Shiftall is a Panasonic company dedicated to building equipment to plunge people deeper into their virtual worlds. That includes the Mutalk (pictured), a mouth-worn Bluetooth microphone designed to prevent your speech from being heard by people in the same room. Here at CES, however, the company has unveiled two new versions of its VR headset as well as some gadgets designed to improve your immersion in the virtual world.
First up, a new version of the MeganeX VR headset, a SteamVR-compatible unit with a 2,560 x 2,560 micro-OLED display. The company says that the screens, combined with Panasonic-branded pancake lenses, offer the “highest level of viewing experience.” In addition, the frame is lightweight, and offers six degrees of freedom, as well as enough comfort to ensure it can be worn without fatigue for hours at a time. But you’ll also need to cough up if you want to use one, since it’ll cost you $1,699 when it launches at some point between March and April.
In addition, the company is showing off two new accessories that’ll offer great benefits for the VTubers amongst you. The first is Haritora X Wireless, a full body tracking solution for SteamVR that enables you to have fully controllable torso and legs in a virtual space. The setup uses four bands, one around your chest, hips, knees and ankles, which give your digital avatar the ability to dance and high kick their way around. This is similar to Sony's Mocopi motion-tracking setup which add bands to your wrists, ankles and back and head.
Andrew Tarantola
The other new innovation is Flip VR, a hand controller for SteamVR which uses lighthouse tracking to monitor the position of your hands. But, unlike most normal hand controllers, these are held to the hand by a strap across the palm, rather than being gripped. The top plate, where you’ll find the joystick and action buttons, can be flipped out of the way to free your hand up for other things. In the demo, a user can stop playing, flip the joystick over to the other side of their hand and drink from a can without having to remove their VR gear, or put it down on the floor.
As for pricing, Haritoria X Wireless will set you back $350, although there’s no word yet on when it’ll be available either in Japan or Stateside. As for FlipVR, we’re waiting to hear back on how much it’ll cost, and when we can expect to be able to drink, while in character as a VTuber, without having to drop our controller and ruin the illusion.
Withings has already made a name for itself as a maker of smart scales and ultra-stylish activity trackers. Now, the French health-tech company is making a foray into the world of medical analysis, building a device to scan people’s urine. It’s initially intended as a way of supporting decentralized clinical trials, the company hopes to offer it as a consumer health-tech device in the future. Say hello to U-Scan.
U-Scan is a pebble-shaped device that hangs from a plastic tab on the side of your toilet bowl, much like a deodorizer block. The hardware, 90mm in diameter, is intended to sit on the porcelain where most people’s pee streams would land. There’s a collection inlet at the lowest point, and a sensor will detect the presence of urine and trigger a pump you pull a small quantity into its body. From there, the sample is pumped into a microfluidic system which triggers a chemical reaction.
Sitting underneath the U-Scan itself will be a cartridge, which contains the specific test that you’re looking for. The company has, so far, partnered with two medical centers in Europe to explore ways of discovering renal lithiasis and bladder cancer. It’s hoped that the system will eventually be used to mass-screen for cancer markers and support medical studies.
In terms of the consumer units, the company has developed U-Scan Cycle Sync, designed to be used for period tracking. The idea is to provide detailed, regular testing to enable fine-grain cycle tracking without the need for calendar apps. As well as predicting your menstrual cycle, the system says it’ll predict your ovulation window, hydration levels and nutrient levels.
The other is U-Scan Nutri Balance, which offers a “detailed metabolic guide to hydration and nutrition.” This will look at your water balance, nutrient levels, fat metabolism and quantities of vitamin C found in your pee. Most crucially, you'll be able to monitor your ketone levels, as well as the pH of your urine, good for determining if you’re eating a healthy enough diet.
When processed, the results of the tests are shared to a server over WiFi or Bluetooth, and then the cartridge will reset with a fresh test pod. The company says that U-Scan is sufficiently smart to distinguish different users, such as various family members in a home, and separate tests accordingly.
Withings has also said that its system conforms to the highest security standards, and that its data will always be held in France, in a GDPR-compliant setup. It says that U-Scan will run for three months before needing a recharge (over USB-C) and a replacement cartridge.
In terms of pricing, and availability, you’ll expect that whatever date Withings says, it may be delayed due to regulatory approvals. The company says that U-Scan will be first made available in Europe at some point in Q2, 2023, with the Nutri Balance and Cycle Sync cartridges. A starter kit, with one reader and cartridge, will be priced at €499.95 ($530), while replacement cartridges are expected to cost €30 ($31). A US release will take place at some point afterward, whenever the FDA decides to clear the product for consumer use.
Valencell, best known around these parts for making optical heart rate sensors for fitness tech, has turned up to CES with something new. The company is showing off a new fingertip monitor that, it says, will offer “cuffless” blood pressure monitoring. Rather than inflating a sleeve around the top of your arm, you’ll be able to monitor your blood pressure with a fingertip clip. That’s currently commonly used to measure your heart rate both at home, and in medical settings.
The as-yet unnamed device is pending FDA clearance, but Valencell has explained that it uses PPG sensors to measure blood flow patterns. This information is then run through an algorithm which calculates the movement against both a dataset containing 7,000 patient records. That’s then run up against the user’s age, weight, gender and height to produce a blood pressure measurement. And you’ll get both Diastolic and Systolic results presented on the device’s built-in screen, and pushed to the companion mobile app.
Much as Valencell say its work is unique, we’ve seen at least one other system that uses PPG and algorithms in place of a cuff. At the start of 2022, the University of Missouri showed off its own finger clip that harnesses a pair of PPG sensors, one on either side of the finger. That system was, by its creators own admission, far less accurate for diastolic measures, given the need to control for a person’s age, gender and weight.
Valencell seems to suggest that it has solved those issues with more data, to the point where you won’t need to calibrate its monitor with an initial cuff reading. That’s either some staggering bravado, or a sign that we’re getting better at the nitty-gritty of healthcare monitoring. The company says that it could offer a new weapon in the war against hypertension, and it hopes to offer it for use in clinical settings for remote patient monitoring or chronic care management.
But that’ll all have to wait until the FDA has run its cautious eye over the hardware — which could take much of the year — but if it offers its blessing, Valencell says it’ll sell the product for $99.
One problem with Acer’s Nitro marque is that it’s hard to shake the perception it’s the scrawny kid brother of its brawny Predator range. You know, the gaming laptop you buy when money’s tight but you need something newer than what you’re rocking at the given time. It’s an issue Acer itself is trying to address by trying to give the Nitro more of its own identity, and pushing it to be more distinct from its bigger, more attention-hogging sibling.
As with Acer’s other rebrands, the Nitro loses the odd-number coding in favor of being described by display sizes. So, at CES, you’ll find the Nitro 16 and Nitro 17, each one packing a 16- and 17.3-inch display, respectively. What hasn’t changed much is the styling, which keeps that, uh, Razer-esque minimalism (bar the rear exhaust vents) from the previous generation. That’s not a bad thing, I should add, since there’s little need for curling arcs of faux-chrome plastic to make it look butch in front of your friends at the LAN party.
Naturally, both machines come with the pick of a 13th-generation Intel Core i5 / i7 processors paired with up to 32GB RAM. You’ll be able to marry up both with a 40-series NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU, which will enable you to switch from integrated to discrete graphics without rebooting. And both will come with a four-zone RGB backlit keyboard, to let you mark out your individuality in lighting choices as much as you can manage.
Acer is also swinging big about the promises that these machines can handle a far longer load than its predecessors. And users will be able to access the NitroSense UI from a dedicated key, letting them keep an eye on the temperatures when things are getting intense. Connectivity wise, you’ll get the expected ports (HDMI 2.1, microSD, two Thunderbolt 4 with PD and three USB 3.2 Gen 2. But the overall vibe here is a machine that you shouldn’t feel second-class while gaming with it.
Both machines are coming to the US in May, with prices starting from $1,200, although you can expect that figure to climb as soon as you start speccing it up properly.
Acer
Now, for the Predators, with two new Helios models available with either 16- or an 18-inch display. Both have had their own muted, more professional redesign, and come with the choice of a 13th-generation Intel Core i7 or i9 processor, paired with a 40-series GeForce RTX GPU. Naturally, you can pair that with up to 32GB RAM and up to 2TB in storage, with other, less expensive spec options in the mix.
If theres a major shift in the components, it’s in the mini-LED backlit keyboard, which the company promises will offer less halo effect and smoother lighting effects. You will also be able to spot some gaps in the keyboard, as the laptop draws cool air in from between your fingers to help keep those beefy components working at the right temperature.
And speaking of which, one neat little addition is a pair of spare cowls for the laptop’s rear deck exhaust fans. These, we’re told, can be painted or customized in any way that you desire, letting you add a small touch of yourself to what’s otherwise the most anonymous part of the machine.
The 16-inch Helios will be making its way to these shores in March, with prices starting at $1,650, while the 18-incher won’t arrive until April, with a vanilla model costing you $1,700.
No shade on Acer before now, but I’ve always found its laptop naming scheme to be a little bit obtuse. For instance, can you tell me the qualitative difference between Acer’s Swift 3 and Swift 5 without looking? To address this, the company has dumped its odd-numbers system in favor of categorizing everything by screen size. So, here at CES, Acer is now showing off the Swift Go 14 and 16, as well as the Swift 14 and the Swift X 14 — although, on reflection, that’s still a lot of Swifts, isn’t it.
The Swift Go models are the successors of the Swift 3 series, mainstream machines with an eye on keeping things thin and light. There are two models, both of which get the option of three different displays, all of which are 16:10. The 14-inch unit gets the option of a (deep breath) 2,880 x 1,800 90Hz OLED display, a 2,240 x 1,400 IPS LCD or a 1,920 x 1,200 IPS LCD. The bigger sibling, meanwhile, gets the choice of a 16-inch 3,200 x 2,000 120Hz OLED, a 2,560 x 1,600 IPS LCD, or a 1,920 x 1,200 IPS LCD (one of which will be touch, but the spec sheet I have doesn’t say which one.)
Nestled inside, you’ll find the usual raft of spec-to-order 13th generation Intel Core processors, including the option of an H-series chip instead of a U. These, Acer say, will be able to run at full pelt thanks to the new-and-improved cooling in the new machines. That will be teamed up with up to 16GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 2TB of SSD storage, while both models have USB-C with Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, a microSD-card reader and a 1440p webcam. If you’re looking to snap one up, you’ll have to wait until May for the 14-inch model and June for the 16-incher, with prices starting from $850 for the former and $800 for the latter.
Acer
In the middle of the pack, you’ll find Acer’s suffix-free Swift 14 (formerly the Swift 5), of which the company has little to talk about, compared to its siblings. That’s a shame, because it might also be the best-looking, with the dark green and copper model destined to become an object of unbridled desire. Weighing in at 2.64 pounds, the Evo-certified machine offers a choice of 13th-generation Intel Core processors. And you’ll get the pick of two different touchscreens, a 1,920 x 1,200 panel or a glitzier 2,560 x 1,600 model. Connectivity-wise, it’s also blessed, with two USB-C, HDMI-out, 3.5mm and a pair of USB A sockets, perfect for those of us who haven’t upgraded all our accessories. If this model catches your fancy (have I mentioned how good looking it is) then it’ll hit these shores in April, with the base model priced at $1,400.
Acer
Last, but quite obviously not least is the flagship Swift X 14, although there’s less that’s new and gosh-darn exciting to mention about this unit. It’ll offer H-series Intel Core chips paired with a new GeForce RTX GPU, the name of which hasn’t yet been disclosed. Here, the company says that the NVIDIA Studio-rated machine will get the benefit of lots of new cooling, thanks to a new air inlet keyboard that draws air in between your fingers. You’ll be staring into either a 14.5-inch 2,880 x 1,800 120Hz OLED display or a 14.5-inch 2,560 x 1,600 IPS LCD unit. And, much like the other machines in the refresh, you’ll get a 1440p webcam to capture the full extent of your beauty as you share it with the world. This model will land in the US in April, with the base model priced at $1,100, although I’d imagine any half decent spec will push that figure up pretty swiftly.
Data is a useful tool in any battle, especially if you’re opting to wage war against your waistline in an attempt to be healthier. Back in 2007, I bought a dirt-cheap scale and drew my own graph sheets in order to chart my weight’s downward progress after a rough year at university. I think that while 2007 me wouldn’t be pleased with my own fitness journey, he would love the fact that the process is entirely automated, and affordable. Consequently, allow me to take you (and him) on a journey to pick the best smart scale to help you on your own journey toward behavior change.
Safety
There are valid reasons to weigh yourself, but your self-worth shouldn’t be defined by the number that shows up between your feet. If you’re looking to alter your body shape, that figure could go up as your waistline goes down, since muscle weighs more than fat. Dr. Anne Swift, Director of public health teaching at the University of Cambridge, said that “weighing yourself too often can result in [you] becoming fixated on small fluctuations day-to-day, rather than the overall trend over time.” Swift added that “it’s sometimes better to focus on how clothes fit, or how you feel, rather than your weight.”
(A meta-analysis from 2016 found there may be some negative psychological impact from self weighing. A 2018 study, however, said that there may be a positive correlation between regular weigh-ins and accelerated weight loss. It can be a minefield, and I’d urge you to take real care of yourself and remember that success won’t happen overnight.)
What to look for in a smart scale
Weight
A weighing scale that weighs you is probably the top requirement, right? One thing to bear in mind is that, with all these measurements, the figures won’t be as accurate as a calibrated, clinical scale. Consequently, it’s better to focus on the overall trend up or down over time, rather than the figures in isolation.
Connectivity
Most scales will either connect to your phone over Bluetooth, or to your home’s WiFi network, and you should work out your regular weighing routine ahead of time. A lot of lower-end, Bluetooth-only models will only record your weight when your phone is present and don’t keep local records. That means if you routinely leave your phone outside the bathroom, you could lose that day’s stats. WiFi-connected scales, on the other hand, post your stats to a server, letting you access them from any compatible device. But you need to be mindful that there’s a small risk to your privacy should that information be compromised.
Bone density
The stronger your bones, the less you’re at risk from breaks and osteoporosis, which you should keep in mind as you get older. Clinical bone density tests use low-power x-rays but higher-end scales can offer an approximation from your own bathroom. These tests pass a small current through your feet, measuring the resistance as it completes its journey. The resistance offered by bones, fat and muscle are all different, and your scale can identify the difference.
Body fat percentage and muscle mass
Fat and muscle are necessary parts of our makeup, but an excessive amount of either can be problematic. Much like bone density, a scale can identify both your body fat and muscle mass percentages using Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). This measurement tests how well your body resists the electrical signal passing through your body. (It’s a rough rule of thumb that you should have a 30/70 percent split between fat and muscle, but please consult a medical professional for figures specific to your own body and medical needs.)
BMI
A lot of scales offer a BMI calculation, and it’s easy to do since you just plot height and weight on a set graph line. Body Mass Index is, however, a problematic measurement that its critics say is both overly simplistic and often greatly misleading. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common clinical metrics and medical professionals will use it to make judgements about your care.
Pulse Wave Velocity
French health-tech company Withings has offered Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV) on its flagship scale for some time, although regulatory concerns meant it was withdrawn for a period of time. It’s a measurement of arterial stiffness, which acts as a marker both of cardiovascular risk and also other health conditions. I’ve had anecdotal reports that PWV scales have sent people to the doctor, where they’ve found they were close to a cardiac event. It’s worth saying, as with all of these technologies, that there is limited, albeit positive, research into how accurate these systems are.
Display
Less a specification and more a note that smart scales have displays ranging from pre-printed LCDs or digital dot matrix layouts through to color screens. On the high end, your scale can show you trending charts for your weight and other vital statistics, and can even tell you the day’s weather. If you are short-sighted, and plan on weighing yourself first thing in the morning, before you’ve found your glasses / contacts, opt for a big, clear, high-contrast display.
App and subscriptions
You’ll spend most of your time looking at your health data through its companion app, and it’s vital you get a good one. This includes a clear, clean layout with powerful tools to visualize your progress and analyze your data to look for places you can improve. Given that you often don’t need to buy anything before trying the app, it’s worth testing one or two to see if you vibe with it.
Several companies also offer premium subscriptions, unlocking other features – including insights and coaching – to go along with your hardware. Fitbit and Withings both offer these services, which you may feel is worth the extra investment each month.
Data portability
Using the same scale or app platform for years at a time means you’ll build up a massive trove of personal data. And it is, or should be, your right to take that data to another provider when you choose to move platforms in the future. Data portability is, however, a minefield, with different platforms offering wildly different options, making it easy (or hard) to go elsewhere.
All of the devices in this round-up will allow you to export your data to a .CSV file, which you can then do with as you wish. Importing this information is trickier, with Withings and Garmin allowing it, and Omron, Xiaomi, Eufy and Fitbit not making it that easy. (Apps that engage with Apple Health, meanwhile, can output all of your health data in a .XML file.)
Power
It’s not a huge issue but one worth bearing in mind that each scale will either run disposable batteries (most commonly 4xAAA) or with its own, built-in battery pack. Sadly, all of our crop of smart scales use batteries, adding an environmental and financial cost to your scale life. That’s just about forgivable for scales that cost under $100, but this stretches even to the highest-end models. When you’re spending more than that on a device, the lack of a rechargeable cell feels very, very cheap indeed.
The smart scales we tested
For this guide, I tested six scales from major manufacturers:
Our cheapest model, Xiaomi / Mi’s Body Composition Scale 2 is as bare-bones as you can get, and it shows. It often takes a long while to lock on to get your weight, and when it does you’ll have to delve into the Zepp Life-branded app in order to look at your extra data. But you can’t fault it for the basics, offering limited weight and body composition for less than the price of a McDonald’s for four.
Fitbit, now part of Google, is the household name for fitness gear in the US, right? If not, then it must be at least halfway synonymous with it. The Aria Air is the company’s stripped-to-the-bare bones scale, offering your weight and little else, but you can trust that Fitbit got the basics right. Not to mention that most of the reason for buying a Fitbit product is to leverage its app anyway.
Eufy’s Smart Scale P2 Pro has plenty of things to commend it – the price, the overall look and feel (it’s a snazzy piece of kit) and what it offers. It offers a whole host of measurements, including Body Fat, Muscle Mass, Water, Body Fat Mass and Bone Mass, as well as calculating things like your Basal Metabolic Rate (the amount of calories you need to eat a day to not change weight at all) all from inside its app. In fact, buried beneath the friendly graphic, the scale offers a big pile of stats and data that should, I think, give you more than a little coaching on how to improve your lifestyle.
Shortly before publication, Anker – Eufy’s parent company – was identified as having misled users, and the media, about the security of its products. Its Eufy-branded security cameras, which the company says does not broadcast video outside of your local network, was found to be allowing third parties to access streams online. Consequently, while we have praised the Eufy scale for its own features, we cannot recommend it without a big caveat.
Given its role in making actual medical devices, you know what you’re getting with an Omron product. A solid, reliable, sturdy, strong (checks the dictionary for more synonyms) dependable piece of kit. There’s no romance or excitement on show, but you can trust that however joyless it may be, it’ll do the job in question. The hardware is limited, the app is limited, but it certainly (checks synonyms again) is steady.
Joking aside, Omron’s Connect app is as bare-bones as you can get, since it acts as an interface for so many of its products. Scroll over to the Weight page, and you’ll get your weight and BMI reading, and if you’ve set a goal, you can see how far you’ve got to go to reach it. You can also switch to seeing a trend graph which, again, offers the most basic visualization on offer.
Garmin’s got a pretty massive fitness ecosystem of its own, so if you’re already part of that world, its scale is a no-brainer. On one hand, the scale is one of easiest to use, and most luxurious of the bunch, with its color screen and sleek design. I’m also a big fan of the wealth of data the scale throws at you – you can see a full color graph charting your weight progress, and the various metrics it tracks in good detail. If there’s a downside, it’s that Garmin’s setup won’t hold your hand, since it’s for serious fitness people, not newbies.
At the highest end, Withings’ flagship Body Comp is luxurious, and luxuriously priced, a figure I’d consider to be “too much” to spend on a bathroom scale. For your money, however, you’ll get a fairly comprehensive rundown of your weight, body fat, vascular age, pulse wave velocity and electrodermal activity. Its monochrome dot matrix display may not be as swish as the Garmin’s, but it refreshes pretty quickly and feels very in-keeping with the hardware’s overall sleek look. If there’s a downside, it’s that Withings ditched the rechargeable battery found in the Body Cardio (its former flagship, and an excellent scale I’d recommend if it were within the parameters of this guide) in favor of AAA batteries. Which, when you’re spending this much on a scale, makes me feel very nickel-and-dimed.
The best cheap smart scale: Fitbit Aria Air, Mi Body Composition Scale 2
It’s very competitive at the low end, and Xiaomi and Fitbit offer dramatically contrasting products for a very low price. Fitbit’s scale has far fewer features, but has better build quality, is faster and more reliable than its cheaper rival. Crucially, it also leverages Fitbit’s own app, which is a long refined and easy-to-use app that offers clean, easy-to understand visualizations.
Xiaomi, meanwhile, offers weight and some basic body composition checks, although this extra data is only visualized inside the app. From a data perspective, the Xiaomi has the edge, but its companion app – formerly Mi Fit, now branded as Zepp Life – is terrible. The lag time for each weigh-in, too, leaves a lot to be desired with the Xiaomi, although I had no qualms about its accuracy.
When I was a kid, and complained about something, my nan would say “look, you can either have a first class walk or a third class ride.” And Fitbit’s scale here is the very definition of a first class ride – polished, snappy and with a world-class app by its side. The Xiaomi, meanwhile, offers more for your money, and charges less, but both hardware and software lack any sort of polish. It’s therefore up to you if you’d rather the first class walk or the third class ride.
The best scale for people who want features (and aren’t fussed about security): Eufy’s P2 Pro
Well, this is awkward. Not long before this guide was published, it was revealed that Eufy is in the midst of a massive security issue. Researchers found that its security cameras, which were promised to be secure, allowed internet users to access the stream using VLC player. Consequently the high praise for Eufy’s P2 Pro I have as a scale will need to be moderated by the fact that we don’t yet know how deep the company’s promises around privacy and security really run.
It’s unfortunate, as the scale does leap head-and-shoulders above the competition at this level, and it surpassed my expectations by quite a bit. The ease of use was one thing, but the depth of data made available in the app, and the way it presents that information, is fantastic. While I don’t think the Eufy Life app is better than, say, Withings’ class-leading Health Mate, it offers exactly what a would-be weight-watcher would need.
The fact you can get plenty of your vital statistics graphed by hitting two buttons helps you visualize your progress, but the stat dashboard laying out everything, including your BMR, is so useful. If you’re going all Quantified Self, you could theoretically calculate your daily calorie intake to the finest of fine margins looking at this thing every morning.
The best scale for athletes: Garmin Index S2
I’m very partial to Garmin’s Index S2, but I also think it’s the sort of scale that needs to be used by people who know what they’re doing. Almost everything about the hardware is spot-on, and the only fly in its ointment is the low refresh rate on its color screen. I can’t say how upsetting it was to see the display refresh in such a laggy, unpolished manner, especially when you’re spending this much money. But that’s my only complaint, and the rest of the hardware (and software) is otherwise pitch-perfect. If you’re looking to alter your body shape, this probably isn’t the scale for you – it’s the scale you buy once you already calculate your BMR on a daily basis.
The best scale for the worried well: Withings Body Comp
Naturally, if you’re looking for a machine that’ll cater to your every whim and hypochondriac urge, then Withings’ Body Comp is the way forward. It’s a luxury scale in every sense of the word, and you should appreciate the level of polish and technology on show here. Apart from the batteries, which I’ve already said is a cheap and nasty way to save money given that you’re dropping this much money on a product.
The group of people who think it’s reasonable to spend $200 on a scale is, especially with food and energy prices spiking, a fairly small one. But if you’re the sort who already spends hand over fist to keep your body in check, this is probably justifiable as an “investment.” Knowing all of the extras about your nerve health and arteries is a bonus, but let’s be clear and say this isn’t the scale for everybody. Hell, you might have second thoughts even if you do have a subscription to Good Yachting Magazine.
You’ve heard the joke about the US Navy vessel and its unidentified opponent that won’t get out of the way. Its Captain, outraged at its refusal, barks into the radio that he’ll sink them if they don’t reconsider, to which the opponent responds “Sir, this is a lighthouse.” I suspect that the truth it speaks to – some people want to steam ahead with what they want, regardless of the material facts – is something everyone can recognize. And it’s also true that the ones who are most convinced of their rightness are the ones who don’t notice the proverbial lighthouses looming on the horizon.
I think it’s a mindset that Silicon Valley types train themselves into because it’s part of the myth-making that takes place there. Star innovators who defied common opinion, and logic, to forge their own path and make a fortune from something everyone else had missed. It’s rarely true, but it’s a useful narrative to cling to, and it’s easier to portray yourself as swimming alone against a tide of hostility (or indifference), especially if you interpret valid criticism as obstinate censure. It’s an attitude that’ll get you far, for sure, but can often leave you open to calamities that others might have avoided.
Take Meta, which bragged back in October that it had invested blown $10 billion on its mediocre VR environments Metaverse ambitions. When the company said that its cutesy avatars were getting legs (the must-have accessory for any digital avatar in 2022) there was scoffing. The scoffing got louder when it turns out that the leg animations used in the demo were, in fact, faked. $10 billion for that, in this economy? Either VR feature development really is more expensive than curing world hunger, or Mark Zuckerberg’s being had.
The narrative, intentionally or otherwise, is that Zuckerberg is leading a spirited, one-man quest to own whatever the internet will evolve into. I’ll admit, it’s not the dumbest move, given that while Facebook remains massively profitable, its long-term future remains uncertain. It’s just a shame that his bet seems to be a perpetually-sunny, cel-shaded version of the world from Neuromancer rather than anything better. And, to be honest, all of the non-tech people I know have looked at VR demos and politely decided that they’d much rather stick with anything else.
Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale
Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
Part of this is because so many tech leaders are in their post-imperial phase, beheading anyone who dares suggest the kingdom is in ruins. It means the information handed to dear leaders is scrubbed-free of anything that could anger them, thinning their already thin skin. (Elon Musk has a knack for firing anyone who disagrees with him, even if he’s been proven wrong.) Worse, is that as they surround themselves with sycophants, they become increasingly unaware of their own blind spots.
For instance, we’re expected to hit a deep recession as energy and food prices continue to leap up. People are looking for ways to save money, but still want to hook onto whatever exciting fad is coming around the corner. Instead of spending $10 billion on… legs, why didn’t Meta use half of that money to reduce the barriers of entry to would-be VR users? $5 billion could have easily been used to discount the price of a Quest 2 to between $99 and $199 for several million people. Yes, you’d be forcing things a little, but imagine how many people would buy Beat Saber in the run-up to the holidays. Sadly, it’s hard to care about the material concerns of normal people when the closest thing you’ve got to a nearby normal person is (Facebook's President of Global Affairs) Nick Clegg leashed to your gatepost, attacking any would-be visitors and biting the mailman.
Then there’s Sam Bankman-Fried (and his cohort), who at the time of writing has just been arrested for all of the things he’s done. Now, I have to admit, events are moving so fast that it’s hard to come up with anything pithy about SBF, FTX, Alameda and everything else. But it already looks like we’re going to have to endure at least two competing prestige miniseries about All Of This. It’s just a shame that after the freewheeling cons of Theranos, WeWork and Uber, we’re not learning any of our lessons and are, instead, enabling these crooks.
Now, I could repeat much of what’s already been written about crypto this year, but I don’t think there would be much point. Between you and me, I think that the crypto world is going to fall into terminal decline in the not-too distant future. There are only so many major exchanges that can collapse, wiping out people’s cash, before would-be converts start deciding that less risky ventures are for them. And without the constant supply of new fools, the bloodbath of people trying to turn their digital fortunes into real ones will crater Bitcoin’s value.
What I’d rather talk about is the culture that enabled Bankman-Fried to garner so much public attention as he did. And that means talking about the media, which gave him so much space and praise as to prematurely sanctify an unreliable, or untrustworthy, figure. Was he enabled and feted by an industry that’s desperate to find and groom future superstars? It makes sense, given you need celebrities to sell print editions, and be keynote speakers at those live events which apparently generate the bulk of the cash those publications rake in.
Since there’s nobody else who fits into the mold of that fictional US Navy captain, I’d like to talk about my plans for 2023. I’ve decided to become a Tesla mechanic, since so many of those cars seem to need mechanical repair after they’ve left the factory. Now, I don’t know anything about electronics, engineering, automotive technology, wiring repair, aerodynamics, software design, LIDAR, autonomous systems, safety legislation, wheel dynamics or power efficiency, but I reckon it’s both really easy, and bound to be super profitable.
News about arbitrary suspension of journalists on Twitter is worrying. EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. This is reinforced under our #MediaFreedomAct. @elonmusk should be aware of that. There are red lines. And sanctions, soon.
And, let’s be clear, I can just open the hood of your Tesla and start ripping out the wiring looms, because anyone who disagrees with me is suffering from the woke mind virus. I’ll hire a couple of kids who scrawled penises on the walls of their middle school, because that’s really funny. Maybe I should use my wealth to buy an independent EV repair store, although I might need to let some of the qualified EV mechanics go in order to recoup the enormous purchase price. I’ll also let the payroll, tax, accounts and safety crew go too, because who needs ‘em, right?
Now, get out of my way, I’ve got a lighthouse to move.
We’re not that far away from CES, where we should expect new chip announcements from Intel and AMD. That’s normally followed by a raft of Windows 11 laptop announcements that use the new silicon, but Lenovo has decided to get its news out of the door well ahead of time. Unfortunately, that means there’s some vague references to next-generation chips from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA. But you can probably guess when those details will be filled in, and what they’ll likely represent.
Of the many machines Lenovo has announced today, only a handful are coming to the US, such as the IdeaPad Pro 5 and 5i. This is coming in 14- and 16-inch variants, both of which will only come with Intel’s “next-gen” Core i5 and i7 options, with the option of a 14-inch 2.2k display or a 2.8k 120Hz screen, while the 16-inch comes with a 2.5K 120Hz model by default. Lenovo adds that you can expect “enhanced performance” thanks to better thermals, allowing for a cooler and quieter experience overall. Other tweaks for these machines include a 25 percent larger touchpad, a new FHD IR webcam with a Time of Flight sensor and, for the 16-inch model, an SSD expandable storage slot.
As for the IdeaPad Slim, you’ll be able to pick up the Slim 5i with a 16-inch display, packing Intel’s as-yet unnamed processor. You’ll also be able to snag a 16-inch Slim 5 with options for AMD’s Ryzen 3 (7330U), 5 (7530U) or 7 (7730U) processor, although you’re stuck with a 60Hz display no matter which option you go for. With one eye on privacy, these new models get a physical shutter on the webcam. The only other major change is the greater choice in paint jobs, since you’ll now be able to grab them in Violet, Cloud Grey and Abyss Blue.
In terms of availability, Lenovo is saying that these models won’t reach the US until May 2023, with prices for the 16-inch 5i starting at $1,500. The Slim 5, meanwhile, will start at $650 for the AMD edition, while the Intel-toting 5i is priced at $750.
Allow me to pull the curtain back on something that happens when you get to spend some time with a very early phone prototype: Often, there’s a list of conditions that mean you can’t really talk about your experiences in a specific manner. Bear this in mind when I talk about this prototype Honor Magic VS that I’ve been diddling around with for the last few days. I’m actually pretty impressed by it, although I’ve been asked not to make any solid conclusions about its non-final hardware, software, imaging, performance and display quality.
The Magic VS is the company’s second folding phone, albeit the first that’ll be available on sale outside of China when it hits selected global markets at the start of 2023. It’s a close cousin of Honor’s first folder, the Magic V, which was first released at the start of 2022, and this feels like a polish, rather than an evolution, of the existing model. The major difference is a vastly redesigned hinge with far fewer parts, which should make it more reliable. And the company promises that the handset will withstand 400,000 folds, or more than 100 per day for the better part of a decade. It’s also two grams lighter than Samsung’s Z Fold 4, which Honor is very proud of, but it’s still only two grams.
The rest of the differences between the Magic VS and the Magic V are all fairly minor; a 5,000mAh battery, up from the last model’s 4,750mAh. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 gets swapped for an 8+, and there’s one major change on the imaging front. Whereas the V was packing a trio of 50-megapixel lenses, the VS dropped the third in favor of an 8-megapixel, f/2.4 3x optical zoom. Of course, I can’t talk about the power of those beefy zoom lenses, or the speed at which it takes an image. Or that, much like many other Android handsets, you do wish that images weren’t so washed out.
As for the displays, you’ll find the 6.45-inch exterior OLED screen is no slouch, especially since it has a refresh rate of up to 120Hz. Honor knows that most people will default to the external display for the bulk of their smartphone use, and so it’s almost the first thought here. The 21:9 ratio is still cramped, and initially disorientating, but it’s hardly a deal breaker. And, if I’m honest, you’ll accept a slightly narrow external display in order to get at that 7.9-inch, foldable OLED inside. Now, it’s not as high-res, or as fast (it tops out at 90Hz) but it’s just so much bigger that you’ll want to use it as much as you possibly can.
Daniel Cooper
Honor says that the display is “creaseless,” a term which I’ll take a small amount of issue with, if only because there’s no such thing. Hold the device face-on and, when watching video or browsing, you’ll barely notice the crease unless you catch the light at a bad angle. Sit anywhere off center, and you can see the bumps in the terrain just fine – but that’s not to say that this is a dealbreaker at all. Just that some promises sound better on paper than they do when you’re looking at a very faint ridge in a flexible OLED display.
One thing I can talk about is the hinge, which helps the two halves of the handset fold flat (except for the dreaded camera bump) and sit very comfortably in my pocket. No doubt, this is still a hulking slab of a device, with a 6.45-inch display that’ll be uncomfortable if you’ve a penchant for ultra-skinny jeans. But if you’re looking for something that’ll pull double duty as a slate, this feels like the most elegant in the admittedly limited pantheon.
I probably can’t draw conclusions about the speed of the power button-mounted fingerprint sensor, or the camera face unlock. Certainly, you wouldn’t expect a Snapdragon 8+ handset to stutter, especially when it’s paired with 12GB storage, as is the case here. Honor gave strict instructions not to test app performance on the device, but I can’t imagine that – given the performance of what’s pre-loaded, this device will struggle to deal with much. I did try out a very popular Battle Royale-type game, that I won’t name to respect Honor’s wishes, and it ran beautifully.
The Magic VS won’t ship with, but does support, Honor’s Magic Pen stylus input, which I’d say is a good start, but not really what this device should be about. After all, the benefit of a device like this is in what it can offer you when you need to get a little blast of focused work done when you’re out and about. (Okay, that’s my interest, I’m sure others just want a bigger screen to play Fortnite on, and that’s absolutely okay.) If Honor shipped this thing with a little stand and a matching wireless keyboard (or both) then I can see it becoming every commuter's dream purchase.
Now, here’s something that I think should make the folks over at Samsung feel just a little bit jittery. It’s an imperfect comparison, but imagine you’re keeping an eye on the Z Fold 4, currently retailing for $1,700 in the US. Honor’s planning on selling the Magic VS for 7,499RMB in China, which shakes out to around $1,048. Now, for one, Honor probably won’t sell to the US market, and taxes and exchange rates will play their part. But if the final version of this handset can offer something very similar to the Z Fold 4 for a significantly lower price, I can imagine it turning plenty of would-be Fold owners’ heads.
Now, as I said, I can’t make any solid conclusions about this device, but what I can say is that I really think it’s worthy of a full review when it hits global markets early next year. And that there’s enough here to say that Honor may be making a very compelling case to be spoken about as a fair competitor to Samsung at the highest end of the Android space.
Slow Horses was something of a slow-burning surprise when its first season launched back in April. It was yet another Apple TV hit whose marketing hadn’t done well enough to connect with audiences, relying instead on word of mouth. What viewers found, however, was a low-stakes spy drama with the sort of pulpy, throwback thrills that you rarely see in our more self-serious age. Mixed with a shot or two of black comedy, and it made for a surprisingly gripping package I felt compelled to rave about back in April.
The show’s second season, which returns to Apple TV+ on December 2nd, carries on in that vein, albeit with less of the show’s trademark humor. It focuses, once again, on the staff members of Slough House, the closest thing MI5 has to purgatory for disgraced intelligence officers. Led by the “colorful” Jackson Lamb, the Slow Horses are often left doing administrative donkeywork nobody else thinks is worth doing. Of course, you wouldn’t have a series if the misfits weren’t frequently embroiled in the grander machinations of the intelligence community.
Season Two is based on Dead Lions, the second in Herron’s series of Slough House novels, and focuses on Lamb’s investigation of the death of a former officer. Apple’s usual ban on spoilers means that, of the plot, I can only say that it features “long-buried Cold War secrets” which “threaten to bring carnage to the streets of London.” Oh, and that “when a liaison with Russian villains takes a fatal turn, our hapless heroes must overcome their individual failings and raise their spy game in a race to prevent a catastrophic incident.”
We pick up shortly after the first season, with the Horses frustrated that their heroics haven’t led to better things. Instead, the team has been bolstered with Shirley Dander (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) and Marcus Longridge (Kadiff Kirwan) and put back on regular duties. That has, understandably, left River Cartwright (Jack Lowden) in something of a funk. But when a former agent is found dead on a bus, it suddenly piques Jackson Lamb’s (Gary Oldman) interest enough to return to work in the field.
Given that the first two six-episode seasons were shot in a single run, it’s no surprise that the show expects you to recall much of what happened in the first run. But, despite the continuous production, there’s a big tonal shift here, with the show getting darker and dropping some of its trademark wit and humor. And, I’ll be honest, the running gag about Jackson Lamb’s lack of personal hygiene and non-stop farting starts to get a bit thin by the end.
Fans of the books will already know why the series takes a darker turn, although I found some of the twists were initially a bit lightweight. Maybe years of watching series where nothing we see can be believed meant I was always waiting for a non-existent second shoe to drop. None exist here in the Slow Horses universe, and when you see some beloved characters go, uh, to places you might not expect, be mindful that none of it is for show.
It’s not a show that you can watch with one eye on your phone, but it’s so briskly paced that if you blink, you might lose your place. I’d consider myself a close watcher of things, but even I found myself having to pause to work out which sinister Russian emigre was which. It doesn’t help that while you can see where all of the various plotlines are heading, their collision is a little predictable. But I’m nitpicking, and this isn’t the sort of show you need to unpick for hours on end on Reddit – just repeat to yourself it’s just a show, and you should really just relax.
And Slow Horses’ second season really belongs to Rosalind Eleazar (Guy) and Saskia Reeves (Standish), who are both given time and space to grow their characters. The former carries much of the major narrative this time around, while the latter again shows how much steel is buried underneath Standish’s downtrodden personae. But the show is democratic enough to give every character a grace note or two during the explosive, and gripping, finale.
Slow Horses season two will launch on Apple TV+ on Friday, December 2nd, with two new episodes, with subsequent episodes appearing every Friday through December 30th. A third and fourth season has already been greenlit.
