Amazon has today announced it is merging with satellite internet provider Globalstar Inc. to bolster Leo, its Starlink rival. Globalstar isn’t a household name but you do know its work, as it provides Apple’s emergency satellite connectivity for compatible iPhones and Watches. In a statement, Amazon says the deal will grow Leo’s space-based footprint and enable direct-to-device service for its burgeoning satellite network.
An interesting wrinkle is Apple owns 20 percent of Globalstar, which it bought for $1.5 billion in 2024, but that didn’t get a mention. Instead, the release says Amazon and Apple have agreed Leo will “power satellite services for supported iPhone and Apple Watch models.” And that this support will continue as Leo’s network evolves, as well as collaborating “with Apple on future satellite services using Amazon Leo’s expanded satellite network.”
The release adds Leo’s direct-to-device service won’t start until 2028, and the deal itself isn’t expected to close until 2027. That is, of course, unless Amazon doesn’t placate the FCC into extending its deadline to get more satellites into orbit before July 2026. At present, the company needs to have 1,600 satellites in orbit by that deadline, but only expects to have around 700 actually up in the heavens and working by then.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/amazon-buys-the-satellite-internet-company-behind-apples-sos-system-130150744.html?src=rss
Amazon’s satellite-based internet service, Leo, will enter service by mid-2026, so says company CEO Andy Jassy. Writing in his annual letter, Jassy claimed Leo would offer download speeds of up to 1Gbps, far more than what Starlink presently offers. Sadly, Amazon declined to offer any more details about what that mid-2026 service would look like. But given select partners have already been kicking Leo’s tyres for a while, we can only hope.
The mega-retailer is making some grand promises, including faster up and download speeds, cheaper cost and direct integration with Amazon’s other products. Of course, the company can also sell itself on the fact it’s a satellite internet provider not owned by Elon Musk. But it will have to buck its ideas up fast, given how far behind in its deployment of satellites it is.
ASUS’ ZenBook A16 is a 16-inch ultraportable designed to go toe-to-toe with LG’s Gram Pro 16. It’s equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite and designed to address the flaws Devindra Hardawar found in last year’s ZenBook A14. Did it succeed? You’ll have to read his review to get the full story, but he’s certainly happy to have spent the last week using this thing.
Greece will ban under 15s from accessing social media, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has announced. Like many nations both in Europe and beyond, officials are concerned about the effect social media is having on children’s mental and physical health. The big platforms will be in charge of enforcing the ban, backed up by the hefty punishments enabled by the Digital Services Act.
If you’re still using a Kindle or Fire tablet made in 2012 or before, then it’s going to get a little less useful on May 20. Amazon is discontinuing support for those earlier models on that date, removing the ability to purchase, borrow or download new titles. Thankfully, whatever is on the hardware already will remain, so don’t fret if you’re only a third of the way through Remembrance of Things Past.
Billy Steele has been putting Fender Audio’s new speakers through their paces to find what can only be described as a mixed bag. Excellent audio quality and a wide variety of inputs get high praise, but the heavy weight, exposed wood and limited battery life all dent the paintwork.
WhatsApp’s CarPlay interface isn’t the most elegant or easy way to keep in touch with your friends while driving. Meta has, however, given the UI a little polish to help make it a little easier to get something useful done without pulling your attention from the road.
NASA’s Artemis II successfully launched on April 1, with its crew on a 10-day mission to circle the Moon. It’s the first crewed Artemis flight and a major step toward humanity returning to our little neighbor in the future. Since launch, the vehicle has separated from its launch system and been manually piloted, testing how the Orion capsule will dock with future lunar landers. There have been some snags, however: The onboard toilet went awry, and Microsoft Outlook has been acting screwy.
Jokes aside, there is something magnificent about seeing humanity taking to the stars once again. That, for all of our worst instincts, we can still come together to solve problems and explore beyond our own horizons.
At CES 2026, a Finnish–Estonian startup claimed to have invented a world-changing solid state battery. Rather than explain how it did so, it engaged in a lengthy campaign teasing out data that didn’t quite support its explosive claims. We’ve dived deep to separate truth from hype and found there’s little of the former and far, far too much of the latter.
As James Trew says, $300 is a lot for a portable mixer in this class, but Roland’s brand new Go:Mixer Studio justifies its price. Unlike its predecessor, the Pro-X, it gets a second XLR port, MIDI connectivity and a display offering visible VU meters. That you can also use it as a desktop interface adds another layer of icing on an already sweet cake.
WWDC 2026 isn’t until the summer, but we’re already collating enough rumors from the mill to bring you the inside skinny. Early reports suggest Apple is making this a Snow Leopard year, tidying up after itself inside its software rather than going hard on new features. Hopefully, that will see the gaudier excesses of Liquid Glass dialed down, a lot of trimmed cruft and stability improvements. Oh, and some guff about AI.
There are some things in life that would normally be a hard sell, a $1,400 boombox that could just about move around with poor sound quality being one of them. Dress it up as Soundwave from the original Transformers toy line / cartoon, however, and suddenly Sam Rutherford is racing for their wallet.
Nebula’s built quite the track record for making projectors you’re actually proud to show off. Its latest is the X1 Pro, which combines a beefy 4K projector with a 400-watt Dolby Atmos 7.1 speaker system. That’s a hell of a lot of tech in a single package and is clearly at home at the center of a backyard movie night under the stars. But is it worth the $5,000 asking price? For that, you’ll need to read Steve Dent’s review.
In January, a Finnish-Estonian startup proclaimed it had developed a truly solid state battery, a holy grail for the technology industry. Donut Lab's cell wasn’t just solid state, however. It claimed it was made from cheap and easily available materials, would charge to full in a few minutes and last for hundreds of years. If real, such a device would change the face of the world, which is why plenty of people don’t think it is. And, as the company makes more effort to demonstrate it is telling the truth, the more holes people are finding to poke their fingers into. So, what the hell is going on with Donut Lab's battery? After many weeks of research, I’m throwing my hands in the air, tired of the endless dog and pony show the company is putting on.
Solid state batteries
Conventional batteries have improved a lot in the last few decades but remain imperfect in many ways. Cells found in electronics and EVs commonly use liquid or gel polymer as an electrolyte. These electrolytes are the cause of thermal runaway, where the heat of a battery increases exponentially, and can become a primary cause of battery failure and fire. Plus, they’re pretty fussy, requiring a consistent temperature for peak performance and to be treated pretty delicately. It’s why the industry has raced to develop a solid state battery that eliminates the liquid or gel polymer.
Because of their higher energy density, solid state batteries should be lighter and smaller per watt than conventional batteries. These benefits would be enjoyed widely but are vital for an EV where weight and size dictate so much of how it operates. Solid state batteries are at far less risk of thermal runaway, and should work in a much wider temperature window. Now, we are already seeing plenty of semi-solid batteries coming into the market, with fully-solid cells expected in the near future. Chinese battery giant CATL told BatteriesNews at the end of 2025 that its first small-scale production of solid state batteries is anticipated to begin in 2027. However, those first production runs are likely to be limited rather than global rollouts.
Donut Lab
Enter Donut Lab. The startup is a subsidiary of Finnish motorcycle maker Verge Motorcycles, famous for its Tron-style hubless (in-wheel) rear-wheel motor. Verge says it has built the “world’s most powerful electric motor family,” and that it made “all the components needed to build an electric vehicle.” Verge’s motors have since been incorporated into Longbow Motors’ recently announced Speedster EV.
At CES 2026, Donut Lab announced it had built the world’s “first full all-solid-state battery.” It said this wasn’t just a prototype, but was “ready to power up production vehicles now.” In a glossy promotional video, the company said it had solved the issues the whole industry had been working to solve for decades. There was nothing but upside, with none of the trade-offs its competitors had been forced to make while developing their own solid state batteries. And, it was ready to be incorporated into EVs starting today. Verge Motorcycles announced it would add the battery into its TS Pro, with shipments expected to begin Q1 2026.
Donut Lab's battery
The company’s extensive list of claims begins by saying the cell has an energy density of 400Wh per kilogram, roughly twice the energy density of the best lithium ion battery on the market. Right now, you should expect to get around 1,000 charge and discharge cycles out of any half-decent battery. Donut Lab is promising its cell will last for a whopping 100,000 cycles, even if you’re fast-charging the cell. The company promises users will be able to reach an 80 percent charge from zero in around five minutes, and get to full in under six. Donut said the cell offers a “clay-like” freedom of design, adapting to the specific needs of a specific product, rather than the other way around.
Naturally, pumping all of that power into such a small cell will mean it’ll need a lot of babying, right? Not according to Donut Lab, which says its battery will operate in temperatures as low as -30 degrees Celsius (-22 Fahrenheit) or as hot as 100 degrees Celsius (212 Fahrenheit). And, to top it off, it’s made from common, easily-available and cheap materials which are “geopolitically safe,” rather than from rare-earth minerals sometimes held by rival nations. All of that means the cell will be cheaper to produce than the equivalent lithium ion cell and, best of all, Donut said the battery is ready for scaled production.
A battery that promised some of these features would be world-changing; one offering all of them would be world-shattering. It would upend supply chains, shift the global balance of power, potentially eliminate reliance on so-called rare earth minerals and supercharge EV adoption. But Donut Lab offered no proof for its claims, no hint as to what its process was based upon, and no sign it had the manufacturing capacity to deliver on its promises. Naturally, a lot of people just didn’t believe what they were seeing and hearing, and called BS.
People are suspicious
Yang Hongqin, CEO of Chinese battery maker Svolt, was quoted by CarNewsChina as saying “any person with even a basic understanding of the technology would think it’s a scam.” Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that CATL’s venture capital head Ulderico Ulissi described the matter as “clearly fake.” That comment prompted Donut CEO Marko Lehtimäki to respond on LinkedIn, saying that Ulissi would “regret the arrogance.” Tom Bötticher, CEO of battery startup Litona, posted on LinkedIn his belief Donut’s technology is actually tied to a company Donut invested in, Nordic Nano. Bötticher found a pitch deck, which is no longer available (but is here at the Internet Archive) which described Nordic’s energy storage technology as a supercapacitor.
Some have pointed out that Lehtimäki has a track record of making strong claims about his products. On May 15, 2025, he announced an AI startup, ASILAB, and said in a similarly glossy launch video that his team had created a “synthetic counterpart” to the human brain. Its first product, ASINOID, Lehtimäki said, is a “dynamic self-developing organism designed to grow in capability and in consciousness.” The company said it would open up access to ASINOID, but I’ve been unable to find any evidence that any such access has been granted. ASILAB has not responded to our request for comment.
In response to the minor social media backlash, Donut Lab went on the offensive. It launched the website IDonutBelieve.com promising a weekly drop of so-called evidence to support its claims. In a polished video introduction, Lehtimäki said the criticism comes from parties with vested interests, such as competitors. He addressed the above attack lines directly, saying people have been assembling theories from scraps of online data to create an untrue picture. He also denied claims the battery was a supercapacitor.
In the same video, Lehtimäki said the media has amplified “so-called experts” from the battery industry, taking their opinions at “face value.” Naturally, rival researchers who would stand to gain by taking down a potential challenger have a natural desire to rubbish Donut’s claims. But because many of them are credentialled experts in the field, their authority was elevated above his own.
Crucially, Lehtimäki said Donut didn’t publish validation tests at the time of announcement as it would have been similarly dismissed by those same biased voices. By holding the proof back, he said it forced Donut’s competitors to essentially show their hand, making it easier to refute them. To do so, Donut engaged VTT Finland, a government-owned research organization which offers testing services to third parties. VTT has conducted specific tests on cells supplied by Donut, the results of which the company has released piecemeal over several weeks.
It’s important to note that VTT’s reports don't make any statements which could be seen to support Donut’s claims. For instance, it says it was asked to “conduct independent charging performance tests on the energy storage devices supplied by the customer, which the customer identified as solid-state battery cells.”
The tests
Donut Lab published a test for five weeks, each one each one designed to show off one key feature of the battery. Test One saw VTT fast charge a cell beyond the limit of a regular battery, after which it still had close to 100% of its charge available for use. In Test Two, VTT charged the cell to full, and then discharged it in high-temperature environments. Once that was done, the cell was charged again at a normal temperature, but researchers noted that the pouch lost vacuum. Donut Lab later said the vacuum loss was caused by the packaging materials not being able to withstand the temperature, rather than an issue with the battery itself.
A VTT spokesperson told me “during the final stage of manufacturing, all gases are removed from the cell, and the cell is sealed tightly under vacuum conditions. The cell feels firm. If the cell loses its vacuum, it usually becomes slightly soft and swollen.” Essentially, if a battery loses its vacuum, it means it’s started swelling, which is visible in the photos from the report. Swelling is fatal to a traditional lithium ion battery and, potentially, the device it’s connected to.
Test Three purported to disprove the idea that Donut was secretly selling a supercapacitor, so VTT charged the cell to full and let it sit idle for 10 days. At the end of that time, the charge level of the battery appeared to hold steady, with a small drop commonly seen in all batteries. Which appeared to confirm the cell was a battery, rather than a capacitor which may struggle to hold its charge over longer periods of time. Test Four was conducted by Donut Lab itself, taking a prototype of its battery in a Verge motorcycle to a fast charger. The cell had a rated capacity of 18kWh and it was charged from 9 percent to 80 percent — around 14.5kWh — in 12 minutes.
Test Five focused on the cell from Test Two which lost its vacuum, to prove it was not broken. VTT’s report says it cycled the broken cell 50 times (up to 90 percent of its full charge) to see what happened. VTT’s researchers said it was possible to cycle the cell, but that its capacity began to degrade after the first few, and by the end of the process, it had fallen to nearly half of its original figure. The cell itself had swelled, however, with VTT saying “the cell thickness had increased by 17 percent, and the cell pouch was firm.” Donut Lab boasted that while a lithium ion battery in this condition would likely explode, its own cell still worked.
When contacted, VTT said it did complete an assignment for Donut Lab but declined to make any specific comment on confidential client assignments.
On March 31, Verge Motorcycles posted a video claiming the TS Pro Gen 2, the first to carry Donut’s solid state battery, was ready to ship. Given March 31 is the last day of Q1, it’s the latest possible day the company could announce this and say it has honored its promise. The accompanying write-up said the bike will ship with either a standard-range 20kWh battery with a range of 350km (217 miles) or a long-range 33kWh battery that should run for 600km (372 miles).
April 1
Then, on April 1, the company posted a video beginning with a fakeout scene of Lehtimäki admitting the whole thing had been a scam. One hard cut later, and the clip pivots into a Q&A, with an off-screen interviewer asking why anyone would believe Lehtimäki on April Fools Day. He dryly responded that people don’t believe him the rest of the time, but that the ambiguity provided by the occasion was a benefit. He would be able to speak more freely with less fear of censure, or so he claimed.
Lehtimäki said the series of I Donut Believe tests already published were another part of his “3D chess” strategy to get battery rivals to show their hand. And that the tests undertaken by VTT were on a first-generation battery while the company was already working on the second. He did concede that the claims around cycle life were based on estimates, and that if they wanted to prove it, they would have needed to start testing a decade or more ago. But he batted away questions about energy density, weight and size, saying you “wouldn’t ask a woman her age, and you never ask a battery its weight.” He added those questions would be answered in future, in more episodes of the I Donut Believe “complete multimedia experience.”
Donut Lab (YouTube)
Consequently, the weekly video series will continue until the full details of the first generation battery have been revealed. Lehtimäki then teased that this cell would be shipping, and the videos will shift focus to the second-generation cell with far better specs. But producing the I Donut Believe series — which, it’s worth mentioning is a marketing function of the company trying to sell us a new product — was costly, and had run over budget, which has led the company to open its own merch store, including $70 t-shirts and $141 hoodies.
If you’re already facing credible accusations of perpetuating a scam, and your big reveal is to double down on misdirection, it’s not a good look. Lehtimäki ended the video by talking about how much better Donut Lab’s second-generation battery was, with a staged outtake showing a notepad listing the specs for a third-generation battery with 1,000 Wh/kg energy density, 100C charge speed and durability for a million cycles — due to be announced at a future CES.
Analysis
The release of these tests has seen interested parts of the internet engage in a near-Zapruder level of interrogation. People have pored over every facet of the reports and videos trying to work out what exactly is inside Donut Lab’s battery. A number of prominent YouTubers have produced deep dives on the matter, each one claiming the cell is real, or not. There are countless Reddit threads where people are picking apart the voltage graphs and claims in the reports. And it seems every week there is a new revelation about what Donut’s technology is and where it came from. Plenty of people online are chasing down threads tied to energy technology companies like Holyvolt and CT-Coating, or examining the charge graphs against a nickel manganese cobalt cell. I’ll spare you the details (for now). Finnish newspaper Kauppalehti decried the results of the fifth test, saying the cell didn’t lose its vacuum. It quoted Finnish battery expert Juho Heiska, who said the company has just used a traditional cell that is sufficiently hardy to withstand this abuse in the short term.
Donut Labs (YouTube)
Even to a non-expert, there’s clearly a gap between what Donut promised and what its tests are showing. For instance, the company said it would be able to fast charge a Verge TS to full in less than 10 minutes. But, in Test Four, it took 12 minutes to get from 9 percent to 80 percent — not a bad charging time, but certainly not as swift as the company pledged. That said, if we take the company’s claims at face value, then being able to fast charge a battery at that sort of speed with just air cooling is noteworthy. At least, it will be if you can do that regularly, and one or two trips to the charger don’t leave you with what Reddit likes to call a Spicy Pillow afterward.
Unfortunately, it’s been difficult to find battery researchers willing to go on the record about Donut Lab. I sought out experts in academia who were not tied to industry backing, and so wouldn’t be accused of having a vested interest in the matter. But all of them refused to go on the record. More than one I contacted said they were well aware of the saga, and had plenty of feelings about the matter. But they were unwilling to expose themselves to the potentially intensive social media scrutiny that comes from weighing in.
I’m Donut skeptical
Personally, I’ve been suspicious of how Donut Lab has gone about demonstrating its technology. After all, if you were actually confident about your product and its technology, you would surely be able to share basic information about it. Table stakes stuff, like the weight and size of the battery cell you handed over for testing. As ElectronicDesign notes, data like that would help us all see if its energy density claims hold water. Instead, the company has engaged in an ornate kabuki which only serves to further undermine its case. You can go a long way on the back of very little trust, but the grander the promises get and the less eager you are to share evidence, the faster that trust evaporates.
And, you know how someone spends a lot of time talking around something, so as to not be caught in a deliberate lie? Donut Lab’s videos can feel a lot like that, since there are so many things it’s intentionally not making clear. Rather than taking the chance to offer even a small amount of substantive evidence to support its initial claims, it has instead moved the goalposts. So, rather than talking about the efficacy of its first-generation product, it’s dangling the second and third in front of us to hopefully distract us.
Look, I want to be even-handed, and give the company the fairest shake that I can, and obviously if the cell can deliver on its promises, I’ll be overjoyed. But we’ve all seen scams before, and until Donut Lab starts offering up a lot more data, it hasn’t earned anything close to the benefit of the doubt.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/whats-going-on-with-donut-lab-173007121.html?src=rss
Salesforce has unveiled the newest version of Slack, which comes with a whole host of new AI features to add to its ever-growing catalog. Naturally, many of these tools are embedded into Slackbot, which the company had already pledged to turn into a “personalized AI companion.” The new features include the stuff you’d expect, such as transcription, note taking and deep research, as well as integrations with the rest of the Salesforce family. But it’ll also get “reusable skills,” which sound a lot like automations, where a team can define a task from start to finish, and then the bot will run it whenever it’s called for.
In fact, there’s a big focus on sharing and co-developing tools within organizations, so if you find a prompt that actually gets useful data out of Slackbot, you can share that with your team. And Slackbot will now analyze how you work as it attempts to discern your preferences, workflows and shortcuts. Which, if you read it in one way, sounds as if it’s actively looking to work out how to do your job so it can just replace you. Of course, that probably won’t happen, right? Right?
Salesforce is also using these new Slack tools as a way to gently upsell small businesses toward its bigger products. New Slackbot is equipped with “native customer management,” reading your channels, learning what goes on, and keeping your “deals, contacts and call notes up to date automatically.” In its release, it even says that growing firms can “start simple inside Slack, scale up to Salesforce when ready.” Similarly, every Salesforce customer will now be getting Slack bundled in, to help ensure all of your relationships and work remain in the same place under Slackbot’s helpful eye.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/slacks-upgraded-ai-can-analyze-how-you-work-103007261.html?src=rss
Ring has today announced a spec bump to its battery-powered video doorbells for all those folks who can’t wire their units to power. The flagship Battery Doorbell Pro (2nd gen) gets 4K video, with 10x zoom and the promise of far longer time between recharges than the previous model. At the same time, it’s bringing 2K imaging to its lower-end battery doorbells, the Battery Doorbell Plus and Battery Doorbell (2nd gen). The former, as fitting its higher price, gets a quick-release battery pack, while both models get 2K video and 6x zoom. Naturally, these features are already available on Ring’s wired products, the bulk of which were announced back in September 2025.
The company is also aware that swapping out batteries isn’t ideal if you really need a doorbell to work all of the time. That’s why it’s also launching a new Solar Charger which integrates into the mount, keeping your doorbell running for longer between trips to the wall outlet. There’s also a bigger Solar Panel, which pumps out more juice than its smaller sibling, and can be mounted in a wider variety of places. All of the above are available to pre-order from today, and are priced as follows: Pro ($250), Plus ($180), Battery Doorbell ($100), Solar Charger ($50), Solar Panel ($60).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/ring-adds-4k-to-its-battery-powered-video-doorbells-130021181.html?src=rss
Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive venture from two of Japan’s most storied companies, has swung the axe on its EV project. In a statement, it said it would “discontinue the development and launch” of the Afeela 1 and 2, its long-in-development electric cars. The company added it would review its “business direction,” and announce its future plans “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Which, if we’re honest, probably means the whole thing is going to be shut down, or scaled back so much it’s no longer worth talking about.
2026 has not been a great year for Honda. On March 12, it posted an up-to $15.7 billion loss as it wrote off a big chunk of its investment in EVs. The US’ pivot toward fossil fuels, removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs has hit its business pretty hard. Not to mention the high-profile embarrassment of its current F1 engine project with Aston Martin, which promised so much and has delivered less than nothing.
Sony’s journey into the automotive world began six years ago with the announcement of the Vision-S, the car which would eventually be re-christened Afeela. But while the product looked good on trade show stands, it stood still while the rest of the car world sprinted ahead. In January, Tim Stevens said Afeela 1 looked a little dated, and a little lacking in emotion, and a lot more expensive than comparable models from rivals. It’s also worth noting Sony and Honda’s vision of a smart device on wheels is hardly a novel concept these days.
Not to mention that Afeela 1 is a sedan, being sold to a world that’s increasingly fallen out of love with the type in favor of higher-riding SUVs. In Sony's statement, however, the SUV-aping Afeela 2 didn't even get a mention by name, which hints that it was as much an afterthought for the company as we might have guessed when it was announced.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-and-honda-kill-its-afeela-evs-100426852.html?src=rss
Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive venture from two of Japan’s most storied companies, has swung the axe on its EV project. In a statement, it said it would “discontinue the development and launch” of the Afeela 1 and 2, its long-in-development electric cars. The company added it would review its “business direction,” and announce its future plans “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Which, if we’re honest, probably means the whole thing is going to be shut down, or scaled back so much it’s no longer worth talking about.
2026 has not been a great year for Honda. On March 12, it posted an up-to $15.7 billion loss as it wrote off a big chunk of its investment in EVs. The US’ pivot toward fossil fuels, removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs has hit its business pretty hard. Not to mention the high-profile embarrassment of its current F1 engine project with Aston Martin, which promised so much and has delivered less than nothing.
Sony’s journey into the automotive world began six years ago with the announcement of the Vision-S, the car which would eventually be re-christened Afeela. But while the product looked good on trade show stands, it stood still while the rest of the car world sprinted ahead. In January, Tim Stevens said Afeela 1 looked a little dated, and a little lacking in emotion, and a lot more expensive than comparable models from rivals. It’s also worth noting Sony and Honda’s vision of a smart device on wheels is hardly a novel concept these days.
Not to mention that Afeela 1 is a sedan, being sold to a world that’s increasingly fallen out of love with the type in favor of higher-riding SUVs. In Sony's statement, however, the SUV-aping Afeela 2 didn't even get a mention by name, which hints that it was as much an afterthought for the company as we might have guessed when it was announced.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-and-honda-kill-its-afeela-evs-100426852.html?src=rss
Sony Honda Mobility, the automotive venture from two of Japan’s most storied companies, has swung the axe on its EV project. In a statement, it said it would “discontinue the development and launch” of the Afeela 1 and 2, its long-in-development electric cars. The company added it would review its “business direction,” and announce its future plans “at the earliest possible opportunity.” Which, if we’re honest, probably means the whole thing is going to be shut down, or scaled back so much it’s no longer worth talking about.
2026 has not been a great year for Honda. On March 12, it posted an up-to $15.7 billion loss as it wrote off a big chunk of its investment in EVs. The US’ pivot toward fossil fuels, removal of federal EV tax credits and the imposition of tariffs has hit its business pretty hard. Not to mention the high-profile embarrassment of its current F1 engine project with Aston Martin, which promised so much and has delivered less than nothing.
Sony’s journey into the automotive world began six years ago with the announcement of the Vision-S, the car which would eventually be re-christened Afeela. But while the product looked good on trade show stands, it stood still while the rest of the car world sprinted ahead. In January, Tim Stevens said Afeela 1 looked a little dated, and a little lacking in emotion, and a lot more expensive than comparable models from rivals. It’s also worth noting Sony and Honda’s vision of a smart device on wheels is hardly a novel concept these days.
Not to mention that Afeela 1 is a sedan, being sold to a world that’s increasingly fallen out of love with the type in favor of higher-riding SUVs. In Sony's statement, however, the SUV-aping Afeela 2 didn't even get a mention by name, which hints that it was as much an afterthought for the company as we might have guessed when it was announced.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sony-and-honda-kill-its-afeela-evs-100426852.html?src=rss
At the end of February, Ultrahuman announced its latest smart ring which promises up to 15 days of battery life on a single charge. Sadly, if you were based in the US, you weren’t able to pre-order the Ring Pro, as the company has been locked in a longstanding legal tussle with ring rivals Oura. Now, however, it appears the situation has been resolved, with the US Customs and Border Protection giving its blessing. Consequently, pre-orders for the Ring Pro are starting today, with the first 1,000 customers to sign up getting a hefty bonus.
The smart ring market is still in its infancy, which means it’s fiercely competitive as companies try to keep their rivals at bay. Market leader Oura has been willing to protect its IP in court, issuing patent lawsuits against Ultrahuman, Samsung, RingConn, Reebook, Circular, Zepp, Nexxbase and Omate. In October 2025, Oura secured what it called a “decisive legal victory” over Ultrahuman, banning the import and sale of its rings in the United States. On its own website, Ultrahuman stated the lawsuit was lacking in merit, and that it was an attempt by a rival to hold down a "new player" with a "superior product." Even so, the company's Bhuvan Srinivasan told me in January that the Ring Pro has been designed to avoid any such legal drama going forward.
The standard price for the Ring Pro is $399, but you’ll need to fork out another $100 for the fancy schmancy charging case that adds so much more to the ring’s arsenal. But, for those 1,000 early birds, you’ll be able to pick up both the Pro and its case for $349, which is quite a hefty discount all told. If you’re customer 1,001 don’t feel too despondent, however, as Ultrahuman will still offer you some sort of discount if you’re quick.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/ultrahuman-opens-us-pre-orders-for-ring-pro-130043933.html?src=rss