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Samsung may have inadvertently confirmed that it will unveil its next flagship phones early next month. According to 9to5Google, the company’s Colombian website has published a page revealing that its next Galaxy Unpacked event is scheduled for February 1st, 2023. “Epic moments are approaching,” it read, based on the publication’s screenshot of the page, which is now no longer viewable on the website. While the announcement didn’t explicitly say that the event will officially introduce the Galaxy S23, it shows the flagship series’ expected triple-camera setup. 

As the publication notes, the leaves and flowers in the borders of the teaser reflect the colors of the leaked renders that seemed to show Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Ultra units in green and lilac. Previous reports also suggested that we’ll get to see the upcoming phones in the first week of February at an Unpacked event, which is likely to take place in San Francisco. In addition, an early February Unpacked for the flagship series is consistent with previous unveilings: For the Galaxy S22 series, Samsung held an event on February 9th, 2022.

Samsung is reportedly ditching its Exynos chips and using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC to power all the Galaxy S23 units sold worldwide. The Korean tech giant typically equips its Asian and European releases with Exynos chipsets, while units sold in the US come with Qualcomm processors. Other reports suggested that the Galaxy S23 will have a 200-megapixel main camera, while the base S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus models will come with a 50-megapixel main shooter. If the leaked Unpacked page is accurate, we won’t have to wait long to know for sure.

 

There are certain things you can’t really demonstrate in the same way as other pieces of consumer electronics. A WiFi-connected urine analyzer that sits in your toilet and samples your pee for analysis is one such gadget. That’s why I had to go to a behind-closed-doors event in a private suite here at CES in Las Vegas to test out this prototype version of Withings’ U-Scan.

U-Scan is Withings first attempt at a body fluid-analysis device, albeit one with the weight of such a well-regarded brand in the health tech space. The shell-shaped hardware sits on the edge of your bowl like a scent block, and catches a small sample of fluid while you’re micturating. After around a minute, users will find conclusions about their menstrual cycle or nutrition, depending on what cartridge is installed, pushed to their phone.

Regardless of biology, you’ll need to sit down on the toilet to use this thing, and that it’s a little surprising when the hardware lights up when it starts working. You’ll certainly know when it is as well, since it makes a fairly noticeable whirring noise while your sample is processed. At this early stage, I was able to receive information about two stats: The pH of my urine as well as its specific gravity.

Now, I could reveal what my stats were, but I’d much rather not spoil the video where you can learn a little bit more about how it all works.

 

And we’re back. After canceling our CES plans in 2022 (and not even having the option of attending in person in 2021), the Engadget team sent a dozen staffers to CES 2023 this week, including reporters, editors and videographers. It’s too soon to say how many stories and videos we’ve published — in fact, we have more good stuff coming — but suffice to say, it was a lot. Though our team swears the show still wasn’t as busy as pre-pandemic years, they were kept busy enough that it felt like a true return to form, not just for us, but for the tech industry at large.

One thing that never stopped was Engadget’s annual Best of CES Awards program, although this year marks the first time in three years we’ve been able to base our judgments off of a full slate of in-person hands-on experiences. All told, we’re handing out a dozen awards this year, including the most prestigious: Best of the Best. As always, our awards attempt to capture what we think people will still be talking about weeks, or even months, after the show concludes, from wireless TVs to an electric Ram concept truck to a $1,000 stand mixer that should make dough blending almost foolproof.

As ever, too, we endeavored to weed out the vaporware, not to mention the things that got attention solely for being dumb. (Hello, multiplesmart pee gadgets and a $3,800 “self-driving” stroller that only works when the baby isn’t on board!) If you’re curious about all the frivolity anyway — and who can blame you? — you’ll find all of our coverage, serious and irreverent, right here. But for just the good stuff, you’re in the right place. – Dana Wollman, Editor-in-Chief

Best Accessibility Tech: L’Oréal Hapta

Rather than showing up to CES with a viral beauty gadget, L’Oréal debuted an assistive lipstick applicator that will be useful to millions. The cosmetics company worked with utensil maker Verily, which produces stabilizing and leveling cutlery for people with limited hand and arm mobility, to create Hapta. The result is a sturdy grip-and-gimbal system that lets those with limited finger dexterity or strength more independently apply lipstick. Though there are some quirks the company needs to iron out before releasing the Hapta in December, it’s impressive that this is both a finished product and has a relatively affordable suggested retail price of $150 to $200. It’s also a device that caters to an often overlooked segment of consumers, and can be expanded to work with more makeup applications. Of all the accessibility-related products we saw this CES, the Hapta is the most unique, while being actually helpful. — Cherlynn Low, Deputy Editor, Reviews

Best Gaming Product: Sony Project Leonardo

Project Leonardo is Sony’s first piece of gaming hardware designed specifically for people with limited motor control, and it happens to look pretty neat at the same time. Project Leonardo is a controller kit that’ll work out of the box with the PlayStation 5, offering two circular gamepads lined with swappable buttons, third-party accessory ports and other customizable inputs. The controllers lie flat on a table or they can be mounted on a standard tripod, and they can be paired with a DualSense to turn all three devices into a single gamepad, offering plenty of flexibility for players.

To build its new PS5 accessory, Sony partnered with advocacy organizations including AbleGamers and SpecialEffect, just like Microsoft did with the (wildly successful) Xbox Adaptive Controller. Project Leonardo represents another positive step for accessibility tech in video games, a market that’s filled with surprises and primed for growth in 2023. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

Best Health & Fitness Product: Valencell blood pressure monitoring prototype 

Valencell has been making optical heart-rate sensors for years, but at CES 2023 it unveiled a new fingertip monitor that offers “cuffless” blood pressure monitoring. Instead of an unwieldy inflating sleeve, this fingertip clip uses photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors to measure blood flow patterns. This information is combined with algorithms and the user’s age, weight, gender and height to create a blood pressure measurement, without the need for calibration. We might have seen similar technology in earlier stages of development, but Valencell’s technique of combining data makes for the most compelling device yet. Valencell plans to eventually offer the blood pressure monitor to clinics and hospitals, alongside an over-the-counter version for personal use, pending FDA approval. — Mat Smith, UK Bureau Chief

Best Home Theater Tech: LG Signature OLED M3

LG unveiled several new OLED TVs at CES this year, but the standout was the Signature OLED M3, a 97-inch 4K giant. What’s most interesting about the M3, however, isn’t its screen – it’s the tech inside of it. More specifically, the M3 is designed to receive video and audio wirelessly, through a separate box that LG says you can place up to 30 feet away from the TV. Outside of a power cord, the M3 itself is cable-free; instead you plug your media streamers, cable box or game consoles into the breakout box, and all of it is beamed over a wireless link.

The company dubs this wireless transmission tech “Zero Connect” and claims this proprietary standard can provide three times the speed of WiFi 6. Among other connections, the Zero Connect box includes three HDMI ports that can play in 4K at 120Hz, including one eARC port. While it does require line-of-sight to work – there’s a rotatable antenna built into the box – in our brief experience with the set, we found the signal quality remained steady even in a crowded room. If Zero Connect can eventually make its way down to LG’s more reasonably priced TVs, it could provide an exciting new level of versatility. — Jeff Dunn, Senior Commerce Writer

Best Laptop: Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

By axing the traditional, physical keyboard and putting two 13.3-inch OLED screens on the Yoga Book 9i, Lenovo could potentially shake up modern laptop design in a way we haven’t seen since the original Surface Pro a decade ago. And while there are some issues that will need to be ironed out, the potential this new design offers is undeniable. When you prop up the Yoga Book on its kickstand, it becomes much more than a standard clamshell. You can have two screens stacked on top of each other or side-by-side depending on your needs. Meanwhile in standard laptop mode, you have the freedom to choose between a virtual or detachable Bluetooth keyboard – both with customizable widgets, not to mention built-in stylus support. It’s a level of flexibility and adaptability that traditional laptops simply can’t match. And unlike overly ambitious concepts in the past, this dual-screen notebook is actually coming out (sometime this spring for around $2,000) so we can see how it will truly fare in the real world. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Writer

Best Mobile or Tablet Tech: WPC Qi2 charging standard

When Apple added MagSafe charging to the iPhone back in 2020, it created an incredibly simple and convenient way of juicing up its phones. And now, at CES 2023, the WPC (Wireless Power Consortium) has released details on the Qi2 charging standard that will finally bring similar functionality to the rest of the handset market. Not only does the new spec include support for Magnetic Power Profiles which will pave the way for handy charging disks that can snap onto the back of your phone, it will also allow for important features such as foreign object detection and up to 15-watt charging with the potential to raise power output even further in the future. And perhaps most importantly, because Apple is a member of the WPC, Qi2 shouldn’t be a weak MagSafe knock-off when it arrives on retail devices later this year in Q4 2023. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Writer

Best Robot or Drone: KEYi Loona

Historically, robot pets tend to be lacking in the cutesy department. Loona, the futuristic companion from KEYi, with its big puppy dog eyes and wiggling ears has the adorable thing locked down. Loona is smart enough to scurry around your living space without running into walls or off of countertops, but the real magic is in its expressiveness. It’s impressive what you can do with a small display, four wheels and two “ears.”

Beyond her charms, Loona also comes loaded with sensors for responding to your voice, gestures and touch and a collection of games that turn the virtual pet into quite the clever companion. These same sensors also make her a capable home security bot and something of a STEM tool for kids via a graphical programming option to teach Loona new “interactions.”

Put all this together and you have a capable home robot that just happens to love having its ears tickled. What’s not to love about that? — James Trew, Editor-at-Large

Best Smart Home Product: GE Profile Smart Mixer

Baking requires precision and, depending on the recipe, can often feel like a juggling act. So it impressed us to see GE Profile’s Smart Mixer, which has a built-in scale to accurately weigh ingredients, plus voice control so you don’t have to push buttons when your hands are otherwise occupied. The Smart Mixer is a high-end stand mixer in its own right, with a motor that’s speedy enough to whip up emulsions. But it gets its smart home edge from that integrated scale, app connectivity and voice control.

Indeed, the app component will probably be particularly useful for novice bakers, offering over a dozen step-by-step recipes. App guidance for cooking is nothing new, but here, the mixer knows what you’re making and will adjust mixing speeds as needed to ensure nothing is over- or under-worked.

For experienced bakers, the scale, timer and voice control are likely to have greater appeal. Scale and timer readouts appear on the front-facing digital display, which also shows you the mixer’s current speed setting. Changing that setting is as easy as asking Alexa or the Google Assistant to do it for you, provided you have a smart speaker linked. With a starting price of $999, it’s by no means a cheap appliance, but the suite of innovative smart features made this one of the more memorable smart home gadgets we saw at the show this year. — Amy Skorheim, Commerce Writer

Best Transportation Tech: Ram 1500 BEV Concept

The Ram 1500, one of America’s most iconic trucks, is charging into the 21st century with a “revolutionary” battery electric pickup concept. The eponymously named Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept shown off at Stellantis’ CES 2023 keynote packs high tech everything into a sleek and aggressive body design. The BEV concept features dual-motor AWD, four-wheel steering, animated grille emblems, taillights and badging. Additionally, it has an integrated movie projector, AI assistants that respond to voice commands from both inside and outside the vehicle, as well as a Shadow Mode that trains the truck to follow along behind its dismounted driver from a safe distance.

Ram envisions this feature being used on job sites where workers would otherwise have to repeatedly get in and out of the truck between short drives. The BEV Concept itself won’t be entering production — ditto for most concept vehicles — but it will directly inform the design decisions going into the 2024 Ram 1500 EV, which will launch next year alongside Stellantis’ fully electric Jeep. — Andrew Tarantola, Senior Reporter

Best TV Tech: Samsung Micro LED

CES has long been a show where tier-one manufacturers show off the latest and greatest in TV technology, giving us a preview of how normal people will be able to deck out their home theater setups once the tech goes mainstream. This year was no exception, even though Sony surprisingly didn’t show off any new televisions. What felt most significant in 2023 was Samsung’s continued advancements in its MicroLED TVs. The technology first debuted in 2018 with the company’s gigantic 146-inch TV dubbed “The Wall” that cost as much as a house, but now we’re seeing Samsung bring it to 50- and 63-inch TVs that will actually fit in people’s living rooms. Sure, the cost will likely still be prohibitive for all but the wealthy, but hopefully in a few years we’ll see these stunning screens available at a price more households can afford. — Nathan Ingraham, Deputy Editor, News

Best Wearable: German Bionic Apogee

Our favorite wearable this year takes technology beyond the wrist-bound devices we’re used to seeing and puts it on your hips and over your shoulders. German Bionic’s new Apogee exosuit builds upon the company’s Cray X exoskeleton that it showed off at CES last year, resulting in a lighter, smarter wearable. Designed for commercial use, the Apogee exosuit helps workers complete physical tasks without inflicting as much strain on their bodies. The suit can offset up to 66 pounds of load to the lower back per lifting motion, plus it helps reduce fatigue overall with walking assistance.

The Apogee is German Bionic’s lightest exosuit to date and it’s designed to be worn for long periods of time, assisting workers without getting in the way. Plus, the company’s IO architecture constantly collects and analyzes data about workers’ activity while they’re wearing the suit, so it can then provide feedback via the onboard display or audio alerts when unsafe movements are detected. We’re almost disappointed that the Apogee will only be available in warehouses and other commercial settings – various Engadget staffers suffering from chronic back pain are eager to give it a go. — Valentina Palladino, Senior Commerce Editor

Best in Show: Sony Project Leonardo

Project Leonardo is Sony’s first piece of gaming hardware designed specifically for people with disabilities, and it represents another positive step in the world of accessibility tech. Project Leonardo is a controller kit that will be plug-and-play with the PlayStation 5, working in conjunction with existing Sony hardware and popular third-party accessibility accessories. The controller kit includes two circular gamepads lined with swappable buttons, four 3.5mm AUX accessory ports and other customizable inputs. 

The controllers were designed so that they don’t need to be held – instead, they lie flat on a table, or they can be mounted on a tripod or stand. Both controllers can be paired with a DualSense to turn all three devices into a single gamepad, offering plenty of flexibility for players. 

To build its new PS5 accessory, Sony partnered with advocacy organizations including AbleGamers, SpecialEffect and Stack Up, much like Microsoft did with the revolutionary Xbox Adaptive Controller. Though there’s no release date or price for Project Leonardo quite yet, Sony is seizing on an opportunity to expand the PS5 playerbase while making its hardware more inclusive, and we’re likely to hear much more about the controller kit in the coming months. 

The market for accessibility tech in video games is filled with surprises and primed for growth in 2023, and Project Leonardo is at the forefront this year. — Jessica Conditt, Senior Reporter

 

Citizen, the provocative crime-reporting app formerly known as Vigilante, is in the news again for all the wrong reasons. On Thursday evening, it doxxed singer Billie Eilish, publishing her address to thousands of people after an alleged burglary at her home.

Shortly after the break-in, the app notified users of a break-in in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood — including the home’s address. As reported by Vice, Citizen’s message was updated at 9:41 PM to state that the house belonged to Eilish. According to Citizen’s metrics, the alert was sent to 178,000 people and viewed by nearly 78,000. On Friday morning, Citizen updated the app’s description of the incident, replacing the precise address with a nearby cross-street.

Although celebrity home addresses are often publicly available (usually on seedy websites specializing in such invasive nonsense), a popular app pushing the home address of one of pop music’s biggest stars to thousands of users is… new. Unfortunately, it’s also just the latest potentially destructive move from Citizen.

When Citizen launched as Vigilante in 2016, Apple quickly pulled the title from the App Store based on concerns about its encouraging users to thrust themselves into dangerous situations. So it rebranded as Citizen with a new focus on safety, and Apple re-opened its gates. The app began advising users to avoid incidents in progress while providing tools to help those caught in a dangerous situation. Although that sounds reasonable, at least one episode reveals an overzealousness company prioritizing attention and profit over social responsibility.

In May 2021, CEO Andrew Frame ordered the launch of a live stream, encouraging the app’s users to hunt down a suspected wildfire arsonist (based on a tip from an LAPD sergeant and emails from residents questioned by police). He offered a $10,000 bounty for finding the suspect, which grew to $30,000 later in the evening. As the hunt continued, the CEO reportedly grew more frantic, with one of his internal Slack conversations encouraging the team to “get this guy before midnight” in an ecstatic, all-caps message.

A staffer was ignored in a Slack chat when they warned the team about breaking the app’s terms of service, which prohibit “posting of specific information that could identify parties involved in an incident.” When police announced that night that they had made an arrest, the team celebrated, believing their feverish hunt for notability had led to the capture. The only problem? Citizen had the wrong guy. In Frame’s apparent eagerness to legitimize his app’s purpose with a high-profile citizen arrest, he placed a public bounty on a wrongfully accused suspect.

 

A court has blocked a rate hike that would have increased pay for New York City Uber and Lyft drivers. Uber sued the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) in December, claiming it used a flawed methodology to determine the per-minute and per-mile rate increases. Manhattan state court Justice Arthur Engoron agreed. “It’s just not enough to say there’s inflation and 100 drivers said gas prices shot up,” Engoron, a former taxi driver in his college days, said, according to Bloomberg.

In November, the TLC unanimously approved the city’s first metered fare increases in a decade, including for ridesharing trips. Per-minute rates were slated to go up by 7.4 percent and per-mile rates by 24 percent. Under those planned hikes, a trip of 7.5 miles that took 30 minutes would have earned a ridesharing driver at least $27.15, an increase of more than $2.50 compared with current rates.

Uber argued that the rate increases would result in higher fares for customers while harming its reputation. A judge granted a temporary restraining order to pause the rate hikes a few days after Uber filed suit and before they came into effect on December 19th.

“Drivers do critical work and deserve to be paid fairly, but rates should be calculated in a way that is transparent, consistent and predictable,” Uber spokesperson Josh Gold told Bloomberg. “Existing TLC rules continue to provide for an annual review tied to the rate of inflation, which will take place in March.”

The company said implementing the pay raise would cost it between $21 million and $23 million per month. For the July to September quarter, Uber reported a net loss of $1.2 billion.

“We call on the Taxi and Limousine Commission to immediately redo the rules so drivers do not have to wait one day longer for their raise. A few missing words in a Statement of Basis and Purpose does not justify denying a raise meant to help thousands of drivers pay their rent and put food on the table for their families,” Bhairavi Desai, executive director of The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, told Engadget in a statement. “Shame on Uber for spending millions on this heartless lawsuit only to deny drivers an increase of $1.66 more on an average trip. Uber woke a sleeping giant. This raise belongs to the drivers and we will not rest until it’s back in our hands.”

 

Howlin’ Wolf would have hated this motorcycle. It is not built for comfort. It is built to accelerate the human body from a standstill to freeways speeds in less time than it has taken you to read this lede.

This is the $44,900 TS Ultra, the new flagship motorcycle, from venerated electric bike maker Verge. It joins the existing entry level 4.5-second TS (MSRP $26,900) and 3.5 second, $29,000 TS Pro in Verge’s lineup. The TS Ultra features a hubless rear wheel housing a 1200 nm (~885 ft-lb torque) e-motor — larger than both the 1000 nm Pro and 700 nm TS — which delivers 201 horsepower, a 124 MPH top speed and a range 233 miles. 

Not only does the hubless drive wheel look cool, the space and weight savings coming from that design decision allowed Verge to increase the size of its battery and reposition it to lower the bike’s center of gravity. That’s handy when you’re on a single-seater crotch rocket attempting to extract the fillings in your teeth exclusively via acceleration force. Riders will have their choice of five color choices (in both matte and glossy alternates), three seat materials (basic leather, perforated leather and alcantara), and either a Wilbers or Ohlins suspension. 

Preorders are open on the Verge product page and $1000 will reserve you a bike for delivery in Q4, 2023. Availability in the US is currently limited to a dozen or so states, depending on the local regulations regarding EV sales and imports.         

 

There are few things that piss me off more than having a spotty Wi-Fi connection at home, and it seems MSI agrees because the company brought a rather clever router to CES 2023 featuring antennas that dynamically follow specific devices as you walk around your house. 

Dubbed the RadiX BE22000 Turbo, MSI’s top-spec Wi-Fi router is packed with pretty much every feature you can think of (and probably some you haven’t) to ensure you get the fastest wireless speeds possible. That’s because while the standard is still being finalized, not only is the RadiX designed to support Wi-Fi 7 it also includes MSI’s AI QoS tech which can reduce your ping while gaming or prioritize different types of content like streaming video at the touch of a button. And with channel bandwidths of 320MHz, MSI claims the BE22000 delivers 4x faster throughput when compared to a typical Wi-Fi 6 router. 

But clearly, the RadiX’s standout party trick is its antennas, which unlike pretty much every other router out there (aside from TP-Link’s Archer AXE200 Omni), have the ability to automatically adjust their position to follow a specific device as it moves around your home to deliver optimal wireless coverage at all times. And I can tell you, after seeing the router in person, it’s kind of mesmerizing. 

Unfortunately, before anyone gets too excited, it’s important to note that even MSI doesn’t expect the BE22000 Turbo to go on sale until sometime in 2024. That’s because there are a couple important hurdles like waiting for the Wi-Fi spec to be finalized, along with other challenges like ensuring the motors for the router’s antennas can handle months and years of constant operation. Even during the short time the RadiX was on display at CES, I noticed the speed at which its antennas moved became a bit sluggish due to increased heat.

For people who still care about wired internet connections, the RadiX BE22000 Turbo also includes two 10 gigabit Ethernet ports along with four 2.5 gigabit jacks.

On top of that, I still have other questions like how does the router know which device (or devices) to prioritize in a home filled with multiple gadgets. And what’s the repair process like if one of its antenna motors dies? After all, under ideal conditions, routers should be something you can set and forget. And at this point, I’m sure some of you are wondering what kind of person this robo router is really for?

Is the BE22000 Turbo over-designed? Sure. And while MSI hasn’t announced pricing for it either, you can bet this thing won’t be cheap. But you can’t say MSI isn’t trying, and when compared to rival products, a router with automatically adjustable antennas is exactly the type of thing I like to see at CES. 

 

Well CES is officially underway. The floor is open and hordes of PR reps, journalists and eager entrepreneurs are coursing through the arteries of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Of course even before the LVCC opened its doors today there’s been plenty of news coming out of CES 2023.

Sony

Sony held its big press conference Wednesday night, covering everything from high-end cinema cameras and nano satellites, to video game movies and accessible controllers. The company’s Project Leonardo controller will offer a variety of customizable buttons and other hardware in a kit built for those with limited motor ability. Like Microsoft’s Xbox Adaptive controller, Project Leonardo reflects a growing trend in tech, especially in the gaming industry, to better serve those living with disabilities.

The Sony announcement that made the biggest splash though, might have been that the endlessly delayed Gran Turismo movie is coming out in 2023. Personally I’m not a big fan of the Gran Turismo series, or racing games in general, but even I got a bit excited watching the trailer. The camera work in the upcoming Neill Blomkamp film is shaping up to be pretty intense.

And in a weird bit of synergy, Sony also unveiled a car of its own, the newly christened “Afeela” concept which was born out of partnership with Honda. The first Sony Honda Mobility vehicle won’t be ready for the road until 2026 at least.

AMD

AMD also made a splash two CPUs and a GPU. The beefiest of the bunch is definitely the new Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU which packs an insane 144MB of cache using the company’s 3D V-Cache technology and reaches boost speeds of 5.7GHz. The other two AMD announcements focused on the mobile side, including the first RDNA 3 GPUs for laptops and a lineup of performance-focused Ryzen HX CPUs.

Razer

Another company focusing on raw power this CES was Razer which announced two new laptop models – the Blade 16 and Blade 18. They’re loaded to the brim with high-end components like Intel Core-i9 HX chips and NVIDIA’s top-of-the-line RTX 4090 graphics cards.

But personally I think the most interesting feature is the Blade 16’s dual mode screen that can run either 4K at 120Hz and peak brightness of 1,000 nits or full HD plus at 240Hz and 600 nits, depending on whether speed or resolution are more important at that particular moment.

Razer also finally gave us a release date for its Edge cloud gaming handheld which will land on January 26th.

Lenovo

The biggest dump of news, though, probably belongs to Lenovo. It announced two laptops, a giant tablet, an e-ink notepad and even a “Think” branded phone. The ThinkPhone finally brings some of Lenovo’s enterprise expertise to bear on Motorola mobile devices while the Smart Paper tablet syncs handwritten notes with audio recordings, so you can scrub through a lecture and immediately see the notes associated with that moment.

The most unique device, though, is the dual screen YogaBook 9i. Sure, we’ve seen plenty of concept dual-screen machines before, but the 9i isn’t a pipe dream, it’s an actual product that will go on sale later this year. Lenovo will even bundle all the accessories you need to make the most of its form factor, including a foldable stand, a stylus and a bluetooth keyboard.

You can simply use the foldable as is and pull up a virtual keyboard on the bottom screen, or you can attach the physical one to the screen and use the exposed bit of the display either as touchpad or to show widgets. But you could also set it up as basically a portable dual-screen workstation with the displays either side by side or stacked one over the other.

Google

Switching to the world of automobiles, Google was finally ready to put its major overhaul of Android Auto on display and has started rolling it out to users. The new UI has a split screen mode and puts Maps in easier reach at all times.

And speaking of Maps, Google debuted a new HD version that will be coming to the Polestar 3. These higher-resolution maps will be useful for Pilot Assist, but might prove essential for future self-driving features. Unfortunately, no word on when or if the HD Maps will be coming to other vehicles.

Stellantis

Last, but not least, Stellantis revealed its Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept truck. In the grand tradition of truly outlandish concept vehicles showing up at CES the Revolution BEV has an augmented reality heads up display, a collapsable steering wheel, some sort of 3D animated avatar that the driver can interact with and will even follow you around like some sort of sad puppy dog if you want.

On the more practical side it also sports four wheel steering and an 800 volt architecture that would allow it to get up to 100 miles of charge in just 10 minutes. Of course, you’ll never actually be able to buy the Ram 1500 Revolution BEV Concept. But there is supposedly a Ram 1500 BEV coming in 2024 that will be loosely based on this.

And don’t worry, there’s still plenty more to come from CES – We’ve only just begun scouring the floor for hidden gems. So for all the details on anything you might have missed, check out our comprehensive coverage on Engadget.com or our YouTube channel. And stay tuned more from CES 2023.

 

Russian hackers have reportedly targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the US. A group called Cold River carried out a phishing campaign against scientists at the Brookhaven, Argonne and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories last summer in an attempt to obtain passwords, Reuters reports.

The efforts are believed to have taken place in August and September, around the time UN experts visited a nuclear power plant in Russia-controlled Ukrainian territory to help prevent a potential disaster following heavy shelling in the area. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin has alluded to a readiness to defend Russia-claimed territory with nuclear weapons.

It’s not clear whether the phishing attempts were successful or why the hackers were trying to gain access to the labs’ systems. However, Adam Meyers, senior vice president of intelligence at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, told Reuters that Cold River is “involved in directly supporting Kremlin information operations.”

Last year, the group leaked emails from the former chief of MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service. Cold River is also said to have targeted non-government organizations investigating war crimes. It reportedly conducted such a campaign around the time a UN commission said that Russian forces were responsible for war crimes and human rights violations in the early days of the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Late last year, Meta expanded the limits of consumer mixed reality when it released the Quest Pro. And now at CES 2023, HTC is hitting back with its own take on a flagship headset with the Vive XR Elite.

Right away, the XR Elite matches a number of the Quest Pro’s highlight specs including support for 2K resolution (1920 x 1920) to each eye, a 90Hz refresh rate and full standalone operation. However, weighing 625 grams (versus 722 for the Quest Pro) and with a more comfortable headband, the XR Elite does an even better job of delivering a breezy portable VR/AR experience. Heck, HTC included the ability to remove its battery and stuff the lens inside a relatively compact canister for traveling. That said you’ll still have to find room in a bag or somewhere else to stash its power pack.

But it was only after I got a chance to test HTC’s headset across a number of demos that I really started to appreciate how much has been packed inside such a small package. Like the Quest Pro, the XR Elite features built-in hand-tracking, so you can easily and intuitively use gesture controls in games. And with support for full-color passthrough, you don’t feel like you’re isolated in the lonely void of VR.

Also, despite HTC opting for a slightly older Qualcomm XR2 chip (compared to the XR2+ chip in the Quest Pro) I was able to play games like Hubris (which originally launched on PSVR) without the need for help from a computer. Thankfully, you still have the option of tethering to a desktop when you want to run PC-based games or pairing with your phone to watch videos.

Granted, the XR Elite’s controllers still have a ring around the top, which makes them a bit more unwieldy than Meta’s Touch Pro gamepads. But that’s a trade-off I can live with. The two major drawbacks of the XR Elite compared to the Quest Pro is its lack of sophisticated eye and face-tracking, though HTC says it’s working on modules that should address those shortcomings.

Unfortunately, despite its high points, the XR Elite also shares a lot of the same flaws as the Quest Pro. Sure, starting at $1,099, it’s a bit cheaper than Meta’s $1,500 rival. But that’s still prohibitively expensive for anyone that’s not a bleeding edge enthusiast. But the bigger issue is that with all these new features, it still feels like there’s a lack of content that can take advantage of the headset’s capabilities. Most of the games I played were demos meant to showcase specific features instead of full-fledged experiences.

There are some annoying quirks too. While I found the XR Elite more comfortable than the Quest Pro, I had a harder time dialing in my IPD (interpupillary distance) and getting the optics as tack sharp as Meta’s headset. On top of that, as a side effect to HTC’s quest for streamlined portability, there’s so little space between the XR Elite’s lenses and your eyes, there isn’t enough room for people to keep their glasses on while using it. HTC tried to combat this by including diopters that can account for certain levels of nearsightedness, but those settings only go down to -6. So while I don’t wear glasses myself, the headset is a much harder sell for those who do.

Ultimately, this means that as impressive as HTC’s smaller and more portable MR headset is on a technical level, it still doesn’t do enough to convert metaverse skeptics into willing users, or at least not yet. But just like the Quest Pro, in a way, HTC had to build the Vive XR Elite for that future to even have a chance of becoming reality, both now and long after the headset goes on sale sometime in late February.