Fast wireless charging has always come with a quiet trade-off. The faster a magnetic power bank pushes power into a phone, the hotter it gets, and heat is exactly what makes phones throttle their own charging speed. Anker built the MagGo Power Bank Pro 2 around solving that specific problem, tucking an actual cooling fan into a battery pack that otherwise looks like any other MagSafe-compatible slab.
That fan changes the math entirely. Anker says comparable 25W magnetic power banks climb past 113°F within 20 minutes of use, triggering the exact slowdown wireless charging is supposed to avoid. The Pro 2 stays closer to 96.8°F throughout a full charge, letting it sustain its rated 25W output instead of quietly dropping to 15W the moment things warm up.
The payoff shows up in minutes, not specs sheets. Anker says the Pro 2 pushes an iPhone 17 Pro to 25% in 10 minutes and 50% in roughly 25, numbers that turn a coffee break into a meaningful top-up instead of a shrug-worthy trickle. A 45W USB-C port handles wired charging on the side, strong enough to give a MacBook Air a bit of runway when an outlet isn’t nearby.
A built-in kickstand does double duty here, letting the phone sit upright on a nightstand or kitchen counter while it charges, which matters more than it sounds once a video call or a recipe needs both hands. The full-color display adds a layer most competitors skip entirely, showing time, weather, and charging status while also recognizing which iPhone model is currently attached.
Overnight charging gets its own dedicated logic. A mode Anker calls Overnight Care paces the charging curve so a phone hits full charge right before a preset alarm rather than sitting at 100% for hours, a small design choice that quietly extends battery health over time. It is the kind of detail that rewards people who plug in before bed and forget about it until morning.
None of this comes at the cost of portability. The Pro 2 weighs 220g and supports every MagSafe iPhone from the 12 through the 18 series, meaning the hardware inside doesn’t demand the newest phone to make sense. Anker offers it in Phantom Gray, Starlight Silver, and Polar Night Blue, colorways that lean muted rather than flashy, fitting a device meant to sit on a desk without asking for attention.
At $109.99, the Pro 2 sits well above impulse-buy territory, positioning itself as a considered upgrade rather than a stocking-stuffer accessory. Anker is betting that solving the heat problem, rather than simply chasing higher wattage numbers, is what actually makes a magnetic power bank worth carrying every day.
I’ve rebought the same phone case three separate times because I liked how it fit in my hand, how it aged, how it just felt like mine. So when phone camera lens systems started requiring a dedicated case to work, I felt a specific kind of resistance. Buying a great lens shouldn’t mean breaking up with a case I already love.
That’s the quiet friction a lot of mobile shooters have been living with. Attachable lens systems are genuinely great for stretching what a smartphone camera can do, but most of them are built around proprietary cases, which means the lens purchase quietly turns into a case purchase too. If you already own a case with the right grip, the right drop protection, the right look, you either give it up or give up on the lens.
Designer: ShiftCam
ShiftCam’s new Stick-On Lens Mount is aimed directly at that annoyance, and the way it solves it is where the design actually gets interesting. It comes alongside the brand’s new S.Mount Camera Case for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, but instead of asking you to adopt a whole new case system, it’s engineered down to almost nothing: a slim plate that sits flush against the phone’s existing camera housing rather than wrapping the whole device. As the company puts it, the plate exists for creators who prefer to use their existing phone case or want a more universal way to add ShiftCam optics, introducing a stick-on mounting solution that brings ShiftCam lens compatibility directly to the device.
That distinction matters more than it might sound, and it’s a design decision as much as a business one. A dedicated case is a fine solution if you’re starting from scratch, but plenty of people already have a case they trust, and asking them to replace it just to unlock a lens is a real barrier. The stick-on mount sidesteps that by treating the camera module, not the whole phone, as the design surface. It doesn’t try to be a case. It tries to disappear into one, and it does so at a price that feels almost like an afterthought purchase rather than a commitment. At $25.99, it’s priced closer to an accessory than a system upgrade, which is exactly the right instinct for a product meant to lower the barrier to entry rather than raise it.
The renders make the design intent obvious. Rather than one universal black plate, the mount comes finished to match the phone’s own colorway, sitting over the lens cluster in a tone that reads more like a factory camera bump than a bolted-on accessory. That’s a small detail, but it’s the kind of thing that separates a mount you tolerate from one you don’t mind looking at every day. Good hardware design for something this small isn’t about adding presence. It’s about matching the object it’s attached to closely enough that it earns the right to be there.
The engineering underneath that quiet finish still has to hold up. ShiftCam’s case-based S.Mount system uses a 90-degree twist lock to keep lenses aligned precisely over the phone’s sensor, and that same alignment logic has to translate into a plate thin enough to hide under a case. Its X.Series lenses lean on fluorite crystal elements and a proprietary coating specifically so that optical magnification preserves resolution and detail rather than relying on digital cropping, while minimizing color fringing and maintaining edge-to-edge clarity. None of that precision matters if the mount holding the lens in place is flimsy or poorly toleranced, which is why a stick-on plate is a harder design problem than it looks. It has to be nearly invisible and mechanically exact at the same time.
There’s a broader philosophy here too, one I actually appreciate. ShiftCam’s CEO framed the company’s newest lineup around removing friction between having an idea and being able to capture it, with the goal of helping creators get more from the lenses they already own, whatever setup they’re starting from. A stick-on mount is a small, unglamorous way of living out that idea through design rather than marketing language.
I won’t pretend a stick-on plate is as elegant as a fully integrated case, and if you’re buying a phone brand new, the case-based mount is probably still the tidier option. But for everyone else, the ones who already found a case they’re not willing to give up, this is the more honest solution. It doesn’t force a tradeoff between protecting your phone and expanding what it can shoot. It just quietly gets out of the way and lets the lens do the talking, which is really all good design should ever do in the first place.
Scosche built a charging cable that refuses to hide once the lights go out. The GloBright MultiColor Glowing LED Charging Cable, developed with Statik and introduced at IFA 2026, takes the most overlooked object on any desk and turns it into something that actually draws the eye. Instead of a black cord disappearing into shadow behind a laptop, this one glows its way across the room.
That glow runs through the cable’s full length rather than sitting confined to the connector tips, so a coiled loop on a nightstand reads more like a lit sculpture than a charging accessory. Colors shift gradually along that length too, pink bleeding into purple, blue fading toward teal, giving the cable a slow-motion animation instead of a static single hue that gets boring after the first week of ownership.
None of that visual flair comes at the cost of actual charging performance. Scosche built the GloBright cable to support up to 60W of fast charging for USB-C devices, alongside reliable data transfer, so a phone plugged in overnight wakes up fully charged just like it would with any premium braided cable. The lighting effect runs as a bonus layer on top of specs that already hold up on their own.
Durability gets equal attention. The 3-foot cable relies on premium materials throughout its construction, aiming for a build that survives the daily abuse of getting yanked out of a bag, wound around a charger, or stepped on near a bed frame. Scosche also sells a companion Blue Glowing LED cable in a longer 4-foot option, giving anyone who prefers a single steady color an alternative to the multicolor version’s shifting palette.
Where this cable earns its keep is in the spaces most charging accessories try to disappear from. A gaming setup gets an extra strip of ambient light without needing a separate RGB kit. A bedside table gets a soft, shifting glow that also happens to be topping off a phone overnight. Even a cluttered desk benefits, since a glowing cable is far easier to locate in a tangle of cords than a plain black one ever was.
Scosche prices the GloBright MultiColor cable at $17.99, positioning it well within impulse-purchase territory for anyone shopping for a charging cable anyway. At that price, the lighting effect functions less like a premium upsell and more like a free upgrade bundled into a cable people needed regardless. Buying a charging cable rarely feels like a decision worth thinking about, and Scosche seems to be betting that a little glow is enough to change that.
Packard Bell spent a century teaching people that new technology doesn’t have to feel intimidating, and its 100th birthday present to itself leans hard into that idea. Under Acer’s ownership, the brand relaunched at IFA 2026 with a philosophy it calls “Tech it easy,” built around a lineup that trades beige plastic and quiet corporate design for colors loud enough to notice from across a room. Four products anchor that comeback, and each one argues that everyday tech gains something when it stops taking itself so seriously.
The DotBook carries the heaviest expectations as the collection’s flagship, a 14.5-inch laptop finished in a red-orange shell bright enough to spot on a crowded coffee shop table. Weighing under 1.3 kg and measuring just 17.9mm thin, it’s built for browsing, streaming, and everyday work rather than chasing benchmark scores, backed by up to 512GB of storage and 16GB of memory running quietly under Windows 11. It’s a laptop designed to disappear into a bag, not a spec sheet debate.
Where the DotBook plays it relatively straight, the DotLoop commits fully to spectacle. Housed inside an actual briefcase shell with a 1970s silhouette, the turntable pops open to reveal a working tonearm flanked by RGB-lit speaker grilles that glow while a record spins. Two built-in 3W speakers handle sound on their own, though Bluetooth and RCA outputs let the DotLoop hand audio off to a proper stereo system whenever the moment calls for something louder.
That willingness to have fun with format extends into the DotLine, a feature phone built for anyone tired of feeding a smartphone’s constant appetite for attention. A 2.8-inch display and physical keypad keep the experience deliberately simple, while an 1800mAh battery stretches across roughly two weeks between charges, a number that sounds almost mythical next to a modern flagship’s overnight anxiety. Four color options keep it from feeling like a consolation prize.
Rounding out the focus lineup, the DotCombo bundles a keyboard and mouse into a single color-matched purchase, eliminating the usual mismatched beige-on-black desk setup that so many peripherals default to. Both pieces run on rechargeable batteries good for hundreds of charge cycles, connecting over Bluetooth or a 2.4GHz receiver without a single AA battery required. Round keycaps borrowed from typewriter design give the whole thing a tactile, almost toy-like presence on a desk.
Beyond these four, Packard Bell rounds out its centennial collection with a portable speaker (DotTune), audio glasses (DotLook), a ring light for creators (DotShine), matching headphones (DotBass), and even a countertop food steamer (Steasy), all sharing the same saturated color palette and straightforward pricing. None of them ask for much attention individually, but together they paint a lineup unwilling to blend into a beige office shelf.
Pricing stays approachable across the board, with the DotBook starting around €499 (around $578), the DotLoop at €149 (around $173), the DotLine at €69 (around $80), and the DotCombo at just €39 (around $45). Packard Bell’s return proves that a century-old brand can still find something new to say, mostly by refusing to whisper it.
There are power tools, and then there are smart tools. A power tool gives you brute force; a smart tool gives you controlled, consistent results. Think of a simple drill that just spins versus one that manages its own torque to avoid stripping a screw. For delicate work like trimming EVA foam for a cosplay project or cleaning up support structures on a 3D print, you definitely want the smart one. The problem is, most handheld cutters are pretty basic, giving you one speed and just hoping for the best.
The SonicMax Slice 10 is aiming for that higher IQ. It’s a cordless ultrasonic cutter that senses the material you’re cutting and adjusts its own power output in real time. Slice through dense plastic and it pushes harder; trim the thin walls of a resin print and it eases back. This adaptive system, combined with cooling that prevents heat-related power drops, makes it feel like proper workshop equipment in the palm of your hand. It runs at 40kHz, delivers up to 50 watts of dynamic peak power, and does all of this without a single cable getting in your way.
Most ultrasonic cutters on the market use transducers with a mechanical quality factor, or Qm, somewhere between 150 and 250. A higher Qm means the transducer converts electrical energy into vibration more efficiently, which directly translates to less heat generated during use. SonicMax claims a Qm of over 500 for the Slice 10, and lab data backs that up with a verified measurement of 541.1. That’s roughly two to three times higher than a typical competing tool, and it’s the foundational reason the Slice 10 can sustain longer sessions without thermal drama. That single transducer decision cascades into everything else, from runtime and cut quality to how comfortable the tool actually stays in your hand.
As the blade meets resistance, the Slice 10’s Smart Material Auto-Detection reads that feedback and adjusts power output and vibration frequency without you touching anything. Cutting through a stiff chunk of EVA foam feels different from trimming the thin walls of a resin print, and the tool responds to each material accordingly. You’re not locked into a fixed setting that works okay for most things but perfectly for nothing. The system also preserves cut quality across a long session, where material resistance can shift as the blade warms. The result is consistent cuts from the first pass to the last, regardless of what you’re running the blade through.
Heat is the reason most cordless ultrasonic cutters force you to stop every five to ten minutes, and the Slice 10 attacks that problem from two directions. Corded bench tools sidestep this issue by drawing steady power and dissipating heat more easily, but you give all of that up the moment you cut the cord. The high-efficiency transducer generates less heat from the start, and the built-in active cooling fan manages whatever thermal load does build up during a session. Overheat protection kicks in automatically at 80 degrees Celsius at the motherboard level, so the tool protects itself without you having to babysit it. You only appreciate how good this is after you’ve spent a session on a cutter that kept shutting itself off on you mid-cut.
A 5000mAh 21700 lithium-ion battery powers the Slice 10, and SonicMax made it user-replaceable, which you’ll end up appreciating far more than any spec sheet number. The 21700 is a high-performance cell format found in premium flashlights and power tools, so sourcing replacements from SonicMax or compatible third-party brands should never be a problem. SonicMax’s own branded replacement cell is rated for 500 charge cycles at 80% capacity retention, a reasonable lifespan for a tool you’re actually putting to work regularly. An 18W USB-C pass-through charging system brings it from zero to full in about 70 minutes, and the tool keeps running while plugged in. Claimed runtime sits at up to four hours, and when you run low mid-project, swapping in a spare takes seconds.
Blade choice gives the Slice 10 a lot of its bench-tool personality. SonicMax offers five blade styles that let the same handheld body take on very different jobs: a Standard Utility Blade for everyday trimming, a Precision Long Blade for tighter access and more delicate reach, a Fine Chisel Blade for careful cleanup work, a Heavy Duty Chisel Blade for more aggressive material removal, and a Wide Flat Scraper Blade for broader surface work. That range matters because it turns the Slice 10 into something closer to a compact cutting system than a one-trick knife. If you’re the kind of maker who bounces between foam, plastic, supports, edges, and surface cleanup in the same afternoon, this is where the tool starts looking properly versatile.
Lift-to-Activate sensing turns the tool on when you pick it up and off when you set it down, keeping your fingers away from controls mid-session and preventing accidental activation on the bench. A small OLED display shows real-time power output and battery level, so you’re never left guessing how much runtime remains. Built-in LED lighting illuminates the cut line, which sounds like a minor detail until you’re trying to trace a clean edge on a dark-colored print at your desk at some ungodly hour. Auto-shutdown kicks in after five minutes of idle, and low-battery protection activates before the cell drops to a damaging voltage. Together, these details make the Slice 10 feel like a tool that respects your workflow rather than constantly asking you to manage it.
The Slice 10 measures 260.5mm long and 28mm across, weighing 236 grams, keeping it firmly in single-hand, pen-grip territory across long sessions. Just the Slice 10 is available for a discounted $119, and ships with 10 replaceable Standard Utility blades. Upgrade to the Maker’s Bundle for $169 and you get the Slice 10 along with 50 blades spread across the five blade profiles (standard, precision long, fine chisel, heavy duty chisel, and flat scraper) as well as a 5000mAh replacement battery. If you’re looking for versatility and pushing your prints to the max, the $50 price bump does bring a fair share of value. You can also buy extra blades and batteries as add-ons. Shipping is expected to begin mid-October 2026 with worldwide delivery available, and SonicMax has not publicly confirmed warranty terms at the time of writing.
Acer’s IFA 2026 lineup plays out like a full day mapped across screens, starting with quiet focus and ending with a projector shaped like a rubber duck. Instead of pushing one flashy hero device, the company spread its design energy across seven products, each solving a specific friction point, from eye strain to cramped desks to tablets built for daily wear. Together, they map how Acer sees screen time evolving.
The Acer EP130K opens that story with a monitor built for people who’d rather not stare at a glowing backlight all day. Its ePaper panel mimics the natural feel of paper with glare-free use, aimed at professionals doing deep work, avid readers, and anyone working outdoors. Resolution climbs to 3200×2400 in black-and-white mode, and touch support lets a stylus or finger write directly on the display.
Designer: Acer
What makes the EP130K linger past a single session is its bi-stability, letting the image stay locked in place even after every power source disconnects. A single USB-C cable handles power delivery from a laptop or tablet, so the whole setup travels light. It’s less a display and more a portable reading nook that happens to sync with a work laptop whenever needed.
From single-screen focus, Acer scales up to the Acer PD163Q P3, a triple-screen extender built for hybrid professionals juggling more browser tabs than one laptop lid can hold. Three 15.6-inch FHD panels fold out from a central hub, adding up to four total displays once paired with a laptop screen. Each panel runs independently, supporting extend or clone modes so a spreadsheet, a call, and reference notes each claim space.
A single USB-C connection keeps cable clutter to a minimum, while uniform brightness controls across all three panels mean no single screen fights for attention against the others. It’s the kind of setup that turns a coffee shop table or hotel desk into something resembling a proper workstation, without requiring a suitcase full of dongles or a second trip back to the office for a bigger screen.
Acer prices both productivity tools to slot easily into a home office budget. The EP130K starts at $749 when it arrives in North America during the first quarter of 2027, with EMEA and Australia following at comparable rates. The PD163Q P3 comes in considerably lower at $349, making a three-screen upgrade almost as affordable as a single external monitor from a few years back.
Once work wraps up, the Acer C350e projector picks up where productivity leaves off. Acer built it to double as an AI-powered companion rather than a device that only wakes up during movie night. Its detachable AI Badge doubles as a remote control and stays active between screenings, cycling through personal photos, useful widgets, and Google Gemini-powered interactions even when nothing is being projected onto a wall.
When it is running, the C350e pushes Full HD resolution through an 8,000-lumen LED light source, with 360-degree rotation and 120-degree tilting that make setup painless in tight apartments or backyard movie nights alike. Auto focus and 4-corner correction handle the fussy geometry automatically, while a 30,000-hour lamp life means it’ll outlast several rounds of furniture rearranging before finally needing a replacement bulb.
Pricing follows the same accessible logic. Acer lists the C350e at €199 (around $215) for EMEA buyers, undercutting most portable projectors with comparable lumen counts. That price makes the AI Badge feel like a bonus rather than a justification for the cost, a smart move for a device competing against projectors that only turn on when something needs to be shown on a wall.
Acer Iconia X16-21
Acer Iconia X16-21
Rounding out the lineup, Acer’s Iconia tablets split into two clear tiers built around the same entertainment and education goals. The premium Iconia X16 and X14 pack OLED screens into a metal chassis, running on MediaTek Helio G80 silicon with dual USB Type-C ports, one dedicated purely to video input for easy screen casting during homework sessions or weekend movie marathons.
Acer Iconia X14-21
Acer Iconia X14-21
The entry-level Iconia A16 and A14 carry the same processor and port layout into a Vapor Silver chassis with IPS displays instead, trading OLED contrast for a friendlier price point without giving up the tripod kickstand design both series share. That kickstand, paired with optional styluses and attachable keyboards, turns either tablet into a portable classroom, a couch companion for reading, or a yoga mat sidekick during a guided session.
Acer Iconia A16-21
Acer Iconia A16-21
Acer Iconia A14-21
Acer Iconia A14-21
Seen together, these seven devices treat screens less like fixed appliances and more like furniture that rearranges itself around whatever someone needs next. Acer’s decision to launch a paper-like monitor, a folding triple-screen rig, an AI-infused projector, and four tablets on the same stage suggests the company is betting that flexibility, not raw specs, is what actually makes technology feel personal.
