Technologies

I Watched a $30,000, 116-Inch TV. Now I Need a Bigger Living Room

I spent a couple of hours with the Hisense 116UX TV, which has an RGB mini-LED backlight and a superfast 165Hz panel. Also, it’s big.

The whole TV industry is moving towards bigger and bigger screens, and the new Hisense 116UX takes the concept to a room-filling extreme. This is a 116-inch 4K TV that costs as much as a decent new car. But it’s not just any 116-inch, $30,000 TV. Hisense built some sophisticated tech under the hood, and I got some hands-on time with it.

I can confirm that this is a truly massive screen. Like, absolutely huge. A real unit. To give you an idea of how big it is, I’m 6 feet tall and I could not touch one end and the other at the same time. I can also confirm that I kinda want one.

Read more: Best TVs of 2025

Unique tech, meet gigantic TV

First announced at CES, this Hisense 116UX is a different type of TV than the $20,000, 115-inch TCL we looked at last year. That was a «hang out with your buddies and watch the game» kind of TV. This Hisense is not just an inch larger diagonally and 10 grand more expensive, it’s squarely aimed at the (very) well-heeled video quality aficionado.

The LCD-based Hisense 116UX uses the company’s proprietary RGB, mini-LED backlight combined with quantum dots and 3,584 local dimming zones. As the name «RGB» suggests, each individual backlight is broken up into a trio of red, green and blue mini-LEDs. Representatives for the company said these zones can also be divided further through software, and that at full pelt the screen is capable of 8,000 nits peak brightness.

The TV is set for gaming on with a native 165Hz Panel and support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Auto Low Latency Mode.

Though it lacks the level of anti-glare tech found on high-end Samsungs like the S95F I reviewed recently, Hisense’s TV has the company’s own Anti-Reflection Pro to ward off (though not completely obscure) reflected light.

Like most TVs from companies not called LG or Samsung, the 116UX runs on the Google TV operating system. If you have a Google smart home or Android phone it should integrate really well as a result.

And similar to recent Samsung remotes, 116UX comes with a suitably large remote control with a little photoelectric panel for charging with your overhead lights. Maybe it also charges from reflected light of the huge panel? It’s certainly bright enough.

The TV was the room

I spent a couple of hours with the Hisense 116UX, in Hisense’s New York demo room, which was only just big enough to fit the TV. I was reminded of Magritte’s painting of a massive apple in a small room. I watched some movie scenes, including scenes from Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and Oppenheimer.

Apart from the size, I came away with the impression that this TV is great for HDR movies, as exemplified by its surprisingly deft handling of Oppenheimer. In the test scene I used, the Hisense was able to both bring out bright pinpricks of light while also able to show the hills and sky without banding.

Spider-Man showed how bright and colorful this TV could get. The huge screen was also able to keep up with the movie’s frenetic action scenes without smearing.

I tested its light output using a Konica Minolta LS-100 light meter, which registered an impressive 7,923 nits — pretty much exactly what Hinsense claimed. It’s also double the 65-inch Hisense U8Q, the brightest TV I’ve ever measured at CNET, and roughly four times brighter than the 65-inch LG G5, the brightest OLED TV.

While I didn’t test the TV’s gaming prowess, I have no doubt it would be a real blast to rid Mars of a new demonic scourge on a screen that truly is larger than life.

I listened to the 116UX for a little bit but it sounded disappointedly «like a TV,» with boomy lower mids and a vocal forwardness. If you can afford a TV like this, you can afford a sound system to go with it, and I will (maybe) come with you to help you buy it.

A big price tag to match

Is this the holy grail of TVs? For some, perhaps. Would I have one in my home? Yes, but only if I could find a rich benefactor to buy it for me — along with a bigger apartment. For its $30,000 price tag you could buy a hell of a lot of a lot of movie tickets instead. Like around 2,000 of them. But that’s hardly the point. This is currently the best (and only) 116-inch TV available, and if you really want to make your living room seem small, the Hisense 116UX is more practical and fun than a monster-sized piece of fruit.

Technologies

Data Centers Are ‘AI Factories.’ Google and Meta Are Spending Big Bucks to Build Them

It’s not just the spending that will be big. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg envisions a single data center, the footprint of which would occupy as much acreage as a good chunk of Manhattan.

Tech giants Google and Meta have a lot riding on the growth and success of AI, and to support those efforts, they’re also committing significant sums of money to build the data centers they’re going to need to run that power-hungry technology.

On Tuesday, Google announced that it plans to invest $25 billion in data centers and other AI infrastructure tied to the PJM Interconnection, the biggest electric grid in the US. The PJM Interconnection reaches across 13 states in the eastern half of the US. The new data centers are expected to be in and around Pennsylvania.

To help meet the energy demands of the new data centers, Google also said it will invest $3 billion in hydropower. That use of a renewable energy source fits in with Google’s goal to become carbon-free by 2030. (Similarly, Meta is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.)

«I think there is a race on to co-locate data centers close to reliable, plentiful and inexpensive sources of energy,» Ramayya Krishnan, professor of management science and information systems at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College.

The advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta AI is accelerating the demands on data centers, which also support everyday cloud computing tasks like photo sharing and movie streaming.

«Data centers are a critical part of the AI production process and its deployment,» said Krishnan. «Think of them as AI factories.»

Google already operates dozens of data centers worldwide.

Google’s announcement comes on the same day that President Donald Trump is attending an energy summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where investment in AI is a key topic.

On Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that his company will invest «hundreds of billions of dollars» in the computing needed to build superintelligence, a lofty aspiration to create AI that surpasses human capabilities.

Zuckerberg said that Meta has «several multi-[gigawatt] clusters» in the works, referring to the power consumption of the data centers. «We’re calling the first one Prometheus, and it’s coming online in ’26. We’re also building Hyperion, which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years.» Earlier this year, Zuckerberg introduced one of Meta’s newest data centers, a 2GW facility being built in Louisiana.

These facilities could be mammoth. In a post on Threads, Zuckerberg showed the outline of a single data center that would cover «a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.»

As the big new data centers get built, that could bring both opportunities and stresses to the communities near them

In a recent Airedale by Modine survey of 600 Americans, 70% of respondents said they wouldn’t mind living near a data center and remained hopeful that the facilities would positively impact their community. Among those who opposed data centers being built near their homes, their top concerns involved increased energy demand, noise pollution and hits to property value.

Krishnan noted the potential pluses and minuses. Data centers could raise energy prices for residential customers if the energy supply is limited, and they also use significant amounts of water, which could create environmental concerns.

«On the positive side,» Krishnan said, «data centers could create an eco-system of partners increasing employment opportunities in the region and [consequential] growth.»

Technologies

How to Watch Pokemon Presents 2025 for Legends: Z-A, TCG Pocket and More

July’s Pokemon Presents stream will likely provide updates for Pokemon live service games, mainline titles and the upcoming Netflix series.

It’s that time again, trainers: Grab your Pokedex and get ready to catch some new pocket monsters, because we’re about to hear everything about the latest developments in the world of Pokemon.

The Pokemon Presents July 2025 stream is the first one since Pokemon Day in February. That stream ended up being pretty massive, featuring game announcements and content updates that we heard whispers about from GameFreak’s infamous 2024 data breach.

While we don’t know what to expect this time around, it’s safe to assume that we’ll hear about the next mainline games, mobile titles, live service updates and more.

Here’s how you can watch the upcoming Pokemon Direct — and what you can expect to see once you tune into the stream.

How to watch July 2025’s Pokemon Presents stream

The upcoming Pokemon Presents stream will take place on Tuesday, July 22 at 6 a.m. PT (9 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. BST, 11 p.m. AEST). The stream will go live on the official Pokemon YouTube channel. We don’t know exactly how long the event will run, but previous Pokemon Presents streams have ranged from 10 to 20 minutes long, depending on how many announcements are prepared for the stream.

What can you expect from Pokemon Presents July 2025?

This Pokemon Presents stream is positioned at a strange time — Pokemon Legends: Z-A for the Nintendo Switch 2 has already been announced and we have plenty of info and gameplay footage available for that game. We might still get a segment that expands on new gameplay mechanics and Pokemon that players will be able to find in this version of the Kalos region, especially Mega forms that we haven’t yet seen.

The official Pokemon Company Japan X account teased this Pokemon Direct with a rather foreboding photo of Pikachu standing in front of some DJ equipment, so we might hear about a Pokemon rhythm game. Between that, New Pokemon Snap and the return of Mystery Dungeon, I’m loving the reintroduction of bizarre offshoot games.

It’s also possible that generation 10 will be announced during the presentation. There are usually three years between mainline Pokemon titles, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet released in 2022. Unless GameFreak is looking to polish the next big games with some extra development time, we’re probably due to hear about the next generation of Pokemon games extremely soon.

Pokemon Day 2025 featured an announcement for Pokemon Champions, a dedicated Pokemon battling game, but we haven’t heard much about the game since. We could very well get an update about that game during this stream, explaining more about how the game will integrate the series’ long list of battle mechanics and giving us a better idea of when we’ll see a full release.

Otherwise, the backbone of this presentation will very likely be composed of routine updates and new features for Pokemon mobile and live service games. We can expect to hear about new Pokemon coming to Pokemon Cafe Mix, Pokemon Masters Ex and Pokemon Sleep, with the potential for new playable Pokemon to be revealed for Pokemon Unite.

With Pokemon Go changing hands from Niantic to Scopely, it’s possible that the extremely popular AR game will have announcements that shake up core gameplay features for Pokemon trainers worldwide. The recent addition of the Gold Bottle Cap was already a massive change for the status quo.

I’d be willing to bet that the next Pokemon TCG Pocket set will be revealed during this Pokemon Presents as well. New expansions are usually teased at the end of each month, which lines up with this stream. The last Pokemon Presents included info about a massive set expansion, too, so the precedent is already set for this reveal.

If you’re excited for non-gaming Pokemon content, there’s also a chance we’ll see some Pokemon Concierge during the Pokemon Presents July stream. The second season for this slice-of-life Pokemon hotel series is set to release on Netflix in September, so we might catch a scene or two teasing the show and get an official release date.

Technologies

The Best Co-op Games to Play With Your Friends

From couch co-op to logging in online, these are some of the best co-op games available right now.

Playing with friends is an essential aspect of gaming, so it’s no wonder games like Split Fiction and It Takes Two from Hazelight Studios were recent hits. Some of my best memories are of marathon gaming sessions with friends, either shoulder to shoulder on a couch or logging in online from across the country. Despite how gaming has changed over the years, one thing remains the same — people love playing games together.

So, whether you’re looking for a split-screen experience or just want something to hop into for a few hours with your friends, these are some of the best co-op games available right now.

Best co-op games right now

Best co-op games for two players

These games are best experienced with one other person, so grab a friend and get to work. A few in this section, like Split Fiction, It Takes Two and Cuphead, only require one copy of the game, which makes it even easier to play.

Best co-op games for four players

These games are better experienced with a crew at your back. Squad up with three friends and get ready to squash alien bugs, hunt monsters or battle waves of demons.

Best single-player games with co-op

These games are primarily single-player adventures, but they do support bringing along a friend or three. Whether you’re passing the controller back and forth or dropping in and out, try these games solo or with friends.