Category: Technology

Infinite Machine made waves with its retro-futuristic P1 electric bike. That one was built for speed, but the company is back with something that’s more for urbanites commuting to and from work. The Olto boasts 40 miles of range and a top speed of 33 MPH, with a 20 MPH limit while riding in the bike lane.

Just like the P1, the Olto e-bike looks both futuristic and retro, with a design that can only be described as “Cybertruck meets a scooter from Tron.” This bike could be a boon for commuters, as it can accommodate two riders at the same time. The design is also fairly modular, so riders can add accessories like child carriers, rear racks and baskets, among other items. 

The battery is easily removed with one hand, for nighttime charging, and can reach 50 percent in just an hour at the outlet. This removable battery also helps with security, as the battery is typically one of the most expensive components of an e-bike.

However, that’s not the only security feature that Infinite Machine has implemented here. The company claims the Olto “virtually theft-proof.” Each bike is connected to the internet and tracked in real time with precise GPS coordinates. There’s an app to keep an eye on things and the vehicle features a dedicated slot for AirTags.

Once parked, the bike automatically locks the steering and wheels, making it difficult to move. If someone tampers with the vehicle, an alarm will sound and an alert gets sent to the owner’s phone. The phone also doubles as the key.

Now for some bad news. All of these high-tech features come with a high-end price tag. The Olto costs $3,495. Preorders are available right now, with shipments going out later in the year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/the-olto-is-a-future-forward-e-bike-that-can-accommodate-two-passengers-140044468.html?src=rss 

On Thursday, Bose unveiled its next-gen premium wireless earbuds. The latest QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds have enhanced adaptive noise cancellation, thanks to AI. Among their other upgrades over the originals are boosted call quality and wireless charging.

Since AI is the tech world’s obsession, it’s no surprise that Bose is jumping on that bandwagon. Here, the company uses it to improve adaptive noise cancellation. AI algorithms in the new model can smooth out sudden spikes in background noise while using aware mode. (That’s the feature that lets you hear your surroundings while listening to music.) So, for example, the ANC should respond more quickly to a suddenly passing train or siren. In theory, that means fewer distractions from your music.

AI is also behind improved call quality in the second-gen QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Bose claims that its noise suppression system improves voice pickup and overall quality.

The new model supports wireless charging natively. The first-gen QC Ultra Earbuds only offered it in a roundabout way. You had to buy a $50 silicone cover for the case, which wasn’t the most elegant solution.

The rest of the 2025 model’s upgrades are subtler. Their ear tips now include a built-in earwax filter. That should make it easier to clean them and avoid sound degradation over time. You can also turn off the earbuds’ capacitive touch controls in the app. The inability to do that was a common complaint about the 2023 originals. (They’ll receive an update later this year that adds the same functionality.)

The second-gen Bose QC Ultra Earbuds retail for the same $299 as their predecessors. They’ll be available in black, white smoke and deep plum. Later this summer, the company will start pre-orders and provide a release date.

SoundLink Plus

Alongside the earbuds, Bose announced two new Bluetooth speakers. The SoundLink Plus is a mid-range one, sitting between the SoundLink Flex and Max. The company’s tagline for the speaker sums up the niche it wants to fill: “big enough to bring the bass but portable enough to take on the go.”

The SoundLink Plus has one subwoofer, a tweeter and four passive radiators. It also includes an automatic tuning system called Active EQ. Bose says it adjusts its frequency response to match an optimal sound curve. It weighs 3.29 lbs. It supports Bluetooth Core 5.4.

The speaker supports up to 20 hours of playback. In a nice touch, you can use its USB-C port to charge your phone and other devices.

The SoundLink Plus costs $269. If you’re looking to grab one, you won’t have to wait long. Pre-orders open today, ahead of a June 26 launch. It will be available in black, blue dusk and citrus yellow. (The latter won’t be available to pre-order until June 18.)

SoundLink Micro (second-gen)

Finally, Bose is rolling out a second-gen version of the SoundLink Micro. The speaker is still small — just slightly less so than the first model. (The second-gen Micro measures 4.06 x 4.06 x 1.54 inches.) But in exchange, you get much longer battery life. Bose says the new speaker lasts up to 12 hours, an increase from six hours in its predecessor.

The SoundLink Micro also includes some modernizations. First, it now works with the Bose app. The speaker also ditches the micro-USB charging from its predecessor in favor of USB-C.

Elsewhere, it adds the same Active EQ and Bluetooth Core 5.4 support in its mid-range sibling. The company claims that the speaker plays back sounds more clearly at higher frequencies. (And it does so without muddying bass.) It also has a removable nylon strap. This should be handy for attaching the speaker to bags, bikes, shower heads and the like.

The Bose SoundLink Micro will be available in black and blue dusk. It costs $129. The company will provide specific launch info later this summer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/boses-second-gen-quietcomfort-ultra-earbuds-have-ai-enhanced-adaptive-anc-130057912.html?src=rss 

If you have ever looked at the X100VI said to yourself, “Man, I wish Fujifilm would just make an interchangeable lens version of this camera,” consider your request answered. Four years after the release of the X-E4, the company has announced the X-E5, a compact, $1,699.95 camera that should appeal to the same crowd that loves X100VI.

Inside, the X-E5 has Fujifilm’s latest X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensor. That’s the same sensor you’ll find on the X100VI, X-T5 and X-T50. It’s capable of capturing 40.2-megapixel stills, and video at up to 6.2K and 30 frames per second. Thanks to improvements Fujifilm has made to the sensor’s pixel structure, the X-E5 offers a native 125 ISO, and there’s AI-based autofocus to make it easier to capture moving subjects such as animals, birds, insects, motorcycles, planes and more.

Also new to the X-E5 is the inclusion of in-body image stabilization (IBIS). It offers up to seven stops of stabilization near the center of the frame and six stops toward the periphery.

Fujifilm has also once again tweaked the exterior of the camera. If the X-E4 was a bit too minimalistic for your taste, the good news is the X-E5 has a front grip where Fujifilm did away with that on the X-E4. The camera’s top plate is machined from a single piece of aluminum, an addition that should make the X-E5 feel more premium than its predecessor. On the top, you’ll find all the usual dials, including one for shutter speed and another for exposure compensation. 

There’s also an entirely new dial dedicated to Fujifilm’s film simulations. In addition to the usual presets like Classic Chrome and Velvia, you can save up to three of your own recipes for easy access. As before, the external LCD can flip up 180-degrees to make it easier to capture selfies and vlog.

Fujifilm has also redesigned the X-E5’s viewfinder. It offers two new modes. First, there’s a “Classic” mode, which simplifies the interface so it’s more like what you would find on an old film camera. All your exposure settings are displayed along the bottom of the screen in a deep red color, with the light meter present on the side. Alternatively, the other new mode, “Surround View,” displays a black, semi-transparent or outlined area outside of the aspect ratio you’ve set. In practice, that should make it easier to frame your shots.

Alongside the X-E5, Fujifilm announced a new pancake lens, the XF23mm f/2.8 R WR. It’s a full stop slower than the fixed, 35mm equivalent you’ll find on the X100VI, but it’s about the same size and should be a lot faster to focus thanks to inclusion of a direct current motor.

Fujifilm will offer the X-E5 in black and silver. The camera will be available starting in August. At $1,699.95 for just the camera body, the X-E5 is twice as expensive as its predecessor. In fact, it’s more expensive than the $1,599 X100VI, which features a leaf shutter and hybrid optical viewfinder. Personally, I’m sad about that since the X-E4 was my recommendation for a great starter camera. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/the-fujifilm-x-e5-is-basically-an-interchangeable-lens-x100vi-133931379.html?src=rss 

As part of new updates to its parental controls announced at WWDC 25, Apple has introduced a new feature that requires kids to get permission to text new numbers. That’s among other new child safety settings including more granular age-based app ratings that will be introduced to the new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26 operating systems coming this fall, Apple announced. 

The new feature called Communication Limits (part of Child Accounts) gives parents the ability to manage their kids communications across Messages, FaceTime, calling and iCloud contacts. Children must send a request to their parents when they want to contact a new phone number and parents can then give approval with a single tape in Messages. Developers can include the new function in third-party apps using Apple’s PermissionKit framework. 

Another new child-friendly feature is more granular age-based ratings for apps to help parents decide which are safe for their kids to use. By the end of 2025, those will expand to five categories including three for adolescents: 13+, 16+ and 18+. When parents set app content restrictions, apps that exceed those will not appear on the App Store — though kids can request exemptions if the Ask to Buy setting is enabled. 

Apple already employs safety features like web content filters and app restrictions for kids under 13, but it will now enforce “similar age-appropriate” protections for teens between 13 and 17. The company will also let parents give apps a child’s age range without disclosing their exact date of birth. Finally, the Communication Safety tool has been expanded to intervene when it detects nudity in FaceTime video calls and it will blur out nudity in Shared Albums in Photos. 

Apple’s changes follow in the heels of new age-verification laws enacted in Texas, Utah and and other states. Google, for one, opposed the Utah bill, but Meta and other app makers have called for legislation that would require app stores to get parental approval before their teens download any app — effectively offloading the responsibility to Apple, Google and others.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/apples-ios-26-requires-kids-to-get-parental-permission-to-text-new-numbers-120049197.html?src=rss 

The Solar Orbiter has been observing the sun since 2021, but it recently went on a side trip to Venus which significantly tilted its orbit and gave it a good view of the sun’s polar region. That is how it was able to capture images that will historically be known as humankind’s first-ever views of the sun’s pole. All our galaxy’s planets and the other spacecraft we’ve deployed orbit the sun around an imaginary ecliptic plane along the star’s equator. But thanks to the Solar Orbiter’s Venus flyby, it now has a view of the sun from below its equator, allowing it to see the star’s southern pole clearly. The images you see above were captured from an angle of 15 degrees below the equator on March 16 and 17, but the probe has reached the 17 degree maximum angle it could achieve since then.

Three of the probe’s instruments were responsible for the images. The Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) imaged the sun in visible light and mapped its surface magnetic field. Meanwhile, the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) imaged the sun in ultraviolet light, and the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument captured light “coming from different temperatures of charged gas above the sun’s surface, thereby revealing different layers of the sun’s atmosphere.”

So what exactly was the Solar Orbiter able to observe at the sun’s southern pole? Well, the pole’s magnetic field, simply put, is a mess at the moment. See, the sun’s magnetic field flips roughly every 11 years, and it’s about to flip this year if it hasn’t yet. Normally, a magnet has a clear north and south pole, but the orbiter’s PHI instrument showed that both north and south polarity magnetic fields are present at the sun’s south pole right now. “This happens only for a short time during each solar cycle, at solar maximum, when the Sun’s magnetic field flips and is at its most active,” ESA explained. 

After the flip, the magnetic field fixes itself so that the poles have single polarities. The process is gradual, however, and it will take five to six years to achieve solar minimum, wherein which the sun’s magnetic field is at its most orderly. These solar cycles or regular magnetic field flips aren’t fully understood yet, and the orbiter’s observations could be the key to unlocking that knowledge. 

In addition, scientists used the orbiter’s SPICE instrument to take Doppler measurements, or how fast clumps of solar material are moving. They then took that information to create a velocity map that shows how solar material moves within a specific layer of the sun. These measurements can show how the sun flings out particles into space in the form of solar winds, which is one of the orbiter’s key goals. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/solar-orbiter-captures-images-of-the-suns-pole-for-the-first-time-123047746.html?src=rss