Technology

Alarm.com has announced a new device for anyone worried about visitors catching COVID-19 from, of all things, their doorbell. Rather than using a button, the Touchless Video Doorbell is designed to chime when its camera detects visitors standing on your doormat. Alarm.com claims this is the “first commercially available video doorbell that rings without requiring any contact,” and that its aim is to “reduce public health risks and make home visits and deliveries safer for all.” In what seems to be an admission that this is quite a confusing way to ring a doorbell, there are instructions on how to ring the device printed on its front. Alarm.com is also selling a doormat accessory for the doorbell, which instructs visitors on where to stand so the doorbell can see them properly. Given how pe...

V-Moda has announced a new version of its M-200 headphones at CES 2021 — the M-200 ANC, which bring both Bluetooth and active noise cancellation to the classic V-Moda design. Those additions come with a jump in price, though, with the M-200 ANC starting at $499.99, a jump of $150 over the wired, non-noise cancelling version. From the outside, the M-200 ANC look extremely similar to their wired cousins, with the same iconic hexagonal design elements that have been emblematic of V-Moda’s headphones for years. Unlike the wired version, though, the drivers have been swapped out to 40mm (from 50mm ones), and there are some new buttons for controlling playback, power, and pairing, as well as a USB-C port for charging. The M-200 ANC headphones are also a touch heavier at 320g (compared to 290g on...

After Parler was banned on both the Apple and Google app stores for failing to curb violent and threatening content on its platform, the social media site is now completely offline as a result of Amazon terminating Parler’s web hosting services. The official Parler website now returns a 403 error, while its app is showing networking errors and can’t load content. Amazon told Parler of its decision late Saturday, in a letter to chief policy officer Amy Peikoff. Its Amazon Web Service (AWS) “cannot provide services to a customer that is unable to effectively identify and remove content that encourages or incites violence against others,” the letter to Peikoff states, adding that Parler “poses a very real risk to public safety.” Parler’s iOS app, which now can’t load content.Screenshot: Parle...

HP has announced the Elite Folio, a new convertible laptop with an Arm CPU. Like 2019’s Spectre Folio, this device has a design that lets you pull the screen forward to rest between the keys and the trackpad for media consumption or touch-first work, or it can lie flat on top of the bottom shell for tablet-style use. The Elite Folio has a 13.5-inch 3:2 1920 x 1280 display, which is a nice upgrade over the Spectre Folio’s 16:9 panel. HP has made use of some of the extra height by including a stylus silo above the keyboard. While the Spectre stood out for its leather finish, the Elite Folio now uses “vegan leather,” which is to say it’s not leather. But it should feel better than regular plastic, at least. The processor is Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2, and there’s also LTE and 5G conn...

OnePlus has announced its first fitness tracker, the OnePlus Band, featuring heart rate and blood oxygen saturation monitors, fitness and sleep tracking, and a battery life of up to two weeks. It works with Android at launch but not iOS; OnePlus says compatibility with iPhones will be added later. The OnePlus Band will be available in India starting January 13th for ₹2,499 (around $34), but a global release is yet to be announced. The OnePlus Band is the company’s latest foray outside of smartphones, which has also included TVs and true wireless headphones. The wearable appears primarily designed for fitness, thanks to its ability to track heart rate and blood oxygen levels, and its support for 13 built in exercise modes. However, it also features sleep tracking and can act as a phone acce...

LG Display has provided some details on the OLED panels it’ll be shipping to TV manufacturers this year. The lineup includes a 42-inch panel, the smallest TV-sized OLED yet from LG Display, as well as a new 83-inch panel size that likely features in the Bravia lineup that Sony unveiled a few days ago. That means that OLED TVs this year will be available in sizes of 42, 48, 55, 65, 77, 83, and 88 inches. LG Display says it’s also shipping a “next-generation” 77-inch panel that’s said to be around 20 percent more efficient and therefore capable of higher brightness than before, which has been a relative disadvantage of OLED TVs to date. LG Display is a components manufacturer and doesn’t release consumer products itself, so it’s unclear who’s actually going to put a 42-inch TV on sale this y...

LG Display is continuing its trend of reimagining the future of screens at CES 2021 with a new transparent TV. The panel is a 55-inch OLED, but its transparent design lets you see through it even when it’s turned on and displaying an image. The screen achieves 40 percent transparency, LG Display says, which is an improvement over past transparent LCDs the company claims achieved only 10 percent transparency. LG imagines the screen sitting at the foot of a bed, where it can rise up partially or in full to show information or videos while retaining a view of the other side of the screen. The panel as it’s designed now has built-in speakers, though it’s unclear precisely what audio features they will support. In an email the company said that its “Sound Solution technology” is “embedded in th...

LG Display has shared video of its new 48-inch OLED gaming TV that can bend from a flat display to a curved one with the push of a button, and seeing it in motion is fascinating. Check it out at the top of this post. The flexible display orientations could let you watch TV with the flat orientation and play games with the curved one, for example. The company’s video also shows off how the screen could be used for a racing game with a first-person perspective in the cockpit, which seems like another practical use of a flexible TV to me. If you prefer to play racing games with a flat screen, you can keep the TV that way or opt to curve it if you find that more immersive. The TV can bend up to a radius of 1,000mm, has up to a 120Hz refresh rate, and offers a variable refresh rate ranging from...

The CEO of the conservative-friendly social app Parler said that all of its vendors have abandoned the company following recent bans from Google, Apple, and Amazon. “Every vendor, from text message services to email providers to our lawyers, all ditched us too, on the same day,” Parler CEO John Matze said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. Google banned Parler on Friday, Apple removed Parler on Saturday, and Amazon has informed Parler it will be kicked from the company’s web hosting services Sunday evening. Each company cited threats of violence posted on Parler in their reasons for removing the app. Screenshots from the app shared by activist group Sleeping Giants showed users calling for violence against Mike Pence and threatening further activity at the Capitol on January 19th. In...

HP is refreshing its business-focused Elite Dragonfly range this year with an updated G2 model and a new Dragonfly Max option. Both laptops will include Intel’s latest 11th Gen processors, and optional 5G connectivity. The Max model even improves the built-in webcam, and adds a second black color option for the range. Both the 13.3-inch Dragonfly G2 and Dragonfly Max will ship with 11th Gen Intel processors, with the i3 only available on the G2 and i5 and i7 processor options available on both. Both can also be configured up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of M.2 SSD storage space. Both models will also include a single USB 3.1 charging port, two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, a single HDMI 1.4b port, and Nano SIM support. The new black option for the HP Elite Dragonfly Max. The rear of the HP El...

So with all the chaos of the past week, you may have missed that Friday was the final episode of Jeopardy! with Alex Trebek as host. Trebek, who died in November at age 80 after a battle with cancer, hosted the answer-and-question game show for 37 years. The show posted a best-of highlight reel of Trebek’s performances over the years (remember the brouhaha when he shaved his mustache?!) and it may make you tear up a bit. My favorite appreciation of Trebek was from James Poniewozik in the New York Times, which concludes: “He was our trusted man with the answers, even in times when reality came to us in the form of a question.” [embedded content] Out new trailers this week range from dark and creepy to quirky to unsettling (which, to be totally honest, I prefer all of the above to syrupy hol...