Category Archives: Blog

LAS VEGAS—If you have $5,000 you can own a supercharged Windows 10 workstation.

The Cemtrex SmartDesk contains three touch-screen monitors, sensors that can let you control your PC with hand gestures, and a wireless phone charger that sits on the side.

We saw the workstation here at CES. It comes integrated with a keyboard, trackpad, document scanner, speakerS, and a web camera, all in a polished frame that’s accessible whether you’re sitting or standing.

US-based Cemtrex says the 120-pound desk is the most advanced workstation on the market. However, the PC running inside isn’t anything to brag about it. According to the spec sheet, the system uses an 8th generation Intel Core i7 processor, with either a GTX 1050 graphics card or GTX 1060, and 16GB or 32GB of RAM. In other words, nothing really overpowered. Read more…

More about Ces, Windows 10, Tech, and Consumer Tech

We get it, cheapskates, free food is hard to resist.

Especially when it comes in the form of delicious chicken tenders, but Alabama authorities have warned people to not eat any from boxes that were spilled from a 18-wheeler truck on Sunday.

The crash on Highway 35 in Cherokee County prompted motorists to stop and pick up the truckload of spilled tenders, according to the Associated Press.

Quick to say nope was the Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency, who warned on Facebook that it’s a crime to stop and impede the flow of traffic with your chicken tender pilfering efforts. Read more…

More about Food, Culture, Alabama, Culture, and Web Culture

Impossible Foods is throwing a new party in your mouth, and this time everyone really is invited.

The company debuted a new version of its eponymous burger on Monday, and you can credibly call it an upgrade. In addition to having significantly less fat than beef burgers and zero cholesterol, the new plant-based patty is gluten-free, fixing a big criticism of the current (and increasingly popular) Impossible Burger. It’s also suited for all kinds of ground-meat dishes, from meatballs to sloppy joes, not just hamburgers, the company says.

More about Food, Ces, Impossible Burger, Ces 2019, and Tech

Are you ready for a mindblowing revelation?

If you’re splitting pizza with friends, you’ll technically get more bang for your buck by splitting one 18-inch pizza instead of ordering two 12-inch pizzas. 

It sounds counterintuitive, but Fermat’s Library did the math: An 18-inch pizza has 254 square inches of “pizza,” while two 12-inch pizzas only have about 226 square inches. 

People were understandably confused — isn’t two more than one? Read more…

More about Twitter Reactions, Pizza, Culture, and Web Culture

It’s a hog on a diet.

Harley-Davidson announced Monday at CES that its all-electric motorcycle, the LiveWire, is now officially available for pre-order. It starts at $29,799 and will begin shipping in August.

The iconic motorcycle company first introduced the LiveWire in 2014, but it had been more of a flashy concept than a reality until last year. In 2015, it appeared on screen as the steed of Scarlett Johansson’s Avengers character Black Widow. And, finally, in the company’s January 2018 earnings call, it confirmed that the bike would ship in the next 18 months — which now appears to be right on schedule. Read more…

More about Ces, Electric Vehicles, Harley Davidson, Ces 2019, and Tech

In a newly released short story, Blizzard confirmed yet another major Overwatch is canonically LGBTQ. And we are ready for him to get a fabulous rainbow skin in the next update.

Though Ana is the protagonist of “Bastet,” it was the macho military man Soldier 76 (aka Jack Morrison) who got a bombshell backstory reveal while discussing his past relationship with a “dark-haired man” named Vincent.

Ana asks Jack about him, and the implication is hard to miss:

Writer Michael Chu confirmed on Twitter that, while the relationship happened a long time ago, both Jack and Vincent identify as gay. Read more…

More about Video Games, Overwatch, Entertainment, and Gaming

HTC’s best VR headset just got a lot more exciting.

The company unveiled a new Vive Pro Eye headset, which has eye tracking features built directly in, eliminating the need for external controllers. 

Instead of using hand controllers to navigate content, the headset uses “gaze-oriented menu navigation.” In other words: you can navigate around menus and other content just by looking at them.

The Vive Pro Eye comes one year after HTC first launched the $799 Vive Pro, its first VR headset optimized for enterprise users. The Vive Pro Eye has a similar design as last year’s Vive Pro, though it’s gotten upgrades under the hood to incorporate eye tracking. Read more…

More about Tech, Gadgets, Virtual Reality, Htc Vive, and Ces 2019

Daimler trucks are going autonomous — eventually.

For now, Level 2 (L2) partial automation will have to suffice. The vehicle company behind Mercedes-Benz cars announced Monday at CES 2019 that its new Freightliner Cascadia big-rig will include higher levels of robotic driving. The semi-autonomous trucks will start production in July in North America. It’s not fully self-driving, but it’s pushing the trucking industry deeper into an autonomous mode. 

Truck CEO Martin Daum admitted he was skeptical of autonomous capabilities back in 2015, when Daimler unveiled its Freightliner Inspiration autonomous concept truck. Now he sees Level 4 autonomy (full autonomy in most situations, climates, and environments) coming to trucks within the decade. Read more…

More about Ces, Trucks, Autonomous Vehicles, Daimler, and Semi Autonomous

Samsung is mostly known for its Galaxy smartphones and home appliances, but its big breakthrough in laptops might come this year.

At CES 2019, we got to take a look the 2019 Notebook 9 Pro to see whether the Korean electronics giant has what it takes to compete head-to-head with last year’s best laptops: Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2, Huawei’s MateBook X Pro, and Apple’s MacBook Pro.

Our early verdict: nicely done Samsung!

Now that the mighty MacBook Pro is no longer perfect thanks to its controversial and uber-flat keyboard, there’s a real opening for PC makers to step in with some real kickass clamshells computers. Read more…

More about Samsung, Ces, Pc, Windows 10, and Laptops

Dear CES, Captain America is not here for your bullshit. 

As the tech journalists of the world converge en masse this week on the annual Las Vegas consumer electronics show known as CES, Chris Evans — the actor who famously stars as Captain America in the Marvel cinematic universe — tweeted a message seemingly tailored to dunk on the convention’s entire raison d’etre. Namely, that so-called “smart” gadgets are trash. 

“Dear All Technology,” wrote the embodiment of a certain kind of American fantasy, “Remember the 90’s when you just WORKED??? I don’t need a ‘smart’ feature on my TV, thermostat, lights, music, refrigerator, security cameras, and f-ing car.” Read more…

More about Elon Musk, Captain America, Chris Evans, Ces 2019, and Tech