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The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 are $74.99 on Woot right now, which is the lowest tracked price so far, according to price trackers. On Amazon, the same pair will set you back $179, so this is a steep drop. On top of that, Samsung is covering these with a two-year manufacturer’s warranty, which adds some peace of mind when buying from a deal site. For a pair of earbuds that only launched a year ago, that’s a lot of savings to weigh against what you’re actually getting. If you’re considering more options, you might want to check out our roundup of the best wireless earbuds to buy in 2025.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3

$74.99
at Woot

$179.99
Save $105.00

$74.99
at Woot

$179.99
Save $105.00

Samsung introduced a new stem (or “Blade”) style with the Galaxy Buds 3. These triangular stems are more than just a visual refresh—they create two touch surfaces, making pinch and swipe gestures more precise and allowing playback and volume controls to feel smoother and easier to use. Available in silver or white, these earbuds also carry an IP57 rating, which means dust won’t be an issue, and they can handle rain, sweat, or even a quick dunk in water, as long as the charging case stays dry. Comfort is solid, and noise cancellation is better than expected for open-fit earbuds, although it won’t block sound as effectively as in-ear seal designs, notes this PCMag review.

Where the Buds 3 show their limitations is in sound detail and battery life. High frequencies can feel a little muted, and with just one 11mm driver per ear, they can’t quite match the depth of Samsung’s Buds 3 Pro or other dual-driver models. Battery life is another weak spot. With ANC on, you’re looking at about five hours on a charge and 19 more from the case, while turning ANC off stretches it to six hours plus 24 in the case. That’s serviceable, but not standout, especially when rivals in the same price range can push closer to eight or more hours with ANC enabled. Still, if you’re using a Samsung phone, you’ll unlock extras like 24-bit playback via Samsung’s Scalable Codec and features like Interpreter mode. Even without those perks, though, the Buds 3 are a compelling buy at this price, especially if you just want a comfortable, water-resistant pair with solid noise cancellation and a warranty to back them up.

In the harrowing aftermath of September 11, 2001, one of the most glaring and tragic failures identified was not of intelligence but of interoperability. The 9/11 Commission Report painstakingly detailed how different agencies, from the FAA to NORAD and the FBI, were unable to effectively share critical information in real-time because their systems couldn’t talk to each other. This digital Tower of Babel hampered the national response and highlighted a fundamental vulnerability. In the decades since, the challenge has only grown more complex. Now, a unique solution born from that crisis, the Syndeo Intelligent Gateway from Agile Empowerment Technologies, offers a powerful new approach to securely bridging these digital divides—not just for government, but for the corporate world as well.

A Cure for a Self-Inflicted Wound

The post-9/11 mandate was clear: connect our agencies. This led to the rise of initiatives under organizations like the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), tasked with creating a unified network for the Department of Defense and other federal bodies. The goal was noble and necessary: create a seamless flow of information to ensure a coordinated response to any threat. However, in solving one problem, DISA’s efforts inadvertently created a new can of worms: a vast, interconnected network with an exponentially larger attack surface.

Every new connection between once-siloed systems became a potential new backdoor for adversaries and a nightmare for access management. How do you grant a user from one agency access to a specific dataset in another without giving them the keys to the entire kingdom? This is the precise problem the Syndeo Intelligent Gateway was engineered to solve. It acts not just as a simple connector, but as a smart, security-first intermediary. It allows organizations to define granular, policy-based access rules, ensuring that users and systems only see the data they are explicitly authorized to see and nothing more. It’s the digital equivalent of a security checkpoint and escort, rather than just an open door.

Modernizing with a Scalpel, not a Sledgehammer

One of the biggest hurdles in government and large-scale enterprise IT is the albatross of legacy systems. Decades-old mainframes and databases, while often still functional, create massive interoperability headaches and are prohibitively expensive to replace all at once. The common approach is a slow, costly and often disruptive “rip and replace” strategy.

Syndeo offers a more intelligent path forward. By sitting in the middle and managing the complex, often bespoke connections between these aging systems and modern platforms, the gateway gathers invaluable data. It can effectively map out the entire interoperability landscape, identifying which legacy systems require the most complex, brittle and resource-intensive connections. This provides leadership with a data-driven roadmap for modernization. Instead of guessing, they can see precisely which systems are the biggest technological drags and prioritize their replacement for the most significant and economical impact.

A Bridge for Corporate Mergers

While Syndeo was forged in the crucible of national security, its applications in the commercial sector are profound, particularly in the chaotic world of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). When two large companies merge, they bring with them entirely different IT ecosystems—one might run on SAP, the other on Oracle; their HR systems, CRMs and financial platforms are rarely compatible. The process of integrating these systems typically takes years and costs millions, delaying the realization of merger synergies.

Syndeo can act as an instant bridge. Rather than embarking on a massive, multi-year integration project, the newly combined entity can use the gateway to connect their disparate systems seamlessly and securely on day one. This allows for the immediate sharing of critical business data, from sales pipelines to supply chain logistics, while the longer-term IT strategy is developed. It transforms a major M&A pain point from a roadblock into a manageable, phased process.

Preventing the Next Snowden

Perhaps Syndeo’s most critical feature is its ability to prevent the kind of catastrophic insider breach personified by Edward Snowden. The Snowden leaks were enabled not by a sophisticated hack, but by excessive and poorly audited access privileges. He was able to access and exfiltrate vast amounts of data because the systems had no effective way of enforcing “need-to-know” at a granular level or flagging anomalous data access patterns.

The Syndeo gateway is designed to thwart this very scenario. Its security model is built on a zero-trust foundation, meticulously controlling and logging every single data request and transaction that flows through it. Access can be restricted not just by user, but by time of day, location and the specific data fields being requested. An administrator attempting to download an entire database would trigger immediate alerts. This creates an auditable, enforceable security perimeter that can drastically reduce the risk of both malicious insider threats and external attacks.

Wrapping Up

The Syndeo Intelligent Gateway is a powerful reminder that true innovation often arises from profound necessity. Born from the need to solve the critical interoperability and security failures revealed by 9/11, it has evolved into a versatile tool for digital transformation. By enabling secure and intelligent connections between disparate systems, it offers a pragmatic path to modernizing legacy government IT, a powerful accelerator for corporate M&A and a robust defense against the kind of insider threats that have caused irreparable harm to national security. In a world of increasing digital complexity and ever-present threats, Syndeo provides a much-needed layer of secure, intelligent control.

After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Valerion is formally announcing its new premium projector, the VisionMaster Max, at IFA 2025. The boxy little projector offers improved contrast and brightness, but the feature that should be most interesting to home theater aficionados is how it tries to address the “rainbow effect” common in some cheaper projectors.

Cheaper DLP projectors sometimes display stuttery strobes of color when the projector’s color wheel is forced to quickly shift between colors during fast-paced scenes. While these doesn’t necessarily impede watching a movie or TV show, the rainbow effect can bother sensitive projector owners. The VisionMaster Max attempts to address the problem with what Valerion calls “Anti-RBE Technology” that “reduces rainbow effects by 99.9 percent.” The company pulls this off by using software to blend the individual color sequences of whatever you’re watching faster than the human eye can perceive, creating what looks like a seamless image.

Valerion

Valerion says the VisionMaster Max also has an upgraded native contrast ratio of 5,000:1 and an AI-assisted “Enhanced Black Level (EBL)” contrast of 50,000:1 for improved depth and details in shadows. Valerion’s dramatically named “NoirScene Dark Field Engine System” mixes stable luminance from a fixed iris aperture and an EBL algorithm to offer deeper blacks with less need for calibration. Combined with the VisionMaster Max’s up to 3,500 lumens of brightness, it makes the projector even more usable during day or night.

The VisionMaster Max also carries over the adjustable lens system from some of Valerion’s other projectors, offers support for Gigabit ethernet and Wi-Fi 6E and runs Google TV. Despite favoring Google’s home theater OS, Valerion guarantees you can fully integrate the VisionMaster Max with Google Home, Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, Control4 and Crestron smart home systems.

If that all sounds good, just make sure you’re comfortable paying for a premium experience. Valerion says the VisionMaster Max will be available in October 2025, starting at $4,999.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/valerion-launches-new-premium-projector-with-anti-rainbow-effect-technology-120058357.html?src=rss

In so many ways, privacy is dead—or at least a lot more challenging to maintain than it used to be. In public, you’re probably seen by dozens of cameras every day just as you go about your business. At home, almost everything we do online—from social media posts to the shows we watch on our screens—is tracked, packaged, and sold. The apps we use are some of the worst offenders—especially if they’re free to use, which just means you’re paying either with your eyeballs (on advertisements) or with the data the app is hoovering up and selling off.

The problem is simple: We don’t own or control the apps we use. But you can change that, to an extent. There’s a growing list of “self-hosted” alternatives to commonly used apps. A self-hosted app is just what it sounds like: Instead of relying on a third party’s servers for an app’s functionality, you host your own server. That means you control all your data, and your privacy score shoots up exponentially. It’s understandable that “running your own server” might sound intimidating, but it’s often a lot easier than it sounds. Here’s how self-hosted apps work, and which ones you can start using today to give your online privacy a boost.

How self-hosted apps work

The standard apps we use every day—provided by companies like Google or X—are extremely convenient. You can get them up and running in minutes, and they usually work pretty seamlessly. The downside is the mountain of your private data that they absorb and use in mysterious ways. Even if it’s anonymized, it’s still disconcerting—and since those companies can change their terms of service (ToS) any time they want, there’s no guarantee how your data will be used in the future. A self-hosted app makes everything local. You provide your own storage and your own functionality, and only you can decide how your data is used.

The benefits are obvious. Control over your data and privacy is number one. There’s also potentially lower cost (since you’re not paying a subscription), and you won’t be subject to the whims of a corporation that might decide to discontinue an app you love or force you to upgrade. Plus, you can decide the features and add-ons you want to use instead of having unwanted features forced on you.

Downsides of self-hosting

There are some potential downsides, too, of course. Self-hosting means you’re responsible for security and keeping your software updated. Hardware can fail, and if you don’t have a recent backup of your data there’s no one to turn to. You’re also your own customer service, and your tech support is essentially a Google search.

And going self-hosted can sometimes be a bit of a lift; some self-hosted apps require containerization environments like Docker or Homebrew, which makes it easy for software to run on any computer without having to worry about software dependencies or conflicting libraries (if that sentence meant nothing to you, keep reading, it’s not that bad).

Another barrier is hardware: Depending on what you want to self-host, you might need a lot of storage. Movies and TV shows can be enormous media files requiring gigabytes (or even terabytes) of storage, and one of the things you have to handle yourself when you self-host is backing everything up. That means a robust self-hosted setup might require a few extra hard drives (or a Virtual Personal Server—a VPS—which costs money) and possibly a cloud backup solution.

Apps you might want to self-host

But we can keep it simple: Many self-hosted apps also offer pre-packaged applications that can be easily installed on your computer like any other piece of software. And you can self-host on your everyday desktop computer, or turn an old desktop or laptop into your personal server. If you want to see if self-hosting apps works for you, you can start by just installing one of the following self-hosted alternatives to popular apps on your current computer.

• Plex. Plex is one of the best-known and most robust self-hosted solution out there. Plex is essentially your own private media server for streaming photos, audio, and video files to devices—like a self-hosted Netflix using films, TV shows, and music that you own. You can install the Plex App on a Roku device and direct it to your personal media server to stream anything you want, and give friends and family access to your server as well if you want. Plex also offers a paid service to access your media remotely—i.e., when you’re not home.

• Kodi. Similar to Plex, Kodi turns your PC’s hard drive into a media server. Unlike Plex, Kodi is open source software and not controlled by a single company, which makes a better choice for privacy. After installing it, you point it to the folders where you store videos and audio, and then Kodi streams those files over your wifi network to other devices. For example, I use Kodi at home to stream all my music files to devices using VLC. It’s a lightweight and simple way to self-host your media. If you want to just stream for yourself, Kodi is a lot simpler than Plex to set up and run.

• Jellyfin. Another media server alternative, Jellyfin is a little more complicated to set up, but it offers a free and open source alternative to Plex with a richer feature set than Kodi. If you really want total mastery of your streaming libraries without any third parties involved, Jellyfin might be your best choice.

• Grocy. If you’re using apps like Plan to Eat to organize your pantry and meal plan, Grocy offers the same functionality without the subscription fee or the third-party data vacuum. A full Grocy installation involves setting up your own server using Docker, but Grocy Desktop is an easier solution that installs like any other piece of software on your PC. Grocy lets you track purchases, track supplies in the house, automate shopping lists, track expiration dates, and incorporate recipes so you can see at a glance what you need to make dinner.

• Mastodon. If you’re leery of social media’s privacy implications—since you typically don’t own or control your own posts or audience data—there’s a self-hosted alternative: Mastodon. Mastodon received a lot of attention a few years ago, and it’s still chugging along. You can set up a Mastodon account just like any of the “Twitter-like” platforms out there, but Mastodon can also be self-hosted, meaning you can run your own social media platform with your own rules. Users on different servers can follow each other, too, so you’re not limited to just your friends or colleagues—Threads has been making an effort to integrate into the network as well.

  Setting up a Mastodon server can get a little complicated—you’ll need your own domain, a VPS, and an email provider specific to the server. But if you want true social media privacy, this is the way.

• Owncast. If you want to stream video out to the world like the folks on Twitch and YouTube do, Owncast is a self-hosted video streaming platform that keeps all your data and media under your control. That means you can never be de-platformed if YouTube decides you’ve violated some mysterious policy or someone else’s dubious copyright claim, for example.

  Owncast can be installed easily on cloud hosts like DigitalOcean if you’re willing to pay for that service, but you can run it locally as well (keeping in mind that video streaming requires a lot of storage and bandwidth). It can be installed locally pretty easily on Linux systems, but requires Docker for Windows or Homebrew for macOS.

• Immich. Google Photos is a great tool, but it does mean that your private, personal photos are stored on a corporation’s servers under their terms of service, and if you’re not careful you’ll quickly eat up the free storage and have to start paying for extra room. Enter Immich, a self-hosted alternative. It requires Docker to install, but is pretty easy to set up and uses web- or mobile-based interfaces to administer. Its feature set is very robust, including automated backups, facial recognition, and easy sharing with other folks.

• Home Assistant. If you’ve got smart devices in your home, Home Assistant offers a centralized control hub that avoids the poor security and privacy nightmares of third-party Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. It works with most open-source and proprietary smart home devices, and offers a level of customization that rivals any paid offering.

  While you can set up Home Assistant on a computer to run yourself, by far the easiest way to use it is to purchase the Home Assistant Green, a pre-built device that makes it a “plug and play” experience. The Home Assistant Green just plugs into your network and is ready to go. Otherwise it’s most commonly installed on a single-board computer like the Raspberry Pi or on a traditional PC using Docker or a virtual machine.

• Ollama. Do you use AI large language models (LLMs) like the ones powering ChatGPT, but you don’t like the fact that your chats are exposed? Ollama let’s you install lightweight versions of LLMs like gpt-oss locally on your computer and run them. The experience is very similar to using the web-based LLM tools, though they can be slower and less powerful than the full versions depending on your hardware. But if privacy is your goal, it’s an option, and Ollama offers easy installation of several different AI models to play around with.

OpenAI is gearing up to start the mass production of its own AI chips next year to be able to provide the massive computing power its users need and to lessen its reliance on NVIDIA, according to the Financial Times. The company reportedly designed the custom AI chip with US semiconductor maker Broadcom, whose CEO recently announced that it has a new client that put in a whopping $10 billion in orders. It didn’t name the client, but the Times‘ sources confirmed that it was OpenAI, which apparently doesn’t have plans to sell the chips and will only be using them internally.

Reuters reported way back in 2023 that OpenAI was already exploring the possibility of making its own AI chips after Sam Altman blamed GPU shortages for the company API’s speed and reliability. The news organization also previously reported that OpenAI was working with both Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) to create its own product. The Times didn’t say whether OpenAI still has an ongoing partnership with TSMC. 

After GPT-5 came out, Altman announced the changes OpenAI is implementing in order to keep up with “increased demand.” In addition to prioritizing paid ChatGPT users, he said that OpenAI was going to double its compute fleet “over the next 5 months.” Making its own chips will address any potential GPU shortages the company may encounter in doubling its fleet, and it could also save the company money. The Times says custom AI chips called “XPUs” like the one OpenAI is reportedly developing will eventually take a big share of the AI market. At the moment, NVIDIA is still the leading name in the industry. It recently revealed that its revenue for the second quarter ending on July 27 rose 56 percent compared to the same period last year, and it didn’t even have to ship any H20 chips to China. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-is-reportedly-producing-its-own-ai-chips-starting-next-year-113924707.html?src=rss

reMarkable is making a move away from its giant e-ink slate. The new Paper Pro Move is a smaller iteration with a 7.3-inch display the same size as a reporter’s notepad. The idea is an eink device you can write and edit on while on the move. Hence the name.

Engadget

There are some drawbacks, however. With the Move, the only way to write and edit typed text is with the on-screen keyboard. Bigger reMarkable devices can connect to a companion keyboard. Engadget’s Daniel Cooper spent some time with the new slate. There’s a lot to like, but it’s a different proposition to past reMarkable Papers.

The Paper Pro Move is available to order today, priced at $449 with a stylus included. Meanwhile, paper notepads cost a buck fifty. They’re not compatible with keyboards either.

— Mat Smith

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The news you might have missed

• The Apple iPhone 17 Awe dropping event: Here’s what to expect on September 9

• Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra hands-on

• The first new Bond game in over a decade is Hitman meets action blockbuster

Dolby Vision 2 is here to push picture quality ‘beyond HDR’

Hisense TVs will get the tech first.

Just when most of us figured out that our TVs and most new smartphones support high dynamic resolution (brighter whites, darker blacks, you get the gist), Dolby is here to make it look like crap. It just introduced Dolby Vision 2, with an array of new features.

Content Intelligence uses AI to automatically adapt your TV to what you’re watching.

For example, Precision Black helps keep darker scenes visible, and Light Sense detects ambient light to create the best picture — great if you keep a lamp or two on for movie night. Authentic Motion. This tool is what Dolby calls “the world’s first creative-driven motion control tool to make scenes feel more authentically cinematic.” I have no idea what that means.

Continue reading.

Eufy wants robovacs to conquer stairs

But only its robovacs.

Eufy’s MarsWalker carries the robovac between floors and drops it off at the base station when needed. It uses four control arms along with a track-drive system that “grips each step securely.”

There are a few caveats. There’s no price yet, and it will only work with a few Eufy models — and no other company’s robovacs. Don’t worry, though, Eufy has a new model that packs its own aromatherapy module and costs a punchy $1,600.

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Instagram gets an iPad app 15 years later

Better late than never?

What a week for long delays! Hollow Knight: Silksong is out (still looking for the third Mossberry here…) and Instagram developers, for some reason, decided September 2025 is the time to finally launch a dedicated iPad app. Thanks to the bigger screen, comments on Reels will appear right next to the videos, and the DMs page will include the inbox alongside the actual chat. What makes it extra baffling is that Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the iPad platform wasn’t big enough to warrant fast-tracking an app. He said that in 2023.

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The LEGO Ultimate Death Star: Over 9,000 pieces and $1,000

It’s the most expensive set ever.

Lego

LEGO just revealed the Star Wars Ultimate Death Star set, the largest LEGO Star Wars set ever made. It’s also the most expensive LEGO set ever. Bricks aside, it comes with 38 minifigures, including characters like Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. It also comes with a stormtrooper figure in a hot tub — a nod to the video games.

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111553035.html?src=rss

Welcome to Edition 8.09 of the Rocket Report! The biggest news of the week happened inside the Beltway rather than on a launch pad somewhere. In Washington, DC, Congress has pushed back on the Trump administration’s plan to stop flying the Space Launch System rocket after Artemis III. Congress made it clear that it wants to keep the booster in business for a long time. The big question now is whether the Trump White House will blink.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Israel launches SAR satellite. The Israel Ministry of Defense, Israel Defense Forces, and Israel Aerospace Industries successfully launched the Ofek 19 satellite on Tuesday from the Palmachim Airbase. The launch was carried out by the country’s solid-propellant Shavit 2 rocket. Ofek 19 is a synthetic aperture radar observation satellite with enhanced capabilities, 7 Israel National News reports.

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A UK government trial of Microsoft’s M365 Copilot found no clear productivity gains despite user satisfaction with tasks like summarizing meetings and writing emails. While the tool sped up some routine work, it actually slowed down more complex tasks like Excel analysis and PowerPoint creation, often producing lower-quality results. The Register reports: The Department for Business and Trade received 1,000 licenses for use between October and December 2024, with the majority of these allocated to volunteers and 30 percent to randomly selected participants. Some 300 of these people consented to their data being analyzed. An evaluation of time savings, quality assurance, and productivity was then calculated in the assessment (PDF). Overall, 72 percent of users were satisfied or very satisfied with their digital assistant and voiced disappointment when the test ended. However, the reality of productivity gains was more nuanced than Microsoft’s marketing materials might suggest. Around two-thirds of the employees in the trial used M365 at least once a week, and 30 percent used it at least once a day — which doesn’t sound like great value for money. […]

According to the M365 Copilot monitoring dashboard made available in the trial, an average of 72 M365 Copilot actions were taken per user. “Based on there being 63 working days during the pilot, this is an average of 1.14 M365 Copilot actions taken per user per day,” the study says. Word, Teams, and Outlook were the most used, and Loop and OneNote usage rates were described as “very low,” less than 1 percent and 3 percent per day, respectively. “PowerPoint and Excel were slightly more popular; both experienced peak activity of 7 percent of license holders using M365 Copilot in a single day within those applications,” the study states. The three most popular tasks involved transcribing or summarizing a meeting, writing an email, and summarizing written comms. These also had the highest satisfaction levels, we’re told.

Participants were asked to record the time taken for each task with M365 Copilot compared to colleagues not involved in the trial. The assessment report adds: “Observed task sessions showed that M365 Copilot users produced summaries of reports and wrote emails faster and to a higher quality and accuracy than non-users. Time savings observed for writing emails were extremely small. “However, M365 Copilot users completed Excel data analysis more slowly and to a worse quality and accuracy than non-users, conflicting time savings reported in the diary study for data analysis. PowerPoint slides [were] over 7 minutes faster on average, but to a worse quality and accuracy than non-users.” This means corrective action was required.

A cross-section of participants was asked questions in an interview — qualitative findings — and they claimed routine admin tasks could be carried out with greater efficiency with M365 Copilot, letting them “redirect time towards tasks seen as more strategic or of higher value, while others reported using these time savings to attend training sessions or take a lunchtime walk.” Nevertheless, M365 Copilot did not necessarily make them more productive, the assessment found. This is something Microsoft has worked on with customers to quantify the benefits and justify the greater expense of a license for M365 Copilot.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BMW has an all-electric replacement for its X3 crossover on the way. When it arrives in mid-2026, it will have the lowest carbon footprint of any BMW yet, thanks to an obsessive approach to sustainability during the design process. But we knew that already; what we couldn’t tell you then, but can now, is everything else we know about the first of the so-called Neue Klasse electric vehicles.

“The Neue Klasse is our biggest future-focused project and marks a huge leap forward in terms of technologies, driving experience, and design,” said BMW chairman Oliver Zipse. “Practically everything about it is new, yet it is also more BMW than ever. Our whole product range will benefit from the innovations brought by the Neue Klasse—whichever drive system technology is employed. What started as a bold vision has now become reality: the BMW iX3 is the first Neue Klasse model to go into series production, kicking off a new era for BMW.”

A new face

The iX3 also debuts a new corporate face for BMW’s SUVs: From now on, these will have tall, narrow kidney grilles like the one you see here, as opposed to the short, wide grille seen on the front of the Neue Klasse sedan (which is almost certainly the next 3 Series). LEDs replace chrome, and there’s a new take on BMW’s usual four headlights, although the illuminated kidney grill is an option, not mandatory. Despite the two-box shape, the iX3 manages a drag coefficient of just 0.24.

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At the beginning of the year, Lenovo gave us an early design preview of its next flagship gaming handheld — the Legion Go 2. Today, at IFA 2025, the company is fleshing out the rest of the system with more details regarding its specs, price and availability.

In terms of its overall appearance, not much has changed on the outside of the Legion Go 2. It has the same general shape and detachable controllers as the preview model, alongside an 8.8-inch OLED with a variable 144Hz refresh rate and VESA HDR TrueBlack 1000 certification. Lenovo has kept the ability to use the right controller as a vertical mouse (aka FPS mode) when paired with the handheld’s included puck/stand. And as before, you still get Hall Effect joysticks, a built-in touchpad and kickstand and dual USB 4 ports.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The only major change from what we saw in January is slightly different paint colors on elements like its shoulder buttons. That said, I do appreciate that unlike a lot of its rivals (aside from the Steam Deck), Legion Go 2 still comes bundled with a case, just like its predecessor. On the flipside, one thing I wish Lenovo had changed is the detachment process for Legion Go 2’s controllers. Like before, you can press a button in back before sliding each joypad off a small hidden rail. And while it works, after using the new magnetic system for the Switch 2’s Joy-Con, doing the same thing on the Legion Go 2 just feels clunky.

Meanwhile, the Legion Go 2’s internals are where most of its upgrades have gone. The handheld can now be equipped with up to an AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 storage. And if that’s not enough, there’s also a microSD card reader. But perhaps the most tantalizing improvement may be its battery life, as the Legion Go 2 comes with a 74Whr battery that’s 50 percent larger than the 49.2 Whr cell in the original. 

Unfortunately, I only had a brief time with the demo unit and as it didn’t have a lot of games already installed (especially more resource-intensive ones), so I couldn’t really gauge how much better its performance was compared to the original model. However, I did notice that Lenovo’s Legion Space app felt much snappier and more polished, though it probably won’t be as seamless as the native game integration and new UI that’s coming on the ROG Xbox Ally.

All told, the Legion Go 2 is shaping up to be a more refined, powerful and longer-lasting follow-up while retaining pretty much every major good feature from its predecessor like a big OLED screen, detachable controllers and solid connectivity. Granted, it’s still quite chunky even with its curvier and more streamlined design, but that was always going to be the case considering its large 8.8-inch display. So if you can handle a Windows-based handheld (sorry SteamOS fans) that’s on the heftier side, this is one worth keeping an eye on.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

But here’s the potential catch: the Legion Go 2 may be substantially more expensive too. It’s expected to go on sale sometime in October starting at $1,049, which is a significant jump up from the $700 base price of the original (let alone what it’s going for now, which can be as low as $550 depending on discounts). And that figure is likely for a model with a Ryzen Z2 chip, which means anyone who wants one with a more powerful Z2 Extreme processor will need to keep some wiggle room in their budget. So while I appreciate how Lenovo is chasing big performance on a portable gaming machine, the Legion Go 2’s price has me appreciating more affordable handheld rivals like the Steam Deck even more than I already do. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovo-legion-go-2-hands-on-powerful-upgrades-but-with-an-even-higher-price-060052114.html?src=rss

Lenovo just announced some new gaming products at IFA, including the Legion Pro 7 laptop. The specs here are impressive. The laptop ships with AMD’s newest Ryzen 9 9000 HX series processors and options go all the way up to the Ryzen 9955HX3D.

The Windows 11 computer also features NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs and purchasers can go up to the RTX 5080. There’s a 16-inch 240Hz OLED panel with a 0.08ms response time, which should make for some glorious gaming sessions.

Lenovo

It can be outfitted with up to 2TB of storage and up to 32GB of RAM. It also incorporates the company’s Coldfront thermal technology to keep things cool, which in turn lets gamers “run the highest-demand games at the highest settings.” The Legion Pro 7 will be available this November and prices start at $2,400.

The company also announced the LOQ Tower 26ADR10 desktop. The specs here are impressive, as the computers are powered by AMD Ryzen 8000 series processors and NVIDIA 50-Series GPUs. It can be topped off with up to 64GB of RAM and 4GB of SSD storage. It’ll be available later this month, with a starting price of $1,000.

Lenovo

Lenovo even announced a few new gaming monitors at IFA, all of which offer multiple connection options and speedy refresh rates. They will be available in October or November, depending on which model is selected, with prices ranging from $700 to $1,100.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/lenovos-new-legion-pro-7-gaming-laptop-can-be-outfitted-with-up-to-a-geforce-5080-gpu-060017519.html?src=rss

Right now, Lenovo’s Legion Go S is my favorite gaming handheld. I’m more of a PC person than a console one, and this handheld gaming PC has just enough over the Steam Deck to make it worth it to me, from a more powerful chip to a bigger and higher resolution screen. But even with all that, it was only ever intended as a stopgap between the full-fledged Legion Go and Legion Go 2. Now, Lenovo’s officially announced the Legion Go 2, and while it brings back some features that the Legion Go S cut, it also loses out on some of what made the Legion Go S so special, which puts it in an odd middle ground.

A new look and feel

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Starting off with the positives: the Legion Go 2 is now a heck of a lot nicer to hold and look at. The first Legion Go set itself apart with detachable wireless controllers on a rail system, similar to the original Nintendo Switch. Lenovo got rid of these on the S, but since those controllers were a little squarish and sharp on the original Go, I didn’t mind their absence. The Legion Go 2 brings the detachable controllers back, but updates them with a rounder, more ergonomic design, seemingly inspired by the S. Apart from looking a little less boxy, these felt way nicer in the hand when I tried them out. They even use the same rail system as the original Go, so any accessories you’ve bought or printed for that device’s controllers will work here. And yes, that means there’s still an optical sensor on the bottom of the right-hand controller, so you can still use it like a mouse (just like a Switch 2 joy-con). These are small touches, but they go a long way towards making the device click as “new” in my brain.

Upgraded chips

The big upgrade here is the new chips, which have been punched up to AMD’s Z2 family and go up to the Z2 Extreme. That’s a generational leap over the processor in most premium gaming handhelds these days, including the Legion Go S and the Asus ROG Ally. Given that the Z1 Extreme in the S was already giving me a good 8 to 10 extra frames over the Steam Deck even while running at higher resolutions, you can expect even more performance from this model, although Lenovo didn’t give me any estimates or hands-on gameplay demos. The memory can also be pushed to up to 32GB now (double the previous max of 16GB), which will help ensure smoother play, and the storage now goes up to 2TB, which doubles the first Legion Go’s capacity.

An OLED screen

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

There are a few other extras as well, like an updated battery with 74WhR of capacity rather than the 49WhR on the first model, as well as a fingerprint reader. Most noteworthy is that while the screen is the same size as before, at 8.8 inches, it trades some resolution for OLED. While the prior IPS model was 1600P, this version is now 1200P, although that’s a compromise I’m willing to make for OLED-level contrast, especially since higher resolutions tend to have diminishing returns on handheld screens. Aside from that, it’s still 144Hz, touch compatible, and maxes out at 500 nits of brightness.

Otherwise, it’s largely the same unit, albeit a little thicker, which Lenovo says is for extra thermal headroom, and a little weightier, at around 2.03 pounds rather than 1.88 (I didn’t notice that during my short hands-on, although that could change over an extended play session). On top of those mouse controls, you still get a touchpad on the right controller, a sturdy kickstand across the length of the device, all the same buttons, and everything else you might have come to expect from the original Legion Go. 

The downsides

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

I’ll admit that after the S, I’m a little torn. The first Legion Go always seemed a little over-engineered to me, with the controllers in particular being far less intuitive than Nintendo’s joy-cons. If you always struggled to remove or connect the Legion Go controllers before, or were disappointed that you couldn’t use them for two-player, this won’t change your mind, even if these controllers are easier to hold than the original model’s. The S was so seamless to use that, despite being more powerful, the Go 2 comes across as a little user-unfriendly. While keeping compatibility with previous accessories is a nice touch, after using the Switch 2, I can’t help but think magnets might have been the way to go here. Or even just controllers that are attached to the system, to be honest.

That user unfriendliness is also true of the operating system. Unlike the Legion Go S, The Legion Go 2 is only launching with Windows, and Lenovo refused to tell me whether SteamOS was planned to be added as an option further down the line. That’s a huge disappointment after the Legion Go S became the first non Steam Deck handheld to officially ship with Valve’s operating system as an option. While it sounds like a minor gripe, Windows has proven across multiple devices to be a pain to navigate with a controller, while SteamOS is built from the ground-up for controllers. It can also drag down performance, as it’s more resource hungry, and licensing Windows can inflate a device’s price. Microsoft says it’s working on addressing these issues, but we won’t see how that works out until the Xbox handheld hits the market. In the meantime, I would have loved to have more options.

Worth the price?

In other words, I don’t see this replacing the Legion Go S for me, and another big part of that is the price. The Legion Go S starts $200 more than the Steam Deck, and improves on that device just enough that I think it’s worth it. Meanwhile, the Legion Go 2 starts at $1,049, which is several hundred dollars more than the Legion Go S, the first model, or even competitors like the ROG Ally X. It’ll be available next month, and while I’d love for it to be a straight upgrade on the Legion Go S or even some kind of adult Nintendo Switch 2, I expect it’ll end up competing more with gaming laptops than anything else. That’s great for the rich kids who already go for devices like that, but after the Legion Go S, I can’t help but feel like Lenovo’s missing an opportunity to take the follow-up in a more attractive, less niche direction. I suppose I’ll wait for a Go S 2 in the meantime.

Lenovo is no stranger to laptops with funky displays. The company has made a notebook with a tri-fold screen, one with a rollable panel and multiple systems with flexible displays. But this year at IFA, Lenovo is testing out yet another new design with its latest concept laptop, and this time it may have created the ultimate doomscrolling machine.

Its official name is the ThinkBook Vertiflex Concept and when it’s closed, it looks almost exactly like a traditional 14-inch clamshell laptop. But if you look closer, you’ll notice that its screen has a secret feature: the ability to rotate 90 degrees into portrait mode. This means you can switch to a taller aspect ratio for tasks like coding, editing photos and videos, or simply browsing your favorite vertically-oriented social media app.

Naturally, to enhance its portrait mode capabilities, Lenovo included support for pairing the laptop with your phone via its Smart Connect app, which allows you to mirror or extend the latter’s display on a bigger screen or quickly transfer files just by dragging and dropping. In a lot of ways, the Vertiflex Concept feels like the laptop version of one of LG’s last phones — the LG Wing — while also sharing a lot of similarities with TVs like the rotating Samsung Sero. And given the continued rise in popularity of vertical photos and videos on social media, it’s actually kind of a surprise that it’s taken a mainstream PC maker this long to create a laptop like this.

On a more practical level, I really appreciate that even with a rotating display, it doesn’t feel like there’s much of a penalty when it comes to added heft or thickness. The Vertiflex Concept weighs just three pounds and measures 0.7 inches thin, which isn’t far off from what you’d get from a typical 14-inch ultraportable. And while Lenovo hasn’t provided much in the way of hardware specs (this is a concept device after all), I noticed that the laptop does feature a healthy number of connectivity options, including two USB-C ports, one USB-A connector, a full-size HDMI jack, 3.5mm audio and a microSD card reader.

Now, Lenovo has shown off more concept devices than practically any other major OEM in recent history, so of course, the Vertiflex wasn’t the only prototype the company had on display for IFA 2025. There was also the Smart Motion Concept, but that felt less impactful because instead of being a standalone product, this thing is merely a laptop stand. It uses the sensors on whatever it’s connected to to track your face and automatically reposition your laptop’s screen in the right position.

Sam Rutherford for Engadget

The idea is that if you’re making a presentation, the stand allows your laptop to better keep your face in frame while also making sure its mics and speakers are pointed in the optimal direction. Alternatively, if you’d rather control the stand yourself, the device can be paired to a ring with gesture support. Finally, Lenovo says the Smart Motion concept also has some features to do things like help you maintain ergonomically friendly postures.

However, as both products are experimental devices, there’s no word on whether Lenovo will turn these into proper retail offerings. But if either the Vertiflex or Smart Motion concepts strike your fancy, you might want to say something (maybe on social media for the social-media focused laptop) to give Lenovo a bit of extra encouragement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/lenovos-latest-laptop-concept-might-be-the-ultimate-doomscrolling-machine-060000162.html?src=rss

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a lawsuit against popular AI image generator Midjourney, accusing it of stealing and exploiting its intellectual properties. The complaint revolves around the AI tool’s ability to generate images and videos of Warner Bros.’ popular fictional characters, including Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny and his friends from Looney Tunes. “Midjourney thinks it is above the law,” the company wrote in its lawsuit. It said that the image generator sells a commercial subscription service powered by AI technology that was illegally trained using its copyrighted works. 

The company argued that Midjourney has the technology to prevent users from generating images of the characters it owns. It apparently refused to generate videos based on Warner Bros.’ properties when it first launched its video model. But within the past couple of weeks, it allegedly removed those protections and told its users that they would encounter “fewer blocked jobs.” The ability to generate Warner Bros.’ characters are a clear draw for its subscription service that costs $10 to $120 a month, the media conglomerate said. “It is hard to imagine copyright infringement that is any more willful than what Midjourney is doing here,” the plaintiff added. “Midjourney has prioritized and sought to preserve the hundreds of millions of dollars it earns annually from its service by doubling down on its theft of copyrighted works.”

In the complaint, the company gave several examples of Midjourney-generated images and video stills next to images and screencaps of its movies and shows. The image above, for instance, shows Midjourney’s output from the prompt “Batman, screencap from The Dark Knight.” next to actual promotional materials from the Christian Bale-led movie. Further, generic prompts like “classic comic book superhero battle” could lead to output with WB characters even if they’re not specifically mentioned. 

Midjourney is already facing a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Disney and Universal Studios back in June. They accused the AI service of “help[ing] itself to countless” copyrighted works to train its models and for infringing on their copyright by allowing users to generate images of characters from Star Wars, Shrek, The Simpsons and Despicable Me, among other properties. 

Warner Bros. Discovery is now asking the court for statutory damages of “up to $150,000 per infringed work by virtue of Midjourney’s willful infringement.” We’ve reached out to Midjourney and will update this post when we hear back. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/warner-bros-discovery-is-suing-midjourney-for-copyright-infringement-035850831.html?src=rss

In a landmark collaboration across 22 labs, neuroscientists have created the first brain-wide map of decision-making in mice, tracking over 620,000 neurons across nearly 280 brain regions. They found that decision-making is distributed much more broadly than previously thought, involving not just “cognitive” centers but also regions linked to movement. From a report: The task was deceptively simple task. Mice sat in front of a screen that intermittently displayed a black-and-white striped circle for a brief amount of time on either the left or right side. A mouse could earn a sip of sugar water if they quickly moved the circle toward the center of the screen by operating a tiny steering wheel in the same direction, often doing so within one second. On some trials, the circle was faint, requiring the animal to rely on past experience to make a guess, which allowed researchers to study how expectations influence future decisions. While the mice performed the task, researchers recorded brain activity using high-density electrodes that allowed them to monitor hundreds of neurons across many regions simultaneously. The work was divided across the participating labs, so that each lab mapped a particular region of the mouse brain. The pooled dataset covers 620,000 neurons recorded from 139 mice in 12 labs, encompassing nearly the entire brain. The resulting map revealed that decision-making activity is distributed across the brain, including in areas traditionally associated with movement rather than cognition. The findings have been published in two papers in the journal Nature.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An Indiana bankruptcy lawyer named Mark Zuckerberg is suing Meta after his Facebook page was repeatedly shut down for “impersonating” CEO Mark Zuckerberg, despite being his real legal name. TechCrunch reports: Mark Zuckerberg the lawyer uses a commercial Facebook page to advertise his legal practice and communicate with potential clients. But his page has been disabled five times in the last eight years, since Meta’s moderation systems flag his account as falsely impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the platform. Mark Zuckerberg is not impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, because he, too, is Mark Zuckerberg. In his legal complaint, Mark Zuckerberg points out that he has been practicing law since Mark Zuckerberg was just three years old.

“It’s not funny,” Mark Zuckerberg, the lawyer, said to Indianapolis’ 13WTHR. “Not when they take my money. This really pissed me off.” Mark Zuckerberg has spent over $11,000 to advertise his page on Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta platforms, but when Mark Zuckerberg’s account is disabled for allegedly impersonating Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg still has to pay for these advertisements. Zuckerberg created a website, iammarkzuckerberg.com, chronicling how his life has been shaped by being named Mark Zuckerberg.

The lawsuit can be found here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Warner Bros. Discovery has filed a major copyright lawsuit against Midjourney, accusing the AI image generator of exploiting its movies and TV shows to train models and generate near-identical reproductions of iconic characters like Batman, Bugs Bunny, and Rick and Morty. From The Hollywood Reporter: The company “brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property” by letting subscribers produce images and videos of iconic copyrighted characters, alleges the complaint, filed on Thursday in California federal court. “The heart of what we do is develop stories and characters to entertain our audiences, bringing to life the vision and passion of our creative partners,” said a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson in a statement. “Midjourney is blatantly and purposefully infringing copyrighted works, and we filed this suit to protect our content, our partners, and our investments.”

For years, AI companies have been training their technology on data scraped across the internet without compensating creators. It’s led to lawsuits from authors, record labels, news organizations, artists and studios, which contend that some AI tools erode demand for their content. Warner Bros. Discovery joins Disney and Universal, which earlier this year teamed up to sue Midjourney. By their thinking, the AI company is a free-rider plagiarizing their movies and TV shows. In the lawsuit, Warner Bros. Discovery points to Midjourney generating images of iconic copyrighted characters. At the forefront are heroes who’re at the center of DC Studios’ movies and TV shows, like Superman, Wonder Woman and The Joker; others are Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo characters who’ve become ubiquitous household names; more are Cartoon Network characters, including those from Rick and Morty, who’ve emerged as something of cultural touchstones in recent years. […]

The lawsuit argues Midjourney’s ability to return copyrighted characters is a “clear draw for subscribers,” diverting consumers away from purchasing Warner Bros. Discovery-approved posters, wall art and prints, among other products that must now compete against the service. […] Warner Bros. Discovery seeks Midjourney’s profits attributable to the alleged infringement or, alternatively, $150,000 per infringed work, which could leave the AI company on the hook for massive damages. The thrust of the studios’ lawsuits will likely be decided by one question: Are AI companies covered by fair use, the legal doctrine in intellectual property law that allows creators to build upon copyrighted works without a license? The lawsuit can be found here.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Meta currently has lots of priorities Mark Zuckerberg likely never would have imagined back in the early days of Facebook. The company has pivoted from social networking to the metaverse and, most recently, to AI. But somehow, one of its earliest — and most useless — features has not only survived but is apparently getting a revamp. I’m talking, of course, about the poke, which Meta is once again trying to revive. 

The company is making the storied feature easier to find by adding pokes back to user profiles in the Facebook app, according to a post it shared on Instagram. And you can track all poking-related activity between you and your friends at facebook.com/pokes. It even looks like there’s a Snapchat-streak like aspect where different emojis appear based on how many pokes have been exchanged. 

Just in case you weren’t on Facebook two decades ago, “poking” was something of a novelty in the early days of the social network. At the time, there weren’t that many features for interacting with your friends. You could leave comments on their profile and … you could “poke.” The feature never really did anything, but depending on who it came from it was considered something between creepy or flirty.  As Meta notes in its Instagram post, poking never really went away, but it was de-emphasized over the years and has been largely forgotten by users.

But the company has for some reason been trying to get poking to make a comeback for a while now. Meta said last year the feature was “having a moment” and that there had been a 13x spike in pokes after the company began surfacing the feature in the Facebook search bar. Now, it seems Meta is trying to build even more momentum for it, presumably for the current generation of younger Facebook users. 

Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year he wants to bring back more “OG” Facebook features like… being able to find content posted by your actual friends. And it’s hard to get more “OG Facebook” than poking. Meta has also been on a years-long mission to win over “young adults,”  so it might see the jokey feature as a way to appeal to a generation used to taking their Snap streak extremely seriously. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/21-years-later-meta-still-hasnt-given-up-on-the-facebook-poke-000446458.html?src=rss