Now's a good time to pick up a new Roku device while a bunch of them are on sale before Prime Day even begins. Roku has cut prices of most of its streaming devices and soundbars, including the compact Streambar, which is 31 percent off and down to $90 right now. Other noteworthy discounts include the 2022 Roku Ultra for $80, the Roku Streaming Stick 4K for $30 and the Roku Express 4K+ for $25.
The Streambar impressed us enough to earn a score of 86 in our review. It's a multipurpose device that's best for those that want an updating streaming gadget that also has solid audio chops. As a soundbar, it pumps out much better audio than your aging TV does, and it even works as a Bluetooth speaker, too. And unlike most soundbars, it won't take up too much space in your setup as it's only about the size of a carton of eggs.
In addition to being a solid soundbar, the Streambar also has Roku's 4K HDR streaming technology inside. That means it can be your primary gateway to services like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and others. We also like that it comes with a voice remote that you can use to ask the device to find your favorite shows and movies.
If you primarily care about getting the best streaming experience possible, the Roku Ultra is the better device to get. It supports 4K HDR10+ content and Dolby Atmos, plus it has the best WiFi speeds out of any Roku device. It also has an Ethernet port on it, so you can hardwire it into your setup if you wish. You also get an HDMI cable with it, along with a voice remote and a pair of headphones for private listening. Both the Streaming Stick 4K and the Express 4K+ are better for those on a budget, and the main differences between them are that the Streaming Stick 4K supports Dolby Vision and long-range WiFi — two features you won't get on the Express 4K+.
Reddit is dipping its toe into the digital collectible craze. The site is launching a new take on NFTs with collectible avatars, one of its first forays into blockchain-based tech.
The avatars are designed by artists (many of whom are, naturally, also Redditors) and will be for sale in a new storefront. Initially, only a small group of Reddit users will be able to purchase the avatars by joining the r/collectibleavatars subreddit, but the company says it intends to open the store to all users “in the coming weeks.”
Though the company isn’t using the word “NFT” to describe these “blockchain-backed” images, it certainly sounds similar to other NFT projects. For example, Redditors can access their avatars via Vault — Reddit's blockchain-based wallet — and owning an avatar gives purchasers a license "to use the art – on and off Reddit.” Notably, collectible avatars can only be paid for with regular old fiat currencies; the storefront won’t support cryptocurrency transactions.
Unlike many NFT marketplaces, Redditors won't have to worry about wildly fluctuating prices, at least for now. Avatars will be sold by the company for fixes prices between $9.99 and $99.99, though Reddit seems open to the existence a secondary market for avatars should the demand exist. The company notes that artists behind the avatars "are also entitled to receive royalties from secondary sales of their Collectible Avatars on open marketplaces."
Reddit
Reddit isn’t the first platform to experiment with bringing digital collectibles to its users. Meta has begun to test NFT support on Facebook and Instagram, and Twitter introduced NFT profile photos earlier this year. YouTube executives have also expressed interest in the technology. Even Reddit itself briefly experimented with an NFTs-as-profile-photos feature earlier this year.
But so far most of these integrations have been focused on allowing users to show off their collections, rather than unlocking special benefits to NFT owners. While Reddit says that its avatars come with “unique benefits on the Reddit platform” the perks sound pretty limited, at least for now. Using a collectible avatar as your main avatar on the site will give your profile image a “glow-like effect” in comments, as well as the ability to “mix-and-match the avatar gear with other Reddit avatar gear and accessories.”
At the same time, Reddit says collectible avatars are merely an “early step” toward bringing more blockchain-based technology into the platform. “In the future, we see blockchain as one way to bring more empowerment and independence to communities on Reddit,” the company says. “As part of our mission to better empower our communities, we are exploring tools to help them be even more self-sustaining and self-governed.”
Whenever I'm away from my desk and dual monitors, it feels like an out-of-body experience. I’m constantly yearning for just a little more screen space. But when you're traveling, what are you supposed to do? Sure, you can get a portable monitor, but that's kind of bulky and largely redundant when you're at home. Instead, consider the ROG Zephyrous Duo 16, because after a couple generations of refinement, it feels like Asus is starting to hit its stride with its funky dual-screened clamshells.
You get a big 16-inch main display with high refresh rates, top-notch gaming components and a 14-inch secondary screen for all your multitasking needs. And while I certainly wouldn't call it petite, the Zephyrus Duo 16 isn't that much bigger than a traditional 16-inch thin and light, despite packing desktop-level performance. Really, the main factor preventing it from being a great mobile gaming battle station is its price. That’s Because With a starting price of $2,500 (or closer to $4,000 for our loaded review unit), the Duo 16 definitely ain't cheap.
Design
As part of ASUS' ROG family of gaming notebooks, the Duo 16 has aggressive styling, though most of the fireworks are only visible once you open the lid. ASUS’ dual-panel setup is a bold move at reducing anxiety caused by limited screen real estate. However, it does come with some drawbacks. Because the ScreenPad Plus dominates the upper half of the laptop's deck, ASUS had to shove the touchpad in the bottom right corner. And measuring barely more than two inches wide, things can definitely feel cramped. Then you factor in half-sized arrow keys, shortcuts and media controls, and there's a lot going in not a lot of space.
That said, Asus does its best to make the most of those areas, with the touchpad pulling double duty as a number pad. All you have to do is tap the shadowy icon in the top left for a second, and voila.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Still, there's no hiding the Duo 16's somewhat bulky chassis, which weighs over 5.5 pounds and measures 0.8-inches thick. These dimensions are right on the edge of being able to fit into a typical laptop sleeve, so anyone planning on buying a Duo 16 will want to make sure their bag of choice has plenty of room.
On the bright side, Asus has plenty of room for a healthy amount of ports, including two USB-A, two USB-C, HDMI 2.1, a microSD card reader and even a full-size Ethernet jack. My only complaint is that because of the ScreenPad's complicated hinge, the location of the proprietary power plug on its left side can be a bit awkward. I really wish they had found room for that somewhere around back.
Display(s)
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
OK, let's move on to the Duo 16's displays, which provide a really compelling one-two punch. The main 16-inch display features a speedy three-millisecond response time. On higher-end models like our $4,000 review unit, you even get a mini LED panel that puts out an impressive 700 nits of brightness. And that's coming from a screen with a matte finish, which typically lowers light output a touch. Meanwhile, thanks to a color gamut that Asus claims covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 spectrum, the Duo 16's primary display is just as good at pumping out vivid colors in games as it is replicating accurate ones in Photoshop.
However, the laptop's real party trick is its 14-inch ScreenPad Plus, which supports touch and offers a 1950 x 550 resolution on the base model, or 3840 x 1100 pixels on upgraded configs. Our review unit's ScreenPad registered 300 nits on our lightmeter, which isn't nearly as bright as the main screen, but it’s good enough.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
To get the most use out of its secondary display, ASUS packed the ScreenPad Plus with a ton of nifty features including shortcuts to performance and lighting settings, customizable window layouts, and the ability to mirror your phone's screen, though that last one can be a little janky. Heck, there's even a secondary numpad tool, in case the one built into the touchpad isn't enough. And on the Duo 16, Asus upgraded the ScreenPad’s hinge so that it rests at a steeper angle when open, which improves both ergonomics and cooling.
Now all that’s nice, but for me, the best use of the ScreenPad Plus is simply providing extra room for social media, streaming video services, or anything else you want to keep in sight, while keeping my most important apps up top. When I'm gaming, the main screen is where the action is at, while having Discord and YouTube open down below are great for chatting with friends and staying entertained during loading screens. And if I'm working, the ScreenPad is perfect for stuff like Slack that doesn’t require constant attention.
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Also, because the ScreenPad Plus is configured in Windows as a generic display, that means you can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly move apps from your main display to the secondary screen or snap them to the side as needed. Is it as good as having a full second monitor? No, but it's enough to make things a lot more comfortable.
Webcam and sound
The Duo 16 makes it easy to log in using facial recognition with its 720 webcam and Windows Hello support. Unfortunately, image quality is mediocre at best, and as I've said before, 1080p should be the baseline for all modern laptops — especially one this expensive.
Thankfully, the Duo 16 boasts a powerful six-speaker setup with support for Dolby Atmos, so you get a performance mode in games that focuses on delivering accurate directional sound, along with a bunch of intelligent and preset EQs for movies and music. You even have the ability to create custom audio profiles, though, I wish the Duo 16 offered just a bit more low-end thump.
Performance
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
While a base Duo 16 only comes with an NVIDIA RTX 3060 GPU, our fully-loaded review unit features an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX chip and an RTX 3080 Ti graphics card, not to mention 32GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD. So it probably won't be a surprise when I tell you this thing is basically the fastest laptop we've tested this year. It notched top scores in Geekbench 5's compute test, 3DMark's TimeSpy Extreme and more.
Naturally, the Duo 16's gaming performance is also rather strong, hitting 145 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider on highest settings and 85 fps in Metro Exodus on high. And that was with both games running at 2560 x 1600. So really, the only limiting factor regarding performance is how much you're willing to shell out for high-end components.
Laptop
PCMark 10
Geekbench 5 Compute
3DMark Timespy Extreme
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
7,199
140,278
5,990
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
7,085
132,272
4,798
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE
6,779
125,001
4,887
Alienware x14
7,073
85,504
3,362
I also want to mention that while the Duo 16 normally keeps its thermals and fan noise in check, under full load, things can get a bit raucous. At full blast, you might hear a high-pitched whine coming from the vents that can get a little annoying. But you can always adjust that by going into ASUS' Armoury Crate app. There's even a custom fan curve setting if you want to dial things in manually. Alternatively, you could just put on some headphones and make the fan noise someone else's problem, not that I've ever done that.
Battery Life
Laptop
Battery life
ROG Zephyrus Duo 16
3:45
Razer Blade 15 (2022)
5:42
Acer Predator Triton 500 SE
5:25
The obvious downside to having a laptop this big and powerful is weak battery life. With both the main display and the ScreenPad enabled, the Duo 16 lasted just three hours and 45 minutes on our local video rundown test. That's an hour and a half less than the Acer Predator Triton 500 SE and the Razer Blade 15, which themselves aren't exactly shining examples of longevity. So you better make sure you save room for the Duo 16's two-pound power brick in your bag too.
Wrap up
Sam Rutherford/Engadget
Look, with a base price of $2,500 that quickly climbs above $3K when well equipped, it's going to be tough to fit the ROG Duo 16 in most people's budget. On top of that, it's big, heavy and short on battery life. But for the kind of people who constantly find themselves seeking more screen space — especially when out and about — Asus' innovative setup gives you more usable display area in less space than practically any other laptop maker. And while its keyboard and touchpad are cramped, combining big performance with a truly unique design feels like we're seeing an evolution of the desktop replacement notebook happen in front of our eyes. That means this thing will be a rather niche device, but if you're looking for something to cure your dual-screen FOMO, Asus's ROG Duo 16 does it better than anything else on the market.
Apple has announced Lockdown Mode, an "extreme" level of security designed for a "very small number of users who face grave, targeted threats." It’ll be available this fall. The company says it created Lockdown Mode to protect high-profile people who, because of their status or job, might be personally targeted by malware developed by the likes of NSO Group, which is behind Pegasus, or other state-backed groups. Switching on Lockdown Mode will severely restrict the functions of an iPhone, iPad or Mac to limit possible entry points for spyware.
Alongside this, Apple plans to expand its Security Bounty program. Researchers who find weaknesses in Lockdown Mode and help Apple make it more secure will be eligible for rewards of up to $2 million. Apple sued the NSO Group last year to "hold it accountable" for states that target and spy on its users.
It’s part of several security features Apple’s teeing up for its operating systems this year. iOS 16 will automatically install security fixes, while the company claims its passkeys offer increased safeguards against phishing attempts and data breaches. Even on the physical front, USB-C devices will have to ask for permission to send data in macOS Ventura.
Given all the cybersecurity issues we’ve reported on in the last few years, these are probably all good things.
With Amazon Prime Day less than a week away, Engadget will be surfacing the best tech deals we can find — both on Amazon and elsewhere — but there are some important things to know ahead of Prime Day itself, which begins at 12 AM PT on Tuesday, July 12th.
And to stay in the loop with all the best Prime day deals, try our regular new deals newsletter — don’t worry The Morning After is going nowhere. You can subscribe now to get the latest deals on our favorite consumer tech delivered to your inbox.
Good news if you’re waiting for Apple's colorful laptops: The new M2-powered, slightly redesigned MacBook Air will be available for pre-order on July 8th at 5 AM PDT/8 AM EDT. You won’t have to wait long to get your laptop after pre-order because Apple will start shipping worldwide on July 15th.
Phew. The next God of War game won’t be delayed till 2023. Sony has confirmed God of War Ragnarök, the sequel to 2018's dramatic spin on the franchise, will launch on the PS5 and PS4 on November 9th. To celebrate, there’s a new trailer, with Kratos’ son stepping up to fight.
The automaker joins Tesla and GM in losing access to the subsidy after hitting a sales cap.
Toyota is the latest automaker to run out of US federal tax credits, and it will join Tesla and GM in losing access to the $7,500 subsidy. The company surpassed the qualifying sales threshold for EVs and hybrids in June, according to Bloomberg.
The government limited each carmaker to 200,000 EV tax credits, though Toyota and other companies have been lobbying to lift that cap. Toyota says losing the credit will mean its EVs are more expensive for consumers, which will slow the transition from combustion-engine cars to EVs.
The lunar spacecraft had gone dark for nearly a full day.
Following the lunar satellite's successful launch from Rocket Lab's site July 4th, ground control lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after it escaped Earth's gravity. Yesterday, after nearly a full day in the dark, NASA announced its engineers managed to reconnect to the petite 55-pound satellite.
A massive raft of renders, purporting to show off Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5 have made their way to the desk of 91Mobiles. The site reports that we’ll see two models, apparently confirming a higher-end Pro model that will top the range. That unit, codenamed Project X, will come in black or gray titanium and get a single case option, but users can opt for a version with, or without, LTE.
The vanilla Watch5, meanwhile, will supplant the Watch4 as the more fitness-focused device in the lineup. Much like it’s predecessor, you’ll apparently get a choice of two case sizes and the option of an LTE modem, as well as a far broader variety of colors to choose from. Both units are expected to run a skinned version of wearOS 3.5, although there’s no word on if there’s any device-specific features coming at this early stage.
The rumors are pointing to these being unveiled at Samsung’s now-customary summer Unpacked event, which is expected to take place in early August. Between then and now, we can hope for a few more details about these watches filtering out of Samsung’s corporate shield. And for anything else about the range of flagship devices expected to drop at the event, as well.
State-sponsored North Korean hackers have been targeting healthcare providers since at least May 2021, according to the US government. The FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Department of the Treasury have issued a joint advisory warning healthcare organizations about the attackers' MO. Apparently, they've been using a ransomware called Maui to encrypt healthcare organizations' computers and then demanding payment from the victims to get their networks unlocked. The agencies' warning contains information about Maui, including its indicators of compromise and the techniques the bad actors use, which they got from a sample obtained by the FBI.
The agencies said the attackers locked up healthcare providers' electronic health records services, diagnostics services, imaging services and intranet services, among others. In some cases, the attacks kept the providers out of their systems and disrupted the services they provide for prolonged periods.
According to the agencies' advisory, the malware is manually executed by a remote actor once it's in the victim's network. They "highly discourage" paying ransom, since that doesn't ensure that the bad actors will give victims the keys to unlock their files. However, the agencies admit that the attackers will most likely continue targeting organizations in the healthcare sector. "The North Korean state-sponsored cyber actors likely assume healthcare organizations are willing to pay ransoms because these organizations provide services that are critical to human life and health," they said.
The agencies are now urging healthcare providers to employ mitigation techniques and to prepare for possible ransomware attacks by installing software updates, maintaining offline backups of data and concocting a basic cyber incident response plan. For those wondering what happens to the funds North Korea gets from operations like this: Earlier this year, a United Nations report revealed that the country has been using cryptocurrency stolen by state-sponsored hackers to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Healthcare providers have been a prime target for ransomware-using bad actors for quite a while now, especially since the pandemic started. In 2020, FBI and CISA issued a joint advisory warning hospitals and healthcare providers that they're in danger of being targeted by a ransomware attack. Russian-speaking criminal gang UNC1878 and other attackers targeted healthcare organizations in the height of the pandemic, giving some victims no choice but to comply with their demands as they struggled to save people's lives.
Moreso than most automakers, Rivian has had a tough 2022. At the start of the year, the company, blaming inflation and component shortages, raised the base price of its quad-motor R1T pickup truck by a whopping $12,000. And while it went on to quickly backtrack, the decision led to a shareholder lawsuit.
Despite those early woes, Rivian says it’s still on track to produce 25,000 vehicles in 2022. The company reiterated the prediction in a statement it shared on Wednesday. Rivian said it built 4,401 R1T trucks, R1S SUVs and Amazon delivery vans at its factory in Normal, Illinois and delivered 4,467 vehicles during fiscal Q2.
“Supply chain and production are ramping,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe tweeted after the announcement. “We just announced production of 4,401 vehicles for Q2 bringing our cumulative total since start of production to 7,969 — keeping us on track to reach our year-end goals.”
Supply chain and production are ramping! We just announced production of 4,401 vehicles for Q2 bringing our cumulative total since start of production to 7,969 — keeping us on track to reach our year-end goals. Thank you to our team & suppliers.
While 4,401 vehicles is a modest tally, it is an improvement for Rivian. In the first three months of the year, the startup built 2,553 cars. Just as noteworthy is that the company managed to scale production while facing many of the same issues that have slowed its competition. On Saturday, Tesla announced its first quarter-over-quarter production decline in two years. In Q2, the company saw a 15 percent drop in manufacturing volume due to ongoing parts shortages and multiple COVID-19 shutdowns at its critical Shanghai Gigafactory.
Increasing production capacity will be critical to Rivian’s survival. In addition to an approximately 71,000 vehicle preorder backlog, the company has a 100,000 van order it needs to fulfill for minority owner Amazon. Late last year, Rivian announced it would build a second factory in Georgia, but that facility won’t be operational until sometime 2024. Until then, the startup is dependent on its single factory in Normal, which it says will eventually produce 200,000 vehicles annually.
Horizon Forbidden West was already one of the best-looking games on PlayStation 5, and now developer Guerrilla Games has found a way to make it look even better. With Forbidden West’s latest update, the studio has added a 40Hz “Balanced” rendering mode and support for both variable refresh rate (VRR) and high refresh rate (HFR).
VRR is a feature that’s relatively new to console gaming. It syncs your TV’s refresh rate to the frame rate of the game you’re playing, thereby helping to eliminate screen tearing whenever there’s a drop in performance. Meanwhile, the new Balanced setting promises to give you the best of Forbidden West’s existing Performance and Fidelity modes by offering a happy medium between the two.
Highly-requested features incoming... Introducing Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), High Refresh Rate (HFR) and our new "Balanced" Graphics Mode supporting 40Hz.
If you’re curious about how you get “balanced” graphics from rendering a game at 40Hz, here’s how the math works. At 30Hz, it takes 33.33 milliseconds for your console to display a new frame. By contrast, at 40Hz and 60Hz, it renders a new frame every 25 and 16.66 milliseconds, respectively. So while it might seem counterintuitive, 40 fps is precisely halfway between 30 fps and 60 fps in terms of update speed. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart also offers a 40 fps mode, and when Insomniac first introduced the feature, Digital Foundry called it “a potential game-changer” for console gaming.
Outside of those improvements, patch 1.17 includes the usual assortment of bug fixes, with some designed to address glitches that could stop you from finishing the game. You can read the entire changelog on Reddit.
Apple’s long-rumored extreme sports Series 8 Watch could ship with the company’s largest smartwatch display to date. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, the forthcoming wearable features a screen that measures almost 2 inches diagonally and has a 410 by 502 resolution. Compared to the display on the 45mm Series 7, the largest smartwatch Apple sells at the moment, the new model would offer about seven percent more screen real estate. Gurman says the company could use the extra space to show additional fitness metrics or more information on watch faces at one time.
Corroborating Bloomberg’s reporting is a recent tweet from display analyst Ross Young who said the Series 8 lineup would include a model with a 1.99-inch display. Outside of a larger screen, Gurman says the new variant will feature a more shatter-resistant screen, a higher capacity battery and a studier case made from metal more robust than aluminum. It will also include the fever detection feature he previously reported was coming to the entire Series 8 family, as well as better tracking capabilities for activities like hiking and swimming. What it won’t include is a faster processor: Apple’s upcoming S8 chipset reportedly features the same capabilities as its S7 and S6 predecessors.
If Apple follows its usual release cadence, the tech giant will likely announce the wearable at its iPhone event in the fall. Gurman previously said the company was working on a “deluge” of products it plans to announce over the next year, including a successor to the original HomePod.
Axie Infinity was the prime example of crypto gaming last year, when its play-to-earn formula helped it reach up to 2.7 million daily active users last November. But that all came crashing down in March, when hackers stole $625 million from the Ethereum-linked Ronin sidechain powering the game. Now, it turns out, the source of that hack came from an unlikely source: A fake job offer from LinkedIn.
As The Block reports (via The Verge) based on two sources, the hackers infiltrated Axie Infinity owner Sky Mavin's network by sending a spyware-filled PDF to one employee. That person thought they were accepting a high-paying job from another firm, but it turns out that company never existed. According to the US government, North Korean hacker group Lazarus was behind the attack.
“Employees are under constant advanced spear-phishing attacks on various social channels and one employee was compromised," Sky Mavis noted in a post-mortem blog post following the hack. "This employee no longer works at Sky Mavis. The attacker managed to leverage that access to penetrate Sky Mavis IT infrastructure and gain access to the validator nodes.”
Axie Infinityspun back up last week, and it's still relying on the Ronin sidechain, albeit with stricter security measures. The company raised its validator nodes to 11 in April, up from 9 previously, which makes it more difficult for attackers to gain control of the network. (Lazarus gained access to 5 nodes to achieve its hack, including one from the Axie DAO [Decentralized Autonomous Organization].) And it's also implementing a "circuit-breaker" system to flag large withdrawals.
While this hack was clearly meticulously planned and required a significant amount of technical skill, it ultimately hung on a classic vulnerability: social engineering.
