Smart

Six months later, there still isn’t a MagSafe car charger

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. As Vergecast listeners know, I am a sucker for car phone mounts and chargers. They are a perfect gadget for the modern age — a design problem with no perfect solution, price points that usually land at… Read more

Asus ROG Maximus XIII Hero Review: Premium Hardware, Premium Price

Our Verdict Asus’ ROG Maximus XIII Hero is a full-featured Z590 motherboard that includes robust power delivery, premium audio with a DAC, four M.2 sockets, dual 2.5 GbE ports and integrated Wi-Fi 6E. Overall, the $499 Hero is a well-rounded premium board for Intel’s Z590 platform. For + High-quality 14-phase 90A VRM + 10 USB… Read more

Project CHIP will finally ship later this year

Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP), the awkwardly-named-but-interesting smart home partnership between Apple, Amazon, Google, and over 170 other companies that’s supposed to make everything more compatible should finally start showing some results later this year. According to a webinar hosted by the Zigbee Alliance earlier this week, companies participating in the program will be… Read more

Why does Amazon hate its most enthusiastic smart home fans?

Blink’s cheap wireless cameras have seen better days.Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge Blink, the Kickstarter success bought by Amazon in 2017, has long been synonymous with inexpensive battery-powered home video cameras that don’t require a monthly contract for cloud recordings. Open-source projects like Homebridge, Home Assistant, and HOOBS have made the cameras even… Read more

DJI Air 2S initial review: Take flight

(Pocket-lint) – DJI has long been the champion of the consumer drone market, pushing boundaries and implenting technology that makes it easy for the average person to do previously impossible aerial photography and videography. It was undoubtedly through the Mavic series that it saw success reach new heights, but over the past couple of years… Read more

Biostar Z590 Valkyrie Review: Much Improved, But More to Do

Our Verdict With an expected price between $400-$450, the Biostar Z590 Valkyrie is up against stiff competition on Intel’s new Rocket Lake platform. But outside of a lack of integrated Wi-Fi and some teething issues, the Valkyrue ticks all the boxes. For + Robust 90A VRMs + Two USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports + Three… Read more

Bang & Olufsen’s Beosound Emerge is a wireless speaker that looks like a book

Home News (Image credit: B&O) This is Bang & Olufsen’s latest wireless speaker. The B&O Beosound Emerge is wedge-shaped, making it resemble a slightly open book. Or a doorstop, if you were being uncharitable. Here’s a video showing it in more detail. Like the firm’s 2020-released Beosound Balance, the Emerge was created in collaboration with… Read more

Google Play Movies & TV to disappear from Roku devices and most smart TVs

Home News (Image credit: Google) Google will soon be removing its Google Play Movies & TV app from Roku streaming devices, as well as LG, Samsung and Vizio smart TVs. The tech giant is pulling the plug from 15th June 2021, after which users will have to rely on YouTube to access their purchased content… Read more

Amazon announces new Echo Buds with more powerful ANC and better comfort

Amazon is today introducing its second-generation pair of Echo Buds. The new true wireless earbuds improve on the originals with a more comfortable design — they’re now 20 percent smaller — and enhanced active noise cancellation. But Amazon is staying aggressive on price: the 2021 Echo Buds are priced at $119.99 for the earbuds and… Read more

Sony’s immersive 360 Reality Audio format could be coming to Android

Home News (Image credit: Future) It’s been two years since Sony launched 360 Reality Audio, a format that uses Sony’s object-based spatial audio technology to deliver 360-degree sound. In that time, 360 Realit Audio has become available on Deezer, Tidal, Amazon Music HD and nugs.net, with subscribers to those services able to listen to them in all… Read more

Gigabyte is announcing three OLED gaming monitors with HDMI 2.1 and TV sizes

Gigabyte has announced three new 4K OLED gaming monitors, which feature HDMI 2.1, the somewhat hard-to-find display connector that allows for high refresh rate gaming at 4K (via TweakTown). Besides having some of the best tech available in TVs or monitors, all three have desk-dominating sizes. According to a press release posted by VideoCardz, the… Read more

Apple Sets the Date for Spring Reloaded Event: April 20

Home News (Image credit: Apple) Apple has officially sent out invitations to the company’s next event called Spring Reloaded. The event will be held online on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Considering the plethora of rumors surrounding Apple’s products due to be announced this year, it is close to impossible to guess what the company plans… Read more

RISC-V Raspberry Pi Alternative Edges Closer to Release

Home News (Image credit: CNX-software) A potential new Raspberry Pi competitor will soon be announced, according to a post on embedded systems blog CNX-Software. Based on the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, the Allwinner D1 development board is a credit-card-sized single board computer with a single core XuanTie C906 64-bit RISC-V CPU running at 1GHz… Read more

Roku announces Express 4K Plus streaming player and rechargeable Voice Remote Pro

Roku’s introducing a trio of new devices today, led by the new $39.99 Express 4K Plus streaming device. Shipping in mid-May, the Express 4K Plus basically replaces the Roku Premiere as the company’s entry-level 4K player. It now has a faster processor, dual-band Wi-Fi, and increased internal storage. Plus, Roku says you can now attach… Read more

Roku OS 10 adds instant resume for streaming apps, brings AirPlay 2 to more devices

Roku today announced that its latest software release, Roku OS 10, has begun rolling out and will start making its way to all supported devices in the coming weeks. “Roku OS 10 introduces a variety of new features getting users to content faster, improving network and input configurations, offering new ways to customize the experience… Read more