Pixel 11’s Call For Me feature begins preliminary rollout
Select Gemini subscribers with a Pixel 11 can soon try out phone calls via AI chatbot.
Xiaomi’s 18 Pro series phones have the latest Snapdragon chip and a Samsung-like privacy screen
You'll have to wait a bit if you're outside China though.
Flashstor 6 Gen2 Review: NAS Boxes Hide, This One Belongs on Your Desk
PROS:
- Distinctive, futuristic aesthetic and compact design
- Powerful specs and fast data transfer speeds
- Quiet operation even with two fans
- Six M.2 slots with possible HDD expansion
CONS:
- Only fits M.2 2280 size
- Premium pricing
EDITOR'S QUOTE:
The Flashstor 6 Gen2 delivers a powerful and modern NAS solution that doesn't need to be hidden away behind a monitor.
Network storage boxes rarely earn a second glance, usually parked out of sight because nobody wants a black box cluttering the desk. The Flashstor 6 Gen2 changes that expectation on sight. ASUSTOR’s second-generation all-flash NAS wears an angled, faceted shell that reads more like a compact game console than a file server, all while housing six NVMe bays and 10GbE networking underneath its sculpted plastic body.
This is the follow-up to ASUSTOR’s original Flashstor 6, and the internals show a genuine generational jump. An AMD Ryzen Embedded processor, DDR5 memory, and PCIe Gen4 support replace the older, more modest hardware inside. Built with creatives, home lab tinkerers, and small studios in mind, the FS6806X invites judgment on more than raw speed, asking to be evaluated on how it looks and feels in daily use.
Designer: ASUSTOR
Aesthetics
The shell makes the boldest first impression. Rather than the usual squared-off box, ASUSTOR shaped the Flashstor 6 Gen2 with a slanted, almost parallelogram-like profile that leans to the side at an angle. That single geometric choice gives the whole unit a sense of motion even while sitting still on a shelf, setting it apart from nearly every other storage enclosure on the market today.
Look closer, and the finish adds even more character. One side of the enclosure wears a brushed metal effect, while the other carries a powder-coated texture, and the contrast between the two reads as a deliberate styling choice rather than an accident. Both finishes sit on a plastic shell rather than actual metal, so the material change is really just a clever coating trick.
A set of lines and grooves wraps from the front panel around to one side, and that detail carries most of the futuristic feel the design is going for. It breaks up what could have been a plain surface without resorting to loud branding or extra vents. Combined with the angled face and lighting, the overall impression lands closer to a gaming console than anything typically found on a NAS shelf.
Ergonomics
Size-wise, the Flashstor 6 Gen2 measures about 7.6 x 12.1 x 1.9 inches and weighs roughly 3.1 lbs, closer to a thick external drive than a typical NAS tower. Because every bay holds an SSD instead of a spinning disk, there’s no vibration and barely any audible hum, which makes it far easier to justify keeping the unit somewhere visible instead of banished to a closet or a rack in another room.
Getting inside isn’t as effortless as the sleek shell suggests. Reaching the M.2 slots means removing four screws on the bottom panel, though ASUSTOR doesn’t include a screwdriver in the box, so keep one handy. Once that panel is off, though, the slots themselves use a simple latch system, no tools needed to seat or remove an SSD. Getting to the RAM means removing even more screws, so that part takes a bit longer.
Connectivity tells a similar story of tradeoffs. Up front, there’s a single USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 port for quick backups or grabbing files off an external drive. Everything else, including both USB4 Type-C ports, sits on the rear panel alongside the 10GbE jack, which means anyone who frequently swaps cables will be reaching around the back a lot. It’s a small inconvenience that trades off for a cleaner, less cluttered front face.
Performance
Underneath the shell sits an AMD Ryzen Embedded V3C14, a quad-core, eight-thread chip built on a 6-nanometer process with speeds reaching 3.8GHz, well ahead of the entry-level chips found in cheaper NAS boxes. It ships with 8GB of DDR5-4800 memory, expandable to 64GB across two SO-DIMM slots, and the platform supports ECC modules for anyone who upgrades, a detail that speaks to how seriously ASUSTOR treated the internals.
All six bays are built for M.2 NVMe drives running up to PCIe Gen4 x4, so there’s no bottleneck between the interface and the drive itself. Worth noting, the slots only fit the 2280 form factor, so shorter 2230, 2242, or 2260 drives can’t be mounted. Once populated, drives can be arranged into RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, or 10, formatted in either EXT4 or Btrfs.
That storage speed only matters if the network keeps pace, and the single 10GbE port earns its place here. Our own testing came close to ASUSTOR’s advertised figures, nearing 1,180 MB/s of sequential read/write in RAID 5 over that connection. The two USB4 Type-C ports add another route, offering up to 40Gbps per port for direct, network-free transfers.
One other significant upgrade from the Flashstor 6 gen2’s predecessor is the addition of a second cooling fan under the CPU. Given the higher processing power, that upgraded thermal management is very much warranted. But even with two fans, the NAS runs quiet, barely a murmur, adding to the appeal of putting the box somewhere visible yet unheard.
Software runs through ASUSTOR Data Master or ADM, the company’s operating system, with access to an app store covering everything from Docker containers to backup tools and media servers. If you ever decide to repurpose the NAS into a security hub someday, a handful of free surveillance camera channels will make that easier. The ADM also lets you control the speed of the fans, in case you prefer to sacrifice a bit of quiet for more aggressive cooling. And when six bays start to feel limiting, expansion units push the drive count up to 18, letting the platform grow past its footprint.
Sustainability
Going all-flash brings a few sustainability perks that are easy to miss at first glance. There are no spinning platters to wear down over years of use, less heat generated during typical workloads, and lower power draw than a comparable hard-drive NAS running the same hours. Support for ECC memory adds another layer of protection, catching data corruption before it becomes a bigger problem down the line.
The shell itself is plastic rather than metal, and it does flex a bit under pressure, a reminder of where costs were trimmed to keep the price reasonable. That’s not a huge deal-breaker, though it’s probably time for manufacturers to be more conscious of the materials they use, especially with storage solutions like NAS becoming more common even in personal use.
Value
The Flashstor 6 Gen2 sits in premium territory once six NVMe drives get factored into the total cost, and it doesn’t pretend otherwise. At roughly $1,040.99 for the box alone, this isn’t a budget pick for someone who just wants basic file backup. The cost reflects the Ryzen platform, expandable memory, PCIe Gen4 support, USB4 ports, and 10GbE networking, all wrapped in a shell that looks intentional rather than purely utilitarian.
What makes that cost easier to accept is how consistently current every component feels. The processor, memory, storage interface, and networking are all genuinely up to date rather than propped up by one flashy spec while everything else lags behind. That balance means the storage never waits on the processor, and the network never becomes the bottleneck holding back six fast drives working together.
The people who get the most out of this are already running 10GbE networks, working with large creative files, or tinkering with containers and light virtualization. Anyone still on a 1GbE home setup with modest storage needs would leave a lot of this hardware idle, and a simpler hard-drive NAS would likely serve them better per terabyte spent. Matching the buyer to the platform matters here.
Verdict
Taken as a whole, the Flashstor 6 Gen2 pulls off something a lot of NAS makers don’t even attempt: hardware that’s current, wrapped in a shell that looks like someone in the design department actually cared. The rear-heavy port layout and screw-bound drive access take some getting used to, and the plastic build has a bit of give to it, but neither issue undercuts what ASUSTOR built here.
Creators, home lab tinkerers, and anyone assembling a fast, quiet storage setup will find hardware that keeps pace with its own ambitions in the FS6806X. It asks for a commitment of both budget and desk space, but in return it hands back a machine that doesn’t need to be hidden away behind a monitor. Few storage boxes manage to earn a place in plain sight quite like this one does.
The post Flashstor 6 Gen2 Review: NAS Boxes Hide, This One Belongs on Your Desk first appeared on Yanko Design.
Razer’s Kiyo V2 Pro webcam can capture 4K video at 60 fps
Razer's new 'pro' webcam can handle 4K video at 60 fps and will cost $300
Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses launched without the controversial camera
As companies chase smart glasses with cameras, Meta, the frontrunner in the space, has gone a step ahead (or, if you will, backwards) to release the company’s first Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses embedded with Meta AI. The pair of smart audio glasses, which was launched at the Meta Connect 2026 event in Menlo Park, California, wear a slimmer form factor and tout a longer battery life for a starting price of $349.
With no camera onboard, the Ray-Ban-branded Meta audio glasses are designed to be lighter and to feature more naturally on the face like a pair of prescription glasses. The announcement of the audio-only Meta eyewear gives Silicon Valley developers, constantly building new smartphone alternatives, a different direction to think.
Designer: Meta
The companies are pouring in billions of dollars to figure out devices: glasses, wearables, and screenless handhelds with AI assistants, to find the most inclusive gadget people will accept in the mainstream as a successor to the smartphone. In this race, camera-enabled smart glasses, like the previous variants of the Ray-Ban branded and the AI glasses from Meta, have failed considerably.
No, not the tech. But the general mass usage of the smart glasses has been criticized for how notoriously perverts have been using them. Meta, we can’t outright affirm, but it is in some way saving face with the introduction of the AI glasses without the camera. Shifting focus and perception away from the “pervert glasses” moniker that Meta’s camera-enabled smart glasses have earned for them after the backlash over the last few months.
Despite the backlash, smart glasses with cameras continue to float in the tech landscape. However, with the audio-only smart glasses, Meta is doing it a tad differently. Negating the power-hungry camera gives this pair of smart glasses two advantages that every developer longs for in this domain: a lightweight form factor and a long battery life.
According to Meta, the battery on its new Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses runs for up to 12 hours on a single charge. You can use the glasses to take calls, respond to messages over voice commands, listen to music and podcasts, and instruct a personal AI agent to do things such as real-time surfing and live translations. The glasses are designed with privacy in mind. Yes, at least this time Meta is upfront about it. The VP for wearables at Meta, Alex Himel, told The Verge that the audio-first glasses do not record. They listen for the wake word and begin recording only after hearing it.
Meta has launched the audio smart glasses in two Clubmaster and Burbank designs. They weigh only 43 grams and feature thinner temple arms. The arms and the nose pads are adjustable to different face cuts and contours. The Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses, with support for a wide range of prescription options, are likely to begin shipping on October 13 for a $349 entry price.
The post Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses launched without the controversial camera first appeared on Yanko Design.
Inside the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold 2 Rumors: Release Date, Specs, and Upgrades
The foldable smartphone market is undergoing a significant evolution as Apple makes its entry with the iPhone Duo, directly challenging Samsung’s established dominance. With Apple stepping into this competitive space, the stakes are higher than ever. Samsung has responded by accelerating the development of its next-generation Galaxy Z Tri-Fold 2, a device poised to push […]
The post Inside the Galaxy Z Tri-Fold 2 Rumors: Release Date, Specs, and Upgrades appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.
The $20 Monkey That Secretly Carries 13 Tools on Your Keyring
One of the simple toys I really enjoyed as a kid was Barrel of Monkeys, where you had to pick up one monkey using another monkey until you’d linked all the mischievous-looking little guys together. It was both fun and frustrating, back when there weren’t so many screens competing for our attention.
Taking inspiration from that nostalgic childhood toy, the Cheeky Monkey Carabiner Multi-Tool is a monkey-shaped gadget that packs in all the functional tools you might need, whether you’re heading out camping, hitting a trail, or just running your everyday commute. In one tiny tool, you get 13 functions, plus a built-in conversation starter, since this little guy is guaranteed to grab people’s attention.
Designer: Lucky Jack Gear
There are, of course, plenty of keychain multi-tools on the market, but most of them are generic, Swiss Army knife style metal slabs. The Cheeky Monkey stands out because of its unique shape, turning a plain utility object into something with real personality. But the Double-S design isn’t just about looking cute. Having two integrated hooks built into the monkey’s silhouette means you get a more stable attachment point and a free hang point, compared to the single hook you’d find on a standard carabiner.
Again, this isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s a genuinely multi-functional tool that includes wrenches, hex keys, screwdrivers, a ruler, and a line cutter, all packed into one monkey-shaped piece of steel. Each curve and cutout does double duty, working as both structure and tool edge at the same time. It also requires zero extra effort to carry, since it’s designed to live wherever your keys already live: your keyring, your belt loop, your backpack strap, you name it. It may not fit neatly in your pocket (unless you’ve got an especially roomy one) because of its shape, but it’s still easy enough to clip on and forget about until you need it.
That “forget about it until you need it” part is really the whole point. Lucky Jack Gear built the Cheeky Monkey around a simple truth: the tool you actually have on you beats the toolbox sitting in your garage every single time. Most of us already own a screwdriver, a wrench, or a bottle opener somewhere in a drawer. The problem isn’t that we don’t have tools. It’s that we never have them on hand when we actually need them. A wobbly hinge, a knot that won’t budge, a package that needs opening, a screw that’s worked itself loose: these little annoyances always seem to show up exactly when we’re nowhere near our toolbox. The Cheeky Monkey solves that mismatch by living on your keys instead of in a drawer, so it’s already there the moment you need it.
Made from solid steel, it’s built to handle real use, not just sit around looking cute. It’s meant to be clipped onto a backpack for a weekend camping trip, hooked onto a belt loop for yard work, or tossed onto a keyring for daily errands, and it should hold up to all of it. Reviewers so far have backed that up, with the product carrying a perfect five-star rating, and Lucky Jack Gear’s broader catalog boasting more than 2,000 five-star reviews.
At $20, it’s an easy impulse buy, but it’s also an easy gift. It hits that sweet spot of being useful enough for the outdoorsy person on your list and playful enough for someone who just likes fun, quirky gadgets. Stocking stuffers, White Elephant swaps, birthday add-ons, or a “just because” present for the person who’s impossible to shop for, the Cheeky Monkey checks a lot of boxes without costing much.
At the end of the day, the appeal of the Cheeky Monkey Carabiner Multi-Tool comes down to something pretty simple: it turns a piece of childhood nostalgia into a genuinely useful, always-on-hand tool. It doesn’t ask you to change your habits or remember to pack anything extra. It just clips onto whatever you’re already carrying and quietly waits for its moment to shine, whether that’s tightening a loose screw, snipping a stray thread, or cracking open a well-earned drink at the end of a long hike. For $20, that’s a pretty good trade for something that might just become the most-used item on your keyring.
The post The $20 Monkey That Secretly Carries 13 Tools on Your Keyring first appeared on Yanko Design.
New Meta VR Glasses Pack an IMAX-certified Cinema and Weigh Just 100g
Meta’s latest virtual reality device, the Meta VR Glasses, was recently demonstrated live by Mark Zuckerberg. Weighing just 100 grams, these glasses feature IMAX-enhanced certification, Dolby Vision, and spatial audio, making them suitable for activities like entertainment, productivity and gaming. Zuckerberg’s presentation showcased their compatibility with platforms such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and Disney+, as […]
The post New Meta VR Glasses Pack an IMAX-certified Cinema and Weigh Just 100g appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra: First Look at the Biggest Changes Coming Next Year
The Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra is poised to set a new standard for flagship smartphones, offering a blend of innovative technology and refined design. With advancements in its camera system, display, processor, and battery, this device aims to deliver a premium experience. However, its redesigned aesthetics and increased price point may spark diverse opinions among […]
The post Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra: First Look at the Biggest Changes Coming Next Year appeared first on Geeky Gadgets.
Microsoft’s Excel Copilot Adds a .Rules Custom Command Hub
Excel Copilot’s `.rules` feature introduces a structured way to automate and customize workflows directly within your spreadsheets. As Excel Off The Grid explains, this feature centers around a dedicated “rules” worksheet, which acts as a command hub for defining reusable instructions. For example, users can specify formatting preferences, such as color schemes or alignment, making […]
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