Unlike many of my colleagues at CNET, I’m not a gamer. But an immersive experience at CES 2026 almost convinced me to become one. 

«I feel like I’m hallucinating,» I said, stationed in front of what appeared to be a standard desktop display, controller in hand. As I moved my character through a series of tunnels, it seemed as if the three-dimensional imagery was pulling me in. 

I’ve never felt so drawn into a digital world, and I wasn’t even wearing a headset. How was this even happening?

The demo that hypnotized me was powered by a feature called Immersity, from 3D display company Leia, which uses spatial AI software paired with hardware that can switch between standard viewing and holographic depth projection. On-screen images on a phone, tablet, monitor or laptop appear to leap out at the viewer, no glasses needed. That includes video games, movies, YouTube or social media posts and even medical images like CT scans. 

I got to see several of these applications firsthand at Leia’s demo in Las Vegas, and the impressions are still lingering.

Unlike 3D immersion using a headset or glasses, Leia’s tech works by tracking your face with cameras, sending a left view of the on-screen content to your left eye and a right view to your right eye. You then see the display in stereo vision, similar to how you view the real world. That means if someone is standing off to your side (or recording the experience on camera), they won’t necessarily get the full three-dimensional effect, because it’s catered to the person sitting in front of the display. 

Along with the gaming experience, I watched a nature video on YouTube go from two dimensions to three with the click of a button, making the animals stand out against leafy backgrounds. I joined a video call in which the person I was chatting with and I could seemingly reach out and give each other a high-five. (It reminded me of trying Google’s Beam 3D video call.) And I saw a snippet of the film Avatar in 3D, without needing to don a pair of IMAX glasses. 

3D glasses-free displays aren’t a new thing. Leia, the company that created the Immersity feature, was notably behind the 3D displays in Red’s Hydrogen One phone released in 2018. The phone’s lukewarm reception led to it being quickly discontinued, with some reviewers noting the holographic display was lackluster.

But Immersity’s capabilities and wider-reaching applications seem to be more promising, and their impact impressed me far more than I expected. 

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

A lot of 3D tech can feel gimmicky, with subjects hardly jumping out from the screen. Immersity really did feel, well, immersive. The multilayered effect was alluring and lifelike in a way I didn’t know was possible without glasses. 

The 3D tech is already available on a handful of hardware devices you can buy today, including the 16-inch Red Magic Laptop and the Samsung Odyssey 3D monitor. Products like the zSpace Inspire and Onsor AMAD can be used for educational purposes like getting a 3D view of diagrams or molecular structures, and the Barco Eonis 3D can make it easier to decipher medical images. 

Immersity could also shake up VR gaming. Leia teamed up with a company called PortalVR, which lets you play any SteamVR game on your PC without a headset. Plug in a Meta Quest or Pico VR via USB and use the controllers to play, while leaving the bulky head-mounted gear on the table. Immersity takes that experience one step further by making the images on your display pop out at you, more closely resembling what you’d see with a headset on. Considering Meta’s VR cuts this week, maybe software like Leia’s could be an alternative for some apps.

Personally, I’m not sure how practical or necessary a three-dimensional display is when I’m scrolling through TikTok or watching period dramas, but there’s something to be said about leveling up display technology that’s remained stagnant for so long. 

It’s neat to see a real-world feature that feels like it was pulled out of a sci-fi flick. While I’m not sure what displays or monitors I’d own that could work with it, I saw the appeal instantly.

I walked away from Leia’s demo in awe and with a new resolution: «I’m gonna start gaming just for this.» Though I may need to wait for the tech to become a little more widely available. 

Looking for the most recent 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, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle features a fun blue group, involving four letters of the alphabet. I also enjoyed the fun purple group, which may make you remember your childhood. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

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

Yellow group hint: Like putting butter on toast.

Green group hint: Toss it.

Blue group hint: Look for the same letters in four words.

Purple group hint: Childhood fun.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Spread over.

Green group: Throw.

Blue group: Anagrams.

Purple group: First words of kids’ games.

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

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is spread over. The four answers are blanket, coat, cover and plaster.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is throw. The four answers are cast, hurl, pelt and sling.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is anagrams. The four answers are inks, kins, sink and skin.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words of kids’ games. The four answers are capture (capture the flag), hide (hide and seek), red (Red Rover) and Simon (Simon Says).

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

Quick tips for Connections

#1: Say the clue words out loud, pausing before and after each. That helps you hear the words in the context of a phrase. The Connections editors love to group words together that are used in similar phrasing, like ____ Up.

#2: Don’t go for the obvious grouping. These editors are smart. Once, they offered SPONGE, BOB, SQUARE and PANTS in the same puzzle. None of those words were in the same category. If you like, hit the «shuffle» button to give yourself a different perspective on the words.

#3: Break down any compound words and look for similarities. «Rushmore» was once in a puzzle where the connection was that each word started with the name of a rock band.

TikTok looks like it’s doubling down on the «pine» in its mini dramas with the new PineDrama app, now available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play. It’s free, likely until the company has amassed a large enough content library worth paying for. 

At the moment, everything looks like romantic potboilers, but since microdramas are popular and getting more so even as I type, that’s bound to change. You’ve probably seen microdramas and the various apps with which you watch them in your social media ads — they’re short movies or TV shows that last one or two minutes per episode.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

The PineDrama app is fairly basic. There’s a central Home screen with your feed and trending videos, along with access to your history and all videos. Discover offers just slightly larger thumbnails for browsing all or trending videos. Inbox is for system and new follower notifications, and a Profile view shows you your favorites, how many people you’re following, and your followers and likes. 

Though a standalone app, PineDrama uses the main TikTok sign-in system, so you still need a TikTok account to access it. Given that the content looks a little like what’s available in the TikTok app, anyone who wants to use PineDrama probably has an account anyway.

Personally, I’m not a fan of miniseries. I’ve never been able to read comics until they’ve been collected into volumes, and can’t stream shows until an entire season — sometimes every season — is out. (None of which makes sense, given I’ve got the attention span of a cat in a room full of laser pointers.)

But sometimes you need a dopamine hit, and PineDrama lets you watch every single episode sequentially. And viewing just the first frame of each is kind of mesmerizing: From kiss to post-coital to packing a suitcase in just three swipes.

We reached out to TikTok for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.