select audio, and then select the two pairs of headphones.
Images: Alice Clarke.
Each user can then individually control their own volume, transparency, and noise cancelling settings from there.
How to watch TV with Samsung headphones
If you’re a Samsung household, the cheapest and easiest way to go if you already have a practically new TV is to use Auracast.
Image: Alice Clarke.
There are some models of TV, particularly Samsung TVs, that utilise this new and exciting technology to allow a lot of people to connect to Bluetooth at the same time. If you have a newish (2024 or newer) Samsung TV and a couple of pairs of Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro with Auracast, you can just connect multiple pairs of Buds to your TV through Bluetooth settings on the TV itself and watch in peace.
Alas, my TV is a bit too old to demonstrate, but it should be pretty obvious once you get to the device settings.
Connecting headphones to a TV using Sonos
However, Sonos users will have the easiest time, though potentially the most expensive setup, if they don’t already have some of the ecosystem.
The Sonos Arc Ultra and Sonos Ray soundbars are compatible with multiple pairs of Sonos Ace headphones, and it’s, well, ace. I already have a setup with a Sonos Arc Ultra, two Era 300s (for rears) and a Sub 4. I also had a pair of Sonos Ace headphones for me, so getting another pair for my wife to use so we could watch TV together while our daughter slept was a no-brainer.
Image: Alice Clarke.
I love how easy it is to pair: you just put on the Ace when the TV is on, and then hold down the button on the Ace until it pairs. If you have trouble with the button (I found it a bit finicky at times), you can just connect it through the app. Super easy, sounds excellent, and means you’re free to watch whatever you want on TV and control the audio with the remote like normal.
In the past, having a multi-headphone set up on a TV required a lot of dongles, cables and workarounds. While it’s still not 100 per cent straightforward and requires some choices, it is now certainly much easier and wire-free. A must-have for anyone who lives with light sleepers or jerk neighbours.
Every year, we see TV brands trying to outdo each other in producing the best technology for your eyes. Samsung believes it has taken things even further with the MR95F, a huge 115-inch Micro RGB TV capable of showing a wide spectrum of colours. I recently spent a day with the TV to see what the fuss was about.
At $41,995 from Harvey Norman, the MR95F isn’t going to suddenly appear in everyone’s homes, and I think Samsung knows that. It’s one of the best TVs I’ve seen, and it showcases where the future of TVs is going, with the RGB LED technology creating such a pure and colourful picture.
Unlike traditional LEDs, the RGB variant adds colour at a backlight level in addition to a pixel level. The result is deeper colours, 100 per cent of the BT.2020 range, to be precise. And with Samsung’s ‘Micro’ backlights being smaller than the already-tiny Mini LED technology, the level of image control is mind-blowing.
Even if this TV isn’t on your shopping list (which is probably most of us), you must see it in action for a glimpse into the future of home entertainment.
Sometimes you see a new product and instantly think, “I must try that”. That was me when I saw the Shark StainForce Cordless Spot Cleaner. With a few stubborn stains at home, I was more than happy when Shark lent me one to test out for a few weeks.
The whole package looks very fancy, with a plastic caddy, a spray bottle, and essentially a handheld wet vac. The vacuum itself has two heads: a 7cm brush and vacuum head plus a crevice tool.
In fairness, the Shark wasn’t going to have an easy job. The stains I tested were years old, while this unit is really designed to be ready the moment a spill happens. (Attempts to create fresh stains for testing were vetoed by the Minister of War and Finance.) Fortunately, it’s easy to get going, with a full instruction set and a quick guide printed right on the caddy.
Wet and dry cleaning
The approaches to a dry stain and a wet stain differ at the start, but end up being the same once you get to the cleaning stage. For dry, you dry scrub, then vacuum. For wet, you start with a vacuum. After this, you spray the stain with a special stain remover, scrub, then vacuum up any remaining liquid. This process can be repeated for stubborn stains.
The stain remover – with too many ingredients on the side of the bottle to list – comprises two separate liquids that mix as they are sprayed, so this is some fancy cleaning liquid.
The spray bottle also says not to use the stain remover on wool (should have read that before starting) and to test on a small patch first. It also indicated the formula is great for eliminating odours, including urine and smoke.
Image: Angus Jones
Does it work?
The million-dollar question is, “how did it go”?
I used it on three stains, one of which was a 10-year-old red wine stain that had been worked on many times before. The great news is that two of the stains are no longer visible. As for the red wine stain, I’ll continue to live with it, albeit many shades lighter than it was.
Red wine stain beforeRed wine stain after
The whole process takes a few minutes, and if you are prone to spilling stuff on the carpet or have pet accidents, then this is a very handy kit. The Shark StainForce Cordless Stain-Destroying Spot Cleaner is available from the company’s website for $250.
“What we want to do on Roblox is balance this freedom of content creation with ensuring that our youngest users only have access to age-appropriate content,” said Matt Kaufman, Chief Safety Officer at Roblox.
According to Roblox, roughly 60 per cent of Roblox’s daily users have completed age checks in countries where it was first introduced, including Australia. Under the new account system, these users would be automatically assigned one of three account types.
Roblox’s announcement is broadly seen as a positive move, but experts worry that parents will have to do the heavy lifting instead of Roblox taking responsibility for age-inappropriate content.
What are Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts?
Roblox Kids, automatically assigned to users between the ages of 5 and 8, disables all in-game chat by default. Users with a Roblox Kids account can only access games with a ‘Mild’ content maturity label or lower, unless a parent grants access to other games via parental controls, which are now supported for users aged up to 15.
Users with verified ages between 9 and 15 will be assigned Roblox Select accounts. These users can access games designated with maturity content labels up to ‘Moderate’, while the default in-game communication settings are used.
Both account types feature a distinct design, aimed at letting parents know that children are accessing the intended experience. Once a user turns 16, their account then becomes a full Roblox account.
Image: Roblox.
Alongside the new account types, Roblox is rolling out a new verification method for game creators and developers. In addition to the maturity labels, games will only be made available to Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts if the creator completes a three-step verification process.
This includes verifying an ID, enabling two-factor authentication, and having an active US$4.99 monthly Roblox Plus subscription. Newly published games will be available to users 16 and older at first, so Roblox can analyse how players interact with the content and determine suitability for younger users.
Free-form drawing games and social hangout content won’t be available to Roblox Kids and Roblox Select account holders by default. Later in the year, Roblox will update its age rating system, moving away from maturity labels to localised ratings using the International Age Rating Coalition framework. The Australian Classification Board is covered by this, meaning that Roblox experiences will soon have age ratings that correspond with the country’s existing video game classifications.
Experts voice concerns over pressure on parents
Roblox’s actions to shore up children’s safety on its platform have been viewed favourably by online safety and video game experts, but there’s growing concern about the pressure that Roblox’s methods place on parents.
RMIT University’s Lisa Given, a Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences, described Roblox’s recent announcements as “definitely positive moves”, while acknowledging that keeping up will be “a real challenge for many parents”.
“What we’re seeing is that, at the same time that a company like Roblox is trying to build in new features, and with safety as a concern, there’s still a strong role for parents to really understand how the platform works, understand limitations of things like age assurance,” Professor Given said. “And then they’re the ones that, in many cases, have to make choices.”
“The moves that [Roblox is] making in order to filter games and have them sitting across multiple types of accounts, making those age-appropriate judgments about the games, is a very positive proactive stance that Roblox is taking. But it doesn’t mean that parents can just sit back and say, ‘okay, everything there is going to be safe for my child’.”
Roblox is commonly used as a social space for children, which some users have taken advantage of. Image: Roblox.
Similarly, Dr Taylor Hardwick, a postdoctoral researcher at RMIT University who specialises in games and children’s play cultures, agrees that while Roblox’s attempt to protect children online is a good thing, parents may not have the support to fully benefit from the new features.
“Parents are the busiest people in the world,” Dr Hardwick said. “They might have multiple children of different ages, so suddenly they’re trying to understand different approaches.”
“What ends up happening in these situations is that time-poor parents are put in a situation where it is more difficult to understand how to navigate these systems than to relent and give access to your child anyway.”
Research over the years shows that parental controls are largely underutilised. Many parents struggle with the overwhelming nature of parental controls and a lack of support, which commonly comes up in studies into online safety.
“You’ve got maybe 15 minutes to sit on the couch on your phone after a long day before you make dinner to try and wrap your head around what it is that’s being asked of you, how you need to communicate these new rules to your child and how they might fit into the existing rule systems of your family,” Dr Hardwick said. “What an overwhelming ask, right?”
Addressing Roblox’s reputation for enabling predators
“There’s no guarantee that bad actors can’t also enter into that silo through whatever means they might creatively see possible,” Dr Hardwick said. “It doesn’t mean that children will necessarily stay in their silos — kids are bloody smart and adept at technologies.”
Professor Given also questioned whether Roblox’s youngest users need a chat function at all, irrespective of whether it’s disabled by default. Parents can always enable in-game chat, while chatting between trusted connections can be done between age groups, requiring parents to be extra vigilant about who their children add online.
Some experts have questioned how effective Roblox Kids and Roblox Select account types will be at addressing the platform’s biggest issues. Image: Roblox.
“I think a key question is really around those chat features and at what point should kids actually be engaging and how far,” Professor Given said. “Particularly as children might try to add in other people that are within their gaming social circle, but maybe not well known to parents.”
Even Roblox admits that there is no silver bullet solution to children’s safety online.
“While no system is perfect, these age-adaptive accounts are designed to help remove the guesswork for parents and help align users’ experiences with their age,” Kaufman said.
There’s a perception that major tech companies won’t make change unless threatened with regulatory action, which in turn impacts their bottom line: a throughline Dr Hardwick sees with Roblox.
“Roblox has a history of not making change until threatened to,” she said. “I think that what Roblox isn’t interested in addressing is the cultural problem that allows this to grow and has allowed Roblox to become synonymous with predatory behaviour and extremist content.”
“I think that the recent moves toward age verification and age gating are really punitive and don’t actually do anything to address this need for kids to just have a playground to go to. And so I think I would really like to see conversations occurring not only around how to protect children, but how to create spaces for children to be safe, but also to be kids.”
Last week, when Hisense announced its 2026 range of TVs coming to Australia, the new RGB technology rightfully took all the attention. It’s fresh and exciting, bringing an emerging technology at an approachable price point. However, buried in the spec sheets was an eyebrow-raising design change: reducing the number of HDMI ports from four to three.
When reviewing the mid-range Hisense U7QAU TV last year, I expressed great relief that it included four HDMI 2.1 ports. Previous TVs in the range had four ports, albeit only two that supported the higher-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 standard. This was a boon for gamers, who rely on HDMI 2.1 connectivity to play games at 120Hz refresh rates or higher.
While HDMI 2.1 remains a core feature of Hisense’s TVs, the number of overall ports is set to reduce. As seen in the technical specs of the upcoming UR9S model, which starts at $3,999 for the 65-inch version, only three HDMI ports are included.
It’s not uncommon for lower-priced TVs to have three or fewer HDMI ports. For $4,000 TVs — like the latest Samsung OLEDs or LG’s flagship models — however, four is generally the norm.
When asked about the change, a Hisense spokesperson explained that the company has “shifted from 4 to 3 HDMI ports, which is complemented by the addition of a USB-C port on the left side.”
“This enhances overall versatility and future-proofs connectivity, supporting multiple formats such as DisplayPort, USB-C to HDMI, and USB-C to VGA.”
This USB-C port is also mentioned on the UR9S’ product page, advertised as supporting file sharing, displaying content in 4K at up to 165Hz, and able to charge devices at 10W speeds. A more detailed spec sheet on Hisense’s website doesn’t specify the exact details of the port, other than a mention of ‘USB 3.0’.
For some, the lack of a fourth HDMI port may prove a hindrance. Across modern video game consoles and soundbars, those ports can fill up quickly. In some instances, the port reduction can be offset by soundbars that support HDMI passthrough. This means plugging an input, like a games console or a Blu-Ray player, into a compatible soundbar, which then passes the signal through to the TV via one HDMI port.
Conversely, the addition of USB-C will make it easier to connect laptops, with many recent portable PCs favouring Thunderbolt-certified USB-C slots instead of HDMI connections. Either way, it’s a change that might take some adjusting to.
GadgetGuy has asked Hisense to clarify the bandwidth of the new USB-C port and which TVs the three-HDMI design applies to.
