Cannondale leaves UK distributor in “mutual” agreement, returning to direct-to-dealer model

Cannondale has officially parted with its UK distributor, Saddleback, and will return to a direct-to-dealer model. 

Saddleback has distributed Cannondale bicycles since January 2025, but the American bicycle brand will now be distributed under Pon.Bike UK, effective immediately. 

“While we are sad to see Cannondale leave our portfolio, we are incredibly proud of the growth and premium positioning we’ve achieved for the brand within the UK market,” Saddleback said in a statement. 

“This decision was made with the best interests of both parties in mind, ensuring that retailers continue to receive the specialised support they need in an evolving industry landscape,” the company added.

Saddleback says it is working closely with the team at Pon.Bike UK to ensure a “seamless handoff” for dealers. Pon.Bike UK will be contacting dealers shortly to manage “existing back orders and future stock requirements”. 

Dealers will be able to access Cannondale via Pon.Bike’s B2B platform from 16 April. 

“We want to thank the Cannondale team for their partnership and, most importantly, our retailers for their hard work in making Cannondale a success under our stewardship. We look forward to seeing the brand continue its journey alongside its new stablemates at Pon.Bike UK,” Saddleback said. 

Pon Group, which owns Cannondale as well as brands such as Cervélo and Santa Cruz, closed its UK-based Cycling Sports Group in 2023, which disrupted Cannondale’s distribution in the UK. 

Saddleback began distributing Cannondale in January 2025 after it approached the Yate, Bristol-based company in July 2024. 

Saddleback’s CEO Andy Wigmore told Cycling Industry News in April last year that the company had a “number of challenging years” but it was confident that there would be “brand movement in the industry, and opportunities would present themselves as a result of that.”

Discussing the deal with Cannondale, Wigmore said: “They liked what we did, they liked our performance side and that was really important to Cannondale, particularly as they globally are a performance technology leader.” 

Saddleback previously distributed 3T bicycles before the Italian company moved to a direct-to-consumer model for the UK in 2020.

It also distributed ENVE for 15 years until February 2026, when the American bicycle, wheel and component brand consolidated its UK and Europe distribution. 

Saddleback still distributes Castelli, Chris King, Pivot, Silca, Abbey Bike Tools and Wolf Tooth Components, among others. 

“We remain fully committed to our remaining world-class portfolio and will continue to provide the industry-leading service you expect from us,” Saddleback said. 

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Cannondale leaves UK distributor in “mutual” agreement, returning to direct-to-dealer model

Cannondale has officially parted with its UK distributor, Saddleback, and will return to a direct-to-dealer model. 

Saddleback has distributed Cannondale bicycles since January 2025, but the American bicycle brand will now be distributed under Pon.Bike UK, effective immediately. 

“While we are sad to see Cannondale leave our portfolio, we are incredibly proud of the growth and premium positioning we’ve achieved for the brand within the UK market,” Saddleback said in a statement. 

“This decision was made with the best interests of both parties in mind, ensuring that retailers continue to receive the specialised support they need in an evolving industry landscape,” the company added.

Saddleback says it is working closely with the team at Pon.Bike UK to ensure a “seamless handoff” for dealers. Pon.Bike UK will be contacting dealers shortly to manage “existing back orders and future stock requirements”. 

Dealers will be able to access Cannondale via Pon.Bike’s B2B platform from 16 April. 

“We want to thank the Cannondale team for their partnership and, most importantly, our retailers for their hard work in making Cannondale a success under our stewardship. We look forward to seeing the brand continue its journey alongside its new stablemates at Pon.Bike UK,” Saddleback said. 

Pon Group, which owns Cannondale as well as brands such as Cervélo and Santa Cruz, closed its UK-based Cycling Sports Group in 2023, which disrupted Cannondale’s distribution in the UK. 

Saddleback began distributing Cannondale in January 2025 after it approached the Yate, Bristol-based company in July 2024. 

Saddleback’s CEO Andy Wigmore told Cycling Industry News in April last year that the company had a “number of challenging years” but it was confident that there would be “brand movement in the industry, and opportunities would present themselves as a result of that.”

Discussing the deal with Cannondale, Wigmore said: “They liked what we did, they liked our performance side and that was really important to Cannondale, particularly as they globally are a performance technology leader.” 

Saddleback previously distributed 3T bicycles before the Italian company moved to a direct-to-consumer model for the UK in 2020.

It also distributed ENVE for 15 years until February 2026, when the American bicycle, wheel and component brand consolidated its UK and Europe distribution. 

Saddleback still distributes Castelli, Chris King, Pivot, Silca, Abbey Bike Tools and Wolf Tooth Components, among others. 

“We remain fully committed to our remaining world-class portfolio and will continue to provide the industry-leading service you expect from us,” Saddleback said. 

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Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Samsung’s cheaper Mini LED TVs are now on sale

Samsung has unveiled the budget M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs, promising a bright picture and accurate colors starting at just $400 for the 50-inch and $1,200 for the 85-inch models. The company also revealed a pair of new higher-end TVs with the company’s “Quantum Mini LED” tech, the QN70H and QN80H, that offer “precise backlighting” and 100 percent color volume.  

Mini LED TVs have been dropping rapidly in price over the past couple of years while also improving in quality. The M70H and M80H are among the cheapest we’ve seen so far, with, most 50-inch Mini LEDs currently on sale costing $400 or more. Samsung is promising pretty decent specs as well like 10-bit panels that can display a billion colors, Samsung’s HDR+ and a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium or 240Hz with DLG at 1080p.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung’s M70H Mini LED TV
Samsung

Other key features include Samsung’s One UI Tizen with Smart Home support and Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple TV) compatibility, along with Samsung’s Gaming Hub for cloud gaming and adaptive sound (but not Dolby Atmos support). The company didn’t mention some key specs like brightness, color gamut and the number of local dimming zones, so you can likely assume those aren’t top-of-the-line. 

The prices are very good, with the 43-inch M70H at $350, the 65-inch M70 priced at $530 and the 85-inch M70H running $1,200. The M80H starts at $700 for the 55-inch model and runs up to $1,800 for the 85-incher. All models are now on sale, and Samsung said that a 100-inch Class M90H model is arriving later this year this year.

Samsung's affordable M70H and M80H Mini LED TVs are now on sale
Samsung

Samsung also revealed a new line of higher-end Neo QLED models powered by its “Quantum Mini LED” technology. With the QN70H and QN80H, Samsung is promising “brilliant brightness” and 100 percent DCI-P3 color volume, thanks to the quantum dot tech and “more precise backlighting.” Samsung said this model would have more local dimming zones than before (though again, it didn’t say how many), which should result in better contrast and less “blooming” caused by light leakage from neighboring pixels. 

Features are largely the same as with the M70H and M80H, but the QN models also offer Dolby Atmos and 360 audio along with a slightly highter 288Hz DLG refresh rate at 1080p. The Neo QLED 4K QN70H starts at $600 for the 43-inch model and goes up to $1,200 for the 65-inch version and $2,300 for the 85-inch model. The 55-inch QN80H, meanwhile, costs $1,299, the 75-inch model is $2,000 and the 100-inch TV is $5,500. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsungs-cheaper-mini-led-tvs-are-now-on-sale-150034289.html?src=rss

Spotify’s New ‘SongDNA’ Is Actually a Great Way to Learn More About Your Music

Spotify keeps adding new features lately. Last week, the company rolled out “Exclusive Mode” for desktop users to stream in the highest quality possible; last month, Spotify announced “Smart Reorder,” which automatically sorts your songs by BPM; and in January, the company’s AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” landed in the U.S. after an exclusive stint overseas. It’s still not easy to pick a favorite among other services like Apple Music, but Premium subscribers can at least say Spotify is giving them something for their money.

Now, the company is rolling out another new feature, one that actually seems like a cool way to learn about your music. On Tuesday, Spotify announced SongDNA, which shows you all the people who worked on a song, as well as all the samples and interpolations that song used. SongDNA lives directly under the lyrics tile in the player window. I already see it on my end, though Spotify does label the feature with a “Beta” tag to note that this feature is still in testing.

How Spotify’s SongDNA works

When SongDNA appears under a song, you’ll be able to see the artists who worked on it in one corner. That might include the main artist, but also any of the composers, producers, musicians, or writers who contributed. The SongDNA tile shows the main artist in a bubble, but tap the icon, and you’ll see a map of all the people involved. You can tap on any of these names to see how many other artists they’ve worked with, how many songs they worked on, and what their “top song” is (presumably, what the most popular song they worked on is on Spotify).

To the right of the artists’ bubble is a sample and interpolations bubble: Here, you’ll see all of the clips the artist or artists took from various other songs to incorporate them into their own track. On Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta,” for example, I can see they sampled a drum loop from “Kung Fu” by Curtis Mayfield, and took vocals from James Brown’s “The Payback,” among others. Spotify will tell you exactly where in each song the sample was taken from, and gives you a play button to listen. You also can scroll down to find songs that have sampled the song in question: “F The Disco” by Cavi samples vocals from “King Kunta” at 1:28, as does “Brain Cells” by Villain Park (at 1:59). Scroll down a bit more, and you’ll find any covers of the song available on Spotify. “8-Bit Misfits” has an awesome interpretation of the song that sounds like Kendrick wrote music for the NES.

spotify songdna

Credit: Spotify

I’m an Apple Music guy, truthfully, but I have to say: This rocks (no pun intended). Most of us listen to our music without really knowing much about how it was put together—outside of the headlining artist, anyway. SongDNA makes it easy to learn more about how your favorite songs were made, where they pulled inspiration from, and who actually helped make the hit besides the singer or artist. You could follow up with the lead engineer or producer of your favorite song to see what other projects they worked on, or check out the full songs that were sampled to find new music to listen to. While it’s a bummer it’s only available for Premium subscribers, it’s a great move on Spotify’s part.

Does Spotify’s SongDNA use AI?

I reached out to Spotify asking whether SongDNA uses AI to retrieve this information, and, as it turns out, it doesn’t! For the most part, anyway. Here’s what a Spotify rep told me: “SongDNA is not a generative AI feature and does not use Large Language Models (LLMs) to create or predict information. This immersive music experience is built on official credits data we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community sourced data. While we use technology to visualize these complex relationships, the data itself is rooted in human-verified industry sources, not AI-generated content.”

While it’s not clear what “technology” was used to visual the relationships here, it’s refreshing to learn that the data here is all human-sourced. Spotify might use AI for the UI, but, unlike many new app features these days, this one isn’t going to hallucinate incorrect samples, or make up credits for songs.

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses
A chemistry student wanted her long fingernails to work with a touchscreen, so she developed a clear, conductive nail polish to solve the problem.

This idea comes from the mind of Manasi Desai, a chemistry student at Centenary College of Louisiana, and her advisor, Joshua Lawrence. Most touch-based devices, including phones and tablets,

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses
A chemistry student wanted her long fingernails to work with a touchscreen, so she developed a clear, conductive nail polish to solve the problem.

This idea comes from the mind of Manasi Desai, a chemistry student at Centenary College of Louisiana, and her advisor, Joshua Lawrence. Most touch-based devices, including phones and tablets,

Oquo joins the carbon-spoke revolution to bring down weight and drag, yet increase stiffness

Oquo’s new CS-level wheels feature dedicated aerodynamic carbon spokes that reduce weight while increasing stiffness.

The Basque brand tells us this isn’t a simple case of replacing steel with carbon, though. Instead, each wheel – from the shallowest 45mm-deep RP45 LTD CS through to the time-trial and triathlon special 80mm-deep RA80 LTD CS – has been redesigned to make the most of the carbon spokes’ properties.

Oquo, like Newmen, Reserve and DT Swiss before it, is using Vonoa’s carbon spokes. Here, they have flat-bladed aero spokes that taper from 2mm to 5.3mm wide.

Lotto Intermarche Orbea
Lotto-Intermarché is using the new carbon-spoke LTD CS wheelset. Harry Talbot / Oquo

The carbon spokes’ properties also ensured Oquo was able to drop the spoke count across the range, reducing rotational weight.

By shifting down to 20 spokes, Oquo has been able to redesign its own Basque-made Q10 hub flanges front and rear.

The rim has also been reprofiled to take advantage of the reduced drillings required for 20 spokes rather than 24.

Made in the Basque country

Oquo wheel testing
Oquo’s testing far exceeds industry standards. Oquo

Oquo hand manufactures all its mini-hook wheels in its purpose-built Biscay facility, with in-house assembly, testing and R&D.

The Q10 hubset used on all Oquo’s LTD-level wheelsets is also made in the Basque region.

Oquo wheel building
Each wheel is assembled by hand. Oquo

Oquo says all its physical testing surpasses the minimum UCI and industry standards by multiple levels. All the wheelsets are built by hand to exacting standards, with proprietary technology used to ensure all the assemblies meet Oquo’s criteria.

Performance gains

Oquo wheel building
Every wheel is checked meticulously. Oquo

The claimed drop in weight across the range is around 6%, thanks to a redesign in the carbon layup due to the reduced number of spokes. The changes to the angle-interface at the rim and hub flange play their part in the overall system gains, too.

I recently tested the RP50 LTD wheels at 1,421g a pair, and that drops to 1,371g for the CS version – a reduction of around 3.6%.

RA57 LTD CS
The RA57 LTD CS has dropped in weight to 1,373g. Oquo

That’s not a huge saving, but when added to the gains Oquo claims in terms of performance, stiffness is improved by 17% over the standard wheel, even with the reduction in spoke count.

Add a 2-watt aerodynamic improvement over the wheels’ steel-spoke equivalents and it’s no wonder the CS models have become the wheelsets of choice for Lotto-Intermarchè.

New carbon-spoke models

Oquo rim with Vittoria tyre fitted
Oquo claims the mini-hook interface creates a lower drag combination than hooked rims. Harry Talbot / Oquo
  • RA80 LTD CS: maximum aerodynamics for high-speed riding, with an 80mm rim depth and 23mm internal width. Designed for time trial and triathlon use. Claimed to weigh 1,576g a pair.
  • RA57 LTD CS: with a 57mm rim depth, a 23mm internal width and a weight of 1,373g, this is the wheel for high-speed racing, and the one most likely to be seen at this year’s major tours.
  • RP50 LTD CS: with a 50mm rim depth, 25mm internal width and a weight of 1,371g, this crossover wheel is aimed at both road and gravel. Expect to see these at the classics.
  • RP45 LTD CS: with a 45mm rim depth and 21mm internal width, this is the lightest wheelset in the Oquo range at 1,223g.

All the wheels are priced at: £2,599 / $3,149 / €2,999 and come with tubeless valves, tubeless sealant and wheel bags.

Spotify’s New ‘SongDNA’ Is Actually a Great Way to Learn More About Your Music

Spotify keeps adding new features lately. Last week, the company rolled out “Exclusive Mode” for desktop users to stream in the highest quality possible; last month, Spotify announced “Smart Reorder,” which automatically sorts your songs by BPM; and in January, the company’s AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” landed in the U.S. after an exclusive stint overseas. It’s still not easy to pick a favorite among other services like Apple Music, but Premium subscribers can at least say Spotify is giving them something for their money.

Now, the company is rolling out another new feature, one that actually seems like a cool way to learn about your music. On Tuesday, Spotify announced SongDNA, which shows you all the people who worked on a song, as well as all the samples and interpolations that song used. SongDNA lives directly under the lyrics tile in the player window. I already see it on my end, though Spotify does label the feature with a “Beta” tag to note that this feature is still in testing.

How Spotify’s SongDNA works

When SongDNA appears under a song, you’ll be able to see the artists who worked on it in one corner. That might include the main artist, but also any of the composers, producers, musicians, or writers who contributed. The SongDNA tile shows the main artist in a bubble, but tap the icon, and you’ll see a map of all the people involved. You can tap on any of these names to see how many other artists they’ve worked with, how many songs they worked on, and what their “top song” is (presumably, what the most popular song they worked on is on Spotify).

To the right of the artists’ bubble is a sample and interpolations bubble: Here, you’ll see all of the clips the artist or artists took from various other songs to incorporate them into their own track. On Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta,” for example, I can see they sampled a drum loop from “Kung Fu” by Curtis Mayfield, and took vocals from James Brown’s “The Payback,” among others. Spotify will tell you exactly where in each song the sample was taken from, and gives you a play button to listen. You also can scroll down to find songs that have sampled the song in question: “F The Disco” by Cavi samples vocals from “King Kunta” at 1:28, as does “Brain Cells” by Villain Park (at 1:59). Scroll down a bit more, and you’ll find any covers of the song available on Spotify. “8-Bit Misfits” has an awesome interpretation of the song that sounds like Kendrick wrote music for the NES.

spotify songdna

Credit: Spotify

I’m an Apple Music guy, truthfully, but I have to say: This rocks (no pun intended). Most of us listen to our music without really knowing much about how it was put together—outside of the headlining artist, anyway. SongDNA makes it easy to learn more about how your favorite songs were made, where they pulled inspiration from, and who actually helped make the hit besides the singer or artist. You could follow up with the lead engineer or producer of your favorite song to see what other projects they worked on, or check out the full songs that were sampled to find new music to listen to. While it’s a bummer it’s only available for Premium subscribers, it’s a great move on Spotify’s part.

Does Spotify’s SongDNA use AI?

I reached out to Spotify asking whether SongDNA uses AI to retrieve this information, and, as it turns out, it doesn’t! For the most part, anyway. Here’s what a Spotify rep told me: “SongDNA is not a generative AI feature and does not use Large Language Models (LLMs) to create or predict information. This immersive music experience is built on official credits data we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community sourced data. While we use technology to visualize these complex relationships, the data itself is rooted in human-verified industry sources, not AI-generated content.”

While it’s not clear what “technology” was used to visual the relationships here, it’s refreshing to learn that the data here is all human-sourced. Spotify might use AI for the UI, but, unlike many new app features these days, this one isn’t going to hallucinate incorrect samples, or make up credits for songs.

Oquo joins the carbon-spoke revolution to bring down weight and drag, yet increase stiffness

Oquo’s new CS-level wheels feature dedicated aerodynamic carbon spokes that reduce weight while increasing stiffness.

The Basque brand tells us this isn’t a simple case of replacing steel with carbon, though. Instead, each wheel – from the shallowest 45mm-deep RP45 LTD CS through to the time-trial and triathlon special 80mm-deep RA80 LTD CS – has been redesigned to make the most of the carbon spokes’ properties.

Oquo, like Newmen, Reserve and DT Swiss before it, is using Vonoa’s carbon spokes. Here, they have flat-bladed aero spokes that taper from 2mm to 5.3mm wide.

Lotto Intermarche Orbea
Lotto-Intermarché is using the new carbon-spoke LTD CS wheelset. Harry Talbot / Oquo

The carbon spokes’ properties also ensured Oquo was able to drop the spoke count across the range, reducing rotational weight.

By shifting down to 20 spokes, Oquo has been able to redesign its own Basque-made Q10 hub flanges front and rear.

The rim has also been reprofiled to take advantage of the reduced drillings required for 20 spokes rather than 24.

Made in the Basque country

Oquo wheel testing
Oquo’s testing far exceeds industry standards. Oquo

Oquo hand manufactures all its mini-hook wheels in its purpose-built Biscay facility, with in-house assembly, testing and R&D.

The Q10 hubset used on all Oquo’s LTD-level wheelsets is also made in the Basque region.

Oquo wheel building
Each wheel is assembled by hand. Oquo

Oquo says all its physical testing surpasses the minimum UCI and industry standards by multiple levels. All the wheelsets are built by hand to exacting standards, with proprietary technology used to ensure all the assemblies meet Oquo’s criteria.

Performance gains

Oquo wheel building
Every wheel is checked meticulously. Oquo

The claimed drop in weight across the range is around 6%, thanks to a redesign in the carbon layup due to the reduced number of spokes. The changes to the angle-interface at the rim and hub flange play their part in the overall system gains, too.

I recently tested the RP50 LTD wheels at 1,421g a pair, and that drops to 1,371g for the CS version – a reduction of around 3.6%.

RA57 LTD CS
The RA57 LTD CS has dropped in weight to 1,373g. Oquo

That’s not a huge saving, but when added to the gains Oquo claims in terms of performance, stiffness is improved by 17% over the standard wheel, even with the reduction in spoke count.

Add a 2-watt aerodynamic improvement over the wheels’ steel-spoke equivalents and it’s no wonder the CS models have become the wheelsets of choice for Lotto-Intermarchè.

New carbon-spoke models

Oquo rim with Vittoria tyre fitted
Oquo claims the mini-hook interface creates a lower drag combination than hooked rims. Harry Talbot / Oquo
  • RA80 LTD CS: maximum aerodynamics for high-speed riding, with an 80mm rim depth and 23mm internal width. Designed for time trial and triathlon use. Claimed to weigh 1,576g a pair.
  • RA57 LTD CS: with a 57mm rim depth, a 23mm internal width and a weight of 1,373g, this is the wheel for high-speed racing, and the one most likely to be seen at this year’s major tours.
  • RP50 LTD CS: with a 50mm rim depth, 25mm internal width and a weight of 1,371g, this crossover wheel is aimed at both road and gravel. Expect to see these at the classics.
  • RP45 LTD CS: with a 45mm rim depth and 21mm internal width, this is the lightest wheelset in the Oquo range at 1,223g.

All the wheels are priced at: £2,599 / $3,149 / €2,999 and come with tubeless valves, tubeless sealant and wheel bags.

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses

Breakthrough Conductive Nail Polish Turns Fingernails Into Touchscreen Styluses
A chemistry student wanted her long fingernails to work with a touchscreen, so she developed a clear, conductive nail polish to solve the problem.

This idea comes from the mind of Manasi Desai, a chemistry student at Centenary College of Louisiana, and her advisor, Joshua Lawrence. Most touch-based devices, including phones and tablets,

Spotify’s New ‘SongDNA’ Is Actually a Great Way to Learn More About Your Music

Spotify keeps adding new features lately. Last week, the company rolled out “Exclusive Mode” for desktop users to stream in the highest quality possible; last month, Spotify announced “Smart Reorder,” which automatically sorts your songs by BPM; and in January, the company’s AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” landed in the U.S. after an exclusive stint overseas. It’s still not easy to pick a favorite among other services like Apple Music, but Premium subscribers can at least say Spotify is giving them something for their money.

Now, the company is rolling out another new feature, one that actually seems like a cool way to learn about your music. On Tuesday, Spotify announced SongDNA, which shows you all the people who worked on a song, as well as all the samples and interpolations that song used. SongDNA lives directly under the lyrics tile in the player window. I already see it on my end, though Spotify does label the feature with a “Beta” tag to note that this feature is still in testing.

How Spotify’s SongDNA works

When SongDNA appears under a song, you’ll be able to see the artists who worked on it in one corner. That might include the main artist, but also any of the composers, producers, musicians, or writers who contributed. The SongDNA tile shows the main artist in a bubble, but tap the icon, and you’ll see a map of all the people involved. You can tap on any of these names to see how many other artists they’ve worked with, how many songs they worked on, and what their “top song” is (presumably, what the most popular song they worked on is on Spotify).

To the right of the artists’ bubble is a sample and interpolations bubble: Here, you’ll see all of the clips the artist or artists took from various other songs to incorporate them into their own track. On Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta,” for example, I can see they sampled a drum loop from “Kung Fu” by Curtis Mayfield, and took vocals from James Brown’s “The Payback,” among others. Spotify will tell you exactly where in each song the sample was taken from, and gives you a play button to listen. You also can scroll down to find songs that have sampled the song in question: “F The Disco” by Cavi samples vocals from “King Kunta” at 1:28, as does “Brain Cells” by Villain Park (at 1:59). Scroll down a bit more, and you’ll find any covers of the song available on Spotify. “8-Bit Misfits” has an awesome interpretation of the song that sounds like Kendrick wrote music for the NES.

spotify songdna

Credit: Spotify

I’m an Apple Music guy, truthfully, but I have to say: This rocks (no pun intended). Most of us listen to our music without really knowing much about how it was put together—outside of the headlining artist, anyway. SongDNA makes it easy to learn more about how your favorite songs were made, where they pulled inspiration from, and who actually helped make the hit besides the singer or artist. You could follow up with the lead engineer or producer of your favorite song to see what other projects they worked on, or check out the full songs that were sampled to find new music to listen to. While it’s a bummer it’s only available for Premium subscribers, it’s a great move on Spotify’s part.

Does Spotify’s SongDNA use AI?

I reached out to Spotify asking whether SongDNA uses AI to retrieve this information, and, as it turns out, it doesn’t! For the most part, anyway. Here’s what a Spotify rep told me: “SongDNA is not a generative AI feature and does not use Large Language Models (LLMs) to create or predict information. This immersive music experience is built on official credits data we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community sourced data. While we use technology to visualize these complex relationships, the data itself is rooted in human-verified industry sources, not AI-generated content.”

While it’s not clear what “technology” was used to visual the relationships here, it’s refreshing to learn that the data here is all human-sourced. Spotify might use AI for the UI, but, unlike many new app features these days, this one isn’t going to hallucinate incorrect samples, or make up credits for songs.

Spotify’s New ‘SongDNA’ Is Actually a Great Way to Learn More About Your Music

Spotify keeps adding new features lately. Last week, the company rolled out “Exclusive Mode” for desktop users to stream in the highest quality possible; last month, Spotify announced “Smart Reorder,” which automatically sorts your songs by BPM; and in January, the company’s AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” landed in the U.S. after an exclusive stint overseas. It’s still not easy to pick a favorite among other services like Apple Music, but Premium subscribers can at least say Spotify is giving them something for their money.

Now, the company is rolling out another new feature, one that actually seems like a cool way to learn about your music. On Tuesday, Spotify announced SongDNA, which shows you all the people who worked on a song, as well as all the samples and interpolations that song used. SongDNA lives directly under the lyrics tile in the player window. I already see it on my end, though Spotify does label the feature with a “Beta” tag to note that this feature is still in testing.

How Spotify’s SongDNA works

When SongDNA appears under a song, you’ll be able to see the artists who worked on it in one corner. That might include the main artist, but also any of the composers, producers, musicians, or writers who contributed. The SongDNA tile shows the main artist in a bubble, but tap the icon, and you’ll see a map of all the people involved. You can tap on any of these names to see how many other artists they’ve worked with, how many songs they worked on, and what their “top song” is (presumably, what the most popular song they worked on is on Spotify).

To the right of the artists’ bubble is a sample and interpolations bubble: Here, you’ll see all of the clips the artist or artists took from various other songs to incorporate them into their own track. On Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta,” for example, I can see they sampled a drum loop from “Kung Fu” by Curtis Mayfield, and took vocals from James Brown’s “The Payback,” among others. Spotify will tell you exactly where in each song the sample was taken from, and gives you a play button to listen. You also can scroll down to find songs that have sampled the song in question: “F The Disco” by Cavi samples vocals from “King Kunta” at 1:28, as does “Brain Cells” by Villain Park (at 1:59). Scroll down a bit more, and you’ll find any covers of the song available on Spotify. “8-Bit Misfits” has an awesome interpretation of the song that sounds like Kendrick wrote music for the NES.

spotify songdna

Credit: Spotify

I’m an Apple Music guy, truthfully, but I have to say: This rocks (no pun intended). Most of us listen to our music without really knowing much about how it was put together—outside of the headlining artist, anyway. SongDNA makes it easy to learn more about how your favorite songs were made, where they pulled inspiration from, and who actually helped make the hit besides the singer or artist. You could follow up with the lead engineer or producer of your favorite song to see what other projects they worked on, or check out the full songs that were sampled to find new music to listen to. While it’s a bummer it’s only available for Premium subscribers, it’s a great move on Spotify’s part.

Does Spotify’s SongDNA use AI?

I reached out to Spotify asking whether SongDNA uses AI to retrieve this information, and, as it turns out, it doesn’t! For the most part, anyway. Here’s what a Spotify rep told me: “SongDNA is not a generative AI feature and does not use Large Language Models (LLMs) to create or predict information. This immersive music experience is built on official credits data we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community sourced data. While we use technology to visualize these complex relationships, the data itself is rooted in human-verified industry sources, not AI-generated content.”

While it’s not clear what “technology” was used to visual the relationships here, it’s refreshing to learn that the data here is all human-sourced. Spotify might use AI for the UI, but, unlike many new app features these days, this one isn’t going to hallucinate incorrect samples, or make up credits for songs.

Spotify’s New ‘SongDNA’ Is Actually a Great Way to Learn More About Your Music

Spotify keeps adding new features lately. Last week, the company rolled out “Exclusive Mode” for desktop users to stream in the highest quality possible; last month, Spotify announced “Smart Reorder,” which automatically sorts your songs by BPM; and in January, the company’s AI-powered “Prompted Playlists” landed in the U.S. after an exclusive stint overseas. It’s still not easy to pick a favorite among other services like Apple Music, but Premium subscribers can at least say Spotify is giving them something for their money.

Now, the company is rolling out another new feature, one that actually seems like a cool way to learn about your music. On Tuesday, Spotify announced SongDNA, which shows you all the people who worked on a song, as well as all the samples and interpolations that song used. SongDNA lives directly under the lyrics tile in the player window. I already see it on my end, though Spotify does label the feature with a “Beta” tag to note that this feature is still in testing.

How Spotify’s SongDNA works

When SongDNA appears under a song, you’ll be able to see the artists who worked on it in one corner. That might include the main artist, but also any of the composers, producers, musicians, or writers who contributed. The SongDNA tile shows the main artist in a bubble, but tap the icon, and you’ll see a map of all the people involved. You can tap on any of these names to see how many other artists they’ve worked with, how many songs they worked on, and what their “top song” is (presumably, what the most popular song they worked on is on Spotify).

To the right of the artists’ bubble is a sample and interpolations bubble: Here, you’ll see all of the clips the artist or artists took from various other songs to incorporate them into their own track. On Kendrick Lamar’s “King Kunta,” for example, I can see they sampled a drum loop from “Kung Fu” by Curtis Mayfield, and took vocals from James Brown’s “The Payback,” among others. Spotify will tell you exactly where in each song the sample was taken from, and gives you a play button to listen. You also can scroll down to find songs that have sampled the song in question: “F The Disco” by Cavi samples vocals from “King Kunta” at 1:28, as does “Brain Cells” by Villain Park (at 1:59). Scroll down a bit more, and you’ll find any covers of the song available on Spotify. “8-Bit Misfits” has an awesome interpretation of the song that sounds like Kendrick wrote music for the NES.

spotify songdna

Credit: Spotify

I’m an Apple Music guy, truthfully, but I have to say: This rocks (no pun intended). Most of us listen to our music without really knowing much about how it was put together—outside of the headlining artist, anyway. SongDNA makes it easy to learn more about how your favorite songs were made, where they pulled inspiration from, and who actually helped make the hit besides the singer or artist. You could follow up with the lead engineer or producer of your favorite song to see what other projects they worked on, or check out the full songs that were sampled to find new music to listen to. While it’s a bummer it’s only available for Premium subscribers, it’s a great move on Spotify’s part.

Does Spotify’s SongDNA use AI?

I reached out to Spotify asking whether SongDNA uses AI to retrieve this information, and, as it turns out, it doesn’t! For the most part, anyway. Here’s what a Spotify rep told me: “SongDNA is not a generative AI feature and does not use Large Language Models (LLMs) to create or predict information. This immersive music experience is built on official credits data we receive from artists and their teams, supplemented by community sourced data. While we use technology to visualize these complex relationships, the data itself is rooted in human-verified industry sources, not AI-generated content.”

While it’s not clear what “technology” was used to visual the relationships here, it’s refreshing to learn that the data here is all human-sourced. Spotify might use AI for the UI, but, unlike many new app features these days, this one isn’t going to hallucinate incorrect samples, or make up credits for songs.

Novitech Unleashes A Purple Lamborghini Revuelto With 1048-HP V12 Fury

Novitech Unleashes A Purple Lamborghini Revuelto With 1048-HP V12 Fury
In stock guise, Lamborghini’s Revuelto is already a prime example of modern performance, but German tuning house Novitec has decided that 1,001 horsepower simply wasn’t enough. By adding more carbon fiber aerodynamic bits with an exhaust system that aims to sing like a classic V12, the tuned hybrid Revuelto has been turned into a 1,048-hp