Well, this is a bummer. iRobot, the company that basically put robot vacuums on the map (and in our homes), has filed for bankruptcy. I remember when the first Roomba came out – it was like something straight out of "The Jetsons"! Now, it looks like they're planning to sell all their assets to Picea Robotics, a Chinese company that's also their primary supplier. Ouch.

Apparently, investors are going to take a complete bath on this deal, which is never good news. And the company hasn't said a peep about how this might affect their employees here in the US, which is concerning, to say the least.

So, what happened? It seems like Amazon backed out of a $1.7 billion acquisition deal last year after European regulators raised some red flags. That left iRobot in a tough spot. On top of that, I've heard they got hammered by Trump's tariffs in Vietnam, where they make a lot of their products for the US market. It's a double whammy.

Of course, the market has changed a lot since 2002, when the first Roomba hit the scene. Now there are tons of competitors out there, like Roborock, Dyson, and Eufy, offering vacuums at all sorts of price points. It's a dog-eat-dog world in the robot vacuum biz, and it looks like iRobot couldn't keep up.

IKEA's Cute Charging Solutions

Speaking of tech that's trying to stay relevant, IKEA is revamping its smart home stuff with Matter support and some new Qi wireless chargers. They've got this $10 thing called the VÄSTMÄRKE, which is basically a PopSockets-style grip with cable storage. And then there's a $25 wireless charger with a built-in light. It's shaped like a bowl, which is kind of cute.

LG's Micro RGB TV

LG is showing off its first Micro RGB evo TV at CES 2026. Apparently, it's going to have better color and dimming than a regular LCD TV. Instead of just white lights, it uses red, green, and blue Micro LEDs, so it can display a wider range of colors. Sounds pretty neat!

"Slop" is the Word of the Year?

Merriam-Webster chose "slop" as its word of the year. It means "digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence." I gotta say, that's pretty accurate. We've seen a ton of AI-generated garbage online this year, from fake movie trailers to AI bands. It's kind of depressing, but at least we have a word for it now.