The Verge | The VergeThe Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.2025-06-10T16:05:20+00:00https://www.theverge.com/authors/the-verge/rsshttps://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/verge-rss-large_80b47e.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1The Verge<![CDATA[The Verge staff on the Switch 2: what we love and what we don’t]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=6820752025-06-10T12:05:20-04:002025-06-10T08:00:00-04:00
The Nintendo Switch 2 is finally, officially out, and Verge staffers have spent a bunch of time playing with it. The new console has a lot of improvements, like a bigger screen and an extra USB-C port. There’s a bunch of games to play, too, including a new Mario Kart and nice updates to older games.
Here’s our impressions of our first few days with the Switch 2. Our full review is coming soon.
Bigger screen
I wish the Switch 2 had an OLED screen, particularly considering the price, but this 7.9-inch, 1080p 120Hz panel absolutely makes my original 6.2-inch Switch seem like a bargain basement tablet by comparison. It’s so much more real estate, it’s crisper and clearer, navigating the UI feels smoother thanks to the high refresh rate, and I no longer feel like my field of vision is getting squeezed by loads of ugly bezel.
But the Switch OLED already solved a few of those issues. And while reasonably bright, the Switch 2’s screen can’t compare to the Steam Deck OLED’s amazingly bright and colorful HDR panel. —Sean Hollister, senior editor
I’m glad some great games are finally able to escape the shackles of the original Switch and really shine, but it also highlights just how overdue the Switch 2’s improvements really are. —Kallie Plagge, senior copy editor
Only one color option?
Speaking as a man with a bona fide Joy-Con collecting problem — I racked up six pairs for the Switch because I like all the colors and am bad at managing my money — it was bittersweet news that the Switch 2 only comes in black with tiny red and blue accents. It saved me from spending even more at launch, but that’s only delaying the inevitable.
Does it mean future Joy-Con designs will be similarly understated, with pops of color below the control sticks? Will we have to live with the knowledge that future colored controllers won’t match the hidden accents on the console itself? Most importantly, will I be able to curb my collection compulsion this time around? —Dominic Preston, news editor
It’s so much faster
I would like to apologize to a bunch of game developers, because I’ve spent the last several years cursing them for interminable loading times, unnecessarily complicated menus that take a second to register every button press, and a lot of overall slowness. All of which turned out to be the Switch’s fault.
I have been shocked at how much zippier the Switch 2 feels in almost every way. Games load faster, menus render more quickly, old games play like new again. The overall speed of the device is, in my time with it so far, a bigger upgrade than just about anything else about the Switch 2. —David Pierce, editor at large
The extra USB-C port
To my surprise, my favorite change for the Switch 2 so far is the extra USB-C port on the top of the console. Maybe that’s just because of the way I work: my desk is usually an overflowing pile of various gadgets and cables, so I like having the extra port on top for charging or plugging in a webcam for some Mario Kart (which I’m definitely only testing for work, pinky promise). —Jay Peters, news editor
Ergonomics
The original Switch wasn’t comfortable to hold for an extended time, and I thought the Switch 2’s larger size could remedy that. But to me, the Switch 2 might actually be worse.
The slightly bigger Joy-Con 2 controllers give you a little more to wrap your fingers around in handheld mode, but they’re not contoured like larger third-party gamepads or chunkier PC handhelds. The hard edge along the bottom of the Joy-Con 2 controllers digs into my palms when I’m leaning back on the couch. I felt noticeable discomfort after playing Mario Kart World in this position for less than an hour. By the end of my two-hour session, it was unbearable.
Maybe my soft hands just aren’t burly enough. (After all, I’m on the record complaining about uncomfortable cameras.) But I think the move from the original Switch Joy-Cons’ rounded borders to the Switch 2’s hard edge is a small downgrade I’ll have to work around. —Antonio G. Di Benedetto, reviewer
The mystique is gone
There was so much hype ahead of the Switch 2’s launch (even before its announcement) that it’s impossible for a device to live up to it all. And yet, after a weekend with the Switch 2, it’s great, though I’m surprised that all of my personal feelings of mystique surrounding it are gone. What it can or can’t do is no longer a mystery, even if figuring out which webcams will work remains one.
I agree with my colleague Andrew Webster who said in his in-progress testing that it’s “a pleasant upgrade, as opposed to a next-gen shift.” However, I’m disappointed that the mystique didn’t stick around a little longer, like it did with the Steam Deck. Turns out, when a handheld doubles as a Linux PC, the possibilities feel limitless.
The same can’t be said for the Switch 2. It’s a better Switch, but conceptually, it’s the same formula. I’m still getting used to that. —Cameron Faulkner, commerce editor
Update, June 10th: Added David’s entry.
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The Verge<![CDATA[We went to 10 anti-Tesla protests — and a couple counter protests, too]]>https://www.theverge.com/?p=6391832025-03-30T20:00:04-04:002025-03-29T23:17:44-04:00
A Tesla Cybertruck drives past protestors during a Tesla Takedown, a nationwide peaceful protest movement, at a Tesla Showroom in the Coral Gables neighborhood on Saturday, March 29, 2025 in Miami. | Photo by Eva Marie Uzcategui / The Verge
Thousands of anti-Tesla protesters took to the streets Saturday March 29th in opposition to Elon Musk and his efforts with DOGE to eliminate humanitarian aid, close federal agencies, and fire government workers. It was the culmination of nearly two months of steady, almost daily demonstrations aimed at hurting Tesla’s sales — and ultimately Musk himself. Today was billed as a “Global Day of Action” with protests targeting hundreds of Tesla locations in the US, Canada, and Europe.
The Verge wanted to check the temperature and see how these protesters were thinking about this current moment, and whether they felt their boycott was having its desired effect. Tesla sales have slid significantly since the protests started, and its stock has shed a lot of its value. But Musk shows no signs of being deterred, as he ramps up his threats to sic the government on anti-Tesla forces.
So we fanned out across the globe, from London to New York to Washington, DC to Los Angeles — and Paramus, NJ and Akron, Ohio too — to observe the movement as it enters it third month and talk to the people who opted to spend a good chunk of a Saturday afternoon waving signs and shouting about Musk and Tesla. We even saw several counter protesters who came out to support Musk — and Tesla.
Here’s what we saw:
London:
London’s Tesla Takedown protest was a small affair, with 50-odd protestors, one dinosaur, and an inflatable Elon making that salute all perched outside a Tesla showroom in Park Royal, a neighborhood otherwise dominated by big box retailers, self-storage units, and ghost kitchens. But it’s come a long way since its humble beginnings six weeks ago, when it was just two protestors getting “kicked out of the Westfield shopping mall by security,” according to organizer John Gorenfeld.
Gorenfeld is a Californian, but this protest was English to a fault: polite, peaceful, and a little quiet. There was no police presence, and nor was one needed; even a Tesla pulling in didn’t attract much ire from the crowd. Fortunately, passing drivers were there to provide the noise — a “Honk If You Hate Elon” sign was answered by a chorus of cars, trucks, and at least one city bus. Londoners may not have come out in force, but it’s pretty clear where the city’s sympathies lie.
— Dominic Preston
Washington, DC:
On a busy shopping street in Georgetown, DC, protesters are dancing outside a Tesla showroom to everything from “Hot to go,” to “Under Pressure,” to the viral TikTok hostile takeover song. They’re wearing a mix of shiny boas, boat captain hats, and floral shirts. The loosely boat-themed dance party has been attracting a steady stream of honks from passing cars, and many pedestrians are stopping to gleefully take pictures. “Nazi cars sold here,” says one sign, “Porsche = fast, Ferrari = faster, Tesla = fascist,” says another.
“Part of how fascism operates is they want people to be fearful,” says Sara Steffens, part of a team that calls themselves Dance Against DOGE. Steffens dons a floral outfit and a captain’s hat that she says symbolizes how the people are in charge of their destiny, rather than Trump and Musk. “Bullies operate on fear and they want us to be afraid of them … so this is like a full force showing.”
The mix of attendees appears to span many ages, and one of the groups rallying older generations to get involved is Third Act. Mark, an attendee affiliated with Third Act who declined to give his last name, said it was important to be at the protest “as someone with two grandchildren, trying to do something so that they can grow up in a place that’s safe.”
— Lauren Feiner
Miami, Florida:
Paramus, New Jersey:
Cruise down Route 17 in north New Jersey and you’ll see a ton of car dealerships. But for the past few weeks, none have seen quite as much action as the Tesla dealership near Paramus. Each weekend, protestors of all ages have been holding up signs at the side of the highway, encouraging drivers to sell their Teslas, dump their stock, and honk against fascism. Today, the vibe is a little different.
The pro-Trumpers are here too — and the lines are clearly drawn.
“Last week, it was just us here,” says Ethan, a protester wearing a Super Mario Bros. Luigi cap and holding a sign that reads “Cyberfucked.” “Now all these Trump guys are here, walking around, doing whatever they want.”
Ethan, who declined to give his last name, says he’s been hassled by the Trump and Musk supporters. They’ve called him slurs, thrown water at him, and tried to grab his sign before a fellow protestor calmed the situation down. He says one Trump supporter told him his Luigi hat was offensive to Italian Americans. When I ask Ethan why he’s here today, he says “Because I fucking hate Elon Musk.” Then after a bit of thought, he adds, “We’re kind of screwed. It might not be much, but I want to at least say something and be heard by someone.”
On the other side, the Trump camp isn’t as concerned about holding up signs. They’re more milling about, grouping off into mini clusters. (They do, however, have many signs that read “Thank you Elon” and “Trump won.”) When I ask to speak to the organizer, I’m directed to John Tabacco — who wears a light blue blazer with prints of President Trump’s face.
“We need to show that there is support for what Elon Musk and DOGE is doing,” Tabacco says. He also takes issue when I characterize the pro-Trump crowd as a counterprotest. “This is a rally for us. A support rally for Trump, DOGE, and America-first policies. And I think those people,” he says, pointing to the anti-Tesla group, “Those people showed up today as counter-protesters.”
– Victoria Song
Los Angeles, California:
Akron, Ohio:
Tesla service center here is closed on weekends. It’s just off Route 18, at an intersection that services a shopping center with a Home Depot, Chick-fil-A, a local bar chain called The Winking Lizard, and more. The turnout is surprising, about 40-50 people (and two very good dogs) are lined up on both sides of the street waving signs and ringing cowbells. There’s a man with a bullhorn rousing the crowd with slogans, “When immigrants are under attack, what do we do?” he yells. “Fight back!” The crowd responds.
There’s a variety of people here, including a lot more gray and white hair folks using scooters and wheelchairs. A woman in a high-visibility vest said she and a lot of the older people here came on behalf of Third Act Ohio, an activist group for folks over 60. It’s hard to hear her as people continuously drive by, honking their horns in support.
— Ashley Parrish
Austin, Texas:
Walnut Creek, California:
Arriving 20 minutes before the event, it was quiet, even though organizers were expecting the crowd to be large, with last week’s attendance estimated around 1,300. They were right. Within ten minutes the plaza was full of attendees with a diversity of signage ranging from “Deport Elon Musk”, “Stop the Attack on Democracy”, “Hands off our Social Security” plus many others.
Even though the crowd is large, organizers emphasize their message over the speakers; this is a peaceful non-violent protest. This is similar to what one of the organizers told me as well, “Despite what the administration is saying, we’re not domestic terrorists, we are absolutely peaceful, nonviolent, we provide guidance and say no harassment of the Tesla showroom. We just want to make our voices heard.”
Alice Grimm said this is about bringing down the power of the billionaire. “From Elon Musk’s perspective, any dollar that doesn’t go to him is wasted and efficiency is whatever fills his pocket. And so Tesla, where most of his wealth is, if what he cares about is that element, then trying to drive down the stock price of Tesla, that attacks Elon’s power.”
— Victoria Barrios
Long Beach and Lakewood, California:
“I was on my way to another anti-Elon protest,” a woman named Nati said, while holding two signs at a Supercharger location in Lakewood. “I had to stop here when I saw everyone out.”
As Tesla owners pulled in and out, around 100 people stood on the sidewalk protesting. Most Tesla owners remained in their cars or went into nearby stores, largely avoiding the large crowd chanting, “This is what Democracy looks like,” and waving at passing cars that honked in support.
A man who asked to be identified as Sam set up a folding table and sold anti-Musk and Trump goods to passersby, though most at the Supercharger had brought their own homemade signs and wore shirts with “Gulf of Mexico,” and “Biden Harris,” emblazoned on them.
“I was on my way to another anti-Elon protest. I had to stop here when I saw everyone out.”
At a Tesla dealership a few miles away, in Long Beach, around 250 people lined the sidewalks on both sides of a busy four-lane road near a Home Depot and Costco that is packed on the weekends. As drivers drove past, people honked, cheered, and pumped their fists out their car windows, showing support.
The protests in Long Beach were peaceful, with protestors remaining on public property, cheering as people honked in support, but a tiny number of Trump and Musk supporters did show up to troll the crowds.
At the Supercharger location, a family decided to engage the protesters, yelling that they were “stupid. ” Their young daughter, who looked to be around ten years old, screamed profanities at the protesters. A pair of police SUVs were parked across the street, keeping an eye on things, and one lone Musk supporter lingered nearby holding a sign thanking Musk.
An anti-Tesla protester who asked not to be identified said that she’d been at another protest in Long Beach in late February when a truck driver rolled down his window and tried to pepper spray the protesters. No one was hurt, but the woman said that it did concern her. “You just don’t know how people are going to respond to exercising your right to free speech,” she said.
— Abigail Bassett
New York City, New York:
Hundreds of protesters marched and chanted in front of a Tesla showroom in the Meatpacking District in New York City. The mood was lively and enthusiastic as protesters waved signs, danced in flaming cardboard Cybertruck costumes, and smashed toy cars on the sidewalk with a hammer. A moment of silence was held for a large portion of the crowd to lay down on the street with cardboard signs shaped like gravestones to stage a “die in” in front of the Tesla showroom.
The protest was peaceful but there were two separate instances where protesters started shouting out for others not to engage with two men holding out microphones and asking questions. In the second instance of this, police that were surrounding the building came over to prevent one of these interviewers from engaging with the protesters. The man being escorted out of the crowd still held a microphone, walked backwards smiling and said “crackhead, come here” gesturing towards one of the protesters for an interview.
Slogans on signs varied in intensity. One sign depicted Elon Musk dressed as Emperor Palpatine that read, “Strike down Darth Ketamine, Congress must!!!” Another banner held by a group of three protesters read, “Burn A Tesla Save Democracy.”
Aside from some raised voices, there weren’t any violent altercations. The turnout at this protest was about three times larger than the protest at the same location a week earlier. As the protest neared its end there were chants of “we’ll be back” from the crowd. They were ready to come back for more.
— Owen Grove
Update March 30th: Additional photos from Austin and Los Angeles were added.
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The Verge<![CDATA[The Verge Awards at CES 2019: let’s be friends]]>https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/11/18177016/verge-ces-2019-awards-best-tv-laptop-gaming-device2019-01-11T09:00:05-05:002019-01-11T09:00:05-05:00
CES is perhaps best known for its spectacle, the grand showcase of the products you’ll likely never see outside of CES, much less ever purchase.
This year, things were a little different on the CES show floor. Sure, there was plenty of spectacle and dumb stuff — one just needs to see the toilet with Alexa to affirm that — but there was also a lot of useful iteration on the ideas we’ve been seeing at CES for years. Instead of crazy new technologies, convoluted buzzwords, and concepts that will never come to fruition, we saw more actual products that people will be able to purchase and use over the coming year.
Perhaps the biggest trend of the year has been a unique feeling of cooperation between companies, which has enabled an interoperability of services and devices on a scale that’s greater than we’ve seen before. Just look at Apple’s services showing up Samsung, Sony, LG, and Vizio TVs or smart home gadgets that don’t just work with a single virtual assistant, many can be controlled by Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple’s HomeKit.
That means that instead of competing on hardware exclusivity, companies have to compete on the quality and features of their services, leading to better experiences for consumers. It’s a win for us.
Of course, by the time the next CES or two roll around, there are sure to be new exclusive features and services that will lock people to specific hardware, and we’ll be back where we started. But until then, we’ve got a little bit of freedom of choice to enjoy. —Dan Seifert
MicroLED was the major theme for TVs at CES this year, even though it’s been around for a couple of years already. The biggest proponent of MicroLED technology is Samsung, which is utilizing it to create a 75-inch 4K TV that’s built from modular panels. You can rearrange those panels like pieces of a puzzle to create different shapes and display sizes — even stacking them into a vertical-oriented screen to watch Instagram Stories, if you really want to.
This is all possible thanks to the smaller size of the MicroLEDs, which, like OLED, don’t require a separate backlight and can be used in super thin panels. They also have image quality that rivals OLED due to the lack of a backlight, yet the claim is that they don’t have any of the longevity problems OLED TVs face.
The 75-inch TV is just the first of Samsung’s MicroLED TVs to arrive. But by this time next year, we’ll probably see a bunch of options flooding the high-end of the TV market. —Dan Seifert
What if buying a big, bulky gaming laptop didn’t mean figuring out what to do with a big, bulky doorstop once its aging components no longer play the latest games? For years, we’ve been dreaming of gaming laptops with upgradable CPUs and GPUs, and the Alienware Area-51m is genuinely trying to make that a practical reality. Not only can the 17.3-inch laptop be configured with a Core i9-9900K desktop processor and Nvidia RTX 2080 mobile graphics, which are among the fastest gaming components in existence today, but it’s designed so you can easily disassemble this laptop yourself to upgrade each of them as well as the storage and RAM. Alienware admits it doesn’t know whether future chips from Nvidia and AMD will actually fit onto its modular boards, but it says it’s committed to making them fit if it’s physically and electrically possible. It’s the closest we’ve ever seen to the dream being delivered. —Sean Hollister
The war on laptop bezels has reached its zenith. There’s essentially no room left on our displays to even consider putting a webcam on it. Smartphones have solved this problem with the controversial notch, but at CES 2019, we started to see a different approach: the neganotch, which instead of adding a jutting black bar into a screen, appends on top to house things like the camera and anything else that you’d need there. The 13.9-inch HDR contoured glass display that Lenovo put in its new Yoga S940 is a stunning upgrade, but it’s the neganotch that’s the icing on that cake, letting Lenovo offer things like Windows Hello and even advanced eye tracking without ruining the razor-thin bezels it achieved. —Chaim Gartenberg
Monitors take up a significant amount of modern desk space, and now Samsung is trying to free up some of that desk real estate. The company’s new space monitors can fold flat against a wall or cubicle, allowing them to free up space when you’re not using your PC. Samsung has created 27- and 32-inch models, and both clamp to the surface of a desk and adjust to be pulled toward you or moved to be flat against a wall. If you’ve got a small desk or limited space, these look ideal. —Tom Warren
A 65-inch rollable display prototype we saw at CES 2018 turned into a real TV from LG Electronics just one year later. That’s pretty impressive by CES standards. But more impressive is the TV itself, which puts LG’s best-in-class OLED technology into the sleekest form yet, and that’s after the company already made a “wallpaper” TV. It’s a stunning screen that rolls up whenever you’re not watching something and rises from its base the next time you are. Watching that process can be mesmerizing — much like this TV’s 4K HDR picture quality. Just try not to think about how much it’ll cost once it goes on sale this spring. —Chris Welch
Effortlessly combining a party speaker, a karaoke machine, a snack table, and beer cup holders into one device, Sony’s beer speaker (aka the GTK-PG10, if you’re a cop) is ridiculous to its core. But somehow, the design and the feature set here manage to elevate what should be a joke into something almost elegant: sure, it may be a dedicated beer-holding karaoke party speaker, but it’s a really thoughtfully designed dedicated beer-holding karaoke party speaker. And isn’t that what technology is all about? —Chaim Gartenberg
Of all the many, many things that Google added Assistant to at CES — from Sonos speakers to oven range vents — the most important one turned out to be Google’s own product. Putting Assistant inside Google Maps seems like a minor thing, but it is a major Trojan horse for the iPhone. Millions of people have Google Maps open when they drive. Surely, millions more have bothered installing the Assistant app on the iPhone. Now, they’ll have Google Assistant up in their face. I look forward to the next year when Google finally realizes that Maps has become bloated and pulls something out. Our vote is the text messaging feature. —Dieter Bohn
While there were plenty of out-there gaming laptops and PCs unveiled this year at CES, the most meaningful announcement was Nvidia’s mobile RTX chips. While not as powerful as its top-of-line desktop RTX GPUs, the new trio of chips will deliver unprecedented performance to gaming laptops that start shipping with the 2060, 2070, or 2080 later this month. We’re now close to the moment when the delta between laptop and desktop gaming shrinks to a negligible level, and Nvidia’s steady march of progress is enabling 4K / 60 fps performance on portable, battery-powered machines for the first time. —Nick Statt
We thought a cheeky ad about privacy might be Apple’s biggest “presence” at CES, but then the announcements began. It started with Samsung: an iTunes Movies and TV Shows app is coming to the company’s TVs, as is support for AirPlay 2. Sony, Vizio, and LG soon followed with their own AirPlay 2 news, adding HomeKit integration as well. Sending content from your iPhone, iPad, or Mac to the TV screen is going to be so, so much easier soon, assuming you’re ready for a TV upgrade.
The iTunes video app, seemingly exclusive to Samsung TVs for now, is yet another big hint that Apple has major ambitions for original content. —Chris Welch
If you’ve fantasized about a smart toilet complete with mood lighting and the surround sound of birds chirping, then CES has you covered. The Kohler Numi 2.0 Intelligent Toilet might fulfill most people’s toilet fantasies. It’s Alexa-enabled so you can command it to flush or read you the news while you’re hands-free.
Kohler promises a fully “immersive” experience and the bidet helps with that. You can add on a seat warmer and at the base of it, the swirling colors could match any gamer’s RGB setup. CES has often been about outdoing the competition by adding a voice assistant to an extravagant appliance and this smart toilet captures that spirit to the nth degree. —Shannon Liao
Only a fidget spinner AirPods case called the ZenPod could bring The Verge’s newsroom to a halt. It’s not a fidget spinner in the way that we usually think of it. Instead, it’s a case for an AirPods case with a built-in anodized aluminum spinner with steel bearings. It costs more than a fidget spinner, at $30, but look at that leather! Plus, it has three color options: black leather with a black spinner, black leather with a silver spinner, and brown leather with a silver spinner. We all want this case for a case and demand that it comes to CES next year. —Ashley Carman
Ikea wasn’t at CES, yet it still pulled off a victory in the smart home category this week. The company that put designer furniture within financial reach of most people is now doing the same for smart blinds. Starting on April 1st, US Americans will be able to fit their homes with the new Fyrtur blinds. Priced between $110 and $180 in Europe, they’re a fraction of the cost of incumbent solutions. They’re also compatible with Ikea’s burgeoning Tradfri lineup of inexpensive smart lights, sockets, sensors, and switches that are in turn compatible with Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri. Imagine your blinds automatically lowering at sunset or lifting with your alarm clock, and you’ll begin to understand our enthusiasm, especially after Ikea launches its low-cost Sonos speakers this summer. The home of the future will be affordable, and it’s almost here. —Thomas Ricker
My favorite thing about Lovot, a childlike robot with big, expressive eyes that follows you around and begs to be hugged, is how proudly its makers Groove X tout that it doesn’t really do anything. Practically every gadget at CES promises to be useful in some way, but for a company to show up and say, “Our robot is not useful. In fact, it’ll probably get in your way” feels revolutionary.
That’s not to say that the Lovot isn’t an advanced piece of technology. Fifty sensors on its fuzzy body respond to touch, the three cameras on its canister can recognize up to 1,000 people, and it follows you around cooing adoringly, asking to be loved. It’s absolutely possible to form an instant emotional attachment to this robot, and that’s its only goal.
Last year’s Best Robot award went to Sony’s Aibo dog, and it’s further proof that we don’t really want robots that over-promise how useful they can be. We just want them to be harmlessly cute with zero chance of a robot uprising. —Dami Lee
Corsair pulled an Apple move with this one. The gaming gear maker worked with a supplier to develop teeny tiny RGB LEDs and then essentially bought the production line for them. The assembly for a typical decorative LED is the size of a fingernail, but Corsair reduced the required space to that of a head of a pin. One hundred Capellix LEDs can fit into the space that was previously occupied by four conventional ones, and the Capellix lights are brighter, more efficient, and easier on the battery.
LEDs are everywhere around us, from the timers on microwave ovens to the gorgeous visuals of the latest Samsung or LG TV. In gaming circles, they’ve been quite crude and basic (and cheap!), and what Corsair has done with its new Capellix part is turn those decorative LEDs into something much more sophisticated and refined. We’ll see Capellix on RAM sticks first, to be followed swiftly by wireless keyboards and mice, which will have much brighter and complex lighting than we’ve known so far. —Vlad Savov
AT&T’s “5G E” icon is so blatantly designed to confuse and mislead that it manages to encapsulate every fear about wireless carriers’ ruthlessness and lack of trustworthiness in just three tiny letters.
As we race into the 5G era, AT&T has decided to kick things off by slapping a fake 5G sticker on phones that are only connected to 4G LTE, supposedly to highlight faster pockets of its wireless network… even though they aren’t that fast and seem to be outpaced by the speeds you’d get from LTE on Verizon. It sets a horrible precedent, and it means that as true 5G phones and networks launch over the coming year, it’ll be harder than necessary for consumers to figure out what they’re actually getting. —Jake Kastrenakes
This was one of the slower news years for the automotive side of CES. Instead of lots of new things, we wound up seeing a lot of iterations and refinements. Take Byton, for example, an EV startup that made its big debut with an electric SUV at last year’s show. The headliner in 2018 was the giant windshield-spanning screen that dominates the interior of Byton’s SUV. This year, the company returned to show off that it had added yet another touchscreen to the center console, bringing the total to at least five. (Who knows if others might be added before production later this year?)
There are dozens of companies that are trying to reimagine what the inside of a car should look like if and when they become fully autonomous. Byton’s one of the few trying to totally redefine that now. The startup’s answer involves a lot of new technologies like AI and facial recognition, but it all hinges on a ton of pixels. It might not be your cup of tea. But it’s pretty much the most CES idea around. —Sean O’Kane
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The Verge<![CDATA[This tiny modular home is 325 square feet of IoT heaven]]>https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/6/16255726/kasita-modular-home-design-iot-tech-integration-video2025-01-29T09:49:38-05:002017-09-06T09:00:02-04:00
Welcome to Home of the Future, a four-part video series co-produced by Curbed and The Verge. Each month, we’ll take you inside one innovative home and explore how the technology of today informs the way people will live in the future. To follow along, stay tuned for new video episodes on our Facebook page. This month’s location? A tiny prefab billed as the “iPhone for housing.”
Tiny houses have long been a dwelling of choice for those who appreciate a minimalist lifestyle, but they’ve become even more trendy in recent years after an ongoing affordable housing crisis (and, admittedly, HGTV’s House Hunters spinoff on the miniature homes). But tiny doesn’t have to mean it’s missing out on any special features of a futuristic home either. Kasita, an Austin-based startup, is hoping to fit all the latest tech into just 352 square feet of living space. In fact, the company calls its micro-homes the “iPhone for housing.”
Kasita is outfitted with the latest voice-activated tech, so you can program your home to recognize “moods.” Tell Kasita to prepare for theater mode and it’ll know to dim the lights, raise the flatscreen TV out from a hidden wall, and open your favorite streaming app. The model unit Kasita founder Jeff Wilson showed us has more than 60 smart home devices that are preprogrammed to talk to each other, and span areas including home security, indoor temperature, and even the shower room to help save water consumption. Wilson says to buy these devices separately, it would cost over $20,000, plus the amount of time it takes to connect the devices together under one system. Kasita’s turnkey micro-unit costs $139,000 with everything ready to go and controllable from the main Kasita app.
The home isn’t just designed for those looking to live on remote land or strap the unit to their van and move around the country either. In dense, urban areas like Houston and Brooklyn, Kasita units can be stacked to create a tower of micro-apartments, or used as commercial space for tiny restaurants and shops.
The company is currently working with local governments to pilot Kasita communities as an affordable housing solution. Earlier this year, the company opened a 25,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in East Austin that can churn out a unit in just eight weeks.
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