Tech

/ The smartwatch app lets you send text or voice messages from your wrist. Previously users could only respond to WhatsApp notifications. 

Electric Bikes More simple, more accessible, more reliable, less money. Well, this is a surprise. Despite saying they’d be skipping straight from the 3-series to the 5-series of electric bikes, VanMoof just announced two new e-bikes — the full-size S4 and smaller X4 — days after its $4,000 S5 and A5 e-bikes started shipping. At $2,498 / £2,198 / €2,198 the S4 and X4 models are not only priced to compete, they should also require fewer support calls since there’s a lot less that can go wrong. The S5 and A5’s fancy Halo Ring displays are gone, as are the integrated Apple Find My tracking, complicated three-speed automatic e-shifter, and superfluous multifunction buttons that most regular commuters don’t need. VanMoof’s e-bikes have been notorious for initial quality issue...

I spent a day on a $279, bright blue, cow-spotted 14-inch laptop, and I’m seriously impressed by how much it has to offer. I’ve just finished a day on the Gateway 14, one of the most talked-about laptops in the budget Windows space. And folks… I’m very impressed. We bought this at Walmart for $279 (discounted from $360 since it’s a couple generations old), and yes, it has the legendary cow spots on its lid. The Gateway brand from the 1990s that we all know and love is now licensed by Acer and has become a Walmart-exclusive brand. The cow moos on. Mooooo. The model I’ve been using includes an Intel Core i5-1135G7 (a chip that powered many of 2020’s most premium ultraportable devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Book, the Acer Swift 5, the Dell XPS 13, and the Lenovo Yoga 9i). There i...

/ All the best preorder bonuses and where to get them — at least, what you can still get. a:hover]:text-gray-63 [&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-black dark:[&>a:hover]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a:hover]:shadow-underline-gray [&>a]:shadow-underline-gray-63 dark:[&>a]:text-gray-bd dark:[&>a]:shadow-underline-gray”>Image: Nintendo If you’re looking to buy yourself a ticket aboard the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom hype train and preorder the game ahead of its May 12th launch, you might as well get some cool extra bonuses. Some retailers are offering free preorder incentives like a wooden plaque or an art print, which are a nice bonus that doesn’t cost anything extra. Or, super-fans willing to plunk down extra money can get the fancy Collector’s Edition with lots of...

/ Google’s Pixel Buds Pro are also nearly matching their best price to date, making our exclusive deal an excellent alternative if you own a Google Pixel phone. a:hover]:shadow-highlight-franklin [&>a]:shadow-underline-blurple-1″>Read our AirPods (third-gen) review. Apple’s third-gen AirPods have a new design and sound significantly better than their predecessors. They also add new features like head tracking for spatial audio. If you own a PS5, you owe it to yourself to claim all the games still being offered via the PlayStation Plus Collection — a premium perk Sony plans to eliminate on May 9th. And if you’re not currently a PS Plus member, you can get 12 months of the PS Plus Essential tier for $48.49 (about $12 off) at Eneba when you use offer code USPlus before 7AM ET on May...

/ Discord’s major username changes to adopt standardized handles aren’t sitting well with its longtime users.

Electric Bikes $4,000 and a long list of features, but how many do you really need? “Sometimes you have to kill your darlings,” is a phrase used by designers to justify the removal of elements they find personally exciting but fail to add value. The last time I heard it was in April, 2022, when I rode pre-production versions of VanMoof’s new full-size S5 and smaller A5 electric bikes. The phrase was uttered by co-founder and CEO Taco Carlier to justify the removal of VanMoof’s iconic matrix display for a new “Halo Ring” interface.  One year later and both e-bikes are now — finally — being delivered to customers, well after their original target of July 2022. The price has also been raised to $3,998 / €3,498 from an early preorder price of $2,998 / €2,498, which was already much more e...