Sometimes the never-ending quest to shave an extra gram or millimeter off a new laptop can become a bore. However, when a company can do it without cutting too many corners, that deserves some attention. And that’s what HP has done with the new Omen Transcend 14, which is making its debut at CES 2024 as the lightest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world.

Weighing just 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg), the Omen Transcend 14 is much closer in size and lightness to an ultraportable than an average gaming laptop. To put that into context, that’s just 0.1 pounds heavier than a 14-inch MacBook Pro and 0.15 pounds lighter than rival super-portable gaming laptops like the ASUS ROG Zepyrys G14. And while it’s not quite as powerful as the larger Omen Transcend 16, it certainly won’t be hurting for performance thanks to support for 14th-gen Intel Core Ultra 7 or Ultra 9 processor, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, 2TB of storage and an RTX 4070 GPU.

Critically, despite its petite dimensions, you still get two USB-A and two USB-C ports (one of which supports Thunderbolt 4) plus a full-size HDMI 2.1 jack around back. And for those who want peak wireless speeds, you’ll also have the option to upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 card with Bluetooth 5.4.

The Transcend 14 does feature a Meteor Lake chip with a dedicated NPU, but don’t expect any game-changing breakthroughs in terms of AI capabilities. At HP’s demo station, I saw the Omen run Cyberpunk 2077 smoothly at a 2K resolution while simultaneously livestreaming using OBS at 1080p. In this situation, the laptop was offloading camera effects to the NPU, which provides a small performance bump as that task would normally be handled by the GPU. AI is destined to be a big buzzword at CES 2024, but this is probably the most realistic example of what you should expect on next-gen notebooks.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Transcend 14’s display looks great, packing a 2.8K (2,880 x 1,800) OLED panel with a variable 120Hz refresh rate. It supports HDR with a peak brightness of 500 nits and a wide color gamut that colors 100 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum. Meanwhile sound is handled by a pair of DTS:X Ultra speakers, though an interesting change for 2024 is that following HP’s acquisition in 2021, the Transcend 14’s audio tuning will now be handled by its in-house sub-brand HyperX. This comes with the added bonus of the Transcend 14 having a built-in wireless receiver for the company’s Cloud III headphones. So, if you already have a pair or decide to purchase some later, you won’t have to waste one of your precious USB ports on a dongle.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

The Transcend 14 shares a lot of design traits with its 16-inch sibling (which is getting a spec refresh and new OLED panel option for 2024) including minimalist lines with a matte finish in classic black alongside a new white color option. The two main differences are that on the smaller model, the trackpad is centered on its deck while the keyboard features a more translucent lattice that allows HP’s RGB backlighting to pop even more. I think this makes the Transcend look especially good in white, where it looks slightly out of place on the black model, but to each their own.

I really appreciate that HP paid attention to little details that matter for travel-ready gaming laptop, like opting for USB-C power delivery. This means you can use the Omen’s adapter to juice up other gadgets like a phone or a tablet instead of needing a separate charging brick for each device.

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In a vacuum, the goal of being the lightest isn’t all that important. But when a company like HP can make a laptop that’s easy to carry around that also has solid specs and a slick design, that’s when superlatives come into play. And with a starting price of $1,600, HP isn’t demanding a huge premium for a machine this sleek. That said, with some other extremely sleek gaming PCs due out at CES 2024, it's unclear how long the Transcend 14 will hold this title.

The Omen Transcend 14 is expected to go on sale sometime in Q1 2024.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

If you're a Google Pixel fan, this week is starting off well for you. A range of Google Pixel phones are currently on sale. For starters, the Google Pixel 8 is back down to its Black Friday price of $549, dropping from $699. The 21 percent discount is the lowest price we've seen the phone at since it launched.

The Google Pixel 8 is a great, cheaper alternative to the Google Pixel 8 Pro. We gave it a 90 in our review due to features like a Tensor G3 chip, faster Face Unlock and 20 hours and 16 minutes of battery life. The Google Pixel 8 also has a 50MP main camera and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. Plus, there's the Magic Editor, which combines the capabilities of content-aware fill and lasso. Then there's the new Actua display and an overall more compact design than its predecessor. 

The Google Pixel 7a is also available at a solid discount, with a 20 percent off sale dropping its price to $399 from $499. This is only $25 more than its all-time low price, so it's a good option. The Google Pixel 7a also earned a 90 in our review thanks to its ability to deliver a quality phone for much less money than the flagship option. It offers a 90Hz display, Tensor G2 chip and wireless charging. The phone also has a high-res 64MP main camera in the back and a 13MP selfie camera with 4K video recording. In our video running test, the battery lasted 17 hours and 41 minutes. Some of our quips were that the speakers sounded a bit shallow and it didn't have a dedicated zoom lens. 

You can pick up a new smartwatch while you're at it, with the Google Pixel Watch 2 with Wi-Fi on sale alongside the phones. It's down to an Amazon all-time low of $300, dropping from $350 — a 14 percent discount. The Google Pixel Watch 2 has sensors for stress management, heart rate and skin temperature. It also has an always-on display and a 24-hour battery that fully charges in an hour and 15 minutes. The screen is 41mm and features all the Google apps like Calendar and Maps. 

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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.

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The 2024 Golden Globes represented a return to normalcy after a year dominated by strikes in the entertainment industry. Streamers continued to get recognition for their shows, with Netflix, Hulu and Max picking up a combined 12 television awards.

Max (formerly HBO Max) won the most awards, garnering four for the final season of Succession, including best drama television series. Best performance by an actress and actor in that category went to Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin, who played siblings Roman and Shiv Roy on the series. Matthew Macfayden rounded out Succession's wins by taking home the award for best performance by an actor in a supporting role on television. Succession is available to stream through Max but was viewable direct on TV through HBO.

Netflix won for a range of shows, such as The Crown, which premiered its final season at the end of the year. The Crown actress Elizabeth Debecki took home the award for best performance by an actress in a supporting role on television for her portrayal of Princess Diana. Ricky Gervais won best performance in standup comedy on television for Ricky Gervais: Armageddon. Beef took home three awards, winning for best performances by an actress (Ali Wong) and actor (Steven Yeun) in a limited series, anthology series or series made for television. It also won for best overall in that category. The show was mired in controversy due to the casting of (and silence around) actor David Choe, who previously shared stories describing alleged sexual assaults.

Hulu's three awards came courtesy of FX-produced The Bear, which won for best musical or comedy television series. The show's lead actors, Ayo Edebiri and Jeremy Allen White, took home the best performance in a musical or comedy television series by an actress and actor awards, respectively.

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. 

There was a time when smartphone makers rushed to quad-camera claims, most of which did so by throwing in a mediocre fourth camera — usually for macro shots, if not a monochrome filter or just a depth sensor. Nowadays, though, we are blessed with legit quad "main" cameras on some flagship phones, so brands need to be more creative to further differentiate themselves. In Oppo's case, it decided to feature not just one, but two periscope telephoto cameras on its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Find X7 Ultra, as a leap from the triple camera system on the previous model.

The Find X7 Ultra's "HyperTone Camera System" features the same 50-megapixel resolution across all four rear Hasselblad cameras, thanks to their relatively large sensors compared to the competition, according to Oppo. The main imager packs Sony's second-gen 1-inch sensor, the LYT-900, which is more efficient in terms of power consumption and thermal performance. This is complemented by an f/1.8 aperture, OIS (optical image stabilization), a 23mm focal length and a 50-percent reduction in lens reflection. The ultra-wide camera features a 1/1.95-inch Sony LYT-600 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture, making this one of the fastest shooters in its class. This comes with a 14mm equivalent focal length and a focus distance down to 4cm. 

Then we're left with the two periscope telephoto cameras. The first one, a 3x optical zoom, has a 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX980 sensor — "roughly three times larger than" the competition, apparently. You also get an f/2.6 aperture, along with "Prism OIS," a 65mm focal length and a 25cm focus distance — handy for portraits and product shots. Then we have a 6x optical zoom periscope, which is powered by a 1/2.51-inch Sony IMX858 sensor and has an f/4.3 aperture, 135mm focal length, a 35cm focus distance plus Prism OIS. With AI-enhanced zoom at 12x, Oppo says its Find X7 Ultra handles a versatile equivalent focal length range of 14mm to 270mm."

Oppo

Oppo also claims to have made some major breakthroughs in mobile photography here. Most notably, it's finally rolling out its "HyperTone Image Engine," which supposedly improves computational photography results for HDR, as well as avoiding over-exposure and over-sharpening. This was apparently in development for two years, with input from professional photographers and color experts. It's all about "merging objective quality together with subjective emotional," as a spokesperson stated. Better yet, HyperTone Image Engine will eventually be rolled out to some existing Oppo devices, namely the Find N and Reno series, depending on compatibility.

Other areas of improvement include the quality consistency across the zoom range (especially in low-light environment), as well as more realistic portrait shots thanks to the new "Hasselblad Portrait Mode." For the latter, rather than getting fake-looking bokeh and poor edge detection, Oppo boldly promises to deliver "cinematic bokeh with foreground and background depth," with a stunning accuracy down to a single strand of hair, plus minimal shutter lag as a bonus.

Oppo is also offering a new "Hasselblad Master Mode" which is based on the characteristics of the Hasselblad X2D 100C medium format mirrorless camera. You get to fiddle with saturation, contrast, sharpness and vignette control to create your preferred style, as well as other shooting features like manual ISO, shutter speed, EV, focus, and white balance. This Master Mode also offers "RAW MAX" capture — pending an OTA update — which supports 13 stops of dynamic range, along with 16-bit color depth in BT2020 color space for each 50-megapixel still.

Oppo

The Find X7 Ultra comes in three color options: "Ocean Blue," "Sepia Brown" and "Tailored Black", all of which feature a vegan leather cover (and the black version comes with decorative stitches). Despite the extra periscope camera, generous 5,000mah battery (100W SuperVOOC wired charging) and wireless charging (50W) support, this device actually shares a similar weight and thickness as the Find X6 Pro. This is thanks to a slimmer wireless charging coil, thinner vegan leather and an improved logic board stack design. Oppo was also able to keep the entire rear camera module tightly packed by using "single-sided magnets," in order to avoid interference between the three OIS parts.

This new phone also features Oppo's brightest-ever QHD (3,168 x 1,440) panel, with outdoor brightness maxing out at 1,600 nits, and local peak brightness at 4,500 nits for HDR purposes. The usual 120Hz refresh rate and ultra-low latency are here to stay, along with "rain water touch" support for wet hands (it has IP68 dust- and water-resistance rating). You get up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage.

To our surprise, Oppo doesn't currently have plans to launch the Find X7 Ultra outside of China, so you'll have to source one from an importer. For your reference, this model ranges from 5,999 yuan (about $845) with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage, to 6,999 yuan (about $990) with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. These three options are available for pre-order now, ahead of their January 12th retail launch. There will also be a special edition with satellite call support arriving in late March, but no price was mentioned.

Oppo

For those on a budget but still want the same fancy look, there's the Find X7 base model powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 processor. It only packs triple cameras on the back: a 50-megapixel main shooter (likely with Sony's 1/1.4-inch LYT-T808 sensor; f/2.0; OIS), a 64-megapixel 3x periscope zoom camera (f/2.6; Prism OIS; 1/2-inch sensor), and a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera (f/2.0; 119 degrees). This flavor starts from 3,999 yuan (about $560) and offers 12GB RAM with 256GB storage, and maxes out at 4,999 yuan (about $700) for its 16GB RAM plus 1TB storage offering. In addition to the "Ocean Blue" and "Sepia Brown" designs, you may also consider the purple and black options, both of which come in a glass back.

French telescope company Unistellar has launched two new tech-infused models at CES 2024 promising to eliminate the tedious parts of backyard astronomy. The new Odyssey and Odyssey Pro smart telescopes use new technology to focus on both nearby objects like Jupiter and distant stars or nebulae. They also feature new Nikon optics and an updated smartphone app that helps you align and focus the telescope, while automatically finding targets to image. 

Unistellar's current smart telescopes, the eVscope 2 and eQuinox 2, are primarily designed to image distant galaxies, stars, clusters and the like — they can also image planets, but focus can be tricky. However, the Odyssey and Odyssey Pro use what the company calls Multi-Depth technology to focus equally well on both near and far objects, letting you switch instantly from viewing the Moon to a distant nebula. 

Engadget

It works by using the full sensor resolution to image close-in objects, which are bright but relatively small. For dim, larger objects it combines four pixels into one, much like many smartphone cameras, to boost the light gathering capability, at the cost of some detail. As the company told us at CES, it also "stacks multiple images of the same spot to render a clean output."

They even work in light-polluted areas, thanks to a high-sensitivity sensor and smart image processing. "With the Odyssey, Unistellar is offering a new generation of smart telescopes that are both ultra-powerful and capable of instantly transforming your stargazing evenings into adventures across the cosmos with family or friends, even in the middle of the city," said Laurent Marfisi, Unistellar co-founder and CEO.

The other big update is the Android/iOS app. As before, it automatically points the telescope toward the desired target at the right time, by recognizing groups of stars and calculating exactly where a target should be. However, it can now suggest items to look at on a particular evening, and provide extra context about the body in question. 

Unistellar

Both telescopes have new optical tubes using Nikon optics and the company says they're the first that don't need manual adjustments — something that can be difficult for amateur astronomers. That marries with a new autofocus system — much like what you'd see on a digital camera — to deliver consistently sharp images. 

The new telescopes are cheaper than past models, though they do have smaller mirrors than the eVscope 2, at 320mm compared to 450mm focal length. The main difference between the two models is that the Odyssey Pro has slightly more resolution (4.1 megapixels compared to 3.4 megapixels), along with a Nikon-made eyepiece. The Odyssey is now shipping for $2,499, while the Odyssey Pro costs $3,999. The company also has a special edition Odyssey Pro Red Edition (above), that costs $4,499. 

Engadget's Richard Lai contributed to this report.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

LG typically shows off a host of new TVs at CES each year, but they're usually the more traditional flat screens. This year in Las Vegas, the company is debuting something quite different in addition to M- and G-series updates. The OLED T is what the company calls the first wireless transparent OLED TV, with 4K resolution and LG's wireless transmission tech for audio and video. The unit also features a contrast screen that rolls down into a box at its base that you can raise or lower with the press of a bottom. 

The OLED T is powered by LG's new Alpha 11 AI processor with four times the performance of the previous-gen chip. The extra power offers 70 percent greater graphics performance and 30 percent faster processing speeds, according to the company. The OLED T model works with the company's Zero Connect Box that debuted on last year's M3 OLED that sends video and audio wirelessly to the TV. You connect all of your streaming devices and game consoles to that box rather than the television. 

The OLED T's base houses down-firing speakers, which sound surprisingly good, as well as some other components. There are backlights as well, but you can turn those on for a fully-transparent look. LG says the TV will come in standalone, against-the-wall and wall-mounted options. 

Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget

At first, some of the visuals on the OLED T are a bit unsettling. A singer on the transparent display appeared to be actually in the room — in miniature form, of course. Things like a fish tank were a bit more pleasant to look at and movie clips were crisp and vivid. LG also put what it calls the T-Bar on the OLED T, adding chyron-like mix of news, weather, song titles and more along the bottom while the rest of the screen stays clear. 

Samsung also announced a transparent TV at CES 2024, but that version is Micro OLED. It too looks bright and sharp, but there's also no word on when it could be available or what it'll cost. LG isn't talking pricing either, but the company did say it plans to sell the OLED TV in 2024.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

There's always a number of surprises at CES and during its First Look event, Samsung teased the world's first transparent MicroLED display. 

While there's still no word on how much it costs or when this tech will find its way into retail devices, Samsung showcased not one but three different transparent micro LED displays with slightly different designs. Two of the demo units featured tinted glass which made it easier to ignore any potential districting objects behind the panels, while another appeared to be as transparent as regular glass while also boasting a frameless design. 

Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget

In person, the effect Samsung's transparent micro OLED displays have is hard to describe, as content almost looks like a hologram as it floats in mid-air. All of the demo units were freestanding and measured only about a centimeter thick, which adds even more to the illusion of a floating screen. Additionally, because of micro LEDs high pixel density, images also looked incredibly sharp. So far Samsung has only uploaded a single vertical video overflowing with EDM, but hopefully it gives you some idea what we saw:

According to a Samsung representative, because transparent MicroLED displays have higher brightness compared to transparent OLED panels, they are also less impacted by ambient light. 

The bad news is that with Samsung's current crop of non-transparent MicroLED TVs currently costing $150,000 for a 110-inch model, it's going to be a decently long time until these new displays become anything close to affordable.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Finding weird pet-related technology is a CES tradition, and this year is no exception. Take Flappie, for example. The Swiss start-up is showing off an AI-powered cat door that automatically locks if your kitty tries to bring in prey it caught from the outside. 

On the side of the door facing the outside, you'll find a motion sensor and night-vision camera. Flappie says it has compiled a "unique and proprietary" dataset over the years, with a focus on diversity — this means getting lots of different kinds of cats as well as prey, filmed in a variety of different lighting conditions. The company says that its AI-powered detection system is accurate more than 90 percent of the time, which means your cat could still get a mouse inside. But hopefully that'll happen a lot less frequently. 

There are some manual switches on the inside of the door so you can lock and unlock it any time you want as well as turn off the prey-detection system. Eventually, Flappie says that pets are likely to be trained that they can't enter when carrying something, and when they drop the prey the door will promptly unlock so they can get inside. (One of Flappie's co-founders admitted that a smart cat might figure out to drop the mouse, get the door open, pick it back up and then run in. But no solution is foolproof, right?)

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

Flappie also included chip detection in its cat door. So if your pet has been microchipped, you can make it so the cat door only opens for your specific pet. And, of course, there's an app so you can control the door from your phone. But if you're not inclined to hook the Flappie door up to the internet, it'll still work via the controls on the door itself. 

For starters, Flappie plans to launch its pet door in Switzerland, Zurich and Germany later this spring, with plans to expand from there once it gets production scaled up. A US launch is part of the roadmap, but there's no word yet on when that'll happen, or how much the Flappie door might cost when it gets here.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.