ASUS ZenScreen is the slickest USB monitor I’ve ever seen

ASUS is known for its design chops, so much that it could turn even a router into an eye candy. The same goes for its latest USB monitor, the ZenScreen (MB16AC), which turned up on the Computex show floor. It’s safe to say that this 15.6-inch 1080p IPS device is the slickest of its kind I’ve ever seen, which is largely thanks to its slim 6.5mm bezel, along with the addition of a metallic chin on the front and the usual spin-metal back. It also helps that the buttons have been moved to said chin — “Confirm” and “Menu” on the left, “Power” on the right — in order to keep the edges clean, leaving just a USB-C port at the bottom left side.

So what’s the deal with that pen poking through the hole here, you ask? Well, first of all, the ZenScreen does come with that pen. Secondly, it is intended for propping up the monitor in either orientation, should you wish to ditch the bundled foldable smart case to take full advantage of the device’s 8mm thickness and 780g weight. It also looks nicer that way. But make no mistake: the ZenScreen doesn’t support stylus input nor does it have a touchscreen, so don’t go drawing on the glass with that pen.

Other goodies include automatic screen rotation, four levels of blue light filter, TÜV Rheinland-certified flicker-free technology and eight video preset modes. You’ll also find a USB-C to USB-C cable plus a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box. The ZenScreen is priced at US$249 which is significantly more than its conventional counterparts, but at least road warriors will be able to grab one soon — it’s about to hit the stores in Taiwan, with other markets to follow afterwards.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Computex 2017!

Via: Engadget Chinese

Source: ASUS

This is Andy Rubin’s Essential Phone

After months of teases and speculation, Android creator Andy Rubin has unveiled the first smartphone by his new company, Essential. As expected, it’s designed to be a no-compromise device with top-of-the-line specs and sophisticated industrial design. Taking center stage is an edge-to-edge display that rises to the top of the phone, stopping only for the front-facing camera in the middle. The device is made of titanium and ceramic, which the company claims will trump most aluminium phones in the durability department. It’s a sleek look complimented by a complete lack of logos.

Inside is the usual flagship Android components: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 3040mAh battery and 128GB of internal storage. More intriguing are the two holes on the back which can be used to attach Essential-made accessories. The most exciting is a tiny 360-degree camera, which can shoot a spherical UHD (3840×1920) image at 30 frames per second. There will also be a charging dock, should you prefer a cradle to the normal dangling cable. The general concept is similar to Motorola’s Moto Mods, which brought modular customisation to the Moto Z line.

The Essential Phone’s built-in camera is, at least on paper, promising too. Rubin’s company has opted for a dual-camera setup similar to Huawei’s P9 and P10, with a sensor dedicated to monochrome imaging. It can be used standalone for black and white photos, or combined with the color sensor for improved detail and low-light performance. The front-facing camera, meanwhile, is an 8-megapixel snapper capable of shooting 4K video.

Essential has said little about the software other than it will run Android Nougat 7.1.1 out of the box. Screenshots show a clean, stock-like experience, but we can’t say definitively that there isn’t any bloatware hiding in the app drawer. What we do know is that the phone is designed to work with Home, a smart home device that runs on a platform called Ambient OS. It has a large, circular display and a speaker, which can help you play music, look up information online, set timers and everything else we’ve come to expect from Echo-like assistants and hardware.

As The Verge reports, there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack (yep, we’re groaning too) on the phone. It’ll ship with a dongle, however, so all of your regular buds and cans will work, provided you’re ready to embrace the #donglelife. Instead, Essential is banking on USB-C and, like Apple, Bluetooth connectivity. The phone will come in four different colors — Black Moon, Stellar Grey, Pure White and Ocean Depths — and ship for $699, or $749 with a bundled 360-degree camera. You can pre-order today but there’s no word on when the phone will ship or otherwise be on sale.

Source: Essential

The colorful Strix Fusion headset can blink in sync with others

Imagine the following, if you will: with seconds on the clock, you sink the final, game-winning goal in a particularly frenzied Rocket League match. It’s over. You’ve done it. And just like that, the lights on the side of your headset begins to pulse a brilliant violet, then an intense yellow, alternating, ebbing, flowing, before finally building to a vivid orange climax. Victory loves company as much as misery does, so the fact that your teammates’ headsets have run through that chromatic celebration in sync with yours only makes your heart soar even higher. That’s the (slightly silly) vision ASUS is selling with its new Strix Fusion headset here at its Computex RoG press event.

Of course, getting there will require a little work. You’ll need to use a mobile app to define your color scheme of choice, as well as to pass that configuration on to headsets owned by fellow players. Now, do you need a headset that A) has lights and B) can make those lights thrum in sync with your brethren’s headset? Maybe, maybe not. If nothing else, the Strix Fusion should sound pretty good mid-game: you’ll find a set of ASUS Essence drivers in each earcup, along with support for virtual 7.1 surround sound. The headset also has air-tight chambers for crisper, clearer sound — ASUS claims this is exclusive to the Strix Fusion.

But anyway, back to those lights. They’re actually part of a larger push ASUS is undertaking to help people craft the perfect game rooms. Case in point, the company is working on giving gamers the ability to craft lighting schemes for connected LED strips, just to build the right ambiance for marathon Civ VI sessions. The only downside? You’ll have to wait until Q3 of this year before you can more thoroughly bling out your game room.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Computex 2017!

ASUS crams a GTX 1080 into a 16.9mm-thick laptop

For most people, Zephyrus is the Greek god of the west wind, gently bringing spring, and fruit, to the peoples of the world. For gamers, you can be damn sure that definition is going to be quickly supplanted by the one created by ASUS’ Republic of Gamers today. Now, Zephyrus means a pretty damn powerful gaming laptop in a surprisingly slender body, measuring in at just 16.9mm thick when closed, making it the “world’s slimmest.” By way of comparison, Razer’s latest Blade Pro, a high water mark for such laptops, stands at 22.5mm.

It appears that ASUS has been one of the principal beneficiaries of NVIDIA’s Max-Q design program to shrink high performance gaming laptops. The initiative was announced earlier today, with NVIDIA promising to help laptop makers build devices with powerful internals like the GTX 1080 without the heft. NVIDIA’s promise is that the first generation of Max-Q laptops will be three times as fast as their immediate predecessors.

Of course, another one of NVIDIA’s pledges was to make devices three times as thin as existing devices. Part of that thinness is down to a new thermal design that, when the laptop is open, pushes out a small exhaust port on the underside. That, ASUS promises, will ensure that your lap won’t get fried when you use this away from your tabletop. Thankfully, it doesn’t compromise the device’s looks too much, and it’s sturdy, sleek and generally menacing in a way that you’d want such a machine to look and feel.

Rounding out the spec list, the Zephyrus will ship with Intel’s seventh-generation Core i7 7700HQ CPU and up to 24GB RAM. It’s also packing a 4-cell, 50Wh battery, although the company has been reticent to talk about how long it’ll live away from a wall socket. Here’s a hint: not long. Display-wise, you’ll be staring into a 15.6-inch full-HD panel with an anti-glare coating and NVIDIA G-Sync. And if you’re on your way to an eSports tournament, you should know that the device will weigh 2.2kg in your bag with the battery.

Since Zephyrus ships with the Windows 10 Creators Update, it will take advantage of both Windows Game Mode and Beam’s streaming service. ASUS didn’t say much else about the software features beyond that you will be able to customize the Zephyrus’ lighting scheme to even isolate the WASD and QWER keys. Speaking of the keyboard, it’s certainly not designed for essay-writing, with spongy keys and almost no travel, at least in the demonstration unit. The trackpad, too, is pretty clever, and is capable of pulling double duty as a numeric keypad when you need to do some maths on the fly.

ASUS ROG also wanted to talk about how its laptops aren’t simply for gamers with large wallets when fans of different genres have different needs. A MOBA gamer, for instance, may not need as fast a display as one who’s seriously into FPS. Which is why the company has unveiled a pair of Strix laptops that are tailored specifically to the needs of those two genres.

The ROG Strix SCAR Edition is engineered to give FPS gamers a vital edge, with Intel Core i7 processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 series and an ultrafast, 120Hz, 5ms display. Meanwhile, the ROG Strix Hero Edition is designed for MOBA fans who are geared towards eSports, packing Intel Core i7 processors, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 10 Series graphics and a 120Hz wide-view display with rich color fidelity.

As for pricing and availability information, ASUS has yet to let us know what the plan is, although we can imagine that all of the aforementioned laptops will cost a pretty penny. Still, can you really put a price on the sort of performance you’re going to squeeze out of this thing?

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Computex 2017!

ASUS made an even bigger curved monitor especially for gamers

Yeah, ASUS, we get it: you’re really into games these days. We’re about halfway through the company’s Republic of Gamers press conference here at Computex in Taipei, and we just got our first dose of info about its latest gamer-friendly monitor: a curved 35-inch Quantum Dot LCD panel running at 3440×1440, complete with HDR support and a maximum 200MHz refresh rate.

It’s technically called the ROG Swift PG35VQ, though no one would blame you for not remembering that. As you’ve probably guessed by its resolution, this one’s runs at an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio. More importantly, this display now sits at the top of the ASUS heap — it just barely edges out the existing 34-inch Swift PG348Q, for those keeping track of sizes.

Throw in the obligatory support for NVIDIA’s G-Sync and you’ve got yourself one of the most tantalizing new display options out there, period. It’s also worth noting that if you’re not a gamer, you’d probably still enjoy the screen’s beautiful absurdity — the PG35VQ is utter overkill for Excel, for instance, but just think of how many rows and columns you could immerse yourself in at one. (Then again, the slightly garish etchings around back the lighting effects at the monitor’s three-pronged base aren’t for everyone.) Alas, we’re not yet sure how much this display will cost yet — we’ll report back as we learn more.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from Computex 2017!

Logitech Pop Smart Button now compatible with Apple HomeKit, control your Hue, Sonos and other kit with one tap

As you add more smart home devices to your abode you soon realise that instead of making life less complicated, they can sometimes do the opposite.

That’s because each device requires a different app to control it. And even when all linked through a unifying smart home system, you might find you have to hunt for your smartphone, open it, open the app and activate products just to boil a kettle to make a cup of tea.

It is the very definition of a first world problem. Pressing the on switch on a non-smart kettle is so much simpler.

The Logitech Pop Smart Button might be the answer though.

We first encountered the Pop Smart Button at the end of last year. But it’s now been made compatible with Apple HomeKit, which is a big deal for iOS users. It is also about to be sold in Apple stores in the UK, from 13 June.

• Apple HomeKit and Home app: What are they and how do they work?
• Apple HomeKit tips and tricks with Apple TV
• Which Sonos speaker is best for you? Play:1, Play:3, Play:5, PlayBar or PlayBase
• What Philips Hue smart bulbs are there and which should you buy?

It comprises one big button you can wall-mount or leave on a side table that, with one tap, can switch on the lights, draw the curtains, even start music on your Sonos system. And it comes with three different gesture options, so different interactions can be pre-programmed and controlled easily.

You also get a bridge device in the Pop Smart Button Kit that links to your home network wirelessly and interacts with all the compatible smart home devices you own.

It works with devices that are HomeKit-enabled, but also many that aren’t. You can set compatible kit up through Apple Home or a dedicated Pop app for iOS or Android.

The Logitech Pop Smart Button Kit is available for £119.99. Inside you get the bridge and one of the Pop Smart Buttons. You can also buy additional Pop Smart Buttons at £34.99 a, ahem, pop.

Nvidia says goodbye to heavyweight gaming notebooks with Max-Q initiative

Why it matters to you

Thanks to Nvidia’s new design specifications, your next notebook will weigh half as much and be a third as thick, yet will have a GPU that’s three times as fast.

Nvidia held its keynote address at Computex 2017 today, and it introduced a number of new initiatives that will drive its business forward over the next year. While artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies were also on stage, Nvidia’s core business of providing high-performance graphics was not ignored.

Mobile gaming is particularly important today, with a vast array of new gaming notebooks coming that will provide unsurpassed performance and support for virtual reality (VR) gaming. Nvidia introduced a new design specification, GeForce GTX with Max-Q Design, that is aimed at stuffing a massive amount of gaming performance into increasingly thin devices.

GeForce GTX with Max-Q Design refers to a new set of specifications that will work together to achieve the highest possible performance at a notebook’s peak efficiency. Four elements are involved with the design specification, including the most powerful GPUs running at peak efficiency, optimal game settings based on specific PCs, advanced thermal solutions that maintain a GPU’s ability to run at peak efficiency, and next-generation voltage regulators.

Via Max-Q Design, Nvidia is aiming at upcoming gaming notebooks that will provide significant performance improvements over earlier machines. The company is targeting notebooks that dramatically reduce thickness, from an average of 51mm thick to 18mm, and that are half the weight at five pounds versus 10 pounds. Compared to machines running the GeForce 880M GPU, GeForce GTX with Max-Q Design machines running GTX 1080 GPUs will perform three times as fast.

Jensen Huang brought out a new Asus ROG notebook running a brand new game, Project Cars 2, that was shown off for the first time as a demonstration of the machine’s power. The game, which was designed using lasers that mapped tracks down to 1mm, showed off the machine’s power, which was touted at 60 percent faster than a Sony PlayStation 4 Pro.

What the GeForce GTX with Max-Q Design technology means in essence is the advent of thinner, lighter machines that provide significantly more performance than previous gaming notebooks that were much thicker and heavier. By ensuring the best combination of high-performance GPUs, excellent thermal management and components, and system optimization, Nvidia is promising gamers even more powerful and mobile gaming.

Watch this guy on a drone deliver a soccer ball to a cup final

Why it matters to you

People-carrying drones could one day be used as a cost-effective rescue vehicle for emergency situations where other forms of transport are of little use.

When you think of drone delivery, you probably picture a quadcopter with a small package dangling beneath it. You certainly don’t imagine a man holding a soccer ball while standing on a multi-rotor copter that’s flying toward a ref who’s waiting to start a cup final, right?

So check out the video above, where you’ll be treated to the bizarre sight of a man holding a soccer ball while standing on a multi-rotor copter that’s flying toward a ref who’s waiting to start a cup final.

The eye-catching spectacle took place over the weekend at the start of the Portuguese Cup Final between Benfica Lisbon and Vitória de Guimarães at Lisbon’s National Stadium.

Sporting a rather fetching pair of gold-colored shoulder pads, the flying ball-deliverer rose above the crowd to much excitement, hovering high in the air while holding the all-important match ball.

Looking comfortable and in control, and handling the appalling weather conditions with aplomb, the daredevil pilot pulls a few gentle moves before making a perfect landing at the side of the field and handing the ball to the ref, allowing the game to get underway.

It’s an impressive display, and certainly a lot smoother than the early efforts of this guy who developed a flying suit using six micro-gas turbines for power.

In other drone-carries-human escapades, YouTube star Casey Neistat recently used a one to fly him over a house in rather spectacular fashion, while Latvia-based drone maker Aerones used one of its specially designed flying machines to hoist a guy hundreds of feet in the air for what was apparently the world’s first drone jump. Aerones’ plan is to market its machine as a cost-effective rescue vehicle for emergency situations where traditional forms of transport are of little use.

Oh, and in case you’re interested, Benfica won the soccer clash, beating Vitória de Guimarães 2-1.

France sets up terrifying digital displays to stop jaywalkers

Why it matters to you

One day, self-driving cars will ensure pedestrian safety, but until they go mainstream you’ll still have to watch your step.

Recent research conducted by a team at Strasbourg University in France found that in 40 percent of cases, pedestrians there cross the road even when there’s a red light instructing them to wait.

There are rules against such behavior in the European nation, though people are rarely punished if they scuttle across on a red. However, considering that in the Paris region alone more than 4,000 pedestrians are hit by cars on the streets every year, the folks in charge would really rather you stayed put till the light turns green.

In an effort to highlight the issue, French road safety body DRIEA teamed up with ad agency Serviceplan to create a system to scare the bejeezus out of these wrongdoers in the hope that it might make them reconsider their risky street-crossing habits.

Set up recently beside several crossings around Paris, the kit consists of a large digital display with motion sensors, a camera, and speakers. Every time someone crosses on a red, the sound of a car’s screeching tires blasts out of the speakers, in all likelihood causing the walker to believe they are about to die.

But that’s not all. When the screeching noise sounds, the display’s built-in camera also takes a photo of the pedestrian’s petrified expression and immediately sticks it up on the display.

With their heart pounding and legs wobbling, the panicked pedestrians in the video (above) spot their mug on the screen and go to take a closer look. As they approach the display, they’re presented with the message: “Don’t take the risk of staring death in the face. Respect the traffic lights when you cross the road.”

And as if that wasn’t enough humiliation, photos of the pedestrians’ terrified faces are currently being used on posters nationwide and as part of a Facebook campaign to promote road safety.

Intel strikes back at AMD with overclockable X-Series, led by 18-core monster

Why it matters to you

Intel’s X-Series contains its fastest processors ever and looks to hold of competition from AMD’s Ryzen.

Intel isn’t taking AMD’s new Ryzen processor lying down and has responded by launching a lineup of new processors at Computex 2017.

The Core X-Series, widely leaked before release, does not just focus on high-end successors to Intel’s previous Core i7-5960X and 6950X. It is a broad new series that spans from a four-core, four-thread Core i5 to a Core i9 (yes, Core i9 is now a thing) with 18 cores and 36 threads.

Technically, the X-Series is not new. The designation was already used for Intel’s fastest processors. But it was not much of a series, as it was limited to just Intel’s most powerful processor. As you can see in the table below, the new X-Series family provides an option at most budgets.

Processor
Base Clock
Boost Clock
Cores
Threads
L3 Cache
Price
Intel Core i9-7980XE
N/A
N/A
18
36
N/A
$1,999
Intel Core i9-7960X
N/A
N/A
16
32
N/A
$1,699
Intel Core i9-7940X
N/A
N/A
14
28
N/A
$1,399
Intel Core i9-7920X
N/A
N/A
12
24
N/A
$1,199
Intel Core i9-7900X
3.3
4.3
10
20
13.75MB
$999
Intel Core i7-7820X
3.6
4.3
8
16
11MB
$599
Intel Core i7-7800X
3.5
4.0
6
12
8.25MB
$389
Intel Core i7-7740X
4.3
4,5
4
8
8MB
$339
Intel Core i5-7640X
4.0
4.2
4
4
6MB
$242

The flagship is, of course, the Core i9-7980XE, which has 18 cores and 36 threads, and has earned the title of “Intel’s first teraflop processor.” Sneaking it in at Computex gives Intel an important morale victory of AMD, which recently announced its 16-core, 32-thread ‘Threadripper’ processor. The cost of the victory, however, is an incredible $2,000. We imagine AMD’s alternative will be less expensive.

Architecturally, the chips are a combination of Skylake and Kaby Lake hardware. Skylake is the foundation of everything with six cores or more, while Kaby Lake lies under the pair of four-core chips.

Given its scope, the focus of expanded Core X-Series might seem hard to understand. Still, Intel says it stands out in two ways: Platform and overclocking.

All Intel Core-X processors will use the new LGA 2066 socket, and run on the new Intel X299 platform, which is loaded with features. It supports up to 44 lanes of PCIe 3.0 bandwidth off the processor and 24 lanes for chipset I/O. Hardcore gamers can use that to run two cards at full PCIe x16 speed or four video cards at x8 speed, on motherboards with appropriate third-party support.

X299 also supports up to four-channel DDR4 2666 RAM. That is a big upgrade over the X99 platform. The first chipset to support DDR4, X99 was officially rated only for DDR4 2133. As you might expect, X299 supports Intel’s cutting-edge Optane memory. It can also support up to three Intel Rapid Storage Technology drives.

While the platform upgrades are nice, overclocking will be the winning feature for enthusiasts. All Intel Core X-Series processors will be unlocked. That massively increases the number of overclock-friendly chips available from Intel.

The massive core count on top-tier X-Series processors, combined with overclocking support across the range, has forced Intel to take cooling seriously. Intel recommends a closed-loop CPU liquid cooler for every processor in this line. Intel will sell its own option, the TS13X, which has a 150-millimeter radiator.

While most of the announcement focuses on the new chips and chipset, there are two feature changes in the processors themselves. The processors will support the latest Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, which can dynamically increase the clock speed of up to two cores above the usual limit, to maximize performance in workloads that are not heavily multi-threaded. Intel also announced support for the AVX-512 instruction set, though we are not aware of any consumer software that’ll take advantage of that tweak.

We are sure the pricing of the new X-Series will cause some controversy. The entry-level part only has four cores, and four threads yet sits at almost $250. That is in line with the six-core, 12-thread AMD Ryzen 5 1600X. Intel’s per-core performance is still quicker than AMD, however — and the clock speeds on Intel’s components are nothing to laugh at. We cannot wait to see how the fight between these premium Intel components and AMD’s top-tier Ryzen chips, plays out over the coming year.