Following last year's smart toilet which debuted at CES 2023, Vivoo is at it again for CES 2024 with another urine analysis product. The company has unveiled an at-home digital urinary tract infection (UTI) testing kit that provides what it calls "gold standard accuracy results" via a two-minute test.
To use it, just pee on the provided UTI test strip and scan it to obtain results via Vivoo's app in "seconds," the company says. If the result is positive, customers can then connect with a doctor to obtain a prescription if required. The company says the product "saves customers time, prevents confusion in readings, and digitalizes the data so customers can share results with healthcare providers via the app, if instant treatment is desired." From the looks of it, the results are obtained via the strip, then deciphered by the app.
Vivoo notes that UTIs are the most common type of outpatient infection, with six in ten women experiencing them in their lifetimes. Normally, you'd send your urine off to a lab for analysis, or use an existing at-home test kit. The company says that the new product spares users the bureaucracy of lab testing while also keeping the relevant data for users who might need that, unlike regular testing kits.
In fact, many women experience recurrent UTIs, which have become resistant to at least one or even multiple types of antibiotics. By keeping a record of past infections, Vivoo's app could help patients and medical professionals track the problem and treat it appropriately.
Last year, the company unveiled a smart toilet device that clips onto existing toilets and provides data like your body's water, magnesium, PH, protein and sodium levels. Later on, it released strips for vaginal PH levels. The new home UTI test will come to market in Q2 2024, but pricing isn't yet available.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/vivoos-new-at-home-uti-test-kit-and-app-can-tell-you-if-you-have-a-urinary-tract-infection-030021462.html?src=rss
If you’ve ever wanted to turn your car into a DJ, with the sound controlled by how you drive, then you need to buy a Benz, stat. Mercedes-AMG and will.i.am have turned up at CES 2024 in Las Vegas with what they’re calling MBUX SOUND DRIVE (all caps, as if to be bellowed). Sadly, it’s hard to talk about what it is and what it does without robbing it of its mystery, so apologies in advance: It’s essentially a system that pulls data from the car’s suite of sensors, which then helps control a specially-deconstructed music file. But, as joyless as that description sounds, once you’ve experienced it, you’ll wonder why it hasn’t been done before. Not to mention that, at the risk of gushing, it really does deepen the emotional connection between driving and the music you’re listening to.
The announcement came as part of Mercedes’ CES push, which this year is focused on the power of its audio setup. Alongside the announcement of MBUX SOUND DRIVE, it’s boasting of a new partnership with Amazon Music and Audible. That’ll see Dolby Atmos versions of its exclusive audio dramas, podcasts and books come to compatible vehicles. (The highlight of the event was when legendary British audio producer Dirk Maggs took to the stage, the figure responsible for the latter radio versions of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.)
MBUX SOUND DRIVE works by pairing musical elements in a song with ten inputs taken from the car. Start the car and all you get is the track’s bed, so to speak, looping in the background waiting for you to get moving. Push on the accelerator at low speeds and it’ll add some bass reverb to the song, while turning the steering wheel gets you extra effects or the chorus loop kicking in. It’s only when you open the car up on a clear highway and the main music and lyrics will start blasting, rewarding you for moving along. And then, when you’re coasting toward a stop light, the lead vocal and melody will peel away, returning you to the far less intrusive backing track.
If nothing else, it’s a spectacular piece of hardware and software development, given the fact even the fanciest in-car platform wasn’t designed to do this. It’s worth pointing out the extent of the achievement that’s enabled something like this to happen on an existing system. And there are plans to extend it further so, for instance, if the windshield wipers detect rain, the music will change to reflect the mood.
The demo I experienced had 16 tracks pre-loaded, including The Black Eyed Peas’ I Got A Feeling and Le French’s Night Drive. These songs have all been broken down and rebuilt to take advantage of MBUX SOUND DRIVE’s separated format. When you’re just cruising around a Las Vegas parking lot, it’s all pretty restrained, even if you do put some heavy reverb on while you’re parked. In fact, the whole experience at slow speeds could almost be described as teasing, offering you hints of the song you know and love, but never giving you the whole thing.
It’s only when you (or in this case, your qualified driver) puts their foot down and you suddenly start screaming down the road that the whole song kicks in. Even a song like I Got A Feeling, hardly the most bombastic, suddenly feels epic in this format. The closest thing I can compare it to is those moments in Grand Theft Auto when you’re opening it up on the highway and a great track kicks in. Of course, the best example of that would be cruising down the road while David Bowie’s Somebody Up There Likes Me plays. But, despite will.i.am’s promises that when the system arrives halfway through 2024 all genres will be well-represented, I’m not so sure. After all, it’s clear that tracks primarily based on discrete loops are going to be the easiest to translate and the most well-suited to the environment.
In terms of the future, will.i.am shared his hopes that tracks could be hard-coded to reflect a geography. He used the example of a car going through a tunnel, which would prompt a gas car driver to put their foot down to fill the space with engine noise. But in our electric future, where there is no engine noise, users will instead have to content themselves with the jolt from their favourite song. He added that he also dreams of building in easter eggs for songs, which would only start playing when the car reaches a specific location. On one hand, I’m curious how many musicians would take the time to remix their existing songs for the size of the addressable market. Which, in this case, is only Mercedes-Benz vehicles equipped with a second-generation MBUX system. Then again, money talks.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/im-ashamed-how-much-i-love-mercedes-amg-and-williams-attempt-to-turn-cars-into-djs-023948867.html?src=rss
CES 2024 is here, and we're seeing all manner of new gaming gear and accessories. One notable mention is Razer's Project Esther, the world's first HD haptics gaming chair cushion. Yes, that's right, you can get one step closer to feeling like you're in the game — especially if you combine it with a VR headset.
The Project Esther concept includes 16 haptic actuators and has ultra-low latency. You can control the haptics' directionality, multiple-device integration and multi-actuator experiences. It also had automatic audio-to-HD haptics conversion, allowing for a plug-and-play solution. Razer claims the cushion is compatible with most gaming and office chairs, so you won't have to get a whole new setup to use it.
Razer's Project Esther gaming chair cushion is the result of years of haptics development. In 2018, the company unveiled Razer HyperSense haptics in its new Nari Ultimate headphones. They used advanced digital signal processing and wideband voice-coil actuators to produce the haptics for PC gaming — expanding it into Xbox headphones the following year.
CES 2019 brought Razer's Hypersense high-resolution vibration system, which it programmed into keyboard rests, mice, and a chair. In 2022, Razer took another big step, buying Interhaptics, a company specializing in, as the name suggests, haptics. Project Esther functions using Interhaptics technology.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-is-bringing-the-worlds-first-hd-haptics-gaming-chair-cushion-to-ces-2024-020027892.html?src=rss
Razer’s new accessories at CES 2024 are every bit as lavish as you’d expect. At this year’s convention, the company has a follow-up to its first gaming chair, an 11-port USB-C dock, a gaming cushion with HD haptics and a monitor-mounted light bar with Chroma RGB illumination.
Razer Iskur V2 gaming chair
The Razer Iskur V2 Gaming Chair is the successor to the 2020 original. The new model’s highlight is its “6D Adjustable and Adaptive Lumbar Support System.” Described as the only one of its kind, the lumbar support has a spring-loaded mechanism to adjust to the body’s weight and posture, alongside manual controls for the lumbar area’s protrusion and height.
Razer
Razer says it gathered feedback from ergonomics experts and esports communities in designing the Iskur V2. The chair can recline up to 152 degrees and lets you control its tilt. It includes high-density foam cushions and is made of EPU-grade synthetic leather. The company describes it as offering “extensive customization in height, position, and angle,” and it has a memory foam head cushion.
The Iskur V2 costs $650 and is available to order today from Razer’s website.
Razer USB C Dock
Razer
Razer also has a new 11-port dock compatible with Windows PCs, Macs, iPads and Chromebooks. On the port front, the Razer USB C Dock has four USB-A, two USB-C, a gigabit ethernet, HDMI, a 3.5mm audio combo jack and slots for UHS-I SD and microSD.
The dock’s HDMI port can output up to 4K at 60Hz, and its audio jack supports 7.1 surround sound. The accessory is made from an aluminum alloy, and its USB ports support 85 W laptop charging.
The Razer USB C Dock costs $120 and is available today from Razer.
Project Esther cushion
Following its 2022 acquisition of Interhaptics, Razer is showcasing Project Esther, “the world’s first HD haptics gaming cushion,” which sounds like it could have been made from a CES-themed Mad Lib. The cushion hasn’t been announced as a commercial product (at least not yet), but it’s designed to flaunt Razer Sensa haptics.
Similar to the size and shape of standalone chair massagers, the Project Esther chair mat stretches along where you sit up across the back. Devs can control Sensa’s “directionality, multi-actuator experiences, and multiple-device integration between different platforms and peripherals.” The tech is plug-and-play, automatically converting audio to HD haptics.
The chair offers “wideband, high-definition haptics,” thanks to 16 built-in actuators. It has adjustable straps, and Razer says it’s compatible with most gaming and office chairs. (If it ever makes it to market, it could perhaps help the haptic-obsessed save money on gaming chairs.) It supports low-latency connections to ensure its rumbles stay synced without delay with your gaming or media content.
Aether Monitor Light Bar
Razer
Razer loves RGB lighting, and the company has a new bar to prove it. The Aether Monitor Light Bar is a mountable accessory with front- and rear-facing LEDs.
The light bar has a Color Rendering Index (CRI, a rating of color accuracy) score of 95 and can light a 60cm x 30cm (about 2 x 1 feet) area. Its Chroma RGB lighting supports over 16.8 million colors and “a myriad of lighting effects.”
The bar also includes capacitive touch controls. Its brightness, color temperature and Chroma effects are all user-customizable. It supports the Matter smart home standard, and users can tweak its settings through the Razer Gamer Room app.
The Aether Monitor Light Bar will be available in March for $130.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/razer-updates-its-iskur-gaming-chair-with-a-6d-lumbar-system-for-ces-2024-020026353.html?src=rss
Sony's partnership with Honda around a new concept EV called the Afeela has been a highlight of CES for several years now. And while we're not any closer to finding out if and when this car will become a reality, Sony had a fun way to show off the latest iteration of the vehicle: they drove it onto the Sony CES 2024 stage with a PlayStation DualSense controller. Sure, it was just a fun gimmick rather than any evidence of a PlayStation-controlled vehicle coming down the road, but CES is all about the spectacle.
Sony
We'll keep an eye out for more details on the Afeela, but Sony just invited Microsoft on stage to talk about how the in-vehicle experience is going to get smarter thanks to — you guessed it — AI. We're getting close to CES bingo here, folks.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-drove-its-afeela-ev-onto-the-ces-stage-using-a-playstation-controller-014403857.html?src=rss
Sony's CES 2024 presentation didn't have much news for the first 25 minutes, but then the company revealed a new XR head-mounted display and controllers with... no name so far, aimed at "spatial content creation." With a matte gray finish, the headset looks like a stripped-down PSVR2, and there appear to be two cameras facing out from the front. There is also a controller-wand and a smaller peripheral similar in size to a ring. The new hardware is apparently aimed at creators and artists who manipulate and craft products in virtual spaces. It will be available later in 2024, though pricing will be announced at a later date.
Although Sony didn't go into great detail onstage, a press release dropped after the show wrapped with some key specs. The headset is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, which was announced just as CES began. This means it's a self-contained device that doesn't require a computer to run. That chip is driving dual 4K OLED microdisplays, and provides "user and space tracking" for mixed reality experiences. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said it would offer a "crisp viewing experience" and "intuitive interaction for 3D design", teasing a device aimed at professionals, similar to its professional-level cameras and devices.
The device has "video see-through" functionality and a total of six cameras and sensors. A pair of controllers were shown off, one described as a "ring controller" for manipulating objects and another as a "pointing controller" for... pointing. Sony envisions creators being able to craft 3D models in realtime using the controllers and traditional input devices like keyboards in tandem:
"By holding the pointing controller in the dominant hand and attaching the ring controller to the fingers of the other hand, creators can model 3D objects using both controllers and a keyboard, while wearing the head-mounted display."
Sony is also talking up the headset's balance, saying it has fine-tuned "the balance of the device's center of gravity." The display portion of the headset also flips up and out of the wearer's field of vision, allowing them to dip in and out of their work without needing to remove the headset entirely.
Sony
From the work shown on stage, it seems positioned less as a Vision Pro rival and more as a creative take on Microsoft's HoloLens. Hopefully, we'll hear and see more at Sony's booth later this week. The company showed mock-ups of a user tinkering with a bipedal robot while wearing the new headset, manipulating the robot's arm, while two monitors nearby showed things in extra detail. Sony says you'll be able to, through third-party creative apps, review and collaborate on work remotely.
Update, January 8, 10:30PM ET: Added details from Sony's post-show PR.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-spatial-content-creation-headset-at-ces-2024-013936595.html?src=rss
Intel is one of the biggest names that's in Las Vegas for CES 2024. The company has several talks and panels lined up, including a keynote from CEO Pat Gelsinger. You'll be able to watch that particular event live at 8pm ET on January 9 at Intel's website, along with the CES 2024 site and app.
What to expect
Intel hasn't divulged too much about what Gelsinger will dig into. However, it probably shouldn't come as a surprise that AI is one of the topics at hand. According to Intel, Gelsinger will talk about "the critical roles that silicon and software play in making AI more accessible, providing powerful compute and enabling modern economies."
Meanwhile, the company has just revealed its full slate of Intel Core 14th-gen processors for desktops and laptops, including HX-series mobile CPUs. Intel says there are more than 60 14th-gen HX-powered systems coming to market from its partners this year. Meanwhile, thin-and-light laptops featuring the new Intel Core U Processor Series 1 lineup will start hitting retailers by the end of March.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-watch-intels-ces-2024-keynote-010001600.html?src=rss
Newsletter platform Substack has removed "some" pro-Nazi publications from its platform following weeks of pressure over its content moderation rules.The takedowns include five newsletters flagged to the company by Platformer, which was first to report the news.
The move comes amid growing pressure on the newsletter company after it repeatedly declined to remove publications promoting white nationalist and pro-Nazi views. In November, The Atlanticreported that it found “scores of white-supremacist, neo-Confederate, and explicitly Nazi newsletters on Substack,” some of which were monetized by their authors.
Substack, which has landed in hot water over its refusal to ban Nazis in the past, responded to the article and ensuing controversy by doubling down on its stance. “I just want to make it clear that we don’t like Nazis either—we wish no-one held those views,” Substack cofounder Hamish McKenzie wrote in December. “But some people do hold those and other extreme views. Given that, we don't think that censorship (including through demonetizing publications) makes the problem go away—in fact, it makes it worse.”
In the latest, and somewhat confusing twist, Substack now says it has removed “some publications” but hasn’t changed its underlying rules. In a statement to Platformer, Substack’s founders said that an investigation “found that five out of the six publications you reported do indeed violate our existing content guidelines, which prohibit incitements to violence based on protected classes.” The founders said they were working on new moderation tools “so Substack users can set and refine the terms of their own experience on the platform.”
A Substack spokesperson also confirmed to Engadget that the company had removed “some” newsletters, though it wasn’t clear if the company had removed any others besides the ones reported by Platformer. "Substack regularly reviews reports of all potential content violations," the spokesperson said. “Substack did not change its policies."
Meanwhile, some prominent newsletter writers have already left the platform in protest and have reported cancellations among their paid subscribers. And it's unclear whether the company's latest act of moderation will be enough to reassure its critics. As Casey Newton, who runs Platformer noted, “this issue has raised concerns that go beyond the small group of publications that violate the company’s existing policy guidelines.”
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/substack-removes-five-pro-nazi-newsletters-but-says-its-rules-arent-changing-005815459.html?src=rss
Kia is back at CES after five years and just announced a new modular EV platform called Platform Beyond Vehicles, or PBV for short. These vehicles are still in the concept stage and aren't the kind of cars you're going to go out and buy to get around town or go on vacation — at least, not yet. Instead the PV5, the first vehicle Kia is planning, will focus on business utilities like ride-hailing, delivery and other business utilities.
Probably the coolest thing about the PV5 is how modular it is. Kia showed off four different configurations. The standard is a small van, but you can swap in an extended roof if you need more space. You can also swap the back two thirds out entirely and have it in a pickup truck configuration, and finally there's a taxi configuration focused on transporting passengers. As you might guess, the inside is completely modular to enable these transformations.
Kia didn't mention autonomous capabilities specifically, and shots of the insides of the vehicle showed a somewhat traditional driver seat and steering area. But the company also said it wants to develop a Robotaxi PV5 in partnership with Motional that'll provide an autonomous ride-hailing experience.
Beyond the PV5, Kia also teased the large PV7 and relatively tiny PV1, a pair of vehicles meant to work in conjunction. The PV7 is the largest in the lineup, which gives it more interior space as well as driving range, while the PV1 is mean tot be small and "agile" for last-mile deliveries. The cool thing is that there's a rail system that can link the two vehicles together so you can easily move cargo from the larger PV7 into the PV1.
Kia
As is so often the case at CES, there isn't a ton of detail on when the PBV initiative will move from concept to a product in production, but Kia is already building a dedicated PBV plant in Korea, with plans for manufacturing capacity of 150,000 vehicles in 2025, ramping up to 300,000 at an unknown future date. So it's possible we'll see the first of the PBVs hit the road next year.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/kia-announced-a-fleet-of-cute-modular-vans-at-ces-2024-004005807.html?src=rss
For years, ROG Phone users had to put up with average camera quality for the sake of mobile gaming experience, and ASUS blamed it on cost reasons. To put it bluntly, it was either ROG Phone for gaming, or Zenfone for photography. Now that we've entered 2024, the Taiwanese tech giant finally has a change of heart. Announced at CES 2024, the ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro essentially blend together the best of both worlds, featuring the usual trove of gaming aids in — at last — a brand new design, along with a set of significant camera upgrades derived from the Zenfone line.
Specifically, the new 50-megapixel f/1.9 main camera is powered by a more efficient Sony IMX890 sensor (featured on the OnePlus 11's main camera, as well as the 3x periscope camera on Oppo's Find X6 Pro and Realme's GT5 Pro). More importantly, ASUS also brought over the Zenfone line's 6-axis hybrid gimbal stabilizer, which further improves low-light shooting and offers a "Super HyperSteady" video mode.
The new 13-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera benefits from a free-form lens for reduced distortion. As for the third camera, the old 5-megapixel macro camera is now replaced by a more practical 32-megapixel 3x telephoto shooter, which comes with optical image stabilization and pixel-binning process (8-megapixel output) for boosted sensitivity. On the other side of the phone, the 32-megapixel selfie camera — now a punch hole on the screen — has gained a wider field of view, jumping from 73 degrees to 90.
ASUS
Another significant change on the ROG Phone here is the appearance. In what ASUS calls the "Gen#3" design, the ROG Phone 8 has opted for compactness by way of reduced bezels (especially top and bottom), body thickness (from 10.49mm to just 8.9mm) and weight (from 239g to 225g). Thanks to this re-engineering, the company was also able to implement IP68 dust and water resistance here — apparently a first for gaming phones, thus making it even more suitable for daily use.
The ROG Phone 8 line comes in two looks. The regular model features a redesigned Aura RGB logo on the back, and comes in either "Rebel Grey" or "Phantom Black." The more premium Pro flavor only comes in "Phantom Black," with the main difference being its "AniMe Vision" powered by 341 white mini LEDs. This dot matrix display supports over 20 preloaded animations that respond to the likes of X Mode, incoming calls, powering on and more. You can also create your own custom animations, and should you come across a fellow ROG Phone 8 Pro user, tapping both phones together will unlock new secret animations. (In case you're wondering, ASUS has confirmed that there will be no "Ultimate" edition this time.)
It should come as no surprise that the ROG Phone 8 series packs the top options available in terms of processor, thermal design and display. You get Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip paired with a "GameCool 8" advanced thermal system, which features a tiny rapid-cooling conductor to apparently boost thermal efficiency by up to 20 percent. (You can go even further by utilizing the new AeroActive Cooler X attachment, which is designed with a larger cooling chip at the sacrifice of two physical buttons.) Both are tucked underneath a Samsung E6 flexible AMOLED panel — it's the same 2,448 x 1,080 resolution, 165Hz refresh rate and 720Hz touch-sampling rate as before, but now with a whopping 2,500-nit peak brightness (from 1,500 nits).
ASUS
There are some small trade-offs, though. For one, the battery size has been reduced from 6,000mAh to 5,500mAh, but it still supports 65W HyperCharge which takes just 39 minutes. ASUS's justification is the improved efficiency of the new processor as well as display, and that it saw the weight of the earlier ROG Phones being a major pain point. It also needed to squeeze out more space for the better (read: larger) camera modules. That said, this phone still somehow manages to add wireless charging support, which follows the Qi 1.3 standard.
Another slight downgrade lies within the audio department. What used to be two loud front-facing speakers are now one front-facing speaker and one downward-facing speaker, due to the reduction in the top and bottom bezels. Still, ASUS thinks Dirac's tuning is able to compensate for this change. Speaking of, you also get Dirac Virtuo spatial audio for all headphones, be it wired (3.5mm or USB-C) or wireless (Bluetooth). As for phone calls, the ROG Phone 8 offers computational noise-cancelling for voice input across various scenarios — be it in-game communications, IM calls or regular phone calls.
ASUS' signature AirTrigger pressure-sensitive buttons are here to stay, for obvious reasons. There's also X Sense 2.0, an AI pattern recognition system for automatically detecting key events on screen, in order to provide timely prompts for the right moments. For instance, in Genshin Impact, this function will know when to trigger tools like auto pick up, fast forward, running lock and auto press-to-escape. Another AI feature — though not necessarily related to gaming — will be wallpaper generation, due to arrive in a future firmware update. This will leverage fast stable diffusion for creating images offline.
The ROG Phone 8 series will be available for pre-order in the very near future, with the base model (16GB RAM and 256GB storage) asking for $1,000 (actual retail price will cost an extra $100), followed by the $1,200 ROG Phone 8 Pro (16GB RAM with 512GB storage), and a more premium $1,500 ROG Phone 8 Pro Edition (24GB RAM with 1TB storage, plus an AeroActive Cooler X which normally costs $100). All models will come with at least two major OS updates (from Android 14), along with four years of security updates.
We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-new-rog-phone-8-from-asus-finally-puts-a-good-camera-in-a-gaming-phone-002618805.html?src=rss