Roborock’s new vacuums take on one of Roomba’s best features

The new Roborock S8 vacuums now come with two roller brushes. | Image: Roborock

Roborock, arguably Roomba’s biggest competitor in the world of robot vacuum cleaners, launched a new line of flagship robot vacuums at CES this week. The S8 Series starts at $750, and its big new feature is straight out of Roomba’s playbook: dual roller brushes.

While brushes may not sound as impressive as lidar mapping, AI-obstacle avoidance, or automatic emptying docks, a big problem with most robot vacuums is they have one small brush trying to pick up all the dirt. Often, this is a bristle brush that quickly gets tangled up with hair.

In my experience testing robot vacuums, Roomba’s superior cleaning power is largely down to its dual rubber roller brush system that rotates in opposite directions to get up more grime and is less...

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Drop’s desktop computer speakers are tempting me to ditch the headset

The Drop BMR1 Nearfield Monitors are apparently inspired by the mechanical keyboard community, allowing for customization and flexibility. | Image: Drop

Drop has announced the new Drop BMR1 Nearfield Monitors today at CES 2023, the company’s first desktop speakers that promise to provide “high-quality” and “big sound” from an affordable and compact package. They support Bluetooth 5.0, include a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and aux-in line, and can be connected to an external subwoofer for additional bass and fuller audio. They’re also designed for both horizontal and vertical orientation for greater flexibility with placement.

Drop has previously collaborated with reputable brands like EPOS and Sennheiser to release other audio products like headphones and gaming headsets, but the community-driven gadget manufacturer is probably best known for its range of mechanical keyboards. “We...

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HP’s ‘enterprise’ earbuds (yes, really) have a touchscreen on the case

An OLED screen gives you several controls. | Image: HP

HP has joined the list of companies making wireless earbuds and then sticking a screen on the charging case, with its announcement of the Voyager Free 60 Plus. Oddly, the company’s marketing the earbuds directly toward enterprise users rather than gadget heads, but we’ll get back to that in a bit. Let’s talk about that screen first.

It’s actually optional — the regular Voyager Free 60s come with a plain old charging case, which HP says will add 10 hours of talk time. The case for the Plus model, however, has an OLED touchscreen that lets you control music playback, volume, and settings, see your battery status, and accept or reject calls.

Image: HP

The touchscreen lets you accept or deny incoming calls as well as...

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JBL’s Quantum 910 headsets bring head-tracking spatial audio to consoles

The JBL Quantum 910P (left) and 910X (right) are identical, but the 910X offers broader platform compatibility. | Image: JBL

JBL has launched a range of new Quantum gaming headsets for PS5 and the latest Xbox consoles. The most interesting duo includes the 910P and 910X (two different colors but the same model), its flagship wireless models that will cost $299.95 when they launch in March. They offer active noise cancellation and the ability to pair with a phone to take calls while you game, but head-tracking spatial audio is their standout feature.

Spatial audio is a topic that we’ve covered a lot because it’s cool, and it’s not difficult or expensive to find headphones to experience it for yourself. Heck, just pair a relatively new set of AirPods with an iPhone or an Apple TV and there should be some content for you to check out, complete with head tracking....

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JBL’s earbuds with a touchscreen case are coming to the US

JBL’s Tour Pro 2. | Product images: JBL

JBL recently announced a set of wireless earbuds with a touchscreen on the charging case that let you control your music — but at the time, they were only headed to Europe. Now, at CES, JBL has announced plans to bring the earbuds to the US. JBL’s Tour Pro 2 headphones will launch stateside sometime this spring, and you’ll be able to pick them up for $249.95, or about the same price as Apple’s AirPods Pro.

At 1.45 inches, the LED touchscreen on the Tour Pro 2 case won’t be able to show you much. For comparison, it’s even tinier than the 1.9-inch cover screen on Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 4. But the screen could be a useful way to do simple tasks like skipping a song, flipping on ANC, or glancing at your notifications if your phone isn’t...

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The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is neat, but what’s with the RGB?

Guess which one is the Chromebook. | Photo by Owen Grove / The Verge

For years, the HP Elite Dragonfly has been one of the most sleek, luxurious, and exorbitantly expensive business laptops you can buy. The new Dragonfly Pro is HP’s attempt to market those models to a broader, consumer-focused, and more price-conscious audience. There’s a Windows-based Dragonfly Pro, and there’s a Dragonfly Pro Chromebook, and while we don’t know the pricing yet, the hope is that they will be cheaper than their business counterparts.

I spent a few minutes with the Dragonfly Pro Chromebook and the Dragonfly Pro, and they seem nice. They’re well-built and pretty-looking (and I’d be shocked if they weren’t, coming from HP). They come in black and white options. But the first thing you’ll probably notice is that the...

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Nvidia’s latest AI tech can upscale old blurry YouTube videos

Image: Nvidia

Nvidia has turned its AI upscaling technology on a new target: blurry web video. Announced this week during its CES 2023 presentation, RTX Video Super Resolution is designed to upscale video watched through the Chrome or Edge browsers on a PC to the equivalent of 4K. The catch is that you’ll need a relatively modern Nvidia GPU to benefit from the feature, with only its most recent 30 and 40-series GPUs listed as getting support when it releases next month.

In practice, a video demonstration of the tech at work on Apex Legends footage shows edges being sharpened, and video artifacts reduced. Nvidia’s demo shows RTX Video Super Resolution at work on a YouTube video, but its blog post notes that should work on “any video watched in a...

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Bird Buddy’s smart bird feeder snaps photos and identifies hummingbirds

The birds get nectar — you get a picture of them. It’s a win-win. | Image: Bird Buddy

Internet of Things devices and CES go hand in hand, but the Bird Buddy Smart Hummingbird Feeder is in a category that’s entirely new to me. Sure, I’ve been aware of devices that are meant to feed and monitor the animals that live inside your house, but I’m still somehow surprised (and delighted) to discover that there are companies doing the same for the animals outside your house as well.

As its name implies, this device is meant to hang outside your house and provide delicious nectar to the local birds, and Bird Buddy says it’s designed specifically to prevent leakages and mold. But unlike the standard $20 or $30 hummingbird feeders, the Bird Buddy includes a motion sensor-activated camera that will take pictures and video when a bird...

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Wednesday’s top tech news: CES gets smart about peeing

Image: Withings

Plus Samsung has a new range of TVs to show off, and Qi wireless charging is getting an upgrade.

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Microsoft to challenge Google by integrating ChatGPT with Bing search

Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft is reportedly planning to launch a version of Bing that uses ChatGPT to answer search queries. The Information reports that Microsoft hopes to launch the new feature before the end of March in a bid to make Bing more competitive with Google.

By using the technology behind ChatGPT — which is built by AI company OpenAI — Bing could provide more humanlike answers to questions instead of just links to information. Both Google and Bing already surface relevant information from links at the top of many search queries, but Google’s knowledge panels are particularly widespread when it comes to searching for information about people, places, organizations, and things.

Microsoft’s use of ChatGPT-like functionality could help Bing rival...

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MacBook owners have two months to claim up to $395 over butterfly keyboard woes

The infamous butterfly keyboard. | Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

If you bought an Apple MacBook with an ill-fated butterfly keyboard and ended up having to replace either individual keycaps or the whole keyboard, you may be eligible to claim part of a $50 million settlement reached after a class-action lawsuit. The law firm handling the settlement has been emailing class members since mid-December (judging by this MacRumors report) but we wanted to highlight that the deadline for making a claim is fast approaching on March 6th, 2023.

Claims can be submitted via the keyboardsettlement.com website, which says that the settlement class includes “all persons and entities in the United States” who purchased a butterfly-equipped MacBook, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro between 2015 and 2019.

There are three...

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OnePlus 11 arrives in China with a ‘black hole’-inspired camera bump

The OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Buds Pro 2. | Image: OnePlus

The OnePlus 11, the latest flagship smartphone from the Oppo sub-brand, has been announced for the Chinese market ahead of its global launch next month. Its feature set doesn’t hint at any major departures from OnePlus’ previous flagships, but the company has opted for a bold new circular design for the phone’s rear camera bump, which its press release says is “inspired by black holes.” Alongside it, OnePlus has announced a new pair of true wireless earbuds, the OnePlus Buds Pro 2.

For the most part, the OnePlus 11’s specs tally with what we’ve come to expect from flagship smartphones in recent years. It’s powered by Qualcomm’s latest high-end processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, comes with up to 16GB of RAM, and has a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED...

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Chrysler’s cockpit concept is a preview of our screen-packed, button-less future

Image: Chrysler

By 2028, iconic American automotive brand Chrysler says it will be an electric-only company. As such, it needs an interior that compliments and accentuates this shift to an emission-free future. Today, Chrysler unveiled a “demonstrator” cockpit designed to showcase a host of new technologies that the automaker’s future EV owners can expect to have at their fingertips.

Hopefully those future owners hate physical buttons because, if these images are any indication, there won’t be any. There will be plenty of screens, though.

The demonstrator is meant to bring together a host of Stellantis-branded software

The demonstrator is meant to bring together a host of Stellantis-branded software, including the STLA Brain operating system, the STLA...

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SwitchBot’s new hub will support Matter

The Matter-enabled SwitchBot Hub 2 is also a temperature and humidity sensor. | Image: SwitchBot

The smart home company SwitchBot, which makes tiny robots that can do things for you like press switches, turn locks, and open curtains, is introducing a new Matter-enabled hub. The $69 SwitchBot Hub 2 arrives in March and will work with all existing and new SwitchBot Bluetooth devices and enable those devices that are supported by the new smart home standard to work with Matter.

A major upgrade to the existing Switch Bot Hub Mini, the new hub looks like a combination of the Mini and Switchbot’s Meter Plus temperature sensor. It has the same built-in thermo-hygrometer to measure temperature and humidity, plus a large LED display. It’s powered by AC and connects to Wi-Fi.

Image: SwitchBot

A rendering of the new...

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Samsung announces bigger, even brighter 77-inch QD-OLED TV

Image: Samsung

Last year’s S95B QD-OLED (quantum dot) TVs from Samsung were an exciting shakeup for the consumer market and gave LG and Sony some long overdue competition. But the S95B series was limited to just 55-inch and 65-inch models — because those are the only TV sizes that Samsung Display manufactured QD-OLED panels for. It’s brand new technology, after all.

But only a year later, we’re going bigger. Samsung’s just-announced S95C QD-OLED TV will add a larger 77-inch model in addition to the previous sizes. Every TV maker claims that consumers are increasingly opting for larger and larger sets, so this was the obvious thing to do as Samsung builds out its OLED reputation.

The S95B was a superb TV, and the QD-OLED panel marked a legitimate...

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Samsung’s 2023 TV lineup bets everything on picture upgrades and AI tricks

Image: Samsung

Last year, Samsung radically shook up the TV market with the introduction of its first OLED model in many years. And it used a new QD-OLED (quantum dot) panel that produces superior color brightness compared to popular OLED sets from LG.

2023 is going to be decidedly low key by comparison. Instead of introducing yet another flashy new TV to its portfolio, Samsung is focused on improving everything down the line. And most of the refinements in this year’s Neo QLED (Mini LED in Samsung parlance), QLED (standard LCD sets), and OLED TVs are centered around AI and enhanced picture processing. Things like a greater, more three-dimensional sense of depth, improved upscaling, and more. The hardware features you’d expect on premium models,...

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Qi2: How Apple might finally harness MagSafe by giving it away

Apple’s MagSafe puck, wirelessly charging an iPhone 12 Pro | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

It’s safe to say that Apple’s MagSafe magnetic charging pucks for iPhone have not created the amazing snap-on accessory ecosystem we’d hoped. Instead of freely allowing manufacturers to create gadgets that power and/or communicate with an iPhone, the company chose its traditional tight licensing stranglehold. But this time, manufacturers realized they didn’t need to play Apple’s game, because the two main components of MagSafe — a Qi wireless charging coil and an array of magnets — were freely available. The result: a wide array of “MagSafe-compatible” accessories of varying quality.

But now, Apple’s trying something different. With the blessing of competitors, Apple is about to change the Qi wireless standard itself. It’s contributing...

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Samsung’s recall fix for overheating washers is a software update — and a dongle

Put it in the museum of unique dongles. | Image: Samsung

As companies have announced smart appliance after smart appliance, some people (myself included) have questioned why on earth you’d want to connect something like a washing machine or refrigerator to the internet. Samsung, however, has come up with a very compelling, if admittedly niche, use case: the company announced in December that it's issuing an over-the-air software patch as part of the recall for some top-load washing machines that “can short-circuit and overheat, posing a fire hazard.”

It’ll even send some customers a dongle in case their washers can’t connect to Wi-Fi.

Welcome to the “first-ever over-the-air software recall remedy in the home appliances industry.”

According to Samsung, your washing machine should...

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L’Oréal’s new makeup applicator uses AR to give you the perfect brow

The Brow Magic is a type of “brow printer” with an AR component. | Image: L’Oreal

L’Oréal is no slouch when it comes to gadgets. Like Dyson, L’Oréal has been pushing the game in beauty tech for the past few years, announcing neat gizmos like wearable UV and pH sensors. This year is no different. For CES 2023, the company is announcing two makeup gadgets: Brow Magic, which uses AR to create and draw your perfect brow, and HAPTA, an accessible lipstick applicator prototype.

Brow Magic was developed with Prinker, which makes a temporary tattoo printer. Brow Magic works similarly. It’s got 2,400 tiny nozzles that can print up to 1,200 dots per inch. And when you think about it as a tattoo printer, it makes sense given popular brow procedures like microblading and microshading are also semipermanent tattoos. The ultimate...

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Nanoleaf’s new lighting kits sync up with the action on your TV

The 4D TV Smarter Kit can be linked with other Nanoleaf products for a truly immersive experience. | Image: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf is expanding its lineup of addressable smart lighting along with some new tech aimed at providing a more immersive viewing experience for your TV. The Nanoleaf 4D TV Smarter Kit is a series of RGB light strips designed to reflect the colors on your TV with the aid of a small camera that remains pointed at the screen.

The TV lighting kit is just one of the new products Nanoleaf is showing off at CES 2023, expanding its lineup of intelligent lighting and Matter-compatible products. The 4D Kit will be available in two sizes, one for TVs 55 to 65 inches and another for TVs 70 to 80 inches. What separates the 4D Kit from other light strips offered by Nanoleaf is the small camera that’s included.

Image: Nanoleaf ...

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Nanoleaf’s new light switches will learn when you need them

Nanoleaf Skylight will light up your ceiling. | Image: Nanoleaf

Nanoleaf launches smarter than average smart switches and a stunning new skylight ceiling fixture and confirms its lighting panels will be upgraded to support Matter.

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Withings wants you to pee on its latest device

The U-Scan is a noninvasive urinalysis test that you stick in your toilet. | Image: Withings

Withings is generally known for its sleek smartwatches, but it also shows up at CES each year with ambitious health gadgets. Last year, it was a smart scale that could also take EKGs and segmented body composition readings. This year, it’s the U-Scan, an at-home, hands-free “urine lab” that you stick in your toilet.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The U-Scan consists of two parts: a reader and a replaceable cartridge. The reader itself is the part you pee on, while the cartridge is inside. It has a thermal sensor to differentiate between pee and toilet water as well as low-energy radars to detect who is urinating by identifying the movement and distance of your individual urine stream. In other words, the U-Scan only works with one person...

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Asus has a 540Hz monitor that lets you move its feet

It’s been seven months since Asus announced the world’s first 500Hz gaming monitor — long enough that it’s not the world’s first anymore. Alienware will beat it with the 24.5-inch AW2524H, which I wrote about this morning. But the important thing is that Asus will still have a 500Hz monitor, too — technically, a 540Hz overclocked screen dubbed the Asus ROG Swift Pro PG248QP that’ll ship in Q2.

It’s a 24.1-inch 1080p G-Sync panel that’s unfortunately saddled with TN screen technology, known for its refresh rates rather than viewing angles or wide color gamut. But the monitor pulls a pretty cool trick: the stand lets you pop in and out its feet to fit in narrower spaces and lock them in place.

Image: Asus

Asus’...

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Here are the best Kindle deals right now

The 2021 Kindle Paperwhite is on sale as part of a discounted bundle starting at $169.97. | Photo by Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge

When it comes to finding a device to use to read your ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on Twitter. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.

Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several unique models with their own pros and cons. The bulk of the devices function as simple ebook readers; however, with the Kindle Scribe, Amazon looks to be moving...

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Twitter says it will allow more political ads as it tries to claw back revenue

Twitter had banned political advertising, but it’s going to “expand” what’s allowed. | Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Twitter is going to “expand” the political advertising it allows on the platform in “the coming weeks,” the Twitter Safety account tweeted on Tuesday. Twitter banned all political advertising in late 2019, but the company is apparently loosening its rules just a couple of months after major ad agencies recommended against buying ads on the platform.

Exactly what will change under the new policies outside of what’s mentioned in the tweet is unclear. But the return of political ads could have a major effect on the platform, especially ahead of the 2024 US presidential election. We asked Twitter for details, but the company has dissolved its press office since Elon Musk took over, so we’re not expecting a response.

However, this isn’t the...

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Why Tesla’s Model Y might not be eligible for the new EV tax credit

An assembly line of Model Y vehicles being built at the Texas Gigafactory. | Photo by Loren Grush / The Verge

If you were waiting until after New Year to pick up a Tesla Model Y in hopes it’d qualify you for the new federal tax credit, you might be in for a disappointment. The IRS released a 2023 list of vehicles that qualify for the new $7,500 incentive, and while Tesla’s popular hatchback is on it, the most common five-seater versions won’t be eligible.

According to federal specifications, the five-seater Model Y Long Range isn’t considered a “non-passenger automobile,” the category under which SUVs officially fall. They also don’t fall under the IRS’s main SUV qualifier, which is that the gross vehicle weight must be between 6,000 and 14,000 pounds. The dual-motor Model Y has a curb mass of about 4,403 pounds.

Without SUV status, the Model...

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The Fed, FDIC, and currency comptroller are warning banks about messing with crypto

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Three federal financial agencies put out a joint statement on Tuesday warning banks about the “key risks for banks associated with crypto-assets and the crypto-asset sector.” The statement explains that while banks aren’t wholesale banned or discouraged from providing services to crypto firms, the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency believe that issuing or holding cryptocurrency is “highly likely to be inconsistent with safe and sound banking practices.”

The regulators say they’re still figuring out how to deal with banks and crypto, working on a case-by-case basis, and that they’re being “careful and cautious.”

Today, we joined other Federal bank regulators to...

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Windows 7 and Windows 8 will stop getting critical security updates in one week

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft’s cutting off Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 from security updates and technical support on January 10th. That’s just one week from today and also marks the launch of Microsoft Edge 109 — the last version to support the aged operating systems.

But Edge isn’t the only major browser ditching Windows 7 and 8.1. In October, Google announced that Chrome will end support for Windows 7 and 8.1 on February 7th. Although both browsers will continue to work on these devices, they won’t receive any critical security updates or new features. Support for WebView2, the tool that allows developers to embed web-based content into their apps, is going away on January 10th, too.

Next week’s deadline leaves little time for the owners of machines still...

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President Biden nominates Gigi Sohn for FCC — again

Photo by Pete Marovich-Pool / Getty Images

President Joe Biden renominated Gigi Sohn Tuesday to serve on the Federal Communications Commission, once again throwing his support behind the embattled pick whose confirmation has stalled for more than a year.

Sohn, a public interest advocate and former FCC counselor, was first nominated to the post in October 2021. Since then, she’s struggled to gain the necessary support of moderate Democrats and has faced an intense opposition campaign staged by Republicans and telecom industry groups. But last November’s Democratic Senate midterm wins could be a boon for Sohn’s nomination, adding an additional Democratic senator into the mix and possibly securing her confirmation.

Before the midterms, Democrats held a slim 50-50 majority in the...

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What matters about Matter, the new smart home standard

The Verge

A comprehensive guide to the products that work with Matter — the Amazon, Google, Apple, and Samsung-backed smart home standard — and what you can buy right now.

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