Technology

The demands placed on our home networks are higher than ever, especially when it comes to gaming. Netgear was arguably one of the first router manufacturers to optimize the networking needed for gaming with its Nighthawk line of routers. Now, it’s attempting the same thing with its new line of 6E enabled Orbi mesh routers. The Game Booster service largely resembles the Nighthawk Pro Gaming application used to configure their XR line of gaming routers, with one glaring difference: it requires a subscription. The Game Booster service for Orbi devices will cost $50 annually, and while this isn’t a massive sum of money, it certainly raises some questions about why Netgear is charging for a service that was previously offered for free on other devices. This decision is made all the more p...

The rear camera layout of OnePlus’s next flagship, the OnePlus 10 Pro, has been shown off in a teaser image for the smartphone. The handset is due to launch in China on January 11th before coming to the rest of the world later in the year. OnePlus CEO Pete Lau previously confirmed that the phone would be revealed in January in a post on Weibo. Although the teaser image doesn’t show much more than the rear of the phone, it confirms the 10 Pro will have three rear cameras that will once again carry the Hasselblad branding. OnePlus’s partnership with the Swedish camera manufacturer began with last year’s OnePlus 9, where the two companies worked together on the color tuning of the phone’s photos, with generally good results. A three-stage ringer switch is also visible The image also confirms ...

Withings isn’t a stranger to smart scales, but for CES 2022 the company is taking a much more ambitious take on the gadget. Announced today, the Withings Body Scan will feature six-lead EKG readings, segmented body composition measurements, and the ability to assess foot nerve activity. Basically, it’s the scale for people who want to know how fat is distributed through their body and how that might in turn relate to their heart health. On the surface, the Body Scan looks like your typical scale — albeit with a retractable handle up top. It contains four weight sensors and 14 ITO electrodes in the scale itself, plus an additional four located in the handle. The scale also features a larger 3.2-inch LCD color screen, as well as a battery life of one year. It’ll also integrate with Withings’...

Moen revealed its latest smart faucet at CES this week: the Moen Smart Faucet with Motion Control. The new feature adds completely handle-free operation, using gestures to control temperature as well as flow. But you can still have a handle if you really want one. The idea is you operate the faucet using swipe and push motions in front of the sensor to get hot, warm, or cold water. The Moen Smart Water App should let you set the default temperatures, as well as customize the gestures further. The handle-free design of the Moen Smart Faucet with Motion is a minimalist’s dream.Image: Moen The new faucet has all the features of the existing Moen Smart Faucet — including voice activation (with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant). There’s also the ability to dispense precise measurements and tem...

Apple‘s infamous high price point for its Pro Display XDR has often been a topic of concern for consumers looking for an affordable and quality external monitor. According to recent reports have indicated that Apple has heard its customers and its next external monitor is “destined to be about half the price of the Pro Display XDR.” The Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has indicated that he is hoping Apple will launch the new product in 2022, however, it is unclear whether or not he received information on the release from informed sources. In another article last month, Gurman stated that he “strongly” believed that Apple will be launching “a new external monitor for its latest Macs.” He also added, “At this point, the cost of building that monitor has likely come down, and with a few tweak...

Pet trackers have been around for ages, but Invoxia is looking to shake things up at CES 2022 with a new smart collar that can also monitor your dog’s vital signs. And of course, the smart collar also doubles as a GPS and activity tracker for your pooch. Canine fitness trackers generally rely on a combination of accelerometers and GPS sensors. Invoxia’s approach is a bit different. To monitor vitals like resting respiratory and heart rate, Invoxia says it worked with board-certified veterinary cardiologists to develop deep learning AI that utilizes miniaturized radar sensors — the same type as the Soli radar Google used in its Pixel 4 phones. According to Invoxia CEO Amélie Caudron, the radars are ideal as they’re capable of taking readings regardless of how furry your dog is. “There’s a r...

It’s a new year, and that means today LG is announcing its latest series of OLED TVs. For 2022, the company is adding new screen sizes, ratcheting up the brightness (again) on the G series, and bringing some additional features — like multiuser profiles — to the webOS software that runs on its TVs. Now on the fifth generation of its A9 processor, LG says 2022 TVs will include better 4K upscaling, improved tone mapping, and a greater sense of depth through foreground object enhancement. As for the TVs themselves, after debuting its higher-brightness OLED “Evo” panel on the G1 in 2021, this year Evo will be featured in both the G2 and more mainstream C2. LG says the G2 will deliver higher peak brightness numbers than the C2 through a combination of brightness booster algorithms and better he...

After a year of will-they-or-won’t-they speculation, Samsung has, at last, announced the Galaxy S21 FE. Like the 2020 Galaxy S20 FE (the FE stands for Fan Edition), this device features most of the flagship-level specs of the Galaxy S21, including a Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz display, at a lower price: $699 for the 128GB base model. With the S21’s nearly midrange price tag and a compelling upper-midrange option in the Galaxy A52 5G, it’s yet another addition to an already crowded spot in Samsung’s lineup. The Galaxy S21 FE offers a 6.4-inch display, slightly larger than the S21’s 6.2-inch panel. Outside of that size difference, the S21 FE has a whole lot in common with the S21. Its screen is a 1080p OLED panel with 120Hz like the S21’s. Even the design language is consistent, with th...

In a standoff that’s pitting Verizon, AT&T, and the FCC versus the FAA and the airline industry over the two carrier’s plans to upgrade their 5G wireless services, the mobile companies now say they’ve reached an agreement with the Department of Transportation. For Verizon, delaying the launch of the “C-band” spectrum means canceling a celebration scheduled for 1PM ET on Tuesday, marking the beginning of its spectrum upgrade. Verizon: We’ve agreed to a two-week delay which promises the certainty of bringing this nation our game-changing 5G network in January, delivered over America’s best and most reliable network AT&T At Secretary Buttigieg’s request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services. We also remain committed to the...

Samsung is building out the world’s first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, the company announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  The South Korean tech giant announced that its 2022 lineup of Smart TVs come with a new Smart Hub that has widgets for different categories, like Media, Gaming and Ambient. “Our TVs are more than just entertainment devices — they’re multi-purpose products that serve as hubs for our connected homes and as canvases for self-expression and design,” the company said in a press release.  Alongside the company’s new game streaming discovery platform, the new NFT aggregation platform lets users browse, purchase and display digital collectibles from a singular TV hub. Collectors can preview an NFT before making a purchas...

Over at CES this year, Chinese consumer tech company OnePlus has unveiled its latest flagship 10 Pro smartphone. While it kept most of its other information still under wraps — including the device’s full specs, pricing, and availability — the company nonetheless released several images unveiling what the new phone looks like. As you can see (above), the design takes a slight departure from its OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro predecessors, most noticeably by the new Hasselblad camera module that seems to be black no matter what color your phone will be. Other details gathered from the images suggest that there won’t be rear or side-mounted fingerprint sensors, which most likely means it’ll continue to use an in-screen option instead. The alert slider on the side has also been retained, and — according...