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Communities are for creators to talk to their fans — and for fans to talk to each other. | Image: YouTube

Many creators post videos on YouTube but take to other platforms to actually interact with their fans and viewers. With a new feature called Communities, YouTube is hoping to offer those types of interactive options right on the platform, so creators might not need to take to Discord, WhatsApp, or maybe Instagram or Reddit anymore.
The Communities feature, which YouTube launched today at the Made on YouTube event in New York City, is sort of a mix of old-school forum, subreddit, and Facebook group. Once a creator turns on their community, anyone who joins can post, and people can reply to each other. The idea is presumably that you’ll all talk about things related to the creator whose community you’re in, but if you’ve ever been in a YouTube comments section, you know that’s not how it’ll work. There’s also a special section for the creator’s own posts, where they can share text, images, and other stuff.
YouTube has been working on various features like this for a long time. There’s even a feature called Community already live on the platform, though that has really just been a way for creators to post non-video content, and most creators don’t seem to use it much. As YouTube has looked for ways to make viewers feel closer to their favorite creators and be part of their creative process, the new Community system is clearly designed to be much more interactive.
All of that new interaction could be overwhelming to some creators, so YouTube is also rolling out a new tool called Community Hub, which replaces the comments section of the YouTube Studio app and gives creators a combined view of all the activity on their channel. YouTube’s AI systems will help surface good comments and even offer reply suggestions so creators can get back to as many people as possible.
Even with those new tools, Communities will present plenty of complicated moderation issues, especially now that fans can post their own content in the channel instead of just leaving comments. That may be why YouTube is allowing each creator to turn it on for themselves and is taking the rollout slow; Communities are live on a few channels now, the company says, but won’t be available widely until next year.
YouTube may be a video platform, but the company has always seen itself as a social product, too. And it knows well that the most important way to make a platform stick is to give people a way to hang out with each other. So even as it comes up with new ways for creators to make and monetize videos, it’s also investing heavily in hanging out.

Communities are for creators to talk to their fans — and for fans to talk to each other. | Image: YouTube

Many creators post videos on YouTube but take to other platforms to actually interact with their fans and viewers. With a new feature called Communities, YouTube is hoping to offer those types of interactive options right on the platform, so creators might not need to take to Discord, WhatsApp, or maybe Instagram or Reddit anymore.

The Communities feature, which YouTube launched today at the Made on YouTube event in New York City, is sort of a mix of old-school forum, subreddit, and Facebook group. Once a creator turns on their community, anyone who joins can post, and people can reply to each other. The idea is presumably that you’ll all talk about things related to the creator whose community you’re in, but if you’ve ever been in a YouTube comments section, you know that’s not how it’ll work. There’s also a special section for the creator’s own posts, where they can share text, images, and other stuff.

YouTube has been working on various features like this for a long time. There’s even a feature called Community already live on the platform, though that has really just been a way for creators to post non-video content, and most creators don’t seem to use it much. As YouTube has looked for ways to make viewers feel closer to their favorite creators and be part of their creative process, the new Community system is clearly designed to be much more interactive.

All of that new interaction could be overwhelming to some creators, so YouTube is also rolling out a new tool called Community Hub, which replaces the comments section of the YouTube Studio app and gives creators a combined view of all the activity on their channel. YouTube’s AI systems will help surface good comments and even offer reply suggestions so creators can get back to as many people as possible.

Even with those new tools, Communities will present plenty of complicated moderation issues, especially now that fans can post their own content in the channel instead of just leaving comments. That may be why YouTube is allowing each creator to turn it on for themselves and is taking the rollout slow; Communities are live on a few channels now, the company says, but won’t be available widely until next year.

YouTube may be a video platform, but the company has always seen itself as a social product, too. And it knows well that the most important way to make a platform stick is to give people a way to hang out with each other. So even as it comes up with new ways for creators to make and monetize videos, it’s also investing heavily in hanging out.

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Eve’s smart light switch now works with Matter and the Thread device can be controlled directly with an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, no hub required. | Image: Eve Systems

With this week’s release of iOS 18, adding smart home devices to Apple Home just got a lot easier. The update brings direct local control of Matter devices to newer iPhones, meaning all you need to set up and control them is an iPhone that can run iOS 18 — no hub or border router required. This is good news for anyone interested in dabbling in smart home gadgets who isn’t ready to go all in.
Matter is a new standard designed to simplify the smart home. Compatible devices work over Wi-Fi or Thread, a protocol specifically designed for IoT gadgets. With iOS 18, you can now add any Wi-Fi device to Apple Home with just an iPhone. For Thread devices, you’ll need an iPhone with a Thread radio (iPhone 15 Pro or newer).

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a Home hub — the Apple Home experience will be better with one. Adding a hub that can act as a Matter controller and Thread border router will let you do things like trigger a light with a motion sensor, adjust your thermostat as part of a Good Night automation, or remotely lock your door when you’re not home.
But with this change, you’ll at least be able to set up a Matter lightbulb or smart plug without the sudden and terrible realization that you need another piece of hardware to make it work. Then, down the road, you can decide if you want to do more with automation and pick up a HomePod (second-gen), HomePod Mini, or Apple TV 4K to give you more features.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
The HomePod (second-gen) is an Apple Home hub, which is no longer required — although still recommended — for setting up Matter devices.

Interestingly, this is how Apple’s HomeKit smart home platform used to work; you could connect any device to the Home app using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and control it from your iPhone as long as you were in the house. But since Matter came along, you’ve had to have a Home hub to add Matter devices. iOS 18 brings Matter and HomeKit much closer to feature parity.
This is all part of Apple’s continuing move away from HomeKit toward fully utilizing Matter and Thread for Apple Home. Other moves include adding features like HomeKit Adaptive Lighting and Home Key to Matter, but the big one we’re still waiting on is HomeKit Secure Video.

Image: Eve Systems
The Eve Light Switch is a Matter-over-Thread switch that can work with any Matter ecosystem using a Thread border router and Matter controller or pair to Apple Home using only a compatible iPhone.

While direct local control of Matter devices on iOS 18 will work with any Matter-over-Wi-Fi device using any compatible iPhone, it’s still a bit complicated for Thread devices. Shocking, I know.
First, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer — the iPhones with Thread radios. (No word on if the Thread radios in iPads or Macs will also work.) Then, you’ll need a Thread device compatible with the iOS 18 feature.
Initially, this applies only to mains-powered devices — battery-powered accessories such as locks and sensors will “require a firmware update from the manufacturer to be compatible with iOS 18,” according to an Apple support page.
Eve Systems, a smart home company that relies primarily on Thread for its devices, announced compatibility for its mains-powered hardware this week.
This brings Matter closer to its promise of being able to “buy a device, plug it in, and it will just work with your smart home”
It launched the long-awaited Matter version of its hardwired Thread-powered Eve Light Switch, revealing that it and its Eve Energy plug, Eve Energy Outdoor (EU only), and Eve Energy Outlet will all work with the new iOS 18 capability. Eve says these devices can talk directly to the Thread radio in compatible iPhones, be added to Apple Home, and be controlled by the app without any additional hubs.
How quickly we’ll see support for battery-powered Thread devices remains to be seen, as it’s up to each manufacturer to add the new functionality and roll out a firmware update. Eve says it plans to add support to more devices, including presumably battery-powered ones, in 2025.
Overall, this move brings Matter closer to its main promise of being able to “buy a device, plug it in, and it will just work with your smart home” — something it has failed to fulfill so far. With Thread radios in the newest Pixel phones and support for Thread networks in Android 15, this direct control capability should come to other smart home platforms soon.

Eve’s smart light switch now works with Matter and the Thread device can be controlled directly with an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, no hub required. | Image: Eve Systems

With this week’s release of iOS 18, adding smart home devices to Apple Home just got a lot easier. The update brings direct local control of Matter devices to newer iPhones, meaning all you need to set up and control them is an iPhone that can run iOS 18 — no hub or border router required. This is good news for anyone interested in dabbling in smart home gadgets who isn’t ready to go all in.

Matter is a new standard designed to simplify the smart home. Compatible devices work over Wi-Fi or Thread, a protocol specifically designed for IoT gadgets. With iOS 18, you can now add any Wi-Fi device to Apple Home with just an iPhone. For Thread devices, you’ll need an iPhone with a Thread radio (iPhone 15 Pro or newer).

This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a Home hub — the Apple Home experience will be better with one. Adding a hub that can act as a Matter controller and Thread border router will let you do things like trigger a light with a motion sensor, adjust your thermostat as part of a Good Night automation, or remotely lock your door when you’re not home.

But with this change, you’ll at least be able to set up a Matter lightbulb or smart plug without the sudden and terrible realization that you need another piece of hardware to make it work. Then, down the road, you can decide if you want to do more with automation and pick up a HomePod (second-gen), HomePod Mini, or Apple TV 4K to give you more features.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
The HomePod (second-gen) is an Apple Home hub, which is no longer required — although still recommended — for setting up Matter devices.

Interestingly, this is how Apple’s HomeKit smart home platform used to work; you could connect any device to the Home app using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth and control it from your iPhone as long as you were in the house. But since Matter came along, you’ve had to have a Home hub to add Matter devices. iOS 18 brings Matter and HomeKit much closer to feature parity.

This is all part of Apple’s continuing move away from HomeKit toward fully utilizing Matter and Thread for Apple Home. Other moves include adding features like HomeKit Adaptive Lighting and Home Key to Matter, but the big one we’re still waiting on is HomeKit Secure Video.

Image: Eve Systems
The Eve Light Switch is a Matter-over-Thread switch that can work with any Matter ecosystem using a Thread border router and Matter controller or pair to Apple Home using only a compatible iPhone.

While direct local control of Matter devices on iOS 18 will work with any Matter-over-Wi-Fi device using any compatible iPhone, it’s still a bit complicated for Thread devices. Shocking, I know.

First, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer — the iPhones with Thread radios. (No word on if the Thread radios in iPads or Macs will also work.) Then, you’ll need a Thread device compatible with the iOS 18 feature.

Initially, this applies only to mains-powered devices — battery-powered accessories such as locks and sensors will “require a firmware update from the manufacturer to be compatible with iOS 18,” according to an Apple support page.

Eve Systems, a smart home company that relies primarily on Thread for its devices, announced compatibility for its mains-powered hardware this week.

It launched the long-awaited Matter version of its hardwired Thread-powered Eve Light Switch, revealing that it and its Eve Energy plug, Eve Energy Outdoor (EU only), and Eve Energy Outlet will all work with the new iOS 18 capability. Eve says these devices can talk directly to the Thread radio in compatible iPhones, be added to Apple Home, and be controlled by the app without any additional hubs.

How quickly we’ll see support for battery-powered Thread devices remains to be seen, as it’s up to each manufacturer to add the new functionality and roll out a firmware update. Eve says it plans to add support to more devices, including presumably battery-powered ones, in 2025.

Overall, this move brings Matter closer to its main promise of being able to “buy a device, plug it in, and it will just work with your smart home” — something it has failed to fulfill so far. With Thread radios in the newest Pixel phones and support for Thread networks in Android 15, this direct control capability should come to other smart home platforms soon.

Read More 

Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge

The Tesla Cybertruck gets a lot of hate for its polarizing design and even more polarizing creator. However, the Cybertruck also appears to be extremely popular, more popular than all the other electric trucks on the market, and Elon Musk may end up laughing all the way to the bank.
Tesla’s Cybertruck registrations in July almost match overall EV truck registrations in July, suggesting strong demand for the stainless steel low-poly truck, according to data from S&P Global Mobility (via Automotive News). Tesla’s overall vehicle sales also rose in July thanks to a boost from the Cybertruck.
Tesla delivered 5,175 Cybertrucks in July, compared to a combined 5,546 registrations of every non-Tesla electric truck, which includes the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, Chevy Silverado EV, and Hummer EV. (Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck numbers in its delivery reports, so S&P is using registration numbers to draw these conclusions.)
Tesla also had a 48 percent share of all EV registrations for the month, down from 56 percent at the same time last year as EV competition grows.
EV registrations overall in July are on the upswing, too, climbing to over 118,000 vehicles from almost 101,000 this time last year. Simultaneously, the EV market share of all cars increased by 0.9 percent. EV trucks are a drop in the bucket overall.
Tesla seems to be selling every Cybertruck it makes but still has a lot of catching up to do based on its supposed backlog of 2 million preorders. Tesla has raised the entry price for the Cybertruck several times, and it now costs nearly $100,000. Many reservation holders will need to wait a long time to get their shot at buying a Cybertruck.
Meanwhile, Tesla delivered fewer vehicles for the second quarter in a row this year, including its Model 3 sedan and its bestselling Model Y vehicle, which is rumored to get a full redesign soon. The company will report its third quarter deliveries next month.

Image: Umar Shakir / The Verge

The Tesla Cybertruck gets a lot of hate for its polarizing design and even more polarizing creator. However, the Cybertruck also appears to be extremely popular, more popular than all the other electric trucks on the market, and Elon Musk may end up laughing all the way to the bank.

Tesla’s Cybertruck registrations in July almost match overall EV truck registrations in July, suggesting strong demand for the stainless steel low-poly truck, according to data from S&P Global Mobility (via Automotive News). Tesla’s overall vehicle sales also rose in July thanks to a boost from the Cybertruck.

Tesla delivered 5,175 Cybertrucks in July, compared to a combined 5,546 registrations of every non-Tesla electric truck, which includes the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, Chevy Silverado EV, and Hummer EV. (Tesla doesn’t break out Cybertruck numbers in its delivery reports, so S&P is using registration numbers to draw these conclusions.)

Tesla also had a 48 percent share of all EV registrations for the month, down from 56 percent at the same time last year as EV competition grows.

EV registrations overall in July are on the upswing, too, climbing to over 118,000 vehicles from almost 101,000 this time last year. Simultaneously, the EV market share of all cars increased by 0.9 percent. EV trucks are a drop in the bucket overall.

Tesla seems to be selling every Cybertruck it makes but still has a lot of catching up to do based on its supposed backlog of 2 million preorders. Tesla has raised the entry price for the Cybertruck several times, and it now costs nearly $100,000. Many reservation holders will need to wait a long time to get their shot at buying a Cybertruck.

Meanwhile, Tesla delivered fewer vehicles for the second quarter in a row this year, including its Model 3 sedan and its bestselling Model Y vehicle, which is rumored to get a full redesign soon. The company will report its third quarter deliveries next month.

Read More 

Garmin’s upgraded inReach Messenger Plus lets adventurers stay connected and share memories. | Image: Garmin

Garmin’s new inReach Messenger Plus is an upgraded version of the company’s satellite communicator that expands the original’s text messaging capabilities with the ability to now send photos and audio clips through the Iridium satellite network.
The original Garmin inReach Messenger debuted in 2022 and is still available for $299.99 for those content with relying on just text messages. The new multimedia capabilities of the inReach Messenger Plus come with a significant price bump to $499.99, which doesn’t include service. inReach subscriptions range in price from $11.95 to $49.95 per month for consumers (with a 12-month commitment), with even pricier plans available for pros (search and rescue teams, for example) and larger groups.
Several versions of the iPhone and Google Pixel now come with two years of free satellite connectivity for contacting help in an emergency and even basic iMessage usage with iOS 18. The inReach Messenger Plus can instead keep you in constant communication with friends and family, but it’s better suited as a robust safety tool.

Image: Garmin
Text messages, photos, and voice notes are sent through a Garmin messenging app. The inReach Messenger Plus doesn’t function as a data-sharing hotspot.

Even while away from Wi-Fi or a reliable cellular connection, it can constantly update others with your current GPS location, and the inReach Messenger Plus can be used to download weather reports and forecasts for your destination. The added photo and audio sharing capabilities can potentially make it easier for rescuers to locate you and to better understand your emergency, including what equipment may be needed based on photos of an injury.
The inReach Messenger Plus also features a dedicated SOS button, which will put you in contact with Garmin’s own emergency coordination center that’s staffed 24/7 and automatically shares your current location.
The other big advantage to using the inReach Messenger Plus is that it takes the battery drain off your smartphone. Garmin claims the communicator can run for up to 600 hours while sending a text message or GPS location data every 10 minutes. When using its new multimedia capabilities, Garmin says up to 250 photos or audio clips can be sent on a full charge.

Garmin’s upgraded inReach Messenger Plus lets adventurers stay connected and share memories. | Image: Garmin

Garmin’s new inReach Messenger Plus is an upgraded version of the company’s satellite communicator that expands the original’s text messaging capabilities with the ability to now send photos and audio clips through the Iridium satellite network.

The original Garmin inReach Messenger debuted in 2022 and is still available for $299.99 for those content with relying on just text messages. The new multimedia capabilities of the inReach Messenger Plus come with a significant price bump to $499.99, which doesn’t include service. inReach subscriptions range in price from $11.95 to $49.95 per month for consumers (with a 12-month commitment), with even pricier plans available for pros (search and rescue teams, for example) and larger groups.

Several versions of the iPhone and Google Pixel now come with two years of free satellite connectivity for contacting help in an emergency and even basic iMessage usage with iOS 18. The inReach Messenger Plus can instead keep you in constant communication with friends and family, but it’s better suited as a robust safety tool.

Image: Garmin
Text messages, photos, and voice notes are sent through a Garmin messenging app. The inReach Messenger Plus doesn’t function as a data-sharing hotspot.

Even while away from Wi-Fi or a reliable cellular connection, it can constantly update others with your current GPS location, and the inReach Messenger Plus can be used to download weather reports and forecasts for your destination. The added photo and audio sharing capabilities can potentially make it easier for rescuers to locate you and to better understand your emergency, including what equipment may be needed based on photos of an injury.

The inReach Messenger Plus also features a dedicated SOS button, which will put you in contact with Garmin’s own emergency coordination center that’s staffed 24/7 and automatically shares your current location.

The other big advantage to using the inReach Messenger Plus is that it takes the battery drain off your smartphone. Garmin claims the communicator can run for up to 600 hours while sending a text message or GPS location data every 10 minutes. When using its new multimedia capabilities, Garmin says up to 250 photos or audio clips can be sent on a full charge.

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The 80HE takes the 60HE formula and makes it bigger and better, with a new light bar and 8kHz polling. Wooting created the best gaming keyboard on the market two years ago with the 60HE. It popularized the use of Hall effect switches and a Rapid Trigger system that speeds up how quickly you can activate a key, making it ideal for PC gaming. Now, Wooting has created the 80HE — an 80 percent keyboard that makes the best gaming keyboard even better.
While I’m a fan of 60 percent keyboards for gaming, I miss having a delete key, a print screen button, and even dedicated arrow keys and an F-row. The 80HE adds all of these keys inside a package that really doesn’t feel that much larger than the 60HE. It’s essentially two keys wider and an F-row of keys taller. The extra keys certainly make it more comfortable for regular typing and a lot more convenient than having to mod keys or use function key shortcuts.

Wooting has also switched up the housing for its 80HE, moving to a gasket mount instead of the tray mount on the 60HE. The silicone gasket mount holds together the board and the switch plate. It does a great job of reducing the noise, making the typing experience a little softer than on the 60HE. You can also adjust the case angle to 2.8 degrees, 7.5 degrees, or 10 degrees thanks to a variety of silicone feet included in the box.
I’ve been trying out both the $109.99 zinc alloy case and the $34.99 PCR ABS plastic case for the 80HE over the past week, and I personally prefer the zinc material. It’s the pricier option of the two, but you get a hefty case that helps produce the kind of thock sound I enjoy on keyboards.

The Wooting 80HE (top) versus the 60HE (bottom).

I found the plastic case a little fiddly to open when I was building a bare-bones module version of the 80HE thanks to the clips holding it in place. The zinc option slid apart a lot more easily, though. You’ll have to be careful if you do take the 80HE apart or build one yourself, as there is a JST cable that needs to be disconnected when you remove the board from the case.
The sound on the 80HE is also improved over the 60HE thanks to updated Hall effect switches. Wooting’s Lekker V2 switches now wobble less and sound better than the original V1 switches. The differences are subtle, but I always disliked the key wobble on the 60HE default switches, so I’m happy to see that improved.
The Lekker switches are hot-swappable, so you can swap them out if they break or replace them with any Hall effect switches. Wooting lets you pick between the Lekker L45 and L60, with both feeling like linear switches and the L60s having a little more key start and end force. Wooting also uses screw-in stabilizers to eliminate rattle on the 80HE, and these are also replaceable with most other third-party screw-in and clip-in stabilizers.

You can easily swap the switches and cases on an 80HE.

The real magic of Wooting’s keyboards is made possible by these Hall effect switches, which use a magnet so the board can track how far a switch has been pressed. Most Cherry MX-style switches that are commonly used on mechanical keyboards use a copper mechanism to register a press with a board at a set actuation point of around 2mm. On the 80HE, you can adjust the actuation point on individual keys all the way down to 0.1mm.
The improved Wootility software allows you to enable adjustable actuation points, Rapid Trigger, and more advanced key functionality. Rapid Trigger changes the actuation and reset point of keys on the fly so that keys will activate the moment you press down and deactivate instantly when you release them. You can then repeat a key press in the middle of a motion, without needing to surpass the actuation point.
Rapid Trigger is ideal for PC gaming because of the fast deactivation that lets you move around quickly and repeat key presses faster. Keyboard manufacturers like SteelSeries, Keychron, and others have copied the Rapid Trigger feature after adopting Hall effect switches, and it has become a popular feature among Valorant, Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch 2, and Apex Legends players.

The LED bar can be used for key indicators and much more.

The other big addition to the 80HE is a new LED bar that sits above the arrow keys. Wooting says it’s designed to communicate with you and can tell you which profile you have active on the board or how much RAM or CPU your system is using. You can also just use it for fun RGB effects to match your keys or the rest of your setup. You can configure the LED bar in Wooting’s updated Wootility software.
One great feature of Wooting keyboards is that they store your profile on the board itself. You configure it in the Wootility web app, and there’s no need to install an app or have anything running in the background on your PC. Wooting is breaking from that tradition somewhat with the 80HE, though.

The light bar can animate during a firmware update.

If you want RAM or CPU monitoring on the LED bar, you’ll need a new background app, which is coming soon. I haven’t been able to test this yet, but Wooting says it will only be required for the more advanced LED bar functionality. I’ve been using the LED bar as a profile indicator, which is super useful for swapping between gaming and typing profiles.
If you update the firmware on the 80HE, the LED bar fills up to show the progress, a neat little touch that hints at what will be possible with this new addition. Right now, you can get it to indicate the profile you’re using, when keys are pressed, or to let you know when the CAPS lock key is enabled. It will also be able to show your system volume once the background service is available.

Wooting stores all of your keyboard settings on the 80HE module itself.

The 80HE also supports up to 8kHz USB polling, but no wireless connectivity. While many keyboards promise 8kHz polling, the 80HE also scans every analog key position at that same rate. This faster polling rate also lowers the 80HE latency to just 0.125ms.
While I appreciate the improvements on the 80HE, the layout means the only options for cases right now are from Wooting directly. I’d expect to see third-party options over time, but until then, you’re stuck with black, ghost, and frost options for the plastic case or black, white, and raw options for the zinc case.
The 80HE — as a complete keyboard with a plastic case, switches, and keycaps — starts at $199.99. If you upgrade to the zinc alloy case, prices start at $289.99. You can also buy the standalone 80HE module without switches and keycaps for $154.99, but you’ll need a $34.99 plastic case or a $109.99 zinc alloy one.
Keychron, Corsair, SteelSeries, and many others offer similar boards with Hall effect switches, but none quite offer the combination of hardware and software that Wooting delivers. If you’ve always been tempted by the 60HE but wanted more keys, the 80HE delivers that and much more.

The 80HE takes the 60HE formula and makes it bigger and better, with a new light bar and 8kHz polling.

Wooting created the best gaming keyboard on the market two years ago with the 60HE. It popularized the use of Hall effect switches and a Rapid Trigger system that speeds up how quickly you can activate a key, making it ideal for PC gaming. Now, Wooting has created the 80HE — an 80 percent keyboard that makes the best gaming keyboard even better.

While I’m a fan of 60 percent keyboards for gaming, I miss having a delete key, a print screen button, and even dedicated arrow keys and an F-row. The 80HE adds all of these keys inside a package that really doesn’t feel that much larger than the 60HE. It’s essentially two keys wider and an F-row of keys taller. The extra keys certainly make it more comfortable for regular typing and a lot more convenient than having to mod keys or use function key shortcuts.

Wooting has also switched up the housing for its 80HE, moving to a gasket mount instead of the tray mount on the 60HE. The silicone gasket mount holds together the board and the switch plate. It does a great job of reducing the noise, making the typing experience a little softer than on the 60HE. You can also adjust the case angle to 2.8 degrees, 7.5 degrees, or 10 degrees thanks to a variety of silicone feet included in the box.

I’ve been trying out both the $109.99 zinc alloy case and the $34.99 PCR ABS plastic case for the 80HE over the past week, and I personally prefer the zinc material. It’s the pricier option of the two, but you get a hefty case that helps produce the kind of thock sound I enjoy on keyboards.

I found the plastic case a little fiddly to open when I was building a bare-bones module version of the 80HE thanks to the clips holding it in place. The zinc option slid apart a lot more easily, though. You’ll have to be careful if you do take the 80HE apart or build one yourself, as there is a JST cable that needs to be disconnected when you remove the board from the case.

The sound on the 80HE is also improved over the 60HE thanks to updated Hall effect switches. Wooting’s Lekker V2 switches now wobble less and sound better than the original V1 switches. The differences are subtle, but I always disliked the key wobble on the 60HE default switches, so I’m happy to see that improved.

The Lekker switches are hot-swappable, so you can swap them out if they break or replace them with any Hall effect switches. Wooting lets you pick between the Lekker L45 and L60, with both feeling like linear switches and the L60s having a little more key start and end force. Wooting also uses screw-in stabilizers to eliminate rattle on the 80HE, and these are also replaceable with most other third-party screw-in and clip-in stabilizers.

The real magic of Wooting’s keyboards is made possible by these Hall effect switches, which use a magnet so the board can track how far a switch has been pressed. Most Cherry MX-style switches that are commonly used on mechanical keyboards use a copper mechanism to register a press with a board at a set actuation point of around 2mm. On the 80HE, you can adjust the actuation point on individual keys all the way down to 0.1mm.

The improved Wootility software allows you to enable adjustable actuation points, Rapid Trigger, and more advanced key functionality. Rapid Trigger changes the actuation and reset point of keys on the fly so that keys will activate the moment you press down and deactivate instantly when you release them. You can then repeat a key press in the middle of a motion, without needing to surpass the actuation point.

Rapid Trigger is ideal for PC gaming because of the fast deactivation that lets you move around quickly and repeat key presses faster. Keyboard manufacturers like SteelSeries, Keychron, and others have copied the Rapid Trigger feature after adopting Hall effect switches, and it has become a popular feature among Valorant, Counter-Strike 2, Overwatch 2, and Apex Legends players.

The other big addition to the 80HE is a new LED bar that sits above the arrow keys. Wooting says it’s designed to communicate with you and can tell you which profile you have active on the board or how much RAM or CPU your system is using. You can also just use it for fun RGB effects to match your keys or the rest of your setup. You can configure the LED bar in Wooting’s updated Wootility software.

One great feature of Wooting keyboards is that they store your profile on the board itself. You configure it in the Wootility web app, and there’s no need to install an app or have anything running in the background on your PC. Wooting is breaking from that tradition somewhat with the 80HE, though.

If you want RAM or CPU monitoring on the LED bar, you’ll need a new background app, which is coming soon. I haven’t been able to test this yet, but Wooting says it will only be required for the more advanced LED bar functionality. I’ve been using the LED bar as a profile indicator, which is super useful for swapping between gaming and typing profiles.

If you update the firmware on the 80HE, the LED bar fills up to show the progress, a neat little touch that hints at what will be possible with this new addition. Right now, you can get it to indicate the profile you’re using, when keys are pressed, or to let you know when the CAPS lock key is enabled. It will also be able to show your system volume once the background service is available.

The 80HE also supports up to 8kHz USB polling, but no wireless connectivity. While many keyboards promise 8kHz polling, the 80HE also scans every analog key position at that same rate. This faster polling rate also lowers the 80HE latency to just 0.125ms.

While I appreciate the improvements on the 80HE, the layout means the only options for cases right now are from Wooting directly. I’d expect to see third-party options over time, but until then, you’re stuck with black, ghost, and frost options for the plastic case or black, white, and raw options for the zinc case.

The 80HE — as a complete keyboard with a plastic case, switches, and keycaps — starts at $199.99. If you upgrade to the zinc alloy case, prices start at $289.99. You can also buy the standalone 80HE module without switches and keycaps for $154.99, but you’ll need a $34.99 plastic case or a $109.99 zinc alloy one.

Keychron, Corsair, SteelSeries, and many others offer similar boards with Hall effect switches, but none quite offer the combination of hardware and software that Wooting delivers. If you’ve always been tempted by the 60HE but wanted more keys, the 80HE delivers that and much more.

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Classic for a reason. | Photo: Nathan Edwards / The Verge

A charming $89 DIY mechanical keyboard kit with thoroughly modern features. There’s never been a better time to buy an off-the-shelf mechanical keyboard. It’s flat-out hard to beat Keychron for price, features, and layout options. Iqunix and Lofree are doing interesting things with low-profile switches, and Epomaker keeps doing Epomaker things. But there’s nothing like putting a keyboard together yourself.
The Ikea effect is real, and kit keyboards give you way more customization options than prebuilts, if that’s your thing: you choose everything from the switches and the stabilizers to the keycaps.
And that’s how we arrive at the Classic-TKL, a bare-bones plastic keyboard kit designed by Nephlock and available today at NovelKeys that starts at $89 but looks, feels, and sounds much better than expected for the price. I’ve spent about a week typing on one after I built it, and I’m impressed.

The Classic-TKL is a retro-inspired tenkeyless board made of injection-molded plastic. It comes in black, retro beige, and a limited-edition clear, which you can see in this build video by Alexotos:

The high forehead and name badge above the escape key give it that classic look, but inside, it’s thoroughly modern. It has hot-swappable sockets that let you easily change switches, full RGB backlighting (which can be turned off), and a not-exactly-retro light bar under the navigation cluster. The keymapping and lighting are fully customizable with VIA. It uses a gasket mounting system, which means the PCB is attached to the switch plate, which is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the case and cushioned with little silicone gasket socks. That prevents plastic-on-plastic resonance and reduces ping, which are sounds most people want to avoid in their keyboards. It also ships with plate foam and damping material on the inside of the bottom case.
And the base of the board, where it contacts your desk, has a textured silicone damping mat, which also helps reduce resonance.

The Classic-TKL’s switch plate is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the case and cushioned by cute yellow gasket socks.

The kit ships with a polycarbonate (PC) switch plate, but NovelKeys also sells plates in aluminum, brass, or copper, which change the stiffness of the typing feel and the sound of the board. You’ll need to provide your own switches, stabilizers, and keycaps, but that’s not a ding; it’s an opportunity to customize. It also means that an actual Classic-TKL build costs more than $89; don’t expect to buy a bare-bones kit to save money unless you already have the other stuff. (This build would cost $276.50.)
NovelKeys loaned me a retro beige keyboard kit, a set of Typeplus x YIKB stabilizers, HMX Purple Dawn linear switches, and the MTNU Dolch keycap set (which I hope to write about in a future Verge story).

Assembly is dead simple, especially compared to the Bauer Lite kit I bought recently, which comes with a bunch of fiddly little pieces — bumpers and gaskets and feet you have to attach yourself. The only tedious part of the Classic-TKL build is tuning and installing the stabilizers, and how tedious that is depends on how finicky you are. I am medium-finicky, and I kept getting interrupted, so it took me about an hour.
After that, all you do is attach the switch plate to the PCB with a couple of screws, push the switches into the sockets, sandwich the plate between the two halves of the case, screw them together, and put on some keycaps.

The base of the Classic-TKL has a silicone damping mat to reduce resonance with your desktop.

I’m sure you could make the Classic-TKL feel and sound bad. You can make anything sound bad if you try. But the one I built has a great, deepish, not-too-quiet sound, as befits a retro board, and it’s a joy to type on even for someone who usually prefers a 65 percent board. (Why do I need a Scroll Lock key?)
I don’t have many gripes with the Classic-TKL. It’s maybe a little tall in the front, so I wouldn’t use high-profile keycaps like MT3, but MTNU is perfect. It has a retro-appropriate Tsangan bottom row, with 1.5u, 1u, 1.5u modifiers, and a 7u space bar; not every keycap base kit will come with the right keys, but most enthusiast sets will. The Classic-TKL also doesn’t have wireless, but if I had to pick between easy remapping and wireless (which you often do, for reasons that aren’t worth getting into), I’d go with the former any time.
It’s not the cheapest good tenkeyless board you can get: the Keychron V3 Max, just to pick one example, costs $74 bare-bones and includes preinstalled stabilizers and wireless connectivity with full remapping. It’s also not the most period-accurate retro tenkeyless kit (that’d be the NCR-80, though from what I hear, it’s pretty hollow-sounding).
Yet the Classic-TKL is an approachable bare-bones keyboard kit with timeless good looks and modern amenities, and you can’t go wrong with that.
Photography by Nathan Edwards / The Verge
Updated Sept 18, 2024: added links to sidebar

Classic for a reason. | Photo: Nathan Edwards / The Verge

A charming $89 DIY mechanical keyboard kit with thoroughly modern features.

There’s never been a better time to buy an off-the-shelf mechanical keyboard. It’s flat-out hard to beat Keychron for price, features, and layout options. Iqunix and Lofree are doing interesting things with low-profile switches, and Epomaker keeps doing Epomaker things. But there’s nothing like putting a keyboard together yourself.

The Ikea effect is real, and kit keyboards give you way more customization options than prebuilts, if that’s your thing: you choose everything from the switches and the stabilizers to the keycaps.

And that’s how we arrive at the Classic-TKL, a bare-bones plastic keyboard kit designed by Nephlock and available today at NovelKeys that starts at $89 but looks, feels, and sounds much better than expected for the price. I’ve spent about a week typing on one after I built it, and I’m impressed.

The Classic-TKL is a retro-inspired tenkeyless board made of injection-molded plastic. It comes in black, retro beige, and a limited-edition clear, which you can see in this build video by Alexotos:

The high forehead and name badge above the escape key give it that classic look, but inside, it’s thoroughly modern. It has hot-swappable sockets that let you easily change switches, full RGB backlighting (which can be turned off), and a not-exactly-retro light bar under the navigation cluster. The keymapping and lighting are fully customizable with VIA. It uses a gasket mounting system, which means the PCB is attached to the switch plate, which is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the case and cushioned with little silicone gasket socks. That prevents plastic-on-plastic resonance and reduces ping, which are sounds most people want to avoid in their keyboards. It also ships with plate foam and damping material on the inside of the bottom case.

And the base of the board, where it contacts your desk, has a textured silicone damping mat, which also helps reduce resonance.

The Classic-TKL’s switch plate is sandwiched between the top and bottom halves of the case and cushioned by cute yellow gasket socks.

The kit ships with a polycarbonate (PC) switch plate, but NovelKeys also sells plates in aluminum, brass, or copper, which change the stiffness of the typing feel and the sound of the board. You’ll need to provide your own switches, stabilizers, and keycaps, but that’s not a ding; it’s an opportunity to customize. It also means that an actual Classic-TKL build costs more than $89; don’t expect to buy a bare-bones kit to save money unless you already have the other stuff. (This build would cost $276.50.)

NovelKeys loaned me a retro beige keyboard kit, a set of Typeplus x YIKB stabilizers, HMX Purple Dawn linear switches, and the MTNU Dolch keycap set (which I hope to write about in a future Verge story).

Assembly is dead simple, especially compared to the Bauer Lite kit I bought recently, which comes with a bunch of fiddly little pieces — bumpers and gaskets and feet you have to attach yourself. The only tedious part of the Classic-TKL build is tuning and installing the stabilizers, and how tedious that is depends on how finicky you are. I am medium-finicky, and I kept getting interrupted, so it took me about an hour.

After that, all you do is attach the switch plate to the PCB with a couple of screws, push the switches into the sockets, sandwich the plate between the two halves of the case, screw them together, and put on some keycaps.

The base of the Classic-TKL has a silicone damping mat to reduce resonance with your desktop.

I’m sure you could make the Classic-TKL feel and sound bad. You can make anything sound bad if you try. But the one I built has a great, deepish, not-too-quiet sound, as befits a retro board, and it’s a joy to type on even for someone who usually prefers a 65 percent board. (Why do I need a Scroll Lock key?)

I don’t have many gripes with the Classic-TKL. It’s maybe a little tall in the front, so I wouldn’t use high-profile keycaps like MT3, but MTNU is perfect. It has a retro-appropriate Tsangan bottom row, with 1.5u, 1u, 1.5u modifiers, and a 7u space bar; not every keycap base kit will come with the right keys, but most enthusiast sets will. The Classic-TKL also doesn’t have wireless, but if I had to pick between easy remapping and wireless (which you often do, for reasons that aren’t worth getting into), I’d go with the former any time.

It’s not the cheapest good tenkeyless board you can get: the Keychron V3 Max, just to pick one example, costs $74 bare-bones and includes preinstalled stabilizers and wireless connectivity with full remapping. It’s also not the most period-accurate retro tenkeyless kit (that’d be the NCR-80, though from what I hear, it’s pretty hollow-sounding).

Yet the Classic-TKL is an approachable bare-bones keyboard kit with timeless good looks and modern amenities, and you can’t go wrong with that.

Photography by Nathan Edwards / The Verge

Updated Sept 18, 2024: added links to sidebar

Read More 

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a set of fines that total $633,009 over what it says were two instances of SpaceX launching missions with unapproved changes in violation of its license, as well as skipping a required step for launch. In response, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk threatened to sue the agency on a claim of “regulatory overreach.”
The FAA says one set of fines totaling $350,000 is related to a June 18th, 2023 launch in which SpaceX used an “unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission,” and skipped a required “T-2 hour readiness poll.” The company had requested approval for the changes in May, the FAA says, but never got it.
Similarly, the company sought clearance for a new rocket propellant farm in July, but didn’t wait for approval before launching an EchoStar Jupiter communications satellite on July 28th, 2023, the agency alleges. The FAA proposes a $283,009 penalty for that.
From the FAA’s announcement:
“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” said FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”
Musk took to X with a threat to sue the FAA over what he calls “regulatory overreach.” SpaceX isn’t shy about suing the government, having filed a complaint against the National Labor Relations Board at the beginning of the year over labor action it had taken. It also sued the federal government in 2019 over a contract that it felt it should have received.

Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by STR / NurPhoto, Getty Images

On Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a set of fines that total $633,009 over what it says were two instances of SpaceX launching missions with unapproved changes in violation of its license, as well as skipping a required step for launch. In response, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk threatened to sue the agency on a claim of “regulatory overreach.”

The FAA says one set of fines totaling $350,000 is related to a June 18th, 2023 launch in which SpaceX used an “unapproved launch control room for the PSN SATRIA mission,” and skipped a required “T-2 hour readiness poll.” The company had requested approval for the changes in May, the FAA says, but never got it.

Similarly, the company sought clearance for a new rocket propellant farm in July, but didn’t wait for approval before launching an EchoStar Jupiter communications satellite on July 28th, 2023, the agency alleges. The FAA proposes a $283,009 penalty for that.

From the FAA’s announcement:

“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” said FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”

Musk took to X with a threat to sue the FAA over what he calls “regulatory overreach.” SpaceX isn’t shy about suing the government, having filed a complaint against the National Labor Relations Board at the beginning of the year over labor action it had taken. It also sued the federal government in 2019 over a contract that it felt it should have received.

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Image: Bose

Bose is adding a non-“Ultra” earbud option to its lineup today. The new $179 QuietComfort Earbuds offer active noise cancellation, an “everyday earbud design,” wireless charging, and up to 8.5 hours of battery life — presumably with ANC off. Available in black, white, or purple, the QC Earbuds also support multipoint connectivity and are IPX4 water and sweat resistant.
The new earbuds add some unique software tricks that aren’t on Bose’s other products, such as Remote Selfie, which lets you turn the QC Earbuds into a remote shutter for your phone’s camera. Can’t say I’ve seen that one before. There’s a “Hey headphones” command for activating your preferred voice assistant, and gamers can take advantage of a low-latency mode.

Image: Bose
These buds have a different design than Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.

Despite their lower price, Bose is promising that the QC Earbuds deliver the “best-in-class” noise cancellation that the company is known for. Each earbud contains three mics to aid with that effort (and voice calls). Bose includes three sizes of ear tips with the QC Earbuds, and they also come with a trio of stability bands.
At $179, Bose’s latest earbuds match the price of Apple’s AirPods 4 with ANC, which will be released on Friday. They might cost the same, but the products are fundamentally different in their design: the QC Earbuds have silicone tips, whereas the AirPods 4 utilize an open design. For Bose, these slot in underneath the flagship QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and the unique clip-on Ultra Open Earbuds.

Image: Bose

Bose is adding a non-“Ultra” earbud option to its lineup today. The new $179 QuietComfort Earbuds offer active noise cancellation, an “everyday earbud design,” wireless charging, and up to 8.5 hours of battery life — presumably with ANC off. Available in black, white, or purple, the QC Earbuds also support multipoint connectivity and are IPX4 water and sweat resistant.

The new earbuds add some unique software tricks that aren’t on Bose’s other products, such as Remote Selfie, which lets you turn the QC Earbuds into a remote shutter for your phone’s camera. Can’t say I’ve seen that one before. There’s a “Hey headphones” command for activating your preferred voice assistant, and gamers can take advantage of a low-latency mode.

Image: Bose
These buds have a different design than Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds.

Despite their lower price, Bose is promising that the QC Earbuds deliver the “best-in-class” noise cancellation that the company is known for. Each earbud contains three mics to aid with that effort (and voice calls). Bose includes three sizes of ear tips with the QC Earbuds, and they also come with a trio of stability bands.

At $179, Bose’s latest earbuds match the price of Apple’s AirPods 4 with ANC, which will be released on Friday. They might cost the same, but the products are fundamentally different in their design: the QC Earbuds have silicone tips, whereas the AirPods 4 utilize an open design. For Bose, these slot in underneath the flagship QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds and the unique clip-on Ultra Open Earbuds.

Read More 

Image: Revel

Public EV charging often involves juggling a variety of apps, each with its own bespoke sign-up process, and attempting (and often failing) to tap or swipe a credit card to pay for the charge. Occasionally, there’s a QR code involved. Overall, it’s a pain in the ass — and an obstacle to widespread EV adoption.
Now, one EV charging operator is betting that computer vision can help take the stress out of it. Revel, the shared moped-turned-ridehail service, is partnering with a startup called Juice to install smart cameras at its EV charging sites in New York City that are mostly utilized by rideshare drivers. By using computer vision, Juice can identify the model and license plate of the vehicle in need of charging and, then after an initial sign-up, will initiate the charge without any additional work by the driver. No apps to download, no juggling various credit cards. Just flowing electrons.
“Our goal is not to create a long experience where we’re forced to come in and download an app and use that app every single time,” said Paul Suhey, cofounder and chief operating officer at Revel. “We’re just trying to make the experience as easy as possible.”
In some ways, Juice is trying to replicate the experience that many Tesla owners have enjoyed for years. One of the biggest selling points for Tesla is its extensive and reliable Supercharger network. Tesla owners input their payment information in the Tesla app once, and then, after pulling up to a Supercharger and plugging in, the company takes care of the rest.

Image: Juice

Unfortunately, the rest of the public charging network is not so seamless. Major operators like Electrify America, Charge Point, and EVgo, route much of the functionality through their respective apps. Often, it works fine, even if there are a few extra steps. But when the communication between the hardware and software is less than reliable, the experience can be incredibly frustrating. EV owners frequently cite glitchy software as one of the main culprits in subpar charging.
Revel is dealing with more than just Tesla drivers at its EV chargers, even though its rideshare fleet is made up of mostly Model Ys, as well as some electric Kias. Its EV charging stations are open to all models, offering plugs for both Teslas (SAE J3400, or NACS) and non-Tesla vehicles (CCS1 and CHAdeMO). As such, Revel needs to level the playing field for all the Ford, Hyundai, and Kia EVs as well. And that’s why it turned to Juice to help smooth out the bumps in the road.
James Murfin, cofounder and CEO of Juice, told me he got the idea after staking out several public EV chargers in the US and Europe with a stopwatch and clocking how long it took for people to initiate a charge.
“We just got so frustrated with all the user experiences,” he said, “different apps, different QR codes, different connectors, different charges, some working, some payment terminals broken.”
He wanted to create something that was analogous to Apple’s Face ID, something that just works reliably after an initial signup process. Like your face, your vehicle has a lot of unique identifiers, like its paint color, model type, and license plate number.

Image: Juice

To sign up, all you need to do is scan a QR code — yes, I know — which opens up a webpage, no app download necessary. From within the webpage, Juice asks for permission to access your phone’s camera to record your vehicle from multiple angles, including your license plate. The only other step is to choose your payment option. Most people will likely choose whichever credit card they already have stored in their phone, either through Apple or Google Pay.
“And then essentially you’re done,” Murfin said. “You never have to get your phone out again. You drive into that Revel station, plug in, juice up, and you go.”
In terms of the hardware, Juice has two methods: either they can use existing security cameras and “block” each stall using machine learning so they can identify charging vehicles, or they can install pinhole cameras at each charger. Once a car pulls into a charging space, Juice’s machine learning is already at work identifying that particular vehicle, and initiating a charging session — even before the driver gets out of the vehicle.
“You never have to get your phone out again”
On the backend, Juice is collecting data on each charger session to send back to Revel, so it can see how EV owners use its chargers. Most of Revel’s customers are rideshare drivers who are just looking to get in and get out, as quickly as possible, Suhey said. And they charge a lot more frequently, often two to three times a week, than normal EV owners.
“So as a component of the experience, they were definitely interested in how you can pull up and just make it as frictionless and as seamless as possible,” Suhey added.
And Revel is already swimming in data from its customers. Since integrating Juice technology at its three charging sites last month, the company says it has already logged more than 6,000 rideshare driver sessions, with over 1,100 drivers active on the platform. Dozens of drivers have done more than 20 individual sessions in a month, which Revel argues is evidence of Taxi and Limousine Commision-licensed drivers being a “super user” group for charging sites.
Moving forward, Revel has plans to install around 200 additional EV chargers in New York City, including 60 in Queens, 48 near LaGuardia Airport, and more in the South Bronx. The city’s TLC recently released 10,000 new rideshare licenses just for EVs, bringing the total number up to 12,000. Revel operates its own fleet of 550 Tesla Model Ys; the rest are independent Uber and Lyft drivers or affiliated with black car companies. Last year, Revel’s chargers were mostly being used by its own rideshare drivers; now, it’s about 50-50 between its drivers and independent app drivers.
All of which is to say, Revel and Juice have a lot of work ahead of them.
“One component of how we can use this computer vision technology is really just to understand our customers more,” Suhey said, “to inform our decisions on where we’re acquiring sites, where we’re developing, [and] how we’re designing these sites.”

Image: Revel

Public EV charging often involves juggling a variety of apps, each with its own bespoke sign-up process, and attempting (and often failing) to tap or swipe a credit card to pay for the charge. Occasionally, there’s a QR code involved. Overall, it’s a pain in the ass — and an obstacle to widespread EV adoption.

Now, one EV charging operator is betting that computer vision can help take the stress out of it. Revel, the shared moped-turned-ridehail service, is partnering with a startup called Juice to install smart cameras at its EV charging sites in New York City that are mostly utilized by rideshare drivers. By using computer vision, Juice can identify the model and license plate of the vehicle in need of charging and, then after an initial sign-up, will initiate the charge without any additional work by the driver. No apps to download, no juggling various credit cards. Just flowing electrons.

“Our goal is not to create a long experience where we’re forced to come in and download an app and use that app every single time,” said Paul Suhey, cofounder and chief operating officer at Revel. “We’re just trying to make the experience as easy as possible.”

In some ways, Juice is trying to replicate the experience that many Tesla owners have enjoyed for years. One of the biggest selling points for Tesla is its extensive and reliable Supercharger network. Tesla owners input their payment information in the Tesla app once, and then, after pulling up to a Supercharger and plugging in, the company takes care of the rest.

Unfortunately, the rest of the public charging network is not so seamless. Major operators like Electrify America, Charge Point, and EVgo, route much of the functionality through their respective apps. Often, it works fine, even if there are a few extra steps. But when the communication between the hardware and software is less than reliable, the experience can be incredibly frustrating. EV owners frequently cite glitchy software as one of the main culprits in subpar charging.

Revel is dealing with more than just Tesla drivers at its EV chargers, even though its rideshare fleet is made up of mostly Model Ys, as well as some electric Kias. Its EV charging stations are open to all models, offering plugs for both Teslas (SAE J3400, or NACS) and non-Tesla vehicles (CCS1 and CHAdeMO). As such, Revel needs to level the playing field for all the Ford, Hyundai, and Kia EVs as well. And that’s why it turned to Juice to help smooth out the bumps in the road.

James Murfin, cofounder and CEO of Juice, told me he got the idea after staking out several public EV chargers in the US and Europe with a stopwatch and clocking how long it took for people to initiate a charge.

“We just got so frustrated with all the user experiences,” he said, “different apps, different QR codes, different connectors, different charges, some working, some payment terminals broken.”

He wanted to create something that was analogous to Apple’s Face ID, something that just works reliably after an initial signup process. Like your face, your vehicle has a lot of unique identifiers, like its paint color, model type, and license plate number.

Image: Juice

To sign up, all you need to do is scan a QR code — yes, I know — which opens up a webpage, no app download necessary. From within the webpage, Juice asks for permission to access your phone’s camera to record your vehicle from multiple angles, including your license plate. The only other step is to choose your payment option. Most people will likely choose whichever credit card they already have stored in their phone, either through Apple or Google Pay.

“And then essentially you’re done,” Murfin said. “You never have to get your phone out again. You drive into that Revel station, plug in, juice up, and you go.”

In terms of the hardware, Juice has two methods: either they can use existing security cameras and “block” each stall using machine learning so they can identify charging vehicles, or they can install pinhole cameras at each charger. Once a car pulls into a charging space, Juice’s machine learning is already at work identifying that particular vehicle, and initiating a charging session — even before the driver gets out of the vehicle.

On the backend, Juice is collecting data on each charger session to send back to Revel, so it can see how EV owners use its chargers. Most of Revel’s customers are rideshare drivers who are just looking to get in and get out, as quickly as possible, Suhey said. And they charge a lot more frequently, often two to three times a week, than normal EV owners.

“So as a component of the experience, they were definitely interested in how you can pull up and just make it as frictionless and as seamless as possible,” Suhey added.

And Revel is already swimming in data from its customers. Since integrating Juice technology at its three charging sites last month, the company says it has already logged more than 6,000 rideshare driver sessions, with over 1,100 drivers active on the platform. Dozens of drivers have done more than 20 individual sessions in a month, which Revel argues is evidence of Taxi and Limousine Commision-licensed drivers being a “super user” group for charging sites.

Moving forward, Revel has plans to install around 200 additional EV chargers in New York City, including 60 in Queens, 48 near LaGuardia Airport, and more in the South Bronx. The city’s TLC recently released 10,000 new rideshare licenses just for EVs, bringing the total number up to 12,000. Revel operates its own fleet of 550 Tesla Model Ys; the rest are independent Uber and Lyft drivers or affiliated with black car companies. Last year, Revel’s chargers were mostly being used by its own rideshare drivers; now, it’s about 50-50 between its drivers and independent app drivers.

All of which is to say, Revel and Juice have a lot of work ahead of them.

“One component of how we can use this computer vision technology is really just to understand our customers more,” Suhey said, “to inform our decisions on where we’re acquiring sites, where we’re developing, [and] how we’re designing these sites.”

Read More 

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Bose is combining the strengths of its soundbars and clip-on Ultra Open Earbuds for a new home theater feature that can fool your ears (and brain) into thinking that you’ve got actual rear surround sound speakers, simply by playing audio through the earbuds.
Since the $299 Ultra Open Earbuds don’t obstruct your ears, you’ll still hear audio coming from the soundbar clearly, while the buds will focus on rear surround effects. The company claims that this feature, called Bose Personal Surround Sound, creates “an unparalleled sonic experience of sound all around you” without requiring the space or investment of proper rear speakers.
Back in January, during a visit to Bose’s headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, I got a firsthand demo of the experience while it was still under development. And I was impressed by how convincing it was. Bose isn’t going overboard with the trick, but it adds some nice dimensionality to the sound.

Image: Bose
Bose Personal Surround Sound will debut on the brand-new Bose Smart Soundbar.

“Not everyone wants to invest in the thousands of dollars of rear speakers, surround speakers, all that stuff,” Raza Haider, Bose’s chief product and supply chain officer, told me. “And so the team here found a way to actually deliver a home theater like experience without any of the speakers other than just a soundbar.” He called it “a simple example of something we think open-ear audio helps solve.”
Bose Personal Surround Sound will be available first on the brand-new Smart Soundbar that the company is announcing today for $499. The Dolby Atmos soundbar comes equipped with five drivers, features an AI dialogue mode, and has a variety of music playback options including Wi-Fi, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Apple’s AirPlay 2. Personal Surround Sound will come to the company’s flagship Smart Ultra Soundbar later this fall.
If nothing else, the Ultra Open Earbuds now have a unique selling point within Bose’s lineup as the only earbuds capable of Personal Surround Sound; you can’t use it with any of the company’s over-ear headphones or the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds since they’ve got a closed design and would make it harder to hear audio emanating from the soundbar. The Ultra Open Earbuds are also comfortable enough to wear for long stretches of the day, so they won’t cause discomfort or get distracting while you’re watching something.
A controlled demo is one thing, but I need to try this out more thoroughly to get the full details on how exactly Bose Personal Surround Sound works, what audio quality is being sent to the earbuds, and so on. Regardless, it’s refreshing to see tech companies thinking outside the box when it comes to the way we experience home theater.

Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

Bose is combining the strengths of its soundbars and clip-on Ultra Open Earbuds for a new home theater feature that can fool your ears (and brain) into thinking that you’ve got actual rear surround sound speakers, simply by playing audio through the earbuds.

Since the $299 Ultra Open Earbuds don’t obstruct your ears, you’ll still hear audio coming from the soundbar clearly, while the buds will focus on rear surround effects. The company claims that this feature, called Bose Personal Surround Sound, creates “an unparalleled sonic experience of sound all around you” without requiring the space or investment of proper rear speakers.

Back in January, during a visit to Bose’s headquarters in Framingham, Massachusetts, I got a firsthand demo of the experience while it was still under development. And I was impressed by how convincing it was. Bose isn’t going overboard with the trick, but it adds some nice dimensionality to the sound.

Image: Bose
Bose Personal Surround Sound will debut on the brand-new Bose Smart Soundbar.

“Not everyone wants to invest in the thousands of dollars of rear speakers, surround speakers, all that stuff,” Raza Haider, Bose’s chief product and supply chain officer, told me. “And so the team here found a way to actually deliver a home theater like experience without any of the speakers other than just a soundbar.” He called it “a simple example of something we think open-ear audio helps solve.”

Bose Personal Surround Sound will be available first on the brand-new Smart Soundbar that the company is announcing today for $499. The Dolby Atmos soundbar comes equipped with five drivers, features an AI dialogue mode, and has a variety of music playback options including Wi-Fi, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, and Apple’s AirPlay 2. Personal Surround Sound will come to the company’s flagship Smart Ultra Soundbar later this fall.

If nothing else, the Ultra Open Earbuds now have a unique selling point within Bose’s lineup as the only earbuds capable of Personal Surround Sound; you can’t use it with any of the company’s over-ear headphones or the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds since they’ve got a closed design and would make it harder to hear audio emanating from the soundbar. The Ultra Open Earbuds are also comfortable enough to wear for long stretches of the day, so they won’t cause discomfort or get distracting while you’re watching something.

A controlled demo is one thing, but I need to try this out more thoroughly to get the full details on how exactly Bose Personal Surround Sound works, what audio quality is being sent to the earbuds, and so on. Regardless, it’s refreshing to see tech companies thinking outside the box when it comes to the way we experience home theater.

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