TCL, which is mostly known for its TVs and other electronics, has launched its very first laptop called the Book 14 Go. It's a 14.1-inch Windows 11 laptop that's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, with a 12-hour battery life and 4G LTE connectivity. While Snapdragon laptops are traditionally on the pricier side, the Book 14 Go will only set you back $349 when it launches in select regions in the second quarter.
The company was likely able to keep its price down, in part because it's powered by Qualcomm's affordable Snapdragon 7c platform meant for use with entry-level PCs and Chromebooks. Snapdragon 7c enables both LTE connectivity and lengthy battery life for laptops meant to be always switched on. TCL designed the Book 14 Go to be portable, with a depth of 13.95 mm and a body that weighs 2.9 pounds.
In addition to its first laptop, TCL has also announced its new NXTPAPER tablet, the 10s. The NXTPAPER 10s features the brand's full color paper-like display technology, which is a low-power reflective LCD that doesn't need backlighting. It has an anti-glare finish that allows you see what's playing from any angle and reduces blue light by over 50 percent. TCL says the display's attributes make looking at the screen more comfortable, thereby making it ideal for studying and for taking notes with its accompanying T Pen stylus. The NXTPAPER 10s will initially be available later this month in Europe and China for $249.
TCL
TCL will also release a pair of budget tablets, the $129 TAB 8 4G and the $99 TAB 10L, in the first quarter. If you're looking for even cheaper tablets for kids, it will release the $89 MINI, $149 MID and $119 MAX tablets in the same quarter for select markets, as well. All new tablets will come with support for the TCL Kids service that's launching in the second quarter to give subscribers access to a child-friendly library of educational and entertainment videos, storybooks and apps for $4 a month. TCL will also roll out Kids service support for the Book 14 Go laptop "soon."
If there’s an artist in your life the best gift you can give them is inspiration. Whether they’re a painter, writer, musician or anything else. Something to get their creative juices flowing will be welcome. Trust us. There are countless ways to spur creativity and aid the creative process — many of which don’t require spending any money, like meditation or simply taking a long walk. But there are tools out there that can help someone stretch beyond their comfort zone, or simply document and fine-tune their own ideas. From subscriptions, to books, to extremely bizarre instruments, here are the best gifts for the creative in your life.
You Are an Artist by Sarah Urist Green
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Penguin Books
It might seem counterintuitive, but sometimes just being told what to do is a great way to spur creativity. Because, truth is, rarely is the actually creative part in the original idea, but rather in the execution of it. The problem is, once someone leaves school nobody is giving them assignments any more. That’s where You Are an Artist comes in, a book compiled by Sarah Urist Green, the host of PBS’ The Art Assignment on YouTube. It’s a collection of 50 assignments crafted by a diverse set of artists to help get the creative on your list, well, creating.
Many of the assignments focus on visual arts, asking them to make endless copies of an image using a Xerox machine, or to take random photos of a location and make notes on details they might normally miss. But there are others that encourage them to hum or clap along with the sounds of traffic, or engage in word games. You Are an Artist is the sort of book they’ll probably revisit time and time again. — Terrence O'Brien, Managing Editor
The iPad has become a key tool for creatives over the years and arguably nothing has contributed to that more than the Apple Pencil. Most of the newest iPads support the second-generation Pencil and it’s admittedly much more convenient than the first purely for its magnetic charging method. But otherwise, the Apple Pencil is the best stylus I’ve ever used because it has little to no latency and that helps mimic the feeling of drawing with a traditional pen and paper.
While investing in a paper-like screen protector will blur the lines even further, you don’t have to do that to get an excellent experience from the Apple Pencil. Drawing is seamless, taking notes is a breeze (especially with iPadOS 15 if you use Apple’s Notes app) and the possibilities are endless once you get familiar with third-party programs like Procreate. Battery life is superb, too: I’ve spent hours drawing in Procreate or experimenting with different planner layouts in GoodNotes and I have yet to pause a session to recharge the Pencil. While the Apple Pencil hasn’t completely replaced traditional art forms for me, it’s certainly the most useful tool I own for when I want to be creative. — Valentina Palladino, Commerce Editor
The Freewrite smart typewriter is a niche device that would nonetheless make a wonderful present for any aspiring writer. Or, come to think of it, anyone who is already committed to the art of putting words to the page. The Freewrite combines an excellent mechanical keyboard with an E Ink display, and while it can get online to sync drafts to the web, that's the only thing it can do. There's no way to browse the web, play a game, or watch YouTube on the Freewrite, which makes it a lot easier to just sit down and get into a flow state. The E Ink screen and keyboard can take a little getting used to, but both things quickly become assets when just looking to get some writing done. And thanks to the low-power display, the Freewrite lasts for a week or two of heavy writing. At $600, it's a serious investment — but gifting one to an aspiring writer should give them great motivation to write that book they're always talking about. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Managing Editor
Decades worth of record label design offers a wellspring of visual aesthetics to kickstart your own creativity. There are even a few monoliths of music and design culture that succeeded in the record industry without succumbing to the corporate machine. Factory and Mute records are such creatures. Spawned in the UK in the late ‘70s (though only Mute remains today), both companies informed generations through tales of — sometimes careless — business tactics and quality curated output. In general, they were groups driven by a DIY aesthetic and creativity unhindered by official structure.
Not only did these labels champion freedom of musical expression and help drive new genres of music, but they also became an outlet for visual designers. Most notably, Peter Saville’s (found) cover art for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album (Factory) is ubiquitous today with its mountainous range of wavy lines. Spending time digging through either of these books which are chock full of art, music and history can get your creative juices flowing. Either are a welcome gift for family, friends or even yourself. — Jon Turi, Homepage Editor
I’ve gotten to the point in my cooking journey where trying recipes isn’t as interesting to me as learning new techniques. Do I have a pile of go-to recipes in my Paprika app? Yes, but now I’m more interested in mastering cooking methods that essentially set you up to make your own recipes from scratch. Ruhlman’s Twenty is one of the “cookbooks” I’ve been turning to the most in my quest, and if some of the concepts in the book may seem basic, that’s because they are. Most cooking shows and online recipe blogs don’t explain why they add an acid to a tomato sauce or how to get a perfectly crispy french fry rather than an oily, soggy mess — but this book does. It takes you back to basics, explaining the proper techniques behind different ways of cooking, so that you can understand what’s happening to your food as you prepare it. And don’t worry, it doesn’t read like a textbook and there are even complete recipes in there for you to follow if you wish. Ultimately, Ruhlman’s Twenty has made me a more competent cook who isn’t forced to consult a recipe every time I prepare a meal. — V.P.
A new instrument can be a decent way to snap someone out of a creative rut. But even better than a new instrument is a weird instrument. And if the musician in your life likes things on the weird side, I highly recommend the Make Noise Strega. It was designed in collaboration with Alessandro Cortini (touring member of Nine Inch Nails), and eschews most of your usual synth controls and makes sounds that are best described as weathered.
The front panel is a confounding array of glyphs and lines that look like something out of a book on the occult. The express goal of the Strega is to get someone experimenting — literally poking and prodding at the various touch panels that serve as modulation sources and destinations using a person's own body as a patch cable. It won’t be for everyone, but if you’re shopping for the kind of person who loves lo-fi warbles and nightmarish drones, they’ll love the Strega. — T.O.
Okay, calling the Sound Urchin an “instrument” might seem like a stretch, but the otherworldly sounds it creates are sure to inspire the musician in your life to tackle composing differently. It’s essentially a bunch of metal rods stuck to a guitar pedal enclosure with a microphone inside it. The rods aren’t really tuned in any traditional way, which allows for the creation of unexpected melodies, but it can also be a source of clanging percussion or ominous wails. When paired with some effects this strange little box is capable of being the basis for an entire composition — albeit a slightly odd one.
This particular recommendation came courtesy of Abby Santourian, a Chicago-based musician and music gear expert at Reverb who told Engadget via email: “For centuries, artists have been inspired by the sea, but I think this takes that idea to a new level…. When combined with other pedals and effects, the sonic possibilities and combinations are seriously endless.” — T.O.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Souvenir Press
If you’ve heard about Morning Pages, or Artist Dates, both are two core habits established inThe Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron’s decades-old book on creative practice. That’s probably the most straightforward way to describe this book, which walks you through a 12-week program of writing exercises and tasks, all aimed at freeing up your creative powers. The crux of it is demanding three pages of handwritten writing every day. While it’s often a stream of consciousness — and if your handwriting is atrocious, barely legible — Cameron’s advice is to simply put the writing out there, and see where it takes you. Famous fans include Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, Alicia Keys and practically half of the comedians whose podcasts I listen to, it seems. The book does get a little bit spiritual at times, which you may or may not be fine with, but the core exercises and ideas can be pretty powerful, especially if you’re in a creative rut, or simply looking to add more artistic output to your day-to-day life. — Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief
Another slightly weird instrument to consider is the Moog Subharmonicon. The sounds it produces are more “standard” than the Strega (for lack of a better term), but its sequencer and focus on subharmonics are anything but. It takes inspiration from a pair of early experimental electronic instruments — the Mixtur-Trautonium and the Rhythmicon. The Subharmonicon encourages one to explore the concepts of subharmonics and polyrhythms to create unexpected melodies and rhythms. It’s capable of that classic Moog sound, but it will also force someone out of their comfort zone. — T.O.
Sometimes a person doesn’t need whole new sounds to get the creative juices flowing, but just a new way of making those sounds. The Sensel Morph is an impressively portable and flexible MPE MIDI controller with amazing shapeshifting possibilities. It can be a piano, a pad-based drum machine, a sketch pad, or an obscure controller inspired by Don Buchla — the driving force of West Coast-style synthesis.
The Buchla Thunder overlay marries the expressive possibilities of the Morph with an approach to composing melodies and harmonies that it’s fairly safe to assume your giftee has never experienced. Instead of a traditional piano layout it’s a series of pads organized into a roughly bird-like shape that you’re supposed to tap and slide along to create unique timbres. Its unfamiliarity forces anyone to stop thinking about what they already know about playing music and focus instead on the results.
Plus, the Morph has a number of other overlays so, if the Thunder has worn out its welcome, it’s still incredibly useful and flexible. — T.O.
Sure it’s easy to just grab a drum loop from the top of the Splice charts and wind up sounding like everyone else. But there are far more interesting ways to find sounds. For one, search results can be shuffled. So, rather than just using the same Rhodes sample that thousands of other bedroom producers have relied on, a person can hit the shuffle button and grab something that might be flying under the radar. This technique can also be combined with searching for random terms on Splice, rather than pulling up specific instruments. (Just Google “random word generator” and use that as the basis for a search.) There are lots of interesting and sometimes strange sounds and loops to be found by searching for things like “clinic” and “preparation.”
The entry-level $10 Sounds+ plan includes 100 sample credits. But your giftee would probably really appreciate the upgrade to the Creator Plan. That includes 200 credits, plus access to Splice’s surprisingly excellent Astra soft synth, its Beatmaker drum machine plugin and a library of tutorials and lessons on music production under the Skills banner. Sometimes, when you’re not sure what to do, simply learning a new skill or trick can get the creative juices flowing again. — T.O.
A decent field recorder should be in pretty much every artist’s arsenal. For a musician, obviously, it’s valuable for recording samples and capturing impromptu jam sessions. Anyone can buy sample packs, sure, but building a custom drum kit from snapping twigs and the crunch of dead leaves is a surefire way to get someone thinking outside the box.
But even beyond that, it’s great for documenting ideas and finding inspiration. Yes, there are voice-note apps, but your giftee might like having a dedicated (and distraction-free) tool for documenting ideas, inspiring sounds and capturing interesting lectures or panels. A writer can set a recorder up and talk through the plot of a novel they’re working on, without worrying that their battery will die. Or a painter can record the ambience of a cafe they frequented while traveling in Paris and revisit it to find inspiration for a new work. — T.O.
The most famous bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe is taking center stage in his own show. Disney+ has offered a taste of what’s in store in The Book of Boba Fett with the first trailer for the series.
Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is now the crime lord of Tatooine. Fett was presumed dead after falling into the sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi, but he returned in The Mandalorian.
The trailer shows Fett and his partner Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen, also reprising her role from The Mandalorian) ruling over the desert planet's underworld. They attempt to maintain order among criminals, while fending off the threat of a coup. Fett seems more magnanimous than his former boss Jabba the Hutt, who'd have fed someone to one of his creatures over the smallest perceived slight. Fett, however, allows his critics to speak freely.
We'll get to learn more about this new era of crime on Tatooine when The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Disney+ on December 29th. Meanwhile, season three of The Mandalorian is in production, but it's not clear when that show will return to the streaming service.
Horizon Forbidden West, probably the biggest PlayStation exclusive announced since the PS5 launch, is set to arrive in February. With the release date coming soon, developer Guerilla Games is opening pre-orders and detailing the many different editions of the game that will be available on February 18th, 2022.
Perhaps the most important thing most buyers will need to know is that the standard "launch" editions of Horizon Forbidden West, whether you're buying a physical or digital copy, will only work on a single console. (You can clearly see this stated in an FAQ Sony published today.) Even though the game is being released for both PS4 and PS5, you'll have to choose which console you want and stick with that; there's no ability to upgrade for a fee later. As with most AAA games these days, the PS4 versions costs $60 and the PS5 $70. There are also special edition steelbook version for both consoles that also include a mini art book and digital copy of the soundtrack for $10 more.
If you're really not sure which console to buy for, there's a digital deluxe edition that might be the way to go. For $80 (the same as the PS5 steelbook version), you'll get the game on both PS4 and PS5. It also comes with a number of digital goodies including the art book, soundtrack, a digital comic and some in-game outfits and items. One unlock we haven't heard of before is for the game's photo mode; you'll unlock special face paint and a unique pose for Aloy.
As with other popular AAA titles, there are a couple of lavish and expensive editions for hardcore fans (like the author of this post). The highlight of the $200 Collector's Edition is a seemingly massive statue of the game's Tremortusk enemy alongside a much smaller statue of Aloy. It also includes the same physical art book and steelbook display case that comes with the special editions, plus all the digital gear included with the deluxe edition.
Sony
The $260 "Regalla" edition (so named for an enemy faction in the new game) steps things up with an even more detailed statue that includes special armor and enemy warriors riding the Tremortusk. It also includes two artwork cards, a replica of Aloy's Focus, a canvas map and two replicas of "Strike" pieces from the game. Strike is apparently a type of board game that the characters in Horizon Forbidden West play; we'll have to learn more about them later.
Both of these massive editions come with the game for both PS4 and PS5 — but, they do not include the game on disc. Instead, you'll receive a download card. It makes some degree of sense, given that Sony now sells a PS5 with no disc drive, but it's definitely a bummer for people who don't want to have to wait for what will surely be a massive game download.
Confused yet? Let's make it simple: If you want both PS4 and PS5 versions, you'll need to spend $80 on the digital deluxe edition, which is not a bad idea considering you get the two game versions plus a bunch of digital goodies for only 10 bucks more than the standard PS5 edition. The other option is buying the pricey Collector's or Regalla editions. But if you're set on buying a disc, you'll have to stick with whatever console you pick when you buy it, as there are no plans to offer an upgrade path to the PS5.
You can see and pre-order all the various editions here.
After jumping into comics earlier this year, Substack is entering in a bigger way by signing several major creators to its platform, the New York Times has reported. The new slate of writers includes Saladin Ahmed, Jonathan Hickman, Molly Ostertag, Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV, with other writers and artists to be announced at a later date.
As with other Substack writers, comics creators will send their work out in a newsletter format and charge subscribers directly for their work. During the first year, they'll be paid by Substack which will take most of the subscription revenue, and after that, the platform will take a 10 percent cut. Creators will retain ownership of all their materials.
Tynion IV, who recently won the Eisner award for his work on DC's Batman and other titles, said he'll work on Substack exclusively. "This wasn’t an easy decision," he told the NY Times. "In order to invest my time in new material, I needed to choose. I could not do both."
DC had presented me with a three-year renewal of my exclusive contract, with the intent of me working on Batman for the bulk of that time. I was grateful of the offer, but I couldn’t help but look at the success of my original, creator owned titles and wonder if it was the right choice.
Substack first got into comics back in June when it signed Marvel's Amazing Spider-Man writer Nick Spencer. Spencer reportedly spearheaded the idea and was the liaison between Substack and newly signed creators. On top of comic book stories, they'll publish, essays, how-to guides and other content on the platform.
Until recently, Substack has mostly focused on newsletters covering politics, technology and more. Comics, meanwhile, have been around forever on the web, but have largely been funded by ads and merchandise sales. By joining with Substack, creators will be able to engage directly with readers in a model that more closely resembles comic book sales.
In his Substack launch post, Tynion said that he effectively turned down a three-year renewal of his DC Batman contract when Substack signed him "to create a new slate of original comic book properties directly on their platform, that my co-creators and I would own completely," he wrote. "I’m going to dedicate my whole brain to building a bunch of really cool stuff on my own terms, without having to get permission from any publisher to make it."
Walter Isaacson, the author behind the 2011 Steve Jobs biography published shortly after his death, is currently writing Elon Musk's life story. Fox Business reported back in June that the famous writer was in talks with Musk about the possibility of writing a book on him. The author was reportedly yet to make a decision back then, but now Musk has confirmed on Twitter than Isaacson is writing his biography covering his work on Tesla, SpaceX and his "general goings on."
If you’re curious about Tesla, SpaceX & my general goings on, @WalterIsaacson is writing a biography
As CNET notes, there's already an official published biography on the entrepreneur entitled Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping our Future. It was written by Ashlee Vance and was published in 2015. Since then, though, Tesla has launched the Model 3, which became the world's best-selling electric car. It was also only later in 2015 that SpaceX first achieved the successful landing and recovery of a rocket's first stage. In 2017, the private space company made history when it successfully relaunched its reusable Falcon 9 rocket for the first time. Four years later, SpaceX launched four astronauts to the ISS on a Dragon capsule used in a previous mission on top of a reused Falcon 9 booster.
Isaacson's Jobs biography was adapted by Aaron Sorkin into a film starring Michael Fassbender and directed by Danny Boyle. He also wrote biographies on Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna, who's known for her work in CRISPR gene editing. While he didn't respond to Musk's announcement, he has been retweeting SpaceX-related content since June.
As it promised last month, Amazon has launched its serialized fiction Kindle Vella store that lets you unlock episodic, self-published stories via in-app purchases. The new platform is a way for readers to discover new fiction and a new way for authors to generate revenue from the Kindle Direct Publishing service.
While the name might suggest otherwise, Kindle Vella isn't available on Amazon's Kindle e-readers. Rather, you'll only find it on Amazon.com or the Kindle iOS app (no Android for now). To start with, the service will be limited to US-based authors who publish stories in English.
The serialized stories will run from 600 to 5,000 words per episode, with the first three offered for free. To see subsequent episodes, you'll need to pay for "tokens," with prices ranging from $2 for 200 tokens up to $15 for 1,700 tokens. The latter will give you about 34 episodes, though prices per episode depend on the word count — the more words, the more you'll have to spend.
Authors, meanwhile, will receive 50 percent of the revenue along with bonuses based on engagement with the app's social media-style features. To that end, readers can follow stories to be notified of new episodes, leave a thumbs up for episodes they like, apply a "Fave" for their favorite story of the week (provided they purchase tokens), and share on Twitter, Facebook and other social media. To boost engagement, authors can speak directly to readers at the end of episodes to "share story insights and behind-the-scenes content," Amazon wrote.
Since Amazon opened Vella to authors three months ago, "thousands of authors" have published "tens of thousands of Kindle Vella episodes across dozens of genres and microgenre," Amazon said. Authors appear to be interested as well. "I’ve published close to 30 novels, and I’m enjoying the adventure of writing The Marriage Auction in this new format,” said bestselling author Audrey Carlan in a statement. Whether or not the format takes off now depends on readers — to try it out, you can access Vella here.
Sony hasn't forgotten about one of the PSVR's hidden gems. During its State of Play showcase on Thursday, the company shared the trailer for Moss: Book II. It's the sequel to Polyarc's excellent 2018 Moss, which featured a cute mouse named Quill as its heroine.
The trailer sets the stage for the story that will unfold. After successfully rescuing her uncle in the first game, Quill now finds herself the target of a winged tyrant. As in the original, you'll have a physical presence in the game thanks to a ghostly figure that can interact with Quill and her environment. With Book II, Polyarc promises they'll be new weapons and abilities for players to discover and that those tools will create new ways for players to explore the world the studio has crafted.
Moss: Book II does not currently have a release date, but Polyarc promised to share more information about the game in the coming months.
