ASUS is preparing to ship what it claims is the first 13.3-inch Windows 2-in-1 laptop with an OLED screen. The Vivobook 13 Slate OLED is able to display 1.07 billion colors, according to ASUS. The widescreen display has a 16:9 aspect ratio with 100 percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage.
The screen has a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and is DisplayHDR True Black 500-certified, so it should deliver deep black levels. In addition, the display has a 0.2ms response time and up to 70 percent lower blue light levels than an LCD screen, ASUS claims.
The detachable is not entirely about the screen though. There's a quad-speaker Dolby Atmos system that ASUS says uses a smart amplifier to deliver maximum possible distortion-free volume. The company claims it works at levels up to 3.5 times louder than a standard amplifier.
ASUS
The Vivobook 13 Slate OLED has WiFi 6 support, which could come in handy for cloud gaming, as well as a quad-core Intel processor up to 3.3 GHz, up to 256GB of SSD storage and up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. There are two USB-C ports, a 3.5mm combo audio jack and a microSD card reader, as well as a front 5MP camera and rear 13MP camera.
A full-size keyboard, cover stand and ASUS Pen 2.0 are included as standard. The cover stand has a 170-degree hinge and the keyboard has 1.4 mm key travel. With both attached, the device weighs just over three pounds. Meanwhile, the new stylus has swappable pen tips and you can store it in a magnetic pen holder.
The device can run for over nine hours on a single charge, according to ASUS. It also claimed you can recharge the battery to 60 percent of capacity in around 39 minutes via USB-C.
The ASUS Vivobook 13 Slate OLED will be available in December. It will start at $600. Some variants will be available next year, including editions that ASUS designed with the help of artists Steven Harrington and Philip Colbert.
In October, Microsoft and Adidas partnered to celebrate the Xbox's 20th anniversary with the first-ever pair of official Xbox footwear. For fans of the company's original 2001 console, the Forum Tech sneakers were a treat with their nostalgic green and black colorway. There was just one problem with the shoes: you couldn't buy them. Thankfully, that's not true of their latest collaboration, which will be available to buy in the US and Canada.
Microsoft describes the Xbox 360 Forum Mid as a "love letter to one of the most iconic gaming consoles in gaming history." That means plenty of details Xbox 360 fans will appreciate. Most noticeable is the Xbox button on the outer side of the shoes, but there are other fun touches, including the straps that replicate the console's optical drive. Another nifty inclusion is that each pair comes with four additional pairs of laces in red, yellow, green and blue, so all four controller face button colors are represented. Oh, and expect Easter Eggs.
Sales of the Xbox 360 Forum Mid shoes will start on November 4th at 10am ET. You can grab them from the Adidas website. If you don't fancy yourself a sneakerhead, Microsoft is releasing other commemorative products to mark the Xbox brand's 20th birthday. On November 15th, the company will come out with a translucent Xbox Series X/S controller and headset.
Nintendo occasionally milks some of its big franchises, but Metroid is generally not one of them. In fact, Metroid Dread is the first all-new game in the series since the divisive Metroid:Other M arrived in 2010. As the fifth mainline, side-scrolling game in the series, Dread has a lot to live up to. And while it’s not a total reinvention of the franchise, like Metroid Prime was 19 years ago, it also does a great job of avoiding the pitfall of feeling like a retread, an issue that occasionally plagues Nintendo’s other flagship franchises.
If you’ve played any of the previous side-scrolling Metroid games, Dread will be familiar. As usual, Samus Aran loses all her powers and needs to escape an underworld maze, fighting baddies and retrieving power-ups that let you explore new sections (or old parts of the map you couldn’t get through before).
That’s a well-trodden path, but Nintendo flipped things this time with the E.M.M.I. encounters, terrifying robotic enemies that stalk you through specific parts of the map. They can’t be killed until you explore their area to find a weapon power-up that puts you on equal footing. At first, I was worried that these encounters would be too frequent, or too hard to escape, but developer MercurySteam did an excellent job balancing out the E.M.M.I. areas. Escaping from the dreaded robots by leaving the zones they patrol isn’t too tough, and you don’t have to spend so long in their areas that the whole game devolves into stealth tension.
On the other hand, if you get caught by an E.M.M.I., that’s pretty much it. You have one chance to block their lethal attack, and I’ve only done it right once. I’ve probably gotten caught several dozen times and have never made it out alive. Fortunately, the game just resets you to the door entering the E.M.M.I. zone if you fail, so you won’t lose much progress.
Nintendo
Meanwhile, I’ve had a blast exploring the dank tunnels and caverns that make up the world of Dread. As with most Nintendo games, the atmosphere and art style are top-notch, even if Dread doesn’t hold a candle to the more technologically advanced titles on the Xbox Series X or PS5. When I play a game that is this well-designed and thoughtful about what it does with the technology available to it, I don’t worry about counting pixels. That said, it also looks extremely impressive docked to my 4K TV.
Most of the gameplay hallmarks of Metroid titles are here, including power-ups like charged shots, the morph ball, the missile cannon and plenty of other returning favorites. But there’s enough new here, like the grapple beam and screw attack, to keep the game feeling fresh.
Maybe for people who have obsessively played the Metroid series before, Dread will feel like more of a retread. But while I’m familiar with the core components of these games, the first-person Metroid Prime is the game I know the best — I never beat the original game, or the highly-regarded Super Metroid on the Super NES. If you’re like me, don’t let that stop you from trying Metroid Dread. There’s a reason so-called Metroidvania games are still popular.
And if you haven’t tried one before, getting the newest installment in the series that helped define the genre is a great way to get your feet wet. Most importantly, it doesn’t feel like MercurySteam and Nintendo just checked the boxes for this game. Indeed, the skill that MercurySteam brought to Samus Returns (a remake of 1991’s Metroid II: Return of Samus for the Game Boy) is on display here; Nintendo definitely picked the right developer to make the first mainline Metroid game since 2002. It’s an inspired addition to a series that already has an impressive legacy. Just don’t get cocky — run like hell if an E.M.M.I. tracks you down.
Surveillance software developer NSO Group may have a very tough road ahead. The US Commerce Department has added NSO to its Entity List, effectively banning trade with the firm. The move bars American companies from doing business with NSO unless they receive explicit permission. That's unlikely, too, when the rule doesn't allow license exceptions for exports and the US will default to rejecting reviews.
NSO and fellow Israeli company Candiru (also on the Entity List) face accusations of enabling hostile spying by authoritarian governments. They've allegedly supplied spyware like NSO's Pegasus to "authoritarian governments" that used the tools to track activists, journalists and other critics in a bid to crush political dissent. This is part of the Biden-Harris administration's push to make human rights "the center" of American foreign policy, the Commerce Department said.
The latest round of trade bans also affects Russian company Positive Technologies and Singapore's Computer Security Initiative Consultancy, bot of which were accused of peddling hacking tools.
We've asked NSO Group for comment, although its official media contact address produced an error. The company has strongly rejected claims of enabling abuses in the past, including denials that Pegasus was used to target murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO said it had blocked access for previous abuses, and it even hired a libel attorney who accused investigative journalists and their partners of misinterpretation and making unfounded assumptions.
The Commerce Department claims to have evidence of NSO's actions, though. The net effect is the same. NSO isn't necessarily doomed. Like blocklist member Huawei, though, it may struggle to operate without access to any American partners it used before.
Board games are a great gift for anyone who wants to spend time with friends and family without staring at the TV. They’re interactive, fun, and you get to tell everyone to put away their phones and tablets for a while. But instead of pulling out the same old classics like Monopoly and Scrabble, we recommend giving some new titles a try. Here, we’ve compiled a list of games that you might not have heard of, but will still make excellent gifts this holiday season. Some are perfect for fantasy and video game nerds, while others are likely to be a hit with the whole family.
Trails: A Parks Game
Keymaster Games
Trails is a great little board game for anyone who loves hiking or even just the idea of it. In Trails, players hike on picturesque nature paths while gathering resources, taking pictures and encountering wildlife, earning points along the way. Whoever gets the most points wins. The art in this game is beautiful, featuring 11 national park illustrations from the Fifty-Nine Park Print series. Trails makes an especially great game for nature lovers, as a portion of every game sale is donated to the National Park Service.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Red Raven Games
If your loved one is a fan of open-world video games such as Skyrim or No Man’s Sky, Sleeping Gods could well be the perfect board game for them. In this cooperative game, you and up to three friends play the part of Captain Sofi Odessa and her crew, who find themselves lost in the Wandering Sea. With a game atlas of connecting maps and a thick choose-your-own-adventure style storybook, players will have to explore the land to uncover its secrets, fight beasts, complete quests and make game-changing decisions. It all adds up to an engrossing and immersive experience sure to please anyone who loves a good story.
MCU fans will definitely appreciate it if you give them Marvel United, a game where the player and their friends have to work together to defeat the forces of evil. They can take on the role of one of seven heroes such as Captain America, Iron Man and Black Widow, each with their own unique powers and abilities. To win, players must choose their cards carefully and also collaborate with their partners to combine each other’s actions whenever possible. They’ll have to fight off henchmen, rescue civilians and, of course, take down one of three super villains: Red Skull, Ultron or Taskmaster. If X-Men is more their style, you could get them the Marvel United: X-Men version instead, where they get to play as characters like Professor X, Cyclops and Storm.
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget / Road to Infamy
Canvas is perhaps one of the prettiest board games we’ve ever seen — it’s so lovely that we almost want to hang the cover on a wall. It’s apropos because in Canvas, players are painters in an art competition. They collect art cards, layering them on top of one another to create their own unique “painting.” As they do so, certain icons will be revealed or hidden, which will determine the resulting score, depending on the objectives for that round. It might sound confusing, but Canvas is a beginner friendly game that should make a great gift for art lovers of all stripes.
Space Invaders is an enjoyable dexterity game for the whole family, even for those who don’t remember playing the classic arcade title of the same name. In this game, players have to work together to defeat descending aliens plus the UFO mothership before their health runs out. But instead of smashing buttons, they’ll take turns launching battle tokens with a mini catapult, and each player has a special ability they can deploy as well. It all adds to a bunch of silly fun that anyone aged eight and up can partake in.
Another excellent family game is Summer Camp, which will have your loved ones recalling fond memories of canoeing, making friendship bracelets and roasting marshmallows. In this game, players are racing against each other to earn merit badges in different categories such as adventure, arts and crafts, cooking, friendship, outdoors, games and water sports. They’ll want to buy the right cards, build the best combos and beat their opponents across the finish line to get the most points possible. It might not be as fun as actually being at summer camp, but hey, at least they won’t get eaten by mosquitos while playing.
If your loved one isn’t new to the world of tabletop gaming, then consider giving them Summoner Wars 2nd Edition, a tactical dueling card game that pits them against a rival to see which one will reign supreme. Players take on the role of powerful summoners that each control a large army of units in the form of cards, which are then placed in a head-to-head board. They also choose one of six different factions, each with unique attacks and moves. Some wield dark magic that can drain enemies, while others utilize brute strength to force their way through. If they’re really into combat games with a lot of tactics and strategy, Summoner Wars would make a thoughtful gift. The only downside is that you'll have to gift this a bit late as it comes out on January 12, 2022.
Wrath of the Lich King: A Pandemic System Board Game
Z-Man Games
For those who are really into World of Warcraft but might not have a lot of board gaming experience, Wrath of the Lich King: A Pandemic System Board game is the perfect introduction to the pastime. Based on a WoW expansion of the same name, players will take on the roles of legendary characters such as Thrall, Varian Wrynn, Sylvanas Windrunner, Tirian Fordring and Jaina Proudmoore, all of which will be familiar to anyone who’s ever played WoW. They’ll travel around the frozen continent of Northrend, completing quests and setting up strongholds in order to defeat armies of the undead and, eventually, the Lich King himself.
Why the long name? Well, the game utilizes similar mechanics found in Pandemic, a much beloved board game about eradicating the world of diseases. Those who are already familiar with Pandemic should be able to learn the game quite easily as a result, though Wrath of the Lich King has enough differences that it won’t feel like the same thing.
One of the most popular video games in 2017 was Cuphead, a run-and-gun style video game that features a hand-drawn 1930s art style. If you know someone who loved it when it came out, they might be interested in this card and dice version of the same game. Players play as Cuphead, Mugman, Elder Kettle or Ms. Chalice, and will attempt to defeat a gauntlet of bosses by rolling dice. Players can roll the dice as many times as they want per round, but there’s one problem: the time limit. It all adds up to a chaotic experience that really emulates the insane adrenaline rush of the original video game.
Chevy isn't the only one electrifying vintage cars to sell you on aftermarket EV motors. Ford has introduced an F-100 Eluminator concept that upgrades the circa-1978 pickup truck with two of the company's new Eluminator electric crate motor kit. The powerplants, taken from the Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition, give the F-100 a total 480HP and 634lb/ft of torque. Ford didn't discuss performance benchmarks or range, but it's safe to presume you could smoke some sports cars with that kind of power.
The truck has more customizations beyond the EV motors, including the vertical center-stack touchscreen from the Mach-E. You'll also see custom aluminum Forgeline wheels, a billet aluminum dash from JJR Fabrication and avocado-tanned leather from MDM Upholstery. This may look like a classic truck, but it's not appointed like one.
You can't buy this concept, as you might have guessed. Instead, Ford would rather you buy the $3,900 Eluminator motor for your project car. The automaker eventually hopes to supply everything you might need for an EV retrofit, including batteries, controllers and traction inverters. You'd only want to buy the motor right now if you have the resources to complete the rest of the puzzle yourself. This does, however, hint at a future where many beloved combustion engine cars can get a second life through an EV transplant.
Amazon still isn't done announcing Alexa-powered smart home gadgets this year. The company has unveiled a $69 Smart Air Quality Monitor (shown at right) that checks your household for carbon monoxide, dust, humidity, temperature and volatile organic compounds. If the air is unhealthy, Alexa will let you know through either its mobile app or an Echo device. You'll know to open a window or turn on an air purifier without having to check the monitor yourself.
You can ask Alexa about the air quality at any given moment. Display-equipped devices like an Echo Show or your phone will provide a detailed breakdown of the findings.
You'll have to be a bit patient. The Smart Air Quality Monitor is available to pre-order now, but the first orders don't ship until sometime in December. All the same, the wait could be justifiable if you prefer the Alexa ecosystem and worry that your indoor air quality is affecting your health.
Google News will once again be available in Spain in early 2022 after the country's government introduced a Royal Decree that changes its online copyright laws. In short, Google will be able to negotiate licensing fees with individual publishers, rather than paying all of them. That brings Spain's rules in line with a European Union framework.
In December 2014, Google shut down its News service in the country just before a law came into force that would have forced the company to pay publishers for using any of their content, including headlines, in the News tab. Publishers weren't able to opt out. Now, they have the choice, and Google can determine whether or not to pay them after the country implemented the European Copyright Directive.
Soon after Google closed News in Spain, a group representing newspapers in the country urged the government to act and get Google to restore the service. The Spanish Newspaper Publishers' Association said that losing News would "undoubtedly have a negative impact" on the public and publishers.
Google says the return of News will provide readers in Spain find coverage on stories from a range of publications and help to fight misinformation. It claims the move will be beneficial to publishers and journalists as well in terms of more visibility for their work and driving traffic to their websites.
In addition, the company plans to bring Google News Showcase to Spain. That's a product and program designed to curate high-quality news from publishers in Google News and Discover, and pays them for it. Google has also paid some publishers to offer some of their paywalled stories in Showcase at no cost to readers.
What better way to show someone you love them than getting them a gadget that they can wear on their person all day? Okay, maybe there are plenty of better ways, but a wearable can not only convey how much you care, but it can also help the user take better care of themselves.
Our list of the best wearables includes not only obvious things like smartwatches and fitness trackers, but also a touch-sensitive backpack that will let the hiker on your list keep their hands free while trekking through the mountains. Though the typical price here of about $200 to $300 might be steep for some, it might be a good range for those looking for something that a few friends can all chip in on. But we’ve also included budget-friendlier options if you prefer.
Apple Watch SE
Will Lipman Photography for Engadget
A smartwatch is a great gift for anyone that’s trying to stay on top of their busy schedules, keep tabs on their health or remain connected without having to look at their phone every 30 seconds. The Apple Watch SE is a solid choice for any first timer — it has all of the core features of the more-premium Series 7, but costs significantly less. Your loved one will be able to use it to track their workouts and sleep while getting their iPhone alerts and messages on their wrist. The watch will also detect if they’ve fallen and alert the user’s emergency contacts, not to mention warn the wearer of any heart rate irregularities. Of course, no smartwatch is meant to replace a consultation with a doctor, so think of it more as a way to get some data than as a tool for diagnosis.
If you believe your friend could benefit from a bigger screen, longer battery life, ECG readings and an always-on display, the $400 Series 7 is a better choice. But you’ll have to decide if those main differences are worth the premium.
The Apple Watch is the best smartwatch around. Unfortunately it won’t work with Android phones. Thankfully, there are plenty of options for those over in Google-land, and the best of them is the Galaxy Watch 4. It runs the new Wear OS co-engineered by Samsung and Google, marrying an intuitive side-scrolling interface and great health-tracking with a plentiful third-party app library. That means your friend can reply to your texts from their wrist, get updates on their cab rides or takeout orders, track their calorie intake or log workouts through their favorite apps. Those who are into their physical and muscular composition will also appreciate the Watch 4’s body fat-scanning tool.
If the person you’re shopping for prefers a more classic-looking timepiece and doesn’t mind a chunkier device, they might enjoy the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. It features a spinning bezel that lets the user whiz through widgets quickly and easily, and the etchings on the frame lend a traditional look to the smartwatch.
Those looking for something with a lower profile will prefer a Fitbit band. Despite its relatively small size, the Fitbit Charge 5 packs a ton of hardware including a heart rate monitor, onboard GPS and an electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor. Altogether, it can help your loved one track their pulse, fitness and even stress levels. Fitbit also has one of the more insightful sleep-logging tools around, using cardio readings to determine if they’ve entered deep, REM or light sleep zones.
The company also made its touchscreen full-color on the Charge 5, which is a vast improvement over the last model’s greyscale version. This does diminish battery life, but the Charge 5 still manages to last up to seven days (though, that drops to two with the display set to Always On).
For the Android smartwatch user who wants a little more fashion cred on their wrist, the Fossil Gen 6 is a worthy option. These are the company’s first to run the new Wear OS, but with some custom watch faces and tweaks for health-tracking. They have bright, crisp 1.28-inch AMOLED screens and offer continuous heart-rate monitoring, as well as a blood oxygen sensor.
Battery life has always been a big shortcoming of smartwatches, and Fossil is attempting to make up for that by offering fast charging on the Gen 6. It promises you can get up to 80 percent in 30 minutes, so your giftee doesn’t have to spend too long waiting around for their watch to power back up. And since this is a Fossil wearable, there are plenty of attractive strap and case options that will suit your loved one’s tastes.
Not all wearables are watches: there’s been a recent surge in speaker-glasses hybrid devices. The Amazon Echo Frames are the most comfortable, though. Like the Bose Frames and Razer’s Anzu, they offer open-ear style speakers built into the arms of the eyewear so that the wearer can hear what’s playing on their computer or phone without blocking out the rest of the world. Amazon’s version also offers easy access to Alexa, so the user can get hands-free help with setting timers or turning on their smart lights.
The Echo Frames can be fitted with prescription lenses and come in an inoffensive style that should fit most faces (there’s only one size available). Those who don’t need glasses can also opt for blue-light filtering lenses or shades instead. If you know someone who wants to listen to music or their favorite YouTube livestream at work, while still being able to hear when their boss calls them into the office, the Echo Frames are a good option.
Some diehard watch aficionados don’t like the idea of a black mirror staring up at them when smartwatch batteries die, but still want a timepiece that can track basic health metrics. For these folks, the Withings Steel HR is an attractive, well-rounded product. It has a traditional analog watch face with a tiny round black-and-white screen that shows step counts and small status indicators. A sub-dial displays progress towards the wearer’s daily move goal, and runners can link the watch to their phone’s GPS to map their routes.
The device’s onboard heart rate and blood oxygen sensors help the user gauge their cardio performance, and swimmers or divers will appreciate the water resistance of up to 50 meters. Best of all, since this doesn’t have a large, battery-draining screen, it can last up to 25 days on a charge.
The hardcore runner or marathoner in your life will most likely have heard of Garmin. The company is known for its GPS and heart rate monitors, and athletes swear by their running watches. The Forerunner 55 is a great device for those looking for something that excels at sports-tracking with long-lasting battery. It’ll last up to two weeks, while monitoring the user’s respiration, heart rate, step count and more. The wearer can also get basic notifications, music playback controls and apps on the watch.
But it’s Garmin’s robust sports features that will win your giftee over. These include comprehensive run coaching with cadence alerts, pace suggestions, estimated finish time and recovery guides. The Forerunner 55 also tracks stress and menstrual cycles and offers emergency contact tools when the wearer feels unsafe.
Who knew a backpack could be smart? The Samsonite Konnect-i bag features touch-sensitive fibers woven into its strap to enable Google’s Jacquard technology. This lets the wearer tap and swipe on the surface to do things like answer phone calls, play or pause music and more by connecting to their phone. For those who need to pay attention to their commute instead of fumbling around with a phone when they’re on the go, the Konnect-i backpack can keep their hands free and eyes alert. If you have the money to spare and want to give your friend a serious style upgrade, Google also teamed up with Saint Lauren on a $1,150 branded version.
Much of Waymo's self-driving vehicle testing has largely focused on warm climates, but it's about to give those machines a harsher trial. Waymo will start driving its autonomous Chrysler Pacifica vans in New York City on November 4th. This and a later wave of Jaguar I-Pace EVs will rely on human drivers to map streets and learn from the environment, but the goal is clearly to achieve full autonomy.
The test will focus on Manhattan below Central Park (aka midtown and lower Manhattan), including the financial district and a portion of New Jersey through the Lincoln Tunnel. All tests will operate during daylight.
The dry run will help Waymo's Driver AI cope with New York City's notoriously heavy traffic, of course, but the company is particularly interested in weather testing. Like many northern cities, NYC has its fair share of ice and snow, both of which remain huge challenges for driverless cars. This test will give Waymo further opportunities to test its navigation in winter conditions, not to mention the heavy rainfall more common in the region.
Waymo said it was "encouraged" by the responses from politicians, regulators, industry and non-profits. With that said, it's easy to see the potential for a backlash. NYC has been highly protective of its taxi business at times, and is heavily dependent on ridesharing. While fully driverless ride hailing services like Waymo One may not arrive for a long time in the city, taxi and rideshare operators alike likely won't be thrilled at the prospect of being replaced by autonomous systems.
