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Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
iFixit’s Steam Frame teardown finds Valve’s headset is surprisingly repairable.

Although accessing the cooling fan requires quite a bit of disassembly and swapping out the battery involves a brief battle with glue, iFixit says Valve has applied the same “repair-friendly thinking” to the Steam Frame’s design as it did with the Steam Deck helping to potentially prolong the headset’s lifespan.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The Stream Deck Neo’s smallest screen is getting more useful.

With the new Stream Deck 7.6 update, Elgato is expanding the limited functionality of the $99.99 Neo’s Infobar screen beyond a clock and page indicators. You’ll now be able to make it show other useful info like weather forecasts, what’s playing on Spotify, your PC’s CPU and GPU stats, and when your AI agent needs your attention.

Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The new pro version of Switchbot’s compact robovac has double the suction power.

We called the K11 Plus the best robot vacuum for small spaces, but Switchbot’s upgraded K11 Plus Pro could be an even better option. For $399.99 you get a boost from 6,000Pa to 12,000Pa of suction potentially making it a more potent autonomous cleaner for apartments with multiple pets or spill-prone kids.

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The Switchbot K11 Plus Pro robot vacuum cleaning a dirty wood floor near a sofa.
Image: Switchbot
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
CRKD’s tiny wireless gamepad with drift-resistant thumbsticks is now available.

First announced last March with shipping in late June, the tiny Atom Plus is finally available from retailers like Amazon for $29.99. It’s slightly wider than the 8BitDo Micro but CRKD’s palmable gamepad adds a symmetrical pair of tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) thumbsticks and two pairs of full-size shoulder buttons.

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1/3Image: CRKD
Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
An endurance watch with solar on both sides.

Des Yap did some initial testing of the new $649.99 T-Rex Dual Solar from Amazfit — the first endurance watch with a bright and colorful OLED to be fitted with teeny-weeny solar panels. The ring around the display can extend life a bit, but the larger rear panel around the heart-rate sensor can add a few percentage points of charge when you arrive at camp, or when the watch is slung off a running vest, so maybe you can leave your ultralight power bank home on your next multi-day adventure.

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Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Jsaux’s E Ink and Pixel Matrix Steam Machine faceplates are now available.

After first teasing their designs last November, the $99.99 E Ink and $89.99 Pixel Matrix magnetic faceplates are now available for preorder from Jsaux’s online store. The Verge’s Sean Hollister got some hands-on time with both displays and while the colorful pixelated faceplate needs a constant USB-C connection to the console, the E Ink is wireless with Bluetooth and a battery.

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Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
The new Apple Watches also reduce heart rate readings while Theater Mode is active.

If you’re worried about the green LEDs being a bigger distraction in a dark theater now that the Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 measure your heart rate every five seconds, Theater Mode now reduces readings to five minute intervals while still silencing alerts and keeping the screen off. But you can override that new feature in the Apple Watch’s settings to restore the continuous monitoring.

The front and back of the Apple Watch Series 12 with its heart rate reading LEDs activated.
Image: Apple
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Apple is once again soldering the Mac mini’s SSD preventing aftermarket upgrades.

While the Mac mini M4’s SSD was easily removable and upgradeable, the NAND module on the new Mac mini M6 and M5 Pro is soldered to the logic board, according to a blog post by Expand Mac mini. That’s the same approach Apple took with the Mac mini M1, M2, and M3.

A partially opened Mac mini M4 computer.
Replacing the SSD in the Mac mini M4 was relatively simple after some disassembly.
Image: iFixit
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Yashica is upgrading a 67 year old camera to digital but keeping its retro flash.

The original Yashica Y16 debuted in 1959 as a 16mm film camera but the company is reviving it as a 12-megapixel retro digital shooter with an added LCD display on the back. Pricing hasn’t been announced ahead of preorders opening in October, but the new Y16 will still feature a bright Xenon flash instead of using LEDs.

<em>Yashica hasn’t revealed the size of the sensor in the Y16 but it’s expected to be small to keep the camera’s price accessible.</em>
<em>The camera’s optical viewfinder is joined by a small LCD display for framing, adjusting settings, or perusing photos.</em>
<em>The camera will launch in seven different color variations.</em>
1/3
Yashica hasn’t revealed the size of the sensor in the Y16 but it’s expected to be small to keep the camera’s price accessible.
Image: Yashica
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
Therabody is giving its smallest massager an iMac-inspired upgrade.

The new Theragun Mini Y2K Collection exposes the Theragun Mini 3’s tech through a new translucent shell with color options inspired by the original iMac G3. The colors launching today through Therabody’s online store for $229.99 each include blue raspberry, grape blast, orange crush, strawberry splash, and green apple.

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1/2Image: Therabody
Peloton is back with a ‘cheaper’ folding treadmill

Plus two other refreshed treadmills and a host of AI running features.

Victoria Song
It’s time for the Mac NeoIt’s time for the Mac Neo
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Birdfy’s new Roku app lets you watch your backyard birds on TV.

If you have one of Birdfy’s smart birdwatching devices, you can tune into its video feed on the biggest screen in the house now on the Roku version of the Birdfy companion app.

A promotional image for Birdfy’s Roku app
Image: Birdfy
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Insta360 is extending the Luna Ultra’s zoom with a $50 lens and AI.

Insta360’s Luna Ultra and the DJI Osmo Pocket 4P added telephoto lenses to baby steadycams this year. The Ultra’s zoom originally offered 3x optical, 6x lossless crop, or 12x with reduction in detail, but a firmware update now gives you an AI-enhanced 15x. Or make it 4.5x optical and up to 22.5x zoom by adding the new $50 “Ultra Telephoto Lens,” too:

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The new 1.5x “ultra telephoto” blocks your main lens in favor of extra zoom.
The new 1.5x “ultra telephoto” blocks your main lens in favor of extra zoom.
Image: Insta360
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Googlebooks, Googlebooks, Googlebooks.

As I mention in my Googlebook hands-on piece, Google’s new laptop OS has clever ideas about how an Android-based laptop and an Android phone interact. It’s worth checking out in motion, like in our short video that went up today.

We’ll of course be testing and reviewing Googlebooks to see if they actually have the juice. In the meantime, watch me hold a microphone like a goof.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
Antonio G. Di Benedetto
MediaTek’s new Dimensity CX C10 Max chip will go into Googlebooks.

MediaTek is announcing its new Dimensity CX C10 Max processor. It’s an Arm-based chip built on TSMC’s 3nm process, with an 8-core CPU, 11-core GPU, and an NPU capable of up to 55 TOPS. This will be MediaTek’s Googlebook chip, as it’s designed for thin-and-light laptops like the five initial Googlebooks that were just announced.

This is the first chip of a new line from MediaTek, yet it still manages to have “Max” in its name.
This is the first chip of a new line from MediaTek, yet it still manages to have “Max” in its name.
Image: MediaTek
Andrew Liszewski
Andrew Liszewski
This tiny scroll wheel mouse doubles as a page-turning smartphone remote.

The TimeXplayer V2 shrinks a two-button mouse with a scroll wheel down to the size of a matchbook, including a 2.4GHz USB receiver hidden inside. But it’s also got Bluetooth so you can connect it to your phone and use it as an alternative to the Boox Tappy as a handheld remote for doomscrolling or reading.

A person holds the tiny TimeXplayer V2 wireless mouse between their fingers.
The TimeXplayer V2 is launching through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Early bird backers can preorder one discounted from $85 to $55 with shipping expected to start in November.
Image: Kickstarter
Googlebooks feel like the first laptops built for Android owners

App casting, handoff, and seamless file sharing make Googlebooks feel (almost) obvious with an Android phone.

Dominic Preston
I got to see Google’s wild ideas about the future of laptops

Googlebooks are here. And they’re actually interesting (for Android phone users) — but there are still so many questions.

Antonio G. Di Benedetto
The long dream of the Googlebook

Google’s latest attempt to reinvent the laptop will require everything the company does well — and a few things it doesn’t.

David Pierce