Technology
AI robot brings emotional care to pets
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Tuya Smart just introduced Aura, its first AI-powered companion robot made for pets.
Aura is designed specifically for household cats and dogs, with AI trained to recognize their behaviors, movements and vocal cues. The idea behind Aura is simple. Pets need more than food bowls and cameras. They need attention, interaction and reassurance.
Aura stays active in the home, watches for behavior changes and responds in real time so owners can better understand how their pets are doing. Many pets struggle when left alone for long hours. Small changes often show up first. A dog may stop playing. A cat may hide or groom excessively. These signs can point to stress or anxiety. Aura steps in during those quiet stretches, offering engagement instead of an empty room.
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ROBOTS LEARN 1,000 TASKS IN ONE DAY FROM A SINGLE DEMO
Tuya Smart unveils Aura, an AI-powered companion robot designed to interact with household cats and dogs and monitor behavior changes in real time. (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Why emotional intelligence matters for pets
Smart feeders and pet cameras handle the basics. Emotional care is a different story. Pets are social. When routines change, their mood can shift quickly. Aura tracks behavior and listens for changes in sound patterns. It can tell whether a pet feels excited, anxious, lonely, or relaxed. Aura then sends real-time emotional updates to an owner’s phone. That makes it easier to spot issues early rather than guessing after the fact.
How Aura interacts with pets at home
Aura acts more like a companion than a device that sits still. Several systems work together throughout the day to keep pets engaged. Key features include:
- Laser play and treat dispensing for active interaction
- Simulated pet sounds with expressive animated eyes
- Voice interaction, which is designed to feel natural and responsive
Instead of waiting for a button press, Aura looks for opportunities to engage. It turns long, quiet hours into moments of play and stimulation.
Capturing moments that matter
Aura also keeps an eye out for moments worth saving. Using AI pet recognition and intelligent tracking, it captures everyday highlights like playful bursts, calm naps and funny interactions. Aura can automatically turn these clips into short videos. That helps owners stay connected and feel closer to their pets even when they are away. It also makes it easier to capture moments you might never catch on your own and share them with family or post on social media.
AI PHOTO MATCH REUNITES TEXAS WOMAN WITH LOST CAT AFTER 103 DAYS
Aura uses artificial intelligence to recognize pet movements, sounds and emotional cues, offering engagement and reassurance when pets are home alone. (OLEKSII FILIPPOV / AFP via Getty Images)
How Aura moves and recharges on its own
Movement is a big part of Aura’s role in the home. With V-SLAM navigation, binocular vision and AIVI object recognition, Aura moves freely while avoiding obstacles. When the battery runs low, it returns to its feeding and charging dock on its own. That keeps it ready without constant attention from owners.
A bigger ecosystem around pet care
Aura connects to Tuya’s broader ecosystem, which opens access to services beyond the home. These include smart pet boarding, health and medical care, behavior training, grooming, customization and community tools. Instead of handling one task, Aura becomes a central hub for pet care that can evolve over time.
More than a pet robot
Aura focuses on pets today, but the technology behind it reaches further. Emotional awareness, proactive assistance and ecosystem integration could also support elder care, home monitoring and family connectivity. Starting with pets gives Tuya a clear emotional use case while setting the stage for future home robotics.
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ROBOT STUNS CROWD AFTER SHOCKING ONSTAGE REVEAL
The Aura robot moves through the home autonomously, playing with pets, dispensing treats and capturing video highlights for owners. (Gabe Souza/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
Kurt’s key takeaways
Tuya has not shared a release date or pricing for Aura yet. The company unveiled the robot earlier this month at CES 2026, but details on availability and cost remain unclear. Those specifics are likely to come closer to a wider consumer launch. Even so, Aura signals a shift in how smart home technology shows up for pets. It moves beyond simple monitoring and leans into interaction and emotional awareness. If Aura delivers on its promise, it could help pet owners feel more comfortable leaving their pets home alone while staying connected throughout the day.
If technology can read your pet’s emotions and respond in real time, would you trust it to become part of your home routine, or would that feel like too much? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com.
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Technology
Netflix is raising prices again
Netflix’s prices just went up, with its cheapest, ad-supported tier now reaching $8.99 / month (up from $7.99 / month), according to an updated support page spotted earlier by Android Authority. The standard and premium plans are also getting a hike, going from $17.99 to $19.99 / month and $24.99 to $26.99 / month, respectively.
Netflix didn’t share its reasoning for the price hike this time around, as it last cited delivering “more value for our customers.” It’s also unclear when the price hike will go into effect for existing subscribers. The Verge reached out to Netflix with a request for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.
Technology
Roblox is changing online safety with AI
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If you’ve ever wondered how platforms keep up with millions of users at once, this is where things get real. Roblox has over 144 million daily users. That scale creates a massive challenge. Harmful content does not always show up in obvious ways. Sometimes, it is the combination of things that creates the problem. Now, the company is rolling out a new system designed to catch exactly that. But first, it helps to understand what Roblox actually is.
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MEXICAN ILLEGAL ALIEN ALLEGEDLY USED ROBLOX CURRENCY TO SOLICIT EXPLICIT CONTENT FROM KIDS UNDER 10
Roblox rolls out a new AI system that analyzes entire scenes in real time to detect harmful content across its platform. (Brent Lewin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
What is Roblox
Roblox is an online platform where people can create, share and play games built by other users. Instead of being a single game, it is a massive ecosystem of user-generated experiences that range from simple obstacle courses to complex virtual worlds.
What makes Roblox different is how much control users have. Players are not just consuming content. They are constantly creating it in real time through avatars, text and interactive environments. That constant creation is exactly what makes moderation more complex.
A smarter way to spot harmful content
Most moderation tools look at one thing at a time. A message. An image. An avatar. That approach can miss the bigger picture. Speaking exclusively with CyberGuy, Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, explained the shift clearly:
“We already moderate all of the objects in a virtual world, but how they come together and interact has long been a challenge. Our new real-time multimodal moderation system looks at an entire scene simultaneously from the user’s point of view – including 3D objects, avatars, and text – capturing all of these elements together in a specific moment to assess whether the combination of content types breaks our rules.”
This is called multimodal moderation. Instead of analyzing pieces in isolation, it looks at everything together in real time.
Why older systems were missing the problem
Here is the issue platforms have faced for years. Something can look harmless on its own. But when combined with other elements, it can become harmful or violate rules.
Kaufman puts it this way: “Traditional AI moderation systems, which moderate one object at a time, can lack context and miss combinations that could be problematic in ways that the individual items are not. This model understands the relationship between different objects and how they come together to catch nuanced violations that standard filters may miss.”
That missing context is exactly what bad actors have been exploiting.
What this new AI actually catches
This system focuses on scenarios that previously slipped through. Think about games where users can draw freely or customize avatars. A drawing alone might seem fine. An avatar alone might seem fine. But together, they could create something inappropriate.
Kaufman explains how the system handles that: “The system can detect combinations of objects that may violate our community standards. For example, some games allow free-form drawing. This real-time multimodal moderation system would look at the drawing, avatar, and 3D setting together and assess it holistically, in order to catch and shut down servers with violating content.”
Right now, the rollout is already targeting problematic avatars and inappropriate drawings.
LOUISIANA SUES ONLINE GAMING PLATFORM ROBLOX FOR ALLEGEDLY ENABLING CHILD PREDATORS
Roblox officials say the new system aims to proactively protect children while maintaining gameplay for compliant users. (Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)
The scale is bigger than you think
This is not a small tweak. It is operating at a massive scale. Roblox says it is already shutting down about 5,000 servers per day for violations.
Kaufman says that reflects the reality of the platform: “With 144 million users connecting and creating on Roblox every single day, our safety systems must be as agile and dynamic as our creators themselves.”
He also adds an important reality check: “No system is foolproof against bad actors, so we are committed to doing our best to stay ahead of those attempting to bypass safety protocols, and we are working to scale this new multimodal system to capture and monitor 100% of playtime.”
What changes for everyday Roblox users
If you or your kids use Roblox, this system will likely work in the background without you noticing. But it changes how quickly harmful behavior gets stopped.
“When problematic behavior repeatedly occurs in a single game instance, this new system is designed to automatically detect and shut down those specific servers in real time, greatly reducing the number of users who might be exposed to that behavior.”
That last part matters. Instead of shutting down an entire game, it targets only the problem.
“By targeting only the violating server rather than the entire experience, we can help prevent violations from reaching more users while allowing well-intentioned players to continue their sessions uninterrupted.”
What this means for parents
For parents, this is a big shift toward proactive safety. Instead of waiting for reports, the system acts in real time.
Kaufman explains: “We want parents to know that we aren’t just reacting to reports – we are proactively building some of the most sophisticated AI moderation systems in the world to help protect their children in real time.”
There is also an important layer of protection during gameplay: “We can now evaluate a combination of problematic text, 3D drawings, or avatar movements in real-time and shut down that specific server immediately – often before a child ever encounters it.”
Still, Roblox stresses that technology alone is not enough. “No system is perfect, and we encourage parents to talk to their children about online safety.”
Ways parents can help keep kids safe
Even with advanced AI moderation, a few simple steps can help you stay one step ahead and keep your child safer online.
1) Talk about what your child is doing online
Ask what games they play and who they interact with so you stay involved.
2) Encourage reporting anything that feels off
Remind your child to report behavior that seems inappropriate or uncomfortable.
3) Check privacy and safety settings together
Review account settings to limit who can chat or interact with your child.
4) Set clear boundaries for gameplay
Agree on rules around screen time and which types of experiences are allowed.
ROBLOX CEO RESPONDS TO SCRUTINY OVER CHILD SAFETY: ESTABLISHING THE ‘GOLD STANDARD’ FOR SAFETY
Roblox targets nuanced rule-breaking by analyzing avatars, text and environments together instead of in isolation. (JasonDoiy/Getty Images)
How Roblox avoids false positives
One concern with any AI system is getting it wrong. Roblox says it is actively working to improve accuracy over time.
“We have a continuous evaluation loop set up to measure false positives from the multimodal moderation system, and we are training the system with that feedback to help it catch those types of examples in the future.”
User feedback also plays a role. “Our creators and users are often the ones to spot new trends emerging… This type of reporting is the most effective way for users to help protect the community.”
AI plus human oversight still matters
Even with automation, humans are still involved.”We already use a combination of AI and a team of safety experts to review content uploaded to the platform before it is ever shown to users.”
The new system adds another layer, not a replacement. “This real-time multimodal moderation system is an additional layer and is fully automated in its evaluation of the entire scene.”
What about privacy and fairness?
Any system this powerful raises questions about privacy and overreach. Roblox says it is limiting how data is used: “Our systems and processes are designed so that data collected for safety is used only for safety purposes.”
On fairness, the company points to ongoing training and transparency: “We are focused on ensuring our safety systems are both highly effective and fair.”
They are also giving creators more visibility: “We have introduced a new chart in the creator dashboard that allows developers to see exactly how many of their game’s servers have been shut down.”
Where this is heading next
This system is just getting started. One future focus is detecting recreations of real-world events that may cross the line.
Kaufman explains why context matters here: “Standard filters might see a specific building or a line of text in isolation and not recognize a violation. However, real-time multimodal moderation can understand the relationship between an environment, the way avatars are interacting within it, and the accompanying chat.”
There is also a push to go beyond shutting down servers: “We’re working on ways to identify specific bad actors so we can remove them without disrupting the experience for the vast majority of our well-intentioned players.”
Kurt’s key takeaways
This is a major shift in how online platforms approach safety. Instead of reacting after something goes wrong, Roblox is trying to stop harmful behavior before most users ever see it. That is a big promise, especially at this scale. At the same time, it highlights a deeper question about the future of online spaces. As AI becomes more involved in moderating behavior, the balance between safety, fairness and freedom will only get more complicated.
So here is the question worth thinking about: If AI is now deciding what crosses the line in real time, how much control are we comfortable handing over to it? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Technology
Intel and LG Display may have beaten Apple and Qualcomm with the best laptop battery life ever
Just how little power might it consume? Notebookcheck has tested a version of the laptop with that LG Display screen and a new Intel Panther Lake chip — and it appears to be the most efficient laptop that’s ever gone through its Wi-Fi web browsing test. At idle, the Core Ultra 325 laptop drew as little as 1.5 watts, and lasted nearly 27 hours of web browsing despite only housing a 70 watt-hour pack. That’s well shy of the 99.5Wh Dell has sometimes crammed into its 16-inch models.
That’s more battery life than Notebookcheck has gotten out of any MacBook or MacBook Pro, and apparently more than all but two other laptops since it started running this test in 2014. And of those two laptops, one relied on a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, a larger 84Wh battery, and a mere 60Hz screen — while the other had two batteries for a total of 149Wh and a 60Hz screen as well.
I should caution you that we typically see much less battery life in an actual workday than we do in fixed battery life tests. But compared to other laptops, this Dell + Intel + LG Display combo seems like the new battery life champ. Note that Dell also sells it with a higher-res tandem OLED screen, though. To get the best battery life, you’ll need to settle for 1920 x 1200, no OLED, and no touchscreen.
While Dell may deserve a lot of credit as the system integrator, this tech may not be exclusive to Dell for long. LG Display announced that it’s become the first in the world to mass-produce a 1–120Hz laptop LCD panel (which it’s branding as Oxide 1Hz), and plans to mass-produce an OLED version in 2027. Intel, too, isn’t just working with one display vendor: last October, it announced it was working with Chinese panel maker BOE on 1Hz refresh rate computers too.
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