Internet of Things (IoT)

Radxa's new version of the Rock Pi 4, the Model C, is finally orderable. The Rock Pi 4 Model C has an M.2 connector for NVMe storage and is available for as little as US$59. The SBC is available with a hexa-core processor and 4 GB of RAM.

LG will soon be releasing a gigantic 163-inch 4K microLED TV. The huge device is already listed in the South Korean company’s business solutions under the model number LSAB009 (P0.9). Apparently, the 163-inch LG 4K microLED TV will be ideal for business premises and even those who consider themselves living in an ultra-premium abode.

The Rock Pi E is the latest single-board computer by Radxa. Based on the Rockchip RK3328, the Rock Pi E is available with up to 2 GB of RAM and features dual Ethernet ports. The Rock Pi E starts at US$24.00.

Xiaomi is preparing another flash sale for the giant 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max while also celebrating the news that the company shipped more TVs in China in the first half of 2020 than any other company. The Xiaomi Mi TV range is immensely popular, and with a price tag of 19,999 yuan (US$2,856), the Redmi Max 98 has also been selling well.

Xiaomi has launched MIUI for TV 3.0 software for its Mi TV range. The new overlay brings an enhanced user interface with it along with detailed animations for the menu and new operating modes, including a gamepad mode. MIUI for TV 3.0 is based on the Android TV operating system.

While Intel is yet again postponing the launch of its 7 nm processors, Chinese chip makers like Phytium are rising with big dreams of providing decent competition for AMD in the next few years. Phytium currently specializes in server-grade CPUs with 64 cores, but, by the end of 2021, the Chinese company intends to ready 128-core server chips built on TSMC's 5 nm nodes, along with 14 nm desktop and embedded CPUs.

Xiaomi has revealed that the giant 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max is now in a pre-sale phase again as clearly stocks had dwindled after the amazing sales successes the Chinese OEM had with the huge device. The Redmi Max 98 is currently priced at 19,999 yuan (US$2,855), which is very reasonable for a 98-inch 4K smart TV with MEMC technology.

Honor has announced its first Wi-Fi 6 Plus router, the Honor Router 3. The Router 3 features one WAN port, three Gigabit LAN ports and measures 245 x 159.2 x 39.7 mm. The Honor Router 3 is available for €79.90 in the Eurozone and £79.99 in the UK.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 4C has been spotted appearing on Amazon Spain, where the budget fitness tracker can be bought for a very reasonable €19.99 (US$23/£18). While the Chinese OEM is busy releasing wearables in Europe, it looks like Xiaomi might be also planning on adding some new Mi TVs to its range in India.

Xiaomi has announced the new Mijia Projector 2 Pro device, which is priced at 4,599 yuan (US$658). The projector is able to cast a screen of up to a maximum of 200 inches, and it features a brightness level of up to 1,300 ANSI Lumens. HDR10+ support is onboard and the Xiaomi Mijia Projector 2 Pro also implements ToF technology.

Xiaomi has announced the new Redmi AirDots 2 earphones, which will be officially launched on July 22. The TWS earphones are currently priced at 79 yuan (US$11) during the crowdfunding stage. The budget earphones offer Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, virtual assistant functionality, and they weigh in at just 4.1 g per earbud.

FriendlyARM has now made the NanoPi NEO3 available to purchase. Starting at US$20.00, the NanoPi NEO3 comes with up to 2 GB of DDR4 RAM and is based on the Rockchip's RK3328 quad-core ARM chipset. The tiny SBC is smaller than the Raspberry Pi Zero W but offers Raspberry Pi Model 3 levels of performance.

A press release has revealed that Philips (TP Vision) and Bowers & Wilkins have decided to extend their partnership and continue to offer their respective expertise in future Philips OLED and LCD TVs. The duo previously collaborated on the well-received 65OLED+984 and OLED+934 models, and new televisions are expected to be released soon.

The brand equity researcher BrandZ has issued a report in regard to the top 50 Chinese global brand builders for 2020. While Huawei tops the list and Xiaomi manages a powerful fifth position, it’s the owner of TikTok, ByteDance, which has done especially well to power ahead of the well-established Mi brand.

The Redmi X50 smart TV has finally gone on sale and has been priced at just 1,899 yuan (US$272). The TV, which is framed in metal and features a 4K display, offers users the chance to enjoy MEMC picture-smoothing technology on a device with a 97% screen-to-body ratio. The Redmi X50 is the smallest member of the new Redmi Smart TV X Series.
The Redmi X50 has been reduced to 1,799 yuan (US$257).

A project has shown how to utilise the Raspberry Pi as an NFC-powered music player. Bringing a degree of tactility to digital music, the project combines an NFC reader with NFC tags to play specific albums, playlists or radio stations on Spotify.

Xiaomi has announced two new electric scooters, along with a Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 special edition of its flagship model. Called the Mi Electric Scooter 1S and Mi Electric Scooter Pro 2, the scooters will go on sale for €399 and €499, respectively.

Cooler Master has torn through the funding target of its new Raspberry Pi case, the Pi Case 40. Apparently offering better cooling performance than "any other passively cooled Pi case on the market", the Pi Case 40 retails for just €23 (~US$27).

The Lumos Ultra smart helmet has been in the news thanks to its highly successful Kickstarter project, which still has a week left to run on it. The smart bike helmet has attracted over US$2.2 million from backers. The Lumos Ultra has integrated LEDs for turn signaling and can be operated via an Apple Watch or the included wireless handlebar remote.

Pictures of Google's upcoming Nest Smart speaker have surfaced online. Published by a Japanese regulatory body, the speaker has an ungainly-looking design that is considerably larger than the Google Home.

Fancy making use of a Raspberry Pi as a smart speaker? Well, two projects have demonstrated the steps for getting the popular single-board computer working with Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. The realised projects support wake words and may be a cheaper option than purchasing an Echo Dot or a Nest Home Mini if you have a Raspberry Pi lying about.

Akasa has released the Gem Pro, having announced the case in May. Available for £24.75 or US$30.95, the Gem Pro features apertures for the GPIO and microSD card slot of the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, along with full access to its other ports.

The FCC has confirmed that the Mi TV Stick is on its way to the US. The device will be available in the EU too and will support a host of current connectivity standards. Xiaomi is expected to release the Mi TV Stick in two editions and to include a multi-function remote in the box.

OnePlus has been celebrating incredible sales for its recently launched smart TV series. According to the Chinese OEM, all of its new units were sold as part of a flash sale in just one minute. The recently launched OnePlus TV Series starts from ₹12,999 (US$174) for the slimline 32-inch device.

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz institute recently announced the new H.266 video codec standard as a successor to H.265. The new codec promises equivalent image quality at half the bit rate. This could make 8K and 4K content accessible to wider audiences.

The Xiaomi Mi TV Stick appears to be getting closer to an official launch, as details about the gadget have been appearing via Geekbench, Google Play Console, and on official Google certification. It is the 1080p (FHD) Mi TV Stick model that has been spotted recently, although there is evidence of a 4K (UHD) device too.

The hopeful PlayStation 4 homebrew scene has waited a long while for a new kernel exploit, after the release of the firmware 5.05 jailbreak back in 2018. That wait is unlikely to end anytime soon, in light of recent developments.

A project has transformed the Raspberry Pi, some LEGO, an Arduino and a few other components into a working microscope. Presented by IBM Research, the project can deliver results that are accurate enough for reports, papers and presentations.

A project has transformed the Raspberry Pi into a portable synthesizer. Called the nanoPi, the project utilizes a Raspberry Pi Zero W, a KORG nanoKEY and FluidSynth.

Xiaomi has officially launched its first OLED TV in the form of the 65-inch Mi TV Master Series set, which will be sold at a price of 12,999 yuan (US$1,840) in the company’s domestic market. The smart TV is bursting with gaming-friendly features and offers a 120 Hz panel with a 1 ms response time. MIUI for TV and a MediaTek processor are also onboard.

The NanoPi NEO3 is another small single-board computer (SBC) produced by FriendlyELEC. The NEO3 includes a quad-core ARM processor, up to 2 GB of RAM, Gigabit Ethernet and a microSD card reader.

Vizio has unveiled its 2021 TV Collection that includes two OLED 4K TVs that should appeal to future owners of next-gen consoles. The 55-inch and 65-inch Vizio OLED 4K TVs feature the company’s ProGaming Engine and HDMI 2.1 support, which is ideal for the PS5 and Xbox Series X. The pricing should help Vizio stay competitive in the crowded marketplace.

Xiaomi has released a new XiaoAI Portable Speaker via Youpin that can also be ordered from Banggood for international customers. The mini Bluetooth speaker has a power rating of 2 W and is being offered to domestic shoppers for 49 yuan (US$7). The Xiaomi XiaoAI Portable Speaker with virtual assistant is priced at US$19.99 at Banggood.

Google has put a new event in its calendar. Called the Works With "Hey Google" Smart Home Summit, the event will commence on July 8. The company is expected to announce hardware at the summit, with its rumoured Android TV "Sabrina" streaming stick and Nest-branded "Prince" speaker seemingly likely candidates.

The Xiaomi TV Master Series has only just been announced, with a 65-inch 120 Hz OLED making up the range so far. Now some specs for the upcoming smart TV have been leaked by a Xiaomi manager on Weibo. The Xiaomi TV Master will apparently offer users HDMI 2.1, MEMC image-smoothing technology, variable refresh rate (VRR), and much more.

Xiaomi is now selling a flashy go-kart in the form of the Ninebot Number 9 Gokart Pro. The vehicle can reach speeds of up to 23 mph (37 km/h) and features 4x 8 W speakers and dynamic-cornering capability. The designer of the 8,998-yuan (US$1,270) Gokart Pro, Ninebot, is a Xiaomi-backed firm that owns Segway Inc.

Xiaomi's recent 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max seems to have been a commercial success, and the company is set to follow it up with yet another TV. This TV, branded as the "Xiaomi TV Master Series" will sit at the very top of Xiaomi's TV hierarchy, and will take on the rest of the world with a 65-inch OLED 120 Hz display.

Samsung has announced the launch of the QT67 QLED TV series, with six models making up the new lineup. Along with the incredible high-definition pictures, the new QT67 QLED televisions from the South Korean manufacturer have been rated with first-class energy efficiency. The cheapest model is the 43-inch set, which costs KRW 990,000 (US$824).

OnePlus has been teasing the prices in India for three models of its upcoming affordable smart TV series. The Chinese OEM has published three figures but has omitted a single crucial digit, leaving fans to guess at the prices. The 32-inch OnePlus TV could cost ₹19,999 (US$264) or even ₹14,999 (US$198) to challenge the popular Xiaomi Mi TV lineup.

A design patent for a Realme Gamepad has been leaked. The patent reveals four images of the gamepad in different colors. Although Realme has the gaming-centric X50 Pro Player Edition smartphone in its lineup, it’s expected the OEM will soon release a pure gaming smartphone. The Realme Gamepad looks just like the OPPO C1 Gamepad.

The 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max from Xiaomi is still pulling in massive sales for the Chinese OEM. It has now been announced that over 1,500 units of the Redmi Max 98 have been snapped up in 10 hours and 32 minutes. Redmi manager Lu Weibing offered up an interesting statistic to help put that incredible sales total into perspective.

Xiaomi has been celebrating the fact that 1,000 units of the massive 98-inch Redmi Smart TV Max were sold in just 3 minutes and 28 seconds. It’s an incredible sales feat, especially when you consider the 19,999 yuan (US$2,825) price tag. Buyers of the Redmi Max 98 can enjoy 4K resolution picture quality and the advantages of MEMC technology.

A simple project has demonstrated how to utilise a Raspberry Pi as an Ethernet bridge for the Nintendo Switch. The project can yield dramatic improvements in internet performance and may reduce online multiplayer lag too.

Thanks to a straightforward project, the Raspberry Pi can be used as the basis for a pocket-sized vintage radio. Featuring playlists for every decade from the 1920s to the present day, the so-called Radio Time Machine utilises a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B, an Arduino Nano, some RGB LEDs and the shell from a vintage Bluetooth radio.

The Xiaomi Mi Smart Mouse, which has also been called the Xiaomi XiaoAI Mouse, has been posted on the company’s crowdfunding platform. The computer peripheral can be controlled via voice commands and can also be connected to two devices at a time. The Mi Smart Mouse is priced at 149 yuan (US$21) but is currently on offer for 129 yuan (US$18).

A new leak has confirmed that Xiaomi will be releasing two versions of the Mi TV Stick. Confirmed to be FHD and 4K models, the Mi TV Stick will start at US$49.99 and will start shipping at the end of next month. Both versions will run Android TV 9.0 and will support voice controls via Google Assistant out of the box.

Xiaomi has grossed over 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in sales during the 618 shopping festival in China, which ran from June 1 to June 18. Thousands of Redmi K30 Pro and Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphones were sold, while apparently over 10,000 sets from the Xiaomi Mi TV range were sold in only 37 seconds.

A retailer has confirmed that it will start shipping the Xiaomi Mi TV Stick next month for under US$50. The dongle, which Xiaomi recently certified with the EEC, will support 4K HDR and Android TV.