Technologies

This Star Wars Droid Follows You Around to Carry Your Bag for $2,875

The new Gita Mini acts and sounds like a Star Wars astromech droid, but it can’t co-pilot spacecraft.

I can’t justify paying over $2,500 for a robot that follows you around to carry a bag of groceries. But as soon as you slap on some Star Wars decals and give it R2-D2 beeps and bloops — well, the argument certainly changes.

The Giti Mini returns with a new Star Wars-themed version of the cargo-carrying robot, this time called the G1T4 M1N1, which you can see in action in the video embedded below. The hardware is generally the same: the self-balancing rolling bot uses cameras and sensors to follow its leader around, traveling up to 6 miles per hour and carrying a load of 20 pounds. But now, a few modifications make it appear to be an astromech droid from a galaxy far, far away.

The original Gita Mini, released in 2021 by Piaggio Fast Forward, is priced at $2,475. This Star Wars version is $2,875. The extra $400 gets you decals with delightful droid sound effects (and yes it sounds just like R2-D2). If you have a bad feeling about that price, maybe stick with the original and throw on some of your own decals and make your own beeps.

The Gita Mini can carry various objects with the lid open or shut — the lid doesn’t lock. So while it’s handy for carrying your collection of Star Wars novels, I wouldn’t put anything valuable in there, such as Death Star plans.

All Giti Mini units are built with a Bluetooth speaker for blasting your favorite John Williams jams, and there’s a galactic-regulation USB-A port for charging your data pad.

I spent a couple of hours with the new model in the CNET office. It was my second time hanging out with a Gita robot — the first was a larger prototype back in 2017. I was impressed at how the new M1N1 weaved through obstacles and took tight turns as I walked around. But it was also tempting to mess with its camera sensors. The sensor is supposed to visually imprint on the legs of its leader to follow you from a close distance. It imprints the moment you press a touchpad on the front.

I was wearing blue jeans. Other colleagues wearing blue jeans would trick the bot into following them, so the G1T4 M1N1 was easily fooled into abandoning its directive to follow me.

In another attempt to trick the droid, I put a rolling office chair in front the camera when I told it to imprint to a leader. It then believed the office chair was its new master, and followed the chair wherever it rolled. What can I say, I’m a reviewer who likes to mess with tech, and droids were made to suffer.

It’s also very easy to pick up, weighing just about 26 pounds when empty, which is handy if you need to adjust it. I’m not sure you might use it every day for errands if you’re worried about other people messing around with it. But it is a delightful way to have a Star Wars collectible that can do some work for you. Although lets be honest — you would just buy this to impress your friends as it carries drinks behind you a May the Fourth party. This is the way.

Technologies

YouTubers Sue Amazon, Claim AI Tool Was Trained on Scraped Videos

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon bypassed YouTube protections to collect content for its generative AI video system.

A group of YouTube creators is suing Amazon, accusing the tech giant of secretly scraping their videos to train its AI video model without permission.

The proposed class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, alleges Amazon used automated tools to download and extract data from millions of YouTube videos to build and improve its Nova Reel generative AI system — a model that can create short videos from text prompts and images.

At the center of the complaint is how that data was obtained. The plaintiffs claim that Amazon bypassed YouTube’s protections using virtual machines and rotating IP addresses to avoid detection, effectively sidestepping the platform’s safeguards against bulk downloading.

The lawsuit was brought by several creators, including Ted Entertainment (the company behind the H3 Podcast and h3h3 Productions), as well as individual YouTubers and channel operators. They argue that the alleged scraping violated copyright law and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and are seeking damages as well as an injunction to stop the practice.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

The case lands at a pivotal moment for generative AI, as courts weigh whether training on copyrighted material qualifies as fair use and how much control creators retain once their work is used to build these systems. The disputes have often centered on written material, which has been at the center of the AI revolution for several years, while AI video generators such as OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo have emerged more recently.

The lawsuit is one of dozens testing the boundaries of AI training practices, alongside high-profile cases from authors, artists and news organizations, including lawsuits against OpenAI and Meta, all circling the same unresolved question: Where does fair use end and infringement begin?

Technologies

The Galaxy Z TriFold Is Back. You Can Buy It From Samsung Soon

The $2,899 phone paused its sales in March after selling through its inventory, but Samsung is bringing it back to its online store.

Samsung’s $2,899 Galaxy Z TriFold is going back on sale on Friday, following a halt to its sales in March after the foldable phone sold through its inventory. Samsung has announced the TriFold’s return with a countdown clock on the phone’s online store page along with a Wednesday newsletter email sent to customers.

The initial pause, which Samsung said at the time was related to the TriFold being a «super-premium device in limited quantities,» happened after just three months of availability. The TriFold first went on sale in South Korea on Dec. 12 and then arrived in Samsung’s US store on Jan. 30. The TriFold sold out in the US within minutes of going on sale — which I know personally after joining my colleagues that morning in an attempt to buy it. Thankfully Senior Reporter Abrar Al-Heeti succeeded, and then reviewed the TriFold.

It’s unclear whether the Galaxy Z TriFold is now permanently returning to Samsung’s online store or if it is again on sale until its stock sells through. Given that the phone is very expensive, and unfolds to reveal a large, 10-inch display, it wouldn’t be surprising if its stock will be in limited quantities. We’ve asked a Samsung representative to clarify and will update if we hear more.

The Galaxy Z TriFold’s return also comes ahead of the summer season when we expect a slew of other foldable phones: Samsung typically refreshes its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip line in July or August, and Motorola has announced its first book-style Razr Fold phone will also debut during the season. And Apple’s rumored iPhone Fold (or perhaps iPhone Ultra based on latest rumors) could also be teased later this year.

Technologies

Help Us Crown the Most Loved Headphones and Earbuds of 2026

Got a pair you swear by? Take our People’s Picks survey to help us find a winner.

CNET just launched People’s Picks, a series of surveys where actual humans like you vote for the products and services you use. Starting in April, we want you to weigh in on your favorite headphones and earbuds. We’ll pick a winner based on which ones you love the most.

Why we want to hear from you

Our writers and editors test hundreds of products each year, but your real-world experience with these devices is something we can’t replicate in our labs. You’ve used these headphones at the gym, on your commute to work and on long flights, and that perspective is invaluable. Your voice helps others know about the headphones or earbuds you love, too.

«I review a lot of headphones and earbuds for CNET, and there are plenty of great models from the top brands in this survey that I rate highly. I’m always curious about what models people ultimately choose and why, so I’m excited to get your feedback and learn the results of this survey,» says David Carnoy, CNET’s executive editor and headphones expert.

With our survey, we’ll collect answers from real-world users like you. The headphones and earbuds chosen through our 3-minute survey will be featured in our People’s Picks roundup of the top picks based on your recommendation.

Make your voice heard

Whether you swear by a pair of $25 earbuds or love a pair of high-end headphones, your pick counts. The survey takes just a few minutes to complete, and after we gather enough information, we’ll tally the results and publish the winners.

Not sure what to pick? Check out our Best Headphones to revisit your favorites before voting.