Those who've been yearning for a chance to try the Apple Vision Pro headset and have the cash to spare won't need to wait much longer to snap one up. The company says the hotly anticipated device will arrive in the US on February 2. Pre-orders for the $3,499 headset will open on January 19. The device will be available at all US Apple Store locations as well as through the company's web store.

Those who require vision correction will be able to snap up Zeiss optical inserts and attach them to the headset magnetically. Readers will cost $99, while prescription lenses will set you back $149. The inserts will only be available for purchase online, so don't expect to be able to wander into an Apple Store to pick them up. Naturally, you'll need a prescription for the prescription lenses. However, Apple says that "not all prescriptions are supported."

This is Apple's first new major product since it introduced the Apple Watch back in 2014. The Vision Pro, which Apple announced at WWDC last year, marks the company's initial foray into spatial computing. Apple revealed the Vision Pro release date just as CES 2024 is kicking off, likely to steal some thunder away from the show's exhibitors without needing to actually show up in Las Vegas itself.

This story is developing; refresh for updates.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 was recently banned from sale due to a patent dispute, but has now returned to the market pending an appeal by Apple. Now that you can buy one again, it's available with a solid discount from Amazon, priced at just $709 (with the Olive Alpine Loop strap) instead of $799 thanks to a $40 coupon and six percent discount — near it's all-time-low price.

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 arrived this fall with the new S9 SiP (system in package) chip, allowing you to double tap your thumb and forefinger together to perform activities like ending calls and playing music. The Ultra 2 also automatically turns on Night Mode, processes Siri requests right on the watch and has an always-on display. The form factor matches the OG Ultra smartwatch, but the display is now extra bright, at 3,000 nits vs 2,000 nits from last year’s release.

The watch has fantastic battery life, which comes in handy when you’re trekking through the wilderness, with up to 36 hours per charge. However, there’s also a low-power mode that brings this number up to 72 hours. The depth-tracker works even better for divers, adding the ability to save past dives and track depth history straight from the watch.

The Ultra 2 adds new widgets, an upgraded compass app, new workout-tracking features and much more. Apple also noted that it was manufactured using 95 percent recycled materials as part of a broader push to lessen the environmental impact of its product line. There's one caveat, though: This deal is only available on the Ultra 2 small model, which fits wrists of 130mm to 160mm, and the Olive Alpine Loop.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Belkin has launched a new wireless charging dock that can perform a neat trick: it can swivel and tilt to track you while you move around a room. The Auto-Tracking Stand Pro does that by being the first device to exploit Apple's DockKit framework that allows it to connect directly to an iPhone without the need for a third-party app, according to the company. 

The Stand Pro uses motorization to swivel 360 degrees around its base, while tilting up to 90 degrees on the MagSafe arm. Once you attach an iPhone 12 or newer, it pairs to the base via NFC and works with any camera app including FaceTime, Instagram and Microsoft Teams. Then, when you're on a conference call or doing social media, it'll automatically move the phone around to keep you in frame — much like DJI's Osmo Pocket 3. 

Belkin

Oh, and it's also a charger, supporting up to 15 watts wireless fast charging when plugged into the wall (it can also run on battery power for about five hours use). It's easy to disable tracking via a button so that it doesn't follow you around like a lunatic when you just want to charge, and an LED shows whether tracking is currently active. 

The $175 Stand Pro isn't the first motorized tracker out there, as my colleague Richard Lai pointed out, and it certainly isn't the cheapest. However, Belkin claims it's the first to integrate Apple's DockKit developer SDK, so we may see similar products in the future. The product is now on Belkin's store, but there's no word yet on availability. 

Belkin

Belkin also launched a number of other chargers at CES 2024. One that's bound to be popular is the $150 BoostCharge Pro 3-in-1 Magnetic Stand (now in stock) upgraded with the latest Qi2 charging standard. As with the previous version, it lets you charge your iPhone, Watch Series 7 or later and wireless earbuds at the same time. The company also announced the new Qi2-powered BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Power Bank starting at $40 for the 2,500 mAh version. 

Xreal, formerly Nreal, hosted one of the busiest booths at CES in recent years, so it's no surprise that the company is back with new AR glasses for this year's show — especially given the much anticipated launch of Apple's Vision Pro. Following the Nreal Light from 2019, the brand new Xreal Air 2 Ultra finally brings back 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) spatial tracking and hand tracking, along with a wider 52-degree FOV (field of view) and a 42-pixel-per-degree sharpness within an 80-gram titanium package. The firm goes as far as claiming that these specs make the $699 Air 2 Ultra a compelling alternative to the $3,499 Vision Pro. 

Unlike the standalone mixed reality headsets, the Air 2 series of glasses need to be powered by an external computing unit, such as a smartphone, a computer or Xreal's Beam module, via USB-C. While the earlier Air 2 Pro and Air 2 were positioned more as personal display wearables, the Air 2 Ultra emphasizes on its 6DoF spatial computing capabilities, meaning virtual objects can be mapped to the real world while you walk around. This is powered by the front-facing dual 3D environment sensors, as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon processors on the Samsung Galaxy S23 or S22, or any Mac that can run Xreal's Nebula launcher. 

If you already own an Xreal Beam, you can also plug the Air 2 Ultra in for a 3DoF experience (read: just simple head tracking) with video playback or console gaming. Oddly enough, the company doesn't plan on supporting more smartphones at the moment, but it is prepping a new custom computing unit to go with the Air 2 Ultra at some point.

Xreal

Like the Pro, the Air 2 Ultra's front layer supports three electrochromic dimming levels for increased immersion (without the need of a physical shield), as well as directional audio technology for improved privacy, and dual microphones for voice interaction. You'll find the same old Sony micro OLED panels with 1080p resolution per eye, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz (90Hz in 3D mode) and brightness of up to 500 nits (250 nits in 3D mode). Xreal added that these glasses can cast a virtual 2D screen "at an equivalent of 154 inches from a distance of 13 feet," and that they are "TÜV Rheinland-certified for Color Accuracy, Eye Comfort, Low Blue Light, and Flicker Free usage."

The $699 Xreal Air 2 Ultra is available for pre-order now, and if you bought an Nreal Light a while back, you're most likely eligible for a $100 discount. That's still not quite as aggressive as the Meta Quest 3's $500 base price, but then again, the Air 2 Ultra is largely aimed at developers for the time being. For one, Xreal's upcoming Unity-based NRSDK 2.2 won't be available until these glasses start shipping in March. Only then will developers be able to leverage the improved hand tracking, hand gesture recognition, spatial anchors, depth mesh and more. That is to say, Xreal will need to win over as many developers as possible to build up its mixed reality ecosystem, before getting consumers' attention at all, if not enterprises — the latter has been the case for HTC, which announced that it was sending VR headsets to the International Space Station back in November.

A UK-based company called Clicks is introducing a new iPhone accessory at CES 2024 in Las Vegas that you might like if you loved BlackBerry phones. It's a case and a full physical keyboard in one that you can attach to the iPhone if you want a more tactile typing experience, which kinda brings back memories of Ryan Seacrest's Typo Keyboard from a decade ago. The company's creator keyboard sits at the bottom of the case and doesn't cover any part of the screen or any part of the device at all other than its back and edges. Instead, it extends the phone's length, giving you full view of whatever is on the display even while you're typing. 

That keyboard connects to the iPhone through its Lighting or USB-C port, depending on what model you have, and allows you to charge your phone as usual. It doesn't have a Bluetooth connection, but that also means it's not powered by a battery you'll need to charge. You can switch on its backlight if you want to use it at night or in the dark, and you can use a bunch of keyboard shortcuts if you want to navigate your device without using the touchscreen. To scroll down web pages, for instance, you can press the space bar. That said, its keys do look terribly small, and you may find yourself having a difficult time typing if you have larger hands and fingers. 

Clicks is founded by content creators Michael Fisher (MrMobile) and Kevin Michaluk (CrackBerry Kevin), who said that the iPhone keyboard was designed by "a dream team of tech industry veterans." Michaluk added: "We labored over every decision from exactly how the buttons should feel to the keyboard layout, ensuring it would be intuitive for iPhone users." You can order the Clicks creator keyboard from the company's website right now for $139, but shipping won't begin until February 1. 

Clicks

Google Bard Advanced is coming, and it may represent the company's first attempt to charge for an AI chatbot. The code on Bard's website shows the opportunity to get three months free of Bard Advanced — implying that it will be at a cost after that. X (formerly Twitter) user Bedros Pamboukian shared the discovered code, which also includes a defunct Google One link. This could mean that users will be required to get a Google One subscription to access Bard Advanced.

Google first announced Bard Advanced in December 2023 alongside the new AI large language model Gemini and an AI hypercomputer from Google Cloud. Gemini is Google's most capable model to date, with the ability to "seamlessly understand and reason about all kinds of inputs from the ground up, far better than existing multimodal models," Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained in a blog post. Gemini has three sizes: Gemini Ultra, Gemini Nano and Gemini Pro, with Bard using the latter. Gemini Ultra isn't publicly available yet, but Google has stated that it will be the force behind Bard Advanced.

As for Bard Advanced's availability, the aforementioned code suggests it could be tied to Google One (although it's unclear what subscription tier would be required) but no details have been confirmed at this time. Google is currently testing its capabilities with a small group (which also might be why the code is visible). There's no exact release date for Bard Advanced yet, but Google said in December that it would be available "early next year" so it could launch at any time.

If you've got some gift card money to spend after the holidays and are looking to grab a new pair of wireless earphones, here's a deal worth noting: Apple's AirPods Pro are back on sale for $190 at Amazon, Target and Best Buy. We've seen the noise-canceling earphones fall to this price a few times over the last couple of months, but it still comes within a dollar of the best deal we've tracked. The offer applies to latest version of the earphones, which comes with a USB-C charging case as standard. For reference, Apple normally sells the pair for $249, though it's almost always gone for less at third-party retailers since arriving last September.

The second-gen AirPods Pro are the "best for iOS" pick in our guide to the best wireless earbuds, and we gave the Lightning-based model a score of 88 in our review back in September 2022. This USB-C model adds slightly improved dust resistance and lossless audio support with Apple's upcoming Vision Pro headset on top of the new charging port but is effectively identical otherwise. That means it still delivers pleasant and warm sound, effective active noise cancellation (ANC), a superb transparency mode, and a host of features that make life easier for Apple device owners, including faster pairing, hands-free Siri, virtual surround sound (which is personalized to your fit) and Find My tracking. 

A software update last fall added a few more helpful tricks, including an "Adaptive Audio" mode that automatically adjusts the ANC and transparency modes based on your surroundings and lower the volume when you start a conversation.

You really need to be an iPhone owner to get the most out of the this, though. Even then, the AirPods Pro's call quality and six-hour battery life are just OK, and its sound isn't as customizable as competing models. Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds offer better ANC, the Beats Fit Pro has a better fit for the gym and Sony's WF-1000XM5 is more well-rounded on the whole. Apple may also add ANC to its lower-cost AirPods at some point in 2024, according to a recent Bloomberg report (though new Pros aren't expected until 2025). And if you already own the Lightning-based Pros and just want the USB-C case, you can now buy the latter separately. All that said, at this price, the USB-C AirPods Pro remain a solid value for Apple diehards in search of a new pair of premium wireless earphones.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

It's a new year and you're going to need fresh tools to accomplish all those goals for 2024. A new iPad is a great way to keep track of and produce lots of tasks, especially when touting a 22 percent discount. That's right, the 10th-generation Apple iPad 64GB model is back down to its Black Friday all-time low of $349, dropping from $449. The $100 savings is available in the Silver, Blue and Pink versions, with the Yellow model available for $399. 

Apple's 10th-gen iPad came on the scene at the end of 2022 with an entire new design — namely removing the home button, a 10.9-inch screen and moving Touch ID to the lock button. We gave it an 85 in our review thanks to those updates and additional features like an A14 Bionic chip. It's an upgrade from the 9th-generation's A13 model but still falls behind the M1 and M2 in the iPad Air and Pro. 

Notably, the 10th-gen iPad also introduced a landscape edge to its front-facing camera — the first instance of this across any model. This update is a big deal for anyone who uses their iPad to take video calls. The battery is solid as well, lasting 11 hours and 45 minutes while playing a movie from the iTunes store and nearly 10 hours when it (and an attached keyboard) were in work mode all day. Speaking of the keyboard, this model's Magic Keyboard Folio comes in two pieces and is an improvement from the 9th-gen's version. However, it's not very stable for lap use and retails for a steep $250 — though it's on sale right now for $219. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

A few days ago, Microsoft released a standalone Android app for Microsoft Copilot, giving you a quick way to access the AI assistant. Turns out the iOS and iPad versions weren't far behind, because they're now available from Apple's App Store. Just like in Copilot on desktop and other AI chatbots, such as ChatGPT, you can type in your question and wait for responses generated by artificial intelligence. In Copilot's case, you'll get responses spun by OpenAI's GPT-4, the company's latest large language model. The free version of ChatGPT, in comparison, is powered by the older ChatGPT-3.5, and you'll need to pay for ChatGPT Plus to get access to the newer model. 

In addition, Copilot on iOS has the capability to turn your words into images. That particular feature is powered by OpenAI's DALL-E 3 text-to-image AI system, which the company previously said is "significantly better" at being able to grasp the final product you want to achieve with the text prompt you type in. DALL-E 3 was also designed to be better at rendering the elements its predecessors were having trouble with, such as human hands. 

This is but the latest Copilot product Microsoft has released since it rebranded Bing Chat. The company also brought Copilot to Windows 10 and then to Windows 11, giving around a billion devices — based on the platforms' user numbers — access to the AI chatbot. With these mobile rollouts, Microsoft is expanding Copilot's reach even more, especially since the apps are free to use. 

Throughout 2023, it felt like the drama never let up. From Elon Musk’s nonstop shenanigans to the constant launches in the generative AI race, the last twelve months was packed with news. Thankfully, it wasn’t all bad, and this year saw more winners than before. There were clear frontrunners, like Threads and AI, but we also saw surprises like Apple’s Vision Pro headset and the iPhone maker finally embracing several open standards. Of all the things that happened this year, here’s the Engadget team’s list of tech’s biggest winners in 2023.

Threads

If you had told me a year ago that Mark Zuckerberg would use the Elon Musk-induced chaos at Twitter to his and Meta’s advantage, I wouldn't have been surprised. If, however, you had told me that Meta’s slapdash effort to build a standalone Twitter clone based on Instagram would emerge as the most viable and popular alternative, I probably would have laughed.

But, if 2023 taught us anything, it’s that Elon Musk was more adept at taking Twitter X to lower lows than we could have possibly imagined. And while we’ll likely never see an actual cage match between Zuck and Musk, it’s impossible to ignore just how much Threads has benefitted from Musk’s self-inflicted wounds.

After an initial surge and drop-off in interest, Threads is back at 100 million monthly users. It was the fourth-most downloaded app of the year, according to Apple, despite a mid-year launch and months without any EU availability. The app is also beginning its long-awaited experiment with federation, which will eventually make its content interoperable with Mastodon.

Threads has, of course, benefitted from Meta’s vast engineering resources, as well as the company’s willingness to engage in good old-fashioned growth-hacking. And there are still valid concerns about Meta’s content moderation practices and the implications for allowing the Facebook owner to control yet another major social platform.

But the fact that Threads was able to grow so quickly despite all that shows just how desperate people were for an alternative. Threads may not have been the most advanced or most interesting of the wave of alternatives, but it’s been able to use its ties to Meta and Instagram to attract the most interest. And, right now, it has something X doesn’t: a whole lot of momentum. — Karissa Bell, Senior reporter

Generative AI

We capped off 2022 with the rising popularity of ChatGPT, OpenAI’s remarkably powerful generative AI chatbot. While the idea of having a conversation with a chatbot wasn’t exactly new, ChatGPT leveraged a large language model (LLM) to achieve natural, almost human-like responses, as well as the ability to craft readable text or pull up information on demand. It was a sign that AI was going to be an important topic in 2023 — something Microsoft proved when it launched Bing’s AI Chat in February, which was powered by OpenAI’s next-generation GPT 4 model. And so the AI wars began.

Screenshot

Google rushed to announce its Bard chatbot to pre-empt Microsoft’s Bing Chat launch, but it demonstrated the limitations of generative AI when it confidently answered a question about the James Webb telescope incorrectly. That led to an immediate 8 percent drop in Google’s stock, and it made the company seem like it was just chasing Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s accomplishments with Bing Chat and ChatGPT. (Bard was originally powered by Google’s LaMDA LLM, which had been in development since 2021.)

Bing Chat was just the start for Microsoft: It also launched AI integration in Microsoft Edge through a “Copilot” sidebar, something that also ended up arriving in Microsoft 365 apps, Windows 11 and Windows 10. Google, meanwhile, announced Bard integration for its Assistant and implemented a slew of AI-powered features into Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Meet, Chat, Slides, as well as the new Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Heading into 2024, we can look forward to Google’s GPT 4 competitor, Gemini, and Microsoft also announced that its Copilots are getting upgraded with GPT-4.

Outside of Microsoft and Google, AI ended up being the buzzword adopted by much of the tech world throughout 2023. (How quickly we forgot about Web 3.0, crypto and the metaverse.) But while the relentless hype cycle was inevitable, we also saw text-to-image generation tools like OpenAI’s Dall-E 3 become even more powerful, evolving beyond the creepy multi-fingered imagery it was famous for. AI is starting to influence the the world outside of tech as well: It was one of the most prominent concerns for WGA members during their 148-day long strike, and many people were fooled by the famous image of the Pope wearing a puffy Balenciaga coat, which was generated by Midjourney.

There’s still plenty we don’t know about how AI will influence our lives, though researchers like Timnit Gebru, founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute, and Margaret Mitchell are continually raising the alarm about ethical AI concerns. Much of the AI world seems to be following Facebook’s former philosophy of “move fast and break things” — expect to see more drama around artificial intelligence like OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s surprise firing and re-hiring. It normally takes a few years for a founder to get ousted from their company, like Steve Jobs and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. Devindra Hardawar, Senior reporter

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Apple meets RCS, USB-C and Qi 2

In 2023, it almost felt like hell froze over. Apple, notorious for its walled garden, not only introduced new phones with USB-C charging ports this year, but also announced it would support the RCS messaging standard. This happened after months of public badgering from Google (and its execs) and multiple reports calling out the green-bubble stigma. Apple appeared to relent, seemingly having come to terms with previous misgivings.

Though Apple’s declaration is a step in the right direction and brings better security and multimedia support for those on iPhones texting people on Androids, the bubble-color divide is far from dissolved. When the company does adopt the messaging standard, it may not change the way texts are presented. iMessage still has many features that RCS lacks, particularly those introduced in iOS 17 this year like Voice Memo transcripts and Check Ins.

Of course, it’s not like Apple is welcoming all these interoperable standards with open arms. Its adoption of USB-C is clearly a reaction to the EU’s mandate that all new devices sold next year charge with the same standard. And even after announcing RCS support, the company still worked hard to plug the workarounds that enabled Android platforms like Beeper and Sunbird to bring some semblance of iMessage support to non-iOS devices.

But when you consider all the changes made this year, plus the fact that iPhone 15s are among the first devices that work with the new Qi 2 wireless charging protocol, it’s hard to ignore the momentum. It doesn’t feel quite right to label Apple a winner because of all this, but with the number of people that are now better served and supported by the company’s devices, it won’t be surprising to see a fair amount of goodwill flow its way. — Cherlynn Low, Deputy editor

Photo by: Sam Rutherford / Engadget

Foldable phones

Since 2019, Samsung has had a virtual monopoly on big fancy foldable phones. But in 2023, we got not one but two new challengers in the Pixel Fold and OnePlus Open. And while neither can claim total superiority, they’ve brought some interesting innovations to the category.

With its super thin design and wider front display, the Pixel Fold makes it easy to use all of your apps without ever needing to open the device. So when do unfold it, you appreciate its 6.7-inch flexible screen even more. And unlike its rivals, Google didn’t cut corners with its cameras, as the Pixel Fold offers better image quality than pretty much any other handset (foldable or otherwise) aside from its recent sibling, the Pixel 8 Pro.

Meanwhile with the Open, OnePlus created a clever card-based multitasking system that makes it super easy to flip between apps. The Open is also thinner and lighter than Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5. And while it’s still pretty expensive, thanks to a nifty deal that brings its price down to $1,500 with the trade-in of any phone, OnePlus’ first foldable is helping lower the barrier to entry for devices even further.

So in a year when the pace of Samsung’s innovation felt like it was starting to stagnate, two new rivals brought increased competition to the category, which is a win for anyone who’s ever thought about buying a big foldable phone. — Sam Rutherford, Senior reporter

Apple Vision Pro

Apple didn’t make the first MP3 player, and it certainly didn’t make the first smartphone. But the iPod and iPhone managed to out-innovate existing products and reorient the entire technology world around their existence. The Vision Pro is a similar play, albeit one that isn’t immediately meant for everyone. Companies like Oculus (now Meta) and HTC Vive have been pursuing consumer VR for almost a decade, but the Vision Pro takes an even bolder leap forward. Imagine having your apps floating above your desk, or having a video pinned to a wall of your room, or seamlessly reliving your memories captured in 3D spatial videos. And yes, it can also deliver immersive virtual experiences when it needs to.

As is true for many VR solutions, it’s hard to convey the magnitude of Apple’s accomplishment with the Vision Pro in words, screenshots or promo trailers. If you’re not terribly excited about spending $3,499 on Apple’s unproven goggles, I can’t blame you. But after spending some time with the Vision Pro during its launch event, I’m convinced it’s something special. Its screens are far sharper than any VR headset I’ve seen, its onboard cameras deliver a better mixed reality experience and the simple gestures Apple has developed for navigating its interface are wonderfully intuitive.

While the Vision Pro has its obvious issues — it’s priced for developers and early adopters, not average consumers; it’s still a chunky device that many people won’t want to wear — it fundamentally reshapes the way we’ve been thinking of mixed reality. It’s not just a gadget for VR games, nor is it something purely geared towards business purposes like the Hololens 2 and Magic Leap 2. It’s something truly new, and it could end up paving the way towards our spatial computing future. — Devindra Hardawar

Engadget

Gaming handhelds

Handheld gaming PCs combine everything you love about classic portables like the Gameboy Advance or the PSP with big performance (and admittedly much larger builds) plus the freedom to play practically any title you can think of. And in 2023, we saw an explosion of compelling devices with a range of designs: from big chunky units with detachable controllers like Lenovo’s Legion Go to a major revamp for the Steam Deck featuring a new OLED display. Meanwhile, systems like the ASUS ROG Ally offer top-notch specs in a sleek design. And this is before you mention smaller manufacturers like Ayaneo, GPD and others that have put their own twist on the category. But the best part is that most of these cost half the price of a typical gaming laptop, so if all you care about is being able to game from… well anywhere, 2023 has given us a wealth of options. — Sam Rutherford

Neuralink

Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain-computer interface startup came into 2023 against the figurative ropes. The FDA had denied its 2022 petition to begin human trials of its implantable prosthetic over concerns that prototypes of the device had killed a slew of porcine test subjects; rival BCI maker Synchron had already beaten it to market (having having successfully installed their device in a human patient that July) and the USDA had launched an investigation into animal cruelty claims against the company. Musk’s promise of beginning human trials “within six months,” made during a November “show-and-tell’ event appeared increasingly unlikely.

Heading into 2024, Neuralink is in a much better place. The USDA conducted a "focused" inspection of the company’s facilities but did not find any compliance breaches beyond a single issue in 2019 that Neuralink self-reported, per a report obtained by Reuters. That investigation came in response to a complaint filed by the Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine, an animal welfare advocacy group, that alleged Neuralink and research partner UC Davis had caused the needless suffering and death of simian test subjects between 2017 and 2020. Neuralink may have placated that investigation, however, the USDA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has since launched its own independent investigation at the behest of federal prosecutors into the allegations as such actions might violate the Animal Welfare Act. That process remains ongoing.

In May, Neuralink received the best news of its year: the FDA had cleared the company to begin early-stage human trials, after it had satisfactorily address the agency’s previous issues. "The agency’s major safety concerns involved the device’s lithium battery; the potential for the implant’s tiny wires to migrate to other areas of the brain; and questions over whether and how the device can be removed without damaging brain tissue," current and former Neuralink employees told Reuters in March.

In September, nearly a year after Musk’s six-month promise, the Precise Robotically Implanted Brain-Computer Interface (PRIME if you really squint) study opened for subject volunteers. The study "aims to evaluate the safety of our implant (N1) and surgical robot (R1) and assess the initial functionality of our BCI for enabling people with paralysis to control external devices with their thoughts." Whether patients turn out to have the devices implanted won’t be revealed until the trials are complete but given Musk’s increasingly erratic behavior and irrational diatribes, embrace of antisemitism and promotion of far-right hate speech — the fact that he ran Twitter into the ground in barely a year — could make selling people on the finer points of their cranial surgery an impossible task. — Andrew Tarantola, Senior reporter