Author: News Room

Philips Hue has announced a connectivity upgrade for its Matter-over-Thread-enabled smart bulbs that will allow them to run both Thread and Zigbee at the same time. The change means you can connect compatible Hue bulbs and fixtures directly to a Matter ecosystem — Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home — while keeping them linked to a Hue Bridge and the Hue ecosystem.“Today you cannot have Zigbee and Thread running at the same time, so when you commission it, you have to choose,” Philips Hue CTO George Yianni told The Verge. “If you want to then later switch, you have…

Total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance (DeFi) has fallen by about 39% in 2026 so far, declining to just over $70 billion from roughly $115 billion in January.A Wednesday report from crypto data aggregator CryptoRank attributed the decline to the broader market correction that followed the October 2025 crypto market peak.After Bitcoin reached a record high above $122,000, a market-wide liquidation event on Oct. 10, 2025, erased more than $19 billion in leveraged positions and accelerated a deleveraging cycle across digital assets.Despite the decline, CryptoRank noted that the current drawdown remains far smaller than during the 2021-2022 bear market,…

Band of Brothers actor Iain Robertson has been found guilty of rape following a trial in Scotland. Robertson, 45, was convicted Tuesday, June 23, on five offenses, including rape and domestic abuse, against three women between 2004 and 2019, reported the BBC. The Scottish actor appeared in HBO’s acclaimed Band of Brothers and is best known for playing Stevie O’Hara in the BBC soap opera River City. A jury at the High Court in Glasgow heard how Robertson allegedly raped a woman whom he met on the set of River City sometime between 2018 and 2019. Related: Rapper Mystikal Sentenced…

A Nigerian robotics innovator, Ubokobong Amanam, has launched a robotic rehabilitation glove designed to support stroke survivors and individuals living with hand-related disabilities, marking what his company describes as Nigeria’s first commercially mass-produced wearable medical robot. Mr Amanam announced the official launch and commercial distribution of the device in a Facebook post on Friday, saying the innovation was developed after years of research, testing, and collaboration with physiotherapists and medical experts. According to Ubokobong Robotics, the lightweight, rechargeable glove is equipped with programmed guided hand movement, adjustable intensity, targeted finger training, digital cycle counting, and mirror-mode training. The device also…

Nigeria, on Wednesday, reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening land tenure rights and forest conservation as countries intensify efforts to halt and reverse deforestation by 2030. The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, restated the country’s position at a high-level gathering of leaders, ministers and senior officials preparing for the next rounds of United Nations climate negotiations, COP31 in Türkiye. The meeting, held in London, brought together representatives of forest-rich nations, donor countries, and climate partners to review progress in forest conservation and discuss measures needed to accelerate action before the 2030 deadline for ending forest loss. Speaking at the event,…

National Democratic Congress (NDC) We need to make progress as a nation. We need institutional mechanisms that keep elected officials in check within one party, working for their constituencies and country. We need to stop political prostitutes and nomadic politicians from playing with mandates freely given. The NDC might have shown the way. Just when we thought we had seen enough of Nigeria’s peculiar political engineering since 1998, there are still curious and fascinating issues brought to bear on its development. The latest came from the National Democratic Coalition (NDC), Peter Obi’s newfound political abode. The party has requested members…

The National Agency for the Control of AIDS has said Nigeria is now better positioned to respond to future disease outbreaks following strategic investments made under the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism between 2021 and 2025. NACA stated that the intervention, which was introduced to support countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, has left behind stronger disease surveillance systems, improved laboratory networks, enhanced emergency response mechanisms and a more resilient health infrastructure capable of responding to future public health threats. The agency made this known ahead of a national close-out meeting convened in collaboration with the Global Fund and key implementing…

A Nigerian man, Franklin Ikechukwu Nwadialo, has been sentenced to five years in prison in the United States for orchestrating a romance scam that defrauded multiple victims of more than $3.5 million. According to a statement released on Tuesday by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, 42-year-old Nwadialo, was sentenced by a U.S. District Court in Tacoma after being convicted in connection with a long-running online fraud scheme that targeted vulnerable individuals through dating websites. The statement said Nwadialo was arrested at an airport in Texas upon arriving in the United States in 2024 and…

Ebonyi residents drawn from different communities in the Afikpo Local Government Areas of the state, on Wednesday, endorsed the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyichukwuma Odii, as their preferred choice in the Saturday,  February 6, 2027 gubernatorial polls. According to the residents, if given the chance as governor, Odii possessed the necessary qualities, exposure, competence and contacts to turn the fortunes of Ebonyi State around. Speaking in Afikpo on Wednesday at the event, christened “Street Endorsement for Odii”, the Peoples Democratic Party Woman Leader in Ebonyi State, Mrs Chinyere Nwele said the aspiration of the PDP governorship candidate…

The Google TV Streamer 4K is more than just a terrific streaming device. It can also act as a smart home hub, letting you control all major smart home devices directly from your TV. Thanks to Prime Day, it’s now on sale for $74.99 at Amazon for Prime members, matching its best price to date. If you don’t subscribe to Prime, it’s just $5 more at Best Buy and direct from Google.The Google TV Streamer 4K is a great fit for people already invested in Google’s ecosystem. The device lets you control your TV with your voice via Gemini, while…