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After several attempts, OnePlus made a great high-end phone. Read the full story at The Verge.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge I have to commend Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his new policy chief Joel Kaplan on their timing. It's not hugely surprising that, as the pair announced early today, Meta is giving up on professional third-party fact-checking. The operator of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads has been backing off moderation recently, and fact-checking has always been contentious. But it's probably smart to do it two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office - and nominates a Federal Communications Commission head who's threatened the company over it.Trump's FCC chairman pick (and current FCC commissioner), Brendan Carr, is a self-identified free speech defender with a creative interpretation of the First Amendment. In mid-November, as part of a flurry of lightly menacing missives to various entities, Carr sent a letter to Meta, Apple, Google, and Microsoft attacking the companies' fact-checking programs.The letter was primarily focused on NewsGuard, a conservative bete noire that Meta doesn't actually work with. But it also demanded information about the use of any media monitor or fact checking service," and it left no doubt about Carr's position on them. You participated in a... Read the full story at The Verge.

Those are 14-inch OLED displays now. | Image: Lenovo Lenovo is updating its Yoga device lineup to 10th-generation versions, including a new lightweight Yoga Slim 9i, a fresh Yoga Book 9i dual-screen laptop with larger displays, and a Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition convertible notebook.The first is the Yoga Slim 9i, now powered by NPU-packing Intel Core Ultra chips that earn it Windows 11 Copilot Plus PC designation. The laptop also has Lenovo's AI Core system, which does some AI stuff like dynamically adjusting settings in creative apps to help improve battery life (up to 17 hours on a 75Wh battery, according to the company). Image: Lenovo The Yoga Slim 9i has the world's first camera-under-display technology in a laptop," according to Lenovo. The Slim 9i has a 98 percent screen-to-body ratio and features a no-notch webcam for an attractive, bezel-free design. The Slim carries a 14-inch PureSight Pro OLED with a 4K resolution at 120Hz, two Thunderbolt 4 ports (one per side), a quartet of Dolby Atmos-capable speakers, and Wi-Fi 7 in a 2.26-pound package. Image: Lenovo The many modes of Yoga Book 9i. Lenovo's dual-screen Yoga Book 9i also gets 14-inch screens, which catch it up in size to the Asus ZenBook Duo. The Yoga Book screens have a 2.8K resolution (2880 x 1800) at 120Hz per display, and they're also brighter now at 750 nits versus 400 nits on the previous model.Intel is also updating the Yoga Book with the latest Arrow Lake 255H processor. You can max out the Yoga Book with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of internal storage. Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, four speakers, and Wi-Fi 7 are also on board. It also has a bigger battery and an improved folio case / stand design.Lenovo promises a healthy slathering of AI-powered applications in the Yoga Book, including its own Smart Note note-taking app, a book synopsis-generating eReader app called Smart Reader, and a hand gesture feature called Air Gestures to move windows and scroll. Image: Lenovo The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 in cosmic blue with included Yoga Pen. The shiny-finished Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition, meanwhile, gets a new, brighter 14-inch OLED display with a peak brightness of 1,100 nits. There's also a new Yoga Slim 7i (Aura Edition) and new 16- and 14-inch 2-in-1 7i models that now feature Intel processors.The Yoga Slim 9i starts at $1,849, while the 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition starts at $1,599. Both will ship starting in February. Meanwhile, the Yoga Book 9i dual-screen will set you back at least $1,999 and will ship beginning in May. Lenovo offers a free two-month Adobe Creative Cloud membership if you buy select 2025 Yoga models.

Image: The Verge Getty Images and Shutterstock are joining forces in a merger valued at around $3.7 billion, the companies announced on Tuesday. The merger will allow the companies to expand their stock photo libraries as they face increasing competition from AI-powered image creation tools.Getty Images CEO Craig Peters will remain the head of the combined companies when the merger closes, while a reworked board of directors will consist of members from both Getty Images and Shutterstock, including Shutterstock CEO Paul Hennessy. In the press release, Peters said the merger will bolster the companies by enhancing our content offerings, expanding event coverage, and delivering new technologies to better serve our customers."Shutterstock will remain a separate website following the merger, Getty Images spokesperson Anne Flanagan confirmed to The Verge.The merger comes amid the rise of text-to-image AI tools from companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Adobe. In 2023, Getty Images responded to the trend by launching an image generator trained on its vast library of licensed photos. It rolled out a similar tool on iStock, which Getty also owns, and partnered with online image editor Picsart to create a responsible, commercially-safe" AI image generator.Meanwhile, Shutterstock struck an AI training deal with OpenAI, and has agreements with Meta, Google, and Amazon, according to Reuters.The decision to combine two stock photo powerhouses may also spur antitrust scrutiny, but it's unclear how a more merger-friendly Trump administration will respond.

Ultrahuman's Rare smart ring in dune starts at 1500, roughly $1,900. | Image: Ultrahuman CES 2025 is officially underway, and the adrenaline of a day of running around Las Vegas is fading fast. Yet I cannot fall asleep. Probably because I've been replaying the same three product teaser videos over and over and over. One opens with the familiar frenetic strains of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concerto, panning to a CGI desert, where grains of sand blow in undulating wisps. The words Rare by Ultrahuman" emerge on a stark black background. Then, from the depths of a CGI dune, emerges a smart ring.The other two videos are carbon copies, except in one, the desert is a golden pink. In the other, a wintry silver.I have watched this video so many times.I check the press release. The rings range from 1500 to 1800. I immediately pull up Google. That's roughly $1,900 to $2,200. I rack my brain. The most expensive smart ring I can remember is Oura's collaboration with Gucci, which I described in my writeup as an eye-watering $950. I double-check that my tired brain hasn't goofed the conversion. It hasn't. My eye twitches.Rare, the Ultrahuman press release says, is meant to be a luxury smart ring. It will come in three colors: desert rose, dune, and desert snow. Or, you know, rose gold, gold, and silver. They are apparently thusly named because the collection captures the essence of nature's most captivating phenomena. From the intricate fluid elegance of wind-sculpted dunes, each piece embodies the harmonious blend of beauty and resilience found in these arid landscapes."The desert rose and dune rings are made of 18-karat gold sourced from London Bullion Market Association." These will cost $1,900. Meanwhile, the desert snow ring is meticulously crafted from pt950 platinum, a metal of exceptional purity and prestige." It will cost $2,200. While I think of how that's around my monthly mortgage payment, I read more purple prose about the symbolism of harmony between nature and technology, the wind's gentle caress of a dune, and the rarity of snow blanketing the desert.I squint at the press renders of these rings. They look like ordinary smart rings.Spec-wise, Rare is the same as the Ultrahuman Ring Air. The Ultrahuman Ring Air is a great smart ring and came this close to beating the Oura Ring in my smart ring battle royale last year. That ring costs $350 - a standard, reasonable price for a smart ring. The Rare series is roughly five to six times that price. According to Ultrahuman, this is the price of the artisanal craftsmanship and complex engineering - and a lifetime membership to UltrahumanX, the smart ring maker's extended warranty subscription. You also get access to all of Ultrahuman's PowerPlugs, features that you buy a la carte on Ultrahuman's platform such as period tracking, vitamin D tracking, and smart alarms. That includes any future PowerPlugs. Is that worth $1,900 to $2,200?I go back to my inbox and reread the FAQ Ultrahuman sent me for the billionth time. Under the question, Is there demand for this" and who is the target buyer?" there's an impassioned plea. People have been using the Ultrahuman Ring Air - which I vehemently maintain is a great smart ring - for engagements and gifts for loved ones. Rare, the FAQ says, is a natural evolution toward jewelry becoming smart like everything else. The ideal buyer? Rare speaks to those who seek exclusivity and purpose in the choices they make."The more I read, the more this feels like a fever-dream pitch from Jony Ive, because it's the same doomed approach Apple took for its Watch Edition.I don't know what time is anymore, but I look at the Oura Ring 4 in brushed silver on my finger. Then I look at the desert snow ring render on my laptop screen. My eyes dart back and forth several times. Hm. Hmm. Image: Ultrahuman I'm trying to understand. There are no gems or crystals. This is $1,900. At some point, I don't know when, I realize I have become The Verge's very own Gollum. I am sleep-deprived, dark circles forming under my eyes. My reflection in the hotel mirror as I grab some water scares me. But I can think of nothing else. We must see our precious $2,000 smart rings in person. Yes. We wants it. We must seek it on the show floor because Rare will only launch in London and Paris at select premium retail locations" to start. Yes, we must see this, we must feel it on our finger if only to answer the one burning question: what would make a $2,000 smart ring worth it?

Image: Sony You can finally make your PS5 gaming set up all black everything. Sony has announced that it will soon release the rest of the PS5 suite of accessories in the midnight black colorway.Sony's offering the Dual Sense Edge Controller, the Pulse wireless headphones and earbuds, and the PlayStation Portal in sleek and sexy midnight black to match the PS5 cover and Dual Sense controller it released back in 2021.Though the announcement wasn't specifically apart of the CES celebrations, it did neatly coincide with the news that Sony's giving Helldivers the Sonic and Mario treatment. The company also announced that its Horizon Zero Dawn adaptation is no longer a TV show produced by Netflix but a full-fledged movie that'll cover Aloy's exploits in the first game, and that the second season of The Last of Us is coming to HBO in April.PlayStation's website has the details on pricing for the electronics with pre-orders starting on January 16th.If you'd rather wait, the accessories will hit retailers on February 20th.

The BPM Vision is another way to track your heart health - and there's a new way to make sense of the data, too. | Image: Withings If you're a Withings device owner and a Withings Plus subscriber, there's a new feature coming to your health tracking system. It's a telemedicine service called Cardio Check-Up, designed to make it easy to check in on your heart health with a professional.Any Withings device that collects electrocardiogram data (which is most of them at this point) can be used in Cardio Check-Up. The Withings Plus subscription, which costs $99.95 per year, will now include four checkups annually, though they're not live appointments - a cardiologist will instead review your data and deliver you a heart health report. It works through a provider called Heartbeat Health, which has been working with Withings on EKG features for the last few years.Cardio Check-Up gives Withings an answer to one of the most pressing challenges facing any health wearable, which is how to help users make sense of this mountain of complex data they're suddenly collecting. Companies like Oura and Whoop are working on ways to collate your data into actual, actionable feedback, so you can know what's going on and how to do better without needing a medical degree of your own.Withings is doing lots of that automated... Read the full story at The Verge.

Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Razer has announced some new handheld gaming goodies, including remote PC streaming capabilities for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller and a folding multiplatform RGB dock for the Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and more.Razer says its Handheld Dock Chroma is a 6-in-1" docking station that transforms phones, tablets, or handheld gaming devices into powerful gaming consoles" with 100W power passthrough support for charging. It's priced at $79.99 and will be available on January 30th, with preorders starting on January 7th.The Handheld Dock Chroma is a similar concept to the official docking stations provided by Valve or Nintendo, allowing users to hook handheld devices up to external displays with expanded connections to complement big-screen gaming setups. The Handheld Dock Chroma uses a USB-C cable to connect supported devices, including Android phones and tablets, iPads and iPhones with USB-C ports, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and Razer's own Edge Android gaming handheld. Image: Razer Here are the port options in the rear, plus the USB-C cable to connect to your device. Devices like the Nintendo Switch, with the port on the base, will have to go upside down. Image: Razer When folded closed, the Handheld Dock Chroma just looks like a funky streaming box. The cable is located on the rear of the docking station, alongside a USB-C power port, an HDMI output to connect to a TV or gaming monitor, a gigabit ethernet port, and three USB-A ports to connect things like controllers or keyboards. Given the cable placement, certain handhelds like the Switch that have their ports on the underside will need to be positioned upside down in the dock.The dock itself is constructed from aluminum and folds down into a box shape to make it easier to transport without damaging it. And given this is a Razer product, there's naturally a Chroma-enabled RGB bar located at the front, which users can customize with various lighting effects. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge There's plenty of ports to hook up things like mice, keyboards, and controllers - providing they use a USB-A connection. Razer is also introducing a PC Remote Play feature for the Kishi Ultra mobile controller, among other controllers, allowing users to stream games directly from PCs to smartphones and tablets. The feature also makes use of the Kishi Ultra's Sensa HD support, which converts audio output into haptic feedback on supported Android devices (but sadly isn't available for iOS). PC Remote Play allows games to be streamed at full resolution without compromising visual quality or game speed," according to Razer, and can be accessed via the Razer Nexus app on iOS or Android. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Razer's new PC Remote Play feature provides PC-to-Phone streaming capabilities similar to the Steam Link mobile app. Razer tells us the PC Remote Play feature is built on top of the popular Moonlight streaming client, and is particularly proud of how it can automatically run your game at your phone's native resolution and refresh rate.

Segway's Xafari and Xyber e-bikes. | Image: Segway For CES this year, Segway ditched the goofy self-balancing pods and paintball-shooting go-karts and got back to basics.The Ninebot-owned brand, once known for its pioneering self-balancing scooters, is reintroducing a pair of e-bikes (both first announced last year) with additional information on pricing and ordering. And it's also rolling out its next-generation lineup of kick scooters, with more powerful drivetrains and rugged, all-terrain features. And because it's CES, it's also giving us new details about the robot mower it introduced last year.The e-bikes Segway announced last year, the powerful Xyber and the more approachable Xafari, are scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2025. Presales for both start on January 7th, with open sales kicking off on February 3rd.The Xyber is the more imposing of the two, with a motorcycle-like design that skirts the limits of what can be defined as an e-bike. With a starting price of $2,999.99, the Xyber looks like it packs a wallop - because it does. A rear-mounted 750W torquey direct-drive motor helps propel riders from zero to 20mph in just 2.7 seconds.It still has pedals and caps out at 20mph, which may leave some riders feeling short-changed. After all, the Xyber looks like it's meant to go as fast as some of Segway's unruly e-scooters (we'll get to those in a second), but alas, the e-bike classification in the US is what it is. Segway says there is an off-road mode that goes beyond Class 3" - which means speeds faster than 28mph - but only in areas where it's legally allowed.A rear-mounted 750W torquey direct-drive motor helps propel riders from zero to 20mph in just 2.7 secondsThe Xyber can go up to 112 miles between charging in its 2,880Wh dual-battery configuration and 56 miles for the single-battery with 1,440Wh - though those ranges are likely only good for the lowest power setting. Still, that's a staggering range for any modern e-bike and a good sign that Segway is trying to give its customers what they want.But despite its futuristic, moto-inspired aesthetic and cast aluminum, double-cradle frame, there are actual pedals and 12 - yes, 12 - different levels of pedal assist, as well as three ride modes (Eco, Sport, and Race) of throttle-only operation. There's 110mm of suspension in the front and 100mm in the rear. A 1,330-lumen headlight comes equipped with smart light features. And the 2.4-inch TFT display shows real-time information like speed and battery charge as well as navigation.While the Xyber is designed to compete with popular high-powered mini-bikes from Juiced and Super73, the Xafari is for customers with more traditional tastes. With a low-step frame and wide tires for maximum comfort, the Xafari is for long rides and endless exploration," Segway says.Starting at $2,399.99, the Segway Xafari rocks a 750W motor with 80nm of torque and a 936Wh removable battery for up to 88 miles of range (in the lowest power setting). Front and rear suspension, as well as big 26 x 3.0-inch all-terrain tires, will help maximize comfort for anyone looking for a less bumpy ride.Both bikes sport Segway's Intelligent Ride System, which includes automated features like headlights, bike locking, and adaptive pedal assist. The AirLock system, in particular, is pretty innovative. Using the app, owners only need to throw down their kickstand and walk away from the bike. After they get 10 meters, the AirLock system locks the handlebars and rear motor and sets an alarm automatically, without any need to fumble with a bike lock.This is the stack of technologies that we've integrated into these bikes to allow the bicycles to act more like the automobiles that we're used to driving," said Nick Howe, who heads Segway's business division. But as much as Segway wants to become a known brand for e-bikes, its true DNA is scooters. The company is releasing its third-generation kick scooters this year, ranging from entry-level to high-performance super-scooters.Segway is replacing its popular GT1 and GT1 with the all-new GT3 Pro and GT3 scooters with a spec list not for the fainthearted. The GT3 Pro - which is the only vehicle announced today not to have a price attached - leads the pack with acceleration of zero to 30mph in just 3.9 seconds in Ultra Boost Mode, a stinging top speed of 49.7mph (!!), and a range of up to 86 miles on a single charge thanks to its dual 3,500-watt motors (with a total max output of 7,000W) and 2,160Wh battery.The GT3 is also great for hill climbingThe GT3 is also great for hill climbing, with the ability to tackle slopes up to 38 degrees. It also features a very advanced suspension system with coil-sprung, hydraulically damped shocks in the front and rear. And everything is customizable to your exact riding specifications, which ensures maximum comfort.Segway is also highlighting something it calls SegRide," which is the company's ride enhancement system. That includes the geometry of the scooter, things like stem angle, trailing distance, ergonomics, and the angle and curvature of the handlebars.Segway is also releasing its F and E series e-scooters for commuters as well as its Max G3, which the company describes as the luxury sedan in its lineup of scooters. And lastly, Segway is upgrading its lineup of robot lawn mowers with the Navimow X3, which will go on sale in spring 2025. The new robots are designed to cover a lot more ground than the previous generation: 2.5 acres versus just a quarter-acre for the company's i Series of robot mowers.The X3 also combines mowing and trimming for a more well-rounded piece of equipment. It can climb slopes of up to 27 degrees, has IP6-rated waterproofing, and improved AI capabilities that can recognize pets and other wildlife. It can also integrate with your smart home, so you can activate it using Google Home or Amazon Alexa.Segway didn't reveal any pricing details, so we'll have to wait to find out how it compares to the i Series ($999) and H series ($1,899) mowers.

Image: May Mobility May Mobility, an autonomous vehicle operator that mainly focuses on long-term transportation contracts, is expanding its fleet of vehicles to include an electric mini-bus that can carry up to 30 passengers.The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company struck a deal with Tecnobus to acquire several of the Italian company's mini-buses. With enough capacity for 30 people, as well as wheelchair accessibility, May Mobility hopes to expand it self-driving mobility service to new customers and new markets, including urban transit, corporate campuses, airports, planned communities, and more.May Mobility currently operates a fleet of autonomous Toyota Sienna minivans retrofitted with the company's autonomous hardware and software. The company operates ride-share services in geofenced, easily mapped business districts, college campuses, and closed residential communities, such as Sun City, a retirement community outside of Phoenix. May Mobility also has a partnership with Lyft to deploy autonomous vehicles on its ridehail platform.The new minibuses can carry far more passengers than the company's current crop of vehicles, while still being restricted to speeds of up to 45 mph. They will be targeted at markets in the US, as well as Canada and Europe, where May Mobility hopes to eventually expand. And the batteries powering the electric motor are fully swappable, meaning more uptime and less time spent charging.May Mobility aims to have them road-ready in the first half of 2026. Of course, autonomous driving operations are in a state of flux right now. Some robotaxi companies are growing, albeit slowly, while others are out of time and money.May Mobility has set itself apart by focusing on transportation contracts with businesses and governments, rather than try to be the Uber for autonomous vehicles. And while some robotaxis have clashed with cities, May Mobility is incentivized to address municipal concerns or risk having its contract terminated.

Image: Goodyear Under new rules announced last year, all cars sold in the US will need to come with automatic emergency braking by 2029. But automakers are asking for a delay, saying the technology isn't good enough, especially in adverse conditions.Here's Goodyear to the rescue. The tire company teamed up with TNO, an independent research organization based in the Netherlands, to produce a tire embedded with sensors that can detect slick, dangerous road conditions and can also work with a vehicle's advanced driver-assist system. The new technology is being rolled out at CES in Las Vegas this week.The idea is to trigger the vehicle's automatic emergency braking (AEB) system earlier when an obstacle in the road is detected and when road conditions are dangerous. With a safer braking distance, a vehicle is less likely to collide with another stopped vehicle or other object in the road, Goodyear says.Road conditions can determine how likely a vehicle is to successfully brake before the collision. Typical AEB systems are tuned for high-friction surfaces like dry asphalt. But with Goodyear's smart tire technology, named SightLine, the company says it can successfully prevent collisions even in low-friction environments like rain, snow, or ice. The new system can even work at speeds of up to 50mph (80km/h), Goodyear says.The AEB can be assertive way earlier," said Werner Happenhofer, vice president of tire intelligence and e-mobility solutions at Goodyear. They say, oh well, wait a minute, my maximum deceleration potential is probably just half a G because of the lower friction potential. Hence the system would react way earlier if it spots a situation where a crash is imminent."Goodyear first announced SightLine in 2021 as a suite of smart tire" technologies enabling tires to measure their own air pressure, sense the amount of friction between the rubber and the road surface, and detect when the rubber is becoming too worn. Now, the company says it plans on pitching its SightLine-equipped tires and software to automakers as an added safety system for AEB.The AEB can be assertive way earlier"We follow the automotive embedded software standards," Happenhofer said, so we can integrate very easily with any of the OEMs and Tier 1 systems."The new technology has arrived at an opportune moment. Last year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration finalized a new rule requiring all vehicles sold in the US to have AEB by 2029. Around 90 percent of light-duty vehicles on the road today come standard with AEB. But regulators are requiring automakers to adopt a more robust version of the technology that can stop vehicles traveling at higher speeds and detect vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians even at night.The auto industry, though, has asked for a delay in the implementation of the rule, arguing that complying with the new rule would be practically impossible with available technology." But Goodyear says the technology will exist, and it aims to let its automotive partners know about it.The technology is available and it's just an extension of some of the other work we've been doing for a few years now," said Chris Helsel, Goodyear's vice president for global innovation and the company's chief technology officer. Success out of this is [the automakers] reach out [to us] and say, Oh, hey, let's see how you can help us meet that regulation. We didn't really think that the tire could help us to do that.'"When it will be available is still TBD. Goodyear spokesperson Caitlyn Duran said today's announcement is about a technology demonstration showcasing the potential benefits of such an integration, and not an in-market product."

The Shokz OpenFit 2 are $179.95 and available today in black and beige. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge I wanted to love Shokz's OpenFit 2, the company's latest open-ear wireless earbuds debuting here at CES 2025. While Shokz made several improvements to the overall design and function, the sound can still be a tad hollow.I tried the OpenFit Air a few months back, and they ticked off almost everything I was looking for in a pair of open-ear running buds. While not perfect, bass was decent. Volume could also be quite challenging in certain environments - again, something understandable for open-ear design. The problem was the ear hook design didn't fit well if I wore my eyeglasses. (That, and the touch controls were finicky to use.)Shokz sent me a pair of the $179.95 OpenFit 2 ahead of CES. Based on the updates, I was very hopeful. For starters, Shokz added an extra speaker to each bud for a total of two: one dedicated to bass, the other for mids and highs. It's an approach that worked fantastically well with the OpenRun Pro 2 bone conduction headphones that include an air conduction speaker to improve the bass. (My colleague David Pierce and I are diehard OpenRun Pro 2 converts.) Volume has been slightly improved. The ear hook design has also been tweaked so the curved portion over the top of the ear is thinner. Physical buttons were added to each bud for simpler controls. Battery life also improved to 11 hours, up from the seven hours on the original OpenFit and the OpenFit Air's six hours. There are also four EQ presets!And in my testing, I immediately noticed many of these improvements. It's still not ideal, but the thinner ear hook is easier to use with my glasses on days when I don't want to wear contact lenses. Loud highways and super noisy environments were still challenging but outperformed the OpenFit Air. While getting these hands-on pics, the bustle of the Vegas Strip didn't drown out my music or prevent me from hearing my colleague Antonio G. Di Benedetto's photo cues. I got about 10-11 hours on a single charge. When I wanted to pause or skip tracks, the physical buttons were easier to use (though my butterfingers still occasionally struggled, especially when wearing press-on nails.) Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The physical buttons help a lot when trying to skip, pause, or play tracks. Unfortunately, I also couldn't help but notice the sound quality. While better than the Air, it wasn't quite as good as I'd hoped. On Unfair" by Stray Kids, what should be rumbly baritone vocals sound muddy. Vocals, in general, can sometimes sound distant even with the vocal EQ. At higher volumes, bass-heavy songs occasionally sounded distorted. My issues were most apparent when I was running outdoors. However, if you're listening to a podcast or in a relatively quiet room at a lower volume, it's much less noticeable.All of this is somewhat expected from open-ear buds. It's more that the effect of having dedicated speakers for bass versus treble and mids wasn't as impressive as the OpenRun Pro 2. When I first tried the latter, my jaw dropped and I said, Oh." With these, it's more of an appreciative nod. This might be because the OpenFit 2 are traditional headphones using air conduction. The OpenRun Pro 2 use air conduction for bass and bone conduction for treble and mids. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Sound quality is an notable improvement over the OpenFit Air, but I find myself preferring the OpenRun Pro 2. Whether the sound quality is a deal-breaker depends on how you intend to use these buds. I mostly use open-ear buds for running and found myself wanting to reach for the OpenRun Pro 2 instead. But while puttering around the house or strength training, the lack of a wraparound neckband makes these infinitely more comfortable, especially for exercises like chest presses or leaning back in my chair.The OpenFit 2 are available starting today for $179.95 in black and beige.

Plenty of lights to go around. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Following a teaser last month, Asus' latest ROG Strix Scar gaming laptops have arrived and they're leaning all the way into the gamer aesthetic. The 2025 Scar 16 and 18 come with RGB lights all the way around the bottom of the chassis as well as a user-programmable LED dot-matrix display on the lid, as seen on other ROG devices like Asus' gaming phones.Beneath the flashy exterior, the Scar 16 and 18 can be maxed out with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor and Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 GPU. It can also be configured with up to 64GB of DDR5-5600 RAM and a 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD. The ROG Nebula HDR display comprises a 16:10 2.5K Mini LED panel with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and a 240Hz refresh rate. There are two Thunderbolt 5 ports included, and the design allows for easy access to the bottom panel for component upgrades.The Strix Scar 16 and 18 have all the cooling tech you'd expect from a gaming laptop of this caliber, including an end-to-end vapor chamber and sandwiched heatsink. Combined with the Conductonaut Extreme liquid metal treatment on the GPU and CPU, Asus claims that it can keep fan noise levels to a library-like 45dB, even during extended gaming sessions.On top of all that, the ROG Strix Scar comes with the aforementioned light show. Asus calls it AniMe Vision, and you can customize it to display personalized animations and sync it with any other AniMe Vision devices you own. Download some prebaked artwork or cook up your own using Asus' pixel editor - the choice is yours.The ROG Strix Scar starts at $2,599; Asus says its new gaming laptops will begin shipping in February.

The 2025 Asus XG Mobile, now with standard Thunderbolt 5 instead of a proprietary connector. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge This smoky black translucent box isn't a gaming PC - instead, it might be the most powerful single-cable portable docking station ever conceived. When you plug your laptop or handheld into the just-announced 2025 Asus XG Mobile, it promises to add the power of Nvidia's top-flight GeForce RTX 5090 mobile chip, and up to 140 watts of electricity, and two monitors, and a USB and SD-card-reading hub, and 5Gbps ethernet simultaneously.That's because it's the world's first* Thunderbolt 5 external graphics card and one of the first Thunderbolt 5 docks, using the new 80 gigabit per second bidirectional link to do more things with a single cable than we've ever seen before. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge The 2025 XG Mobile's ports - and a standard AC power connector, because the power supply lives inside. And if you're keeping score, I'm pretty sure it's also the first standards-based portable eGPU with an Nvidia graphics chip. While Asus' last-gen XG Mobile also boasted up to an Nvidia 4090, you could only tap into that power with a proprietary port found only on a few Asus devices. (Its USB4 and Oculink rivals have mostly featured the AMD Radeon 7600M XT.)None of that makes it the most powerful eGPU out there, as I currently have no performance figures from Asus, and you can definitely go further with bigger docks that can fit desktop graphics cards rather than mobile GPUs. But Asus rep Anthony Spence tells me that the Thunderbolt 5 link does give you up to 64Gbps of bandwidth for its Nvidia graphics - more than USB4 and tied with Oculink - and I'm wowed that Asus managed to fit all this and a 350W power supply (no external brick!) into a sub-2.2-pound package with a fold-out kickstand.Asus says it's even 25 percent lighter and 18 percent smaller than the previous proprietary model. It's got HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 for video output and a pair of 10Gbps USB-A ports, in case you're wondering. Image: Asus Note that it comes with a little vertical stand, too. When it arrives later in Q1, it won't come cheap. Spence says the top-tier XG Mobile with an RTX 5090 laptop chip will cost $2199.99 - meaning you could almost certainly cobble together a more powerful (but stationary) solution yourself. That said, Asus does plan to sell a lower-end $1,199.99 version with Nvidia's mobile RTX 5070 Ti. Again, you're paying for compact power here rather than maximum bang for the buck. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Yes, that Asus ROG logo is light-up, programmable RGB using the company's Aura Sync. You can also make out the top-mounted SD card receptacle. While it should work with any Thunderbolt 4 or USB4 laptop or handheld, including Asus' own ROG Ally X, you'll likely want the still-rare Thunderbolt 5 to get the full GPU bandwidth here. Finding a Thunderbolt 5 computer that doesn't already have a powerful discrete GPU might be tough, but perhaps some of 2025's thin-and-light laptops will seize this opportunity to double as potent travel desktops.*We are aware of one possible Thunderbolt 5 eGPU enclosure, to house a desktop graphics card, but that WinStar has barely even been detailed yet.

The 2025 Asus ROG Flow Z13. Asus has a new version of its Surface Pro-like gaming tablet for CES, and it's making some sizable changes both inside and out. The Asus ROG Flow Z13 for 2025 is once again a slightly chunky, almost-half-inch-thick, 13-inch tablet with a built-in kickstand, magnetic keyboard cover, a bunch of ports, and a clear window on its rear with RGB lighting to show off its innards.That fun glass window is now larger, with a direct view of the motherboard, but the biggest change for the ROG Flow Z13 is its switch to integrated graphics. That may seem like a step backward for a gaming-focused tablet since gamers covet dedicated GPUs, but Asus is outfitting it with AMD's powerful new Strix Halo" processor. The ROG Flow Z13 can be configured with the Ryzen AI Max 390 for $1,999.99 or the Ryzen AI Max Plus 395 for $2,199.99. The top-end model with the Max Plus 395 has 16 CPU cores and 40 graphics cores, while the base-model Ryzen AI Max Plus 390 (curse these names) has 12 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores. The Z13 utilizes a redesigned stainless steel vapor chamber for cooling these graphics-heavy chips, which are capable of 120W TDP.All that power in the Z13 is responsible for driving a 13-inch, 2560 x 1600 touchscreen display with a speedy 180Hz refresh rate (up from 165Hz on the last-gen model), which you don't often find in laptops and tablets of this size. For ports, it's got two USB 4, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, a microSD card slot capable of UHS-II speeds, and a 3.5mm combination headphone / mic jack. It's also got a 5-megapixel front-facing webcam and 13-megapixel rear-facing camera - so you can flash your RGB as you awkwardly take tablet photos in public. It also has Wi-Fi 7.The Z13 supports USB-C Power Delivery for charging, but that won't be powerful enough to allow its full performance under load. Instead, it comes with a 200W power adapter that uses Asus' proprietary and reversible slim power jack - like on its recent laptops.Other quality-of-life improvements for the Z13 include a new detachable keyboard with larger keycaps and a more generously sized touchpad. And on its right side, beside the power button and volume rocker, is a new ScreenXpert" button that summons a Command-Center-like widget that includes multiple-display window management controls, quick access to operating modes like Turbo mode or Silent mode, and other settings like muting your mic. It's primarily there to help control things while in tablet mode since the keyboard contains shortcuts for most of these functions.I got a quick glimpse of the new ROG Flow Z13 at a preview event, and Asus sent me a preproduction model right before CES to get a little bit of hands-on time. It's what I'm writing this post on right now, and boy do I appreciate the updates to this keyboard cover. The 1.7mm key travel and bigger touchpad go a long way toward getting work done. While the Ryzen 395 chip has the potential to be power-hungry, the battery life on the Z13 shows some promise. Asus is only claiming 10 hours of battery life, and I did manage to get through a full eight-plus-hour workday of Chrome tabs, streaming music (though the speakers seem kind of bad at first listen), and writing across multiple virtual desktops the day before flying to CES - with pretty much no issues.I definitely prefer a proper laptop to a tablet with a kickstand and keyboard cover, but being able to remove the keyboard deck for a little more flexibility and comfort when it's time to fire up a game is pretty slick. I tried out a little Helldivers 2 on the Flow Z13, and it performed quite well, especially for a tablet. Set to the Z13's native 2.5K resolution, in-game render scale on Ultra Quality, and texture details on medium, I saw 60fps or just slightly under, and it looked really nice. If I bumped it down from Ultra Quality to Quality scaling, it jumped up to an even smoother 80fps. This was, of course, while the tablet was plugged in and its fans were blasting on Turbo mode. Diving in again while unplugged dropped the Ultra Quality render scale performance down to the 45 to 50fps range since playing on battery limits you to Performance mode instead of Turbo.This is preproduction hardware, but so far, it's pretty impressive for integrated graphics. AMD's new chip might have something special here for thin and light devices, but since it lacks Thunderbolt 5, that means the Flow Z13 can't use the full GPU bandwidth of Asus' new XG Mobile eGPU. (Previous models could use the older XG Mobile via its proprietary connector.) But of course, that would make this somewhat portable PC gaming solution a little less portable, and the new XG Mobile costs about as much as the Flow Z13 itself.But does a gaming tablet make much sense in 2025 when portable PC gaming is being so adequately served by the Steam Deck and a bunch of other dedicated handhelds? We'll have to see how a production model of the ROG Flow Z13 fares when it launches sometime in February.Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang holding the Project Digits computer on stage at Nvidia's CES 2025 press conference. | Image: Nvidia If you were looking for your own personal AI supercomputer, Nvidia has you covered.The chipmaker announced at CES it's launching a personal AI supercomputer called Project Digits in May. The heart of Project Digits is the new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, which packs enough processing power to run sophisticated AI models while being compact enough to fit on a desk and run from a standard power outlet (this kind of processing power used to require much larger, more power-hungry systems). This desktop-sized system can handle AI models with up to 200 billion parameters, and has a starting price of $3,000. The product itself looks a lot like a Mac Mini.AI will be mainstream in every application for every industry. With Project Digits, the Grace Blackwell Superchip comes to millions of developers," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in a press release. Placing an AI supercomputer on the desks of every data scientist, AI researcher and student empowers them to engage and shape the age of AI." Image: Nvidia Project Digits looks like a mini PC. Each Project Digits system comes equipped with 128GB of unified, coherent memory (by comparison, a good laptop might... Read the full story at The Verge.

The new Alienware Area-51 desktop. | Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge Alienware has built some of the easiest-to-open toolless gaming PCs around - but for years, the Dell-owned brand has stifled their upgrade potential by limiting them to Dell's own proprietary power supplies and motherboards.But the 2025 Alienware Area-51, an 80-liter tower just introduced at CES in Las Vegas, finally ditches the proprietary parts in favor of standard ATX components.Even though the tempered glass sided chassis features fancy compartments for liquid cooling and power supplies, it's no longer a hexagonal monster or even a proprietary tower: it'll come with a standard power supply, standard based motherboard, and even feature standard fan mounting locations. And even though there's a dedicated daughterboard to easily control and cable manage its lighting, fans, I/O, and power switch, Dell will offer a conversion kit to make it work with third-party motherboards. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge You can see the daughterboard here. With this edition, we are returning to our roots with a machine that caters to the desires of PC gaming enthusiasts and longtime Alienware fans who have a deep appreciation for technology and a can-do attitude for manually customizing their build to their needs," writes brand manager Matt McGowan, promising the ability to make serious upgrades for years to come."Why now? I asked McGowan, and his primary answer is that he's listening to his customers. I'm talking with customers, reading reviews, understanding what the sentiment is in the market and where things are going," he tells The Verge, and what he's hearing is demand for standard mounting locations" - a demand so loud" that Alienware decided to make a wholesale shift" toward a fully upgradable computer.That's not to say there weren't reasons to go proprietary, or that Alienware is promising to do this on every PC. In fact, Alienware built its own nonproprietary ATX motherboard for this Alienware Area-51, and the new 2025 version of its smaller Aurora (a spec bump with new Nvidia and Intel chips) will still feature proprietary motherboards and power supplies, at least for now.McGowan says that's because of the leverage" Dell gets with proprietary parts.If you go back years and years, there was a decision to take the power supply unit and go and drive commonality between our Dell Precision products and Alienware products," he explains. Dell got better prices that way - and, he argues, more efficient, higher-quality power supplies, too, by unifying its supply chain and taking advantage of those economies of scale.And, he says, it allowed Dell to shrink the size of its PC cases at a time its commercial customers, in particular, valued a form factor aggressive" chassis. Images: Dell So, does that mean the Alienware Aurora, the smaller and less expensive desktop that Dell is more likely to sell in volume, will get the ATX treatment, too? We're evaluating that for Aurora as well," McGowan tells me, but he isn't promising anything today. We have to hit an inflection point ... where we apply resources to go and redesign the internals of that chassis," he says.But Dell would need to see the numbers add up - not just in terms of price, but the ratios of price, performance, size, and quality that would allow a new Aurora to compete.There's a clear customer advantage around how much power we can put into a compact mini tower. The other [consideration] is cost related; when we get economies of scale across other Dell product and it's something we can adopt with little impact on the gaming side, we're going to take that and pass that savings on to the user," he says. Photo by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge This is far from Dell's only shift in strategy this year in an attempt to become more consumer-friendly: it's also killing off the XPS brand for Apple-like Pro" and Pro Max" product lines instead, and those Pro laptops will now all feature consumer-replaceable USB-C ports in addition to user-replaceable batteries.Alienware hasn't shared the entry price or configuration of the Area-51 quite yet but says it'll ship later in Q1 starting at $4,499 with a high-end, next-gen Nvidia GPU." The company is also announcing a pair of new Area-51 laptops.

Image: Dell Alienware is joining Asus, Samsung, and MSI in making a silly world's first" claim - all four of them are now set to launch a genuinely exciting new wave of 27-inch 4K QD-OLED gaming monitors with an excellent 240Hz refresh rate. Remember when I called Alienware's 32-inch version the best monitor of CES last year because it finally offered the best of all worlds? Now, you'll be able to buy a smaller 27-inch version, without a curved screen, in a far more subtle design that no longer dominates your desk.Like competitors that are using the same Samsung panel, the Alienware AW2725Q has a technically 26-inch screen that offers 166 pixels per inch and 250 nits of typical brightness (1,000 nits of HDR at peak), while displaying 99 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut.Unlike some competitors, though, Alienware's G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro screen only offers DisplayPort 1.4 rather than DisplayPort 2.1, which could theoretically mean dealing with the occasional Display Stream Compression (DSC) hiccup to get your 4K at 240Hz. It also features a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports that offer 4K at 240 with HDR, VRR, ALLM, and eARC for Dolby Atmos passthrough. There's no USB-C video in, but the 15-pound monitor does offer a very basic USB-A hub and a single USB-C port with 15W charging. Image: Dell The ports. Tap here to enhance. The monitor supports Dolby Vision HDR and offers a three-year burn-in warranty - with a graphite sheet placed between the panel layers" to help fight burn-in and image retention, plus AI-based technology" that actively monitors on-screen images and makes adjustments to help prevent burn-in."For now, the best thing it has going for it over the competition is a firm price and release window: March for $900 in the US or $1,230 CAD in Canada. (Alienware's competitors for the 32-inch version took a good bit longer to hit the market, and I wonder if that'll be the same this time.) The monitor will actually hit China this month and arrive in EMEA territories in April.

The Amazfit Active 2 may only be $100-$130, but it's a good-lookin' budget watch. Amazfit may not be a household name, but it's been crushing it in the budget smartwatch space for a long time. And at CES 2025, the company is trying to outdo itself with the $99 Amazfit Active 2.I was a big fan of the company's GTR 4 watch - it wasn't a looker, but it packed in an incredible amount of value for $200. I liked it so much that it's sat comfortably as the top overall pick in our fitness tracker buying guide for two years. Compared to that watch, the Active 2 has even more functionality for half that price.It's got a bright 2,000 nit OLED display, upgraded health sensors, revamped heart rate and sleep algorithms, and the Zepp Flow AI assistant. There's also a smarter strength training mode that can auto-detect sets, reps, and rest, offline maps with turn-by-turn directions, and personalized training plans via the Zepp Coach integration. For people with periods, there's also a mini app in collaboration with Wild.AI, which delivers diet and exercise recommendations based on hormonal and menstrual cycles throughout a person's life (i.e., reproductive years, perimenopause, and menopause). The watch also works in tandem with the company's recently launched Helio smart ring, similar to how the Samsung Galaxy Ring optimizes sensor accuracy with its Galaxy Watches. European users will also get contactless payments via Zepp Pay, a feature that was notably missing from the GTR 4. The display gets up to 2,000 nits of brightness. You almost never find this kind of feature set for under $250. It's bonkers that you can get it for $100.Amazfit's Active line, which launched last year, effectively replaces its popular GTR lineup (though you can still easily find GTR 4 models online). Style-wise, you can see that in how the Active 2 switches from the original Active's square, Apple Watch-esque design to a more classic 44mm round watchface. The standard model comes with a tempered glass screen, stainless steel case, and a 20mm silicone sport band. The premium model costs $129 and upgrades the screen to a more durable sapphire glass and includes an additional leather strap. Compared to the Active, the Active 2 also adds more advanced hardware like a barometer, a gyroscope, and an ambient light sensor. Battery life isn't quite as good, dropping to 10 days with normal use compared to 14 days. (That said, 10 days is still impressive compared to the competition.) I wish the touchscreen were a little more responsive, but that's been my only real complaint so far. On paper, the Active 2 feels like it ought to have some kind of catch. However, I've been wearing the premium Active 2 for the last few days, and it's quite nice. So far, performance has been zippy, it's lightweight on the wrist, and I've already gotten several compliments from coworkers. Sometimes budget devices can look chintzy, and while no one would mistake the Active 2 for a luxury watch, it doesn't look or feel as cheap as a $100-$150 smartwatch could. I'm still testing out the health and fitness features, but so far, it's held up well on a handful of treadmill runs, and in the last three days, I've only used about 25 percent battery. I wish the touchscreen were a bit more responsive, but it's nothing too egregious thus far. It's too early for me to make a definitive call on the Active 2, but so far, it's looking like it could be a compelling option for folks who want a simpler smartwatch without breaking the bank.The Active 2 is available for preorder in the US now and will launch globally in February.

Image: Samsung Samsung has announced that it will hold its next Galaxy Unpacked event at 10AM PT / 1PM ET on January 22nd in San Jose, California. Samsung will stream the event on YouTube, its website, and its newsroom page. According to its invitation, the company is preparing to introduce its next Galaxy S devices, along with new Galaxy AI features.Rumors have suggested Samsung's next phones will include a redesigned Galaxy S25 Ultra with more rounded corners, bringing it visually more in line with its lower-tier phones while still keeping marquee features like the Galaxy S Pen. There are also rumors that a Galaxy Slim" phone is in the works, though that's not expected until later in the year.Finally, the rumor mill suggests that Samsung is adding Qi2 wireless charging to the Galaxy S25 line but wouldn't put magnets in the phones, relying on magnetic cases instead. Earlier Monday, the Wireless Power Consortium quoted Samsung saying it's supporting Qi 2 with new Galaxy devices this year while introducing Qi2 Ready," a special certification for phones needing a magnetic case to fully support the standard.If you know you're going to upgrade to some flavor of Galaxy S25 phone, the company is offering $50 credits if you reserve a spot in line to preorder it.