The best mice of CES 2018

If you’re in the market for a new mouse to dominate opponents or simply wow your co-workers, the Consumer Electronics Show is a great place to see what is coming soon.

Here we list the best mice at CES 2018, all of which target the PC gamer. Manufacturers range from Cooler Master to Mad Catz to Razer, some of which provide their own take on Logitech’s wireless charging solution that hit the market in early 2017. 

Cooler Master MM830 

Highlights

Hidden D-pad buttons 

RGB illumination 

Built-in OLED screen 

Sensitivity up to 24,000DPI 

Pixart 3360 optical sensor 

Release date: Q2 or Q3 2018 

Price: TBD 

Cooler Master’s upcoming mouse is unique because it includes a “hidden” D-pad under the thumb consisting of four, low-profile buttons. Perfect for MMOs and MOBA games, your thumb will never need to leave the surface as it maneuvers to all four buttons: Just “rock” your thumb up, down, left, or right for actuation. These buttons are configurable through the company’s desktop utility. 

In addition to assigning D-pad commands, the software can be used to assign functions to the wheel, customize the RGB illumination, and set the DPI levels ranging up to 24,000 dots per inch. The “durable” PBT chassis also plays host to a built-in OLED screen with a 96 x 94 resolution so you can add a team logo or unique design directly to the mouse itself. This screen is presumably programmable through Cooler Master’s desktop software. 

HP’s Mike Nash on why new Spectre x360 15 is thicker, much more powerful

HP’s CES 2018 and late 2017 announcements include a couple of firsts that show off the company’s willingness to take chances on brand new technology. Its Envy x2 was the first detachable tablet announced that will leverage Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 ARM processors for long-lasting, always-connected computing, and it’s recently added an Intel version. And, its updated Spectre x360 15 beat packs in Intel new 8th-gen Core with Radeon RX Vega M graphics.

Mike Nash, HP’s Chief Technologist and VP of Customer Experience, Personal Systems, is high on HP’s ability to respond to customer requirements with modern computing solutions. And he had plenty to say as he stopped by Digital Trends’ booth at CES 2018, and discussed HP’s notebook and more.

First up was a discussion of HP’s first Always Connect PC based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 ARM processor, the Envy x2 detachable tablet, with Nash specifically touting the machine’s ability to remain connected to the internet and receive data while lasting for 16 hours or more on a charge. He also touched on the Intel version of the Envy x2 that brings greater performance, while maintaining around 12 hours of battery life.

Nash went on to discuss some of the differences between the ARM and Intel versions, including HP’s decision to offer both in response to customer requests. He provided an overview of each, discussing relative strengths, and touching on what a buyer needs to consider in making a good choice between the two.

Next, Nash discussed one of the first convertible 2-in-1s to pack in Intel’s new Kaby Lake-G chips, which mate an eighth-generation Intel Core i7 CPU with AMD’s Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU. The 15.6-inch 2-in-1 promises gaming performance falling somewhere between the Nvidia GTX 1050 and GTX 1060 GPUs, with all the abilities of a pen-enabled notebook that converts to a (large) tablet for handwriting and drawing.

If you’re wondering how HP makes its decisions on how to design its notebooks to meet customer needs, then this is the video for you. You’ll learn more about how HP listens to its customers, while picking up additional details about each of HP’s newest notebooks.

Editors’ Recommendations

• HP’s Mike Nash Discusses HP Envy x2, Spectre x360 15
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• Super-efficient Windows laptops powered by Qualcomm phone chips are here
• HP’s Envy x2 claims longest battery life of any detachable Windows PC

From smartphone to notebook: Razer’s Kevin Sather gives scoop on Project Linda

Razer is best known for its iconic black gaming PCs and accessories. The company has recently branched out into smartphones, releasing a device that’s unsurprisingly optimized for gaming with a fast 120MHz display to ensure a smooth gameplay experience. Now, Razer has unveiled Project Linda, a concept dock that allows the Razer smartphone to morph into a notebook.

Kevin Sather, director of product marketing systems for Razer, stopped by our booth to talk about Project Linda and give some insight into how and why the product developed. Regarding the how, Sather focused on the wealth of design experience that Razer had accumulated in building its premium gaming notebooks, along with its experience in creating the Razer smartphone itself.

The why? It just made sense to put those two together and make a product that the market might appreciate. It didn’t hurt that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 CPU provides some serious power that could be put to better use than simply powering a smartphone. In terms of creating a solid Android-based notebook experience, Sather spoke to the company’s decision to use the Centio desktop environment, and he provided an overview of how that experience made sense for Project Linda.

In our initial assessment, we found Project Linda compelling as a notebook, with a pleasant keyboard and a solid design. We were less certain about the usefulness of using the Razer smartphone as an LCD-based touchpad, at least in terms of how the concept has so far been designed and programmed. Sather spoke to that question a bit, touting Razer’s past experience with utilizing dual displays on a notebook and promising more functionality to come.

Sather also talked about the Razer smartphone, highlighting the company’s desire to create something special for gamers and also for media consumers. The 12MHz display is one aspect, an immersive audio experience is another, and Razer rounded things out with support for both HDR10 and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. That combination of features would make for a solid notebook experience.

There’s no word yet if or when Project Linda will become a product you can actually purchase. It’s possible that Razer will utilize Project Linda to test new features and functionality for the company’s notebooks and accessories. But if it does make its way to the market, it could be one of the more interesting solutions for converting a smartphone into a notebook.

Editors’ Recommendations

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• Razer Phone vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 8: A new challenger approaches

Graphene-based wearable could help save babies from ‘crib death’

Graphene, a versatile material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in an hexagonal lattice, can do everything from making superior speakers to detecting cancer cells to creating ultrastrong shields. Its latest feat? Forming a smart sensor which could be used as an early warning system to help keep babies safe from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), aka “crib death,” the unexpected and unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby.

Developed by researchers at the United Kingdom’s University of Sussex, the smart sensor is composed of a length of flexible rubber tube, filled with water, oil, and graphene particles. The device is able to detect changes including the rising and falling of a person’s chest, potentially to lifesaving effect.

“Normally what happens when you mix oil and water together is that they separate out; think about shaking a hot lava lamp,” lead researcher Dr. Matthew Large told Digital Trends. “Eventually all the small droplets you create collect together, because oil and water don’t like being in contact with each other. What we have done is put graphene at the interface between those two liquids, which both liquids are more happy to be in contact with. This has two effects: It stops the droplets from merging, so the liquids can’t separate, and it makes the bubbles conductive to electricity.

“It is that last point that has allowed us to develop a liquid sensor that can detect stretching; electrons can hop between the graphene sheets, but when we stretch the bubbles this becomes much more difficult. We detect that change in electrical current and can relate it to the strain on the sensor.”

University of Sussex

Spurred on by the Global Challenges put forward by the Gates Foundation, the team hopes that this relatively simple solution could be used to create a low-cost, wearable health monitor technology. In particular, they think it could be useful as an early warning system for parents if their baby’s breathing or heart rate changes dramatically — allowing them to seek help as quickly as possible. It could also be used for older patients in a hospital setting.

“We are working alongside an industrial partner, Advanced Material Development, to evolve our prototypes into a marketable product,” Large said. “Then we will be looking to talk to equipment manufacturers about production. We are anticipating having something marketable within four years.”

A paper describing the research was recently published in the journal Nanoscale.

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Nvidia’s latest software update helps protect your system from ‘Spectre’

Nvidia is coming to the rescue, to help protect your system against the Spectre exploit. Or more specifically, to make sure its drivers can’t be used against you.

Here’s the thing about Spectre, it’s a hardware-level exploit, so rolling out a security patch isn’t as easy as it would be if they were just regular security vulnerabilities living somewhere on your computer. Patching this thing involves patching all the pathways someone could potentially take into your system.

Spectre and Meltdown take advantage of “speculative execution” to gain access to the beating heart of your operating system, its kernel. Because of that, manufacturers have had to roll out some tricky firmware updates, which insulate your system against the Spectre and Meltdown exploits.

The new Nvidia drivers make sure your GPU and its software are protected against “speculative side-channel vulnerabilities.” Nvidia accomplished this by effectively making sure your GPU can’t be used as a pathway into your operating system’s kernel.

Nvidia identified three main components of the Spectre exploit, and this patch — which you can and should go get now if you have an Nvidia graphics card — addresses two of them. The third version of the exploit shouldn’t be an issue, Nvidia says.

“At this time, Nvidia has no reason to believe that Nvidia software is vulnerable to this variant when running on affected CPUs,” the patch notes read.

To be clear, Nvidia’s hardware isn’t vulnerable to these exploits. Meltdown and Spectre are CPU exploits, not GPU exploits. This patch effectively shuts the door on Spectre by making sure it can’t be used to take advantage of the close relationship between your GPU, its drivers, and your operating system’s secure kernel.

The Meltdown and Spectre exploits were revealed by Google’s Project Zero security team. The exploits were actually uncovered in 2017 and Google’s team notified vendors who might be in the business of selling potentially vulnerable products.

“As soon as we learned of this new class of attack, our security and product development teams mobilized to defend Google’s systems and our users’ data. We have updated our systems and affected products to protect against this new type of attack,” Google’s Project Zero team reported. “We also collaborated with hardware and software manufacturers across the industry to help protect their users and the broader web.”

Editors’ Recommendations

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Watch as we crawl inside Furrion Robotics’ gargantuan Prosthesis racing mech

When you think of racing, chances are that either horses or something with wheels comes to mind, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Furrion Robotics is working on Prosthesis, a walking mech that it hopes will eventually compete in the X1 Mech Racing League, which Furrion founded. We caught up with the company’s founder and CEO, Jonathan Tippett, on the CES 2018 show floor to chat about Prosthesis, and even got the chance to climb inside.

“My youth was spent mountain biking and snowboarding and riding motorcycles in the mountains of [British Columbia],” Tippett told Digital Trends. “I also had a fascination with excavators, dinosaurs, trophy trucks, dune buggies. You kind of mix that all together at Burning Man and get yourself an engineering degree, and out comes a racing mech.”

Tippett started planning what would eventually become Prosthesis as far back as 2006. He and his friends organized a yearly local competition in Vancouver, BC, based on the show Junkyard Wars. The challenge one year was to build a walking machine, and Tippett’s team successfully built one in just 48 hours. That experience created a team that built a more advanced walking machine called the Mondo Spider, which gave Tippett crucial experience building this type of machine. Eventually, he and his team built a single prototype leg that led Furrion to sign on for a full prototype.

Still, building a machine is just the start. Actually making it move — and quickly at that — is a much trickier problem. While Prosthesis was hardly graceful at first, Furrion posted a video earlier this week that shows it moving much more like something that could eventually race. Eventually.

“We’ve literally just got this machine walking,” Tippett says. “So, the next stage is to increase the walking speed, which is an engineering challenge and a piloting challenge, because no one has walked one of these things before.”

While other companies are investing heavily in A.I., and machine learning will likely play a part in keeping Prosthesis stable and upright, the idea is that it will remain 100 percent human-controlled. “It’s a sport,” Tippet says. “The whole point was to invent a sport.”

Editors’ Recommendations

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Power outage at CES plunges thousands of exhibitors and attendees into darkness

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is home to all manner of different technologies, and just about all of them have something in common: they require power to work. Unfortunately, that was a commodity in short supply at CES today as its main building, the Las Vegas Convention Center’s (LVCC) Central Hall, was plunged into darkness for over an hour. Fortunately, power was restored following what’s being called an “isolated power outage.”

The power outage started at around 11:14am PT. The outage follows a previous one that forced Google to shutter its display in the LVCC’s car park. The LVCC’s Central Hall is home to booths from major companies including Sony, Samsung, and LG. Attendees who were in the venue were evacuated. No explanation was given for the outage, although sources told Digital Trends it was related to a transformer in the parking lot. The issue came after the city’s first rainfall in more than 100 days, which caused flash floods. Ironically, today’s weather is clear, warm, and dry.

It was bad news for all involved: Digital Trends’ live-stream was temporarily down, tech demonstrations were brought to a grinding halt, and booths belonging to companies (including smaller startups) who paid a premium to be at CES were left unable to do anything. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA), the event’s organizer, said that booths in the South and North halls were unaffected by the outage.

In a tweet, the official CES account wrote that: “We’ve been informed by Nevada Power that the outage has been addressed and they are in the process of restoring power. We will continue to restrict access until full power has been restored. Thank you for your continued patience. We encourage you to visit other open show areas.”

This year’s Consumer Electronics Show 2018 is predicted to welcome 170,000 attendees from around the world to Las Vegas this year. The event boasts 3,900 exhibitors, although not a whole lot of them were able to do much temporarily. Given that this is only day two, hopefully this problem won’t be a recurring one on subsequent days of the event.

Right about now would be the perfect time for someone to introduce the breakthrough grid-free renewable energy source they’ve been working on. Anyone?

Editors’ Recommendations

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Get the support you deserve at work in one of the best office chairs

Anyone who works a typical 9-to-5 job knows that sitting is the bane of their existence. Our spines aren’t made to withstand hours sitting at a desk, but labor in the age of computers often demands just that. Opting for the proper office chair, one designed to cradle you as you work and provide you with the ample comfort and good posture, is a practical and well-advised solution.

The best chairs go beyond what you’d expect. Many offer resounding ergonomic benefits, breathable mesh backing, and excellent lumbar support, while simultaneously granting you a swath of customization options spanning everything from colors to contours. None of them are going to be a cure-all for your workday woes — at least, not in the way a standing desk might be — but customized suspension and the appropriate aesthetics go far in the long haul. We’ve rounded up the best office chairs that will have you feeling supported during the workday.

The best

Herman Miller Embody

So, what is it about the Embody we so revere? It’s a fair question, sure, especially considering the Embody’s lofty price tag and accompanying shipping costs. Well, for starters, the chair offers a dynamic matrix of “pixels” that allow the seat and back to automatically conform to your body’s every movement, while the chair’s central spine and flexible ribs work to maintain proper posture, regardless if you’re leaning forward or reclining. Said movement capabilities help promote better blood and oxygen flow, and if that wasn’t enough, the advanced tilt mechanism helps combat unwanted hip, neck, and lumbar strain. The chair even sizes to fit your body perfectly, comes in a range of colors, and features a skin-like covering for increased airflow.

Price: $1,160+

Buy one now from:

Amazon Office Designs

Allsteel Acuity

While many office chairs use a series of buttons and levers for greater comfort control, the Acuity intuitively adjusts to your body and shifting posture. The chair automatically modifies lumbar support, as well as angular recline, by adapting to pressure and weight distribution. The large mesh openings also create optimal breathability for better ventilation. For greater flexibility around the office, owners have the option of outfitting the back of the chair with a slip-on leather jacket. This gives the Acuity a more sophisticated look, one better suited for conference rooms and private offices.

Price: $371

Buy one now from:

Madison Seating

Steelcase Gesture

The Steelcase Gesture remains one of the sleeker office chairs on the market. A deep, flexible contour in the back of the chair supports the natural shape of the spine and helps minimize tension in the lower back. The arms also pivot to host a range of body types and better ergonomic positioning while typing. A semi-matte finish along the back and a polished-metal wheelbase complement the chair’s modern design. Steelcase tested the Gesture for a maximum of 400 pounds, too, which means weight shouldn’t be an issue.

Price: $998+

Buy one now from:

Steelcase

Steelcase Leap

The Steelcase Leap has long stood as the company’s flagship — and for good reason. It’s one of the more popular office chairs in existence, one which owes much of its merit to years of painstaking research and subsequent development. The result is a chair that caters to the individual and remains reliant on the company’s LiveBack system, which lets you conveniently and independently adjust the seat and back of the chair for enhanced support. The back mimics the natural shape of your spine throughout the day, helping to encourage better posture, while the chair’s innovative glide system allows you to recline without having to orient yourself away from your workload (heaven forbid).

Price: $770+

Buy one now from:

Amazon Office Designs

DXRacer Formula Series DOH/FH08/NW

While the DXRacer Formula Series is actually a gaming chair, it has a lot of great ergonomic features that help prop you up while sending a report instead of shooting zombies. With both an adjustable lumbar pillow and head pillow, you get some plushness you don’t normally find in an office chair. You also have the ability to set the seat back and armrests to suit your posture, but its straight backrest helps keep your spine aligned. Its unique looks might make it seem like you’re piloting a spacecraft instead of answering emails, but honestly, that’s a bonus in our book.

Price: $349

Buy one now from:

Amazon

Let just the right amount of light in with Halio smart-tinting glass

Smart homes, once a fantastical element of sci-fi stories, are quickly becoming the new normal, as ever more “smart” appliances hit the market. With the growing popularity of digital assistants like Alexa (a 2017 study by the Consumer Technology Association predicted that 44 percent of adults in the United States plan to buy a smart speaker in 2018) consumers automate many of the daily tasks that clog up home life, from big things like keeping your home secure to less pressing details, like combining the weather report with breakfast. Kinestral, maker of the Halio smart-tinting window, wants to do away with pesky blinds, offering a window that can darken to dim incoming sunlight.

The Halio “came out of the need to solve one of the oldest problems in buildings,” vice president of marketing Craig Henricksen told Digital Trends, “which is as soon as you put glass or a window in, suddenly there’s all this light coming in, which we love, we love the views, until that point where it’s too much; too much glare, you can’t do your work.”

Like the thermostat wars, the battle over whether to leave the shades open or closed can be a contentious topic in offices. Some people want to let the sunshine in, others hate the overbearing glare of the sun on their computer screen. Unfortunately, blinds and shutters are generally a binary solution. Halio offers a more nuanced approach, allowing users to adjust the exact amount of light that comes through the glass.

How does it work? Henricksen described the process. “There’s two special chemicals on a piece of glass, separated by a conductive layer. And when you apply a voltage, it moves ions from one side to the other, and depending on which side you push it to, it either blocks light, or lets it through.”

The Halio can connect to digital assistants like Alexa, and users can fine-tune the tinting with remarkable precision. There are two models: The Halio, which can block up to 70 percent of light, and the Halio Black, which can block up to 99.9 percent of light, perfect for those who hate to be awoken by morning light.

You’ll likely see Halio in your office before your bedroom. Henricksen said that the company is planning to launch Halio for commercial buildings around mid-2018, with residential sales closer to the end of the year. Although the price is not yet set, Henricksen estimated the price will be around four to five times that of a traditional window.

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AMD’s Mark Papermaster on why its collab with Intel is good for Radeon fans

AMD has been making tons of noise in the CPU and GPU markets with the introduction of its new Ryzen processors based on the Zen architecture, and the Radeon Vega line. Proving the point that sometimes competitors find good reason to partner up, AMD also struck a deal with Intel to mate its Radeon Vega M GPUs with Intel CPUs to create the Kaby Lake-G solution for high-performance mobile computing.

Mark Papermaster, AMD’s Chief Technology Officer, stopped by the Digital Trends booth and spent some time discussing all of the company’s efforts to gain market share and increased relevancy. According to Papermaster, AMD is making some progress on both accounts, whether we’re talking about the consumer market or the enterprise.

Of most pressing concern, Papermaster provided some background on the recent speculative execution exploits that have rocked the computing world. If you’ve been looking for a clear and concise explanation of the exploit variants, why they’re important, and how they’re being addressed, then you’ll definitely want to give the video a watch.

It likely doesn’t hurt Papermaster’s presentation that AMD is not as affected by all of the exploits as is Intel. Of the two exploit types, Meltdown and Spectre, AMD processors are only affected by the later variants. As Papermaster outlines, the company spent months working with other industry members to address the exploits through software and firmware patches.

Of course, Papermaster gave plenty of attention to AMD’s newest products. Kaby Lake-G was discussed, including a description of why AMD partnered with Intel. He also covered AMD’s newest Ryzen CPUs for mobile and the new low-end Ryzen 3-series chips. Of particular interest for notebook buyers will be the upcoming accelerated processing units (APUs) combine Ryzen CPUs and Radeon RX Vega GPUs. According to Papermaster, that will afford buyers a significantly more competitive offering compared to Intel’s eighth-generation processors with Integrated HD graphics.

If you want to know what AMD has coming soon, then this is the video for you. Whether it’s the budget market, premium notebooks, gaming systems, or virtual reality (VR) systems, AMD has something available now or coming soon that should be of interest to every PC user.

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