Gadgets

Startups aren’t giving up on the idea of AI-powered pins, with the latest device from Plaud focused on just one task: taking notes. A few months ago, companies like Humane and Rabbit launched their own gadgets powered by generative AI. It’s probably too early to fully write off any of those companies or products, but

It might have been a brat summer, but Apple thinks it’s “glowtime” for its iPhone 16 event. The company announced that it will host the event to unveil new devices on September 9 at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. The event will take place at the Steve Jobs Theater on Apple’s campus. But

Successful wearables are largely confined to a few select form factors. The wrist still rules the roost or perhaps the ears, depending on how broad your definition is. Glasses are having a moment, while the ring gains traction. The pin/necklace never made much headway, though not for lack of trying. Misfit explored the space, and

Apple will be unveiling new products on September 10, with the announced phones going on sale on September 20, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. That lineup will reportedly include the iPhone 16, with larger screens on the Pro models and a new button just for taking pictures. The phones should also support

Beats Studio Pro are getting one of AirPods’ best features. A firmware update, noted by 9to5Mac, is delivering multi-user audio sharing, allowing music to be streamed to multiple headphones at once. Apple regularly releases features to its AirPods line before they make their way to the Beats brand. The feature arrived on a number of

Ring announced on Wednesday the next generation of its Battery Doorbell. For $100, customers get extended battery life, color night vision, a head-to-toe view of visitors and a new push-pin mounting system.  Head-to-toe HD video was previously only available with the Doorbell Plus and Pro models. Now, according to Ring, the Battery Doorbell provides a

A refurbished third-generation Nest Learning Thermostat was one of the first things I picked up upon moving into my first house last month. As a longtime New York City apartment dweller, I’d largely observed the device from afar, wondering how a thermostat of all things became foundational to Google’s hardware play. My timing could have

Tuesday’s Made by Google event cemented Gemini’s place as the Pixel’s default assistant. The company had previously allowed users to opt in to replace Google Assistant with the generative AI platform, and now the newly announced Pixel 9 phones are the first devices to ship that way by default. Google notes that if users are

Google’s big hardware event Made by Google is happening today, with the company revealing new Pixel phones, as well as a bigger role for its Gemini AI. Made by Google’s headliner is the Pixel 9 phone. There are now three phones in the main Pixel lineup — the Pixel 9, the Pixel 9 Pro, and

Choice is good — especially when it comes to wearables. Human bodies come in all manner of shapes and sizes, and there’s no such thing as one size fits all. Until Tuesday’s Made by Google 2024 event, the Pixel Watch has only been available in one size: 41 mm. Announced Tuesday, the Pixel Watch 3

The new Pixel 9 lineup took centerstage during Tuesday morning’s Made by Google 2024 event. Along with the inclusion of the Pixel 9 Fold Pro, the company added an additional size option. The trio of devices are: the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Pro now sports the same size

Pixel Phones dominated Tuesday’s Made by Google 2024 event. In addition to a full refresh for the Pixel 9 line, the company unveiled the successor to its first foldable, the Pixel Fold. Google rejiggered its numbering scheme this time out, jumping to Pixel 9 Pro Fold for what is its second take on the category.

Most of the new camera features Google has brought to Pixel devices in recent years have involved AI-based post-processing. Made You Look, announced at Tuesday’s Made by Google 2024 event, is different. It reaches back into the history of photography to tap into a perennial favorite: tricking fussy children into smiling. Sure, there are already

Google’s annual Made by Google hardware event was held earlier Tuesday, and because the company announced so much stuff, a lot got lost in the shuffle. We rounded up some of the more intriguing AI-related announcements that didn’t get a ton of play, like the image-generating Pixel Studio and Pixel Screenshots, which helps save and

With the introduction of the Pixel Watch 3 smartwatches, which now come in two sizes, Google is also introducing a new, potentially life-saving feature: loss of pulse detection. At the Made by Google 2024 event Tuesday, the company announced the watch’s added ability to sense this particular health emergency alongside other new tools and features,

India is the second-largest wearable market after China. At times, it has also been the largest smartwatch market. However, in Q2, wearable shipments in the country declined 10% year-on-year to 29.5 million units. The first half of the year, meanwhile, fell 4.7% to 55.1 million units, analyst firm IDC reported this week. Market analysts believe

Looking Glass on Thursday announced that it has begun shipping a pair of new displays, with a third arriving at customer homes later this month. The larger Looking Glass 16- and 32-inch Spatial Displays are available now. The smaller model runs $4,000. The Brooklyn-based startup is making the 32-inch model’s price available on request. The most

Nothing on Wednesday announced that its budget-focused Phone 2a Plus is now available stateside. As has been the case with the London-based firm’s other handsets, however, there are a few hoops required to purchase the device in the U.S. The world’s third-largest smartphone market has been notoriously difficult to break into for decades now. Carrier

The $79 K2 has long been one of Keychron’s bestselling mechanical keyboards. As with all of the company’s K-line boards, it offers a relatively no-frills experience but provides all of the advantages of a mechanical keyboard in an affordable package with a 75% layout (which means you get arrow keys and a row of function

Google’s been on a consumer hardware jag in August. On Tuesday, the company announced the long-awaited new Nest Thermostat, along with Google TV Streamer, which replaces the 11-year-old Chromecast line. Next Tuesday at Made by Google 2024, the software giant is refreshing the Pixel line with a slew of new smartphones. Previous years’ Made by

After nine long years, Google is finally refreshing the device that gave Nest its name. The company Tuesday announced the launch of the Nest Learning Thermostat 4, 13 years after the release of the original and nearly a decade after the Learning Thermostat 3. Google hopes this release will usher in a new era for

Along with a long-awaited update to the Nest Learning Thermostat, Google on Tuesday unveiled its latest set-top streaming box ahead of the company’s Made by Google 2024 event next week. Google TV Streamer’s arrival marks the end of the Chromecast line. With more than a 100 million sold over an 11-year life, it was a

For once, the iPad was the highlight of Apple’s latest sales numbers. The company said in its third quarter earnings report that iPad sales increased year-over-year, from $5.8 billion to $7.2 billion. The reason for that growth is probably new versions of the iPad Air and iPad Pro, which were announced in May. Turns out

Peloton had one of the most turbulent half decades in tech. The home fitness firm experienced some of the industry’s highest highs and lowest lows in dizzying succession. It’s the story of buzzy startup that became the target of a cult-like following among influencers and fitness fanatics. A global pandemic shot the brand to unknown

Apple is finally releasing some of the Apple Intelligence features it announced at its Worldwide Developer Conference in June. However, the rollout is currently restricted to developer beta versions of iOS 18.1. So if you don’t want to deal with early-stage buggy software, you might want to wait for the Apple Intelligence feature release of

Users will be able to get the first taste of Apple Intelligence as Apple has started to make some of the features of its AI suite available with the iOS 18.1 developer beta released Monday. The company launched Apple Intelligence at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June. However, the first set of developer beta

AI hardware is all the rage in startup land — though receptions have thus far been mixed. Two notable examples, Rabbit and Humane, released devices to disappointing results. a16z-backed Limitless and Exor-backed Bee AI, meanwhile, are working on their own screenless AI wearables. Avi Schiffmann, a Harvard dropout who built a Webby Award-winning website that

Qualcomm Tuesday announced the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2. The entry-level chip aims to make 5G accessible to 2.8 billion smartphone users in price-sensitive markets, including India and Latin America. Manufacturers lately have struggled to attract feature phone buyers in India, the world’s second-biggest smartphone market, primarily due to a lack of 5G models in the

The promise of AI and large language models (LLMs) is the ability to understand increasingly wider amounts of context and make sense of that information easily, so it makes sense that we’re seeing a bunch of companies trying to make wearable hardware so that people can use AI in their day-to-day lives. The latest entrant

Samsung’s original Galaxy Flip was the phone that taught me to love foldables. Prior to the launch of the clamshell, devices were big and bulky like the Galaxy Fold. Rather than embracing portability, the goal was jamming as much screen real estate as possible into a pocketable design. The result, in the case of the