Back in 1996, when Tamagotchis became the must-have toy, I was 8 years old — the perfect target audience. I remember handing over my crisp British £10 note to the good people at Toys R Us, shaking with anticipation. It was the most money I’d ever spent in one go, but I knew it would be worth it to own one of the magenta virtual pets just like all of my classmates.

Thirty years later at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, I finally found a worthy successor to my treasured pixelated companion. Sweekar is a Tamagotchi-inspired pocket pet, an AI companion that grows physically bigger as it matures.

Sweekar begins life as an egg with ears. In a demo, it lays in my hand, and I tap it gently three times on the head, making its yellow ears glow. The egg opens to reveal a screen displaying a cracking shell. A pair of sleepy eyes pops into view.

On the Las Vegas show floor, Sweekar was ready to go for my demo, but usually, the incubation stage can take up to two days. The egg perches on its base until the shell cracks open, from which point little Sweekar will spend between five and seven days in baby stage. Next up is the teen stage (21 to 45 days), followed by Sweekar adulthood.

With each life stage, Sweekar grows a little bigger. Just like the original Tamagotchi, each stage brings a series of new challenges for you as its owner. The early days mean high-frequency care with basic language learning. The teen years bring greater intelligence and a more distinct personality. Eventually, you can progress to owning a pet that’s autonomous, requiring less care, but which has more fun gameplay options. And… Sweekar can also die if you neglect it. 

In all of these senses, it feels remarkably true to the spirit of the original Tamagotchi, but with AI technology that could ultimately provide a more rewarding experience in the long term. Hopefully, it will inspire owners to keep it alive longer than the many little Tamagotchi chicks that perished due to lack of care.

If you want to get your hands on a Sweekar to bring some ’90s-inspired magic to a kid’s childhood (or if you’re just feeling nostalgic — I won’t judge), it will be available via Kickstarter later this year. You’ll need more than a £10 note to secure one, however. Sweekar will be priced at a far more substantial $150.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition features a diverse mix of categories, so it might be tricky. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Fore!

Green group hint: Hoops info.

Blue group hint: Big Apple legends.

Purple group hint: Toddlers play with this toy.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Golf shots.

Green group: Basketball stats in singular form.

Blue group: New York Mets retired numbers.

Purple group: ____ block.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is golf shots. The four answers are approach, chip, drive and putt.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball stats in singular form. The four answers are block, foul, point and turnover.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is New York Mets retired numbers. The four answers are Piazza, Stengel, Strawberry and Wright.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ block. The four answers are chop, pancake, pass and run.

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Longevity has become one of the biggest buzzwords in health tech, and Withings is leaning in hard with the Body Scan 2, a $600 smart scale designed to paint a more complete picture of your health than just a standard bathroom weigh-in ever could.

Launched at CES 2026 as part of the wave of Consumer Electronics Show announcements, the Body Scan 2 is packed with firsts for an at-home device. It promises to assess everything from your risk of hypertension (high blood pressure) to early signs of glycemic dysregulation (a precursor to diabetes). In total, Withings says the scale measures more than 60 biomarkers that can influence long-term health, aging and the risk of chronic illness. 

The goal isn’t just to show you numbers, but to spot small physiological changes early — while they’re still reversible — and guide you toward lifestyle changes that, over time, could extend and improve your quality of life.

The Body Scan 2 still looks like a futuristic bathroom scale with a pull-up exercise bar tied to the top. It has a flat tempered-glass surface and a retractable handle bar that’s connected by a cord. That handle has a color screen that displays on-the-spot metrics during weigh-ins.

Under the glasshood, the scale uses eight embedded electrodes in the platform and four stainless steel electrodes in the handle to collect its data and automatically sync data via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to the Withings app on your iPhone or Android. It runs on a rechargeable battery that Withings says can last up to 15 months. 

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Withings isn’t new to this space. The company created one of the original connected scales back in 2009 and has since expanded into smartwatches, blood pressure monitors and other connected health devices. Body Scan 2 seems to be a culmination of all of these efforts, turning what used to be a single-measurement device into what the company calls an «at-home longevity station.»

Longevity has become a major theme in health tech, as companies look beyond the narrow snapshots captured during doctor visits. Instead, they’re starting to focus more on continuous, big-picture monitoring that reflects how people actually live day-to-day. Withings is betting that frequent, at-home measurements can help catch early warning signs related to heart health, metabolism or blood sugar regulation long before they turn into chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension or heart disease.

Turning a mountain of metrics into actionable insights

According to Withings, the Body Scan 2 uses five medical-grade technologies that, until now, have largely been limited to clinical or research settings. Combined, they track 60 biomarkers that fall into three core categories:

Heart and vascular health: The scale can flag your potential risk for high blood pressure without using a traditional cuff, similar to the blood pressure notifications found on newer Apple Watch models. It also looks at how efficiently your heart is pumping blood and the flexibility of your arteries. Together, these measurements offer early clues about heart health and whether your cardiovascular system may be under extra strain.

Cellular and metabolic health: The scale also looks at how efficiently your body uses energy at the cellular level and how your cells are aging. These measurements can offer insight into whether factors like stress, inactivity, inflammation or diet may be affecting your overall health.

Diet and glycemic regulation: The scale also looks for early signs of glycemic dysregulation, or how well your body manages blood sugar. Poor regulation can be a precursor to prediabetes and cause fatigue, abdominal fat gain, and ultimately accelerate aging (often without any obvious symptoms).

After a roughly 90-second weigh-in which requires you to pull the handle bar up to hip level, the app uses these measurements to come up with what Withings calls a Health Trajectory score that you can view in the Withings app. It establishes a personalized baseline for your health and tracks how it trends over time, rather than focusing on daily fluctuations.

Beyond the score itself, the app flags any major changes from that baseline and gives you guidance on lifestyle adjustments that could help correct any negative trends. The idea is to spot potential issues early, when they’re more likely to be reversible, and give you a preview of how those changes can influence long-term health.

As with all health data, privacy is a major concern. Withings addresses this by disclosing that the Body Scan 2 complies with GDPR and HIPAA, and carries ISO 27001 and ISO 27701 certifications for data security and privacy management.

Pricing and availability

Body Scan 2 is pending FDA clearance for select metrics and is scheduled to launch in Q2 2026. Pricing is set at $600, £450 and AU$899, respectively. It will be available through Withings, Amazon and select retailers.

We haven’t tested Body Scan 2 yet, but we’ll update our coverage once we’re able to spend time with it in the real world.

For more product launches and first looks ahead of CES 2026, check out CNET’s full CES coverage.