Gadget

On cue, GoPro has taken the wraps off the successor to the Hero 7 Black, aptly named the Hero 8 Black. The new action camera features a 12 MP sensor that can shoot in up to 4K at 60 FPS or 1080p at 240 FPS. The Hero 8 Black supports HyperSmooth 2.0, TimeWarp 2.0, 1080p live streaming and four lens modes ranging from 16 mm to 39 mm. The Hero 8 Black is available to order now for US$399.99, and GoPro is including a 32 GB SanDisk Extreme microSD card with pre-orders. Pre-orders will ship on October 15.

There is only one day to go until GoPro unveils its next action cameras, but advertising materials, packaging and pricing of the Hero 8 Black have appeared online. The leak even details some of the accessories that GoPro will sell with the successor to the Hero 7 Black too.

We have already seen 10 core, 12 core and 18 core representatives from Intel's upcoming Cascade Lake-X (CL-X) series hit Geekbench, and now a 14 core SKU has appeared online. While previous results have shown a demonstrable difference between the CL-X series, this new 14 core chip only edges its 12 core sibling despite having 2 additional cores. The successor to the Core i9-9940X only outscores the 12 core Ryzen 9 3900X by 5% in multicore workloads too.

Facebook has announced several updates for its Oculus Quest standalone headset that are likely to greatly broaden its appeal. The company has announced that it is introducing wired PC support for the headset as well as hand tracking that extends its capabilities significantly.

Yet more of the Cascade Lake-X product stack has appeared on Geekbench, with someone now testing the successor to the Core i9-9920X. The processor in question looks to be an engineering sample based on the clock speeds that Geekbench reports, but the 12 core and 24 thread CPU can already match the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and outscore the Threadripper 2920X by up to 22% in multicore workloads. Albeit, the Core i9-10920X will probably cost up to 3x the price of comparable AMD chips.

Microsoft is expected to unveil at least the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 at its hardware event on October 2. A recent FCC filing suggests that the company may also have a new Surface Pen in the works, though. The certified accessory has an interesting detail that existing Surface Pens lack too.

Xiaomi has quietly brought its Mi LED TV range to Europe, having listed the Mi Smart TV 4S 55-inch on Amazon.de on Monday. The affordable big-screen TV runs Android 9.0 Pie, has 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage on which to install apps. The 4K TV supports HDR, DTS, Dolby Audio and comes with Google Assistant built-in. The Mi Smart TV 4S 55-inch is currently on sale at €399.99 (~US$439.98), with Amazon claiming that it will typically sell the device for €699.95 (~US$769.93). The TV is available in Russia too.

LG Electronic's solar energy solutions are in show at the 2019 Solar Power International expo. They include the new NeON R ACe Solar Panel, which comes with its own AC micro-inverter so as to be compatible with conventional power circuits. It will be available in markets such as the US soon.

Set your watches to 06:00 PDT (UTC -7) on October 1, for that is when GoPro will be hosting its next annual hardware refresh. The company is expected to unveil the GoPro Hero 8 and GoPro Max, which will succeed the GoPro Hero 7 and GoPro Fusion 360 respectively, with many high-resolution marketing pictures of both having already appeared online.

The Japanese lens-maker Tamron already makes 17-28mm and 8-75mm f/2.8 products for Sony full-frame cameras. Now, it has released a video teaser hinting at 4 more of the same to be launched soon. Their specs are left to the imagination, but a photography blog claims to have worked them out.

We have already seen the 10 core Core i9-10900X achieving a Geekbench multi-core score close to 40,000 points, and now the Core i9-10980XE is flexing its muscles. The 18 core Cascade Lake-X processor breezes past all before it, except for upcoming Zen 2 Ryzen Threadripper 3000 chips and? Well, its predecessor too.

Another 10 core Cascade Lake-X processor has appeared on Geekbench, with the numbering scheme of Intel's next High-End Desktop (HEDT) series now seemingly having been confirmed. The upcoming processor even gets within 10% of the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X in multicore workloads and scores 10% more than the Threadripper 2950X too. However, Cascade Lake-X does not seem to offer much competition with the Zen 2-based Threadripper CPUs that are on the horizon too.

The PRT-B50 is a new PRO TREK model that can connect to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. Unlike some other Casio watches with this ability, however, this new product has a non-digital watchface. Its physical hands can be used to do things such as point to a saved location.

Nikon has introduced the Nikon Z 6 Essential Film Kit, its first mirrorless camera bundle that the company has designed for video professionals and filmmakers. The kit offers a quick introduction to the production of high-quality films and videos. The Essential Film Kit costs £2,639 (~US$3,291).

Minix presented its new small NEO G41V-4 at IFA 2019 in Berlin, a fanless mini PC that fits in one hand. The G41V-4 incorporates an Intel Celeron N4100 processor, UHD Graphics 600 and 4 GB of DDR4 RAM among other components. The G41V-4 succeeds the Neo N42C-4 and will sell for US$270.

Huawei has more up its sleeve for its next launch event than just the Mate 30 series. In anticipation of this Thursday's event in Munich, the Chinese company has teased the successor to the Watch GT, aptly named the Watch GT 2. Read on to see what the video reveals and what we know so far about Huawei's next smartwatch.

The Rock Pi X is like a cross between an Atomic Pi and a Raspberry Pi, but even more affordable. Radxa equips the 85 x 52 mm developer board with an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 processor, up to 4 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, along with a host of ports and connections including an HDMI 1.4 that can output in up to 4K. The Rock Pi X has a 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header too and supports several OSs including Android, Windows 10, Ubuntu 18.04 and other Linux distributions. The Rock Pi X will start at US$39 and rise to US$75 for the most expensive model.

Two new GoPro action cameras on the horizon, with the company announcing the successors to the GoPro Hero 7 and GoPro Fusion 360 this month. High-resolution marketing images of the GoPro Hero 8 Black and GoPro Max have appeared online, complete with modular accessories.

Lakefield processors will be the first example of Intel's Foveros 3D stacking technology. GFXBench confirms that the upcoming 10 nm chips will feature Gen11 GPUs with up to 64 execution units (EU), putting them technically on par with the Iris Plus Graphics G7. Iris Plus Graphics performance in thin 2-in-1s or dual-display devices? Not quite, according to GFXBench.

Among a host of other revelations at the recent Apple Special Event, the Cupertino company also officially announced the Apple Watch Series 5. The latest iteration of the highly successful smartwatch features an Always-On Retina display and comes in a huge range of customizable options. Prices start from US$399 for the basic 40 mm space-gray aluminum case with sport band GPS-only model (requires iPhone connection).

A couple of images of a Leica full-frame mirrorless camera have been posted on a Japanese website, which claims the subject of the photos is the Leica SL2. The German manufacturer released the SL (Typ 601) in October 2015, which was generally well-received but noted for its high price tag and its cumbersome build.

A dedicated modder has managed to create a working portable game console by utilizing the motherboard from a slimline PlayStation 2 in conjunction with the capabilities of a Raspberry Pi 2 single-board computer. Although it has taken a long time to build the device, the end product has been shown offering impressive results in a video shared on YouTube.

A popular Sony digital camera news blog has published what it claims to be the first leaked image of the Japanese manufacturer’s A9II flagship camera. Sony released the full-frame mirrorless A9 camera in 2017 and there are many keenly awaiting its successor. The alleged A9II looks practically identical to its predecessor.

The successor to the GPUs powering Intel's new Ice Lake-U series has appeared on GFXBench, and boy is it currently a stinker. The GPU, identified as the UHD Graphics Gen12, performed miserably in benchmarks. However, as it is not slated to arrive for another eighteen months, we are certainly looking at an early engineering sample.

As always, GoPro will be releasing a new generation of action cameras this month. This year the company will introduce an update to the GoPro Fusion 360 called the GoPro Max, along with the GoPro Hero 8. Photos of both devices have leaked online too having made their way through the FCC.

Motorola's MotoMods were the last reasonably successful attempt to make modular smartphones with hot-swappable features, and now it appears that Huawei plans to introduce something similar. However, while MotoMods communicate via pogo pin connectors, Huawei and Honor's accessories will use Bluetooth, as recent Bluetooth SIG certifications suggest.

Garmin has refreshed its premium Fēnix smartwatch series, with the aptly named Fēnix 6. The series is available in three sizes and two material variants. There is a solar-powered version of the Fēnix 6X too.

LetsGoDigital has unearthed a patent filed by Google for a smartwatch with a twist. Filed over two years ago but dated August 27 2019, the design looks like a run-of-the-mill watch with its circular face, but at its centre is something that could disrupt the smartwatch market.

The VIM3L is the latest single-board computer that Khadas is bringing to market, with the company targeting the HTPC market this time. The VIM3L is powered by an Amlogic S905D3 SoC along with 2 GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 16 GB of eMMC flash storage and a neural processing unit capable of up to 1.2 TOPS of performance.

An 18 core Cascade Lake-X recently impressed on Geekbench, and now its 10 core sibling is doing the same. The processor, confirmed as part of the Intel Core 10000 X-series by prolific leaker @momomo_us, achieved a multi-core score that surpasses that of the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X and the Core i9-9900K.

The Genki Covert Dock has taken Kickstarter by storm, with it reaching its US$50,000 funding goal in just 40 minutes. The crowdfunding campaign has since received over US$1,000,000 from backers with 23 days to go. The Genki Covert Dock is designed as a portable dock for the Nintendo Switch but will charge other devices too thanks to its USB Type-C PD support. The Genki Covert Dock costs US$59, with the device shipping to backers in December.

AMD may be storming away with multicore performance crowns, but Intel is not going down without a fight. Now, an 18 core Cascade Lake-X processor has appeared on Geekbench, and it has the AMD Threadripper series in its sights.

Huawei and its sub-brand Honor has attracted attention recently as it has sent what seems to be a whole generation of new smartphones, tablets and assorted wireless accessories to the Bluetooth SIG for certification simultaneously. Now, however, it has done the same with even more products. They include 6 new models clearly labelled as TVs.

Shenzhen Xunlong Software is bringing a new, compact SBC to market. The Orange Pi Zero2 is slightly larger than its predecessor and more powerful to boot. The board comes with an Allwinner H6 SoC that integrates four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, 512 MB of LPDDR3 RAM, 4 GB of eMMC flash storage and a host of interfaces, while still weighing just 34 g. Pricing and availability are still unconfirmed but expect it to cost around US$20.

A new report by security experts at Check Point Research demonstrates a glaring vulnerability in modern DSLR cameras: Photo Transfer Protocol. Worse yet, the researchers were able to exploit vulnerabilities in PTP/IP, which transfers photos from a DSLR to a computer wirelessly. This allowed the researchers to infect a nearby DSLR wirelessly and encrypt all of the camera's photos.

The Allwinner H2+ powered SBC runs Armbian's Debian and Ubuntu images and measures just 52 x 46 mm. The tiny board features 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Ethernet, up to 512 MB of RAM, USB 2.0 Type-A and a microSD card slot. There is a 26-pin unpopulated GPIO header too, along with a 13-pin header for headphone, USB 2.0, TV-out, microphone and IR signals. The Orange Pi Zero LTS currently costs between US$8.49 and US$10.49 depending on the version you buy and is available to order on AliExpress now.

The SLAMTEC Mapper M1M1 is a ToF laser scanner with a 20-metre range that can map over 100,000 m². SLAMTEC promises that the device has a 5 cm resolution with a re-localisation accuracy of less than 0.02 m, while its inertial navigation system can compensate for up to 1 m/s of movement. The SLAMTEC Mapper M1M1 is available to order now from Seeedstudio for US$199 with free international shipping.

It is crazy what hype Huawei can conjure up for its upcoming Smart TV series. Over 100,000 people have already pre-ordered the Honor Smart Screen TV before its official launch in China, effectively doing so blindly.

The Gemini Lake Refresh series will feature at least six processors, all of which will be substantially higher clocked versions of the 14 nm Goldmont Plus chips that preceded them. The 6-10 W processors arrive in Q1 2020 at the earliest.

A new publication by Microsoft's Threat Intelligence Center points out an increasingly popular avenue used for cyber attacks: the Internet of Things (IoT). The publication states that researchers discovered a new attack that exploited vulnerabilities in simple IoT devices like a printer and a VOIP phone to access an enterprise network.

Nintendo is now offering the Switch Dock as a separate purchase for the first time. The Dock is an Authentic Nintendo product, albeit refurbished, so there is no chance of it bricking your Switch as is the risk with many third-party alternatives.

A new patent, allegedly found on the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) Design Database, has led to speculation that Xiaomi is working on a phone with an array of solar-conversion cells on its rear panel. However, its apparent design suggests other uses for this component.

Sony has invented a product called the Reon Pocket. It is a device that can change a user's personal temperature (or their perception of it, at least) while worn on the body. This unusual product is currently a part of the OEM's crowdfunded First Flight project, by which its chances of manufacture is determined by its ability to attract backers.

Drone racing is a rapidly emerging trend in applications for civilian aerial robots. DJI has announced plans to improve its support for this new sport with the first-person-view (FPV) goggles and controller set. It allows a given competitor to see and direct a race from their drone's point of view.

If the latest renders that surfaced online turn out to be the real thing, the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 will be available in silver, black, and rose gold. This smart wearable will be Samsung's first one to feature Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity and is expected to arrive next week.

The baby of the upcoming Comet Lake U series and its new iGPU have appeared on GFXBench, leaving the Core i5-8265U and Ryzen 7 2700U in its wake. The Core i3-10110U even edges the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 in some benchmarks, which is mighty impressive from a 15 W integrated GPU.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note Unpacked event is coming up soon on August 7 but it looks like it will launch its next flagship Android tablet and Galaxy Watch Active sequel in between times. It has just dropped a new video teaser for the two devices with the set to officially launch on July 31 and August 5 respectively.

A true legend has used an Arduino microcontroller, 128x64p display, and 300 mAh battery to create the world's smallest ThinkPad (and probably laptop). To top it all off, the ThinkTiny can play some classic games and is controlled by a TrackPoint-style nub.

The upcoming Ice Lake processor recently posted an impressive set of Geekbench scores, and now a set of SiSoftware benchmark results point to the CPU reaching up to 65 W. The quad-core processor will have a 3.9 GHz boost clock along with 2 MB of L2 cache and 8 MB of L3 cache too.

A clever developer has created a hack to allow the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar to act as a touch-enabled "Task Bar" when running under Windows 10 via Bootcamp.