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Thomas Ricker

Thomas Ricker

Deputy Editor

Deputy Editor

    More From Thomas Ricker

    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    A better Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 is coming.

    The Special Edition of Samsung’s flagship will be released on Monday, according to perennial know-it-all Ice Universe who shared a Samsung teaser announcing the date (but not the device). Rumors suggest it’ll be thinner and feature a host of improvements throughout.

    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    TSMC: Tech Savvy Money Creators.

    The world’s leading maker of advanced chips that calls Nvidia and Apple friends just announced over $10 billion in net profit over just the last three months — a 54 percent jump and a record for the company.

    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    Waymo than average.

    Remember that nightly parade of honking robotaxis captured by Sophia Tung? The resolution is even more nerdy that you could hope.

    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    Oh the humanity!

    B&W’s iconic Zeppelin iPod speaker has evolved over the years, culminating in today’s new £699 / $799 Zeppelin Pro Edition. It now comes in gold and gray finishes, a more colorful downlight to set the mood, and new tweeters paired with midrange drivers and a subwoofer that are said to improve the overall sound. It can be used in a multi-room setup and supports AirPlay2, Bluetooth aptX Adaptive, and Spotify Connect.

    1/6Image: Bowers & Wilkins
    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    Starlink Mini actually works in a backpack.

    I’m working on a full review in a variety of scenarios but I’m shocked it works at all in the outer sleeve of this Peak Design backpack connected to a USB-C power bank. Once it gets satellite lock it holds on to it reasonably well for an average of 54Mbps down and 11Mbps up, despite the dish’s vertical alignment and 110-degree field of view.

    I don’t know why you’d do this, but you can!

    <em>The 27,600mAh (99.36Wh) 140W USB-C PD 3.1 power bank I carried could have powered this connected walk for up to three hours.</em>
    <em>Here’s what it looks like walking through a forest with the overhead tree coverage causing the outages. The Mini would reengage just as soon I entered a clearing.</em>
    1/2
    The 27,600mAh (99.36Wh) 140W USB-C PD 3.1 power bank I carried could have powered this connected walk for up to three hours.
    Photo by Thomas Ricker / The Verge
    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    Passkeys are getting portable.

    The alliance managing the passwordless login standard is working on a way to securely move passkeys between password managers offered by 1Password, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Okta, etc. The draft specifications for secure credential exchange are now in community review.

    Hopefully this will get sorted soon as passkeys inch closer to going mainstream. The last thing users want is to have their passwords locked to a tech ecosystem.

    Thomas Ricker
    Thomas Ricker
    Voyage 2-in-1 Qi2 charger review.

    It’s from Native Union and it fast charges compatible devices like my iPhone 15 Pro, and Air Pods Pro or Apple Watch Ultra — pick two or get a 3-in-1 Qi2 charger instead. The MagSafe compatible magnets keep everything attached and aligned. It folds up super small but at $99 it’s not cheap and you still have to supply a 27W (or above) USB-C PD wall charger.

    Score: 7

    <em>It feels good and hefty in the hand, but just short of premium which is a problem for the price.</em>
    <em>It unfolds and pulls a maximum of 18W when charging only the iPhone to ensure there’s enough left over (due to heat loss) to charge the phone at Qi2’s maximum rate of 15W. The charger pulls a maximum of 21W when adding the Apple Watch Ultra.</em>
    <em>Yes, it’ll also charge AirPods Pro and any Qi-compliant device.</em>
    <em>USB-C as all things should be in 2024. The sides are held together magnetically. It’ll still charge one device on a table when folded like this.</em>
    <em>Here you can see the charger pulling an 18W maximum when only the iPhone is charging. Qi2 is only capable of delivering 15W currently. Apple’s new proprietary magnetic wireless MagSafe can now do 25W. Apple is a Qi contributor so maybe Qi3?</em>
    <em>The charger ships with a pouch, nice braided USB-C cable, and the charger. Sorry, this is BYOWC (bring your own wall charger) which is a shame for the price.</em>
    1/6
    It feels good and hefty in the hand, but just short of premium which is a problem for the price.