Inside the secret lab where Microsoft tortures laptops.
Google warned some apps might have performance issues on the Intel Googlebooks, but now Android Authority reports that Google says only “96.6% of the top 10k+ most-used applications” work “flawlessly” on them. There are also new app compatibility ratings for the Googlebooks, but we haven’t found many with the “Made for desktop” tag yet.
The Apple Watch Ultra 4 can run for up to 84 hours between charges, but Garmin’s new $899.99 Enduro 4 can track your activities for up to 320 hours or function as a basic smartwatch for up to 90 days. Instead of squeezing in a massive battery, the Enduro 4’s sapphire-protected touchscreen has an integrated solar panel so extending its battery life requires daily sun exposure.
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Microsoft is holding a Windows and Surface event later today, but it looks like HP has spoiled some of the pricing surprise for Nvidia’s RTX Spark laptops. Notebookcheck reports that HP briefly posted a $2,999.99 price for its OmniBook X, with an 18-core CPU and 32GB of RAM. An OmniBook 16 was also priced at $4,999.99, with 64GB of memory, before HP removed both listings from its website. We’ll be covering all the announcements from Microsoft’s Windows and Surface event live this morning from 10AM PT / 1PM ET.
Ahead of its third season of games launching tomorrow, Playdate is emailing users a reminder to update their handhelds with older versions of Playdate OS to more recent versions. (3.0.5 or later.) The secure certificate used in older versions of the OS will expire on October 15th preventing access to Playdate’s servers and necessitating a more complicated manual update after that date to get connected again.
The Series 12 and Ultra 4 both scored 4/10 for repairability — a slight bump on last year’s models, but well short of the 9/10 for Google’s Pixel Watch 5. iFixit warns that Apple’s provision of parts and repair tools for watches falls short of new right-to-repair laws in 10 US states.
Apple TV subscribers in the US can experience Formula 1 in the enhanced audio format for the first time starting October 23rd with the US Grand Prix in Austin.
Asus first announced its colorful Zenbook 14 laptop back in June, and it’s now available. The new Zenbook starts at $799.99 with a Snapdragon X1-26-100 chip, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and a 14-inch OLED display. An Intel Panther Lake version is due out before the end of the year, but that’s sure to cost way more.
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The company’s got a rep for optics among VR diehards, and it’s just announced the $1400 Crystal Pro. It’s a standalone headset with eye-tracking foveated streaming like the Steam Frame — now with uncompressed video over an optional (and pricy) 60GHz link. Pimax also has gamepad wands that snap together, the headset has a tethered external battery, and it’s launching a powerful mini-PC that looks like a taller Steam Machine clone. FAQ here.
Google’s new laptop OS shows lots of promise for Android phone owners, but there’s a long road ahead.
In a growing thread on the Google Home subreddit many users are reporting an unusual issue today with the platform being unable to change the color of various brands of connected smart lights either through the app, or by using voice commands. Their brightness can still be adjusted, and the lights can be turned on or off, but changing the color only works in each bulb’s respective apps.
Tech companies with new AI hardware want you to agree that always-listening, often-recapping devices don’t count as recording.
