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A new hands-on video was posted today of the alleged Google Pixel 7a. The 49-second clip shows a device that reflects previous leaks and rumors about Google’s next mid-ranged Pixel.

The device in question, posted on Slashleaks (first spotted by 9to5Google), looks similar to the Pixel 6a and Google’s 2022 flagships. The device name in Android 13 settings says “Pixel 7a,” and the handset runs internal pre-release (“design validation test”) software. The phone’s language is also set to Vietnamese, where Google manufactures its A-series phones. 

The phone in question has a “Smooth Display” that can adjust its refresh rate from 60Hz to 90Hz — which would be a first in the A-series line. (The Pixel 6a’s 60Hz display is one of its most griped-about features.) Previous leaks suggested that the upcoming model uses a Samsung display and an upgraded primary camera sensor from Sony. Although today’s video leak doesn’t address it, previous rumors suggest the 7a will be the first A-series Pixel with wireless charging.

If history is any indication, Google will announce the new phone at Google I/O 2023 in May. Other rumors include 10.1mm depth, a SIM tray on its left side (suggesting Google won’t follow Apple in going all-in on eSim this year) and no headphone jack.

 

ASUS is refreshing its gaming laptops with HDR Mini LED displays, better cooling and updated processors and graphics. However, since the company hasn’t yet announced pricing, it’s harder to discern the latest models’ value.

The Nebula display is found in more models than ever this year. That company branding denotes screens with high frame rates (120Hz for 4K and QHD screens and 240Hz or higher for 1080p), bright backlights and vivid colors. Meanwhile, the new Nebula HDR variant is like an ultra-premium version highlighting Mini LED panels. For example, the Nebula HDR display in the Strix SCAR 16 is a Mini LED with 1,024 dimming zones (double last year’s model) and a 240Hz refresh rate. Although we don’t yet know the pricing, it’s a safe bet those models will fetch top dollar.

The new laptops, which launch in Q2, also have updated 13th-gen Intel or AMD Ryzen Zen 4 processors, depending on your configuration. NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 40 Series Laptop GPUs power the graphics in maxed-out variants of the new machines.

ASUS added “intelligent cooling” to several new models, including the Zephyrus M16 and Strix models in 16-inch and 18-inch variants. The company accomplished this using a full-width heatsink spanning the device’s rear. ASUS also added a third cooling fan to more models. (It was first seen in the Flow X16 from 2022.) That extra fan improves airflow to the GPU and other internal hardware.

The Strix SCAR line, which ASUS calls the “performance flagships,” have bigger 16- and 18-inch screens than their 15- and 17-inch predecessors (including Nebula HDR in the most expensive tiers). In addition, ASUS says this year’s cooling improvements let these models push higher frame rates. Meanwhile, the Strix G16 and G18 are slightly less high-end (likely cheaper) equivalents to the Strix 16 and 18 with the same CPU and GPU options.

ASUS is also updating its light-and-thin Zephyrus line. The ROG Zephyrus M16 has a Nebula HDR display. Like several other models, top-shelf models include a MUX Switch and NVIDIA Advanced Optimus. They bypass the machine’s integrated graphics, using discrete graphics almost instantaneously. The full-width heatsink and tri-fan tech also let it run 25 watts higher than the 2022 version.


Meanwhile, the Zephyrus G16 has the same processor and graphics options with a QHD Nebula display that supports 240Hz. Its smaller sibling, the Zephyrus G14, gets a Nebula HDR panel with 504 dimming zones and 600 nits of peak brightness.

ASUS’ Duo 16 is the latest iteration of its quirky, dual-screen laptop line. Like the 2022 model, the updated version has a 16-inch Mini LED panel as its main screen with a smaller 4K display below for multitasking. It also joins other models in offering the new NVIDIA graphics and MUX Switch in the highest-end models.

The company also updated the ROG Flow, its 2-in-1 tablet PCs for gamers. The Flow X13, which has a 360-degree rotating hinge, has a 13-inch Nebula display supporting a 165Hz refresh rate. Additionally, ASUS redesigned its chassis, making it 10mm smaller and increasing its battery capacity (from 62 to 75 Wh) while maintaining the same keyboard layout. The company also made its touchpad bigger and redesigned the 2-in-1 hinge with better ventilation and an easier grip.

The X13’s larger companion, the Flow X16, has an HDR Mini LED touchscreen with a 240Hz refresh rate and 1,100 nits peak brightness. In addition, all ASUS’ 2023 Flow devices use Corning’s Gorilla Glass DXC, which can increase hardness by 40 percent and reduce glare. Meanwhile, the Flow Z13, a detachable that’s like a Microsoft Surface for gamers, is updated with the new Intel and NVIDIA components and a QHD Nebula display with a 165Hz refresh rate.

 

We often see a bunch of healthcare-oriented gadgets coming out of CES, but Vivoo’s latest offering isn’t exactly a fitness tracker. The company has unveiled a smart toilet device that can test your urine and send the results to your phone.

The tech is built into a device that can clip onto existing toilets. Vivoo, which has offered at-home urine tests for the last few years, designed the system with residential care, the elderly and healthcare service providers in mind. It could give those who simply want to know more about what’s going on with their body some additional data. 

The device will automatically align a testing strip with a person’s urine stream, according to Vivoo, which says this approach should reduce the risk of mess involved with a handheld strip. An optical reader akin to those used in hospitals analyzes the urine sample for four wellness parameters and delivers the results to the Vivoo app within 90 seconds. The company suggests that the results can offer “indications of certain deficiencies or abnormalities” and help with early detection of some conditions.

Vivoo says its app can provide data on your body’s water, magnesium, pH, protein and sodium levels, among others, though disclaimers on its website say these measurements are not intended for medical use. It offers nutrition advice based on the results and Vivoo may suggest personalized supplements.

The company claims it’s easy to clean the smart toilet device. It adds that the system has an ergonomic design. However, based on images Vivoo provided, the device is positioned at the front of the toilet seat and it looks fairly cumbersome. Folks who need to sit to pee may find it difficult to position their legs around it, such as the elderly and those with mobility issues.

 

Quality assurance workers at ZeniMax Studios have voted in favor of forming a union with Communications Workers of America — and ZeniMax’s parent company, Microsoft, didn’t stand in the way. Microsoft formally recognized ZeniMax Workers United/CWA alongside today’s vote results, making this the largest union in the video game industry and the first US union at Microsoft overall.

About 300 ZeniMax staff members were involved in the unionization effort, which was brewing for months before going public in early December. This was around the time QA testers at another major video game studio, Blizzard Albany, voted to unionize with CWA. The Blizzard Albany union is the second at parent company Activision Blizzard, after QA staff at Raven Software voted to organize in May 2022.

The employees behind ZeniMax Workers United/CWA argue that the union will help put an end to sudden periods of crunch, make pay more equitable, and improve communication with management, among other workplace benefits. ZeniMax Studios specializes in online experiences and is responsible for Elder Scrolls Online. The studio was absorbed by Microsoft in March 2021 as part of the broader ZeniMax Media acquisition, a $7.5 billion deal that brought Bethesda and other prominent development houses under the Xbox banner.

Microsoft is currently attempting to acquire — emphasis on attempting — Activision Blizzard, which would tie all of these unionization campaigns together. Activision Blizzard has actively tried to quell organization efforts, while Microsoft in June said it would respect all unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard. The ZeniMax vote was the first big test of Microsoft’s neutrality when facing internal unionization.

 

If you were hoping to spend your lunch break watching your favorite streamer play, you might be forced to change your plans. Twitch is currently experiencing an issue that is preventing parts of the platform, including channels and streams, from loading properly. According to Downdetector, the outage began around 1PM ET. Since then, the website has logged more than 21,000 complaints that the streaming platform isn’t working properly. 

At 1:24PM ET, Twitch acknowledged the outage. “We are investigating an issue preventing multiple areas of Twitch from loading,” the platform’s official support account said on Twitter. Less than an hour later, Twitch said it was working to deploy a fix. 

It’s unclear what started causing the issues, but one member of the Engadget team noticed they could continue watching a stream as long as they didn’t refresh their browser window. Some Twitch streamers took to Discord so members of their chat could still talk with one another. We’ll update this article once Twitch provides more information.      

 

If the RTX 4080’s $1,199 price point has stopped you from jumping on NVIDIA’s Ada Lovelace architecture, you can now access the power of one of the most powerful GPUs on the market through the company’s cloud gaming service. Alongside the RTX 4070 Ti (neé RTX 4080), NVIDIA is introducing a new GeForce Now tier. Set to replace the platform’s existing RTX 3080 plan, the new Ultimate tier grants access to servers with RTX 4080 GPUs.

You can expect a few upgrades thanks to the switch. To start, you can play games at up to 240 frames per second, with full support for hardware-based ray tracing and NVIDIA’s recently announced DLSS 3 frame generation technology. Provided you own a G Sync monitor and you’re playing a game that supports the company’s Reflex Low Latency Mode, you can also take advantage of GeForce Now’s new frame pacing technology. According to NVIDIA, the tech significantly reduces input lag over the cloud. We’ve reached out to NVIDIA to find out if those with G-Sync Compatible monitors can take advantage of the feature. NVIDIA is also adding support for ultrawide resolutions, and those with 4K displays can now play games at up to 120 frames per second.

If you’re already an RTX 3080 member, NVIDIA will automatically upgrade your account to the new tier at no additional cost. The company says RTX 4080 servers will start coming online later this month in North America and Europe, with availability in other regions to follow over the next few months. Pricing will remain at $20 per month or $100 for six months, as was the case with the past RTX 3080 plan. NVIDIA will also continue to offer $10 per month Priority memberships.

 

LG has new Gram laptops at CES 2023. The latest entrants in the company’s ultra-portable line include the “thinnest Gram model yet” and a glass laptop with a “hidden” LED-lit trackpad.

With a depth of 10.99 mm, LG says the new Gram Ultraslim is the company’s thinnest notebook. The device weighs a mere 998 g (about nine percent lighter than the model it’s replacing) and has a 15.6-inch OLED display with 1080p resolution. Of course, it gets a processor bump with 13th-gen Intel Raptor Lake chips.

The Gram Style is a new variant for this year with a glass design. Shipping in 16- and 14-inch variants, the Style has anti-glare OLED screens: 3,200 x 2,000 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate in the 16-inch model and a 2,880 x 1,800 OLED with 90Hz for the 14-inch variant. LG says the Style has a “hidden touchpad” with LED backlighting that illuminates when you touch it. Along with 13th-gen Intel Raptor Lake chips, the new machines include Gen4 NVMeTM solid-state drive in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB tiers.

LG has new variants of the standard Gram laptop line in 17-, 16-, 15- and 14-inch variants. These models have IPS displays, updated Raptor Lake Intel chips and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop graphics. LG is also updating its Gram 2-in-1 line with 360-degree rotating hinges. These updated models ships with 14- or 16-inch touchscreen IPS displays at 2,560 x 1,600 (16-inch) or 1,920 x 1,200 (14-inch) resolution. Additionally, they include pre-installed note-taking and drawing apps designed for the bundled LG Stylus Pen.

All new Gram laptops this year include Dolby Atmos audio for the first time, and LG touts the “ultra-compact” power adapter shipping with all new Gram models. In addition, their displays all have anti-glare coatings and support the LG Glance privacy tool. Unfortunately, we’ve run into build-quality issues with past Grams, so hopefully, the new models will fare better.

LG hasn’t yet announced pricing for the new laptops. They will launch globally starting in February. The company says it will announce US pricing and availability later.

 

Google launched support for the new Matter standard for Nest and Android devices on December 15th, and Google’s Nest WiFi Pro routers were built to act as Matter controllers or hubs — in addition to providing access to the potentially faster and less congested 6E WiFi band. The routers have just hit their lowest price ever, with single routers and multi packs getting a 20 percent discount at Amazon. That makes one unit $160, down from $200, and the two- and three-packs down to $239 and $320, respectively. Note that the multi-unit packs are only available in white at the moment — if you want multiples of the other colors, you’ll need to add single units to your cart. 

Nest WiFi Pro routers offer tri-band connectivity, providing access to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency WiFi bands, which the majority of existing devices run on, along with the newly available 6 GHz band. Smartphones and other devices that are WiFi 6E-compatible can take advantage of connections up to twice as fast as standard WiFi. A single Nest WiFi Pro unit will cover WiFi connections for up to 2,200 square feet. With three routers, that coverage extends to 6,600 square feet, and will also give you a mesh connection, which is best for both larger homes and homes with physical interference such as thick walls or multiple floors. 

With an eye on appearance, Google gave these new routers a rounded design and glossy shell, which happens to be composed of 60 percent recycled materials. The look was “inspired by ceramics” and is meant to blend with a home’s decor. 

As a Matter hub, Nest WiFi Pro routers are enabled to connect all Matter-enabled devices so they work together harmoniously. A common frustration with smart home devices has been the inability of devices from different brands to work together. Created by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, a group that brought together Apple, Google, Amazon, Samsung and many other companies in the smart home market, Matter is a universal standard that aims to solve that frustration by letting devices work together more seamlessly. It’ll also allow new smart home devices you bring home to be easier to connect in the first place. Not every device is Matter-enabled, but the new standard will likely apply to most smart home products going forward.  

Of course, if you’re only in the market for something that will act as a Matter hub, you may already have what you need. When Google flipped the switch on Matter back in December, automatic updates turned many existing Google Home speakers and hubs into controllers for Matter. The iOS 16.1 update gave Matter support to iPhones and HomePods, and Amazon enabled Matter control on many newer Alexa devices shortly after Google did so.   

In addition to acting as a smart home hub, the Nest WiFi Pro routers also have built-in Thread network support, allowing connections to even more devices that run on that low-power wireless network. And if Google is your preferred smart home interface, you should be able to control everything through the Google Home app. 

Now that Google’s newest routers are cheaper than ever, this might be a good time to invest in the latest in WiFi connectivity that supports both Matter and Thread control.  

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You’ll soon have access to a host of PC games in your car without buying a Tesla. NVIDIA has announced that it’s bringing GeForce Now game streaming to cars using the company’s Drive platform. The rollout will offer access to titles like Cyberpunk 2077 on a driver display while you’re charging or parked, or any time from the backseat. That could be more than a little helpful on a vacation, especially if you’d rather not buy a Steam Deck or Switch for a budding young gamer.

The cloud gaming option already has initial support from major brands like the Hyundai group (including Genesis and Kia), Polestar and China’s BYD. NVIDIA didn’t offer a timeframe for GeForce Now access, although it noted that BYD would offer Drive Hyperion-powered cars in the first half of 2023. The Polestar 3 SUV (built using Drive Orin) arrives in late 2023.

The in-car GeForce Now client works on either Android or web-based infotainment systems. NVIDIA’s service provides a catalog of 1,500 games, over 1,000 of which are playable using gamepads. While most of the selection is paid, there are free-to-play options like Destiny 2 and Fortnite.

As with other game streaming services, this could get costly if you plan to use it often. While basic GeForce Now use is free, you can pay up to $200 per year for the full experience before you factor in the cost of the games themselves. In some cases, though, this might make more sense than buying a handheld console or tablet. You only need to pay for a higher-end plan when you expect to use it, after all — you could subscribe during a road trip and stick to free usage when you’re commuting around town.

 

It didn’t take long for NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 40 graphics to reach portable PCs. The company has introduced RTX 40 GPUs for laptops that promise large leaps in performance, even in lower-end systems. The flagship RTX 4080 and 4090 GPUs are reportedly powerful enough to play games across three 4K monitors at 60 frames per second — you might not need a desktop to immerse yourself in a flight or racing sim.

Even the mainstream GeForce RTX 4050, 4060 and 4070 chips are billed as faster than the outgoing RTX 3080. They’re quick enough to deliver 1440p gaming at up to 80FPS, and are supposedly up to twice as fast as a PlayStation 5. They also make it more practical to handle pro tasks like 3D modelling and AI-based media editing on 14-inch laptops, according to NVIDIA.

The RTX 40 architecture is notoriously power-hungry on desktops, but NVIDIA claims it’s keeping energy efficiency in check with the laptop variants. DLSS 3 AI upscaling is now optimized for mobile use, while finer-grained “tri-speed” memory control lets the GPU drop to lower-power RAM states. On-chip memory tweaks(such as doubled bandwidth) and low-voltage GDDR6 RAM also help wring the most out of the video hardware.

You’ll have to wait a little while to buy a laptop with GeForce RTX 40 tech. The first RTX 4080 and 4090 models will be available February 8th at a starting price of $1,999. If you want an RTX 4050 machine, you can buy them beginning February 22nd with an entry price of $999. NVIDIA didn’t provide a full list of laptops, but you can expect adoption from well-known brands like Acer, Alienware, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Razer and Samsung. It’s too soon to say if the GPUs live up to NVIDIA’s billing, but they’ll be welcome updates if you were already eying RTX 30-based computers.