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The best small tablets of 2026: Expert tested and reviewed

Many people today opt for smaller tablets, although our flexible and foldable smartphones may eventually earn a larger slice of the market. A small tablet makes a fantastic digital companion. They're great for reading on the beach, watching videos, or entertaining the kids on long car trips. These small devices -- with display sizes ranging from around six to 10 inches -- can be just as powerful as their larger counterparts, offering rapid performance, access to your favorite apps, and vibrant displays.

If you're looking to purchase your first tablet, you should consider one of these small, light, and often budget-friendly options. Some of our favorites include the iPad Mini and Amazon's Fire tablet lineup.

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This Spinny Blinky Stick Is Like a Handheld PoV Display

Sometime in the late 1990s, we started seeing novelty PoV (persistence of vision) displays showing up in stores like Sharper Image. They seemed like magic, but the tech is actually pretty simple: just spin a row of LEDs while blinking those LEDs really quickly at the right time to trick

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These Drones Are Like Sensor-Laden Ticks for Icebergs

Climate science is very mature and we have a solid understanding of the general trajectory of climate change, but more data is always better and can help to refine models that generate better predictions. Icebergs and glacial calving are particularly enticing subjects, but studying them is difficult. That’s why

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The RFGEN44 Packs a Microchip PIC16 and Analog's ADF4351 Into a Compact, Open Signal Generator

CircuitValley has opened crowdfunding for a battle-tested compact open-hardware signal generator, built around a Microchip PIC16 and Analog Devices' ADF4351 and designed to cover frequencies from 35MHz up to 4.4GHz: the RFGEN44. "RFGEN44 is a fully open-source programmable RF signal generator," says company founder Gaurav Singh.

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A low-tech solution from the past may be your best defense against AI deepfakes

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways * Deepfakes and AI clones get more sophisticated and harder to detect. * Advanced attacks involve long-term infiltration of a company's systems. * Experts recommend low-tech security protocols that offer better defenses. In January 2024, an