Gadget

Sony's latest soundbar packs plenty of features, including HDMI 2.1, Dolby Atmos and AirPlay 2. Hence, the HT-A7000 could be an excellent option for pairing with a PlayStation 5 or an Xbox Series X without compromising on sound.

In an interview, CEO and Pi Foundation founder Eben Upton has revealed the company's intentions for future single-board computers. Apparently, the Pi Foundation has the Raspberry Pi 4A and Raspberry Pi 5 in the pipeline, along with new a Raspberry Pi touchscreen display.

The new tech start-up Nothing is slated to launch its inaugural product, the ear (1) TWS buds, on July 27, 2021. However, it has chosen to share some details on the peripherals' charging case ahead of this event. Not that there is much to see here, as the accessory is largely transparent.

The FCC has revealed the design of the QuietComfort 45, Bose's long-awaited successor to the QC35 II. The QC45 features minor external changes compared to its predecessor, including removing micro-USB charging and a new colourway.

Engineers from Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have reported a new world record for data-transmission speed over fiber-optic cables. They claim a rate of 319 terabits per second (Tb/s), as opposed to the former highest rate of 178 Tb/s. Most crucially, this achievement has been made over an appreciable length of cable and a potentially feasible tweak of conventional technology.

New Realme Band 2 renders have turned up showing how different the fitness tracker looks in comparison to the original Realme Band wearable. The good-looking Realme Band 2 is expected to feature blood-pressure monitoring and possibly SpO2 measurement as well.

Mobvoi's latest product is a dedicated voice recorder pitched at a professional market. The OEM asserts that it is enhanced with "dual-mic" noise-cancelling for clarity in voice-capture during meetings. It is also equipped with a neural network for automatic transcript summary generation based on intelligently-chosen keywords.

Valve has launched the Steam Deck, a fully-fledged handheld gaming PC. The device features an AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2-based APU that delivers 1.6 teraflops of graphics processing power.

PowKiddy has started selling the Q20 Mini, another retro handheld based on a Nintendo design. Supposedly, the Q20 Mini lasts up to four hours between charges and can emulate numerous systems, including the SNES and the PlayStation 1.

Renowned tech evangelist Robert Scoble has posted a tweet claiming that Apple’s long-awaited Apple Glass AR headset is due to make its first appearance at WWDC 2022. It will be joined by a new iPod that is said to be integral to the new AR experience.

The MagSafe Battery Pack is now available to order from its maker's website. It is a new form of wireless power bank custom-made to snap onto the back of an iPhone 12-series unit using the devices' new proprietary magnetic charging system. However, this novelty and convenience comes with a typically Apple price-tag.

An artist has produced a cyberdeck based on the Raspberry Pi. The Cyberdeck RA01 also contains a keyboard, a joystick and a display, among other components.

An engineer associated with the OEM Huawei has documented the design and creation of an electric bicycle. However, unlike the vast majority of these devices, this one is rated to propel and balance itself, thanks to a complex system of sensors and processing power, apparently modelled after similar breakthroughs in self-driving cars and satellite tech.

BlackBerry is now linked to a 5G smartphone that will also bring the brand's hallmark physical keyboard back in 2021. A designer has released renders of what might be a new spin on this concept: one that may be made of the same material as the rest of its display panel. Then again, it is still divided into discrete QWERTY squares, thus allowing for visible mode-switching and alternative uses.

Nintendo’s new Switch console brings a few new key features to the table, but not necessarily everything fans may have wanted. Chief among the omissions was a faster processor, but it also looks like Nintendo doesn’t appear to have done anything to address the long-standing Joy-Con drift issue.

Amazfit has announced that its next pair of TWS earbuds will be unveiled during its upcoming “Future of Health” event. The popular health-wearable brand claims that they will help the user improve their posture in addition to their cardiovascular health, thanks to various kinds of advanced sensors. Its owner may also unveil a new, custom chip and OS for smartwatches during the same show.

The PiSugar S and PiSugar S Pro can power the Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi Zero without hook the SBCs to mains power. Both uninterruptible power supplies can even be recharged through solar power, too.

A systems engineer has quadrupled the maximum possible storage on a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4. By default, the CM4 is available with up to 32 GB of eMMC flash storage, but Ivan Kuleshov has demonstrated that 128 GB is possible.

The Commell LE-37O is a single-board computer based on Intel's Tiger Lake-U architecture. The device has a SO-DIMM slot, numerous USB ports and even supports 2.5 GBit/s Ethernet. PCIe Gen4 support is on board, too.

Fitbit may be known for its smartwatches, but it seemingly has other ideas up its sleeve. The wearable will support many of the health tracking features that smartwatches do, and may be more accurate to boot.

Carl Pei's new start-up, Nothing, will finally put a product to its name later in July 2021. It has just let the starting price for this product, a pair of TWS earbuds called ear (1), slip prior to this event. Meanwhile, its founder might have divulged its lack of interest in making other devices such as smartphones in the future.

Vivo filed a patent for a smartphone that could house an entire mini-drone inside of it. Some new concept renders of the device have emerged online, giving us a rough idea about how it would operate. The drone will draw power from the phone's battery and serve as a suspended camera of sorts.

The FICIHP Multifunctional Keyboard is unusual and more unique than many keyboards, in our opinion. Not only does the keyboard come with different key types and RGB lighting, but it also has the 12.6-inch display from an ASUS ZenBook Duo.

DJI has officially presented the Mini SE, which has already leaked several times. The DJI Mini SE has a 12 MP camera, a 10 km range, a 3-axis gimbal, and shoots 2.7 K videos. Unfortunately, DJI has decided against selling the Mini SE globally.

Microsoft states that it has designed Windows 11 for displays that are 9-inches or larger. However, a new video has shown that this is not exactly true. Instead, Windows 11 also runs perfectly well on gaming handhelds, such as the AYA NEO, GPD Win 2 and the GPD Win 3. The new OS brings some practical improvements to the small form factor machines too that Windows 10 lacks.

While Microsoft will restrict many machines from being upgraded to Windows 11, the current Insider Preview build does not face these arbitrary limits. Accordingly, people have managed to get Windows 11 running on the Raspberry Pi 4.

Racks of multiple cameras in the same smartphone just don't cut it any more...or so the OEM Vivo seems to believe, based on its latest patent. It depicts a mobile device with a cavity large enough to house its very own miniature drone. Therefore, consumers of the future might be able to buy their own cinematic set-up and Android in one.

The CrowPi2 is a kit for the Raspberry Pi that transforms the popular single-board computer (SBC) into a laptop. The device, which is compatible with several operating systems and the STEAM Education platform, is now orderable worldwide, too.

Xiaomi's latest TV lineup is set to bring more value to the Chinese market. The company has now launched the Mi TV 6 Extreme Edition series, offering 4K 120 Hz QLED displays, HDMI 2.1, and two 48 MP cameras, with pricing starting at the equivalent of just over US$900.

Qualcomm has launched the Snapdragon 888+ 5G, a refresh of its already popular flagship SoC for 2021. The Snapdragon 888 Plus builds on the performance that the Snapdragon 888 already offers with a higher CPU clock speed and improved AI performance.

Increasingly flexible, well-fitting wearables may become more of an option in the future as the technology improves. Samsung may have this eventuality covered with a new patent that consists of a completely new kind of 2-in-1 device. It consists of a smartphone, the top of which comes off to form a smart band.

The Lenovo Go series of remote-work-focused accessories is expanding at MWC 2021 to include new and arguably thoughtful peripherals for those who have come to rely on PCs such as ultrabooks in professional capacities. They include new wireless mice, one of which is of the upright variety, and a handy cable-free numberpad. The OEM has also launched audio equipment under this new sub-brand.

A new project takes the humble Raspberry Pi and utilises it as part of a DIY Adventure Time BMO. The project relies on a Raspberry Pi 3B and Raspbian, along with several other parts.

The SOQuartz is a new system on module (SoM) with a Rockchip SoC and an AI accelerator. The board will be compatible with existing PINE64 Quartz64 boards and the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4.

Mozilla, the organization behind the popular Firefox browser, has taken some pot-shots at popular tech gadgets for being “super creepy”. The Amazon Echo Dot smart speaker, Ring doorbells and cameras, and the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 were singled out for specific criticism due to concerns with data privacy and data collection.

Ever wanted to make your own take on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold? Now, thanks to the new Royole RoKit, you can (more or less)! This development kit consists of the same flexible screen and sensor array found in the OEM's flagship phablet, the FlexPai 2. Royole touts it as the best way to test or learn next-gen display applications, although it comes with this technology's high price.

DOOGEE often pitches its phones at those looking for the most practicality and the most gadgetry at the same time. The new S97 Pro really goes for this kind of appeal with a rugged build that contains a laser rangefinder. The OEM claims that the Android 11-powered device's new USP allows the user to measure distance, area or volume within 40 meters of the space around them.

The South Korean OLED specialist LG has reportedly patented what could be called a sliding TV. Its display is stretched across a new kind of moving armature that allows it to expand outward horizontally when activated. This screen also bends backwards around the edges of its frame, making it appear bezel-less on either side.

OnePlus' co-founder Carl Pei has followed the launch of his new start-up Nothing with an announcement for that of its inaugural product, the ear (1) true-wireless stereo (TWS) devices, in June 2021. However, it seems the buds will now fail to make this vague deadline and will debut later in the same year instead.

Google already provides a Find My Device service for Android. Now, a new leak suggests that it is working on making it more like Apple's version. The Mountain View giant is reportedly working on a new OS option that allows devices to join a network that locates missing possessions such as phones.

The Radxa Zero is the size of the Raspberry Pi Zero W, but with 70% of the performance that the Raspberry Pi 4 offers. The Radxa Zero features a quad-core SoC and will start at US$15.

The Lenovo ThinkPad Thunderbolt 4 Workstation Dock is now official. It comes with a wide selection of ports, including HDMI 2.1, DP 1.4, USB Type-C and more. Users can buy the dock for US$419 in Q4 2021.

The Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro has is now purchasable globally for US$61. The compact SBC supports Android, multiple Linux distributions and has an HDMI 2.1 port, among other connections.

Amid intense discussion about a possible Nintendo "Switch Pro," The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 received a gameplay trailer. As the sequel to one of the Switch's best-received titles, Breath of the Wild 2 was expected to push visuals forward. But gameplay footage shows nothing that would require a "Switch Pro" to run.

Realme has released its Watch 2 and 2 Pro to the European market today (June 16, 2021), during an event also rumored to reveal the OEM's first-gen laptop. This did not transpire as anticipated, although the launch did show the brand is making further inroads on these ambitions, as well as those for the smart home market.