Technology

Razer has announced an update to its popular Huntsman lineup of mechanical keyboards that reduces input latency to “near-zero,” the company claims. That’s because the newly announced Huntsman V2 and Huntsman V2 Tenkeyless (which omits the numpad, volume wheel, and media controls for a more compact board) both have a polling rate of 8,000Hz, meaning they can theoretically detect key presses eight times faster than the original Huntsman keyboards. Combined with the keyboards’ optical switches, which use an infrared beam of light to sense when they’ve been pressed rather than metal contact points, Razer reckons the two new Huntsman keyboards will feel more responsive for gaming, especially when combined with a high-refresh rate monitor. In contrast, standard mechanical switches can suffer fro...

After establishing a strong reputation with great, dependable earbuds like the Elite 75t, Jabra is overhauling its whole lineup with three new models. At the high end are the $199 Elite 7 Pros and $179 Elite 7 Active earbuds, which will hit shelves in October. But for many, the most exciting part of Jabra’s latest trio will be the Elite 3 earbuds, which are the company’s first true wireless earbuds to launch at a price under $100. They only cost $79.99, putting them in competition with EarFun, Anker, JLab, and other companies that are known for quality buds on a budget. Jabra doesn’t shoot for the Moon with the Elite 3s; they lack active noise cancellation and they sacrifice one feature that’s become a hallmark of Jabra earbuds: multipoint support. You can only pair these with one device a...

Microsoft is launching its next perpetual version of Microsoft Office for commercial customers today, and promising an Office 2021 consumer release on October 5th. Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) for Windows and Mac will be available for commercial and government users today, providing a locked-in time release of Office that doesn’t require a subscription. Office LTSC is designed for businesses in regulated industries where processes and apps can’t change on a monthly basis, or for manufacturing plants that rely on Office and want a locked-in time release. It won’t ship with the AI- and cloud-powered features that are found in Microsoft 365, and it won’t receive new features, either. Microsoft will support Office LTSC for five years, and the company has also committed t...

The next chapter of Deltarune is coming and I am beyond excited. In a surprise announcement, Toby Fox, creator of the Undertale series, revealed Deltarune Chapter 2 will be released on Mac and PC on September 17th. The news came on September 15th during a livestream of Deltarune Chapter 1 put on to commemorate Undertale’s sixth anniversary. Hosted by three dads from Fangamer — a gaming merchandise retailer — the Deltarune livestream featured hideous dad-approved shirts, canned laughter typical of a ‘90s sitcom, and commentary from Toby Fox himself via a skateboarding Annoying Dog proxy with a text-to-speech voice. You can (and should) check out a VOD of the wholesome stream here. [embedded content] Deltarune is the much anticipated follow-up to Toby Fox’s award-winning indie RPG Undertale....

Gogoro is the latest EV company to jump on the trend of going public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The Taiwanese e-scooter and battery-swapping tech startup announced Thursday that it will combine with a SPAC called Poema Global Holdings, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The deal — which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022 — will net Gogoro around $550 million, and will value the startup at more than $2.3 billion. It’s a huge step for the scooter company, which has been rapidly expanding this year. In April, Gogoro announced a partnership with the largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world to bring its electric scooter and battery tech to India. That was Gogoro’s most major push outside of Taiwan to date — until May, when it a...

WhatsApp is piloting a new business directory in São Paulo, Brazil that lets users find local shops and services with a presence on the app, the service’s head Will Cathcart has announced. Screenshots show how WhatsApp will show businesses sorted by categories like “grocery store” and “restaurant,” before letting users chat directly with them. Reuters reports that the test will include thousands of businesses in the city. Although the Facebook-owned messaging service is most famous as a person-to-person messaging service, e-commerce has become an increasingly important part of its offering in recent years. As of last October, WhatsApp reported that over 175 million people globally used the service to message a WhatsApp business account every day. I’m excited we’re starting to pilot a...

If you’re planning on preordering one of Apple’s new iPhone 13 models at 8AM ET on Friday, September 17th, you might be interested to know that US customers can pre-register their details to make the checkout process a little easier. Now, before you say anything, I completely agree that the idea of pre-registering for a preorder sounds ridiculous. But if you’re someone who wants to complete the preorder as quickly as possible to guarantee an early ship date during a time of global component shortages, it’s a useful trick to know. Just be aware that this process is only available until midnight on Thursday, Eastern Time. This isn’t the first time Apple has offered pre-registration. But previously this route appears to have been reserved for customers on the iPhone Upgrade Program, MacRumors...

Lucid Motors’ Air Dream Edition has received an Environmental Protection Agency-rated range of 520 miles, making it the longest-range EV ever rated by the agency. The EPA rating certifies Lucid’s claim from over a year ago that its forthcoming electric sedan would be the longest range production EV on the market. It also represents a victory for Lucid Motors CEO and CTO Peter Rawlinson, who led development of the Model S when he worked at Tesla and has said that the Air will outmatch Elon Musk’s company in terms of range, luxury, acceleration, and price. The Air Dream Edition bests the longest-range Tesla, the Model S Long Range Plus, by over 100 miles. But that added range will come at a cost, with the Dream Edition with 19-inch wheels starting at $169,000. If that sticker price is too sp...

The team behind the FlickType app is now planning on a lawsuit against Apple over the new QWERTY keyboard feature on the upcoming Apple Watch Series 7. Following the unveiling of the next generation of Apple Watches, one of the new features to hit the platform is a built-in keyboard program that users can tap to reply to various messages or emails. Noting that its function and design are extremely similar to a previous app called FlickType, a Twitter user tagged the app development team and its founder Kosta Eleftheriou letting them know. In response, Eleftheriou tweeted an older statement from Apple revealing that FlickType had been removed from the App Store for being in contravention of its review guidelines. The reason stated was simply that “the app is a keyboard for the Apple Watch,”...

For the past three years, Facebook has conducted internal studies to examine the direct effects of Instagram on its younger user base, namely teenage girls. The report has repeatedly found that Instagram continuously adds to the toxic body image issued amongst teenage girls. Wall Street Journal reports that an internal Facebook presentation indicated that, “32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” Facebook has ultimately confirmed that a large percentage of teenagers have been negatively affected by Instagram. The Instagram Explore page seems to contribute to the issue as it is supposed to curate posts from a broad range of accounts for each specific user. Over the past few years, Facebook has struggled to hone in on the issue. To ...

In January, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, shut down Project Loon, an initiative exploring using stratospheric helium balloons to distribute wireless internet (an attempt to use solar-powered drones folded in 2017). However, some technology developed as a part of the Loon project remained in development, specifically the Free Space Optical Communications (FSOC) links that were originally meant to connect the high flying balloons — and now that technology is actively in use providing a high-speed broadband link for people in Africa. Sort of like fiber optic cables without the cable, FSOC can create a 20Gbps+ broadband link from two points that have a clear line of sight, and Alphabet’s moonshot lab X has built up Project Taara to give it a shot. They started by setting up links in India...