Google’s Titan Key ensures your phone and apps are virtually unhackable

Google is exceptionally good at ensuring your account is not accessed by a malicious character. The tech giant has a 99.9 percent success rate when it comes to preventing unauthorized access to its accounts, even when its confirmed with a password and phone number. But for Google, 99.9 percent is not enough: It wants to block all malicious attempts.

To meet its goal, Google released Titan Key, its first security key kit for consumers. Titan Key is used as a secondary verification method that is used in addition to your regular Google password. The Titan Key kit includes a USB-A key as well as a Bluetooth Low Energy key, and it’s more secure than other two-step authentication methods such as codes sent via text messaging or email that can be intercepted by hackers.

Setting up the Titan Key is painless. To set up on a computer, you will need to use Google’s Chrome browser, head to the Titan Key setup site, and follow the directions on using a Security Key for two-step verification. The process takes a few minutes, but you’ll want to set up both security keys at the same time.

Once your security keys are paired to your web account, you can now start setting up the keys to work on your smartphone. You may need to log out of your Google account and sign back in, then follow the directions for two-step verification. When prompted, select the Bluetooth option and follow the directions to pair your key. In the near future, Android users will be able to quickly pair the Titan Key via NFC.

iPhone users will need to install Google Smart Lock to pair their keys. When prompted, sign into your Google account and click the BLE key to begin pairing. It’s worth noting that Titan Key is not compatible with Apple’s default Mail app, so you’ll need to install Google’s Gmail or Inbox by Gmail apps.

Still, the Titan Key is not only limited to Google services. Since the Key supports the FIDO (Fast ID Online) standard, you can use it with any website that allows you to use a security key for two-step verification. There’s a growing number of sites that support this, including Facebook, Twitter, Salesforce, Stripe, and Dropbox. Expect more sites to support security key authentication in the future as people become more comfortable with the technology.

Titan Key is available now on the Google Store. The Titan Key kit sells for $50 and includes a USB-A security key, Bluetooth Low Energy security key (that charges via MicroUSB), a USB-A to USB-C adapter, and MicroUSB cable. 

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Ultimate Ears Announces New BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 Speakers With Magic Button and Apple Music Playlist Support

Popular speaker company Ultimate Ears today announced the launch of the two newest speakers in its product lineup, the BOOM 3 and the MEGABOOM 3. Like all Ultimate Ears speakers, the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 are portable, waterproof speakers that can be used in a variety of conditions and are perfect for the pool or the beach.

Compared to previous-generation speakers, the BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 use new two-toned high-performance fabric that’s ultra tough and was originally designed for purposes like motorcycle jackets and fire equipment.

The speakers also include a new Magic Button at the top of the enclosure for easier access to music controls, while MEGABOOM 3 comes equipped with deeper bass thanks to new passive radiators.

Design

We were able to check out the new MEGABOOM 3 ahead of its debut, and we were impressed with its fresh design and the new controls that Logitech has implemented. The new two-tone fabric looks fantastic, and the overall design of the speaker is much sleeker because the rubber strap that’s normally at the front has been relocated to the back. This also gives more surface area for the sound, for better 360 degree audio.

We checked out the red version of the speaker, which is vibrant and eye catching, but it also comes in black, blue, and purple. Apple will also be selling two exclusive BOOM 3 and MEGABOOM 3 colors: cloud, a light blue, and denim, a darker blue shade. It’s worth noting that the new fabric the speaker is made from adds better resistance to dust, increasing its water resistance and ingress rating to IP67.

MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 will hold up to liquids and can be used at the beach, at the pool, in the rain, and in other similar conditions. This year, the speakers float, so you can stick them right in the pool to listen to music while you swim. Ultimate Ears does water resistance right and we’ve never seen issues with the speakers in wet conditions.

The BOOM 3 is the smaller of the two speakers and is more portable, while the MEGABOOM 3 is larger with louder sound and more bass, making it ideal for use outdoors. Sound wise, the MEGABOOM 3 is loud enough that at max volumes it’s more than loud enough to be heard throughout multiple rooms or across much of a pool or beach area.

With the new look, the “+” and “-” buttons blend right into the fabric of the speaker for a more subtle design, and, most importantly, the update relocates the micro-USB to the back of the device instead of the bottom so it’s now possible to charge while the speaker is upright and in use.

Both the MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 are compatible with the $40 Power Up charging dock that Ultimate Ears launched last year, which lets you charge the speaker inductively so you don’t need to fuss with a cable and the micro-USB port.

The MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 have built-in batteries. The BOOM 3 battery can last for up to 15 hours before needing to be recharged, while the MEGABOOM 3 battery can last for 20 hours.

Performance and App

While the MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 look great, it’s the addition of the Magic Button that boosts their utility above and beyond previous-generation Ultimate Ears speakers.

Paired with the new Ultimate Ears BOOM app, the Magic Button allows the MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 to work with playlists for the first time. From Apple Music, you can import up to four playlists. You can include self-created playlists or those that Apple creates, such as New Music Mix and Chill Mix.

Playlists can be played automatically using the Magic Button. A long press will activate your Playlists, while a second long press will skip to the next playlist. This is useful if you have different playlists you want to access at a party or while at the beach or in the pool but don’t have your iPhone handy.

The Magic Button also offers full controls for other purposes. Pressing it turns the speaker on, while a second press will pause. A double press will skip to the next song.

You can set up four playlists using the BOOM app, which is required to use the playlist feature. On iOS devices, it works with Apple Music and pulls content from your music library, recommendations from Apple, and preset playlists you’ve created. The playlists feature is limited to Apple Music, so it unfortunately won’t work with Spotify at this time.

On Android, though, it does work with Deezer Premium, and Ultimate Ears says that additional music services will be added in the future.

You can, however, still play music from Spotify or any other music service from the iPhone over the Bluetooth connection to the speaker. The BOOM app also offers full music controls and the ability to turn the speaker on and off, plus it offers an equalizer for adjusting bass, mid, and treble to preferred levels.

The app also provides access to key features Ultimate Ears speakers are known for like PartyUp for linking up to 150 speakers together and Block Party for allowing multiple people to stream content to the MEGABOOM 3 or BOOM 3.

Ultimate Ears says that both the MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 have been upgraded with enhanced Bluetooth range up to 150 feet, and that longer range support was evident in our testing compared to previous-generation Ultimate Ears speakers.

Ultimate Ears’ speakers always sound great, and while no improvements have been made to the sound quality of the BOOM 3, the MEGABOOM 3 has noticeably deeper bass through the inclusion of new passive radiators.

We weren’t able to test the BOOM 3’s sound, but the MEGABOOM 3 sounds even better than previous-generation Ultimate Ears speakers.

How to Buy

The new MEGABOOM 3 and BOOM 3 will be available for purchase starting in September in the United States and select countries in Europe and Asia.

The BOOM 3 is priced at $149.99, and the MEGABOOM 3 is priced at $199.99. As mentioned earlier, Apple will be selling exclusive versions of the two speakers in two different shades of blue.

Note: Ultimate Ears provided MacRumors with MEGABOOM 3 for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Tags: Logitech, Ultimate Ears
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Engineers build new camera capable of taking pictures in five dimensions

Stefan Heist, Friedrich Schiller University / Fraunhofer IOF

Engineers in Germany have developed a new compact imaging system that’s capable of recording hyperspectral images in five dimensions. This 5D process means capturing data related to multiple wavelengths of light, along with spatial coordinates, as a function of time. The 5D system represents the first laboratory setup in which high-quality spatial and spectral resolution, depth accuracy, and high frame rate imaging have all been combined into a single compact system. It opens up exciting possibilities for security, medical imaging — and even grocery shopping.

The basic principle of the sensor is not dissimilar to the stereo vision that we possess as humans. However, instead of two eyes, which are limited to the detection of only visible light, the 5D imaging system utilizes two hyperspectral cameras operating in the visible to near-infrared range. Because the scene is captured from two slightly different directions, it’s possible to establish the depth information by identifying points on the surface that are present in both camera views. These images can be taken as rapidly as 17 frames per second, making this system faster than similar ones.

“There is a rapidly growing number of applications, which require the determination of more than just one property of macroscopic measurement objects,” Stefan Heist, research group leader at Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering, told Digital Trends. “Whether in medical imaging, precision agriculture, or optical sorting, for meaningful and reliable results, both the shape of the objects and their spectral properties have to be measured.”

The technology could prove useful for taking historical records of cultural artifacts — not just how they appear but also their material composition. To showcase this application, the researchers used their 5D camera to digitally document a historical relief globe from 1885. It could also be used for rapid, contactless identification of persons for security purposes — with spectral information adding another layer to existing biometric systems.

Right now, the imaging system is about the size of a laptop, although the researchers are hoping to shrink it further. “If the entire sensor can be further miniaturized so that it can eventually be placed in the smartphone, end users at home can [also] benefit from the technology,” Heist said. “It could then be used, for example, for the fast inspection of the condition of fruit or vegetables, or for personal medical monitoring.”

While he noted that the implementation of some of these uses cases will “take some time,” this is still an exciting step forward when it comes to imaging technology.

You can read more about it in a research paper recently published in the journal Optics Express.

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Here’s an old-school motion picture machine you can 3D print at home

Cool tech isn’t always about inventing something new. Sometimes it’s about re-creating the wheel, or, that is, the zoetrope.

Before there was there was modern film, Victorian animators used spinning displays called zoetropes to give the illusion of images in action. Film eventually became the more popular format for motion pictures, but zoetropes retained a sort of cult following and esteem among animation circles.

A device called 4-Mation is now putting a modern twist on the Victorian device. Whereas the classic design relied on 2D images, kind of like a flip book, 4-Mation uses 3D objects and strobing lights to create dynamic visuals. (Note: the strobes aren’t shown in the video above.)

“Zoetropes are the original GIFs,” Kevin Holmes, one of the 4-Mation creators, told Digital Trends. “3D Zoetropes take it to the next level, animating solid, 3D objects instead of paper cartoons. They are real-time stop-motion animation machines.”

Holmes and his colleagues recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for 4-Mation, offering four different animations, including a leapfrog, Lego/Marvel Comics, and underwater, fish-eats-fish scenario. Their target market is parents and educators with an interest in STEAM (science, tech, engineering, art, and math) fields and access to 3D printers. The Kickstarter campaign comes in a few different tiers, which will depend on a backer’s comfort with DIY.

At the lowest tier (about $33) backers are given just the basics and expected to build their own strobe machine and carousel. The next tier (around $200) includes everything except the frame and an animation, both of which can be downloaded and laser cut or printed. There are a few more tiers, each coming with added components. At the top (about $580) backers get everything they need (plus walnut finish), packed and flat-packed and ready to be assembled. As always, we offer words of caution when it comes to backing crowdfunding campaigns.

One of 4-Mation’s most interesting features is what Holmes calls “animation multiplexing,” which allows the device to depict a 72-frame “story” in a 20-frame loop, by letting the story develop in multiple segments.

“Basically we’re telling multiple versions of the same animation story simultaneously, and this allows us to fit a three-second story inside a one-second loop,” Holmes explained. “Like the others, the fish animation is a 20-frame loop, but if you watch the full story of the fish emerging from the clam, eating the fish in front and then being eaten itself, it takes more than three loops (or, precisely 72 frames) to watch.”

Still confused? Holmes and his team created a little video to help.

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New Wear OS smartwatches have arrived! Here’s why you shouldn’t buy them

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

There’s a brand-new way to interact with Google’s Wear OS smartwatches, which is exciting, and several new watches have been announced at IFA 2018 that will presumably receive the update when it rolls out early October. But you shouldn’t buy them. Not yet, at least.

The problem with Wear OS smartwatches isn’t entirely the operating system — the new changes are welcome — but what these watches need is a new processor. Almost all Wear OS smartwatches for the past two years have utilized Qualcomm’s aging Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor. It was a decent processor for its time, but it hasn’t been able to keep up with the competition. In almost all of our Wear OS smartwatch reviews over the past year, we’ve mentioned sluggish performance hampering the experience.

A newer processor would not only offer smoother performance, but would also likely be more efficient. That could mean improved battery, stretching the life of most Wear OS watches to more than a day. It would likely be smaller too, which would allow manufacturers to make slimmer watches closer in size to their analog counterparts. And all of these improvements aren’t too far away. Qualcomm has announced an event set for September 10 revolving around watches, and the company is highly expected to finally unveil the successor to the Wear 2100 processor. In an interview with Wareable, Qualcomm’s director of wearables claimed there would be “significant” improvements to battery life thanks to a revamped Ambient Display, and better integration with GPS and heart rate sensors.

We’re not quite sure why these brands are launching smartwatches right before Qualcomm’s wearable event.

With less than a month to go until we see Qualcomm’s new wearable, it’s difficult to recommend the new watches announced at IFA. Skagen’s Falster 2 may be one of the most beautiful Wear OS smartwatches we’ve ever seen, but it has the same 300mAh battery capacity as the old model, as well as the Wear 2100 processor. Our original Skagen Falster often hit 30 percent around 1 p.m., barely getting us through a work day. How long would the same watch with GPS and a heart rate monitor last?

The newly announced Diesel On Full Guard 2.5 now also comes with GPS and a heart rate monitor. We complained about the original On Full Guard’s short battery life in our review, and we’re not expecting an improvement here because it also uses the Wear 2100 processor. The only exception is Casio’s new WSD-F30, which boasts numerous battery-saving modes and is packed with features tailored for adventurers that you can’t get on most other watches.

Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

We’re not quite sure why these brands are launching smartwatches right before Qualcomm’s wearable event. Perhaps they’re trying to make use of leftover components and watches? Perhaps Qualcomm didn’t clue them in about its new processor? Either way, you will undoubtedly want to wait and see what Qualcomm’s next processor has to offer before you purchase a Wear OS smartwatch — new or old.

We’re expecting Google to unveil a Pixel Watch at its October event.

There’s a good chance smartwatches with the new processor could jump in price and cost far more than watches using the Wear 2100, but it’s still worth waiting to find out. It might even make sense to spend a little extra for these watches with the new processor, as they’ll likely radically improve your smartwatch experience. So far, we’re expecting Google to unveil a Pixel Watch at its October event, and we imagine more brands will follow later this fall.

Smartwatches aren’t just about the tech inside them. Design is just as important, and we hope the upcoming wave of watches will look just as good as many of the Wear OS watches we’ve seen from fashion brands. If watches like the Skagen Falster 2 tickle your fancy, then go for it, but it’s important to keep in mind that a major leap for Wear OS smartwatches may be just around the corner.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Connecticut Man Sent to Prison for 2014 Celebrity iCloud Hack

Connecticut man George Garafano has been sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the 2014 iCloud hacks that saw many celebrity photos illicitly shared on the internet.

Garafano was accused of hacking the iCloud accounts of more than 200 people over the course of 18 months, including multiple celebrities.

According to the Hartford Courant, a federal judge in Connecticut ordered the eight month prison term, which will be followed by three years of supervision after release.

Garafano in April pleaded guilty to sending phishing emails to his victims posing as a member of Apple’s online security team to obtain usernames and passwords. During the case, prosecutors said he traded the photos that he stole with other hackers and may have sold some of them to earn extra income.

Prosecutors had argued that Garafano should serve 10 to 16 months in prison, while Garafano asked for a more lenient sentence of five months in prison followed by five months in home confinement.

Garafano, who was in college at the time, says he has already suffered for his role in the 2014 hacking event and has “cleaned up his act” since the hacking occurred.

There were a total of four people charged with breaking into the iCloud accounts of celebrities, including Ryan Collins, Edward Majerczyk, and Emilio Herrera, along with Garafano. The other hackers have already been sentenced to prison terms ranging from nine months to 18 months.

When hundreds of nude celebrity photos began leaking online in 2014, there was initial speculation that iCloud had been hacked, but following an investigation, Apple determined that the accounts had been compromised by weak passwords.

Apple has since made improvements to its iCloud security by adding two-factor authentication to iCloud.com, introducing email alerts when an iCloud account is accessed on the web, and requiring app-specific passwords for third-party apps that access iCloud.
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Apple Purchased Akonia Holographics, a Company That Makes Lenses for AR Glasses

Apple has purchased a startup that makes lenses for augmented reality glasses, reports Reuters. The acquisition lends further evidence to rumors suggesting Apple is developing an augmented reality headset.

Akonia Holographics, the startup that Apple bought, advertises the “world’s first commercially available volume holographic reflective and waveguide optics for transparent display elements in smart glasses.”

The displays that it makes are said to use the company’s HoloMirror technology for “ultra-clear, full-color performance” to enable the “thinnest, lightest head worn displays in the world.”

Apple confirmed the purchase to Reuters with the statement that it uses when it makes an acquisition: “Apple buys smaller companies from time to time, and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans.”

Akonia Holographics was founded in 2012 by holography scientists who focused on holographic data storage before moving on to develop displays for augmented reality glasses, according to the company’s website.

It’s not clear when exactly Apple purchased Akonia Holographics, but sources that spoke to Reuters suggested the company had become “very quiet” over the last six months, indicating the acquisition may have been made in the first half of 2018.

Multiple rumors have suggested Apple has a research unit of hundreds of employees working on AR and VR and exploring the ways the emerging technologies could be used in future Apple products.

Apple is said to be exploring several prototypes, including a powerful AR/VR headset with an 8K display for each eye and a set of augmented reality smart glasses with a dedicated display, a built-in processor, and an “rOS” or reality operating system. Rumors indicate that Apple’s first AR or VR product could come out in 2019 or 2020.

Apple’s purchase of Akonia Holographics is its second recent AR/VR related acquisition. In November 2017, Apple purchased Vrvana, a company that developed a mixed reality headset called Totem.

Related Roundup: Apple VR ProjectTag: Apple acquisition
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Watching a pair of robots 3D print an object is like gazing into the future

3D printing is one of the most exciting revolutions to hit manufacturing in decades, but it’s not without its limitations. Perhaps the biggest of these is the fact that, unless you create an unusually large 3D printer or break your model up into a whole lot of pieces, it’s difficult to create especially large 3D-printed objects. Fortunately, researchers from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University have come up with a neat fix to the problem — and like all the best solutions, it involves a pair of robot arms.

In a new video demo, shown above, the researchers showcased how robots can build objects of virtually any size by moving around to carry out the printing. The demonstration employed off-the-shelf components, augmented by a nozzle, couplings, printing material and — perhaps most importantly — special guidance software developed at the university. It hints at a future in which whole teams of moving robots could collaborate to build structures.

“What we are seeing [in the video] is two mobile robots concurrently printing a concrete structure,” Pham Quang Cuong, Assistant professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, told Digital Trends. “The two robots first navigate from their base station to the printing site, then print by depositing a special type of cement layer by layer in a coordinated manner, and finally return to their base stations. The whole sequence was performed autonomously, [with] no human teleoperation.”

Cuong is no stranger to coming up with innovative uses for robots in construction tasks. Earlier this year, we wrote about another project he worked on in which robot arms were used to autonomously assemble a flat-packed Ikea chair — without having a massive argument over whether the instructions were being properly followed.

“The main potential use [for this latest project] is to print architectural, non-structural components, such as facades, either on-site or off-site,” he said. “Another team from our research center, the Singapore Center for 3D Printing, recently printed a bathroom unit using a similar technique.”

A paper describing the work, titled “Large-scale 3D Printing by a Team of Mobile Robots,” was recently published in the journal Automation in Construction.

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Qualcomm’s push against Intel worked, and we’re all reaping the benefits

The idea of a processor company truly challenging Intel still feels far-fetched. Despite the repeated security mistakes and executive switch-ups, Intel has an almost unshakable reputation in the eyes of both manufacturers and everyday people. We see Intel, and we buy.

But if the Intel’s most recent set of chips is any indication, Qualcomm recent run of PCs has caught the attention of the Intel empire. For the first time in a long time, Intel was forced to play catch up.

Catching up on battery life

We were rightfully skeptical when Qualcomm announced its big push into the PC space last fall. Despite the experience the company had in the mobile space, powering a PC running Windows 10 was a different ballgame. We assumed the Qualcomm processors would struggle to offer a smooth experience, that that assumption proved true — but Qualcomm managed to pull off things Intel couldn’t.

Let’s start with battery life. This is a common pain point for laptops, and despite the push for all-day battery led by Apple a few years back, there hasn’t been much  forward momentum since. Then came the three laptops powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, each claiming twenty hours of battery life.

The battery doesn’t last that long in the real world (manufacture estimates are always a stretch),  but we were pleasantly surprised all the same. The Asus NovaGo, the most affordable of the trio, lasted over 15 hours in video playback, and over 10 and a half hours in web browsing. That’s not 20 hours, but it still beats the snot out a typical Intel-powered laptop running Windows 10.

Now, Intel has made that same push for battery life. Laptops announced this week at IFA with Intel’s new Core processors feature similar claims of around twenty hours of battery life. Outside of the Surface Book 2 (which had the bonus of an extra battery built into the display), we’ve never seen an Intel-powered PC with that kind of battery life. 

Tearing down the walls of connectivity

Connectivity is the second big innovation in Qualcomm-powered PCs. As you might expect given its roots in smartphone hardware, laptops with Qualcomm processors come with 4G LTE by default. While they aren’t the first laptops to feature this kind of connectivity, it was uncommon and sold at a hefty premium. These Qualcomm PCs are affordable, mainstream devices that can be used anywhere you’d use a smartphone.

Intel is making a similar push in connectivity with its chips. Laptops powered by Intel’s new round of U-Series processors feature Gigabit Wi-Fi. According to Intel, this will let people “download their favorite shows and movies in under a minute, create, edit, and share 4K/360 video content 6.5x faster, and stream and play games, including World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth and World of Tanks.”

The Y-Series processors, which are being implemented in lighter, more portable laptops like the 12-inch MacBook and XPS 13 2-in-1, go a step further. These processors will come with built-in 4G LTE, just like the Qualcomm devices. We just may see a LTE-enabled MacBook before the end of the year, for all we know.

That’s proof Intel is paying careful attention to its new rival, and adjusting accordingly. We even know Microsoft had every intention of making its Surface Go 2-in-1 into a Qualcomm device before Intel stepped in. 

Which begs the question…would we have ever seen this push from Intel, if Qualcomm hadn’t done it first? We may never know the answer. For now, let’s enjoy the benefits of some good, old-fashioned competition.

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Looking for a wider screen? These are the best monitors of IFA 2018

Whether you’re a consumer looking to upgrade to a high-resolution display or a gamer seeking out the fastest refresh rates, IFA 2018 brought a number of eye-pleasing options. Many of the affordable monitors start with FHD resolution panels, but if you’re looking to step up your desk game, there are plenty of attractive choices that ship with higher resolutions, wider screens, and faster refresh rates.

All the monitors we saw checked off many of the boxes that consumers should look for when choosing to upgrade, including bright screens, slim bezels, and attractive styling. Displays designed with slim bezels not only take up less space and look more modern on your desk, but it’s also easier to connect multiple monitors together for an immersive computing or gaming experience without the screen’s borders getting in the way. But if you’re looking for a simpler setup, you may want to take a look at ultrawide monitors. These displays give you plenty of screen real estate on which to multitask without requiring you to connect multiple monitors.

Dell Ultrathin S2718DC

Who’s it for: Consumers who demand premium styling

How much and when can you buy it: Starting at $550 on September 20

If you don’t need an ultra high definition (UHD) panel, Dell’s Ultrathin S2718DC is one of the best-looking monitors to hit the market. As a technologically functional “objet d’art,” the Ultrathin S271DC measures less than a quarter-inch thick and comes with a near bezel-freedesign, 60Hz refresh rate, and a maximum resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. With 600 nits of peak brightness and HDR 600 certification, the Ultrathin is great for both work and entertainment.

If you’re running low on desk space, you can use the VESA-compatible mount to hang the monitor on a wall. To complement the design, the single USB-C connector helps to minimize unsightly wires snaking around your workspace, allowing you to power the display and connect to a compatible PC or laptop with one cable. Older computers can connect via the HDMI 2.0, and there’s a USB hub and a 3.5mm headphone jack on board.

LG UltraGear 34GK950G, 34GK950F

Who’s it for: Gamers who don’t want multiple monitors for an immersive experience

How much and when can you buy it: TBA

Even though it may be nice to connect multiple displays together, you can opt for a simpler single monitor setup and still get an immersive gaming experience with an ultrawide panel. LG’s pair of monitors support either Nvidia’s G-Sync technology (34GK950G) or AMD’s FreeSync tech (34GK950F) on a 34-inch panel. The pair comes with a 21:9 aspect ratio, and because it’s so wide, the display has a 1,900R curvature to help make it easier for your peripheral vision.

The ultrawide QHD resolution supports 3,440 x 1,440 pixels, and the panel supports 98 percent of the wide color gamut space. Refresh rates vary, with a 100Hz standard rate on the Nvidia-compatible panel that goes up to 120Hz when overclocked to a native 144Hz rate on the AMD-optimized screen. The panel comes with 400 nits of brightness and supports 5ms response time for gaming. In addition to faster refresh rates, the FreeSync panel also comes with HDR 400 certification and 1ms Motion Blur Reduction (MBR), whereas the G-Sync one doesn’t. Both panels can be mounted on a wall to save space, but gamers opting for the G-Sync variant will likely want to show off the backside of the display, as that version supports LG’s Sphere Lighting System for illumination.

Acer Predator XB273K and Nitro XV273K

Who’s it for: GeForce gamers not willing to sacrifice on specs

How much and when can you buy it: $1,299 (Predator), $899 (Nitro) in the fourth quarter

Though it will cost you a pretty penny, Acer’s Predator monitor delivers on the company’s gaming creds. Launched just in time for Nvidia’s newest GeForce RTX 2080 GPU, the Predator XB273K was designed for GeForce gamers. The panel takes advantage of the chipmaker’s G-Sync technology to prevent screen tearing. Gamers who play fast action games will love the 27-inch 4K UHD panel with a fast 144Hz refresh rate. HDR 400 certification helps you spot enemies or pick out details in shadows in games, and the display’s calibrated panel supports 90 percent of the wide color gamut. The Predator comes with an ErgoStand and a hood to help keep gamers focused, but if you’ve got a gaming chair — like Acer’s Predator Thronos chair — you can opt to mount the display with the VESA-compatible mount to create an immersive multi-monitor setup that will be the envy of your gaming pals.

Just because the Predator monitor was built to support Nvidia gamers doesn’t mean that Acer is turning its back on fans of AMD. The flagship Nitro XV272K matches the Predator XB273K spec-for-spec.. The main difference between the Nitro XV272K and the Predator-branded display is that the Nitro supports AMD’s FreeSync technology to prevent screen tearing. The Nitro XV272K also supports a fast 1ms moving picture response time (MPRT) for fast action games, and it features six-axis color adjustments, so gamers can tune the color, hue, and saturation on the display. The built-in black boost option allows gamers to select from 11 levels of black to gain a visual advantage when trying to spot enemies in darker scenes.

Samsung CJ79

Who’s it for: Tech-forward multitaskers wanting a premium experience

How much and when can you buy it: TBA

Stylish and chic, the Samsung CJ79 is an ultrawide monitor that doesn’t skimp on technology. Like LG’s UltraGear, Samsung opted to go with a curved 34-inch ultrawide panel on the CJ79. The CJ79 has a 1,500R curvature and ultrawide QHD resolution. Though Samsung is mainly targeting the CJ79 at creatives and professionals with this stylish monitor, gamers can also take advantage of the CJ79’s FreeSync support. The quantum dot LED (QLED) screen tech supports 125 percent of the sRGB space and has a 3,000:1 contrast ratio.

As the first monitor on the market to take advantage of Thunderbolt 3, you can use a single Thunderbolt cable for power, data, and video. Compared to USB-C, Thunderbolt 3 offers faster data throughput and outputs more power.  Older computers can rely on HDMI or DisplayPort, and the CJ79 also has a USB hub with three USB-C and two USB 3.0 ports to easily connect peripherals and accessories. Picture-in-picture support coupled with the ultrawide aspect ratio will be appreciated by multitaskers hoping to keep multiple windows open. If 34 inches is too small, Samsung also has a larger 43-inch CJ79 model with a 3,840 x 1,200 resolution and 32:10 aspect ratio. That monitor comes with an integrated KVM switch, allowing you to connect two computers to it.

Editors’ Recommendations

• The best gaming monitors
• Acer targets gamers with new color-rich 4K Predator and Nitro monitors
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• This 34-inch, curved, ultrawide 144Hz gaming monitor is only $385 on Prime Day
• The best HDR monitors