As a technology enthusiast, there are a few devices you just have to try out for yourself. Not all of these products will be game-changing for everybody, but it's simply fun to try out the bleeding edge of the industry whenever you can. That's what I thought my experience would be like with the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i, a laptop with an experimental form factor. It doesn't have an attached physical keyboard and trackpad but instead sports dual 13.3-inch touchscreen OLED displays. It comes with a folio stand and a separate keyboard and mouse, which is designed to make the entire Yoga Book 9i package a mobile workstation.

Smart speakers have become ubiquitous in daily life, enabling voice assistant control of our smart devices and dispensing facts without picking up our phones. While all the smart speakers on the market have differing levels of sound quality, I’ll let you in on a big secret. They all perform great voice assistant duties.

Image: Edie Leong for The Washington Post via Getty Images Tesla is in trouble with the federal government. Again. A newly discovered version of Autopilot that allows drivers to operate the advanced driver-assist feature without applying any torque to the steering wheel — a long sought-after feature by Tesla drivers and one used by several other automakers as well — has caught the attention of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In a July 26th letter (first reported by Bloomberg), NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series of fines. The company was ordered to respond by August 25th; it’s unclear whether Tesla complied. NHTSA ordered Tesla to respond to a list of questions about the feature or face an escalating series... Continue reading…

Microsoft has been making a lot of waves in the artificial intelligence (AI) space recently thanks to innovations in services and tools like Bing Chat, Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and ChatGPT. With interest growing in this area, it's natural to see big tech firms investing money and effort in this area to attract more customers by enticing them with the latest advancements in technology. Now, Google has announced integrations between its Duet AI and Google Workspace products pretty much across the board.

Dell is known for making great laptops, especially ones that you can use for work. You'll find great business laptops by Dell up and down their Latitude lineup, giving you plenty to choose from. But one area Dell had been lacking in was coming up with one of the better Chromebook laptops out there. That is, until it released the Dell Latitude 5430 Chromebook earlier this year. The 5430 Chromebook is not only one of the best Dell Chromebooks but one of the top ones on the market. Whether you're a ChromeOS fan or you prefer Windows, there are options in the Latitude lineup that you're sure to love. The Dell Latitude 5440 is a similar computer to the 5430 Chromebook. So, which one is better for you? We'll lay that out here and give you the breakdowns of both to help you choose.

Image: iFixit via YouTube McDonald’s ice cream machines are so notorious for breaking that it’s become a meme. But now we may have some glimmer of Shamrock Shake-flavored hope: not only has iFixit performed a teardown of McDonald’s machines, but it’s also petitioning the government to let it create the parts required for people to fix them.As shown in a video posted to YouTube, iFixit purchased the same ice cream machine model used by McDonald’s and spent hours trying to get it up and running. The machine spit out numerous error codes that iFixit says “are nonsensical, counterintuitive, and seemingly random, even if you spent hours reading the manual.”Despite consisting of “easily replaceable parts,” such as three printed circuit boards, a motor and belt, and a... Continue reading…

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Apple is planning to launch a pair of “updated” AirPods with USB-C during its iPhone 15 event in September, according to a report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Rumors have been circulating for months about the possibility of Apple introducing AirPods with a USB-C-compatible charging case, but we haven’t heard anything this definite until now. However, we still don’t know whether the AirPods Pro will get the USB-C charging case, too, and Gurman doesn’t specify.In 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple would introduce AirPods with a USB-C charging case sometime this year. It’s also not clear whether Apple will make any significant changes to the AirPods themselves aside from the new case. Kuo said earlier this year that... Continue reading…

Following months of speculation and anticipation, iOS 17 beta 1 was released to developers during WWDC23. And as our hands-on reveals, iOS 17 is a somewhat minor update, particularly if you don't often rely on iMessage and FaceTime to communicate with your social circle. Despite that, however, there are still plenty of smaller additions across the system, and Apple continues to introduce more with every new beta version. So now that iOS 17 beta 8 is available to those enrolled in the Apple Developer Program, it's time to delve into this build and observe the changes and new features it potentially packs.

Legs may soon come to the unwashed virtual masses. | Image: Meta Meta is adding legs to Quest Avatars in Quest Home — but not Horizon Worlds — in a new beta announced last week in the Meta Community forums (via UploadVR). Community manager Ryanality posted in the forums that the “Public Test Channel (PTC) for Quest v57 is starting to roll out for Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 2 soon,” though without specifying any new features. Then, yesterday, a forum user named TomCgcmfc reported their avatar had legs. A post on X (formerly Twitter) from Brad Lynch shows what the legs will look like. For now, beta users can’t see their legs without looking at an in-game mirror, and from the video, it looks like the avatar won’t crouch when the user does so. Although the legs reportedly don’t make an appearance in H... Continue reading…

Summer's finally coming to an end and for some it's already time to start school again. With a new school year, it means new beginnings, and with that said, it might be a good time to refresh your favorite tech, while also getting a sweet discount. Best Buy is currently holding its back-to-school sales event, offering impressive discounts on some of its best laptops, personal audio devices, TVs, PC accessories, and more. So if you or a student you know have been looking to upgrade or add some tech items to their daily rotations, now's going to be the perfect time to shop.

Panic / The Verge Today, Panic put on its very first game publisher showcase. The showcase was short but very sweet, featuring some of the most interesting and innovative indie games coming to PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Switch. Here are all the highlights, including a surprise announcement from the makers of Untitled Goose Game.ArcoArco comes from an international team of developers, artists, and storytellers. It’s a tactical action game that pits regular people against an all-powerful corporate gang. In the reveal trailer, the diverse landscapes exude so much ecological detail rendered in pixel graphics, and the combat seems like a real-time action game. Arco is due on Steam in 2024.Thank Goodness You’re HereThank Goodness You’re Here, or TGYH for... Continue reading…

In recent years, Thunderbolt has become an essential part of many laptops and PCs. Developed by Intel, the Thunderbolt protocol uses USB Type-C ports to deliver very high speeds — up to 40Gbps, as of Thunderbolt 4 — that can be used to connect all kinds of peripherals. Many of the best laptops you can buy today come with Thunderbolt ports, and the accessories you can use with them range from docking stations to external GPUs, all of which can greatly expand the capabilities of your laptop.