Technology

Asus’s Zenbooks are known for being quite lightweight and quite affordable. But the company is adding another calling card to the line: OLED display technology. The new 14-inch Zenbook 14X OLED will be available with either a 4K OLED HDR display or a 2.8K OLED 90Hz display. Given those resolutions, either should be a significant step up in picture quality from the Zenbook 13 OLED, the ultraportable OLED model Asus released earlier this year. That device has an FHD OLED display (which was still quite vivid and bright in our testing). The Zenbook 14X OLED will cover 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut and a 0.2ms response time. Asus claims it will emit “70 percent less harmful blue light than normal LCD”. Screen aside, the 14X weighs 3.09 pounds and is 0.67 inches thick — decently portable...

Samsung has announced new sizes for some of its best TVs, giving more choices to consumers who want the option of either a small or massive flagship TV. Samsung has added 43-inch and 98-inch sizes to its QN90A lineup of “Neo QLED” 4K TVs and an 85-inch option for its The Frame TV. The Neo QLED TVs have Samsung’s flagship panels, which use Mini LED backlights to improve contrast and picture quality. These kinds of flagship-class panels used to be limited mostly to the 55- to 77-inch range, but they seem to be making their way to size classes that used to be reserved for budget TVs. Samsung hasn’t yet announced pricing for these TVs. At the moment, the 50-inch QN90A sells for $1,400 (with an MSRP of $1,500), and the 85-inch model can be had for $4,000, a cool $1,000 less than its list price....

Twitter is planning new features to give people more privacy options, according to Bloomberg. The social network’s plans reportedly include the option to archive old tweets so they’re not visible to other users after a given period of time (like 30, 60, or 90 days or a full year). They also include possible options to limit who can see which tweets you’ve liked, to let people remove themselves from a conversation on Twitter, and to let people remove followers without outright blocking them. Bloomberg describes the new features as a suite of “social privacy” changes that are aimed at making people more comfortable engaging on Twitter. Internal research at Twitter apparently found that many users don’t even understand whether their accounts are set to public or private — something the compan...

The first trailer for The Wheel of Time TV series has arrived, giving an early look at Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Robert Jordan’s epic 14-book fantasy series ahead of its November 19th release date on Amazon Prime Video. The trailer sets the stage for the series, establishing some of the basic tenets of Jordan’s world, with a specific focus on Moiraine Damodred (Rosamund Pike), a member of a group of female magic wielders known as the Aes Sedai, who are capable of wielding the One Power to accomplish feats like controlling the elements and healing others. The trailer also shows off a first look at The Wheel of Time’s younger cast: Madeleine Madden as Egwene al’Vere, Marcus Rutherford as Perrin Aybara, Barney Harris as Mat Cauthon, Zoë Robins as Nynaeve al’Meara, and Josha Stradowski a...

Yahoo and AOL, formerly known as Verizon Media, have officially been acquired by their new owners and renamed as simply “Yahoo.” Verizon announced it was selling the properties to Apollo Global Management in May in a deal said to be worth $5 billion, around half of the nearly $9 billion the telecom giant originally paid for them, and a fraction of the hundreds of billions the two companies were worth at their peaks. Verizon originally purchased AOL in 2015 for $4.4 billion, and acquired Yahoo in 2017 for $4.5 billion. After completing its Yahoo acquisition, Verizon placed both brands under the woefully bland “Oath” brand. “#TakeTheOath” proclaimed AOL CEO Tim Armstrong. The media divisions, which include properties like Yahoo Sports, TechCrunch, and Engadget, were officially renamed “Veriz...

We don’t often write about bicycle components, but it’s not everyday that an innovation like the Schaeffler Free Drive is announced for pedal-assisted e-bikes. The so-called “bike-by-wire” system, first spotted by Electrek, dispenses with the need to string a chain or belt between the pedals and wheel hub. It’s an all-electric drive system that allows for entirely new bicycle designs with fewer moving parts. The Free Drive system works by converting the rider’s pedaling power into electrical energy via a small generator housed between the pedals. It then delivers this energy to the rear wheel (or wheels) via cables strung inside or outside the frame of the bike, rather than sending it mechanically through a chain or belt. Excess energy created by pedaling is fed back into the battery. The ...

JBL has announced an update to its popular lineup of Flip Bluetooth speakers with the Flip 6. Perhaps the biggest change is that the latest speaker is now officially dustproof thanks to its IP67 rating, while the Flip 5 was officially only waterproof (IPX7). Its Bluetooth version has also been boosted from 4.2 to 5.1, and it features a newly redesigned JBL logo. Battery life is unchanged at around 12 hours. It’ll retail for $129.95 when it goes on sale in December in the US, up from the Flip 5’s current $119.95 price. The Flip 6 is just one of a host of new audio products JBL is announcing today. There’s also the Partybox 110 and 710, two large rugged speakers which feature guitar and mic inputs for impromptu music-making and which will retail for $399.95 and $799.95 respectively. Grid Vie...

Following the halt in SpaceX’s Moon Mission due to a Blue Origin lawsuit, Amazon urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reject Space X‘s proposal for a second-generation Starlink program to which Elon responded on Twitter: “Turns out Besos retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX..” Continuing the saga between the two space-faring companies, SpaceX is now shining a light on the inadequacies of Amazon’s satellite systems and accusing the company of employing stalling tactics. In the response to Amazon’s initial filing to the FCC, SpaceX complains that while Amazon has filed nothing to the commission to address concerns on how its own satellite project would protect others from interference or meet the rules regarding orbital debris for nearly 4...

Twitter has begun rolling out its new Super Follows on iOS devices, a feature it first introduced back in June. Currently open to a select group of users who applied for the trial, Super Follows allows Twitter accounts to offer subscriptions to their followers similar to that of OnlyFans, locking certain premium content behind paywalls. Tweets allocated to Super Followers will only show up on the subscribers’ feeds, and plans currently range from $2.99 USD to $9.99 USD a month. The social media platform has promised content creators that they can make up to 97% of the revenue from subscriptions after third-party fees are deducted, although those who reach a lifetime earning of $50,000 USD on the platform will then be making roughly 80% instead. For those in the U.S. and Canada on iOS devic...

Keyboard specialist Keychron has revealed the Keychron Q1, a compact and highly customizable mechanical keyboard with a range of functional features. The newest introduction to the Keychron line is also the brand’s most ambitious yet, offering a top-of-the-line product for those looking to upgrade their setup. The Key Chron Q1 arrives in a 75% layout and features a 6063 aluminum body, Gateron G Phantom switches, and hot-swappable OEM ABS Double-shot keycaps. Every key switch, keycap, stabilizer, emblem badge, and plate offers opportunities for personalization. Complimentary items include a Type C to Type C coiled cable, Type A to Type C adapter, gaskets, extra Mac and Windows function keys, and customization tools including a switch puller, keycap puller, hex key, and screwdriver...

Samsung has announced a 200-megapixel image sensor intended for smartphone cameras, by some distance the highest resolution phone camera sensor ever made. The ISOCELL HP1 has 0.64μm pixels and can bin 16 of them at once for the equivalent of a 12.5-megapixel sensor with 2.56μm pixels. Samsung calls the HP1’s pixel-binning technology “ChameleonCell.” The four-by-four 12.5-megapixel setting is intended for low-light usage, but it can also capture full 200-megapixel resolution photos, or use a two-by-two binning technique for 50-megapixel images. The two-by-two binning mode also lets the HP1 capture 8K video. Samsung says it’s capable of shooting 8K without cropping, although standard 8K (7,680 x 4,320) is less than 50 megapixels. Samsung is also introducing a new sensor called the ISOCELL GN...