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Lenovo’s updated ThinkPad X1 laptops include optional privacy screens

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However, the biggest addition is that you can customize both models to include a new 500-nit, 1080p display that features the company’s PrivacyGuard technology. Like the Sure View displays HP has offered for a couple of years, these screens will prevent people from looking over your shoulder to see what you’re working on. Lenovo previously offered a PrivacyGuard display option on some of its more expensive ThinkPads like the T480s, but this is the first time you can get it on the consumer-friendly X1 Carbon and X1 Yoga. At 500 nits, the display is also twice as bright as the company’s previous-generation PrivacyGuard screen, addressing one of the major downsides of the tech previously.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga
Otherwise, the two computers are identical to their predecessors. Lenovo is once again claiming approximately 18.5 hours of battery life on the X1 Carbon and 15 hours on the X1 Yoga. Both new models weigh as much as they did before, with the X1 Carbon coming in at 2.4 pounds and the X1 Yoga at 2.9 pounds. The new computers will be available sometime this year, but Lenovo gave no specific details on when. The X1 Carbon will start at $1,499, while the X1 Yoga will cost $1,599 and up.

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NEC’s new PC lineup for the US includes a 4K OLED laptop

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Those who value portability over all else might prefer the LaVie Pro Mobile (pictured at center). It’s using a low-voltage 1.8GHz Core i7 and a 13.3-inch 1080p display, but it delivers a claimed 15 hours of battery life and sports a carbon lid that keeps the weight down to a featherweight 1.85 pounds. The 512GB SSD helps, too, although it still starts with 8GB of RAM.

NEC LaVie Pro Mobile

There’s just one desktop in the mix, although it’s a clever one. The LaVie Home All-in-One (below) centers around a 27-inch display that uses LG’s Crystal Sound to produce 5.4W of stereo sound directly from the display. It won’t shake the room, but it also eliminates any dedicated speakers that would clutter the painting-like design. Just don’t expect brisk performance. There’s a low-voltage 1.8GHz Core i7 under the hood along with 8GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, a 3TB 5,400RPM hard drive (really, Lenovo?) and even a DVD burner.

All three PCs arrive in March. The LaVie Vega is unsurprisingly the most expensive model with a $2,100 starting price, while the Pro Mobile and Home All-in-One begin at $1,600 and $1,800 respectively. That’s a lot to pay for the performance you get — Lenovo and NEC are clearly banking on rare tricks like 4K OLED and Crystal Sound to justify the cost.

NEC LaVie Home All-in-One

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Tesla’s car shipments grew by 50 percent last year

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In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla broke its records by producing almost 105,000 vehicles and delivering 112,000 vehicles. Much of that success can be attributed to the Model 3 sedan’s popularity. In Q4, Tesla delivered 92,500 Model 3s — a 46 percent increase over the final quarter of 2018 — and 19,450 Model S/X.

Earlier in 2019, Tesla said it hoped to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 cars by the end of the year. The company did reach that goal, but it was on the low end. Still, this suggests that the market for Teslas is growing and that the company has worked out some production kinks.

That trend should continue as Tesla begins delivering the first Model 3s made in its Shanghai Gigafactory 3. It says the factory has already produced nearly 1,000 customer salable cars, and it has demonstrated a production run-rate capability of more than 3,000 units per week — excluding local battery pack production.

Tesla also plans to manufacture its Model Y crossovers at the plant, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously said he expects the Model Y to outsell the S, X and 3 combined. There’s also the Cybertruck, which already has more than 200,000 deposits.

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High rollers: Tell us all about your Galaxy Fold!

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Engadget gave the Galaxy Fold a passable, but not outstanding, score of 70 due to its ongoing durability concerns, the limited usability of the outer screen and the unpolished software. It also found a spot on our worst tech of 2019 list; though all folding phones got a direct rebuke as well. However, we want to hear from folks who splurged on this smartphone — if you bought a Galaxy Fold, how do you like the form factor? Do you think the handset is durable enough? How great (or useless) is the folding dual screen? And should other people buy it? Tell us all the specifics of this smartphone on our Galaxy Fold product page. Remember your review could be included in an upcoming user review roundup article so don’t leave anything out!

Note: As usual, comments are off for this post; please contribute your thoughts and reviews on our Samsung Galaxy Fold product page!

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Boss’ guitar amp headphones are clever but pricey

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Static on the other hand, plops a virtual amp down in a specific location and leaves it there. So that as you move your head, the direction the audio is coming from changes. The Waza Air have a gyroscope inside to sense your head movement. At first blush the feature is pretty cool, but the gimmick kinda wears off quickly. The headphones simply can’t simulate a sense of vertical space, so the effect is like having an amp at exactly head level. And, essentially, all that is happening is the guitar signal is panned either left or right depending on how you turn your head. It’s a neat trick, but not one that I can imagine using that often. Especially since, I’m unlikely to be moving about much if I’m playing through headphones anyway.

The other big consideration is comfort and fatigue. The Waza Air are pretty cozy and lighter than you’d expect them to be. Though, they’re hardly feather weights. They borrow a lot of engineering knowhow from V-Moda, another Roland company (along with Boss) which certainly helps. They don’t quite match up to some of the classics in the studio monitor world, like Sony’s MDR-7506, but there’s also a lot more tech crammed inside the Wazas. My one complaint after wearing them for about 30 minutes straight was that they were a tad warm and I was starting to get a little sweaty around my ears.

Boss Waza Air

But, be aware that there is no way to get the sound you hear in the headphones to the outside world. There is no audio out, or ability to stream audio from the Waza Air. These are meant for quiet solo practicing and nothing else.

This is where the price point becomes a slight issue. $400 is a lot to ask for a pair of headphones designed specifically to use as a guitar amp. Sure, you can also use them as regular Bluetooth headphones, but battery life isn’t great (five hours), there’s no noise cancellation and frankly it’s overkill for just listening to tunes. These are really only going to appeal to a very select group of people. If you already have a main amp, need a second (or third) option that won’t wake the neighbors or your new born, and wireless is a priority for you, then maybe the Waza Air is worth looking into.

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The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 Lite are cheaper takes on Samsung’s flagships

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Meanwhile, the Note 10 Lite’s display slots in between the Note 10 and Note 10+’s 6.3-inch and 6.8-inch screens. However, the biggest difference between all the displays is that the screens of the two Lite phones are lower resolution 1080p panels, instead of QHD panels like on Samsung’s flagships. Combined with their massive 4,500mAh capacity batteries, the lower resolution displays should help with battery life. It’s also worth pointing out Samsung hasn’t said whether the screen it sourced for the Lite models features HDR10 support. For biometric authentication, the phones include both an in-display fingerprint sensor and face recognition.

Both phones include triple main camera arrays, though they differ in the types of lenses they offer. The S10 Lite includes a 48-megapixel wide-angle, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide and a 5-megapixel macro camera. The Note 10, meanwhile, features a 12-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel telephoto and 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera. Notably, neither phone features the variable aperture main lens of Samsung’s flagships. In another design change from Samsung’s earlier models, both the S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite have square camera bumps, instead of the horizontal ones of their predecessors.

Galaxy S10 Lite

Merely looking at the camera specs, the S10 Lite is the one that stands out. For the main camera, Samsung has gone with a dense 48-megapixel sensor and a relatively slow f/2.0 aperture lens. Usually, that’s not a combination that leads to great low-light performance. The company says the S10 Lite features its new “Super Steady” optical image stabilization, but didn’t say anything about how it compares to other OIS solutions. The inclusion of a macro lens is also interesting since there aren’t a lot of phones that include that type of lens.

One area where the two phones differ is that they feature different processors. Samsung hasn’t said the exact model of chip that’s in each phone, but the S10 Lite includes a 7-nanometer octa-core processor, while the Note 10 Lite features a 10-nanometer octa-core chip. The fact the Note 10’s processor is a 10-nanometer chip suggests it’s an older design than the S10 Lite’s. Depending on the market and operator, the phones will include either 6GB or 8GB RAM to support their processors.

When it comes to storage, the two phones come with 128GB standard, with no option to buy more built-in storage. However, both models include microSD expandability, allowing you to add as much as 1TB of additional storage to the phones. Besides their lower-resolution displays, this is probably the two Lite phones’ biggest “downgrade” since the Note 10 comes with 256GB of storage standard. Samsung also doesn’t make any mention of waterproofing or wireless charging, so it’s likely the company tried to cut on cost there as well.

The company will sell the S10 Lite in three colors — “Prism White,” “Prism Black” and “Prism Blue.” The Note 10 Lite will be available in three colors, as well: “Aura Glow,” “Aura Black” and “Aura Red.”

Samsung hasn’t said when either the Galaxy S10 Lite or Note 10 Lite will be available yet, nor how much they’ll cost. Despite today’s announcement, there’s still a lot about these phones we don’t know, which why we’ll be digging into them at CES.

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CES 2020: What to expect

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Screens of all shapes and sizes

Samsung

It wouldn’t be CES without being surrounded by a plethora of screens, and 2020 looks to be no different. Like in years past, expect there to be bigger and better TV screens on display (no pun intended). Take 8K, for example. No one really needs an 8K television (considering the absolute dearth of 8K media out there), but that won’t stop manufacturers from churning them out. Remember Samsung’s ridiculous 292-inch 8K The Wall TV? We’d be seriously disappointed if we don’t see even more extravagances like that next week.

Aside from that, we’ll likely see improved OLED panels, plus a bigger push toward MicroLED adoption. (MicroLED screens supposedly pack in the same brightness and color as OLED panels, but with greater longevity.) And in case normal TVs are just too boring for you, expect stylish sets from all the big companies. Samsung gave us a sneak peek at a zero-bezel TV, for example, and LG has already teased a rollable OLED concept that unfurls from the ceiling.

Of course, CES will feature smaller screens too — especially in the form of laptops and phones. Even though 2019 was a bust for the foldable display trend — the Samsung’s Galaxy Fold wasn’t exactly a smash hit — we definitely expect to see more companies showing off their own takes on flexible displays, not just in phones, but laptops too. We also won’t be surprised if we see more devices with dual screens, too. Perhaps we’ll get to see a final version of Intel’s dual-screen gaming prototype we saw last year.

Transportation tech

Fiat Chrysler

Even though CES is ostensibly a tech show, cars have been taking up more and more floor space in the past few years. At CES 2020, expect to see even more concept vehicles that show off the latest in artificial intelligence, autonomous driving tech and EV innovations. A few companies have already teased what they’re going to show: Aston Martin will have a three-video-feed rearview mirror, Fiat Chrysler touts an all-digital cabin concept, Honda will demonstrate its AI assistant, and Jeep is planning to reveal its first-ever fleet of plug-in hybrids.

We also look forward to checking out the Nawa e-motorbike plus the new eScooter and eMoped from Segway (which was acquired by Ninebot a few years ago). But perhaps the most exciting transportation-related demonstration at the show would be Hyundai’s take on the flying car.

The home gets smarter

As at previous shows, we expected the connected home to be a big part of CES 2020. Not only do we foresee even more connected fridges and ovens, we also think we’ll see connectivity in even more devices like faucets, showers and lamps (like this unique indoor gardening appliance by LG). We also won’t be surprised if we see more competitors to Nest and Ring in the area of security cameras. As these two companies tend to dominate the news, more competition in the space is certainly welcome.

On top of that, we expect all these companies to assure us of better security. Ring, for example, got into some trouble a few weeks ago when hackers successfully infiltrated their systems and bribed homeowners and even scared an 8-year-old child. It would behoove Ring (and parent company Amazon) and Google to demonstrate that they’re trustworthy companies, especially when it comes to home security.

Lenovo Smart Clock

Assistant overload

We already know that Google and Amazon will have a large presence at CES next week so expect a lot more devices to have either Assistant or Alexa built-in. Whether it’s with televisions, cars or connected speakers, two companies will likely duke it out to see which one can incorporate its assistant into our lives. We’ve already seen companies like LG announce that their soundbars will have Google Assistant baked-in, for example.

We can also expect these two assistants to be in more home appliances than ever before. Either they’ll be integrated at the point of purchase or you can add that functionality later on with an inexpensive add-on. And it won’t just be smart speakers and smart displays this year, but many more everyday items will soon be voice-activated too.

5G in more devices

At CES 2020, we expect 5G connectivity to show up not just in phones, but also laptops and beyond. We’ve already seen this in the Dell Latitude 9510, which debuted earlier this week. 5G networks aren’t very prevalent right now, but by the time the laptop comes to market in March of this year, they may be more widespread than they are now. As AT&T and Verizon widen their 5G footprints, we’ll definitely see more than just Dell make hardware 5G-compatible, and CES 2020 could be our first chance to get a glimpse of them.

Willow

Everything else

When it comes to computing, we can expect more ultraportable laptops with Intel’s latest 10th gen chips and perhaps some AMD graphics news as well. With more powerful chips on the way, gaming laptops could also be a highlight at CES next week. Seeing as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are expected later this year, we could see more companies getting into the gaming-accessory market. With Stadia and xCloud on the rise in 2020, perhaps we’ll get some news in the cloud-gaming arena too, maybe from the likes of Google or NVIDIA.

It also won’t surprise us to see more wearables with a healthcare bent, though we don’t expect anything to really topple Fitbit or the Apple Watch. True wireless earbuds will definitely continue to be a trend at CES 2020 as well, thanks in part to last year’s arrival of the AirPods Pro prompting some competition. Expect even more earbuds to offer noise-canceling features, perhaps at a cheaper price.

Of course, you should also expect the unexpected. It seems that every year, there’ll be an innovation that surprises us, be it a smart breast pump, a bread robot or a meatless burger. Whether or not our predictions come to fruition, there’s no doubt there’ll be at least one surprise from the show. We’ll just have to wait a few more days to find out.

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Segway’s latest EV prototype looks like Professor X’s wheelchair

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According to the two companies, the 330.7 pound S-Pod can cruise at a top speed of 24.8 miles per hour. They claim it’s also easy to drive thanks to a feature that automatically balances the vehicle while it’s moving. The current prototype can travel about 43.5 miles before its battery needs to be charged.

Ninebot KickScooter Air T15

Looking to the more immediate future, the companies will also show off a new electric scooter called the NineBot KickScooter Air T15. At 22.09 pounds, Segway and Ninebot say the T15 is the most lightweight and compact kick scooter they’ve made to date. The vehicle uses a new braking system that charges the battery whenever you slow down or stop.

When you’re not riding it, the T15 can fold up to make it easier to store. Ninebot says it should take at most about seven seconds to fold and unfold the scooter. The frame is also IPX5-certified water resistant, which means occasional showers won’t damage its internals. The 300 watt motor can propel the scooter at 12.4 miles per hour and get it up a 15 percent incline without slowing down. Meanwhile, the 144 watt-hour battery takes approximately two-hand-a-half hours to charge, and features a 9.32 mile max range.

Ninebot plans to sell the KickScooter Air T15 for $699.99. Next week, we’ll likely also see the eMoped and eScooter EVs Ninebot showed off last month — though it’s safe to say the S-Pod will probably dominate the conversation.

Update: This story originally had the price of the KickScooter Air T15 listed as $799; Segway has since updated to say it is $699.

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Nanoleaf’s next light panels will apparently learn and adapt to you (updated)

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The new Nanoleaf Learning Series is designed to be a more intelligent smart light system, which learns from its users and reacts to their needs. Nanoleaf says the system minimizes the need for adjustments or voice controls by learning from users’ behavior and reacting to it to provide light where it’s needed.

We don’t know how the system will work yet, but the company has revealed it will use Nanoleaf’s signature modular lighting panels with network sensors and a proprietary intelligent learning algorithm. In the future, the company will introduce a range of Unified Light Panels, modular smart lights beginning with touch-reactive hexagons. Following these will be other geometric shapes so users can create their own designs and shapes.

The new hexagons will be on display at Nanoleaf’s booth at CES in the next few days.

Update: 11:30pm 01/03/2020: A Nanoleaf spokesperson contacted Engadget to give some more details about how the U-IQ learning system will work and confirmed that the system will work with light bulbs as well as the light panels.

By “combining a network of sensors and a proprietary intelligent learning algorithm,” the system will learn the schedules and behaviors of its users. As an example of the system in practice, “each room’s lights will know when you’re approaching and will gradually begin to turn on even before you enter and turn off as you leave.”

The system will work with the products in the Nanoleaf Learning Series (Learning Switch, Button, Gateway and Bulb) which can be linked together to form a sensory network which gathers data on your behavior and allows the products to communicate with each other, in order to predict the kind of light you’ll need.

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Samsung’s first Odyssey gaming monitors include a 240Hz ultra-wide

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If that strikes you as overkill, there will be less extravagant options. The CTG7 series (below) offers 27- and 32-inch panels at a more conventional 2,560 x 1,440 resolution with the same 240Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, 1000R curvature, FreeSync and G-Sync. It’s not as bright with ‘just’ DisplayHDR 600 support, but we suspect many gamers won’t mind. The range will also be ready in the second quarter.

The company hasn’t provided pricing. However, the technology makes clear that you’ll be paying a premium for these screens, particularly the CTG9. While they’re not 4K monitors, just about everything else is covered.

Samsung Odyssey CTG7 gaming monitor

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