John Lewis, a high-end department store chain in the UK, briefly listed a new Kindle that's not available from anybody else. It's the upcoming 12th-generation Kindle ereader that Amazon has yet to announce, though its information has leaked quite a few times before Lewis prematurely posted a listing for it. While that listing is no longer live, Good Ereader and The Verge were able to take screenshots and take note of the device's specs. Amazon called the 12th-gen basic Kindle the "lightest and most compact" one it has ever designed, with a 6-inch 300 ppi display and 16GB of storage, in the retailer's description.
Its front light is 25 percent brighter at max setting than previous versions, and it has a higher contrast ratio, but you still won't be able to turn the light cooler or warmer like you could on more expensive Kindles. The device will enable faster page turns than previous Kindles, though, and has a new dark mode feature that inverts the e-ink display's colors, according to The Verge. If you prefer listening to your books, you can fire up Audible on the new Kindle and connect your headphones or speakers to it via Bluetooth, as well.
In addition to the basic 12th-gen Kindle, John Lewis also posted the listing for its Kids Edition version. It's the same device, except it ships with a colorful case and comes with a free six-month subscription to Amazon Kids+. Previous Kids Edition Kindles came with a year-long free membership to the subscription service, but for this one, you'd have to pay $6 a month for continued access to curated books, videos and games for children after half a year. As for the 12th-gen Kindle itself, the John Lewis listing said it will set you back £95 ($124) or around £10 more than the previous version. Meanwhile, the Kids Edition will cost you a bit more, as the retailer listed it for £115 ($150).
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-next-entry-level-kindle-leaked-on-a-uk-store-035240220.html?src=rss
The Nuio Flow is a new ergonomic keyboard and accessory system for those who don’t mind trading serious cash for a sleek and thoughtful design. Co-founded by two brothers, one of whom is a former Apple designer, Nuio has an Apple-like value proposition: a split keyboard and an optional trackpad, desk pad, magnetic stands and wristpads for $400 for the keyboard alone to over $1,000 for all of components.
At the center of Nuio’s product lineup is the Flow split ergonomic keyboard, which (here’s the Apple influence again) “puts the human form at the center of every design.” Nuio CEO Tom Wilson says the product’s purpose is to reject legacy decisions that often dictate keyboard design. “There are literally no right angles in the human body,” Wilson wrote in a press release shared with Engadget. “Yet we spend most of our lives hunched over rigid, rectangular keyboards and peripherals — often enduring hours of wrist pain, tech fatigue and poor posture.”
Nuio
The company describes the keyboard’s split, radial design as optimal for hand positioning. (Of course, there are plenty of ergonomic and split keyboards you can already buy for much less.) It has curved keys with a scissor-switch mechanism (like many laptops, including Apple’s current models), so this model isn’t for those who like mechanical keyboards.
The keys and their symbols are backlit but without color customization. Each charge of the Flow keyboard is estimated at up to 28 days, but that drops to around 15 days with “some backlight use.” The keyboard includes a split USB-C cable that charges both halves simultaneously.
The company estimates that the non-user-replaceable internal battery will last about two years, but it says you can send it to the company for a battery replacement after that. When we reached out to the company to clarify the service’s cost, a Nuio spokesperson said the battery replacement is free for the first two-year window. After that, “there will be a nominal replacement charge.”
Unlike many top-of-the-line keyboards, you can’t swap out the Flow keyboard’s physical keys. Nuio also doesn’t appear to offer key-changing on a software level; its FAQ says it offers “a limited amount of key customization” through your device’s operating system.
While most ergonomic keyboards have built-in stands, Nuio sells a $99 pair of magnetic ones separately. They let you “tent and tilt” the keyboard along multiple axes. The company says the stands hold their position firmly after each adjustment.
Nuio
Nuio also sells a $249 wireless multitouch Flow trackpad to complement the keyboard. The company says its edge-to-edge glass surface offers precision tracking and pressure-sensing. Unlike Apple’s current Magic Trackpad, it clicks mechanically, not with haptics and pressure-sensing. Nuio says its trackpad offers full gesture support but doesn’t support deep-presses like Apple’s. You can also buy a $59 magnetic stand for the trackpad with multi-axis tilt support.
The rest of the Nuio system includes a $99 pair of “supremely comfortable” wristpads. They can attach to a deskpad, available first in a travel-friendly small size for $129. The price of a large one, initially listed on the website at $179, is “still in the works,” according to a company spokesperson. The deskpads include magnets, too, allowing “precise and flexible positioning of all NUIO components.” The company says it strikes a balance between firmly holding all the system’s components in place while still being easy to adjust.
Nuio
If you order the keyboard, trackpad, stands for each and large desk pad, you’re forking over $1,084. (Cue spit take.) Like a luxury watch or car, the Nuio Flow system asks you to care enough about an elegant, modern design while typing (and perhaps have an Apple designer’s salary yourself) to invest in the elegant-looking accessory ecosystem.
The Nuio Flow Keyboard and its peripherals are now available to pre-order from the company’s website. The keyboard in space gray with a macOS legend, small deskpad keyboard stands, trackpad stand and wristpads are expected to ship in early December. Meanwhile, if you want the keyboard with Windows / dual OS legends or in other colors (silver, gold, rose gold, blue, green and brown), you’ll have to wait for early January. The large deskpad is “coming soon.”
Update, October 15, 2024, 5:50PM ET: We updated the story to reflect more current details about the keyboard’s estimated battery life and the large deskpad’s pricing, according to a company spokesperson.
Update, October 15, 2024, 5:00PM ET: This story has been updated to add a Nuio spokesperson’s info about the battery replacement service’s cost.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/the-nuio-flow-is-a-customizable-split-ergonomic-keyboard-with-magnetic-peripherals-192259319.html?src=rss
The dog-esque robots created by the likes of Boston Dynamics and MAB Robotics are already horrifying thanks to a mix of the “Metalhead” episode of Black Mirror and humanity’s natural apprehension for an uncertain future. This one highlighted by TechCrunch really got under my skin in an unnatural way.
MAB’s Honey Badger Legged Robot can walk underwater and they took it on a test run for its YouTube channel. The steps it takes on the bottom of the pool create this weird ringing noise that’s just alarming as all hell. It’s like the engineering team hired John Carpenter to write a score for its robot.
It’s even scarier when the robot walks towards the camera like it’s hunting me down just before asphyxiation sets in and I drown. It sounds like they took a cue from the Skinamarink soundtrack. Someone make the horror in my head stop.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/this-underwater-dog-robot-comes-with-its-own-horror-soundtrack-215325892.html?src=rss
Update 10/16/24 2:55pm ET: Amazon has raised the price by $5, so while the Pencil Pro isn't at a record-low anymore, it's still available at a good sale price. Also discounted now is the USB-C Apple Pencil, which has dropped to a new low of $65.
Apple doesn't offer many discounts for its product lineup, so seeing one of its tablet accessories on sale for a third off the usual cost is exciting. The Apple Pencil Pro is available on Amazon for just $90, the lowest price we've seen for it. This is the most recent stylus model from Apple, with a design overhaul that was just announced in May, and it quickly rose to prominence as one of our favorite accessories for an iPad.
The Pencil Pro has some useful features for optimal control and navigation, such as squeeze and roll gestures. The stylus boasts pressure sensitivity; in other words, it will make darker marks if you press harder and lighter marks if you use a light touch. It delivers haptic feedback to your fingers and if you have a habit of misplacing accessories, the Pencil Pro also can be tracked down with Find My. And as with other Apple Pencils, the Pro will attach magnetically to your iPad's chassis for charging when it's not in use.
There are a few downsides to the Pro model, most notably that it's still not universally supported across all iPads. We've got a rundown of all the different Apple Pencils' features and compatibilities, but the tl;dr is that this high-end version works with the M4 iPad Pro, the M2 iPad Airs and the latest model of the iPad Mini. So this may not be the right buy for every iPad owner, but it's a great tool for taking full advantage of everything those tablets can do.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-apple-pencil-pro-is-30-percent-off-taking-it-down-to-an-all-time-low-price-210311608.html?src=rss
Like Professor X and Magneto, Intel and AMD know when to team up and take on a shared adversary. The two companies have formed a new x86 advisory group to stem the platform’s bleeding from Arm’s rapidly growing adoption. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose company is also part of the initiative, said the board will “help drive software consistency and standard interfaces.”
Intel and AMD aim to find new ways to expand the x86 ecosystem with greater cross-platform compatibility. Arm, licensed for Apple silicon, Qualcomm chips and some Big Tech data centers, currently has a simpler and more flexible design. Compared to x86, Arm makes it easier for licensing companies to adapt the architecture to their needs.
The new x86 group wants a more unified set of instructions and architectural interfaces. Intel and AMD believe greater predictability and consistency across their products will foster developer innovation and help the platform survive and thrive.
In addition to the pair of chipmaking rivals, the group’s founding members include Microsoft, Google, Meta, HP Inc, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Lenovo, Broadcom, Dell, Oracle and Red Hat. Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney and Linux creator Linus Torvalds are also members.
“We are on the cusp of one of the most significant shifts in the x86 architecture and ecosystem in decades — with new levels of customization, compatibility and scalability needed to meet current and future customer needs,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger wrote in a press release. “We proudly stand together with AMD and the founding members of this advisory group, as we ignite the future of compute, and we deeply appreciate the support of so many industry leaders.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/intel-and-amd-team-up-to-stem-the-x86-bleeding-205731857.html?src=rss
Threads is sometimes criticized for not prioritizing real-time content in its recommendations. Now, Meta is adding status indicators that can show when a particular user is online in an apparent effort to address that need.
The optional feature, called “activity status,” will display a green bubble alongside someone’s profile photo when they’re online. The indicator is meant to help users find “others to engage with in real-time,” according to an update from Instagram boss Adam Mosseri. “We hope that knowing when your people are online makes it easier to have conversations.”
It’s an interesting choice for a platform that still doesn’t have direct messaging capabilities. Such indicators are more common in chat apps like Discord (Instagram, which does have robust DM capabilities, also has a similar feature). But Meta has said repeatedly it doesn’t want to bring in-app messaging to Threads, with the app’s head of product recently tellingBusiness Insider there are no plans to add DMs to the app.
The feature also doesn’t exactly address many users’ desire for a feed that’s more oriented to real-time information and conversations. Instead, Meta is offering the status indicators as a way to seek out users who are currently active on the service as a way of encouraging conversations that are more likely to get timely replies. But without a clear way of finding people who have that green bubble alongside their profile photo, it’s unclear how easy this will actually be.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/threads-can-now-show-when-people-are-online-and-using-the-app-194041928.html?src=rss
Apple is reportedly going to add digital car key support in the Wallet app for some Volvo, Polestar and Audi vehicles. Currently, Apple’s digital car key support list includes vehicles from Kia, BMW, Lotus and several other manufacturers.
The digital car key function allows iPhone and Apple Watch owners to access, lock or start vehicles just by holding the device near the vehicle’s NFC reader. The Wallet app must also run in the background or in the foreground, but it’s not necessary to push any buttons.
MacRumors first discovered this possible future update in the Apple Wallet app’s backend. However, the publication hasn’t revealed any affected models or further details.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/apple-may-be-adding-digital-car-key-support-for-specific-volvo-polestar-and-audi-vehicles-163625563.html?src=rss
Google is rolling out a slew of updates for Pixel watches, smartphones and tablets. In many cases, their predecessors are also getting the new features, such as Night Sight for Instagram — available on all Pixel 6 or newer devices, including A-series phones. The tool allows you to take photos directly on Instagram without worrying about them coming out dark. This could be ideal if you're someone who likes taking photos at concerts or parties without worrying about a bright flash going off. Other updates available for Pixel 6 or newer devices include astrophotography through Night Sight and theft protection.
Now globally available, theft protection one of the most expansive updates and actually applies to all Android 10 or newer devices (Android 15 is out today) — not just Pixel. Then, later this year, Google will release Identity Check, a feature that requires biometric authentication to access actions like changing your PIN and disabling theft protection. The new feature includes tools like the AI-powered Theft Detection Lock, which uses on-device machine learning to detect possible attempts to steal your device and will automatically lock it if so. Additional features include Remote Lock, which lets you seal your device with just a verified phone number, and Offline Device Lock. You can watch a full overview of theft protection on Android's YouTube page.
Google released its latest lineup in August: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel 9 Pro and some of its newest features are exclusive to it. Such is the case for a Gemini extension for screenshots, a tool that lets you "Hey Google" your way to the exact image you're looking for. For example, you can say, "Hey Google, use Screenshots to show to find the red shirt I saved." Plus, you can now use a waterproof case to capture improved images and videos under the sea.
Update October 16, 1:51PM ET: Google initially indicated that Pixel A-series devices would not have access to the Night Sight for Instagram feature. However, it later confirmed — via Android reporter Mishaal Rahman — that "Night Sight for Instagram is available on the Pixel 6 and later, including A-series."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/new-pixel-updates-include-ai-powered-theft-protection-160042706.html?src=rss
It’s been a bit of a wait for those who snapped up a new Pixel phone immediately, but Google is now starting to roll out Android 15 across eligible devices. While Google released the source code for the open source variant last month, the retail iteration of the mobile operating system is starting to hit phones and tablets.
As ever, Pixel devices are the first to get access to Android 15. The Pixel 9 lineup debuted in August and although Google typically deploys a major OS update alongside its latest flagship phones, that wasn’t the case this time. Android 15 will be available on eligible devices from other manufacturers in the coming months, but some phone and tablet makers will be using forked versions of the source code.
Security and privacy are major focus points for Android 15. Google says Theft Detection Lock employs AI to help protect your data. Extra layers of authentication for the likes of SIM removal and switching off Find My Device should help secure your device too. You'll be able to set up a private space in Android 15 where sensitive apps (and any others you want to chuck in there) are all but invisible to others.
Other new features include an easy way to pin and unpin the taskbar on foldables and tablets for more customizable layouts and app access. An app pairing option is said to benefit multitasking. You'll be able to save combinations of apps as app icons on the home screen and open them with a tap, which should make moving files between, say, Google Drive and Gmail a cinch.
Google is opening up more camera options to third-party apps, such as more granular control over the flash. You'll be able to log into apps that use passkeys with a single tap. And, perhaps most significantly of all for some folks, carrier messaging apps will be able to support messaging via satellite when you're out of range of cell and Wi-Fi networks.
In addition, Google is releasing a Pixel drop today, which includes support for Theft Detection Lock on devices running Android 10 and later.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/android-15-is-starting-to-roll-out-on-pixel-devices-160039591.html?src=rss
Today’s a good day to grab a spare microSD card for your Nintendo Switch, phone or tablet (some still support them!), drone, camera or home security system. Amazon has the highly-rated Samsung EVO Select card in most capacities for record-low prices. That includes a 1TB one for $80 (usually $110).
The Samsung EVO Select is Engadget’s pick for the best value in microSD cards — at its full price. When you slash up to $30 off, it’s a can’t-miss deal.
If 1TB for a record-low $80 is overkill for your needs, you can save on cheaper cards, too. The 512GB EVO Select card, which usually costs $56, is on sale for a mere $40. Meanwhile, a 256GB one (typically $30) is available for $22, and the 128GB variant is only $15 (from $19). The only one not on sale is the 64GB one, so skip that one today and go with 128GB if you were eyeing the entry-level tier.
The Samsung EVO Select is a U3 Class 10 card. This is the latest 2024 model that supports sequential transfer speeds of up to 160 MB/s. If you’re shopping for storage for your Switch console, that’s far ahead of Nintendo’s recommended transfer speeds, so you’re more than golden there. It’s also great for high-resolution video recording.
The microSD card is rated to withstand up to 72 hours in seawater. Each card includes an adapter that lets you use the microSD as a full-sized SD card.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/one-of-our-favorite-samsung-microsd-cards-drops-to-a-record-low-price-155747738.html?src=rss