Stay connected with the world of technology and media with our weekly round-up. From the Starlink Mini to Counsel Health and more, we have you covered. Check out what you may have missed in this week’s Tech News blog!
Google Tabletop Turns AI Into a Collaborative Planning Tool
Google’s experimental Tabletop platform could make planning trips, events, and household projects more interactive. The Google Labs tool lets users create customized collaborative spaces by describing what they need, including savings trackers, chore charts, dinner polls, expense splitters, and tournament brackets. Users can add links, files, and ideas to a shared space, while Tabletop’s built-in AI generates interactive tools from that information. Finished projects can be shared through an invite link so multiple people can work inside the same space at once, similar to a Google Doc. Access is currently available through a waitlist for users ages 18 and older in the United States.
Adobe Max Previews a New Generation of Experimental AI Tools
Creative work is getting another dose of generative AI through a collection of experimental projects unveiled at Adobe Max 2026. Project Screen Test lets creators develop AI characters by speaking with them, shaping everything from personality and voice to backstory, fears, and movement. Another experiment, Project Sight Span, can transform a flat photograph or illustration into an explorable 3D environment that lets users reposition the viewing angle. Adobe also demonstrated Project Sound Bender for generating and adjusting synchronized audio, along with Project Rinse Repeat for copying edits across multiple people or objects in an image. These features are still experiments rather than confirmed product releases, but they offer a glimpse at how Adobe is exploring more interactive approaches to AI-assisted creative work.
Serve Robotics Opens Its Delivery Robots to Developers
Local businesses may soon have an easier way to put autonomous sidewalk robots to work without relying on a major delivery app. Serve Robotics has launched an AV Delivery Developer Portal that gives developers, small businesses, and even AI agents access to its fleet of roughly 2,000 delivery robots. The service is available across the approximately 150 neighborhoods where Serve currently operates, allowing businesses to dispatch robots directly through software tools. Potential uses extend beyond restaurant delivery to florists, pharmacies, repair shops, office deliveries, and peer-to-peer exchanges. Serve says direct access could also help merchants avoid some of the substantial commissions charged by traditional food delivery platforms.
Disney Plus Brings More Than 60 3D Movies to Meta Quest
Virtual reality movie nights are getting a significant upgrade through an updated Disney Plus app for Meta Quest. Subscribers can now stream more than 60 movies in 3D, including The Avengers and Black Panther. Select films also offer themed virtual environments, allowing viewers to watch Star Wars: A New Hope from a Tatooine-inspired setting or Monsters, Inc. from a recreation of the Scare Floor. Disney Plus plans to bring additional immersive viewing features to Meta’s upcoming VR Glasses, which are expected to launch in spring 2027. The update gives Meta another entertainment use case for its headsets while offering Disney a new way to showcase its large catalog of blockbuster franchises.
Oura Acquires Counsel Health in a $625 Million Deal
Wearable health data could play a much bigger role in virtual medical care. Oura has agreed to acquire Counsel Health for $625 million. Counsel operates an AI-powered healthcare platform. The platform analyzes information from wearable devices. Additionally, it answers medical questions and connects users with physicians when additional care is needed. Oura says the acquisition will help combine biometric tracking and clinical AI. Likewise, it will also have access to doctors within a more integrated health experience. The companies plan to focus on preventative care, short-term health concerns, and specialty or chronic care areas such as reproductive and cardiometabolic health. Counsel’s roughly 70 employees will join Oura after the deal closes, which is expected before the end of the year.
Starlink Mini 2 Adds a Hot-Swappable Battery
Portable satellite internet is becoming more self-contained with SpaceX’s new Starlink Mini 2. The laptop-sized Starlink terminal combines the satellite dish, Wi-Fi router, and an integrated battery into a single device. The Starlink device can operate for up to 4.5 hours on a full charge. Users can extend that Starlink runtime by swapping in additional batteries. In addition, Starlink users can connect the Mini 2 to a 60W USB-C power source. Despite adding a battery, Starlink has made the new model thinner than the original. Likewise, the Starlink Mini 2 retains an IP67 rating for outdoor use. The $999 package includes one year of Roam Unlimited service. Preorders for the Starlink Mini 2 are currently available by invitation to select customers in the United States.