Category: Tech

The Ecovacs Deebot X8 Pro Omni uses a new roller mopping system that continuously cleans itself while also tackling tough stains.

Jumpstart a brand-new year of health and fitness with the Alexa-powered Amazfit Active Smartwatch, now on sale for $90.

Netflix’s American Primeval is a promising but ultimately clichéd and unsatisfying Western miniseries.

Who says you need to wait to experience the best of CES 2025? Here are five products showcased at the annual expo you’ll be able to purchase or preorder today!

The OnePlus 13 is the latest entry in OnePlus’s flagship-killing lineup. But does it, and the more budget-friendly OnePlus 13R, have 120Hz refresh rates?

The long-awaited Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed yet again, according to a press release. It was supposed to come out on February 14 but Ubisoft has moved the release date to March 20. This is actually the second time it was delayed. It was originally supposed to come out in time for the 2024 holiday season.

The stated reason is the same as the last delay. The developers say they’re using the extra time to continue polishing the game, which has previously been described as “the biggest entry in the franchise.” Ubisoft says it has been continually checking player feedback from the community and making changes accordingly.

However, Variety suggests that another factor could be at play here. Ubisoft is officially preparing itself to be sold, which has been rumored for a while now, and likely wants Assassin’s Creed Shadows to be a bona-fide hit to entice would-be buyers. Star Wars Outlaws was a (relative) dud, which didn’t add many “transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.” That language is from today’s press release.

While wrapped up in corporate mumbo-jumbo, this is likely good news for gamers. Modern AAA developers, aside from Nintendo and a few others, like to release bug-infested nightmares and charge folks $70 for the privilege. This could ensure that the Japan-set Assassin’s Creed Shadows ends up being one of the better entries in the franchise at launch, and not a few years down the line.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/assassins-creed-shadows-delayed-again-until-march-20-194014830.html?src=rss

CES is a great place to check out all sorts of upcoming tech for the year, but it’s often the wildest gadgets that steal the show. The conference hosts thousands of exhibitors, all vying for attention, and you really never know what they’re gonna come up with. And this year’s show did not let us down. So without further ado, here’s the weirdest tech at CES 2025 that we encountered — all of the crazy (and crazy useful) devices we spotted out in the wild of the show floor. Just keep in mind, weird doesn’t necessarily mean bad — we actually want to buy some of these! They’re just not quite the run-of-the-mill laptop or TV from the big vendors that dominated the show floor.

EcoFlow Power Hat

Engadget

Do you want to look like a professor at Hogwarts while effortlessly charging a smartphone? Then we have the hat for you. The EcoFlow Power Hat includes an embedded set of Monocrystalline Silicon solar cells and a pair of charging ports. It looks dorky, sure, but it also looks pretty dang useful. It costs $129 and is available right now.

Roto VR Explorer

VR can easily show us digital vistas, but can’t do much about natural movement. That’s where this bizarre, and cool, spinning chair comes in. The Roto VR Explorer moves in the direction you tilt your head and has been designed to work with Meta Quest headsets, but can integrate with other models. Surprisingly, it doesn’t seem to cause too much motion sickness. It costs $800 and is available now.

Yukai Mirumi

It wouldn’t be CES without an adorable robot to steal our hearts. This year’s cutie-pie is the Yukai Mirumi, and it’s an absolute unit of a fluffball. All it really does is look cute and engage in eye contact, with occasional coy glances elsewhere as it plays hard to get. But that’s enough. Playing with it feels like getting to know a new kitten, and we are totally fine with that. It should cost around $80 when it hits a crowdsourcing platform later this year.

Anker Solix Solar Beach Umbrella

Anker

Solar umbrellas are such a good idea. The thing is already open, to provide some much-needed shade, so may as well make it suck up juice from the sun. That’s Anker’s thought behind the Solix Solar Beach Umbrella. It uses perovskite solar cells in its panels, which are highly efficient, and offers of up to 80W of power. We don’t have pricing or availability on this one yet, but it should arrive in time for summer.

Roborock Saros Z70

This is not a drill. The Roborock Saros Z70 robot vacuum boasts actual robotic arms that will pick up objects from the floor as it cleans. It can lift stuff up to 300 grams, so it excels with dirty socks, pet toys and even some light sandals. However, it looks like there’s a cap on the number of items the AI can recognize. This handsy robovac doesn’t have a price or release date yet.

Mecha Systems Comet

Engadget

The Mecha Systems Comet is the handheld computer of our dreams. This diminutive little doodad is a modular, Linux-based computer built for hobbyists, engineers, artists and roboticists. It boasts a 1.8 GHz ARM64 Quad-core processor, 32GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. However, everything is expandable and customizable. A magnetic snap interface allows folks to clip on all kinds of different control panels for unique use case scenarios. It’s coming to Kickstarter soon, with a starting price of $160.

Jizai Mi-Mo

Here’s another robot, and this one looks exactly like the iconic Pixar lamp. The Jizai Mi-Mo is described as a “general purpose AI robot” that “thinks and acts” on its own. It has a built-in camera and microphones, and uses multiple large language models for voice and image recognition. The company hopes that one day the robot will be used for simple childcare tasks, like reminding kids to do their homework. This is just a prototype for now, so there’s no price or availability.

AirStudio One

Engadget

Why spring for both a microphone and headphones when you could just opt for this 2-in-1 oddball gadget? The AirStudio One is a decent wireless condenser microphone with a secret lurking underneath. When you open up the chassis, there’s an audio interface, a wireless USB-C dongle and a pair of true wireless headphones. We couldn’t really get a sense of how the mic sounded (CES is noisy) but this could be a real boon for musicians when it gets released later this year.

SwitchBot K20+ Pro

Engadget

Here’s a robot vacuum with a built-in stand that allows it to wander the home while carrying something else, like an air purifier or a tablet. The SwitchBot K20+ Pro is described as a “multitasking” household assistant that can do stuff aside from cleaning a floor. To that end, it supports a wide variety of attachments and connects seamlessly to other SwitchBot appliances. Theoretically, this thing can also deliver drinks and snacks. It goes on sale later this year, but there’s no price yet.

Haus.me microhaus Pro

Engadget

The Haus.me microhaus Pro is a tiny home with not-so-tiny ambitions. It can be placed just about anywhere, doesn’t require professional contractors or site prep and is seismic California fire code and CAT-5 hurricane compliant. These 120-square foot domiciles also include floor-to-ceiling windows, a full-sized shower, a kitchen and a Murphy bed that folds up to reveal a table and two bench seats. The price starts at $35,000, which isn’t that bad considering, well, it’s a home. Preorders are open right now.

Govee Gaming Pixel Light

Engadget

Want a unique set piece for your gaming room? The Govee Gaming Pixel Light comes in two sizes, with the option to be placed on a desktop or mounted to a wall. Out of the box, users can choose from 150 pixel-based scenes, but that’s just the beginning. The unit is programmable, both on the display itself or by using a companion app. That app actually has a chatbot, allowing folks to simply describe what they want to see. Pretty cool, right? It’ll be available later this year and should cost $100.

MSI Mag Coreliquid A13

The MSI Mag Coreliquid A13 is a CPU cooler with a built-in turntable. Yeah. You read that right. It’s based on the Mag Coreliquid A15 360, but adds a cute spinning table that goes directly inside a desktop computer. Now, the word turnable is apt here, but it doesn’t play records. Instead, MSI showed off the device being used to spin around a dragon mascot character. It’s very cool and I want it very much, but it’s just a concept design for now. MSI has no plans to sell this thing.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-weirdest-tech-we-saw-at-ces-2025-190014510.html?src=rss

A judge has approved the settlement that finally wraps up a case brought against Tesla by the Police and Fire Retirement System of the City of Detroit. The shareholders argued that Tesla’s board of directors overpaid themselves between 2017 and 2020.

Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of Delaware’s Court of Chancery approved the settlement yesterday. Tesla’s directors will be required to return roughly $277 million in cash and $459 million in stock options, as well as forgoing stock options for 2021-23 worth $184 million. McCormick also awarded $176 million in fees and costs to the trio of law firms that brought the case on a contingency basis.

Some of the notable directors named in the suit include Chair Robyn Denholm, James Murdoch (son of Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch) and Larry Ellison (co-founder of Oracle). The board members did not admit to wrongdoing and the settlement does not specify how much each individual should return, only the collective amount.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/judge-approves-settlement-in-suit-that-teslas-board-overpaid-themselves-185901600.html?src=rss

Just a couple of days after Anker announced its 140W four-port wall charger at CES 2025, it’s already on sale. The charging brick has a display (which lets you keep tabs on various metrics), multiple fast-charging options and an “odometer” to track its lifetime usage. You can slash $10 off its retail price on Amazon and Anker’s website.

When not on sale, the Anker Charger (140W, 4-Port, PD 3.1) costs the same as Apple’s 140W wall charger for MacBooks but has loads of extra perks. Among those is its “high-definition” (although we don’t know the exact resolution) color display. There, you can monitor its total output power, a per-port wattage breakdown, temperature and its total hours of operating time (the aforementioned “odometer”). The screen even rotates 90 degrees with a long press of its button to fit different outlet orientations.

Its three USB-C ports, two of which are high-speed and can charge a 15-inch MacBook Air to 50 percent in 30 minutes. Also onboard is a single USB-A port. The Anker Charger supports multiple fast-charging options, including PD3.1 and UFCS. It’s bundled with a five-ft 240W USB-C to USB-C cable.

The four-port charger has an MSRP of $90, but you can get it for $80 by clipping a digital coupon on Amazon and Anker’s website.

Also on sale is Anker’s new 25,000mAh charger with two built-in cables. One cable is retractable, while the other loops into a lanyard when not in use. Anker says the retractable one has been tested for over 20,000 retractions, and the lanyard cable can support up to 44 pounds.

The soda-can-sized charger also has three USB-C ports, which can deliver up to 100W to your devices. It, too, has a display showing battery temperature, output and input wattage and battery health (this one is shown in a classic percentage rather than hours).

The Anker Power Bank (25K, 165W, Built-In and Retractable Cables) retails for $100 but can be yours for $90 with a coupon on Amazon and Anker’s website.

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

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/ankers-newest-charger-from-ces-2025-is-already-discounted-183858056.html?src=rss

If you know anything about coffee, and coffee snobs, you’ll know they’re always going on about where their beans are sourced from. The preference for single origin beans is better for traceability, transparency, and when you discover a variety you adore, you can keep going back. Japanese company Mihatama, however, turned up to CES 2025 in Las Vegas with Flavor Craft AI, an app-controlled system to meter out beans to suit your specific taste. You can just imagine the coffee snobs clutching their heads at the thought of blending beans in such a fashion.

Essentially, you fire up the app and select preferences based on your preferred flavor, selecting for strength, acidity, bitterness, astringency and richness. Once you’ve done so, the AI will direct the machine to churn out a blend of different beans sufficient quantities to match the flavor you’ve requested. Said beans will be collected in the bottom tray, where you can then dump them into your grinder of choice and brew up your drink.

The company has set up a pre-launch page on Indiegogo which will open to pre-sales at some point in the near future. Its representatives have said that it’ll cost around $400 when it goes on sale, plus or minus the cost of never being able to invite your coffee snob friends over to your house ever again.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/this-mean-bean-machine-is-bound-to-upset-coffee-fans-183045969.html?src=rss